In The Work-Family Challenge contributors from the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States explore the possibilities of challenging traditional employment structures to take account of contemporary work and family realities. They take a critical look at the notion of `family-friendly' employment, and explore ways in which the rapidly changing needs of both organizations and the workforce can be met. The volume argues that real progress requires moving the focus from specific policies and practices towards more systemic organizational change. It examines the contexts and opportunities - global, international, national, sociopolitical, legal and economic - for this change. The book concludes that positive solution

This volume focuses upon the complex nature of the work-family interface, and how families around the globe deal with the inherent dilemmas therein. Chapters examine how work affects families in both overt and discrete manners, as well as how family life, in turn, affects paid employment.

Technology is changing the way we integrate work and family life today. In an age in which information technology has brought the promise of autonomy and control by allowing asynchronous communications; in which work systems have enabled people to work from various times and in various locations; and in which work and non-work boundaries have as a result been blurred, the work and family interface needs to be reconsidered. This collection is the result of a careful selection of articles presented at the Sixth International Conference for Work and Family organized by the International Center for Work and Family at IESE Business School, Spain. It has a clear focus on technology, managers, globalization, and gender, and contributions analyse the state of affairs in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America. The chapters here offer innovative approaches to how technology, globalization, managers and gender issues are affecting the dynamics of work and family balance around the world. As such, the book will help practitioners and academics to make better decisions, to stay up to date on current developments, and to think critically about these fascinating and complex topics.

Work-life integration is an increasingly hot topic in the media, social research, governments and in people’s everyday lives. This volume offers a new type of lens for understanding work-family reconciliation by studying how work-family dynamics are shaped, squeezed and developed between consistent or competing logics in different societies in Europe and the US. The three institutions of "state", "family" and "working life", and their under-explored primary logics of "regulation", "morality" and "economic competitiveness" are examined theoretically as well as empirically throughout the chapters, thus contributing to an understanding of the contemporary challenges within the field of work-family research that combines structure and culture. Particular attention is given to the ways in which the institutions are confronted with various moral norms of good parenthood or motherhood and ideals for family life. Likewise, the logic of policy regulation and gendered family moralities are challenged by the economic logic of working life, based on competition in favour of the most productive workers and organizations. Demonstrating different aspects of what is behind and between the logics of state regulation, morals and market, this innovative volume will appeal to students, teachers and researchers interested in areas such as family studies, welfare state studies, social policy studies, work life studies as well as and gender studies.

This volume contains a collection of articles that examines workplace flexibility, work-family conflict, and workers' increasing lack of leisure time and how it pertains to long-term U.S. national stability. The contributors argue that current workplaces are not meeting the needs of today's workers, and the lack of workplace flexibility is having huge human capital costs that are affecting every sector of society. They explore how flexibility, despite having fixed costs, can be an effective tool for attracting and retaining employees and increasing productivity -- the key being to make the workplace flexible in ways that are profitable for employers and also engage workers to feel more satisfied and committed to their jobs.

Work, Family, Health, and Well-Being grew out of a conference held in Washington, D.C. in June 2003 on "Workforce/Workplace Mismatch: Work, Family, Health, and Well-Being" sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The text considers multiple dimensions of health and well-being for workers and their families, children, and communities. Investigations into the socioeconomic gradient in health within broad occupational categories have raised important questions about the role of specific working conditions versus the role of conditions of employment such as wages and level of job security afforded a worker and his/her family in affecting health outcomes. Organized into seven parts, this text: *provides an overview of changes in work and family time and time use; *dedicates a section focusing specifically on employers and workplaces; *explores disciplinary perspectives on work, family, health, and well-being; *focuses on the most studied work and family nexus, the interrelationship between parental employment, especially maternal employment and the child's well-being; *examines gender differences in the division of labor, the effect of marriage on health, the shifting nature of care-giving throughout life, and the role of work on various health and well-being outcomes; *explores occupational health literature; and *focuses on the unique work-family issues faced by low-income families and workers in low-wage jobs. This book appeals to anyone in the fields of psychology, sociology, family studies, demographics, economics, anthropology, and social work.

This book aims to promote individuals’ personal and vocational wellbeing through an increased awareness on the invaluable nature of the positive role interaction between work and family contexts. Built upon rich theoretical and empirical evidence in the existing literature, the book presents a research study focusing on the construct of work-family enrichment, one of several constructs representing the positive interdependencies of work and family roles. It illustrates vividly how the psychological process of enrichment takes place, demonstrating movements and correlations between various variables and dynamics in the process. Through a critical eye, findings of the current research contribute to greater understanding of the positive linkages between work and family role participation. The book concludes with a synopsis of the newly expanded, innovative, and comprehensive framework of worklife and family life enrichment, highlighting the implications for theory, research, and practice. Researchers, scholars, and practitioners in various walks of social sciences can benefit form this book, especially those who work in areas of vocational and career psychology, organizational and industrial psychology, health psychology, counselling psychology, human resource management and development, and other related fields. Nevertheless, readers do not have to be experts in these human services realms only. Lay workers across professions can enjoy the insights and intelligence from this book for their own work-family wellbeing.

This milestone handbook brings together an impressive collection of international contributions on micro research in organizational behavior. Focusing on core micro organizational behaviour issues, chapters cover key themes such as individual and group behaviour. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Behavior Volume One provides students and scholars with an insightful and wide reaching survey of the current state of the field and is an indespensible road map to the subject area. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Behavior Volume Two edited by Stewart R Clegg and Cary L Cooper draws together contributions from leading macro organizational behaviour scholars.

"I need to check with my partner" is a common response of an employee to his manager, emphasizing the tug of war between the employee’s spouse and the workplace. The challenges in the fields of work and family have been the focus of researchers for decades. Frameworks for work–family conflict, work–family enrichment, and work–family balance have been put forth in light of the complexity of the interface. Yet the relationship between the three stakeholders managing the interface (manager, employee, and spouse), has not received the attention it deserves. Work–Family Triangle Synchronization takes a holistic look into the triangle of forces involved in the conflict: the manager, the employee, and the employee’s spouse at home. Using the therapeutic triangle relationship framework, it elaborates on the dynamic of work–family triangles and offers a structured process for designing a psychological contract among the three players. This process is termed work–family triangle synchronization (WFTS). Based on the authors’ 20 years of academic research and field experience in the organizational and family domains this book introduces a novel synchronization model, methodology, and compelling tools. Personal anecdotes and stories make the text accessible and understandable, accompanying the reader step by step in the task of developing a synchronized work–family triangle psychological contract, as both a diagnostic and a management tool.