Organizational culture defines how employees should behave in a given set of circumstances. The purpose of this study involved analyzing the organizational culture of an Icelandic software consultancy company in relation to employees´ work-life balance as an aspect of health, and explaining the process for creating and sustaining a supportive work-life culture. Achieving this purpose required answers to several research questions, What are the components of the existing organizational culture? What is the managers´ role in creating and sustaining this organizational culture? What are the challenges in sustaining this organizational culture? This case study used both quantitative and qualitative methods, and four data sources for triangulation purposes. The methodological approaches included a questionnaire-based survey, completed by 72 employees (90%); semi-structured interviews with eight employees; observations conducted during two separate weeks; and document analysis of various documents dating back a maximum of two years. The results suggest that the case organization´s culture was work-life supportive, i.e., the organization supported and valued employees´ integration of work and private life. The components of the existing organizational culture were defined as: fun, ambition, flexibility, international character, openness, cooperation, informality, flat organizational structure, responsibility, trust, understanding, support, and pride. The managers´ role in creating and sustaining this culture involved availability, supportiveness, understanding, trusting, and giving feedback. Among the main challenges in sustaining the culture was the growth of the organization, which could affect considerably the informal culture. Description of the components of the case organization’s existing culture includes description of the culture’s enablers, according to the purpose of explaining how a supportive work-life culture can be created and sustained. / <p>ISBN 978-91-85721-57-3</p>

Syfte: Det nya arbetslivet har inneburit en rad förändringar för den lönearbetande populationen i Sverige, gällande allt ifrån tid, rum och tillgänglighet i de alltmer flexibla arbetsvillkoren. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka ett antal faktorer i det nya arbetslivet som kan ha inverkan på den lönearbetande populationens livsbalans. Studien undersöker också om det finns skillnader mellan chefers och övriga anställdas livsbalans samt även om chefens nivå i hierarkin påverkar livsbalansen. Metod: Datamaterialet som används i denna kvantitativa studie är hämtat från European Social Survey 2010. Studien bygger på en svensk population bestående av 832 lönearbetande respondenter. Den beroende variabeln är ett index som mäter livsbalans. Kontroll- och oberoendevariablerna mäter bakgrund, familjesituation samt arbetsförhållanden. Analyserna består av medelvärdesjämförelser, korrelationer samt multipel regressionsanalys. Resultat/slutsats: Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen av denna studie är att den faktor som inverkar mest negativt på livsbalansen hos den lönearbetande populationen är om den anställda har personalansvar eller inte. Resultatet av studien visar även en negativ inverkan på livsbalansen för anställda som har barn. En positiv inverkan på livsbalansen är om den anställda har möjlighet att påverka arbetets tempo. Genom denna studie kan även slutsatsen dras att chefsnivå inte har någon inverkan på livsbalansen. / Purpose: Todays changed work-life has caused a number of changes to the wage-earning population in Sweden, regarding everything from time, space and availability in increasingly flexible working conditions. The purpose of this study is to examine a number of factors in the changed work-life that may have caused an impact on the life balance of the wage-earning population. The study also examines whether there are differences between managers and other employees' work-life balance, and also if the manager's level in the hierarchy affects life balance. Methodology: The data used in this quantitative study is taken from the European Social Survey of 2010. Study is based on a Swedish population consisting of 832 wage-earning respondents. The dependent variable is an index measuring life balance. The control and independent variables measures the background, family situation and working conditions. The analyzes consist of mean comparisons, correlations and multiple regression analysis. Results: The main conclusion of this study is that the factor that has the largest impact negatively on work-life balance of the wage-earning population is whether the employee is responsible for supervising other employees or not. Results of the study also shows a negative impact on work-life balance for employees who have children. A positive impact on work-life balance is if the employees are allowed to choose/change pace of work. influence the work. Through this study can also be concluded that the managerial level has no impact on work-life balance.

Idag upplever nästan av alla kvinnor och män i Sverige sitt arbete som psykiskt påfrestande enligt Arbetsmiljöverkets undersökning om den svenska arbetsmiljön, främst individer i tjänstemannasektorn. Denna kvalitativa studie avser att undersöka juristers psykosociala arbetsmiljö i relation till krav, kontroll och stöd, för att slutligen se om det finns könsskillnader i hur arbetsreateradstress upplevs och hanteras. För att nå förståelse för individens subjektiva upplevelse av sin psykosociala arbetsmiljö så används en fenomenologisk ansats där empirin samlades in genom teoretiskt öppna intervjuer. Informanterna bestod av åtta jurister, fyra kvinnor och fyra män, verksamma i både privat och offentlig sektor. Intervjuerna analyserades deduktivt utifrån teorin Krav-kontroll-stödmodellen och modellen coping, men även induktivt för att få en fullständig förståelse. Av det kompletterades studien med work-life balance-modellen. Resultatet visar att samtliga informanter menar att kraven är höga och att den negativa stressen blir påtaglig om arbetsbördan blir för stor. Vidare upplever samtliga att de har stor kontroll över sitt arbete men att arbetet tar tid från privatlivet. Vi fann könsskillnader i hur män och kvinnor hanterar stressen, vilket även bekräftas av den tidigare forskningen. Kvinnor hanterar den främst genom det sociala stödet medan männen väljer att hantera stressen på egen hand. Slutligen fann vi en stor skillnad mellan privat och offentlig sektor vad gäller krav, kontroll och stöd. Studiens resultat bidrar till en ökad förståelse för individens subjektiva upplevelse av sin arbetsrelaterade stress och om den psykosociala arbetsmiljön då majoriteten av den tidigare forskningen inom området är kvantitativ.

Recruiting well-qualified nurses into managerial positions is problematic because of the challenges associated with the role, the nursing shortage and the attraction of other opportunities within nursing. Leadership behavior is known to influence staff nurse retention and ultimately patient care outcomes, which makes it critical that we better understand what factors influence Nurse Managers decisions to leave or stay in management positions. The results of a systematic literature review suggest that Nurse Manager retention is a multifactoral issue. A primary analysis of data from Nurse Managers was conducted as the second part of this study. Job satisfaction, work-life balance, empowerment and the ability to ensure quality patient care were identified to be influential retention factors. These findings should enable administrators to develop strategies in the areas of leadership development and creation of healthy work environments that will increase job satisfaction and ultimately retention. Further research to develop sound theoretical models of Nurse Manager retention is required.

Work-Life Balance (WLB) is defined as the ability to manage both work-life and non-work life successfully. WLB can be evaluated by examining individual’s experience of Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Family-Work Conflict (FWC), both of which can be assessed by a questionnaire developed by Netemeyer, Boles and McMurrian (1996). The aim of this study was to explore if responses to the questionnaire, the amount of time spent on studies, household chores and sick leave, were gender related or not, among civil-accountants students. The survey included 138 respondents (74 woman and 64 men). The results confirmed previous findings of a gender difference in WFC, but disconfirmed a gender difference in FWC. Additionally, women scored higher in all variables (the amount of time spent on studies, household chores and sick leaves). The result also showed a correlation between time spent on studies and the WFC and FWC, respectively. Finally the result showed a weak correlation between the number of sick days during the semester and WFC and FWC. Thus, results may suggest that gender socialization could be a contributing factor of the observed gender differences. / Work-Life Balance (WLB) definieras som förmågan att balansera arbetslivet och hemmalivet på ett framgångsrikt sätt. WLB kan utvärderas genom att undersöka individens upplevelse av Work-Family Conflict (WFC) och Family-Work Conflict (FWC), som båda mäts i Netemeyers, Boless och McMurrians (1996) enkät. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det fanns några könsskillnader hos civilekonomsstudenter avseende WFC, FWC, tiden som spenderades på studier, på hushållsarbete samt sjukdagar per termin. Studien omfattade 138 respondenter (74 kvinnor och 64 män). Resultatet bekräftade tidigare upptäckt, att det fanns en könsskillnad i WFC, men motsatte att det skulle finnas en könsskillnad i FWC. Vidare framkom det att kvinnorna hade högre värden i samtliga variabler (antalet studietimmar per dag, hushållstimmar per dag och sjukdagar per termin). Resultatet visade även ett samband mellan antalet studietimmar per dag och WFC samt FWC. Slutligen visade resultatet en svag korrelation mellan sjukdagar per termin och WFC samt FWC. Möjligen kan köns- socialiseringen vara en bidragande faktor till de observerade könsskillnaderna.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Background Due to an ongoing shortage of rural medical professionals both in Australia and internationally, the recruitment and retention of rural doctors has been extensively researched. Mostly the research used quantitative methods to focus on factors associated with rural medical workforce recruitment and retention issues, and until now, limited work has investigated inter-relationships between these factors. Although a few qualitative studies have used thematic analysis to develop models to better understand these issues, none have specifically considered the attitudes of medical students, and female rural doctors. This Thesis responds to this need by using qualitative research methods to develop a model which incorporates feminisation of the medical workforce and generational change in the 21st century. Data were collected from Australian medical students and female rural general practitioners (GPs) as study participants. Aims The broad aims were to develop a model for understanding recruitment and retention of rural doctors in Australia, incorporating concepts of place, gender, and professional identity. Research Questions How are Australian medical students' and female general practitioners' perceptions of entering and remaining in a rural health career influenced by the constructs of place, gender and professional identity? Does this perception change as doctors progress through their careers from students to practising general practitioners? Methods A case series of three qualitative studies were used to develop a model for understanding rural GP recruitment and retention. Data, collected using focus groups and interviews, were analysed thematically by domains describing participants’ lives, and the interaction between the domains was explored to better understand influences on location choice. Results The ����Landscape of fulfilment��� model which is integral to this research, incorporates the domains of self, place, work, significant others, recreation, and significant others’ work as the domains of life which influence location choice. Most participants sought balance within their lives, and maximum fulfilment in all domains, but at times they faced conflict between domains. Individuals’ gender, professional, and place identities were related to how they viewed the domains and how the domains interacted. Conclusion This model provides a way of understanding the complex interaction between aspects of life which affect a doctor’s location choice. There is important potential to use the model to inform the development of rural medical recruitment and retention strategies, and as a basis for further rural health workforce research. The model has already been used by General Practice Education and Training (GPET) in developing post graduate general practice training research, and also by the Sustainable Practice Working Group of the Rural Faculty of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) in developing strategies for sustainable rural general practice.

The expectation that employees of large organisations will work extended working hours (EWH) is a phenomenon of discourse at the societal and organisational levels. This occurs in spite of the detrimental effects that working long hours can have on employees’ mental and physical health and the well-being of their families. This thesis investigates why employees comply with this expectation by focussing on managers and professionals because they are the categories of Australian employees who work the longest hours. Texts derived from a focus group and extended interviews of 30 managers and professionals are analysed and interpreted using a computer-assisted text analysis program, linguistic analysis, and discourse linguistic interpretation. Of particular emphasis is the deontic modality that research participants use to express their obligation to expectation and their attitudes about other organisational imperatives. Also crucial to this research is the agency of the participants in terms of their capacity to make and follow their own decisions. This investigation is informed by critical post-structuralist theory of Foucaultian origin involving a pragmatic distinction between analysis for meaning potential at the text level and context for meaning at the discourse level. This empirical research found that participants commonly feel cognitive dissonance from the contradiction that EWH and work-life balance (WLB) co-exist in their same organisational discourse. This paradox complicates their responses to expectation whether the participants comply or resist. Participants’ agency is therefore judged on their level of reflexivity to these organisational challenges. The professional cohort was found to be more reflexive and thus agentically stronger because their work paths are clearer. They know what work is required and, even though their working hours may be long, they see them purely as the means to achieving prescribed ends. Public sector managers’ work is also extensive but they do not have clear boundaries and thus find the boundaries between work and nonwork non-existent or blurred. Financial service managers are more agentic than public sector managers but less than the professionals. The women in this research relate to work time and life balance differently and less easily than men, particularly those who break for motherhood and / or work part-time. The theory built in this thesis can inform organisations of the ubiquitous presence of the expectation of EWH and the dangers it provides for employees and organisations. It also provides practice guidance to organisations as to how EWH may be common but do not necessarily benefit organisations or their employees. This thesis finds that it is more sensible to support employees’ agency by acknowledging their diversity and giving them choice in determining for how long they should work. This would allow employees to identify and experience obligation to their organisation and their part in negotiated knowledge production.

The expectation that employees of large organisations will work extended working hours (EWH) is a phenomenon of discourse at the societal and organisational levels. This occurs in spite of the detrimental effects that working long hours can have on employees’ mental and physical health and the well-being of their families. This thesis investigates why employees comply with this expectation by focussing on managers and professionals because they are the categories of Australian employees who work the longest hours. Texts derived from a focus group and extended interviews of 30 managers and professionals are analysed and interpreted using a computer-assisted text analysis program, linguistic analysis, and discourse linguistic interpretation. Of particular emphasis is the deontic modality that research participants use to express their obligation to expectation and their attitudes about other organisational imperatives. Also crucial to this research is the agency of the participants in terms of their capacity to make and follow their own decisions. This investigation is informed by critical post-structuralist theory of Foucaultian origin involving a pragmatic distinction between analysis for meaning potential at the text level and context for meaning at the discourse level. This empirical research found that participants commonly feel cognitive dissonance from the contradiction that EWH and work-life balance (WLB) co-exist in their same organisational discourse. This paradox complicates their responses to expectation whether the participants comply or resist. Participants’ agency is therefore judged on their level of reflexivity to these organisational challenges. The professional cohort was found to be more reflexive and thus agentically stronger because their work paths are clearer. They know what work is required and, even though their working hours may be long, they see them purely as the means to achieving prescribed ends. Public sector managers’ work is also extensive but they do not have clear boundaries and thus find the boundaries between work and nonwork non-existent or blurred. Financial service managers are more agentic than public sector managers but less than the professionals. The women in this research relate to work time and life balance differently and less easily than men, particularly those who break for motherhood and / or work part-time. The theory built in this thesis can inform organisations of the ubiquitous presence of the expectation of EWH and the dangers it provides for employees and organisations. It also provides practice guidance to organisations as to how EWH may be common but do not necessarily benefit organisations or their employees. This thesis finds that it is more sensible to support employees’ agency by acknowledging their diversity and giving them choice in determining for how long they should work. This would allow employees to identify and experience obligation to their organisation and their part in negotiated knowledge production.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Background Due to an ongoing shortage of rural medical professionals both in Australia and internationally, the recruitment and retention of rural doctors has been extensively researched. Mostly the research used quantitative methods to focus on factors associated with rural medical workforce recruitment and retention issues, and until now, limited work has investigated inter-relationships between these factors. Although a few qualitative studies have used thematic analysis to develop models to better understand these issues, none have specifically considered the attitudes of medical students, and female rural doctors. This Thesis responds to this need by using qualitative research methods to develop a model which incorporates feminisation of the medical workforce and generational change in the 21st century. Data were collected from Australian medical students and female rural general practitioners (GPs) as study participants. Aims The broad aims were to develop a model for understanding recruitment and retention of rural doctors in Australia, incorporating concepts of place, gender, and professional identity. Research Questions How are Australian medical students' and female general practitioners' perceptions of entering and remaining in a rural health career influenced by the constructs of place, gender and professional identity? Does this perception change as doctors progress through their careers from students to practising general practitioners? Methods A case series of three qualitative studies were used to develop a model for understanding rural GP recruitment and retention. Data, collected using focus groups and interviews, were analysed thematically by domains describing participants’ lives, and the interaction between the domains was explored to better understand influences on location choice. Results The ����Landscape of fulfilment��� model which is integral to this research, incorporates the domains of self, place, work, significant others, recreation, and significant others’ work as the domains of life which influence location choice. Most participants sought balance within their lives, and maximum fulfilment in all domains, but at times they faced conflict between domains. Individuals’ gender, professional, and place identities were related to how they viewed the domains and how the domains interacted. Conclusion This model provides a way of understanding the complex interaction between aspects of life which affect a doctor’s location choice. There is important potential to use the model to inform the development of rural medical recruitment and retention strategies, and as a basis for further rural health workforce research. The model has already been used by General Practice Education and Training (GPET) in developing post graduate general practice training research, and also by the Sustainable Practice Working Group of the Rural Faculty of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) in developing strategies for sustainable rural general practice.

In recent years, a growing body of research has examined the issue of work–life balance (WLB). WLB initiatives have been developed by organisations, not only to aid employees in leading healthier and more satisfying lives, but to attract and retain talent. One area where WLB issues have not been examined in detail is from the perspective of Chinese immigrant women. As one of the largest and growing Asian ethnic groups, the WLB issues faced by Chinese women are especially worthy of being examined and addressed. The primary purpose of this research was to explore the WLB experience of Chinese women in administrative roles at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). It also aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on WLB issues for minority ethnic groups and investigated Chinese women’s coping strategies for integrating work with their non-work roles. An exploratory qualitative case study approach was adopted for this study in order to compare and contrast organisational initiatives and policies for WLB with women’s experiences. A triangulated research design was also employed to glean qualitative data by virtue of multiple methods including archival evidence such as publicly available documentation, secondary research on WLB and AUT’s WLB policies, and semi-structured interviews. This study involved 12 Chinese female administrative staff and three staff members from the Human Resource Department (HRD), the Asian Staff Network (ASN) and the AUT Branch of Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association (TIASA). Participants were recruited by utilising sources such as the Asian Staff Network (ASN) and the researcher’s network of contacts within AUT. The findings of the study indicated that Chinese women’s WLB experience and ways of handling work–family conflict (WFC) and family–work conflict (FWC) were affected by their experiences of immigration and cultural backgrounds. In particular, their family situation had a critical influence on the way they organised their households and arranged for childcare or eldercare. Child/elder care responsibilities, personal/family emergencies, and personal/individual sacrifice engendered tensions around their ability to integrate WLB. In addition, work factors such as heavy workloads, meeting deadlines, and working longer hours, and cultural barriers caused emotional stress and physical consequences. While informal support from managers and colleagues and the WLB policies offered by the university helped women address their WLB issues, some policies were underutilised. A variety of coping strategies such as family members, win-lose strategies, time management, building clear boundaries, changing mindsets, and demonstrating commitment were actively adopted by Chinese women as mechanisms to cope with tensions between their work and family lives. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the theory and practice of WLB.