Striving for Balance (HC)

A volume in Research in CareersSeries Editors: Sherry E. Sullivan Bowling Green State Universityand S. Gayle Baugh University of West FloridaThe Research in Careers series is designed in five volumes to provide scholars a unique forum toexamine careers issues in today's changing global workplace. What makes this series unique is thatthe volumes are connected by the use of Mainiero and Sullivan's (2006) Kaleidoscope Career Model(KCM) as the organizing framework and the theme underlying the volumes. In this volume Strivingfor Balance we consider how individuals seek a healthy alignment between work and nonwork.In addition to building upon the established literature on work/family conflict the chapters in thisvolume also examine the reciprocal positive influences between work and nonwork considering such issues as balancing work withcommitments to others including spouse/partner children elderly relatives friends and the community.Chapters 1 and 2 of this volume focus on macro?issues surrounding work/nonwork balance specifically studying the effectivenessof organizational policies. In Chapter 1 Westring Kossek Pichler and Ryan explore if there is a gap between an organization'sadoption of work/nonwork policies and its offering of a supportive environment for the employees' use of such policies. In Chapter2 Purohit Simmers Sullivan and Baugh draw from social exchange theory and the compensation literature to examine howemployees' satisfaction with their organization's discretionary (i.e. not legally required) support initiatives influences theirwork?related attitudes and personal well?being.Chapters 3 and 4 examine balance from a micro perspective focusing on generationaldifferences in balance as well as how individuals' reactions to work?nonwork conflictsinfluence career outcomes. In Chapter 3 Stawiski Gentry and Baranik study balance usingthe lens of generational differences exploring the relationship between work?life balanceand promotability for members of the Baby Boom generation and Gen X. In Chapter 4 BoydKeeney Sinha and Ryan discuss their qualitative analysis of how 1359 university alumni'sreactions to work?life conflict events shaped their career choices including entryparticipation and attrition decisions. Their approach offers a different lens to examinework?life conflict.Chapters 5 and 6 provide two perspectives on where scholars should focus their futureresearch efforts in studying work/nonwork balance. In Chapter 5 van Emmerik BakkerWestman and Peeters provide a conceptual examination of the processes that affectwork?family conflict family?work conflict and the overall resulting work/nonwork balanceor imbalance. In Chapter 6 Bataille offers a multi?dimensional definition of work?familybalance and develops a framework which recognizes the dominant dimensions of workfamilybalance.