Att balansera arbetslivet och privatlivet kan vara svårt. Många spenderar mycket tid till arbetet och upplever stress i relation till sysslor som ska utföras utanför arbetet, det vill säga privatlivet. Fyra dagars arbetsvecka är ett sätt bland många att förkorta arbetstiden och förhoppningsvis medföra att stressen i privatlivet minskar. Syftet med denna studie blev därför studien att skapa djupare förståelse för arbetstagares inställning till fyra dagars arbetsvecka med utgångspunkt i balansen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Genom intervjuer undersöks åtta arbetstagares inställning till fyra dagars arbetsvecka. Resultatet visar både förväntade positiva aspekter och vissa utmaningar med fyra dagars arbetsvecka. De positiva aspekterna är bättre återhämtning, ökad effektivitet i arbetet samt ökad konkurrenskraft för företaget. Vidare framkom även några förväntade positiva aspekter av fyra dagars arbetsvecka för privatlivet. Att delges mer tid i vardagen att kunna tillägna obetalt arbete samt en ökad livskvalité. Slutligen framkom även följande utmaningar. Eventuell ökad arbetsbelastningsamt behov av ökad struktur än i dagsläget för att kunna utföra arbetet på färre dagar.

Behovet av att studera generation Z fortsätter att öka i takt med att generationen utgör en allt större del av arbetsplatser världen över. Tidigare forskning har visat att generation Z har särskilda behov, preferenser och värderingar där work-life balance är av stor vikt. Denna studie utforskar work-life balance inom revisionsbranschen med ett specifikt fokus på generation Z. Mot bakgrund av en ökande efterfrågan på work-life balance som finns bland unga arbetstagare idag undersöker studien vad som sker när den efterfrågan möter revisionsbranschen, där det historiskt sett har visat sig vara svårt att uppnå en hållbar work- life balance. Genom kvalitativa metoder, inklusive semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta yrkesverksamma inom revision från generation Z, analyseras generation Z inom revisionsbranschen utifrån individens perspektiv. Genom att använda tematisk analys skapas sedan tre huvudteman som ligger till grund för empirin och efterföljande analys. Studien belyser hur den traditionellt krävande arbetsmiljön i revisionsbranschen utmanar eftersträvad work-life balance. Över tid uppstår utmaningar som har olika starka kopplingar till de olika tidsperioder som genomgås under året, från lågsäsong, till högsäsong och sedan återgång till lågsäsong. Upplevelsen resulterar i insikter om vikten av work-life balance, samt en förändrad syn på framtiden inom revisionsbranschen. Genom att kartlägga nuvarande utmaningar, samt de strategier som generation Z implementerar för att hantera dessa utmaningar, bidrar studien till en djupare förståelse av hur revisionsföretag kan utvecklas för att bättre möta behoven hos den nya generationens arbetskraft. Resultaten visar på en stark önskan om förändrade arbetsvillkor, och på hur viktigt det är för arbetsgivare inom denna bransch att anpassa sig för att attrahera och behålla talang från arbetsmarknadens yngsta generation. Studien bidrar med insikter som kan hjälpa revisionsbranschen att navigera i sin roll i en föränderlig arbetsmarknad, där balansen mellan arbete och privatliv blir alltmer central. Rekommendationer för framtida forskning och praktiska tillämpningar diskuteras, med fokus på hur branschen kan vidta åtgärder för att stärka sin attraktionskraft bland unga yrkesverksamma. Bredare agerar studien som ett tillägg till den ökande forskningen om generation Z och hur deras preferenser för work-life balance är en viktig aspekt för dagens och framtidens arbetsgivare att ta hänsyn till.

Technology has become part of society’s everyday functions, changing rapidly and providing widespread mobility. In South Africa alone, the amount of internet users grew from 8,5 million to 24,9 million in only three years (2011-2014). Currently 90% of these users access this facility from their mobile devices. This statistic illustrates the trend that South Africans are moving towards a continually connected lifestyle, a situation in which information and communication technology (ICT) seems to have become omnipresent. Due the rapid growth of ICT technology and its adoption into people’s lives (both personally and professionally) the influence of such a phenomenon needed to be investigated to understand its impact on individuals and society. Thus, the objective of the present research was to explore the role ICT plays in employees’ work and family domain. The research followed a qualitative research approach and made use of snowball sampling. The sample of participants (N=25) were mostly employees from a professional organisation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data and the interviews were recorded, transcribed and processed through thematic analyses. The analyses revealed the following four main themes with sub-themes flowing from it: 1) the usage of ICT; 2) the role of ICT usage; 3) the challenges relating to ICT usage; and 4) managing work-life interaction by using ICT. Theme 2 lend itself to be sub-divided into four minor subthemes namely: 1) the positive role of ICT usage; 2) the negative role of ICT usage; 3) the role ICT plays in relationships; and 4) the increased expectations brought about by ICT usage. The current research was not without certain limitations, which should be noted. The researcher only investigated the employees themselves and did not extend the unit of analysis to include the household of employees (esp. the partner or spouse). In addition, the majority of the participants were Afrikaans-speaking males, which is not a true reflection of the multicultural society of South Africa promoting gender equality in the work place. Based on the findings of the present research, various recommendations could be made. Future research could firstly enlarge the sample to be more representative of South Africa’s multicultural and diverse society, and secondly, to include the partner or spouse of employees. Organisations should also consider the implementation of various policies on ICT usage. These directives could include the following: a policy to ensure across the board ICT implementation; an after-work hours policy to ensure as little as possible infringement on employees work-life interaction; and a hierarchical policy ensuring the correct communication channels are followed. Lastly, future research could also do multiple comparative studies on the differences between the degree of ICT adoption, or the amount of ICT devices employees utilise and the impact this has on their work-life interaction. Such research can also investigate how the decrease in face-to-face communication impacts social interaction in both the work and nonwork domains and thereby affects employees’ work-life interaction. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Technology has become part of society’s everyday functions, changing rapidly and providing widespread mobility. In South Africa alone, the amount of internet users grew from 8,5 million to 24,9 million in only three years (2011-2014). Currently 90% of these users access this facility from their mobile devices. This statistic illustrates the trend that South Africans are moving towards a continually connected lifestyle, a situation in which information and communication technology (ICT) seems to have become omnipresent. Due the rapid growth of ICT technology and its adoption into people’s lives (both personally and professionally) the influence of such a phenomenon needed to be investigated to understand its impact on individuals and society. Thus, the objective of the present research was to explore the role ICT plays in employees’ work and family domain. The research followed a qualitative research approach and made use of snowball sampling. The sample of participants (N=25) were mostly employees from a professional organisation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data and the interviews were recorded, transcribed and processed through thematic analyses. The analyses revealed the following four main themes with sub-themes flowing from it: 1) the usage of ICT; 2) the role of ICT usage; 3) the challenges relating to ICT usage; and 4) managing work-life interaction by using ICT. Theme 2 lend itself to be sub-divided into four minor subthemes namely: 1) the positive role of ICT usage; 2) the negative role of ICT usage; 3) the role ICT plays in relationships; and 4) the increased expectations brought about by ICT usage. The current research was not without certain limitations, which should be noted. The researcher only investigated the employees themselves and did not extend the unit of analysis to include the household of employees (esp. the partner or spouse). In addition, the majority of the participants were Afrikaans-speaking males, which is not a true reflection of the multicultural society of South Africa promoting gender equality in the work place. Based on the findings of the present research, various recommendations could be made. Future research could firstly enlarge the sample to be more representative of South Africa’s multicultural and diverse society, and secondly, to include the partner or spouse of employees. Organisations should also consider the implementation of various policies on ICT usage. These directives could include the following: a policy to ensure across the board ICT implementation; an after-work hours policy to ensure as little as possible infringement on employees work-life interaction; and a hierarchical policy ensuring the correct communication channels are followed. Lastly, future research could also do multiple comparative studies on the differences between the degree of ICT adoption, or the amount of ICT devices employees utilise and the impact this has on their work-life interaction. Such research can also investigate how the decrease in face-to-face communication impacts social interaction in both the work and nonwork domains and thereby affects employees’ work-life interaction. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en djupare förståelse för kvinnliga chefers upplevelser av möjligheter och hinder i sin karriär i en mansdominerad organisation. Vi vill även undersöka inom vilka livssfärer dessa hinder och möjligheter uppstår. Vi ställer frågor om hur kvinnliga chefer upplever sin karriär i en mansdominerad organisation samt vilka möjligheter och hinder de upplevt och stött på under sin karriär och hur kvinnliga chefer kan skapa en balans mellan de olika livssfärerna, arbetsliv och privatliv. Studien är av kvalitativ art och tar sig an syftet med inspiration från ett narrativt synsätt för att på bästa möjliga sätt förstå deltagarnas personliga berättelser. Datainsamlingsmetoden har skett genom ett tiotal semistrukturerade intervjuer där resultatet visade att möjligheter och hinder främst konstitueras i arbetsorganisationen, att betydelsen av stöd, både från chefer och från privatlivet visade sig vara betydelsefullt och att privatlivet inte påverkar karriären negativt i lika hög grad som karriären påverkar privatlivet. / The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding for women managers and how they have experience opportunities and obstacles during their career in a male-dominated organization. We would also examine in which part of life this opportunities and obstacles really exist. We are investigating questions about how women managers experience their career in a male-dominated industry, what opportunities and obstacles they met during their career and also how women managers create a work life balance. This study is based on qualitative data and aims to describe the purpose from a narrative approach. The data have been collected from ten unstructured interviews, the result showed that opportunities and obstacles mainly occurs inside the work organization, and that the support from managers, but also from the private life is very important. The result also showed that the private life does not affect the career negatively as much as career affect the private life.

This thesis focuses on work-life balance policy; one of the key field of EU gender equality policies. The purpose of this study was to analyze most recently proposed policy on work-life balance ‘An initiative to support work-life balance for working parents and carers’ that aims to upgrade existing policy and legal frameworks. The main objective of the study is to identify problem representation(s) of gender equality in the stated policy. The study objectives comprises of problematizing identified problem representation(s) by drawing attention to silences and underplayed issues including its far-reaching implications on various groups. Analysis presented in this thesis is guided by theoretical framework of poststuructural feminism chiefly through discourse analysis methodology. In that endeavor, Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) approach has been applied for discourse analysis of the policy by employing 3 out 6 postulated questions. The study identifies several problem representations of gender equality in the stated EU reconciliation policy. Among others, childcare responsibility is identified as the most dominant problem representation. Likewise, the study points out silenced issues in the policy. This includes structural challenges affecting accessibility and advancement of women in labour market, the type of work, division of unpaid work besides caring responsibilities, inequalities engendered by intersectional factors, well-being of individuals, family, children, elderly care and commitment from employing organizations. The study finally notes ensuing lived effects on women due to added responsibilities. The study analysis concludes some still present pitfalls in the modernized work-life balance policy.

Titel: Lönemodellens påverkan på fastighetsmäklares balans mellan familje- och arbetsliv. Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi, 15 hp. Författare: Desiree Apell och Liza Malmqvist Handledare: Maria Fregidou-Malama, Ernst Hollander och Pär Vilhelmson Datum: 2014 – maj Syfte: Denna studie avsåg att förklara hur fastighetsmäklare upplevde att deras lönemodell påverkade deras balans mellan familje- och arbetsliv och i vilken utsträckning de ansåg att lönemodellen var stressande eller motiverande. Vidare avsåg den här studien att till viss del validera en framväxande teori, genom att besvara huruvida tre faktorer, kön, karriärambitioner och föräldraskap påverkade fastighetsmäklares upplevda balans mellan familje- och arbetsliv. Metod: Tillvägagångssättet för arbetet var kvantitativa studier i form av mailenkäter. Resultat & slutsats: Om respondenten kände sig motiverad av sin lönemodell upplevde de inte att lönemodellen påverkade deras balans mellan familje- och arbetsliv, dock ansåg de att de hade balans i livet. Flexibla arbetstider kan vara en faktor som bidrog till att respondenterna upplevde balans i livet. Individer som upplevde stress ansåg dock att lönemodellen påverkade deras upplevda balans i livet och ansåg även att de inte hade balans mellan familje- och arbetsliv. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studiens syfte samt forskningsfrågor behöver vidare forskning för att fastlås eller avslås. Även faktorn flexibla arbetstider bör studeras vidare för att fastställa om den bidrar till balans mellan familje- och arbetsliv hos fastighetsmäklare. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien kan inspirera franchisetagare eller chefer inom branschen att utforma stabilare och bättre villkor för sina anställda utifrån vår studies resultat. / Title: The impact of salary model's on real estate agents balance between family and work. Level: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration C, 15.0 hp.         Author: Desiree Apell och Liza Malmqvist Supervisor: Maria Fregidou - Malama, Ernst Hollander and Pär Vilhelmson Date: 2014 – may Aim: The aim of this study was to explain how real estate agents experienced their pay model affecting their balance between family and work and in what extent they felt their pay model being stressful or motivating. Furthermore, the aim of this study was partially to validate an emerging theory by answering whether gender, career aspirations and parenthood-affected real estate agents balance between family and work. Method: We did a quantitative research by using mail surveys. Result & Conclusions: If the respondents felt motivated by their pay model, then they did not experience the salary model was affecting their balance between family and work, however, they experienced balance in life. Flexible working hours could contribute work-life balance to the respondents. Individuals, who experienced stress, also experienced that their pay model was affecting their balance between life and work. They also experienced that they did not have balance between family and work. Suggestions for future research: To be able to determine if this study is credible and generalizable, this study's purpose and research questions need further research. Flexible work should be studied further to determine whether it contributes real estate’s balance between family and work. Contribution of the thesis: Based on this study, this study can inspire the franchisees or executives in the real estate industry to design more stable and better conditions for their employees.

[Truncated abstract] Background Performance measurement in the not-for-profit sector is extremely important in terms of measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of organisations in achieving their goals. Performance indicators assist management in strategic decision making and fulfilling their accountability obligations for the best use of limited resources to funders, purchasers, consumers, and other stakeholder groups. Aim This thesis seeks to further the research into performance measurement in the notfor- profit sector by evaluating the effectiveness of different methods of employment (open employment and supported employment) for people with intellectual disabilities. The disability employment sector is selected as the sector in which to undertake this research, as there are hundreds of disability employment agencies across Australia, which either support people with intellectual disabilities in supported employment or place them into open employment; each of whom contracts directly with the Australian Commonwealth Government for the services they must provide in order to receive funding. Method The Eggleton (1991) performance measurement framework is used to justify the measurement of the effectiveness of the different methods of employment based on the job satisfaction and quality of life of individuals participating in each method of employment. Job satisfaction is measured using a refined version of the Barlow and Kirby (1991) job satisfaction questionnaire, while quality of life is measured using both a refined version of the Schalock and Keith (1993) quality of life questionnaire, and the original questionnaire. One hundred and seventeen people with intellectual disabilities, who were employed in either supported employment or open employment, are interviewed. Statistical analyses are conducted on the entire sample, and also on various sub-samples that control for differences between participants in open employment and supported employment in terms of the type of occupation performed, living environment, and functional work ability.

This exploratory study examined the perceptions and realities of work life balance among medical doctors in Nigerian Public Hospitals. The study aimed to investigate the coping strategies adopted by medical doctors to manage work life balance and finally to examine the gender differences in the lived experiences of male and female medical doctors in Nigeria. The literature revealed that conceptualising work life balance models or employee flexibility in an African work setting is problematic when juxtaposed with primordial African cultural values where work and life are an indissoluble existential unit. The transition from an agrarian economy to new capitalist workplaces in many African countries is still relatively new. This study fills the gap by unveiling the implications this narrative has for understanding contemporary WLB. Forty-one semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted for this study. It involved male and female doctors from public hospitals across three geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The sample of doctors interviewed were specifically resident doctors with a wide range of specialties. Thematic method of data analysis was adopted to provide major themes which were used to discuss the findings of the research investigations. The findings reveal that work in the Nigerian medical sector is notoriously intense as it underscores challenges of long working hours, intense work demand and staff shortage. The findings further suggest women must tread a ‘delicate balance’ between subordination to male authority, domestic responsibilities and ambition/achievement in a professional career. This study makes two key contributions to knowledge. Firstly, the study contributes to existing literature on work-life balance in the Nigerian context, elaborating the situation with work-life balance initiatives and how medical doctors in Nigeria manage to cope with the shortcomings of the organisations. Secondly, the findings fostered a useful extension of the work-family border theory. The border theory explains how individuals navigate between life domains and boundary management. However, the theory has provided little information on the factors that affect how employees manage and negotiate between the domains. This led to the development of the work spiritual life balance model.

Projekt som arbetsform är vanligt för de flesta idag. Det är projektledaren som är ledaren av projektet och har som ansvar att se till att projektmålet uppnås, arbetsuppgifterna fördelas, skapa engagemang och motivera projektdeltagarna. En projektledare har oftast goda kunskaper om hur man på bästa sätt vägleder en projektgrupp genom olika projektfaser för att uppnå goda projektresultat och vilka framgångsfaktorer projektledare ska fokusera på. En framgångsfaktor som ofta inte prioriteras är hur motiverade projektmedlemmarna är. Vad är det som gör att individer gör sitt bästa och hur får man dem till det? Motiverade individer presterar bättre. En ledares beteende kan påverka en individs motivation och därmed även individens prestation. Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om vad projektledare fokuserar på idag när det kommer till att skapa motiverade projektmedlemmar. Det kan vara en väg framåt i utformningen av utbildningar som berör hur ledare arbetar med motivation. För att svara på studiens forskningsfråga har vi intervjuat sex projektledare utifrån en intervjuguide för att ta reda på vad de anser motivera sina projektmedlemmar. Svaren från projektledarna har analyserat och sju handlingar som anses motivera har tagits fram och sedan analyserats utifrån Amabiles progressprincip (Amabile & Kramer 2011b). Progressprincipen visar att viktigast är att individer upplever progress för att känna sig motiverad. Våra resultat tyder på att de projektledare som ingått i studien inte har förstått det. Utifrån vår analys kan vi se att respondenterna fokuserar minst på att underlätta progress för projektmedlemmarna. Det bekräftar resultaten från en undersökning (Amabile & Kramer 2011b) där ledare fått rangordna effekterna av fem faktorer som kan inverka på de anställdas motivation och känslor under arbetet. Projektledarna som intervjuats i den här studien fokuserar mest på den psykosociala arbetsmiljön i arbetsteamet när de ska motivera sina projektmedlemmar.   Nyckelord: Motivation, Projektledning, Progress Principle, Inner Work Life. / Projects as a work form is common for most people today. The project manager is the leader of the project and has the responsibility to ensure achieving the goals of the project, to allocate the tasks, create engagement and motivate participants in the project. A project manager usually has good knowledge about the best way to guide a project team through different project phases to achieve sufficient project results. A success factor that is often not a priority is how motivated project members are. What makes people doing their best and how do you get them to it? Motivated people perform better. A leader's behavior can affect an individual's motivation, and thus also the individual's performance. The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about what project managers focus on today when it comes to creating motivated project members. It can be a way forward in the design of education that concerns how manager’s work with motivation. In order to answer the study's research question, we have interviewed six project managers based on an interview guide to find out what they consider to motivate their project members. We have analyzed the responses from the project managers and we developed seven actions, which were considered to enhance motivation. These were analyzed using The Progress Principle (Amabile & Kramer 2011b). The Progress Principle shows that the most important thing is that individuals experience progress to be motivated. Our results indicate that the project managers included in the study have not understood it. Based on our analysis, we can see that facilitating project members’ experience of progress, is the area least in focus. This confirms the results of a survey (Amabile & Kramer 2011b) where leaders have ranked the effects of five factors that can affect employee motivation and emotions during the work. The project leaders interviewed in this study focus mostly on the psychosocial work environment, when motivating their project members. Keywords: Motivation, Project Management, Progress Principle, Inner Work Life