L13: Work & Life Flashcards
What is work life conflict?
when the demands of one role drain resources needed to meet the demands of the other role
What does the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR) posit?
that ppl try to acquire & maintain resources (time, money, knowledge, having a supportive partner, career)
what is the origin of work life conflict according to conservation of resources theory?
- losing resources
- threat of losing resources
- not receiving an expected gain in resources
What are the consequences of work life conflict?
- negative state of being
includes - dissatisfaction
- depression
- anxiety
- burnout
- organizational commitment reduced
- emotional exhaustion
what can be the directionality of work life conflict?
- family/life interference w work: demands of fam hinder our ability to respond to the demands of our job
- work interference w fam/life: demands of our work hinder our ability to respond to the demands of our family or otherwise aspects of our life outside of the work
What tools do organizations use to address work-life conflict?
- flexible work practices
- mentoring
What is mentoring?
a relationship between 2ppl in which one person (mentor) is dedicated to the personal & professional growth of the other (the mentee)
- career support
- psych support
- role modelling
What is the effectiveness of mentoring?
employees w a mentor report less work fam conflict
What are flexible work practices?
practices providing employees w discretion over how, where, when, the hours of paid work
What are examples of flexible work practices?
- reduced nr of working hours/part time
- flex time (full time working but at different hours)
- compressed workweek (fulltime working in 4 days)
- working from home
- taking sabbaticals (taking time off w/o losing ur job)
what are other benefits of flexible work practices?
- higher job satisfaction
- reduced work stress
- more engagement
- less turnover
- more support for ppl who are also informal caregivers
- makes org attractive (pull factors for prospective employees)
what are the effects (& reason behind it) of offering flexible work practices to employees w unpaid caregiving responsibilities (mantelzorg)?
- experience more organizational support
- increases disclosure at work which increases perceptions of organizational support
- increases utilization of these practices, which increases their perceptions of helpfulness of these practices, which enchances perceptions of org support
What does signal theory posit?
that employees use observable organizational cues/decisions to infer underlying organizational characteristics
what was the predicted model for how flexible work practices improve work life balance? how did the best fitting model differ fro mthis?
availability of flexible work practices -> higher disclosure of caregiving -> higher utilization of flexible work practices -> higher helpfulness of flexible work practices (self perception theory) -> higher perceived support for comibining caregiving & employment (social exchnage theory)
what does social exchange theory posit?
employees reciprocate benefits w positive attitudes
What does self perception theory posit?
experiences precede attitudes
What are the downsides of flexible work practices?
- long term: negative impact on wage growth of women in magement positions
- remote working & reduced horus associated w intensified work since u have to “do more w less”
- commitment perceptions by managers of employees are affected (which affects other job otucomes)
What is the impact of cultural differences on the effects of work life balance?
- culture (individualism vs collectivism) moderates effect of work life balance on job/life satisfaction
- high levels of WLB have more positive effects in individualistic than collectivistic cultures
- gender egalitarianism moderates effect of WLB on job & life satisfaction
- moderatin of anxiety but not depression by culture
How does individualism see work life balance?
as key for living life to the fullest, so the benefits of balance should be amplified
How does collectivism see work life balance?
as not a big deal, so benefits of balance so be less visible
What is gender egalitarianism?
beliefs in the society about whether members’ bio sex should determine the roles that they play in their homes, business organizations, and communities
What is high vs low gender egalitarianism?
high:
- both men & women should work & are encouraged ot be involved in family life
low
- men encouraged to prioritize work & women to prioritize family
- so having more balance between the 2 is not as beneficial as for high GE because WLF inconsistent w societal expectations about gender division of labor
what is video conference/zoom fatigue?
tiredness, worry, or burnout associated w overuse of virtual platforms of communication, particularly videotelephony
difficulty interpreting nonverbal cues
What are some helpful virtual dynamics & general mechanisms for womens careers?
specific mechanisms
- flexible location
- virtual collaboration
- reduced gender stereotypign social cues
- access to social networks
general
- work life boundary control
- better job opportunities
- social integration
What are some harmful virtual dynamics & general mechanisms for womens careers?
specific mechniams
- blurred work life boundaries
- wor related travel
- 24/7 availbility
- fewer social cues to counter negative stereotypes
- closed informal networks
general
- work life interference
- reduced job opportunities
- exclusion
what is a work life ideology?
an individual level construct that captures beliefs regarding how work & life are related
What are different work life ideologies?
- fixed vs expandable pie: scarcicity perspective
vs expansionist perspective - segmentaion vs integration perspective
- work priority vs life priority perspective
How does the scarcity perspective see work life balance?
theres a limited pool of resources to devote to work & other activities and thus work and life are in competition
How does the expansionist perspective see work life balance?
work and life are NOT in compettion, in fact they are mutually enriching to one another (if u invest in one, u can get resources to enrich the other)
What are antecedents of different work life ideologies?
- chronic exposure to scarcity (vs abundance) increases extent to which individuals hold a fixed (vs expandable) pie work life ideology
- chronic exposure to scarcity depends on family size, pay cuts/layoffs, pop density, natural resources)
- chronic exposure to boundary/continuity (divorce, closed floor plan, landscape/architecture, immigraiton, travel etc) increases extent to which indviduals hold a segmentation vs integration work life ideology
- chronic exposure to market/humanistic increases extent to which indviduasl hold work/life priority ideology
What does role (or boundary) theory posit?
to manage different roles one should keep tasks/responsibilities associated w those roles as separate as possible (tho perfect separation is a mith)
according to Haars study, which is NOT true:
- relationship between work life balance & job satisfaction is stronger in individualistic vs colelctivistic cultures
- relationship between work life balance & job satisfaction stronger in cultures w high gender egalitarinism than in cultures w low GE
- relationship between work life balance & life satisfaction is stronger in collectivistic cultures than in indvidualistic cultures
C
