Work-Family Conflict and Work Stress among Married Working Women In Public and Private Sector Organizations

Transcription

1 Work-Family Conflict and Work Stress among Married Working Women In Public and Private Sector Organizations Dr.M.Dhanabhakyam Assistant professor Department of commerce, Bharathiar University Coimbatore, South India J.Malarvizhi PhD research scholar Department of commerce, Bharathiar University Coimbatore, South India Abstract Aims: This study examined the influence of Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Work stress (WS) perceived from married working women. Objective of the study: The objective of the present study is to determine whether, conscientiousness moderates the relationship between WFC and stress. Study Design: The study adopted a comparative study in statistical research approach. Methodology: Participants in the study include five hundred public sector organizations and five hundred private sector organizations married women randomly selected in Bangalore, India. Index of Work stress; Multidimensional Scale of Work-Family Conflict Scale. Three research questions were raised. The Mean, Standard Deviation, Standard Error, ANOVA, and correlation models were used for analysis of data generated. Results: This clearly indicates that increase in work family conflict leads to increase in work stress and vice versa among married working women. Work-family conflict (t=-0.36, NS), Mean difference between correlation of public sector (19.99) private sector (19.84). Perceived work stress (t=2.01, P=<0.05), Mean difference between correlation of public sector (20.45) private sector (19.85). Work family conflict is positively and significantly correlated with work stress (r=.326, p< 0.01). Conclusion: The outcome of the present study is finding that there is a significant positive relationship between levels of occupational stress and family difficulties in working women. Observed that women in professional job positions with high job demand were more prone to experience work-family conflict and work stress. Keywords: Married working women, Stress, Work family conflict, Work life conflict INTRODUCTION Workers today are more likely than ever to be concerned with how to balance their work and family lives. Competing demands, which arise between work and personal roles, often result in conflict for employees. Work-family conflict is unavoidable in modern Westernised life. There could be many reasons for this, among which a few are the ongoing changes which occur in working life which play a particularly important role in one s family life. Many challenges have arisen in addressing the balance between work and family responsibilities. The traditionally accepted roles of women and men have been brought into question. A few concerns have been raised as to the capacity of families to provide for their dependants. For many families the issues of time management, long irregular working hours, lack of working time flexibility, unequal distribution of work, lack of child care facilities or simply finding time to meet the demands of work while fulfilling family responsibilities have been raised. Both women and men are vulnerable to work-family conflict, IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 46

2 although women experience more role overload, more interference from work to family and more interference from family to work Work stress has always been a focus of prime concern for the industrial/organizational psychologists. Organizations (WHO) as the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their abilities to cope (Leka, Griffiths, & Cox, 2004). Studies have consistently demonstrated the diverse physiological and psychological consequences of work stress. Stress in moderate levels has motivating effects on the employees but whilst present in elevated levels is found to have detrimental effects both upon the individual and organization. In the present global scenario India has surfaced as a formidable force in Asia's economic growth. India in the frontiers of developing nations of the world is also home to the world's second largest workforce approximately 478 million people. Indian society traditionally patriarchal now presents a complex multitude of tradition and modernity this transition is mainly due to industrialization, urbanization, globalization, education and women empowerment. At present women compose 32% of working population in India. Though the number of women entering work life in India seems proliferating, the cultural ethos that relegates women more as home makers rather than bread winners make work-family balance harried especially for married working women. Work-family conflict The following section describes theories that are directly and indirectly related to work-family conflict. Whereas segmentation theory, compensation theory, spillover theory, identity theory, theory of role balance and effort-reward imbalance are theories of work-family conflict, Maslow s (1970) hierarchy of needs and expectancy theory are theories that attempt to describe work-family conflict indirectly. Segmentation theory Three different perspectives have been proposed with respect to the manner in which work and family roles interact. Firstly, segmentation theory assumes that work and family are independent domains and that individuals may separate them in terms of time, physical location, emotions, attitudes, and behaviours (Lambert, 1990). Greenhaus and Beutell s (1985) description of work-family conflict as a form of interrole conflict in which family and work-demands are incompatible in some way, forms part of this theory. Compensation Theory Secondly, compensation theory postulates that people who are not satisfied in one domain will seek satisfaction in another domain. Individuals can compensate for dissatisfaction in one role in a number of ways: they can reduce the importance ascribed to a less rewarding role or they can seek rewards and invest more time and attention in an alternative role. Evidence for compensation has been found in a number of studies. Spillover theory The third and most popular theory is that of spillover, which reflects two distinct sets of concepts. One set represents negative spillover between work and family and is ascribed to a less rewarding role or they can seek rewards and invest more time and attention in an alternative role. Evidence for compensation has been found in a number of studies. Rothbard (2001, as cited in Jones, Burke & Westman, 2006) found that women who experienced negative effects from family were more engaged with their work, as confirmed by the compensation theory. It means that such women enjoy their work and that actually compensates for the unhappiness experienced at home. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY To study the Work-family conflict of women employees To examine the factors involved in WFC and stress To suggest to improve the WFC in particular area. About the women employees IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 47

3 The employment of women has, thus played a vital role in initiating changes in the social structure in India. Employment in an organization has drawn out women from the family responsibilities and household obligations. The income earned by them has provided them a certain measure of esteem, prestige and freedom in the family. This has made than more self-reliant, selfdependent and confident. Role of the women has been traditionally confined to the family. In most societies of the world, women have been defined largely in terms of their function as wives and mothers. The family patterns too are changing fast and so are the envisaged roles of various family members. Change in the economic contribution of married women has far reaching effects on performance of their family roles and expectations of other family members. This situation has given rise to the issue of management of family roles. The employed women and her family In the case of employed women, a new additional role is added to her existing role as house wife and mother. Thus she is subject to plurality of role expectations which are mutually incompatible consequently, the delicate balance of her former familial role system is disturbed. She is exposed to plurality of roles of different nature. This may lead to role interference, until equilibrium is resorted between different role expectations to which she is subjected. In the traditional stage, the employed women are exposed to the conflicting sets of role expectations. The married working women are required to play dual roles, are as mothers and house wives and the other as employees. Being subjected to dual demands at home and work, they are liable to face a crisis of adjustments. Working women and family relations In the inter-role situation, family relations are of great significance. Since married women are members of a family, their decision to work or refrain from doing so, depends upon the views and needs of their respective husband and other family members and it presuppose a series of practical adjustments. The traditional joint family in India organized some important relationship i.e. between parents and children, husband and wife, mother-in-law and daughter in-law and between brothers. These relationships have undergone some significant change in their work and life. Due this kind of tie-up working women have lot of responsibility to take care of their family members and also participate in family rituals. When they do not attend to these requirements they have heavy struggle in managing healthy life. Work over load Figure: 1 Work family conflict Stress Family work conflict REVIEW OF LITERATURE Bedeian, Burke and Moffett (1988) conducted a study on 423 male and 335 female accounting professionals, developed a model to explore the work-related role stress and parental demands and indirect influence through work life imbalance on job satisfaction and marital satisfaction. It was found that work family imbalance served as a link between work-related role stress IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 48

4 and martial satisfaction for both men and women and parental demands were neither directly related to marital satisfaction nor directly related to job through work family imbalance. Finally, they found that work-related role stress influenced life satisfaction indirectly through job satisfaction as well as through work life imbalance. Desai (2003) conducted a study on work-family conflict is actually a newly recognised conflict in India. It has been only within the last two or three years that people in India have begun to talk about the strain dual-earner families experience. He further states that many women who are experiencing work-family conflict in their own lives fail to recognise this as a problem that can be resolved. A lot of women are still fulfilling multiple roles such as caregiver, employee, spouse as well as homemaker, without realising that they are assuming a greater burden than necessary. They work on the assumption of no-choice, says Desai (2003, p.1). Marcinkus et al., (2007) explained due to stress and work-family conflicts people feel it difficult to make a balance between the job and their social life. There are also so many other independent factors due to which we can reduce the stress and work-family conflicts. Social support for the women is very essential at the beginning of the Social support helps to maintain balance between work and family affairs and diminishes stress (Cohen and Syme, 1985; Deelstra et al., 2003). In such countries where people feel bad for a women to have a job, social support is very much important for a women to continue her job. Moreover, in those organizations where there is a flexible schedule women can work more easily as compared to other organizations. Basically Work-family balance helps to reduce the work-family conflict (Frone, 2003; Rossi, 2001; Grzywacz and Marks, 2000). Mohan and Ashok (2011) explained that Stress is often developed when an individual is assigned a major responsibility without proper authority and delegation of power, inter personal factors such as group cohesiveness, functional dependence, communication frequency, relative authority and organizational difference between role sender and forcal persons. Zhang and Liu (2011) tested a antecedents of WFC from the aspects of individual, work and family. Antecedents include the effects of individual factors like demographic and personality variables, the influences of work variables like work stress, family friendly programs and impacts of family variables like family demands and spousal interactions. Workplace characteristics can also contribute to higher levels of WFC. Researchers have found that the number of hours worked per week, the amount and frequency of overtime required, an inflexible work schedule, unsupportive supervisor, and an in hospitable organizational culture for balancing work and family all increase the likelihood of WFC. SIGNIFICANCE OFTHE STUDY The researcher can gain practical knowledge about the various factors that forms part of work family conflict and work stress among the women employees. The researcher has an opportunity to interact with the women employees of various departments in the public and private sector organisation employees and get to know their ideas and opinions on work role and family role characteristics, which is created a stress n her life. Research over the last two decades is replete with empirical evidences of ongoing and mounting occurrences of work-family conflict and workplace stress for men and women. Scanty information is available comparing the impact of work-family conflict and work stress of working women in public and private sector organizations in India. Hence the present research is an attempt to compare and assess work-family conflict and work stress among married working women in private and public sector organizations. METHOD Sample The sample for this study comprised of 1000 married working women (500 public sector organizations and 500 private sector organizations) randomly selected from (Udupi) Karnataka. The sample selection for this study was mainly from educational institutions, police, hospitals, and IT industry in public and private sectors. IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 49

5 Data Collection The primary method of data collection was adopted in this study. The data collection was done over a period of 2 months. Data collected through questionnaire. Statistical analysis The statistical package for social science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. The Mean, Standard Deviation, Standard Error, ANOVA, and correlation were the statistical analysis done. Table No: 1 BACK GROUND DETAILS OF THE RESPONDENTS Characteristics Public Private Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Age Above 50 Education HSC UG Diploma PG M.Phil/PhD Nursing/MBBS Education Designation Institution Hospitals Police IT Income Below 20, to,000 31,000 to 40,000 41,000 to 50,000 Above 50,000 Experience Below Above Family type Joint Nuclear Source: Primary data IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 50

6 Table No: 2 Mean SD, S.Em, and t-value for married working women in public and private sector organizations in their work-family conflict, and work stress. Variables Organization N Mean SD SEm t -value LS Work Family Conflict Public Private N.S Work Stress Public Private ** 0.05 ** Significant at 0.05 level; N.S- Not Significant But table 2 also indicates the work stress (t=2.01, p< 0.05) of married working women was significantly influenced by the type of organization (public/ private sector). The significant mean differences in work stress for married working women in public sector organizations (20.45) and private sector organizations (19.85) indicates that work stress was more among married women working in public sector organization than those working in private sector organizations. In this study the correlation co-efficient were worked out in order to understand the relationship of work family conflict and work stress. It is evident from the table 3 that work family conflict is positively and significantly correlated with work stress (r=.326, p< 0.01). This clearly indicates that increase in work family conflict leads to increase in work stress and vice versa among married working women. Table No: 3 Correlation between Work-Family Conflict and Work Stress among married working women Variables R Work-Family Conflict 0.326** Work Stress **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). FINDINGS OF THE STUDY Work family conflict is not limited to employees with traditional or those who have higher level position is another important implication of this study the effect family work and family roles where determinants to their well being. Conflicts experienced at work are seen from a negative point of view in collectivist societies and therefore, job satisfaction in such societies is much more affected than in individualistic societies where social relations are more important. Work-family conflict directly affected the employees work and family activities and it s creating a stress with her life. IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 51

7 CONCLUSION: The outcome of the present study is finding that there is a significant positive relationship between levels of occupational stress and family difficulties in working women. Mainly observed that women in professional job positions with high job demand were more prone to experience workfamily conflict and work stress. Working women faced stress in managing their personal life with work life. Researchers assessed the relationship between organizational justice and work stress and to distinguish whether work-family conflict was a mediator of the relationship and reported that presence of justice appears to permit participants to better deal with the interface of their work and family lives was associated with lower work stress levels. REFERENCES: 1. Adams, G. A., King, L. A., and King, D. W. (1996). Relationships of job and family involvement, family social support, and work-family conflict with job and life satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, Allen, T. D., Herst, D., Bruck, C., and Sutton, M. (2000). Consequences Associated with workto family conflict: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, Aminah, A. (1996). Work-family conflict among married professional women in Malaysia, The Journal of Social Psychology, 136 (5), Aryee, S. (1992). Antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict among married professional women: Evidence from Singapore. Human Relations, 45(8), Burke, R. J. (1988). Some antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 3, Bedeian, A.G., Burke, B.G., & Moffett, R.G. (1989). Outcomes of work-family conflict among married male and female professionals. Journal of Management, 14,(3), Chapman, A.D. and Busby, J.R. (1994). Linking plant species information to continental biodiversity inventory, climate and environmental monitoring in Miller, R.I. (ed.). Mapping the Diversity of Nature. London: Chapman and Hall 8. Cole and secret (2012) factors associated with work family conflict, stress among African American women, and journal of social work public health. 27(4); Duxbury, L. and Higgins, C. (2003). Work life conflict in Canada in the new millennium: A status report, from ail /report2/ 10. Frone M, Russell M, Cooper M. (1997). Stress and alcohol use: moderating effects of gender, coping, and alcohol expectancies. Journal of Abnormal psychology. 101(1): Greenhaus, J. H., and Singh, R. (2003). Work-family linkages. In Pitt-Catsouphes, M., and Kossek, E. (Eds.). Work-family encyclopaedia. Chestnut Hill, MA: Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College. Online at: Higgins, C., Duxbury, L., & Lee, C. (1992). Balancing work and family: A study of Canadian private sector employees. London, Ontario: National Centre for Management, Research and Development, University of Western Ontario 13. Judge TA, Colquitt JA. (2004), Organizational justice and stress: the mediating role of workfamily conflict. Department of Management, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville , USA. 14. Mohan, N., & Ashok, J., (2011). Stress And Depression Experienced by Women Software Professionals in Bangalore, Karnataka, Global Journal of management and Business Research, Global Journals Inc. (USA), Vol. 11 Issue: 6, Version 1.0 May Zhang, J., & Liu, Y. (2010). Antecedents of work-family conflict: Review and prospect. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(1), IRJBM ( ) Volume No VII October Issue 10 Page 52