Work & non-work - Essay Example

? Management: Work and Non- Work Introduction Management within business scope may refer to coordination of available resources of human capital; financial capital, technology and natural resources, and other inputs such as time to achieve a predefined goal. This would call for effective planning, that is, creation and maintenance of a working strategy or policy, combined with organizing the available resources and leading/ directing the work force and finding the best combination of resources and capital to match them with the available time span of the project (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). Effective work management should help both the team members and the management to understand and organize their work better; evolve into a more collaborative process that gives individuals control over what to do and when to do it, and in one way or the other promote specialization to ensure that employees do what they understand best (Easterby-Smith & Thorpe, 2008). This promotes democratization at work place empowering workers to give maximum value giving management the visibility to the totality of the project and other works, and to create workplace harmony by enfranchising workers and/ or and demonstrating the innovative aspect of each worker at his/her unit. From this we can define work as sustained physical or mental effort; energy expanded by natural phenomenon whereby one exerts strengths or faculties to solve a given problem, or the specific duties and assignments performed by one as means of livelihood and means to achieve a predetermined and mutually beneficial objective. Non-work on the other hand can be viewed as the other activities that do not directly involve exertion of energy/ faculties but are in line with human development process and help to promote productivity (Creager, 2011), time spent away from the chore duties in daily life or work life; usually for pleasure and refreshment or reflection of the previous periods, a prerequisite for productivity at work place. The greater prevalence of single parenthood and dual careers in the workforce has resulted employees trying to juggle between demands at home and work which can result into work- family conflict, where demands of home and work interfere with each other making it difficult to combine both activities. This paper will analyze the various job-related relationships, their merits and demerits; causes and their impacts to the work and family environments, evaluation of jobs in relation to technology, social stratification, gender and the nature of the job. Spillover Spillover in this context may refer to the overall impacts of individuals work life, positive and negative, in relation to their personal growth and development and/ or family life, that is, how the individual’s work- perceived emotions affect his/her life and the impacts in other social structure/ environment around him/ her. Spillover can largely be influenced by the need to maintain a work-life balance which involves prioritization, planning and personal organization on career and profession/ lifestyle, that is, pleasure, leisure, spiritual development and meditation and/or health (Young, 2012). A perfect combination of these factors will ensure individual performs best at work and in other areas, for instance, good health will ensure an individual performs his/her duties correctively and timely despite the field that one is in as long as there is effective training. The spillover can be positively felt within individual’s social structure, the family and the society, and in the work place in that a clear career definition helps individual plan responsibilities and allocate ample time within the cause of the day, month, or annually; giving him/her time to attend to other functions which are essential for human development (Reis & Sprecher, 2009). For instance, work spillover can be felt through the non-work effects of relaxation of leisure, that is, when an individual has had a break from his natural duties at work (Levis, 2011), taken a holiday as an individual or as a family, the relaxation and refreshment will improve his/her productivity at work when he/she resumes and this can be seen as positive spillover. Opposition In our case, we can treat opposition as the resulting forces that affect the business or work environment in relation to the individual’s work and non- work related activities, that is, how they affect performance of an individual at that particular time and in the future and individual reaction to these forces in relation to work and family life. In addition it can refer to the forces between the work life and non-work life, that is, the divergence point; how the different provisions of the two domains interact with each other and the resulting impact and how these impacts influence the applicability of each domain. Neutrality Neutrality in this sense is the effective balancing of work and non-work related issues to promote gradual development of an individual in both sides, that is, how to balance the work time and non-work time, maximizing benefits from both sides observing law and labor provisions. For instance, job demands have a tendency of increasing with time and so are the family responsibilities with time and age, but the non-work demands tend to be under recognize but as discussed above they are important for the development of an individual and his/ her productivity at work place (Batten & Gale Group, 2011). This would help to understand the combination of activities that would help an individual recover from one side, the work or non-work, the conceptual shift to and from any of the factions, and the factors that facilitate neutrality and the potential outcomes. Factors influencing these relationships Organizations and individuals influence these relationships such that the non- work activities by an individual influence his/her work; the organization needs or policies influence work and non-work related activities of an individual, and vice versa. For instance, organization can apply the compensation approach which has an inverse relationship between work and non-work related activities. Compensation in this aspect will seek to supplement domain of the work related faction by driving an individual to seek the utility at work place compared to other non-work activities thus the need- fulfillment deficiencies at work through choices of foregoing leisure and family activities (Williamson, 2012). Depending with the nature of work and the role of the employee in the family, the substitution effect will be of importance in that for instance, a young family would not value so much compensation at the expense of nurturing the family (Peters & Kamp, 2009), and the career prospects of the employee will dictate the degree of substitution between the work and non-work related activities. Segmentation: this is whereby the work and non-work related activities are effectively and conceptually kept separate from each other by either the firms and/or individuals to promote positive spillovers and maintain neutrality of the two factions. For instance, segmentation of personal life with that of work life would influence neutrality in that non-work effects do not spill their impacts to the work faction and vice versa and on the opposition side, the spillovers of the work side will not directly impact the personal life side. Opposition can greatly be influence by boundary permeability- the extent to which psychological and behavioural elements of work and non-work related activities interact with each other, and the analysis of the resulting impact on each of the side. For instance, firms might facilitate multiple policies or strategies that promote physical demarcation of work to enhance smooth transition from work related to non-work related activities which can be done through integration of work and non-work related activities. Neutrality on the other hand can greatly be influenced by integration that is, treating work and non-work factions as related and bridging the gap between them in an effort to help employees’ management of their multiple factions which can be viewed as employees taking control by adopting a family/ personal approach to the employment relationship. Spillovers can be influenced by the total response of the firms towards the employees’ relationships and their derived utility from non-work activities whereby firms’ involvement is supportive rather than control towards employees’ non-work activities through a detailed integration of both factions in a way to promote flexibility. Affective commitment is another factor that impacts on spillover, neutrality and opposition such that it involves the internal and emotional attachment whereby employees identify themselves with the organization, its culture and values; activities and goals, and enjoy their membership. This kind of commitment will enable the employees substitute the work related activities with those of non-work without the influence of the organization, find the strategies to deal with the opposition from one side’s spillovers and enhance productivity in the long run. These benefits can be pegged on to the autonomy by the employees in making their decisions driven by the affective commitment which guarantees satisfaction expectations based on the basic needs and organizational dependability (Jabeen, 2011), the extent to which employees can count on the firm to look after their needs with regard to participation. Personality is another factor that affects relationships in that the combinations of emotional, attitudinal and behavioural responses of an individual towards work and non-work activities will impact on his/her spillovers, opposition and neutrality. The similarities between work and non- work activities or demands will be greatly influenced by the measure and the direction/ expectation of the party with respect to particular phenomenon (Deaux & Snyder, 2012). For instance, employees with an optimistic personality are flexible in handling work and non-work demands and the transition is not influenced by external factors compared to employees with pessimistic personality on any of them which would lead to opposition and lack of neutrality. The relationship between the employer and firm with the employees promote resource drain which is the transfer of finite personal resources such as time, attention and energy leading negative relations between work and non- work balance of demands. This can be based on continuance commitment where individuals feel that they are bound to the firm by accumulation of the best utility which could be lost in case an the individual leaves the place of work, necessitating him to undermine the non-work demands (Bolton, 2009). This will in turn affect individual’s wellbeing and health in case of unfavorable working conditions particularly jobs characterized with higher demands coupled with low job resources, causing development of physical and psychological complaints by the employees with time. Positive and Negative Spillover Spillover approach as discussed focuses on the transfer of values, behaviors and skills from one domain to another which is subject to spillover depending with the working environment, employee’s personality, and the degree of attachment to the work or non-work related demands. Positive spillovers refer to a situation where energy and competence derived from one domain can be transferred to another, usually viewed from the utility and benefits point of view, how this can be transferred to employee’s or other non-work demands. Negative spillover on the other hand is whereby the negative effects from one domain are transferred to the other, that is, for example, non- satisfaction at home or individual’s social and private life is spilled over to his/her job life (Friedman, 2011). The negative spillover can be pegged on the individual or firm’s inability to integrate and separate the demands of each side and the resulting effects tends to be a demotivating factor to the other in that individual finds it difficult to perform on either side. Positive spillover in many ways contribute to neutrality in that once the individual draws much support or the feeling of success from one domain will transfer the benefits to the other enhancing the capability of juggling between the two domains at a given moment thus reducing the opposition or the conflict between the domains. Causes Work- Family enrichment: This is whereby one role leads to a beneficial enrichment to the other that is, work- family whereby involvement at work comes with benefits such as skills, growth and change of perception which are transferred to the family or other personal endeavors, and family- work whereby involvement in family matters come with benefits such as a feeling of support, feeling of success and a positive mood swing which can later be transferred to the work place (Furaker & Karlsson, 2012). Occupation: spillover effects vary with the occupation that is, some occupations require extra- mental concentration that once an individual is disturbed at family or firm’s level may spill to the other in the same direction irrespective of the victim’s intentions. For instance, psychological counselor is highly dependent on both the family and work environments in that one environment contributes to the success of the other, and whenever one is faced with challenges, the spillover effects will automatically be felt in the other irrespective of the counselor’s intentions and code of conduct for the psychologists (Iseke & Shneider, 2012). Occupation will carry a significant response to the magnitude of the spillover despite the personality or the psychological composition of an individual such that occupations tend to define livelihood of individuals and their family and as the subtle way of fulfilling one’s personal goals, and failure in one of them would mean a negative spillover to the other. Work Shift: This can have bi- fold spillover effects depending with the kind of shift and the intentions whereby if the work’s shift is demotion related it has the psychological effects that come with it and it might be difficult for an individual to cope (Sternberg, 2006) with it at family level and work level, making it a negative spillover. On the promotional work shift or a change of career to a more satisfying one, then there is a feeling of success, a positive phase of personal development which in the long run can be transferred to the family in the same ratio/ amounts, making it a positive spillover. Motivation: Whenever individuals at work place are motivated there is always a positive on their productivity such which is psychologically a sign or symbol of success which means happiness or change of perception (Hagemann, 2007). This change of perception may include attitudinal change towards the job or the private endeavor which in the long run can be transferred to the family or to the job place respectively, making it a positive spillover. Social Status/ hierarchy position: Each and every social status comes with responsibilities and limitations of what an individual is supposed to be involved in which in most cases controls individual needs and expectations. Hierarchical positions like the social statuses also come with responsibilities and behaviors that those individuals in certain class/ department within the firm’s corporate ladder are restricted by the corporate culture and/ or deprived certain freedoms during working period that may not move along with individual’s needs (Bird & Schnurman-Crook, 2005). For instance, socialization of top ranked politicians and companies’ top executive with the public may be restricted by security provisions and whenever an individual in these positions cannot cope up with the family and private issues will be a negative spillover to the area of specialization. Gender and Nature of Work: Globalization and gender empowerment has seen integration of occupations; necessitated by innovations and technology such that the previously gender-sensitive jobs and occupations are now gender universal. In one perspective this can bring about positive spillovers in that the efficiency and practicability of these jobs have improved on efficiency, a positive motivation to work, and this can be transferred to the family or personal domain (Halpern & Cheung, 2008). In addition, innovations have necessitated long settled life despite the occupation in that one can work at home while he/she takes care of the family and at the same time excel in the job place at particular moment within the business cycle. The negative side can be viewed from the shift of gender roles especially in male dominated backgrounds where the work demand might shift the couple’s commitments to the family and the resulting effects, which are negative, can be spilled over to the work place. Dual Career Families This is whereby both couples are in demanding and full time occupations; seen as basis for economic security, a wide opportunity for socialization, a better work life balance and an increased efficiency of problem solving whenever each of the couple has something to contribute. Depending with the nature of job that each is involved with and the resulting effects, dual career families have a positive spillover in their work and non- work interactions which again is a factor of the marriage foundation (Renzetti, Edleson & Sage Publications, 2008). Work- Life Balance As discussed earlier, work-life balance can be described as an art of prioritizing between the aspects of individual’s career in line with the private, personal and family demands at approximately the same ratio. This can further be analyzed by the need to accommodate different stress levels in these domains to a point that none affects the functionality of the other despite the diversity of the demands at for each domain (Sidell & Smiley, 2008). Conclusion Employees and the business people in the private sector have demands from their bosses, clients, suppliers, and the corporate culture of the firm; and having family, an institution with varied demands, a proper and efficient tradeoff to juggle between the professions and the private/personal life are important to ensure a holistic growth and development of the society. References Batten, D., & Gale Group. (2011). Gale encyclopedia of American law. Detroit, Mich: Gale. Bolton, D. G. (2009). People styles at work-- and beyond: Making bad relationships good and good relationships better. New York: American Management Association Bird, G. W. & Schnurman-Crook, A. (January 01, 2005). 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