WORK / LIFE BALANCE REFLECTIONS ON …

1 1. INTRODUCTIONWork/ life BALANCE has importantconsequences for employee attitudes towardstheir organizations as well as for the lives ofemployees. The work / life boundary may beespecially significant in the management ofhighly skilled knowledge workers, such astechnical professionals, whose commitmentand loyalty present a challenge to employers(Scholarios et al., 2006). Software engineershave enjoyed considerable labor marketpower in recent years, a situation that hasencouraged mobility across organizationsrather than promoting loyalty to a singleorganization.

2 Changing societal trends, suchas an increase in the number of womenentering the workforce combined with aneconomy that requires dual incomes supportan average standard of living, contribute toWORK / life BALANCE REFLECTIONS ONEMPLOYEE SATISFACTIONS akthivel Rania*, Kamalanabhanb& SelvaraniaaDepartment of Management Studies, Kalasalingam University, Anand Nagar, Krishnan Koil 626 190, Tamil Nadu, IndiabDepartment of Management Stuides, IIT, Chennai, India(Received 12 September 2010; accepted 7 February 2011) AbstractThe aim of this research is to analyze the relationship between employee satisfaction andwork/ life BALANCE .

3 The construct used for this research consists of career opportunity, recognition, work tasks, payments, benefits, superior subordinate relationship, employee satisfaction, andwork/ life BALANCE . The study was conducted on a total of 210 respondents working in IT study makes a contribution to join two distinct research streams, namely employee satisfaction,and work / life BALANCE . Findings suggest that high correlation exists between work task and employeesatisfaction with a mediator variable namely work - life : employee's satisfaction, IT organizations.

4 *Corresponding author: Journalof ManagementSerbian Journal of Management 6 (1) (2011) 85 - 96 conflicts. As a result, today shuman resource managers evaluatepersonnel practices to meet those needs withthe hope of increasing employee loyaltytoward the organization. In addition to this,many organizations have begun to take a rolein developing quality of work - life satisfaction has identified a number offactors like reward system in work ,perceived quality of supervision, workingconditions, and individual determinates suchas status and seniority, age group, maritalstatus, and years of experience that causepeople to become satisfied or dissatisfiedwith their job (Mosadeghrad et al.)

5 , 2008 ).The current study examines the relationshipbetween job satisfaction and work -lifebalance among IT employees in , the relationship is examined betweenthe different constructs Career opportunities,Recognition, work task, Pay, work /lifebalance, Superior subordinate relationship,and employee satisfaction. Second, keepingthe work - life BALANCE as a mediatingconstruct, it is analyzed whether it leads toemployee PAST RESEARCH ON JOBSATISFACTIONSome theorists view job satisfaction asbeing the positive emotional reactions andattitudes an individual has towards his job(Oshagbemi, 1999).

6 Others have viewed it asa bi-dimensional construct consisting of intrinsic and extrinsic satisfactiondimensions, (Warr et al., 1979) or,alternatively, of satisfaction / lack ofsatisfaction and dissatisfaction/lack ofdissatisfaction dimensions (Winefield et al.,1988). More recently, debate has arisen as towhether job satisfaction is a global conceptor is composed of facets of satisfaction withvarious aspects of an individual s job(Wanous et al., 1997; Umukoro et al., 2009).The satisfaction of the external customerdepends on the satisfaction of the internalcustomers (Bailey & Dandrade, 1995).

7 Beingsuccessful in the competitive marketsdepends on the level of the satisfaction of theworkers in the establishments. Thesatisfaction or dissatisfaction of the workersaffects the performance of the the job satisfaction provides positiveattitudes and behaviors of the workers(Organ, 1997). One of the most importantfactors that affect the behaviors of theworkers in the establishments is the feelingof working satisfaction, that is to say, jobsatisfaction. There is growing evidence thatcurrent trends in employment conditionsmay be eroding levels of job satisfaction anddirectly damaging the physical and mentalhealth of employees (Kenny et al.)

8 , 2000).New working practices and rapidtechnological advances are changing thenature of many jobs (Cooper, 1999).The career orientations of employees canhave important implications for their jobsatisfaction, commitment, and retentionwithin organizations. A job is compatiblewith a career orientation when it involvesduties and assignments that the employeefinds interesting, when it requires abilitiesthat the employee possesses values, andwhen it provides rewards that the employeefinds desirable.

9 Employees whose job iscompatible with their career orientationshould experience positive feelings abouttheir work lives and should feel bonded totheir organization (Igbaria et al., 1991).In a path analysis of job commitmentamong Air Force personnel, it was foundthat job commitment was best explained bythe "fit" between the organization and86S. S. Rani / SJM 6 (1) (2011) 85 - 96family. (Bielby, 1992) Degree of "fit" wasindicated by life satisfaction, perception oforganizational responsiveness to familiesand the quality of the organizationalenvironment as a child rearing milieu, andspousal support for one's career.

10 Theseresults suggest that an organization thataccommodates the familial concerns andconstraints of its employees is able to sustaina higher level of work commitment amongits labor force. Managerial Support is consistentlyemphasized in discussions and studies as afactor influencing work / life play an important role in thesuccess of work / life programs because theyare in a position to encourage or discourageemployees efforts to BALANCE their work andfamily (Perlow, 1995). There are severalstyles of leadership: autocratic, bureaucratic,laissez-faire, charismatic, democratic,participative, situational, transactional, andtransformational leadership (Mosadeghrad,2003).