The Principles of Balancing Leisure and Work - Literature review Example

Academic journal review Contents Introduction 2 What is the rationale for the article? 2 What does the author do?  3 Outcomes 4 Strengths and Limitations of the article 5 Conclusion 6 References 8 Introduction This paper represents a critical literature review which involves critical examination, evaluation and review of a selected academic journal. The article selected for this assignment is titled as “Sustaining Work Schedules: Balancing Leisure and Work” which is written by Sonia Taneja and is published in the Academy of Strategic Management Journal in the year 2103. This paper includes the analysis of the recent trends in work hours and schedules and assesses the impacts of these changes like extended working hours, decreasing leisure time, time with family and friends, reducing socialization among people, and stressful job situations on the organizations and their respective human resource groups. What is the rationale for the article? The core issues discussed in this article are related to the quest of work and leisure balance for an employee. The author discusses how the balance between work lives and personal lives of employees can be maintained in the contemporary world. The author also explains the ways in which work life balance can be maintained in the most proportionate way while at the same time ensuring that the productivity and performance quality of the employees are not compromised with. The key rationale included in the article is that the changing work commitments and lifestyles in the modern day world coupled with other influential external environment factors such as economic, political, social and technological constructs have made it difficult for people to include leisure as a part of their daily life. However, leisure is an important part of life and is necessary to ensure proper physical and mental health of a human being (Taneja, 2013). Keyes and Haidt (2003) also appraise the way in which the author discusses how the inclusion of adequate amounts of leisure activities and maintenance of the most optimum balance between the personal and professional lives can actually lead to higher productivity, engagement and motivation of the employees in their respective job roles (Keyes and Haidt, 2003). The main purpose of the article was to evaluate the primary and secondary aspects in the domain of work schedule and their impacts on organizations and the employees working in these organizations. The core issues like work leisure conflict, the need and importance of leisure, the solution of work issues in relation to the leisure management, the perspective of time and leisure as commodities and the need for making major changes in the way work and leisure are balanced in any organization are identified and discussed in this paper. As per the views propagated by Youssef and Luthans (2007), this topic is likely to attract much interest from the reader groups because the work and leisure issues and private and professional life balance have become pressing issues for both employers and employees functioning in the current complex and dynamic corporate environment (Youssef and Luthans, 2007). Also, the aspects of work and leisure balance and conflicts have not been discussed in an elaborative manner in any of the existing literary works published till date. As such, the author take up a distinct perspective to the need for leisure and work balances which can open up new avenues for solving many of the personal and work problems faced by the employees in various organizations. What does the author do?  The author discuses different direct and indirect issues and perspectives associated with work and leisure balance. For this purpose, the relation between work and leisure for the employees working in different organizations are assessed through the study of different surveys that have been conducted by researchers in the selected domain. The author has mainly used the secondary research technique for answering the research questions formulated for this study. The secondary methods of research include a study of other literary works that have been prepared and presented by various researchers and scholars in different periods of time. The research methods taken up by the author include the studying and evaluation of these literary works and seem to be adequate for assessing and evaluating the ways to maintain work and leisure balance and their impacts on the lifestyles of the respective workers. The references made to the works of other scholars helps the author to collect a wide range of relevant data and information and thus are proven to be adequate for attaining the research objectives. De Graf (2003), is of the view that the secondary research method is a time and cost effective method for conducting these kinds of researches. However, the use of a primary research technique could have led to higher levels of accuracy in the findings of the research (De Graf, 2003). Outcomes The outcomes of the article suggest that the balance between work and leisure has become a necessity in the recent day scenarios of employment. The findings of the article indicate that the solution for many of the modern day employment issues lies in the sphere of leisure and work life balance among the employee groups. According to the views of Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner (2009), the findings and analysis of the selected article are in line with many of the earlier published literary works in similar domains and topics (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner, 2009). The research suggests that time and leisure are used as commodities by the human beings in a society. Thus, Taneja and Pryor (2008) argues that the consumption of these commodities has to be done in a profitable manner for the human beings so that they can gain the desired value from the use of these commodities (Taneja and Pryor, 2008). Other findings suggest that the changing patterns and trends of working schedules create stressful environments for the employees and can negatively impact the mental and physical health of the concerned employees. As per the work of Turner, Barling and Zacharatos (2002), these factors can have long term derogatory impacts in the performances of the employees and consequently on the performance of the organizations (Turner, Barling and Zacharatos, 2002). For this reason, a high degree of immediate focus should be given on ensuring that standard and acceptable working hours are employed in the organizations and both the management and the employee groups should take initiatives to enforce better work life balance systems. Harter, Schmidt and Keyes (2003) have argued that all the original issues and concepts selected for study and analysis in this paper are adequately addressed by the author (Harter, Schmidt and Keyes, 2003). But it can be identified that a more in depth study on the topic of work and leisure conflict could have added higher value and validity of the selected research work. Strengths and Limitations of the article There are a major number of strengths in this article. In comparison to this, there are only a handful of limitations that can be identified in this article. The key strengths of the article lies in the fact that the author takes up an all-inclusive view of the need and importance of leisure and work life balance. The author takes up new approaches to highlight the importance of leisure activities for the human body and mind. According to Madeleine (2004), the focus of the author on the impact of leisure as a consumable item on the respective individuals as well as their families pave the way for an innovative dimension in the discussions related to personal and professional life balances (Madeleine, 2004). The author seems to have appropriately attained the pre-defined objectives of the study and have backed up her views through the use of valid references and research findings. The limitations of the paper lies in the fact that the author makes the use of only secondary research methods and findings from other works for establishing her viewpoint. The absence of primary data usage is another loophole recognized in this article. As per the arguments presented by Sangheon, McCann and Messenger (2007), the lack of an in depth and more elaborate explanation of the work leisure conflicts and work and leisure being the two sides of the same coin are other drawbacks identified in this article (Sangheon, McCann and Messenger, 2007). Conclusion As per my understanding and comprehension of the selected paper, this article is a significant literary work published in the field of work schedules in organizational systems and in private and professional life balance. The subject matter of this article is an important and relevant topic that is of high significance in the corporate world. The establishment of sustainable work schedules is necessary in the contemporary corporate world wherein the changes like longer working hours, decrease in leisure hours and family time have become common influencers of stress, dissatisfaction, fatigue and lack of motivation among worker groups. Since, the longer working hours are directly linked to higher economic profits and financial gains, therefore, most people are inclined towards spending longer hours in their work which directly impact the quality of their lives as well as their mental, emotional and physical health. As such, I agree with the views of the author and the findings of the article that the inclusion of suitable leisure time and the development of feasible and sustainable work schedules can be mutually valuable and beneficial for the organizations as well as their employees. References De Graaf, J., 2003. Take Back Your Time. California: Berrett-Koehler. Harter, J., Schmidt, F., & Keyes, C., 2003. Well-being in the workplace and its relationship to business outcomes. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Keyes, C. & Haidt, J., 2003. Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Madeleine, B., 2004. Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives. London: HarperCollins. Sangheon L., McCann, D. & Messenger, J. C., 2007.  Working Time Around the World: Trends in working hours, laws and policies in a global comparative perspective. London: ILO/Routledge. Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T. & Wegner, D. M., 2009. Psychology: The evolution of a science. New York: Worth Publishers. Taneja, S. & Pryor, M. G., 2008. The 4R’s Model for Nurturing Creative Talent. International Academy of Business and Public Administration, 14, 1, p.90. Taneja, S., 2013. Sustaining Work Schedules: Balancing Leisure and Work. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 12, 2, pp. 113-122. Turner, N., Barling, J. & Zacharatos, A., 2002. Positive psychology at work. New York: Oxford University Press. Youssef, C. M. & Luthans, F., 2007. Positive organizational behaviour in the workplace: The impact of hope, optimism, and resilience. Journal of Management, 33, 1, pp. 774-800. Read More