Critically explore the antecedents of work-life conflict experienced by Oliver and Amira in the case study, drawing upon Humbert & Lewis (2008), McMillan, Morris & Atchley (2011), as well as theories and frameworks introduced in the lecture. What is work life conflict and facilitation? What are the antecedents of work life conflict and facilitation. Which ones are most pertinent to the case study (control of work/childcare, gender, hours of work, organisational culture etc) Discuss Antecedents in relation to the three main types of conflict are time-based, strain-based and behavioural-based. To conclude, consider that there are various antecedents to work-life conflicts but not everything that relates to work-life is a conflict as under optimum conditions can be mutually enriching. Case study: The Work-Life Interface Oliver and Amira met fifteen years ago when they both took HRM3018 as part of their undergraduate degree programme at Middlesex University. They are now married, living in London, and working as sales executives. They are both employed by D.A.T.E. but work in different divisions. Oliver and Amira are expected to work between nine and ten hours each day. Some of this work is flexible and can be performed at home in the evenings, but often they are required to be in the office or with clients until at least 7:00 p.m. Amira is currently responsible for international sales which involves frequent travels abroad. Hence, she is out of town for two to three days per week. When her flights back to London are cancelled or delayed due to overbooking or bad weather, or she misses the flight because of traffic congestion on the way to the airport, her absences from home sometimes run over into an extra day. Oliver and Amira have two small children, aged 2 and 5 years old. They try to share parenting duties equally. They used to employ a full---time nanny, but she recently returned to her home country. Oliver and Amira have interviewed a few potential replacements but have not yet found anyone with the appropriate qualifications who is able to work the required hours on the salary that Oliver and Amira can afford to pay. A childminder currently cares for the two-yearold on weekdays and the five-year-old after school and during school holidays, but she will be going on maternity leave herself in another couple of months and will no longer be able to look after the children. Oliver and Amira haven’t yet been able to locate a suitable replacement childminder who has space for both children. It is sometimes a struggle to collect the children from the childminder by 6:30 p.m., especially when Amira is travelling. Although the childminder has never complained, Oliver and Amira are conscious of the fact that when they are running late, they are forcing the childminder to work extra hours and are intruding upon her own family time. Amira’s parents live in Abu Dhabi. They visit twice a year but are too far away to help out with childcare on a regular basis. Oliver’s parents live in north London. His father has early---onset dementia and his mother cares for him full---time. Oliver tries to see his parents every weekend and pays for a home care assistant to visit twice a week so that his mother can have a few hours out of the house on her own. 2 Last year, Oliver arranged with his manager to work from home one day a week. He tries hard to protect that day but is sometimes pressured to attend meetings in the office or visit clients on his work---from---home day. When he is able to work from home, he feels much more productive and enjoys being able to pick up his children on time and eat dinner with them, instead of spending an extra two hours a day commuting and rushing the children into bed as soon as he gets them home. Oliver’s manager characterises himself as a “working father” and is sympathetic to his employees’ efforts to combine career and personal lives. The manager has no direct experience of the pressures faced by dual---career couples, however. His own (adult) children were cared for by their mother, who did not work outside the home. Oliver would like to negotiate a reduced hours work week – maybe 75% or 80%. His salary and benefits would be reduced accordingly, but he feels as though the extra time would be worth it; life would be less stressful if he could leave the office by 5:00 p.m. every day and not have to spend his evenings catching up on work. Given the difficulties he has had with arranging to work from home one day a week and ensuring that he can actually spend that day at home, however, he is wondering if he would just end up working similarly long hours, only for less pay. Oliver is thinking that perhaps it would make more sense for him to quit his job and start his own business instead. That way, he could choose which hours to work, and Amira could continue to build her career at the firm.
Critically explore the antecedents of work-life conflict experienced by Oliver and Amira in the case study, drawing upon Humbert & Lewis (2008), McMillan, Morris & Atchley (2011), as well as theories and frameworks introduced in the lecture. What is work life conflict and facilitation? What are the antecedents of work life conflict and facilitation. Which ones are most pertinent to the case study (control of work/childcare, gender, hours of work, organisational culture etc) Discuss Antecedents in relation to the three main types of conflict are time-based, strain-based and behavioural-based. To conclude, consider that there are various antecedents to work-life conflicts but not everything that relates to work-life is a conflict as under optimum conditions can be mutually enriching. Case study: The Work-Life Interface Oliver and Amira met fifteen years ago when they both took HRM3018 as part of their undergraduate degree programme at Middlesex University. They are now married, living in London, and working as sales executives. They are both employed by D.A.T.E. but work in different divisions. Oliver and Amira are expected to work between nine and ten hours each day. Some of this work is flexible and can be performed at home in the evenings, but often they are required to be in the office or with clients until at least 7:00 p.m. Amira is currently responsible for international sales which involves frequent travels abroad. Hence, she is out of town for two to three days per week. When her flights back to London are cancelled or delayed due to overbooking or bad weather, or she misses the flight because of traffic congestion on the way to the airport, her absences from home sometimes run over into an extra day. Oliver and Amira have two small children, aged 2 and 5 years old. They try to share parenting duties equally. They used to employ a full---time nanny, but she recently returned to her home country. Oliver and Amira have interviewed a few potential replacements but have not yet found anyone with the appropriate qualifications who is able to work the required hours on the salary that Oliver and Amira can afford to pay. A childminder currently cares for the two-yearold on weekdays and the five-year-old after school and during school holidays, but she will be going on maternity leave herself in another couple of months and will no longer be able to look after the children. Oliver and Amira haven’t yet been able to locate a suitable replacement childminder who has space for both children. It is sometimes a struggle to collect the children from the childminder by 6:30 p.m., especially when Amira is travelling. Although the childminder has never complained, Oliver and Amira are conscious of the fact that when they are running late, they are forcing the childminder to work extra hours and are intruding upon her own family time. Amira’s parents live in Abu Dhabi. They visit twice a year but are too far away to help out with childcare on a regular basis. Oliver’s parents live in north London. His father has early---onset dementia and his mother cares for him full---time. Oliver tries to see his parents every weekend and pays for a home care assistant to visit twice a week so that his mother can have a few hours out of the house on her own. 2 Last year, Oliver arranged with his manager to work from home one day a week. He tries hard to protect that day but is sometimes pressured to attend meetings in the office or visit clients on his work---from---home day. When he is able to work from home, he feels much more productive and enjoys being able to pick up his children on time and eat dinner with them, instead of spending an extra two hours a day commuting and rushing the children into bed as soon as he gets them home. Oliver’s manager characterises himself as a “working father” and is sympathetic to his employees’ efforts to combine career and personal lives. The manager has no direct experience of the pressures faced by dual---career couples, however. His own (adult) children were cared for by their mother, who did not work outside the home. Oliver would like to negotiate a reduced hours work week – maybe 75% or 80%. His salary and benefits would be reduced accordingly, but he feels as though the extra time would be worth it; life would be less stressful if he could leave the office by 5:00 p.m. every day and not have to spend his evenings catching up on work. Given the difficulties he has had with arranging to work from home one day a week and ensuring that he can actually spend that day at home, however, he is wondering if he would just end up working similarly long hours, only for less pay. Oliver is thinking that perhaps it would make more sense for him to quit his job and start his own business instead. That way, he could choose which hours to work, and Amira could continue to build her career at the firm.
Chapter14: Work Motivation For Performance
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 10CRQ: Identify two reasons why a formal goal-setting program might be dysfunctional for an organization.
Related questions
Question
Critically explore the antecedents of work-life conflict experienced by Oliver and Amira in the case study, drawing upon Humbert & Lewis (2008), McMillan, Morris & Atchley (2011), as well as theories and frameworks introduced in the lecture.
What is work life conflict and facilitation? What are the antecedents of work life conflict and facilitation. Which ones are most pertinent to the case study (control of work/childcare, gender, hours of work, organisational culture etc) Discuss Antecedents in relation to the three main types of conflict are time-based, strain-based and behavioural-based. To conclude, consider that there are various antecedents to work-life conflicts but not everything that relates to work-life is a conflict as under optimum conditions can be mutually enriching.
Case study: The Work-Life Interface
Oliver and Amira met fifteen years ago when they both took HRM3018 as part of their
undergraduate degree programme at Middlesex University. They are now married, living in
London, and working as sales executives. They are both employed by D.A.T.E. but work in
different divisions. Oliver and Amira are expected to work between nine and ten hours each
day. Some of this work is flexible and can be performed at home in the evenings, but often they
are required to be in the office or with clients until at least 7:00 p.m.
Amira is currently responsible for international sales which involves frequent travels abroad.
Hence, she is out of town for two to three days per week. When her flights back to London are
cancelled or delayed due to overbooking or bad weather, or she misses the flight because of
traffic congestion on the way to the airport, her absences from home sometimes run over into
an extra day.
Oliver and Amira have two small children, aged 2 and 5 years old. They try to share parenting
duties equally. They used to employ a full---time nanny, but she recently returned to her home
country. Oliver and Amira have interviewed a few potential replacements but have not yet
found anyone with the appropriate qualifications who is able to work the required hours on the
salary that Oliver and Amira can afford to pay. A childminder currently cares for the two-yearold on weekdays and the five-year-old after school and during school holidays, but she will be
going on maternity leave herself in another couple of months and will no longer be able to look
after the children. Oliver and Amira haven’t yet been able to locate a suitable replacement
childminder who has space for both children. It is sometimes a struggle to collect the children
from the childminder by 6:30 p.m., especially when Amira is travelling. Although the childminder
has never complained, Oliver and Amira are conscious of the fact that when they are running
late, they are forcing the childminder to work extra hours and are intruding upon her own family
time.
Amira’s parents live in Abu Dhabi. They visit twice a year but are too far away to help out with
childcare on a regular basis. Oliver’s parents live in north London. His father has early---onset
dementia and his mother cares for him full---time. Oliver tries to see his parents every weekend
and pays for a home care assistant to visit twice a week so that his mother can have a few hours
out of the house on her own.
2
Last year, Oliver arranged with his manager to work from home one day a week. He tries hard to
protect that day but is sometimes pressured to attend meetings in the office or visit clients on
his work---from---home day. When he is able to work from home, he feels much more
productive and enjoys being able to pick up his children on time and eat dinner with them,
instead of spending an extra two hours a day commuting and rushing the children into bed as
soon as he gets them home. Oliver’s manager characterises himself as a “working father” and is
sympathetic to his employees’ efforts to combine career and personal lives. The manager has no
direct experience of the pressures faced by dual---career couples, however. His own (adult)
children were cared for by their mother, who did not work outside the home. Oliver would like
to negotiate a reduced hours work week – maybe 75% or 80%. His salary and benefits would be
reduced accordingly, but he feels as though the extra time would be worth it; life would be less
stressful if he could leave the office by 5:00 p.m. every day and not have to spend his evenings
catching up on work. Given the difficulties he has had with arranging to work from home one
day a week and ensuring that he can actually spend that day at home, however, he is wondering
if he would just end up working similarly long hours, only for less pay. Oliver is thinking that
perhaps it would make more sense for him to quit his job and start his own business instead.
That way, he could choose which hours to work, and Amira could continue to build her career at
the firm.
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