Review Paper on, The Balancing Act: At Work and at Home
The Balancing Act – At Work and At Home
“Conflict between a person’s work responsibilities and family obligations can significantly impact all aspects of the individual’s life.”
SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE
A human being’s life is a complex web of interactions between three significant domains - the self, the family, and work. Balance is ideal, however, instances of chaos between the domains from time to time come about. When the latter happens, all aspects of an individual’s life as well as those around him get affected.
Ineffective balance causes a person to loss interest, satisfaction and commitment at work or at home. Workers tend to become less committed to an organization when they are experiencing work-family conflict.1 Marital problems also begin to unfold. Research has shown that the amount of work-family conflict experienced by one partner directly affects the amount of work-family conflict experienced by the other partner.2
Also, health problems such us psychological distress, depression and even alcoholism may happen. The constant conflict between family – work responsibilities puts pressure to a person’s self domain.
Family-work conflicts arise from three possible occasions. First, time-based conflict which usually is observed when the person spends most, if not all, of his time at work leaving no time for the family. This may also happen when the person is with his family but mentally pre-occupied with work. A second reason would be strain-based conflict. This refers to when a stressful situation occurs from either the family or work and is vented out on the one which has not caused the strenuous experience. This is where the second hand effect of stress transfers to co-employees or family members. A third type would be the behaviour-based conflict. This is when specific behaviours are required in one domain, perhaps at work. For example, a person working as an agent in a BPO has to be reactive and to the point. Having this personality at home
“Conflict between a person’s work responsibilities and family obligations can significantly impact all aspects of the individual’s life.”
SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE
A human being’s life is a complex web of interactions between three significant domains - the self, the family, and work. Balance is ideal, however, instances of chaos between the domains from time to time come about. When the latter happens, all aspects of an individual’s life as well as those around him get affected.
Ineffective balance causes a person to loss interest, satisfaction and commitment at work or at home. Workers tend to become less committed to an organization when they are experiencing work-family conflict.1 Marital problems also begin to unfold. Research has shown that the amount of work-family conflict experienced by one partner directly affects the amount of work-family conflict experienced by the other partner.2
Also, health problems such us psychological distress, depression and even alcoholism may happen. The constant conflict between family – work responsibilities puts pressure to a person’s self domain.
Family-work conflicts arise from three possible occasions. First, time-based conflict which usually is observed when the person spends most, if not all, of his time at work leaving no time for the family. This may also happen when the person is with his family but mentally pre-occupied with work. A second reason would be strain-based conflict. This refers to when a stressful situation occurs from either the family or work and is vented out on the one which has not caused the strenuous experience. This is where the second hand effect of stress transfers to co-employees or family members. A third type would be the behaviour-based conflict. This is when specific behaviours are required in one domain, perhaps at work. For example, a person working as an agent in a BPO has to be reactive and to the point. Having this personality at home