Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / With an increased interest in work-family conflict, researchers have recently turned much of their attention to understanding what puts people at risk of experiencing higher levels of work-family conflict. The purpose of this paper is to examine how gender might influence work-family conflict (WFC) experienced. While past research has explored this topic, results have remained inconclusive. Although some research indicates that women experience more conflict, other research indicates that men experience more conflict, while still other research indicates no gender difference. It is proposed here that these mixed results indicate other factors may be present which moderate the effect of gender on work-family conflict. Drawing on the theory of work-family conflict and role congruity theory, this paper looks specifically at how the gender-type of a job moderates the relationship between gender and experienced levels of work-family conflict. Data from alumni from a large Midwestern University were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Job gender-type (i.e., femininity) was found to moderate the relationship between gender and work-family conflict such that women in jobs that were less stereotypically feminine reported higher levels of time based-conflict than women working in jobs that were more stereotypically feminine. Men reported similar levels of WFC regardless of their job type. Directions for future research on gender and WFC are discussed.

Guided by family/work border theory, this phenomenological study explored the effects of stress while attempting to balance work and home through the lens of six high school female principals from the Central and Northern parts of California. This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to examine the effects stress had on the physical and mental health of participants. Phenomenological interviews provided a rich description of the lived experiences of female high school principals. A thorough analysis of data exposed six distinct themes: (a) work became the priority, (b) coping mechanisms, (c) implications of being a woman, (d) lonely at the top, (e) blurred boundaries, and (f) the need for more support. Study participants’ experiences provide insight into the primary sources of stress, how stress affected their physical and mental health, the effect their stress had on their home domain, and how participants coped with the stress. Findings from this study address ways stress can be minimized to better balance work and home.

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Theoretically, inter-role conflict can occur between any life domains that place competing demands on an individual. However, inter-role conflict research has mainly focused on the conflict between only two domains: work and family. This limited focus is problematic because it has excluded many other potential life domains in which people participate. In order to focus more attention on other life domains, however, it is necessary to understand which life domains people are participating in. As such, the goal of the present qualitative research was to identify and define the full spectrum of life domains by asking two questions: What life domains are relevant to work-life conflict, and how do people value the various life domains in which they are involved? A total of 13 life domains emerged from the data. Participants engaged in an average of 9 of these domains, indicating that people engage in many activities in life outside just work and family.

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It is argued that key to gender empowerment and the success of women in leadership is the exploration of the work-family interface which serves to enhance the understanding of issues faced by women leaders as they navigate through their domestic and management roles. It is also contended that work-family scholarship move beyond the study of objective characteristics, and the overt conscious level of functioning of the interface, to an understanding of the intra-psychic experiences of individuals. Recognising the preoccupation with the role strain perspective, it is argued that work-family scholarship adopts a more balanced view and considers the positive and negative effects of participating in multiple roles. Hence the general aim of this qualitative study was to understand the systems psychodynamics underlying the work-family interface that influence the processes of enrichment and conflict among managerial women in the public sector. In the empirical study, data was gathered using the organisational role analysis method, and analysed by means of systems psychodynamic discourse analysis. Six themes and their related subthemes were identified, namely anxiety and conflict, identity, boundary management, authority, role and task. The findings explored the manner in which these behavioural dynamics of participants, and their family and organisational systems interacted, mutually influencing each other, and shaping the way managerial women found, made and took up their domestic and management roles at the work-family interface. This led to resource generation and role enhancement, or resource depletion and role strain in the role (domestic or management). Through relatedness, projection and introjection between the systems and roles, the quality of life in one role influenced the other role, promoting enrichment and conflict at the interface. This study concluded that both enrichment and conflict occur at the interface. While participants oscillated between experiencing enrichment and conflict, some participants experienced more enrichment than conflict, while others experienced more conflict than enrichment at the work-family interface. The extent to which enrichment or conflict occurred between the systems was mediated by participants’ ability to self-contain, and/or the receiving system’s ability to serve as a “good enough” holding environment containing the anxieties experienced in the other role. / D. Litt et Phil. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

It is argued that key to gender empowerment and the success of women in leadership is the exploration of the work-family interface which serves to enhance the understanding of issues faced by women leaders as they navigate through their domestic and management roles. It is also contended that work-family scholarship move beyond the study of objective characteristics, and the overt conscious level of functioning of the interface, to an understanding of the intra-psychic experiences of individuals. Recognising the preoccupation with the role strain perspective, it is argued that work-family scholarship adopts a more balanced view and considers the positive and negative effects of participating in multiple roles. Hence the general aim of this qualitative study was to understand the systems psychodynamics underlying the work-family interface that influence the processes of enrichment and conflict among managerial women in the public sector. In the empirical study, data was gathered using the organisational role analysis method, and analysed by means of systems psychodynamic discourse analysis. Six themes and their related subthemes were identified, namely anxiety and conflict, identity, boundary management, authority, role and task. The findings explored the manner in which these behavioural dynamics of participants, and their family and organisational systems interacted, mutually influencing each other, and shaping the way managerial women found, made and took up their domestic and management roles at the work-family interface. This led to resource generation and role enhancement, or resource depletion and role strain in the role (domestic or management). Through relatedness, projection and introjection between the systems and roles, the quality of life in one role influenced the other role, promoting enrichment and conflict at the interface. This study concluded that both enrichment and conflict occur at the interface. While participants oscillated between experiencing enrichment and conflict, some participants experienced more enrichment than conflict, while others experienced more conflict than enrichment at the work-family interface. The extent to which enrichment or conflict occurred between the systems was mediated by participants’ ability to self-contain, and/or the receiving system’s ability to serve as a “good enough” holding environment containing the anxieties experienced in the other role. / D. Litt et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

台灣五大會計師事務所審計部門的從業人員長久以來一直是女性多於男性，每年新進的人員亦以女性居多，然而在高階職位上卻是男性遠多於女性。換言之，若女性審計人員在事務所裡沒有遭受任何升遷上的障礙，以每年新進人員女性多於男性的情況比例計算，在高階職位上女性的人數亦應多於男性，然而真實的情況卻正好相反。故本研究參考之前研究者的研究發現，彙總出台灣五大會計師事務所女性審計人員可能面臨到的升遷障礙，包括性別歧視、性騷擾、家庭與工作衝突和缺乏良師益友（mentor）等，以問卷調查方式蒐集實證資料，並進行統計分析。另外，本研究詢問研究對象所知的審計人員離職原因以及五大會計師事務所現行的工作場所家庭政策，以了解男性與女性審計人員在離職原因上有無差異和事務所提供的家庭福利政策，得到的結果如下： 1.性別歧視：不管從性別、職位和事務所別的角度來看，受試者均趨向於不同意女性審計人員遭受到性別歧視；而在參加選修課程與社交活動的情形上，男性與女性亦沒有顯著的差異。 2.性騷擾：曾經遭受性騷擾的受試者雖然皆為女性，然而僅有12位，比例為8.43%，比之前的研究低許多。 3.工作與家庭衝突：已婚女性比已婚男性感受到較大的衝突程度，而且家中若有生活無法自理、需要特別照顧的家人或小孩的女性，其衝突程度會比沒有需要特別照顧的家人或小孩的女性來得高。反觀已婚的男性受試者，不管家中有無需要特別照顧的家人或小孩，其工作與家庭衝突的程度並沒有顯著的差異。 4.女性缺乏mentor：女性擁有mentor的比例與男性相同；相同職位的男性與女性擁有mentor的比例亦相似。而且深入分析後發現，女性與男性的mentor，在職位上的差異不大，且擁有mentor的女性受試者，對mentor所能提供協助的同意程度，與男性受試者差異不大。 5.離職原因：女性因為「結婚生子」而離職排名第4，為其主要離職原因，男性則否。衡量性別歧視的「升遷機會受限」，則非男女審計人員的主要離職原因。 6.工作場所家庭政策：五大會計師事務所皆有提供產假與留職停薪這兩項福利政策，然而，較具彈性的「半職（part-time）」只有兩個事務所提供；「彈性上班時間」只有一個事務所提供，顯示目前五大事務所的工作場所家庭政策仍不夠多元。 綜上所述，本研究所探討的四個女性升遷障礙：性別歧視、性騷擾、工作與家庭衝突和缺乏mentor等，僅有工作與家庭衝突得到支持。因此在沒有進一步地證據支持另外三項升遷障礙前，工作與家庭衝突似乎是目前五大會計師事務所女性審計人員所共同面臨到的升遷問題，故會計師事務所管理當局應提供更多元的工作場所家庭政策，以降低女性審計人員的工作與家庭衝突。

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Text in English / The purpose of this study was to explore the work-life balance experiences of female engineers as they progress through various career life stages. Research has demon-strated that female engineers experience unique challenges as a result of gendered norms within male-dominated occupations, with changing life-roles, needs and ex-pectations across the various career life stages, impacting how they negotiate and perceive work-life balance. A qualitative research approach was followed using a her-meneutic phenomenology paradigm that employed a multiple case study approach consisting of semi-structured interviews with nine female engineers across three career life stages. The findings of the study confirmed current research into work-life balance, highlighting that work-life balance needs and expectations are different across the lifespan and are particularly affected by the changing nature of the work role within the lives of female engineers. Companies should consider changing their organisational culture to acknowledge the needs of female engineers in both family and work domains. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Comm. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)