Beyond Work-Family Balance: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance - Hardcover

Rhona Rapoport; Lotte Bailyn; Joyce K. Fletcher; Bettye H. Pruitt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787957305 ISBN 13: 9780787957308

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2001

Synopsis

Everyone who struggles to meet the demands of work and personal-life responsibilities knows how tough it is to do so. This bold new book shows that it is the deeply engrained separation of work and personal life that has limited our ability to deal effectively with the conflict between them. Beyond Work-Family Balance demonstrates why the image of "balance" is outmoded and why a new approach -- work-personal life integration -- offers greater promise for meaningful change.

Providing many examples from action research projects in more than a dozen organizations of different kinds, the authors show how using their method of integrating rather than separating personal-life considerations from the workplace can achieve positive outcomes, not only for workers but also for the work. The method offers a way of looking deeply into the work culture to find inequitable and ineffective work practices that are so embedded and routine that no one thinks to question them -- they are just the way things get done. Once identified, these work practices can be changed to achieve what the authors call a Dual Agenda: a more equitable workplace where both men and women can achieve their full potential and a more effective workplace where the needs of the work, rather than gendered and outmoded assumptions, determine what gets done and how.

About this title

Review:

Beyond Work-Family Balance, by academic researchers Rhona Rapoport, Lotte Bailyn, Joyce K. Fletcher, and Bettye H. Pruitt, grew out of a decade-long search for ways to restructure business life that would "enhance organizational effectiveness while making the workplace more equitable and improving the quality of working people's lives." While few would oppose such goals at face value, their full attainment has nonetheless remained elusive as business pressures increase and unrealistic gender assumptions--like institutional refusal to acknowledge the increasing emergence of women as primary breadwinners--remain entrenched in our corporate cultures, structures, and practices. This book advances a conceptual framework for appropriate organizational change that is tied directly to the dual agenda spelled out in the two-pronged premise of its subtitle: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance. With no one-size-fits-all solution possible for such complex issues, the authors draw on related studies in a dozen different workplace settings to instead present a starting point "so that organizations so inclined and the people in them can embark on a similar journey" of exploration and solution. The result will be of interest to anyone who agrees that such change is badly needed and long overdue. --Howard Rothman

From the Publisher:

"This book should be read by anyone who would like to (or needs to!) reflect on the universal work-life challenges, which are not exclusively women's but apply equally to men. Companies and other organizations wanting to succeed and survive both now and in the future will, without doubt, benefit from an increased awareness of these challenges and of the many myths which surround effectiveness and productivity in the workplace— myths which tend to persist in spite of the dramatic changes in both the workplace and the workforce." —Ragnhild Sohlberg, vice president, corporate staff, Norsk Hydro ASA, Oslo, Norway

"Demonstrates convincingly that it is possible to have both gender equity and improved workplace performance— the 'Dual Agenda.' The authors' detailed description of their action research methodology and its impact on culture change in organizations breaks important new ground. This book will be of great interest to practicing managers, researchers, and consultants concerned with improving overall organizational effectiveness." —Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management

"If ever there was a book that goes beyond surface realities and uncovers assumptions about how jobs get done and what kind of performances are valued, this is it! Probes issues of organizational effectiveness, diversity, and work life with uncommon clarity and insight. What's more, it provides guidance on how to improve company performance as well as the lives of employees on and off the job." —Ellen Galinsky, president, Families and Work Institute and author of Ask the Children: The Breakthrough Study That Reveals How to Succeed at Work and Parenting

"There has never been a greater need for organizational effectiveness or for productive and motivated people. This book goes to the heart of that issue, so critical as we seek a new model for doing business. Xerox is proud to have been on the ground floor of this seminal research." —Anne Mulcahy, CEO, Xerox Corporation

"As a financial executive, husband, and father, I found Beyond Word-Family Balance to be very helpful in addressing key dilemmas that I face. Business leaders who are striving to increase shareholder value while maintaining employee satisfaction will find it a valuable addition to their tool kit. My experience is that work-personal life integration and gender equity can be attained in a manner that makes this a win-win for the employees and the company. It is time for the business community to embrace the messages and approaches in this book." —David E. Meador, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer, DTE Energy

"Beyond Work-Family Balance" demonstrates convincingly that it is possible to have both gender equity and improved workplace performance—the "Dual Agenda." The authors' detailed description of their action research methodology and its impact on culture change in organizations breaks important new ground. This book will be of great interest to practicing managers, researchers and consultants concerned with improving overall organizational effectiveness. —Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

About this edition

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0787957305
• ISBN 13: 9780787957308
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224