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Chapter 10

The Intersection of Work and Family Roles:

Implications for Career Management

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Key Points in this Chapter

 The Intersection of Work & Family Roles

 Work-Family Conflict: When Work & Family are “Enemies”

 Work-Family Enrichment: When Work & Family are “Allies”

 The Two-Career Family

 Organizational Responses to Work-Family Issues

 Changing the Organization’s Culture

 Career Management & Work-Family Conflict

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The Intersection of Work & Family Roles

 The need to balance work & family lives has become more intense in recent years

 Many individuals are simultaneously pursing a career & committed to a family relationship

 Both spouses are employed in nearly 6 out of 10 married couple families in the U.S

 Participation of women in paid employment is increasing

 Men are increasingly required to juggle their work & family lives

 Advances in communication technology have increased the work pressures of employees

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Work-Family Conflict: When Work & Family Are “Enemies”  Work-family conflict: exists when pressures from

work & family roles are incompatible  Three forms of work-family conflict:

1. Time-based conflict: occurs when the activities we pursue in life compete for time

2. Strain-based conflict: exists when psychological strain produced within one role affects our functioning in the other role

3. Behavior-based conflict: occurs when people cannot shift gears when they enter different roles

 Anyone who encounters work & family pressures can experience conflict between roles

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Work-Family Enrichment: When Work & Family Are “Allies”

 Work-family enrichment: takes place when resources acquired in one role are used to improve our performance & satisfaction in the other role

 Resources acquired include new skills, new perspectives, self-confidence, social capital, or material resources (e.g., money)

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The Two-Career Family

 The two-career lifestyle has become prominent

 Sources of Stress in Two-Career Families

 Work-family conflict

 Restricted career achievements

 Competition & jealousy

 The impact of two-career status on children

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The Two-Career Family  Social Support

 Individuals who receive extensive support from organizations & individuals tend to experience less work- family conflict & greater well-being than those who receive modest support

 Coping with Work-Family Stress  There are 3 strategies for coping with work-family conflict:

structural role redefinition; personal role reorientation; & reactive role behavior

 Flexibility  Satisfactory coping requires a great deal of flexibility on the

part of all members of a two-career family, including the children

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Organizational Responses to Work-Family

Issues

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Changing the Organization’s Culture

 Family-supportive practices need to be implemented in supportive environments with understanding & flexible managers & supervisors

 Family-supportive organizations should establish explicit corporate policies regarding work & family & communicate these policies

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Career Management & Work-Family Conflict

 Career management can help individuals make decisions that are compatible with the type of lifestyle they want to live

 The following 4-step guide can be used to limit work-family conflict: 1. Understand your priorities regarding career, family, &

other life roles

2. Understand the nature of the conflict

3. Develop a plan & experiment with different approaches

4. Monitor whether the plans are working & make changes as necessary; continue to experiment

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Summary  Work & family lives affect each other in a variety of

ways

 The 2 roles can be mutually supportive, but they may also conflict

 Two-career families face a number of potentially stressful conditions

 Organizations need to respond to work-family issues

 Employees need to manage their careers in the context of their overall quality of life

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