El empleo especializado de las palabras que pertenecen al lenguaje corriente

One of the most cited works on WFC is the ‘sources of conflict between

work and family roles’ article written by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985). Building on Kahn et al.’s (1964) definition of role conflict, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) streamlined the discourse on conflict to that encountered between the work and home domains. Greenhaus and Beutell (1985:77)

defined WFC as “a form of interrole conflict in which the role pressures from

the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect” -

(Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985:77). They added that “any role characteristic

that affects a person’s time involvement, strain, or behaviour within a role can produce conflict between that role and another role.”

Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) unified previous research on work-family conflict in Western economies and came up with three sources of conflict: time-based conflict, strain-based conflict and behaviour-based conflict

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which they developed into a model of the sources of work-family conflict. A diagram and detailed explanation of the sources of conflict model is shown below:

Figure 3-1: Work-family role pressure incompatibility

Source: (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985:78)

a) Time-Based Conflict

Bearing in mind that the time available to everyone on a daily basis is fixed, time becomes a resource that is competed for, due to multiple demands. This notion is in line with the ‘scarcity’ approach which has long been the Work Domain

Illustrative Pressures Hours Worked Time Inflexible Work

Schedule Shiftwork

Role Conflict Strain Role Ambiguity

Boundary-Spanning Activities

Expectations for Behaviour Secretiveness

and Objectivity

Role Pressure Incompatibility

Time devoted to one role makes it difficult to fulfil requirements of another role.

Strain produced by one role makes it difficult to fulfil requirements of another role.

Behaviour required in one role makes it difficult to fulfil requirements of another role.

Family Domain Illustrative Pressures Time Young Children

Spouse Employment Large Families

Strain Family Conflict Low Spouse Support

Behaviour Expectations for Warmth and Openness

Role Salience Negative Sanctions for Noncompliance

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subject of debate in sociological settings. Building on Freud’s (1961) work on the competition between civilisation-builders and lovers who are sufficient unto themselves for the limited energy of people, Marks (1977:935) argues that energy and time expand or contract, depending on the commitments that determine their availability (Ryan, Huth, Massman, Westring, Bannan & D'Mello, 2012). Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) further divided the sources of time-based conflict into work-related and family- related. In Nigeria, Mordi et al. (2013) and Epie (2005; 2010) have revealed the presence of work-related conflict within the African environment, while Okonkwo (2014) reported that having young children and large families is not a predictor of WLC experienced by working families in Nigeria. Studies on work and family in Africa have concentrated on families with young children (Annor, 2014), as in research from developed economies (e.g., Beauregard & Henry, 2009; Elman & Gilbert, 1984; Frome, Alfeld, Eccles & Barber, 2006). The prevalence of long working hours in Africa, compounded by the lack of flexible working available in most organisations, has made time-based conflict a framework that is particularly suited to understanding the working environment in Nigeria (Epie & Ituma, 2014; Mordi et al., 2013; Mordi & Ojo, 2011).

Apart from the physical and emotional demands of the job, Annor (2014) reported from his interviews with parents working full-time in a public University in Ghana that pay was a source of stress for respondents in his study. Aryee (2005) also reported that pay is a source of stress in Sub- Saharan Africa more generally. According to Annor (2014), workers were

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forced to look for alternative income-generating activities to increase income and this reduced the time available for family-related activities.

b) Strain-based Conflict

Work will be viewed as physically or emotionally demanding when exhaustion and irritability generated at work interfere with family life (Annor, 2014; Bartolome & Evans, 1980; Pleck et al., 1980:30). Building on the work of Pleck et al. (1980), strain-based conflict was described by Greenhaus

and Beutell (1985:80) as “strain in one role affecting one's performance in

another role. The roles are incompatible in the sense that the strain created by one makes it difficult to comply with the demands of another”. Also

building on Bartolome and Evans’ (1980) study on factors affecting the

efficient management of private and professional lives of two thousand executives, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) divided strain-based conflict into work-related and family-related. An argument used to explain work-related strain-based conflict by Bartolome and Evans (1980) was that some executives find it hard to manage negative emotions from work due to challenges in a new job, taking the wrong job or the inability to manage job disappointments. Therefore stress, anxiety, fatigue or depression experienced at work could be transferred to the home which is usually exhibited in the form of aggression or withdrawal towards other members of the family (Ryan et al., 2012:139).

Within the Nigerian environment, Stephen (2014) reported an experience of stress and emotional strain by female workers in Nigerian banks who were

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given targets to meet with a consequence of reprimand or a probable loss of job if there was consistent default in meeting such targets. This implies that emotional stress/tension created from work could lead to work-related conflict as this negative feeling is likely to be transferred to the home (Stephen, 2014).

Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) described family-related strain-based conflict as conflict created when strain experienced at home affects one’s performance at work. This type of strain could occur when there is lack of support from the family (e.g., one partner resisting the other partner going on official travel) or when partners have varied orientations about work and family (for example, if the husband holds traditional beliefs about the division of household chores while his partner is in favour of an egalitarian relationship) (Barnett, 1994, Crouter, 1984, Okonkwo, 2014). In patriarchal societies like Nigeria, where women’s successes at home are celebrated more than career success, women are usually blamed for any challenges at home. Having a husband who supports his wife’s career does not necessarily mean an acceptance of a more equal division of household chores (Aluko, 2009). Women with family responsibilities therefore tend to experience more family-related strain-based conflict because they are the primary caregiver: they care for their husbands, children and other relatives and this strain can sometimes be transferred to team members or colleagues who have to take over their responsibilities at work. Although there have been some positive findings in existing western research about the work-family relationship (Brough, Hassan & O’Driscoll, 2014; Carlson,

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Kacmar, Wayne & Grzywacz, 2006; Greenhaus & Powell, 2006), “conflict” has been a recurring theme in the majority of African studies, along with reports upon the negative health impacts of conflict, such as stress and fatigue (Agarwal, 2014; Agyemang, Nyanyofio & Gyamfi, 2014; Akanji, 2013; Annor, 2014; Epie & Ituma, 2014; Mapedzahama, 2014). The wife within the African context is not only responsible to her husband, she is also responsible for taking care of the elderly relatives within the family. However, the communal culture makes this responsibility reciprocal; the extended family helps in taking care of the younger ones while the grown- up children take care of the old. Just like family-related time-based conflict, there have been few reports of family-related strain-based sources of conflict in Nigeria. The lack of this type of reported conflict might be attributed to the work-conscious orientation of Nigerians, coupled with the availability of strong social support enjoyed in Africa from relatives (Annor, 2014, Epie, 2010, Okonkwo, 2014).

c) Behaviour-Based Conflict

Although any reference to ‘typical’ male and female characteristics is a hotly-debated topic, social discourse still commonly refers to various elements of gender ‘essentialism’ (for an overview, see Crompton & Lyonette, 2005). Emotional, caring and subtle qualities have previously been attributed to women, while assertiveness and leadership have been typically ascribed to men (Kray, Thompson & Galinsky, 2001). This orientation also resonates with the “expressive” and “instrumental” roles

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attributed to females and males respectively by Talcott Parsons in his structural functionalism theory (Parsons & Bales, 1956). Due to the persistent differences in what is expected of men and women, those women taking up leadership roles may experience a form of conflict when navigating between work and family roles and may need to strive harder to signify commitment to the organisation’s goals (Mordi et al., 2011). This form of conflict has been termed behaviour-based conflict by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) and has previously been reported in African studies involving women in management roles (Omar & Ogenyi, 2004). In addition, in a study of 247 industrial workers in Nigeria, selected from two public and two private organisations, Akintayo (2010) found that the traditional stereotype of women being home-keepers was a source of conflict when such women were found in paid employment.