Impact of WorkLife Balance on Job Stress - Essay Example

Discussion Work- life balance is one of the major issues in today's corporate world. There are many theories into horizon to discuss and resolve these issues. Survey has been done in Saudi organization called Saudi Aramco to check the utility and validity of theory. Flexible form models emphasize on the theory of numerical and functional flexibility of employee capability and their role in growth of organization without losing their personal freedom and role in society. But the problem with flexible firm model is that they find flexibility is an end in itself. Maclnnes, 1987 and Pollert, 1988 says that flexibility is only one managerial concern and it cannot be abstracted from its other areas of goal and interest. Core and peripheral framework of work division allows company to use the part-time labour and increase its functional flexibility. The overall conclusion from the survey of Saudi Aramco is that they haven't explicitly and comprehensively reorganized their work force on a flexible basis. Consistent with argument developed in Godard (1991), these considerations vary in accordance with three sets of structural variables: size, technology and market conditions. Flexible model looks more appropriate for large corporations instead of small organisations as their employee consciousness is generally more problematic because of alienating effects of size. Second flexible practices is more appropriate in capital intensive corporations because they have uncertain and complex technologies requiring high levels of formal and informal training. They also employ advance process production technique. Also flexible practices are more likely to affect the firms producing essential goods and services with a high degree of capital and they are operating in concentrated markets. As Godard (1991 ,p.386-387) concluded that to argue that size, technology and market conditions determine the extent to which it is rational for management to adopt flexible practices is not to suggest that they rigidly determine variation in these practices. It left to suggest, however, that failure to adopt the flexibility paradigm and not reflect mistaken strategic choices as much as it does cost-benefit considerations consistent with the rational pursuit of profit: considerations which vary in accordance with structural variables. Though there are undoubtedly limits to managerial rationality, it is a mistake to think that these considerations are not at the core of managerial decision processes or that they do not become reflected in the extent to which flexible practices are adopted. Therefore, strategic choices are of less importance that structural variables, it may be that they serve as rationalizations. Still they don't serve as determinants. There are further researches required in understanding the processes underlying the formation of management policies and practices in deep intensive ways. Further study will also benefit including an extended set of new and structural variables. Presently it looks that flexible firm model can be generalized across countries and occupations, but they cannot be used as long term setting before any firm can set it as usual practice. The criterion of fairness applies through acceptability of the contract defined in terms of offers and expectations. The theoretical concept was supported by empirical investigation. The psychological contract is a hypothetical contract. Rawls, 1971 suggested that hypothetical contract can be accepted as psychological contract only if it is assessed as fair. Psychological contract consists of offers and expectations which cannot be measured in terms of promises and obligations for both parties involved in contract. This terminology is considered in accordance with legal contract definitions (cf. Applebey, 2001; Atiyah, 1989; Bucher, 2003; Knapp & Chrystal, 1987; Lando & Beale, 1999), which is contract without agreement from both sides and doesn't produce obligations. It depends on employment relationship and their track record for success. The empirical studies on the psychological contract supports that both parties in a contract fulfills their requirement. The fairness of the psychological contract is important in work flexibility which is supported by empirical study in accordance with theoretical conceptualizations. The fairness of the contract is evaluated by the content, the procedural and interactional fairness of the contract and employee's perception of the content. Manager's perception of the expectations measured in terms of fairness criteria does not necessarily match with employee's perception of the overall fairness. Employee's perceived contract as fair only if they find there is very small gap between their expectations and employee's offer in the context of security, retention and learning opportunities. Otherwise they see themselves as on the negative side of expectation. This gap leads to the conclusion that there is need of covering the gap between company's offer and employee's expectation. But if there is small discrepancy which can be ignored is acceptable. The analysis of discrepancies lead company to realize that action is required to meet the employee's expectation. These issues lead to organization's benefit as they change the policy to meet the employee's expectation and achieve higher productivity in return. Company's offer and employee's expectation strike balance at some point to be in win-win situation for both sides. If employee changes the firm after getting the learning opportunity from current employer, it helps in employees in front of career scale. But if they continue in same organisations, their enhanced career and skill gives company greater flexibility in utilizing the resources of time and money in better way. The finding of result which is done by web survey indicates that there is contract limit which defines the criteria for acceptance of fairness. There are chance of getting better framework and insight by providing more factors in assessing the employment relationship. Method and procedure of evaluating the model has significant impact on the fairness of the contract. The contract can be perceived as fair if the procedures are transparent and negotiation of the contract is possible. As web-survey has been used to accomplish the fact of this model, qualitative aspect of employee is not captured in accurate way to assess their view. This cross-sectional study does not provide enough pictures to realize how employees perceive the contract as fair enough. It has been established in model for contract fairness cf. Turnley & Feldman, 1999) that further research is required to assess the fact that how employees perceive it as contract fairness on the basis of questions framed in model. Procedural and interactional justice has been proved as criteria for overall fairness in assumption taken by (cf. Brockner & Siegel, 1996; Cropanzano & Randall, 1992). The relation between company's fairness and psychological contract violations highlights the importance of procedural and interactional justice in organizational processes. The findings of survey emphasized that it is ok to apply the fairness principle directly to the contract. From legal point of view, it suggests that measurement of the quality of the contract with a fairness judgment gives better understanding in applying the law instead of breach or violations. Individual assessment of work flexibility experienced in organizations reflects significant results in the explanation of variance between individuals. It is positive for some people for career growth in context of organisational changes as they get better positions in hierarchy and more responsibility and high perks. Some of them also get scared of job insecurity. Downsizing and high degree of flexibility does not affect negatively to the large size of employees but it affects certain group of employees in their orgnasiational responsibility. So it becomes necessary to assess the effects of company's processes on psychological contracts. This analysis reflects and gives enough credentials in employees' positions in the restructuring and their different options for their employment in future. The results proved that flexibility has impact on psychological contracts and its fairness. It is not confined to the quantitative analysis of different groups of employees but also assess their individual perception of the flexibility they feel. The role and responsibilities of employees governed their employment situation in the company and it has certain impact on influence of the contract. Employer's have different perspective on the psychological contract that shows significantly in the fairness employees perceived. The perspective of the two sides does not correspond. Herriot, Manning, & Kidd, 1997; Lester, Turnley, Bloodgood, & Bolino, 2002 and Porter, Pearce, Tripoli, & Lewis, 1998 report differences between the perspective of the two sides of the team. Psychological contract is not considered as real contract both parties have agreed on. There are gaps in contract partners and the employees who participated in the study were in some cases separated by hierarchy levels. The different strategies of sampling do not capture the working situation as participants are part of higher level of hierarchy. As the result focuses on a quantitative approach, there seems to cover the missing part as existing quantitative survey did not reflects the true picture in context of the company's change and flexible environment. As web-survey has been used, the reliability of measures cannot be proven. In order to improve the reliability of survey, the criteria to check the fairness of psychological contract should be improved. There is need of qualitative data to be integrated into the statistical analysis. If higher degree of explicitness is involved in psychological contract it can be converted into legal contract for which there is mutual agreement is possible between both parties. As survey has been done in only one organisation, there is limitation in giving generalised theory. Contract issues were mostly part of the performance review. Individual differences can be respected by explicitly defining the psychological contract explicitly. Daniels (2001) suggests that the highest levels of actualizations are transcendent in their nature and it helps in the understanding the human behaviour and motivation. There is gap between empirical evidence and theoretical framework of Maslow's theory. There is need of more qualitative analysis rather than simply relying collecting and analyzing data. However it is very important for managers and administrators for developing and using human potential. It gives fair outline to assess the character and competencies of human beings to make them fit in information age. Pugh and Hickson summarise the Motivation-Hygiene theory in a single sentence as "The events that led to job satisfaction were of quite a different kind from those that led to dissatisfaction" (2007, p. 234). Hygiene factors are limited in their ability to increase job satisfaction on basis of working conditions, administrations, and salary, while their absence leads to job dissatisfaction. These factors are roughly equivalent to the lower levels of Maslow's lower level of pyramid. Herzberg grouped these needs as those of an "Adam" view of man, concerned with "primary drives" (as cited in Miner 2005, p. 64) in his later work "Work and the Nature of Man". Herzberg's motivation factors can be roughly equated to the upper levels of Maslow's hierarchy, including such things as professional accomplishment, growth, self-actualization, and esteem. In Herzberg's studies, 81% of factors which contribute to job satisfaction are described as Motivators (growth and development), while 69% of factors which contributed to job dissatisfaction were described as Hygiene (work environment and compensation). During the course of Herzberg's twelve investigations, these numbers stayed remarkably consistent (Pugh & Hickson, 2007, p. 235). If the hygiene factors of an occupation are not adequately met, motivators such as potential advancement or the raw appeal of the job's responsibilities lose much of their ability to motivate (Montana & Charnov, 2000, p. 241). If there is mismatch between hygiene factor and motivation factor, like a job has adequate hygiene but provides no scope for growth, responsibility or professional self-realisation, it will not attract creative and motivated people. The aim of this study was to analyse the component structure of job satisfaction in the Saudi Service Sector and, in particular, to explore whether the construct of job satisfaction consists of one or more sets of components (factors) ,making reference to Herzberg's classification in motivators and hygiene factors. In addition we wanted to check whether these components are independent, as Herzberg suggested. Our results suggested that job satisfaction can be considered as two-dimensional, distinguished motivators from hygiene aspects, and thus supported Herzberg's classification. Hawthorne effect has been implied to reach the balance between economics and social needs of employee. But it can be construed as a pain point for modern manager for keeping the employee's focus on work intact. Still web-survey shows that if employee has better sense of belongingness, their productivity increases. Results in survey of question no 11 which reflects that more than 75% of employees feel that job-pressure prevents them from taking part in community's activities. That's the true Hawthorne Effect. Job characteristics theory links enhanced core job characteristic with higher levels of what Hackman and Oldham termed "internal motivation" described as a "self-perpetuating cycle of positive work motivation driven by self-generated (rather than external) rewards for good work" (1980: 72).It supports the notion that jobs regarded as challenging, important, and autonomous are more intrinsically motivating. Fried and Ferris (1987) have analyses over 200 studies and reported corrected correlations ranging from .22 to .52 between the five core characteristics and intrinsic motivation. Author argues that intrinsic motivation should have positive effects on the forms of the task withdrawal like daydreaming, socialising, frequent breaks etc. that is detrimental in work efficiency. Similar view has been adopted by Kanfer (1991) that key attributes for performance effects of intrinsic motivation is consistency of task engagement. Engagement directly affects the quality of work by improving the task related skills. quality. The theoretical contributions discussed above should be interpreted in light of this study's limitations. The data that were collected are cross-sectional, so alternative explanations for observed results may exist. Suggestions for Future Research There is need of experimental research in the laboratory and field to establish the finer relationship between work-life balance and five core characteristics. If we can correlate the aspects of transformational pattern account with favorable task assessment, it will help in empirical evidence. For example, which factor has more effect on job perceptions between individual considerations or intellectual stimulations Specific goal measurement can give better picture than generalized assumptions considered in web-survey for Saudi Armco. The Adams' Equity Theory of motivation proposes that employee's fair treatment and justice in comparison to their peers directly governs their productivity and levels of motivation which agrees with theme of Maslow's pyramidal diagram and two factors of motivation as classified by Herzberg (intrinsic and extrinsic). Equity theory tries to strike a balance between input provided by employer and output produced by employee. If balance is not achieved properly, it will result in employee dissatisfaction which has to be compensated by more compensation and awards. Some employee will become demotivated and go for other options. There is evidence in survey done in many organisations shows that work-life balance is an increasing concern in several industrialized countries. There are unprecedented rate of employee's dissatisfaction in countries like Saudi Arabia, European Union, Australia and the United States. Employee wants to achieve the work-life balance by introduction of policy to address their issues like reduced work hours, flextime concept. There is wide spread acknowledgement of the negative impacts of work-life imbalance on employee's physical and mental health which affects their ability to take care of their dependents and carry out other household responsibilities. Corporate and government also recognise work-life imbalance results in reduced cost effectiveness for employers. These symptoms can be identified by reduced productivity, high absenteeism and increase investment in health benefits of employee. Conclusions This dissertation finds that governments and organisations are responding to the issue of work-life conflict through a providing multiple policies and programs. Still, there is no "one size fits all" approach to resolve all the issues concerned with wrong equation. Social and human values in accordance with corporate and state's involvement in policy work-life balance will bring better benefits for employee as well stakeholders involved. New models based on taking the findings of each model discussed above will help individuals to achieve their career goals as well as employers to increase their business values. Evidence based on survey suggests that improvement in Human resource practices related with flex time, work location flexibility, development of supportive higher authority, helps in achieving better work-life balance. These policies to consider work-life balance has significant impact on employees as measured in terms of statistics based on commitment, productivity, absenteeism, accident rates, recruitment, retention, job satisfaction and turnover. Overall satisfaction of employees who works for the progress of organization affects bottom line of business. Companies see the benefits of practicing work-life balance program. Human resource policies, training programs to achieve skills, work culture; management role and welfare programs to reach at employee level are key parameters which evaluate the success of work-life balance program. At last self-management is very important in reducing the influence of stress factors coming from various factors by adopting right attitude to encounter the effects. Different version of questionnaire according to compatibility of employee in particular organization can be prepared for further studies. This type of selective research specific to company has revealed surprising results and discrepancies in comparison to employers' and employees' perspectives. (e.g. Dabos & Rousseau, 2004; Lester, Turnley, Bloodgood, & Bolino, 2002; Porter, Pearce, Tripoli, & Lewis, 1998). This analysis of psychological contracts in the context of work flexibility in organization policy can be applied. Due to the time-consuming qualitative survey method, author has only used one organisation. In many cases, the sample may be unrepresentative especially when research studying only one orgainsation (Saunders et al, 2003).Still in context of Restricted Maximum Likelihood, as applied in this study, gives evidence enough which can show reasonable variance estimates even for six to twelve groups. In summary - Survey and its analysis reflects difficulty in defining clear-cut cause of stress still it has shown enough evidence to measure the roles and responsibilities of each side of table in context of employee and employer for better policy. -Open communication between workers and organization can clear air of doubts for better handling of the environment to meet the credentials. - A clear contract between stakeholder will define the expectations to fulfill and will help is holding their responsibility in smoother way. - Stress is major issue in forthcoming future which will affect all areas of company. So, employer has to take precaution to mitigate the pain by taking effective steps in workplace. Read More