Question 1
“In recent years, companies have increasingly adopted flexible work arrangements to help company managers address negative work-family/ family-work spillover.” (Kim, Kim & Kim, 2017 p1)
Introduction
The work environment has undergone significant changes in recent years due to the prevalence of various micro and macro factors that function in the organizational setting. The difference between the work and non-work components has grown in the public sector and the private sector. According to the organizational researchers, the business entities that function today have understood the relevance of the interaction between the work-life and non-work life of the employees. Due to this reason, they have started introducing flexible work model that can help the organizational personnel to have a control over their personal and professional life.
The essay has been designed to help the readers understand the meaning of work and non-work. SR Parker’s theoretical model forms a critical component of the essay. According to him, there are three main kinds of relationships that exist between work and non-work namely extension pattern, opposition pattern and neutrality pattern. These components have been highlighted in the essay because they help to understand how people perceive their work and non-work life (Parker, 1965). All these patterns have been elaborated further so that the positive and negative elements associated with work and leisure can be highlighted. In the current times, when there is a high level of stress among the professionals, this essay can add value to address the negative impact of the work and family conflict (Parker, 1965).
Work and Non-work – Two sides of the same coin
In recent years, the association between the work and leisure aspects of life has undergone significant change. A large number of research studies and surveys have been conducted for the purpose of understanding the exact relationship between these major life components. In spite of a large number of studies, there is debate regarding the connection between the two elements. According to the research paper “Spillover Versus Compensation: A Review of the Literature on the Relationship between Work and Nonwork” by Graham L. Staines, the experience of workers on and off the job needs to be assessed by firms. It can help business firms to understand how the work impacts the well-being of professionals and workers (Staines, 1980).
According to Denise Rousseau’s “Compensation v/s Spillover”, the main relationships that arise due to the work and non-work components include the spillover effect and the compensatory effect. According to the spillover effect, the task and activities that individuals are supposed to do in a work setting have a particular level of challenge on their non-work activities. Generally, the spillover exists where there is a similarity between the work and non-work aspects of an individual’s life.
The second type of relationship is the compensator relationship. It states that if an individual is able to accomplish the required task in the work setting, then there would be need of the work in the non-work setting. This relationship is very hardly found in the organizational research. Many managers believe that if an individual is dissatisfied with his work life, he would try to make up for it during his personal time. Thus the relationship between the work and non-work is pretty complex in nature. In order to have a better grasp on the subject, there is need to take into account the various factors that come into play for an individual (Psc.isr.umich.edu, 2018).
The complexity associated with the work and non-work relationship
Every working individual has a work life and a non-work or leisure life. He needs to put in his effort to minimize the complexity associated with these two segments of his life. According to the article “Conflict between work and nonwork roles of employees in the mining industry: Prevalence and differences between demographic groups” by Betsie Steyl and Eileen Koekemoer, the work and non-work conflict seems to be more evident in the current environment (Steyl & Koekemoer, 2011).
There is a need for business organizations to reorganize their work model so that the conflicts that arise between the work and non-work role can be addressed in the best possible manner. Since an individual has to perform several roles in his life, there is a burden on him to give his best in each of the assigned roles. Due to the high demands of the work, the stress level of the workers gets intensified and they fail to actively contribute in the personal and home setting. Steyl and Koekemoer have highlighted a number of demographic factors that come into play and increase the complexity between work and non-work. The main components are age, gender, educational qualification, marital status and parental status (Steyl & Koekemoer, 2011).
In the highly demanding and competitive work setting, the burden on the professionals to deliver quality performance has increased. According to the article “Young people work to survive, not play” by Haya El Nasser, the young professionals have a lot of personal and financial burden (America.aljazeera.com, 2018). They work in order to meet their day-to-day expenses such as rent, electricity bill, food bills, etc. As per the study, less than one percent of the young professionals perform work as a recreational activity. The professionals need to work in a better and healthy work setting so that their work burden and stress can be minimized in the process.
Extension Relationship
As per the review symposium of “Work and Retirement” by Robert C. Atchley, Bernard Casey and Cary Cooper, the very first relationship that exists between work and non-work is the extension relationship (Atchley, Casey & Cooper, 2018). This is a favorable and positive association that allows the people in the professional setting to combine their work and leisure activities. Spillover is another term that is used to describe this favorable association between work and leisure.
The managers basically do not prefer to differentiate between their personal and professional life. The apt example is that of the insurance sellers. These individuals try not to lose a potential client or customer at any point in time. Even if these professionals are on a vacation or leave, they try to sell their insurance products so that they can meet their sales target (Atchley, Casey & Cooper, 2018).
Thus the extension relationship between work and non-work can be easily understood in their professional setting. The other professionals such as doctors, social workers, and teachers also exhibit such a relationship between their work and non-work components of life (Browne, 2006). The most common features that are exhibited in this form of relationship include a high degree of professional commitment, involvement of the professionals, and job satisfaction. The diagrammatic presentation below highlights the main attributes of the extension relationship between the work and non-work components.
Opposition Relationship
The opposition relationship is nothing but the negative association between the work and non-work components. According to Ken Browne, in the opposition work-leisure pattern, there is a sharp contrast between work and leisure activities of an individual. In this relationship setting, the professionals try to find an opportunity to escape from various kinds of hardships of work and profession.
As per Browne, the occupation of people and their experience in the occupational setting is influenced by a number of factors such as the amount of independence in the work setting, job satisfaction and the compensation model. The pattern of relationship between the work and leisure that has been proposed by Parker has been presented in the diagrammatic form (Browne, 2006).
The work and leisure are considered to be two mutually exclusive components of an individual’s life that cannot be linked with each other. Example – the people who generally work in the monotonous work setting such as the assembly-line work generally experience this form of opposed relationship.
The compensation or remuneration model plays a significant role in this setting. Managers can implement a solid compensation model so that the employees can be encouraged to improve their productivity and efficiency in the work setting. But high degree of work-related stress and pressure can have an adverse impact on the workers in the long run. This can intensify the conflicts in their personal front. According to the research paper “Impact of Incremental Increases in Cognitive Workload on Physiological Arousal and Performance in Young Adult Drivers” by Bruce Mehler and Jeffery Dusek, a high level of workload can have a negative impact on the psychological mindset of an individual. The stress related to work ultimately has an impact on the productivity and contribution of an employee in the operational setting (Mehler et al., 2009).
The stressful and boring jobs encourage people to opt for exciting leisure activities that can have a positive impact on their flexibility. In the prevailing work setting, the professionals have understood the importance of drawing a line between their work life and their non-work life. They are trying to balance their life in the best possible manner so that they can have a separate personal time for their family and a separate professional time for their colleagues and managers (Mehler et al., 2009).
According to the journal “Introducing Taylor to the knowledge economy” by Steve Paton, there are certain kinds of work that requires knowledgeable workers to function in a monotonous and complex work setting. As they are unable to use their knowledge, they get frustrated in the work setting. It gives rise to opposition relationship between work and nonwork.
Neutral Relationship
The neutral relationship between work and non-work highlights the fact that the employees or professionals do not have any say to arrange their professional work. The management body of an organization is responsible to allocate the work for different professionals based on their roles and capabilities. In order to strengthen the job satisfaction of individuals in the professional setting it is necessary for the management to carefully design the remuneration package. Parker has stated that the professionals with high level of autonomy showcase the extension relationship whereas the people with low level of autonomy showcase a neutral relationship.
According to the book “Sociology, work and organization” by Tony Watson, the neutrality relationship between work and leisure has limited or no impact on an individual’s life. The people who are not satisfied with their work and work setting, exhibit this form of relationship between work and leisure. It has an adverse impact on the productivity of the business organization (Browne, 2006).
The diagrammatic representation below highlights the nature of the work and the nature of the leisure that is linked with the different kinds of relationships between work and non-work.
Source: (Browne, 2006)
Significance of women in the workplace
In the current professionals setting, the role of women professionals has gained significance. Due to their high involvement in the organizational setting, there seems to be a high degree of imbalance in the work and leisure aspects. The researchers need to take into consideration their role and participation while assessing the relationship between work and non-work components. According to the book “The Sociology of Work”, the researchers need to take into account a number of elements that have gained significance in the professional environment such as the role of women, globalization, technological advancements, etc. Today, women have to contribute not only in their personal space but also in their professional space (Caplow, 1954). The rise in the number of roles further intensifies the conflict between work and non-work. Firms need to design the work based on the changing work setting so that a flexible and friendly working environment can be designed to address the negative work-family/family-work spillover.
Conclusion
The work setting has undergone drastic modifications in recent decades. So the management teams need to understand the exact relationship that exists between work and non-work aspects of an individual’s life. This can help to introduce flexible working conditions that can ensure the welfare and well-being of the professionals. The three main kinds of relationships that have been highlighted in the essay are the extension relationship, opposition relation and the neutral relationship. A number of research studies and journal publications have been used to evaluate the prevailing relationship between work and leisure.
Since the managers have realized the significance of such relationships; they have started taking the initiative of introducing flexible components in the work setting. The main objective is to help the employees deal with the negative impact of the work-family/ family-work spillover. Such an initiative by the business organizations is not only beneficial for the employees but is also fruitful for the organizations. By working in a friendly and constructive work setting, the professionals can have a balanced and stress-free life. Similarly, business organizations can improve their own productivity if the employees are able to deliver their maximum in the competitive business environment.
References
America.aljazeera.com. (2018). Young people work to survive, not play. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/2/15/young-people-work-to-survive-not-play.html
Browne, K. (2006). Introducing Sociology for AS level. Polity.
- Atchley, R., Casey, B., & Cooper, C. (2018). Review Symposium WORK AND RETIREMENT. Cambridge.org. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/1B8E0E46A6721F0DBED5E0EB3CF70115/S0144686X00009892a.pdf/work_and_retirement.pdf
Caplow, T. (1954). The sociology of work. University of Minnesota press.
Mehler, B., Reimer, B., Coughlin, J., & Dusek, J. (2009). Impact of incremental increases in cognitive workload on physiological arousal and performance in young adult drivers. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (2138), 6-12.
Parker, S. R. (1965). Work and non-work in three occupations. The Sociological Review, 13(1), 65-75.
Psc.isr.umich.edu. (2018). COMPENSATION vs. SPILLOVER. Retrieved 16 January 2018, from https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/dis/infoserv/isrpub/pdf/Compensation_5661_.PDF
Staines, G. L. (1980). Spillover versus compensation: A review of the literature on the relationship between work and nonwork. Human relations, 33(2), 111-129.
Steyl, B., & Koekemoer, E. (2011). The conflict between work and nonwork roles of employees in the mining industry: Prevalence and differences between demographic groups. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(1), 1-14.
