Conflict and Facilitation between Work and Family: Realizing the Outcomes for Organizations

Exploration of the work-family interface has resulted in models which focus on conflict between work and family roles rather than work-family and family-work facilitation. The present research was an exploratory study which aimed to examine whether work-family facilitation (WFF), family-work facilitation (FWF), work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC) were associated with job satisfaction, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship behaviour and intention to leave. A survey was distributed to 75 employees in a New Zealand organisation. Fifty-eight (77%) returned usable data. Levels of work-family and family-work facilitation and conflict were not related to gender, age or number of dependents. With regard to marital status, non-partnered respondents reported higher levels of WFF than partnered respondents. Work-family facilitation and family-work facilitation were significantly related to job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment, and WFF was also related to organisational citizenship behaviour. Both WFF and FWF were negatively related to turnover intention. Descriptive information was collected to identify respondents' experiences of work-family and family-work facilitation. Facilitation between the home and work domains was found with regard to the need to balance time demands, the development of skills in one domain that could be valuable in the other domain, and the availability of work resources such as flexible work practices. The implications for balancing work and family commitments are discussed. ********** The work patterns that have become apparent in the 21st century include increasing numbers of women in the workforce, increasing pervasiveness of work in people's lives, high performance work practices and worker stress, increasing worker dissatisfaction and diminishing social capital. As a result exploration of the interface between work and family has often focused on conflicts between the two domains, yet recent research has suggested that engagement in work roles and family roles can contribute positively to each other by enhancing and enriching people's lives (Grzywacz & Butler, 2005; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000; Kirchmeyer, 1992, 1993). The notion of work-family spillover posits that attitudes, emotions, skills and behaviours established in one domain flow into the other (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Frone, 2003). Positive spillover or facilitation occurs when engagement in job roles and family roles contribute positively to and benefit each other. Negative spillover or conflict occurs when engagement in job and family roles contributes harmfully to each other. Facilitation and conflict are orthogonal constructs in that, while they may coexist, each dimension has common and distinct determinants and consequences (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000; Voydanoff, 2005). There has been much less research into facilitation than into conflict between work and family roles. The last decade has seen a focus on the impacts of work on family life. A more detailed conceptualization allows for two directions of influence between work and family. Work-to-family as well as family-to-work effects can be considered, as well as two types of effect: conflict and facilitation (Frone, 2003; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). This gives rise to four types of effect: work-family conflict (WFC), family-work conflict (FWC), work-family facilitation (WFF) and family-work facilitation (FWF). A large literature has explored the prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of work-family and family-work conflict. Antecedent variables include supervisor support, co-worker support, work overload, work satisfaction, work hours, work-family initiatives and job involvement (Allen, 2001; Voydanoff, 2005). Also relevant are family-related variables including family involvement, family support, parental overload and family satisfaction (Allen, 2001; Hill, 2005). …