Managing the work-family interface: some Irish evidence

This article describes the results of a study that used the Career- Family Attitudes Measure (CFAM) in order to explore attitudes towards the management of the careerfamily interface of a sample of 413 final year Irish undergraduate degree students. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes, beliefs and values of potential entrants to the workforce in order to understand their intentions in relation to balancing competing life domains. The results indicated that the students indicated a strong interest in pursuing both careers and family life. Some of the results revealed quite stereotypical attitudes toward work and family issues and these were more prevalent among males than females. At the same time, the sample indicated that they believed that decisions concerning careers and family life should be made in an environment characterized by equality. The study also provided new insights into the CFAM and indicated ways in which it might be developed further

Contributing to work-family domain conflict: exploring the avenues

This paper sets forth a number of theoretical propositions regarding the process and experience of work-family conflict. The paper reviews existing theoretical perspectives and engages with the new Border Theory of Campbell Clarke (2000). The paper proposes a number of operationalisations of Border Theory and a model of potential interactions is described

A little less conversation, a little more action: participatory insider action research in an executive team

In this paper, we describe a Participatory Insider Action Research (PIAR) intervention within the Executive Committee (EC) of a large publicly funded service for people with intellectual disabilities. I was a member of this EC and had been for 20 years. The intervention ran over a two-year period and comprised three cycles of PIAR. We addressed two specific organisational issues but our work did not deliver change in these areas in a substantial sense. We identify power dynamics and role duality challenges as the core factors that contributed to this outcome and describe their effects in this under-researched domain. We finish by offering some advice for future researchers undertaking initiatives of this nature

Linking perceived management support with employees’ readiness for change: the mediating role of psychological capital

Although the relationship between management support and readiness for change is a well-studied topic, mediating variables in this relationship are rarely examined. This paper presents the findings of an investigation into the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in the relationship between perceived management support and readiness for change. A questionnaire was administered to employees (N = 120) of a public sector organization undergoing a change initiative. Results of structural equation modelling demonstrated that PsyCap partially mediated the relationship between management support and employees’ readiness for change. This indicates that employees’ responses to change are shaped by both their personal psychological resources and their perceptions of the organizational environment. The findings offer a platform for positive future developments in research and practice

Attitudes Towards Managing the Work-Family Interface: The Role of Gender and Social Background

The effective management of the work-life interface is an issue increasingly recognised as of strategic importance to organisations and of significance to employees (Forsyth & Polzer-Dedruyne, 2007; Nord et al., 2002; Russell & Bowman, 2000). A pan-European investigation (Brannen et al., 2002) concluded that young Irish people characterize the two domains of work and family as operating in conflict with each other. Given the high rate of workforce participation in the Irish labour market, and the corporate imperative of effective retention strategies (Messersmith, 2007; Cappelli, 2000), understanding how this perspective may influence behavioural intentions with respect to managing the work-family interface will be a valuable insight for organizations. Although gender and social background have long been identified as having a significant impact on the development of a number of work-related attitudes (Barling & Kelloway, 1999), neither dimension has been investigated with respect to their impact on attitudes towards managing the work-family interface. This study aims to establish the relationship between a number of demographic factors and such attitudes. Identifying behavioural intentions among students now ready to enter the labour market, will facilitate the development of more appropriate and robust organizational policies and procedures in relation to managing the work-family interface. Attitudes towards managing the work-family interface were measured using the Career Family Attitudes Measure (Sanders et al., 1998). The results of this study confirm that gender continues to have a strong role in the development of attitudes towards managing the work-family interface. The results also suggest that a number of social background factors, in particular school experience, parental education and parental occupation are strong factors in the development of these attitudes

Beyond the surface: exploring the relationship between value diversity and team creativity

Whether diversity enhances or impedes team creativity remains an issue of scholarly debate. Explanations of this ambiguity often lie in how diversity is both operationalized and measured. Eschewing the popular approach of using differences in objective criteria to signal diversity, a deep-level approach that focuses on differences in personal values is taken in this study. Value diversity is measured in the two forms of variety and separation and their associations with team creativity are explored. The investigation is augmented by considering the mediating role of team communication in these associations. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 98 teams, using both subjective and objective measures. The findings reveal that when considering value diversity in terms of variety, there is a positive association between diversity and team creativity. However, when the separation dimension of value diversity is considered, a negative association between diversity and team creativity is identified. Complex pathways pertaining to the role of communication within these relationships are also uncovered. In moving beyond rudimentary categories and measurement of diversity, this study further elucidates the complexity of the diversity–creativity relationship. Conclusions are drawn and implications for further research and managerial practice are derived

The transmission of work-related attitudes: a social learning analysis.

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to focus on personal and social background factors as potential channels for the transmission of work related attitudes in young adults. The paper aims to examine the extent to which gender, parental job type, job status, and education, as well as school experience, influence the development of attitudes towards work and family life. Design/methodology/approach – The study comprised a quantitative (questionnaire based) survey with a sample of 782 final year undergraduate students attending various third level institutions in Ireland and the USA. Findings – The results indicated that individuals who had grown up in traditional mixed families had more positive attitudes towards balancing work and home roles than did those who had grown up in traditional single earner families. Father’s educational level also emerged as a significant factor in the career-family attitudes of the participants. Research limitations/implications – The results of this research indicate that young people have developed attitudes towards managing the work/family interface on entering the workforce, which they acquire through a social learning process. Limitations included the cross-sectional nature of the design and future longitudinal research is needed. Practical implications – Organizations and managers need to be aware of the well-developed attitudes of new entrants in order to address early issues of psychological contract and person-organizational fit, which have an impact on career success and career management. Originality/value – The findings of the paper break new ground on the role of social learning on the formation of attitudes towards managing the work-family interface. Such attitudes proceed to inform behavioral patterns and decisions in the harmonious management of the two domains

Unraveling the double-edged sword : effects of cultural diversity on creativity and innovativeness

Cultural diversity is considered a “double-edged sword” (Kravitz, 2005) as research on its effects on teams’ performance regularly delivers inconsistent and contradictory results. This paper makes an attempt to unravel the double-edged sword by discerning different forms of cultural diversity: separation and variety (Harrison & Klein, 2007). Based on a review of the literature, a conceptual model is developed hypothesizing that cultural variety yields positive, while cultural separation yields negative effects on team creativity and innovativeness. In addition the effects of national diversity are contrasted to proof whether national diversity can serve as a proxy for cultural diversity as is often practiced. The model is tested on a sample of 113 student teams of Entrepreneurship modules at 4 European universities. Cultural diversity is measured directly on the basis of individual team members’ cultural value orientations by means of the CPQ4 (Maznevski, DiStefano, Gomez, Noorderhaven & Wu, 2002). Data is analyzed using the PLS structural equation modeling technique. The results confirm the hypothesized impacts of cultural variety and separation on creativity but do not deliver evidence for impacts on innovativeness. Same is true for national diversity. Interestingly, national diversity does not show any relation to neither form of cultural diversity

The moderating effect of team psychological empowerment on the relationship between abusive supervision and engagement

Purpose Managers exert considerable effort to foster employee engagement given its positive organisational consequences. However abusive supervision, not uncommon in the organisational context, is said to damage hard-won gains in this arena. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the deleterious effects of abusive supervision on engagement can be attenuated. Specifically, the paper examines the moderating role of team psychological empowerment (TPE) in the negative relationship between abusive supervision and engagement. Design/methodology/approach The paper employs survey data from a diverse sample of 191 employees. Findings Abusive supervision is negatively associated with employee engagement. TPE moderates the negative relationship between abusive supervision and engagement (vigour and dedication components). Research limitations/implications The use of self-report measures in this cross-sectional study limits the generalisability of the findings and inferences of causality. Future studies should replicate this investigation among intact teams. Practical implications Interventions designed to build team effective team dynamics are accessible and fruitful approaches managers can use to counteract the destructive effects of abusive supervision. Originality/value Managers need to have multiple routes to address the challenges raised by prevalent abusive supervision. The study highlights that working to enhance team dynamics is a cogent strategy to deal with this destructive feature of many organisational contexts