Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Work and family are the central and salient domains in an individual's life. Juggling work and family life have always been a challenge for many employees and families (Hammer et al., 2005). However, with the increased interest in the construct of workfamily enrichment, more attention was given to the positive influences across the life domains. Grzywacz and Butler (2005) found that work-family enrichment improved mental and physical well-being. The objective of this study was twofold; (i) to explore and add to existing research done on work-family enrichment and (ii) investigate the relationships between workfamily enrichment, psychological health and subjective wellbeing of employees within a financial services organisation in South Africa. Three hundred and forty seven questionnaires were administered and one hundred and sixty eight completed questionnaires were returned. Purposive sampling was used to select employees to participate in the study. Data was collected by a self-developed biographical questionnaire, Calson, Kacmar, Wayne, and Grzywacz's (2006) Enrichment Scale, General Health Questionnaire developed by Kalliath, O'Driscoll and Brough (2004) and the Personal Wellbeing Index developed by the International Wellbeing Group (2006). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data and to interpret the descriptive and inferential statistics. Specifically the Pearson Moment Correlation analysis and the T-Test was used. The results indicated that a relationship between work-to-family enrichment and psychological health exist. There was a significant relationship for family-to-work enrichment and psychological health. Furthermore, results indicated a significant relationship between work-to-family enrichment and subjective wellbeing. A significant relationship between family-to-work enrichment and subjective wellbeing was also found. However, no significant differences were found for gender for both work-to-family and family-to-work enrichment. Future considerations, theoretical implications and recommendations for organisations are discussed.

The focus of this study was to investigate work-family conflict, social support and gender ideologies of professional/registered nurses in the South African context, specifically within the Cacadu District (Eastern Cape). The study had four aims: (a) to investigate the construct validity of the measuring instrument, (b) to investigate the relationship between social support provided by family and family interference with work (FIW), (c) to ascertain the influence of shift work on perceived work-family conflict, and lastly, (d) to determine whether there is a difference between the number of children in households and nurses’ perceptions of work-family conflict. A quantitative research design was used in the study. The sample (N = 106) was taken from five district hospitals in the Cacadu District, Eastern Cape. The measuring instrument consisted of three scales, namely the Multi-dimensional Work-Family Conflict Scale (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000), the Social Support Questionnaire (Sarason, Sarason, Shearin, & Pierce, 1987), and an adapted Gender Ideology Scale (Tsai, 2008). The results indicated that the construct validity of the Multi-dimensional Work-Family Conflict scale was satisfactory. However, analysis of the Social Support Questionnaire and Gender Ideology scales both suggested that these scales have not been validated for use with diverse samples outside the contexts in which they were developed. The results also indicated that there is a relationship between social support provided by families and behaviour-based family interference with work. Additionally, there appeared to be a difference between the shifts worked by nurses and their perceived work-family conflict, except for strain-based work interference with family. And lastly, the only significant difference between the number of children in the household and work-family conflict was reported for strain-based work interference with family. The implications of the results for future research suggest the importance of developing and validating work-family conflict, social support and gender ideology scales that are dependent on the context of the research. In so doing, the constructs of the scale are made meaningful. Additionally, the findings provide preliminary evidence of tailoring work-family initiatives that address the needs of the nursing profession and the context of healthcare institutions

In 2000, 79 percent of married Canadian women between the ages of 25 and 44 were in the labour force and 75 percent were employed.1 Many Canadian families with working parents use costly child-care, and many of these families take advantage of the child-care expense deduction (CCED): in 1998, 71 percent of families with pre-school children used child-care services to work or study at a given point in time,2 and 868,460 taxfilers reported nearly $2.4 billion in child-care expenditures on 1,390,200 children.3 In this thesis, I examine the effects of parental labour supply and child-care use on children, the impacts that child-care costs have on the labour supply of married mothers, and the fairness of the tax system with respect to child-care costs. Chapters I, and V are introductory and concluding chapters, respectively. In chapter II, I consider the question of whether parental labour supply and child-care use affect child cognitive and behavioural outcomes. Parental labour supply reduces the amount of time parents have for their children. On the other hand, parents can replace their own time with child-care services and can also purchase more market goods with additional income earned at work. I examine this question using the first three cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), which provide both a large sample size and a rich source of data, including controls for parenting skills. The possible joint detennination of labour supply and child outcomes is also tested. In chapter III, I estimate the impact of child-care costs on the return to work of married Canadian women with children under three, using data from the 1988 Canadian National Childcare Survey (CNCCS) and Labour Market Activity Survey (LMAS). Data from the 1995 Canadian General Social Survey indicate that Canadian mothers have split views on the issue of whether parental labour supply has deleterious effects on child outcomes. Furthermore, women's views on these issues tend to be consistent with their labour supply, suggesting their views may affect whether they choose to work or not. If women's preferences for work are based on thenviews and are correlated with other explanatory variables such as education and cost of care, the estimated coefficients on these explanatory variables will be biased. In order to allow for these potential differences in responsiveness to childcare costs, I estimate separate models where current or previous occupation and weeks worked in the previous 12 months are used as control variables in the estimation to account for heterogeneity of preferences. In chapter IV of the thesis, I use data from the CNCCS and LMAS to examine the vertical and horizontal equity of the CCED. Vertical equity is evaluated by comparing CCED benefit rates for different family levels of earnings. This is done for dual earner families with childcare costs and similar characteristics. Horizontal equity is examined by investigating whether the existence of the CCED increases or decreases the difference between effective tax rates of families with similar earnings but different labour supplies. I use measures of actual and potential earnings to evaluate both vertical and horizontal equity. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

M.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / Orientation: An increasing number of women entering the workplace are experiencing inter-role conflict in their home and work domains. As a result, work-family conflict may occur. This may impact level of work engagement women experience. Research purpose: The study aimed to determine the effect of work-family conflict on work engagement amidst working mothers. In addition, the study investigated the moderating effect of the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness on the correlation between work engagement and work-family conflict. Motivation for the study: A narrow body of knowledge exists that explores the implications of work-family conflict in the South African context, particularly among working mothers. Research design, approach and method: The research design was quantitative and cross-sectional. The sample (n=326) encompassed working mothers. The data was collected by using the Work-to-Family Conflict questionnaire (Netemeyer, Boles & McMurrian, 1996), the Basic Traits Inventory (BTI) (Taylor & de Bruin, 2006) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá & Bakker, 2002). Main finding: This study found that work-family conflict predicts work engagement among working mothers. In addition, the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness predict work engagement but do not moderate the relationship between work-family conflict and work engagement within this sample. Practical/managerial implications: The results of this investigation contribute to the narrow amount of research conducted in the South African context with regard to work-family conflict and work engagement, especially among working mothers. In addition, organisations may gain insight into the effects of work-family conflict on work engagement. Organisations should therefore take measures to provide support to employees so as to decrease the level of iv work-family conflict they experience and consequently, increase work engagement. This study also demonstrates the effect of personality on work engagement.

This master thesis deals with the harmonization of private and professional life. The aim of this thesis is to find effective ways of harmonizing family and work focusing on the female population of working age, especially on women with young children in the preschool age, their position on the labour market and the possibility of reintegration into the workforce with minimal impact on the family and children. The thesis is also interested in the issue of corporate kindergartens and their role in the issue of women's employment. Theory includes the topic of gender, women on labour market, a combination and conflict of work and family and ways of balance work and family. The practical part is divided into two case studies. The first deals with the company kindergarten as one of the possible solutions, from the point of view of management and employees. The second part deals with some concrete examples of solution how women harmonize private life and work.

The diploma thesis deals with insufficient number of women in Leadership. The thesis aim is analysis of most powerful companies in Czech republic and evaluation their steps for better diversity in Leadership. Main question is oriented, if companies are available increased number of women in Leadership with their tools. Teoretic part describe development of this problem. Monitor women position and disadvantages, what they have in their carrer. The second part analyze companies principles, how they try to increase number of women. Influence of government and national organizations are mentioned too. Result of all work is evaluation of effectivity each approaches. I will prove, what approaches are good for women career and what are useful.

This study explored the experiences of employed South African Hindu mothers. The purpose of the exploration was to better understand the coping strategies that these mothers used to deal with their work and family role expectations. South African Hindu mothers are a subset of people who originate from traditional or collectivistic, cultural backgrounds, yet, live in a society in which workplaces subscribe to mainly, Western business practices. By exploring the coping strategies of this collectivistic cultural group in South Africa, the implications are relevant to what is known about coping with work and family demands. Secondary analysis of qualitative data led to the findings of this research. Twenty, unstructured, in-depth interviews allowed participants to share their stories as they wanted. From these stories, findings were that South African Hindu mothers used internal psychological processes, and, external processes to cope with their family and work demands. Internal processes included, reappraisal, ideals on duty, guilt, gratitude and acceptance. External processes included coping by externalising feelings, being supported by others, and, planning and organising. The research considers the influence of cultural norms and traditions juxtaposed by a modern way of living in relation to coping with the demands of work and family expectations. Future studies may benefit from building knowledge on how collectivism shapes coping and what is known about coping for additional, collectivistic cultural groups, particularly, within the South African context

This study focuses on the negative impact that family supportive supervisor behaviors may have on career advancement for women in addition to the positive impact of family supportive supervisor behaviors in reducing work-family conflict. Data was collected using an online questionnaire through a university research management system including student participants and snowball sampling through email and social media platforms for a combined sample of 154 participants. Our results showed that increases in family supportive supervisor behaviors is associated with decreases in work-family conflict in agreement with findings in the literature. More specifically, the study showed that family supportive supervisor behaviors are only related to work-family conflict when supervisor’s hold primarily egalitarian gender beliefs. Contrary to our hypotheses, family supportive supervisor beliefs were positively related to a predictor of career advancement: Career mentoring. While our findings provide clarity for subordinate outcomes when supervisors hold primarily egalitarian beliefs, future research should further examine the potentially negative impacts of family supportive supervisor behaviors in the context of subordinates who have supervisors that hold primarily traditional gender beliefs.

This study investigates the effects of a participative-type management approach termed self-managed work teams (SMWTs) and work spillover into the family environment. The perspective of isomorphism by Aldous (1969), and Rapoport and Rapoport (1965), was used as a paradigm to examine both positive and negative effects of the work-family relationship. A total of 76 employees from the Department of Defense's Quality Division was used in the regression analysis, due to recent transitions into SMWTs. Results reported overwhelming support for the perspective of isomorphism: over 40% of the variation in positive work spillover was explained by SWMT characteristics. Communication with other teams was the single most important factor found to have a significant effect on positive work spillover.

This study examined work-family conflict as a predictor of burnout as well as the moderating role that optimism and pessimism may have had on this relationship. Participants were call centre employees from a financial institution in Cape Town (N = 94). Cross-sectional data was collected via electronic self-report questionnaires. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated the unidimensionality of work-to-family conflict despite the two-dimensional model that was expected. Bivariate regression analysis showed that work-to-family conflict explained a significant proportion of the variance in both dimensions of burnout – emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Contrary to what was expected, the results of the moderation analyses were not significant. Optimism and pessimism did not moderate the relationship between work-to-family conflict and burnout. The results show that work-to-family conflict negatively affects call centre employees' well-being. The results are discussed and implications for management and suggestions for future research are presented.