User:Yanke.emma/sandbox

Work-family conflict occurs when an individual experiences incompatible demands between work and family roles, causing participation in both roles to become more difficult. This imbalance creates conflict at the work-life interface. It is important for organizations and individuals to understand the implications linked to work-family conflict. In certain cases, work-family conflict has been associated with increased occupational burnout, job stress, decreased health, and issues pertaining to organizational commitment and job performance.

Foundation

Work-family conflict was first studied in the late 19^th century. During this time period, work and income moved from inside the home (agricultural work) to outside the home (factories). Industrialization challenged the current relationship between working and family.

Boundary theory and border theory are the foundations used to study work-family conflict. Boundary theory divides social life into two interdependent sections, work and family. Individuals have different roles and responsibilities in each section. Since the sections are interdependent, two roles cannot take place at the same time. Individuals have to participate in role transformation between expectations of the workplace and expected roles within the family structure.

Border theory expands this by considering the influences each section has on the other. Border theory attempts to pin down ways to manage conflict and achieve balance between conflicting identities. Individuals may choose to treat these segments separately, moving back and forth between work and family roles (displaying boundary theory) or can decide to integrate the segments with hopes of finding balance.

Forms of conflict

Conflict between work and family is bi-directional. There is a distinction between what is termed work-to-family conflict and what is termed family-to-work conflict.

Work-to-family conflict occurs when experiences and commitments at work interfere with family life, such as extensive, irregular, or inflexible work hours, work overload and other forms of job stress, interpersonal conflict at work, extensive travel, career transitions, or an unsupportive supervisor or organization. For example, an unexpected meeting late in the day may prevent a parent from picking up his or her child from school.

Family-to-work conflict occurs when experiences and commitments in the family interfere with work life, such as the presence of young children, primary responsibility for children, elder care responsibilities, interpersonal conflict within the family unit, or unsupportive family members. For example, a parent may need to take time off from work in order to take care of a sick child, or to witness a tournament or performance of a child. Family-to-work conflict is perceived to result in lower work productivity of employees.

Within work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, three subtypes of conflict have been identified: time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based. Time-based conflict entails competing time requirements across work and family roles, strain-based conflict entails pressures in one role impairing performance in the second role, and behavior-based conflict entails an incompatibility of behaviors necessary for the two roles.

Although work interface with family (WIF) and family interface with work (FIW) are strongly correlated, more attention has been directed toward WIF. Research, largely attributed to the idea Ariel Russel Hochschild termed the "ideal worker", depicts the inelastic nature of work roles and responsibilities. The expectations employers hold of an "ideal worker" already rest on unrealistic assumptions about how the family should operate. Many employers expect that employees with families have someone tending to everything at home, leaving the worker unencumbered. Despite the fact that a majority of families in the U.S are dual earning, the image of the "ideal worker" persists, presenting work-family conflict.

Workaholism

Workaholism correlates with experiences of work-to-family conflict, since one's priority of work may interfere with family commitments. In its simplest form, workaholism is said to be a substantial investment in one’s work. One who is said to be involved in the act of workaholism can be labeled as a workaholic. Workaholism is said to be multifaceted and multi-directional. The flexibility and satisfaction within one’s job has an impact on an employee’s happiness and satisfaction in the home and vice versa. An overabundance of work has been said to take priority over everyone and everything else in the lives of those infatuated with work. Excessive work prevents one from forming and maintaining intimate relationships and close friendships.Workaholics are known to spend a vast amount of time in work related activities, which then results in the sacrifice of crucial family, social, and recreational activities.Marital problems, trouble with maintaining close relationships, and isolation from friends and family are the common issues related to workaholism and those involved.

In most recent years, employers have become more aware of the strain and stress that work can place on an employee. Companies have since started seeing their employees not only as workers, but also as people with personal and home lives.Implementation of family-responsive human resource practices and policies that promote work-family balance have become a reality as a way to reduce stress in both environments.

Implications for organizations

With the struggles of work-family conflict, options are necessary to provide a solution for these problems. Loehr and Schwartz compare the extreme demands experienced by an individual in the workplace to that of a professional athlete. In both scenarios energy expenditure (stress) is experienced. Without recovery (oscillation) both cannot preform to their greatest ability, eventually leading to chronic stress, burnout, and fatigue. Persist stress without oscillation and the result will be permanent damage.

Creating an environment that values oscillation, for instance encouraging 15-minute walk breaks throughout the workday or offering corporate gym memberships, can improve employee cognition, energy, focus, and emotional intelligence. Companies, along with their bottom line and employees, win when mental and physical health are treated as equally important to cognitive capabilities. In order to gain competitive advantage, organizations are attempting to be portrayed as work-life balance supportive employers. Companies that value employee work-life balance are able to attract and retain satisfied employees, improve worker performance, and boost employee morale and organization identification.

Work-family conflict can be diminished by establishing family-friendly policies in the workplace. Some of these policies include maternity, paternity, parental, sick leaves, and health care insurance. Organizations may provide child care options either as an on-site child care center at the business, references to close child care centers, or supplemented child care incomes for the families placing their children in a child care center.

With advances in technology, individuals who work outside the home and have intense schedules are finding ways to keep in touch with their families when they cannot physically be with them. "Technology has provided a bit of an upper hand, allowing them unprecedented control and creativity in maneuvering the tenuous balance between work and family" (Temple, 2009). Organizations are now able to implement telecommuting policies which allow employees to work from home and provide more flexibility and control over their schedules.

Role of gender

The role of gender is a large factor in work-family conflict because one's gender may determine their role in the home or work place. Female representation in the workplace is a direct result of power operating covertly through ideological controls. This is illustrated by the basic assumption of an "ideal worker." Many organizations view the ideal worker as one who is "committed to their work above all else". Ideal workers are those that complete tasks beyond their formal and assigned behaviors, seen as a positive and valuable attribute to the organization . Individuals having to divide their time (and their commitments) between family and work are perceived as less dedicated to the organization. A manager's perception of a subordinate's role and commitment to the organization is positively associated with the individual's promotability.

Manager expectations of an ideal worker are often placed on female workers. Since female workers are both part of the workforce and have significant responsibilities at home, they experience a greater bearing of work-life conflict. Female employees, who managers perceive to be juggling work and family commitments, were presumed to be less committed to the organization, therefore not worthy of advancement. Women in the workforce may be "inaccurately perceived to have less commitment to their organizations than their counterparts. Their advancement in organizations may be unfairly obstructed". Males are perceived to be extremely dedicated to their organization because they experience lower levels of work-family conflict.

A male individual may be unmarried and have no thought as to what "typical" family responsibilities entail because they simply have not had the experience. The male may be married, but his wife, due to the demands of the husband's position, has remained at home, tending solely to the house and children and experiencing the "typical" family responsibilities. Since the wife is the one who stays home and tends to the children, the husband is more present in the workforce, representing the higher percentage of males at the top of the organization hierarchy. Ironically, these are the individuals creating and reforming workplace policies.

The motherhood penalty is a term sociologists use when arguing that in the workplace working mothers encounter systematic disadvantages in pay, perceived competence, and benefits relative to childless women. In their place of work, women may suffer a per-child wage penalty, leading to a pay gap between mothers and non-mothers that is larger than the gap between men and women. Not only do working mothers have the burden of balancing work and home life, but they also have to prove they are as dedicated as other employees. Mothers tend to suffer less favorable job-site evaluations compared to non-mothers, stating that mothers are much less committed to their jobs, less authoritative, and less dependable than non-mothers. Hence, mothers may experience discrimination is terms of pay, hiring, and day-to-day job experience.

The way in which companies have shaped the "ideal worker" does not compliment the family lifestyle, nor does it accommodate it. Long hours and near complete devotion to the profession make it difficult for working mothers to participate in, or get ahead in the workplace while maintaining a home and family .

SteyerKS (talk) 19:17, 27 March 2018 (UTC) @JButlerModaff:

End of article

Drafting and Linking Sources Wk 9

Work-family conflict was first studied in the late 19^th century. During this time period, work and income moved from inside of the home (agricultural work) to outside of the home (factories). Industrialization challenged the current relationship between working and family.

Boundary theory and border theory are the foundations used to study work-family conflict. Boundary theory divides social life into two interdependent sections, work and family. Individuals have different roles and responsibilities in each section. Since the sections are interdependent, two roles cannot take place at the same time. Individuals have to participate in role transformation between expectations of the workplace and expected roles within the family structure.

Border theory expands this by considering the influences each section has on the other. Border theory attempts to pin down ways to manage conflict and achieve balance between conflicting identities. Individuals may choose to treat these segments separately, moving back and forth between work and family roles (displaying boundary theory) or can decide to integrate the segments with hopes of finding balance.

Loehr and Schwartz compare the extreme demands experienced by an individual in the workplace to that of a professional athlete. In both scenarios energy expenditure (stress) is experienced. Without recovery (oscillation) both cannot preform to their greatest ability, eventually leading to chronic stress, burnout, and fatigue. Persist stress without oscillation and the result will be permanent damage.

Creating an environment that values oscillation, for instance encouraging 15-minute walk breaks throughout the workday or offering corporate gym memberships, can improve employee cognition, energy, focus, and emotional intelligence. Companies, along with their bottom line and employees, win when mental and physical health is treated as equally important to cognitive capabilities.

In order to gain competitive advantage, organizations are attempting to be portrayed as work-life balance supportive employers. Companies that value employee work life-balance are able to attract and retain satisfied employees, improve worker performance, and boost employee morale and organization identification.  

SteyerKS (talk) 18:53, 20 March 2018 (UTC) @JButlerModaff:

Danielle's draft

At the top of the organizational hierarchy, the majority of individuals are males, and assumptions can be made regarding their lack of personal experience with the direct and indirect effects of work–family conflict. Males and females almost equally represent the workforce, yet a higher percent of males in the workforce are parents. For one, males may be unmarried and have no thought as to what "typical" family responsibilities entail because they simply haven't had the experience. On the other hand, the high-level manager may be married, but his wife, due to the demands of the husband's position, has remained at home, tending solely to the house and children and experiencing the "typical" family responsibilities. Since the wife is the one who stays home and tends to the children, the husband is more present in the workforce and represents the higher percentage of males at the top of the organization hierarchy. Ironically, these are the individuals creating and reforming workplace policies.

The reality of what employees experience, specifically in regards to work–life balance, is a direct result of power operating covertly through ideological controls. This is seen in the norm of the "ideal worker." Many organizations view the ideal worker as one who is "committed to their work above all else". "Ideal workers" are those that complete tasks beyond their formal and assigned behaviors, which are seen as positive attributes.

Alternatively, those who are perceived as having to divide their time (and their commitments) are seen not as dedicated to the organization. Those who are required to divide their time usually do so between work and family. As research has shown, a manager's perception of a subordinate's role and commitment to the organization is positively associated with the individual's promotability. Hoobler et al.'s (2009) findings mirrored the perceived commitment-to-promotability likelihood.

Often, these perceptions from managers are placed on the female worker. Due to the fact that female workers are a part of the workforce and have more responsibility in their home life, they have a higher level of work—life conflict. Managers who perceived their female employees of maintaining high work–family conflict were presumed as not as committed to the organization, therefore not worthy of advancement. This negatively impacts working mothers as they may be "inaccurately perceived to have less commitment to their organizations than their counterparts, their advancement in organizations may be unfairly obstructed". On the other hand, males are perceived as extremely dedicated to their organization because they have a lower amount of work-family conflict.

Working mothers often have to challenge perceptions and stereotypes that evolve as a working woman becomes a working mother. Working mothers are perceived as less competent and less worthy of training than childless women. Not only do working mothers have the burden of balancing work and home life, but they also have to prove they are as dedicated as other employees. Another study, focusing on professional jobs, found that mothers were 79 percent less likely to be hired and are typically held to a higher standard of punctuality and performance than childless women. The moment when she becomes a mother, a working woman is held at a completely different norm than her childless colleagues. In the same Cuddy et al. (2004) study, men who became fathers were not perceived as any less competent, and in fact, their perceived amiability increased.

The ways in which companies have modelled the "ideal worker" does not compliment the family lifestyle, nor does it accommodate it. Long hours and near complete devotion to the profession makes it difficult for working mothers to participate in getting ahead in the workplace while maintaining a positive home and family life. A Fortune article found that among the most powerful women in business (female CEOs, presidents and managing directors of major corporations), 29 percent were childless compared to 90 percent of men who were parents.

https://search-proquest-com.libweb.uwlax.edu/docview/1651315091/fulltextPDF/D0B037A68F9247FBPQ/1?accountid=9435 https://link-springer-com.libweb.uwlax.edu/content/pdf/10.1023%2FA%3A1022021804846.pdf https://ac-els-cdn-com.libweb.uwlax.edu/S0001879112001017/1-s2.0-S0001879112001017-main.pdf?_tid=c90618cc-52be-4a21-afd4-4ca7f5ca37e1&acdnat=1520522557_370e2677748fc809d4845a6bba7b9d4f http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libweb.uwlax.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=f3c5d00e-6db0-453b-8e08-c7223c2ceef0%40sessionmgr104 Danielleroelse (talk) 15:23, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3094103/ https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2015/11/reducing-workfamily-conflict-two-key-components/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erin_Holmes2/publication/44670660_Workplace_Flexibility_Work_Hours_and_Work-Life_Conflict_Finding_an_Extra_Day_or_Two/links/00b7d531b33e36c985000000.pdf Yanke.emma (talk) 03:21, 6 March 2018 (UTC)

Sources:

[1]

[2]

[3]

Sources:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001872679705000304/

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0018726703056003613

https://search.proquest.com/docview/198004960/fulltextPDF/38EB6512032C41DCPQ/1?

ErinToporski (talk) 01:48, 28 March 2018 (UTC) accountid=9435Work-family conflict occurs when an individual experiences incompatible demands between work and family roles, causing participation in both roles to become more difficult. This imbalance creates conflict at the work-life interface. It is important for organizations and individuals to understand the negative consequences linked to work-family conflict. In certain cases work-family conflict has been associated with increased occupational burnout, job stress, decreased health, and issues pertaining to organizational commitment and job performance. ^[2]

Forms of conflict

Conflict between work and family is bi-directional. There is a distinction between what is termed work-to-family conflict, and what is termed family-to-work conflict.

Work-to-family conflict occurs when experiences and commitments at work interfere with family life, such as extensive, irregular, or inflexible work hours, work overload and other forms of job stress, interpersonal conflict at work, extensive travel, career transitions, or an unsupportive supervisor or organization. For example, an unexpected meeting late in the day may prevent a parent from picking up his or her child form school.

Family-to-work conflict occurs when experiences and commitments in the family interfere with work life, such as the presence of young children, primary responsibility for children, elder care responsibilities, interpersonal conflict within the family unit, or unsupportive family members. For example, a parent may need to take time off from work in order to take care of a sick child, or to witness a tournament or performance of a child. Family-to-work conflict is perceived to result in lower work productivity of employees.

Within work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, three subtypes of conflict have been identified: time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based. Time-based conflict entails competing time requirements across work and family roles, strain-based conflict entails pressures in one role impairing performance in the second role, and behavior-based conflict entails an incompatibility of behaviors necessary for the two roles. ^[4]

Although work interface with family (WIF) and family interface with work (FIW) are strongly correlated, more attention has been directed toward WIF. Research, largely attributed to the idea Ariel Russel Hochschild termed the "ideal worker", depicts the inelastic nature of work roles and responsibilities. ^[3] The expectations employers hold of an "ideal worker" already rest on unrealistic assumptions about how the family should operate. Many employers expect that employees with families have someone tending to everything at home, leaving the worker unencumbered. Despite the fact that a majority of families in the U.S are dual earning, the image of the "ideal worker" persists, presenting work-family conflict.

SteyerKS (talk) 23:04, 1 March 2018 (UTC) @JButlerModaff:

Work–family conflict can be diminished by establishing family-friendly policies in the workplace. Certain policies can include telework and telecommuting policies where employees have the ability to work from home,[17] and schedule flexibility policies where employees have control over their schedules.[18]

Family-work conflict can also be diminished by establishing workplace family-friendly policies. Some of these policies include maternity, paternity, parental, and sick leaves,[19] providing child care options either on-site child care center at the business, references to close child care centers, or supplemented child care incomes for the families placing their children in a child care center,[20] and health care insurance.[21]

To allow these policies to work one needs to make sure that your employed managers and supervisors are supportive and allowing for employees to use the policies.[22]

Yanke.emma (talk) 16:08, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

With advances in technology, individuals who work outside of the home and have intense schedules are finding a way to keep in touch with their families when they can not physically be with them. Cell phones and mobile devices make it so that family members and loved ones are at the finger tips of working individuals. "Technology has provided a bit of an upper hand, allowing them unprecedented control and creativity in maneuvering the tenuous balance between work and family" (Temple 2009).* The importance of work-family conflict needs to be emphasized. More of a discussion on the positive and negative implications.

• Family interface with work (FIW) is underrepresented. This should be expanded on.
  • Take the section out about Hochschild and focus equally on both work interface with family (WIF) and family interface with work (FIW). This will increase the neutrality.
• In the "Types of Conflict" section add examples of strain, behavior, and time based conflict. Will be more easily understood.
• I could not find the citation for Robinson 1997 in the "Workaholism" section. Where is the evidence to back this up? This section was distracting. I think it is important and should be discussed, but needs a new focus.
• Needs discussion on how exactly to maintain work-life balance. What are some good steps to take? What have worked for other professionals?
  • Many companies are creating programs to fuel work-life balance and employee satisfaction
  • Company gym membership, provided lunches, etc.
• "Balance" would be a good section. Moving away from the negative connotation associated with "conflict."
• The "Role of Gender" section may be outdated. This section makes work sound like a terrible place ruled by men who make all the rules. Too much emphasis placed on this section.
  • Last couple sentences should be removed. They are unnecessary.
• Might be useful to talk about structure vs. agency. We do have the choice whether to be in a demanding career or instead to value family and living within means, even if this results in lesser pay.
• The "Beyond Conflict" section is extremely brief. Should focus more heavily on the 3 dominant views: compensation, balance, and conflict, instead of naming all 7 and merely passing over them.
  • The table is practically irrelevant. Just sits there without any explanation of it. Not helpful.

SteyerKS (talk) 17:04, 26 February 2018 (UTC) @JButlerModaff:

I thought this article did a good job at keeping the sections in an order that makes sense. For example, putting the sections "Reducing Conflict" and "Beyond Conflict" at the end made the article easier to follow. The section on different forms of conflict laid out the different forms in an organized and easy-to-read way. The article also does a good job at remaining neutral throughout. One thing that stood out to me was the "Workaholism" section and it's length. It was much shorter than the rest of the sections and seemed underrepresented. Compared to the "Workaholism" section, "Gender Roles" is lengthy and overrepresented. The topic is relevant, but it is unnecessarily long compared to the other sections. Another thing I noticed was that some of the references are 20-30 years old, so those could be changed or updated. Danielleroelse (talk) 18:41, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

The only thing that distracted me was the section titled “Workaholism.” The article seems pretty neutral. The section on gender was assumed to be mostly about women but this has changed recently within organizations so I believe that this area needs to be updated. I would say that the section regarding gender is a tad overrepresented and seems to take up a large part of the article page. Most of the citations or links can be found within the first paragraph in the article. There can definitely be more references made within the article due to the updates on the information within it. The information comes from journals or websites. The sources seem neutral, but the bias would have to be included when discussing women and workplace-family conflict due to a woman now becoming more socially accepted as a worker instead of a stay at home mom. The citations are a little out of date. They could be improved upon by finding more modern citations because these issues regarding the topic have changed over time. There is discussion about revisions to be made regarding adding in positive work family spill over. The article is part of numerous projects. One is with feminism, another is involved with sociology, and then there’s another occupational safety and health. It is rated as a start-class as well as low-importance. Yanke.emma (talk) 18:03, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

For starters, only one of the citations out of the many listed actually works when you click on it. The rest didn't even give you an option to click on them to be brought to the article that was cited. I don't know if that means they were deleted or just weren't legitimate. Each fact in the article is references but all the references do not seem to be reliable. Like I said before, only one of the citations allows you to click on it. I think the article does a good job staying neutral throughout the whole piece so we need to make sure that we keep up with that as well. Lastly, I feel like a lot of the sections could be revised and added to greatly. Workaholism, forms of conflict, and reducing conflict would be talked about more in depth because they are all relatively short. The article itself is relatively short and I think we need to work on making it longer with in depth explanations and facts. I think the article would benefit from adding other sections as well. At this time I'm not sure what other sections should be added but after conversing as a group I am confident that we would be able to come up with a few that would really benefit the article.Toporski.Erin (talk) 16:00, 27 February 2018 (UTC)