ARBAMINCH UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

ON

THE IMPACT OF WORK LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEES JOB PERFORMANCE

AND SOCIAL LIFE IN THE CASE OF COMMERCIAL BANK OF ETHIOPIA

ARBAMINCH TOWN

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE COURSE BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.

SUBMITTED TO: HABTAMU ENDRISE (PHD)

Prepared by; ABEL SISAY ………… ID. NO. PRBE/073/12

FEBRARY, 2020

ARBAMINCH, ETHIOPIA
 ABSTRACT

The general objective of the study is to examine the impact of work life balance on employees’

job performance and their social life status in the context of Commercial bank of Ethiopia

Arbaminch branch. The research design will be used descriptive and explanatory research

design using quantitative method. Since the total number of employees of CBE in Arbaminch is

96, the researcher decided to undertaken the whole population as a target group through census

survey because of the number of employees is small and manageable. Both primary and

secondary source of data will be used. The primary sources will be collected from the employees

of CBE. In addition secondary sources like Articles, Journals, and researches will be used.

Finally, after the data processed and analyzed the outcome will be presented by using table and

graph. The researcher also will suggest important recommendation about the study.

i
 Table of Contents
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………І
Table of content………………………………………………………………………………….…………………. II
List of figure…………………………………………………………………………………….…………………….III

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..…1
Background of the study ……………………………………………………………………….……………..……1
Statement of the problem ………………………………………………………………………………….……… 4
Research question ……………………………………………………………………………………………….….. 6
Objective of the study ……………………………………………………………………………….……….……. 6
General objective of the study …………………………………………………………….…………….…….6

Specific objective of the study ………………………………………………………..……..…………….. 7

Significance of the study …………………………………………………………………………………….7

Scope and limitation of the study ………………………………………………………………….…..….…….8

Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………………....................…….8

Limitation of the study ……………………………………………………………………………….……..….9

Review of related literature ………………………………………………………….…….…...10

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Definition of work life balance ………………………………………………………………11

Roots of the concept …………………………………………………………………………12

Work-Life balance today …………………………………………………………………….13

Theories of work family linkage ……………………………………………………...……. 14

Work-Life imbalance …………………………………………………………………….….16

Factors of work life balance ………………………………………………………………....18

Role conflict, overload and ambiguity ………………………………………………………21

Organizational culture ………………………………………………………………………. 23

Impact of Work life balance on employees’ job performance and social life ……………… 34

ii
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………..……39

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………..……….…. 40

Background of the study area ………………………………………………………………..………….…. 40

Research design ……………………………………………………………………………….….……………… 40

Source of data ……………………………………………………………………………40

Method of data collection ………………………………………………………………..41

Target population ………………………………………………………………….………….……….…………41

Data Processing ………………………………………………………………………..….……………………. 41
Method of data analysis and presentation ……………………………………….…………………….. 42
Ethical consideration ……………………………………………………………………….………….……… 43

Validity and Reliability …………………………….……………………….…………... 43

References …………………………………………………………………………..………….………….………44
Appendix І: work plan ……….…………………………………………………….…………….……...…….51
Appendix ІІ: Budget plan …………………………………………………………………….………….….. 52

Figure 2.1Conceptual frame work of the study …………………………………………. 40

iii
iv
 INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Organizations are social systems where human resources are the most important factors to

achieve their objectives efficiently and effectively and cannot succeed without their personnel

efforts and commitment. Therefore, human resource is the backbone of every organization;

hence every organization is competing for this talent work force (Mukururi, 2014).

According to (Khan, 1997) in the current business environment organizations in all industries are

experiencing rapid change, which is accelerating at enormous speed. To be successful in a

borderless, competitive global environment, organizations must be sure to work hard on

especially the people side of their business. This view is supported by (Finck et al., 1998) who

stated that organizations must recognize that the human factor is becoming much more important

for organizational survival, and that business excellence will only be achieved when employees

are excited and feeling wellness in whole of their life. Previously many researchers are trying

their best to find out ways to increase the performance of this main resource (human

resource).Mostly many researches took place in this regard by focusing on work environment

aspect to know how to improve the performance of the employees. But, (Cahen & Single, 2001)

argue that there is a lot of pressure from home environment that should be considered to

improve employees’ performance of employees. (Sara et al., 2004) elaborates this as a person’s

life is clearly divided into two marked areas: work and life, and for a human resource to be best

performer balance of the two domains (satisfaction and fulfillment of the two domains) is the

most determinant factor to be considered. The basic thing behind this is that the occurrence of

work life balance have much more force to improve employees’ performance. For the term work

life balance as researchers suggest, there is no precise, monolithic definition: There are many

1
authors who define work life balance in different ways: Among them some of the following

authors define work life balance as:

 “Satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict"

(Clark, 2000)

 “Is effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and all other home or social

activities that are important to people such as family, community activities, voluntary

work, personal development, leisure, recreation” etc.. (Noor, 2011)

 “A satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life”

(Hudson, 2005).

To summarize, it is clearly evident that the various perspectives regarding the work-life balance

in the literature although differ from each other; they depict a common definition for work-life

balance that is nothing but a successful management and juggling of multiple work and home

roles. But, according to (Broers, 2005) the challenge is balancing a successful career with a

personal or family life. Which also impact on a person’s satisfaction and performance in their

work and personal life’s roles. In consistent to the above, other numerous researchers showed

that, the inseparability of work life and personal life of every person. For example, (Marian,

2011) states that work life & personal life are the two sides of the same coin. And (Kofodimos,

1993) also puts requests as “Do we live to work or we work to live? But, in this a complex,

dynamic, fiercely competitive business environment and an employee filled with conflicting

responsibilities and commitments, most of organizations are working on a phenomenon of work-

life imbalance (work life conflict) which disables them to retain their employees and also

cannot improve their performance (Baltes et al., 1999). Hence due to work–life balance has

2
becoming one of the predominant issues in today’s work place to solve this work life imbalance

problem and to improve employees’ performance; it is now a heavily researched area of interest

(Guest, 2002).

As (Kossek etal., 1998) also explained that there is a growing awareness in today’s workplaces

that employees do not give up their lives just because they work. Work and life remain the two

most important domains in the life of an employed individual. However, the challenge of

balancing work and non-work demands is one of today’s central concerns for both individuals

and organizations. Employees’ chronic inability to balance work and family responsibilities can

lead to higher rates of absenteeism, turnover, reduced productivity, decreased job satisfaction,

lower levels of organizational loyalty, engagement and commitment, and rising healthcare costs.

And Kossek declare that Work-life balance is now a heavily researched area of interest.

Numerous studies have been done on searching the association between work-life balance and

attitudinal job outcomes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. For instance,

(Virick et al., 2007)’s study on layoff survivors in a high tech company found that work-life

balance is positively related to job satisfaction, productivity and loyalty. (Brown & Dev, 2000),

in a study of the links between employees satisfaction with HR practices and their affective

commitment to the organization, found that work-life balance is associated with the

organizational commitment of all employee groups.

Generally as it have seen above the issues relating to maintaining and obtaining a work-life

balance have received substantial attention over recent years, but little is known about work-life

balance and associated factors in Ethiopian workforce context in general. In the current study,

work-life balance will be further investigated to explore its impact on job performance and social

life of employees of commercial bank of Ethiopia particularly in Arbaminch town.

3
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Since in today’s world, organizations are constantly concerned over employees’ well-being,

creating an organizational environment in which a desirable level of work–life balance can be

experienced by an employee, but it become a constant challenge and a contemporary people

management issue for many organizations (Guest, 2002). From organizational perspective

employees are required to achieve results in an effective and efficient manner and personally

they have also their own home and social responsibilities besides to those organizational

activates. While performing multiple roles on the professional and personal front, the various

work role demands they encounter place pressure on them to achieve success, which in turn

hinders their level of work–life balance (Marian etal., 2011). (Guest, 2002) conclude that work-

life balance has always been a concern of those interested in the quality of working life and its

relation to broader quality of life. Coming to the study area, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia which

is highly competitive and this has resulted in coming up with measures geared towards attracting

new customers and retaining the existing ones in order to have a larger market share.

Commercial bank of Ethiopia is now bringing in more profits by being customer focused. In

order to attain this, the bank increased its opening hours, introduced more products, opened up

more branches and has adopted the latest technology (Mekonnin, 2013). This has led to its

employees working longer hours, having a greater and more complex workload, being moved

from one branch to another. Therefore, experiencing a lot of work pressure and a culture of poor

work life balance result to their employees becoming highly dissatisfied. So, now work life

balance was an issue among employees in the banking sector (Hogarth and Bosworth, 2009).

Among the branches of CBE, CBE Arbaminch branch is the one banking industry which is not

exceptional to the above and according to personal communication with some of employees of

4
the bank, The bank works with an extended working hours and un comfortable working culture

to cater the majority of customer demands which in turn affect the work–life balance of

employees. As some of employees of the bank said they are encountering with various work–

family conflicts due to lack of free time, high workloads, many working days (starting from

Monday to Saturday not only this they also work sometimes on Sunday and long working time

(above 10 hours per day) and unrealistic deadlines. They also indicates there is the assumption

that visibility equals best job performance that is the longer they are seen to be spending time in

the office, the more committed, loyal and productive they are deemed to be. This indicates that

there is the culture of rewarding employees based on how visible they are, as opposed to the

outcomes they are performing in this particular area.

Even if the banks salary scale is attractive, numerous causes which lead to poor work life balance

makes the employees of commercial bank of Ethiopia reluctant to their responsibility which also

affects their job performance. Additionally, as (Bird, 2006) said that “as you move up the ranks,

your time is no longer your own and typically work becomes more interesting as you become

more senior, due to this employees especially at the higher rank are obliged to make personal

sacrifices that have negative impact on their home and social life role particularly and on their

work life balance status in general. So, work life imbalance gets more serious as one climbs up

the ladder of management hierarchy”. Similarly it is not surprising that why the banks manager

said “we are sacrificed ourselves to the paid work mostly. And the sense of satisfaction can

become intoxicating, which put us at risk of extreme burn-out.”(Chen and Wang, 2013) stated

the failure to achieve balance between work and life responsibilities of employees is highly

likely to result in serious consequences on both personal and organizational levels. The

individual consequences include, but are not limited to, increased levels of stress and stress-

5
related illnesses; lower life satisfaction; higher rates of family conflict, violence and divorce;

rising incidents of substance abuse and burnout etc. Organizational consequences include higher

turnover rates, reduced performance; decreased job satisfaction, lower levels of organizational

commitment and increased employee absenteeism.

However, having said that, particularly in Ethiopian context work life balance practices have not

been fully implemented and there hasn’t been extensive research on work life balance and its

impact on different aspect of both employees and an organizations. Therefore, there is a clear

need for this research to fill that gap and in light of the above problems; this study was

specifically designed to carry out investigate the impact of work life balance on employees job

performance and their social life status.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study will address the following research questions:

 What Work-Life balance support practices exist in commercial bank of Ethiopia

Arbaminch branch?

 What are the factors which affect employees work life balance achievement?

 What is the impact of work life balance on employees’ job performance?

 What is the impact of work life balance on employees’ social life?

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The general objective of the study is to examine the impact of work life balance on employees’

job performance and their social life status in the context of Commercial bank of Ethiopia

Arbaminch branch with view to enhance work life balance of those bank employees.

6
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The specific objectives of the study are to:

 Assess various Work-Life balance practices/ programs which exist in the CBE

Arbaminch branch.

 Determine the factors which affect employees work life balance achievement.

 Investigate the impact of work life balance on the employee job performance.

 Investigate the impact of work life balance (WLB) practices on social life of employees.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In addition to fulfilling the academic requirement of the researcher, this research might have the

following significance to the specified organization, policy makers, other researchers and the rest

of any concerned bodies. To the specific organization (CBE),the study brings out various work-

life balance support practices which CBE might undertake to formulate work life balance

strategies and implement for enhancing its employees job performance and make its employees

committed, interested, satisfied in order to contribute their efforts willingly. Besides this by

enhancing awareness about WLB practices to HRM of the bank can increase retention rate,

paves the way to create good image to the bank by many aspects.

The study also might have contribution to policy makers, such as the output of the study might

be a base for policy makers to undertake policy revisions on areas of employee work

performance and work life balance. It might also create awareness to identify areas of

weaknesses and strengths with regard to work life balance functioning. More over since work

life balance problems and its impact on employees’ job performance and social life is currently

7
under researched. Here the researcher believes that this research project draws the attention of

other researchers to understand the need for a comprehensive study regarding the work-life

balance and to conduct a study in this area in depth.

Generally the result might support the bank, any interested organizations and policy makers

through providing clues and understanding of how work life balance affect employees’ job

performance and social life and it tries to provide mechanism how to handle work life balance

problems and fill the existing knowledge gap regarding the role of work life balance for

increasing performance and satisfactory level of social life status. Understanding this problem

might give organizations in depth understanding of how far work life balance requires the

attention of management. Lastly but not least the researcher was gain experience in the area.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIN OF THE STUDY

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Commercial bank of Ethiopia recently has more than 1000 branches, but this research will be

limited only to Arbaminch branches of commercial bank of Ethiopia. Because of the vast nature

of the problem related to work life balance, the researcher was unable to incorporate and assess

all problems of each branch related to work life balance. Therefore, the researcher does not

recommend readers to generalize to all branches of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and for the

sake of uniformity also data were obtained from commercial bank of Ethiopia only, the

researcher could not incorporate other commercial banks in the study. As work life balance has

multi-dimensional impact on an organization and employees, but the study could not attempted

to verify the potential impact of work life balance on all aspects or directions of both on an

employee and an organization. But, mainly it focused on the impact of work life balance on

8
employees’ job performance and on their social life status. To have a more comprehensive

understanding for the impact of work-life balance on different personal and organizational

variables, future research might under take this gap. The target respondents will be employees

from the selected bank who were working on a permanent basis only.

LIMITATIN OF THE STUDY

The study will be only conducted in CBE Arbaminch town only, which limits the

generalizability of the research findings to the whole banks context of Ethiopia. And since all

findings will be based on the information given by the respondents it might be subject to the

potential bias and prejudice of the people will may be involved.

9
 LITRATURE REVIEW

Introduction

Living and working in the present day, most employees in every sector need to balance work and

family demands in environments where everything is moving faster. Increased focus and

pressure on higher effectiveness, efficiency and productivity has become imperative for the

sustainability of all organizations (Brough etal.,2005).Beside this, other social or personal

demands pressure and household situations forces individuals to do more home or social

activities .For this matter, some people do seem to have the ability to satisfactory involvement in

both work life and non work life activities and can engage in their work and non work

performance optimally. But, in contrast others just do not seem to have the ability to balance

simultaneous role demands in their work and personal lives, decreasing their ability to engage

and perform in both roles, means they encounter with work life imbalance/work life conflict/, so

the achievement of work-life balance is very rewarding and holds several positive outcomes in

everywhere (Meijman and Mulder,1998).(Ashfaq, 2014) states that since organizational

performance directly depend on employees performance, they are major part of organizational

core competencies. Hence employees are ultimately the leading factors for better organizational

performance, they are hard to imitate. Therefore, there must be finding out the way through

which employees should be satisfied, skilled, intrinsically motivated and mentally present at

work place. It is possible among other conditions, if they are not facing by work-life imbalance /

work-family conflict. Work-life conflict /imbalance make them uneasy and mentally disturbed,

stressed and occupied and they will have absent minds at work place. Accordingly study in hand

tries to discover the impact of work life balance on employees’ performance as well as on their

10
social life status. Here below empirical and conceptual frame work of the variables of the current

study discussed in detail.

Definition of work life balance

As the researcher tried to put the definition of work life balance in succinct way in the first

chapter of the study, in addition to that here also additional concepts raised. Simply to

understand work-life balance, it is important to be aware of the different demands upon us from

both work and non-work activities and our personal resources- our time and our energy etc

which we can deploy to address them. If it is, everybody can define work life balance from him

or her perspective and each of them are not contradictory rather the whole are harmonious and

transfers the similar message (Clarke, et al, 2004). From the very beginning according to

(Hudson, 2005) it is important to understand that work-life balance does not mean to devote an

equal amount of time to paid work and non-paid roles and as he states that work-life balance

proposes a relationship between work-life and non-work life and since they are integrated,

should interact in a harmonious way. Hudson declares balance is a must in all aspects of life. It's

just like walking on a narrow bridge, as long as we keep ourselves well balanced, we will keep

walking towards our destination. It involves time management, concentration and coping up with

situations in the right spirit. According to (Sharma, 2013) Work-Life Balance refers to the

effective management and synchronization between remunerative work and the other roles and

responsibilities that are important to people as 'individualized' human beings and as a part of the

society. He also states a balanced life is one where we spread our energy and effort (emotional,

intellectual, imaginative, spiritual and physical…) efforts between key areas of importance. The

neglect of one or more areas, or anchor points, may threaten the vitality of the whole. Generally,

after going through several studies it is obvious that the term work life balance has been defined

11
in different by different authors and no consensus have been developed by the authors. Although

definitions and explanations may vary, work-life balance is generally associated with satisfactory

level devotion of the amount of time and effort to work and personal activities, in order to

maintain an overall sense of harmony in life (Clarke, et al, 2004).

Roots of the concept

According to (Harrington, 2007), the work-life field can trace its roots in two related areas. The

first was a focus on childcare programs that were a direct result of increasing number of

professional women entering in the workforce in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The second was an

extension of the Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) that was introduced in many companies

in the 1970’s. Organizations that evolved from a work/family perspective began with a focus on

working mothers and the need for quality childcare. Organizations that evolved from an EAP

perspective identified the early links between employee stress, depression and illness, and

decreased productivity. Generally there were a number of important milestones for the

movement dating back to the 1960’s. And the early scholars conduct research on women’s

careers and the relationship of work and family. But, despite the best intentions of organizations

to implement WLB policies, there remains considerable contention about their effectiveness in

delivering flexibility and reducing stress and job-dissatisfaction in the workplace (Kirrane &

Buckley, 2004). They have identified two empirical shortcomings within the previous WLB

activities. The first relates to WLB typically portrays role conflicts for selected parties like white,

married, professional and managerial women, with little reference to the many other

demographics represented in the modern organization. The second relates to the literature’s

inability to clearly define the array of non-work roles like family care, social interaction,

religion, leisure, sport, hobbies, studies and social responsibilities etc. which impact employees’

12
working-life.(Spinks, 2004) said that because an individual’s non-work roles are inherently

ambiguous and idiosyncratic; organizations are incapable of understanding how their enactment

impacts each individual. Then the researcher concludes that organizations’ are either incapable

(or unwilling) to understand their workforce in sufficient detail, and have instead defaulted to a

‘one-size-fits-all’ policy regime that has simply enabled employees to ‘stay at work longer

’rather than enable them to enact their non-work roles. The contribution of the WLB literature,

therefore, appears limited in its ability to provide a useful framework for all. In order to

overcome these issues,(Elloy and Smith,2003) suggest that an effective conceptualization of the

WLB requires a holistic approach to human resource management, which implies a greater

awareness of the total context of worker’s daily lives, not just those hours they spend at work.

Work-Life balance today

As (Greenhaus etal.,2003)states since the early days of the field when the focus was primarily on

dependent care and employee assistant programs, But as researchers indicates in recent times

work-life has expanded to touch on nearly every aspect of a person’s working life. Employee

recruitment benefits and total rewards programs, job design, approaches to career advancement,

leadership development, employee relocation and travel policies, leave taking, the composition

of work teams, corporate social responsibility, improvement in performance ,satisfaction,

engagement, loyalty, and changing corporate culture can all be listed among the myriad of areas

that are included under the umbrella of corporate work-life programs. Correspondingly, work-

life programs are housed in many different areas within human resource departments.

(Lockwood, 2003), also support that work life balance concept captured management’s attention

in the 1980s, largely because there is growing number of women entering the workforce, global

competition, renewed interest in personal lives/family values and an aging workforce. (Kossek

13
and lautsch, 2008) found out that in recent time boundaries between work and family are

increasingly blurring as everybody embraced with new technological based working system that

make boundaries between work and home more porous instead of separating and eliminating

work-family conflicts. Rather these technologies can turn homes into electronic work cottages,

expanding work into family time, so increasingly many individuals are finding it difficult to

separate from work (or family) unless they actively seek to manage boundaries to do so (Kossek

and lautsch, 2008). Given these trends, there is a need for improved theory to advance

understanding regarding how individuals may best enact work-family boundaries in their

employment settings (Kreiner and lautsch, 2009).

According to (Buddhapriya S., 2009) increasingly, work-life balance is being viewed as an

important issue by many employees and organizations today.

Previously managing a balance between work & life was considered to be a woman’s issue. But

increasing workloads, globalization & technological advancements have made it an issue with

both the sexes, all professionals working across all levels & all industries across the world

(Broers , 2005).

Theories of work family linkage

(Blood and wolfe, 1960) Present several theories on their study to explain the work family

linkage: These include Segmentation, Compensation, Spillover and the Border theory. The

earliest view of the relationship between work and home was that they are segmented and

independent and do not affect each other. (Blood and Wolfe, 1960), who were pioneers of this

perspective, applied this concept to blue collar workers. They explained that for workers in

unsatisfying or un-involving jobs, segmentation of work and home is a natural process. The

separate spheres pattern viewed the family as a domestic haven for women and work as a public

14
arena for men. However, this view of segmentation was challenged researchers who

demonstrated that work and family are closely related domains of human life (Bruke, 1986) and

(Voydanoff, 1987).The Compensation theory proposed that workers try to compensate for the

lack of satisfaction in one domain (work or home) by trying to find more satisfaction in the other

domain(Lambert, 1990). (Piotrkowski, 1979,) also concluded that men “look to their homes as

havens, look to their families as sources of satisfaction lacking in the occupational sphere”. Two

forms of compensation have been distinguished in the literature. First, a person may decrease

involvement in the dissatisfying domain and increase involvement in a potentially satisfying

domain (Lambert, 1990). Second, the person may respond to dissatisfaction in one domain by

pursuing rewards in the other domain (experiences that may fulfill the person’s desires,

(Champoux, 1978). The latter form of compensation can be either supplemental or reactive in

nature (Zedeck, 1992). Supplemental compensation occurs when individuals shift their pursuits

for rewarding experiences from the dissatisfying role to a potentially more satisfying one. For

example, individuals with little autonomy at work seek more autonomy outside of their work

role. On the other hand, reactive compensation represents individuals' efforts to redress negative

experiences in one role by pursuing contrasting experiences in the other role such as engaging in

leisure activities after a fatiguing day at work. The most popular view of relationship between

work and family, Spillover theory was put forth by (Voydanoff, 1987).The researcher suggest

that workers carry the emotions, attitudes, skills and behaviors that they establish at work into

their family life. Spillover can be positive or negative. Positive spillover refers to fact that

satisfaction and achievement in one domain may bring along satisfaction and achievement in

another domain. Negative spillover refers to the fact that difficulties and depression in one

domain may bring along the same emotion in another domain. (Zedeck, 1992) finding also

15
concur that work-Life spillover theory states that a person’s attitudes, emotions, skills and

behaviors produced in one domain (either work or personal life) flow into the other. Spillover

can have positive or negative effects, and can occur in both directions − work-to-personal life

and personal life-to-work.

(Clark, 2000) presented a work/family border theory - a new theory about work family

balance. According to this theory, each of person’s role takes place within a specific domain of

life, and these domains are separated by borders that may be physical, temporal, or

psychological. The theory addresses the issue of “crossing borders” between domains of life,

especially the domains of home and work. According to the theory, the flexibility and

permeability of the boundaries between people’s work and family lives will affect the level of

integration, the ease of transitions, and the level of conflict between these domains. Boundaries

that are flexible and permeable facilitate integration between work and home domains. When

domains are relatively integrated, transition is easier, but work family conflict is more likely.

Conversely, when these domains are segmented, transition is more effortful, but work family

conflict is less likely.

Work-Life imbalance

Work-life imbalance or conflict occurs when certain factors cause individuals to fail in

effectively balancing and fulfilling their work and family/life roles. Work-life imbalance refers a

form of inter-role conflict in which role pressures from the work and life, or non-work domains,

are mutually incompatible (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). According to (Magnus and

Viswesvaran, 2006) the demands of each role includes several responsibilities, duties,

obligations, commitments and expectations which require several resources, such as time,

energy, skills and support functions. When the compatibility between the demands and resources

16
are in a state of imbalance, it has the potential to result in work-life imbalance. (Byron, 2005)

generalized that work life imbalance can be resulted from negative interference between work

and life, means negative work interference with family (WIF) or negative family interference

with work (FIW). WIF is also referred to as work-to-family conflict and occurs when work

interferes with family, home or personal life. FIW is also referred to as family-to-work conflict

or home-work interference and occurs when family, home or personal life interferes with work

life. Most of definitions of interference between work and family/home has predominately

focused on the negative impact that work has on the home domain or vice versa, without

considering the fact that interaction between work and home might also be positive (de Klerk &

Mostert, 2010).Negative influence refers to negative load reactions that build up in one domain

of life that hampers a person’s functioning in the other domain, whereas positive influence refers

to positive load reactions that build up in one domain of life that enables a person’s functioning

in the other domain.

(Geurts et al., 2005) presents work-life interference as a multi-dimensional concept that involves

a bi-directional influence between work and life (i.e. work influences life experiences, and life

influences work experiences), both positive (facilitative) and negative (conflict) effects. Geurts

also investigated the total spectrum of work-home interference, defining it “as not only a process

of interaction between both work and home, but also more specifically, as an interactive process

in which a worker’s functioning (behavior) in one domain is influenced by either negative or

positive load effects that have built up in other domains”. This definition suggests that the

interaction that occurs between a person’s work and personal life can occur in both directions

and that the influence can either be positive or negative .Several studies in the work family

domain progressed to a more comprehensive understanding of the work-life interaction concept,

17
including components of both conflict and facilitation, and that these components should be

regarded as bidirectional in that work can interfere with personal life and personal life can

interfere with work (Byron, 2005). According to Byron, Work-life interference comprises of four

dimensions, namely

Negative work-life interference (NWLI), referring to a situation where work life interacts with

personal life with a negative influence;

Positive work-life interference (PWLI), referring to a situation where work life interacts with

personal life with a positive influence;

Negative life-work interference (NLWI), referring to a situation where personal life interacts

with work life with a negative influence and finally:

Positive life-work interference (PLWI), referring to a situation where personal life interacts with

work life with a positive influence.

Factors of work life balance

Through extensive research studies different factors of work life balance discovered by different

researchers who scientifically found that those determinants have significant effect on employees

work life balance status either positively or negatively. Here below the researcher attempts to

classify those different determinants of work life balance in to four categories’ as: organizational

domain variables, Home and social variables, Personal variables and technology.

Organizational domain variables

(Dikkers et al, 2007) states that in recent complex world, as increased demands on time, energy

and resources has amplified the pressure on organizations to produce output for greater work

performance. With this becoming the norm in the modern workplace, many organizational

18
determinants had come forth that influences an employee’s ability to balance work and life roles.

Such as:

Work demand

The world of work is characterized by several organizational structures, policies and procedures,

roles and responsibilities that need to be performed effectively and efficiently in order to achieve

business objectives (Dikkers et al, 2007). According to (Scharlach, 2001), work demands refer to

nature of work, what it require, how, were when, how it must be done, how often, workloads,

fast pace and conflicting priorities, in a person’s job with having little to no influence or control

over how that work load is planned and scheduled; and having a low spectrum of choices or

creative options with regard to how it should be executed etc. High work demands are usually

related to insufficient time to complete tasks, insufficient or inadequate tools and resources to

complete tasks, unrealistic performance targets with impractical deadlines, lack of support and

guidance from supervisors or managers in completing tasks, lack of adequate skills and

knowledge by the employee to complete the task, insufficient training provided on how to

successfully complete tasks and lack of autonomy in how work should be performed and

(Dikkers et al., 2007).Work-life imbalance often results due to work demands that restrict

individuals to satisfactorily perform other family and life related roles, as a result of deficient

time to perform all the required roles in a person’s life and limited opportunity to recover. The

effort-Recovery model, as theorized by (Meijman and Mulder, 1998) proposes that continuous

and recurrent exposure to high levels of work demands (work load and long working hours)

results in excessive effort expenditure. These extreme levels of effort expenditure establish itself

when an individual works overtime on an occasional, unplanned basis and on short notice in

order to meet high workloads. Excessive effort expenditure is likely to result in negative load

19
reactions, as in the attempt to manage work demands, an employee has no time or opportunity

for internal recovery, as there is simply no time to take a break. Frequent occurrences of lack of

recovery as a result of work demands result increased negative load reactions in a person’s work

and private life. These load reactions are then likely to develop into negative spill over or

interference with functioning in the home or life domain.(Van Hooff etal, 2007) sates that effort

expenditure in one role, requires recovery at some stage, however, the expected effort

expenditure in other roles may interfere with recovery processes, resulting in a negative

influence of load reaction, insufficient recovery and negative spill over, investing additional

effort in an attempt to balance all roles, and having a negative effect on health, well-being and

work-life balance. Work-life imbalance is likely also result from work demands, as the worker’s

functioning at home is influenced or impeded by negative load reactions that have built up at

work as a result of high work load and long working hours (Dikkers et al., 2007). Additionally

(Byron, 2005) and (Taris et al.,2006) found that other factors that might influence work-life

balance related to nature of work are regular work-related travelling or working away from your

normal workplace, causing individuals to be away from home for prolonged periods. Attending

frequent training sessions or meetings that take up a lot of work time, results in working

overtime or working at home, influencing work and family interactions. The type of work that

people do, as well as the work environment that people work in, such as extremely physical

work; cold/warm, noisy or dusty work conditions and even open-plan offices, might also put

strain on employees, causing stress, fatigue and negative spill-over, impacting the individual’s

ability to balance work and life roles. Many factors can be the cause of work-life balance as they

either individually or collectively put pressure on employees to balance demands and

responsibilities related to their work and life roles.

20
Role conflict, overload and ambiguity

Role conflict described as “when demands of one of the multiple roles make it difficult to fulfill

the demands of another role” and “the extent to which a person experiences pressures within one

role that are incompatible with the pressures that arise within another role” (Coverman, 1989).

Multiple role involvement exhausts one’s time and energy to fulfill these roles and influences

one’s ability to balance these several roles at once. According to (Coverman, 1989) role overload

means having too many role demands and too little time to fulfill them, especially when

performing several roles simultaneously. Role overload can also be conceptualized as role strain,

referring to an imbalance between the demands at hand and the resources available to manage

those demands. High levels of overload mean that an individual has too many role demands and

obligations, but is unable to perform them all effectively (Barnett and Baruch, 1985). Individuals

who perceive their workload to be high and to vary on a day-to-day basis would often complaint

fatigue, tension, and depression. Such mental symptoms produce emotional strain, which then

leads to higher levels of work-family conflict. Research evidence indicates that role overload has

a positively related to work distress. (Frone et al., 1997) found that work overload was

significantly and positively related to work-life conflict, but significantly and negatively related

to work performance. Employees with high family demands and/or work demands and poor

support systems at home and work are those with the highest levels of role conflict (Scharlach,

2001).Another work stressor that determines to work life balance or imbalance status is role

ambiguity which implies a lack of information required to perform a particular role, or a lack of

clarity, and, hence, uncertainty concerning the expectations connected with the role (Kahn et al.,

1964). Individuals who occupy work roles that are unclear, poorly defined, and too vague in their

descriptions or statements would experience more anxiety, tension, stress, and subsequently

21
work-family conflict. ( Ballout, 2008) states that ambiguity within the work role has been found

to be positively associated with work-life imbalance Ballout also found that job stressors that

consist of role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload play a role in determining work-family

conflict.

Working hours

A significant positive relationship was found between working hours and work-life conflict and

health and well-being, as a result of fatigue due to excessive working hours (Hughes & Parkes,

2007). The effort-recovery model proposes that working long hours or working overtime leaves

less time for recovery, resulting in negative loading that cause prolonged fatigue and interference

with functioning at home. Negative load effects build up during the working day, prolong during

the evenings and develop into negative spill over from work to home as less time is spent on

recovery. (Vander and Geurts, 2001) postulate that overtime is likely to occur in high work load

situations, resulting in extensive effort investment and limited time for internal recovery (short

breaks within work time) and external recovery (relaxation after work). Long working hours are

related to limited rest, which results in fatigue and poorer health and are more likely to result in

work-life interference. (Brought etal.,2005)and( Hughes and Parkes ,2007) also showed that

there is a significant relationship between long working hours and work-life conflict,

demonstrating that employees working longer hours experienced a greater extent of negative

work time and strain spill over into home and life domains, escalating work-life imbalance.

(Hughes and Parkes,2007) found evidence for the moderating effect that control over working

time has on the relationship between working hours and work-life imbalance or conflict,

illustrating that having a degree of control over hours worked reduces the effect that working

hours have on work-life interference. Thus employees who have some flexibility in their number

22
of hours worked, experience less conflict and negative spill over from work to home. It can thus

be anticipated that control over working hours are likely to reduce work-life conflict, as more

time is spend on home and family roles and also on recovery, reducing role conflict. This can

possibly only be achieved if the work load is manageable. (Ballout, 2008) have found that

excessive job involvement positively relates to work-family conflict.

Organizational culture

According to (Thompson etal., 1999) work-family culture refers to the collective perception by

members of an organization that the organization supports and values the integration of

employee’s work and family lives. Organizations having a positive work-family culture are

organizations where employees feel free to make use of work-life balance benefits or

arrangements without being discriminated against or negatively affected as a result of doing so.

A positive work-family culture is characterized by the support of an organization to its

employees enabling them to balance their work and family lives. (Dikkers et al., 2007) propose

that work-home culture can be conceptualized in terms of five dimensional constructs namely:

(a) Organizational support, the degree to which the organization supports the employee’s

integration of work and family roles and show sensitivity to employees’ family

responsibilities.

(b) Supervisor’s support, an employee’s perception of how understanding and supportive his or

her direct supervisor is of their desire to integrate home and family roles.

(c) Colleagues’ support, an employee’s perception of how understanding and supportive his or

her colleagues are of their desire to integrate work and family roles and the degree of assistance

they offer to stand in for work responsibilities.

23
(d) Career consequences, an employee’s perception of negative career development as a

consequence of making use of work-family benefits.

(e) Organizational time demands, the expectation that employees should spend a certain amount

of time evidently at work, resulting in the perception that taking time for family responsibility is

not possible due to this limitation.

But, the problem is most organizations do not give emphasis for work life balance issues, as

(Douglas T. etal., 2015) states/raised/ two reasons organizations do little to address the conflicts

employees experience between home life and work life. First, while some organizations may be

willing to consider work/home issues, they are uncertain about what action would be appropriate

and effective. And second, many organizations, for a variety of reasons, are simply unwilling to

work on these issues, but not due to lack of ability.

Since many organizations value the importance of work/home balance and have a sincere desire

to address it. However, despite their concern, they simply do not know how to approach the

question hence Douglas and others finds out the following reasons for why organizations have

difficulty understanding home and family life:

Lack of Models: Organizations have very little precedent to draw on in the work/family area.

Because there are not yet any models of effective response to these issues from which an

organization might learn.

Concerns about Employee Privacy: The most frequent executive concern in addressing

work/family issues is a sincere question about the ethics of dealing with an employee's family

and personal life, a concern about the invasion of privacy. Indeed, there are laws that protect

employees' privacy; but there is still uncertainty about the possible intrusiveness of raising

family problems for explicit discussion. Lack of Knowledge about Work/Home Dynamics: Most

24
organizations do not know much about the various points of interface between an employee's

work life and his or her family and personal life. And they recommend that Management should

understand this unstructured, largely undefined, and highly charged process by which work and

home affect each other on a daily basis before it can begin to solve the problems involved.

The main objective of work-family culture arrangements is to assist employees in balancing their

work and life/family roles in an attempt to reduce work-family conflict. Work-family balance

arrangements can, however, be ineffective if employees do not feel free and comfortable to use

them, as the organizational culture does not support it (Mesmer-Magnus, 2006).Various studies

such as (Becker etal, 1996) have shown that when employees perceive a positive work-home

culture in their organization, they are more likely to make use of work-life balance initiatives and

experience a degree of work-life balance. (Dikkers et al., 2007) have also found significant

support for their hypothesis that employees who perceived a high level of organizational support

to work-family arrangements were more likely to make use of it. They also found that employees

using work-life balance initiatives experienced less work-family interference.

However, according to a study conducted by (Mesmer-Magnus, 2006), they found a less

significant relationship between a friendly family-work environment and work-life balance

initiatives, and work-family conflict. They found that utilizing work-life balance initiatives did

not provide too much support in balancing work and life roles and indeed did not reduce work-

family interference significantly. They also found that a supporting work-family culture did

encourage employees to make use of work-family arrangements. And employees’ perceptions of

organizational support fully mediated the relationship between resource usage and work-family

interference, indicating that work-home culture positively effects work-life balance.

25
Personal variables

Personality traits or variables are referred to as personal resources, in the form of psychological

and social means by which people cope with the various stresses in their environment

(Rothmann, and Coetzer, 2002). Personal resources, such as personality traits, characteristics,

competencies or styles are functional in controlling the environment and exerting impact on it in

a successful way. Personality influences the way in which individuals’ experience, react to, and

manage the same situation or feeling. Different employees with different personality profiles will

experience work-life balance differently and also react to it differently, achieving different

results in their attempt to balance it.(Beauregard, 2006) proposes a model in which personality

variables can influence the work-home interface in three different ways. The researcher argue

that personality may affect the type and amount of work and home role requirements that an

individual experiences, it may influence an individual’s perceptions of work and home

requirements; and it may influence the coping styles and strategies that individuals use to

manage the interference between home and work, and in turn affect their experience of work-life

balance or work-life imbalance (Beauregard, 2006). Various personality and demographic

characteristics may have a pronounced effect on the degree to which employees experience and

cope with work-family conflict or imbalance. In similar vein various researchers have

established that personality and individual characteristics play a role in determining to what

extent individuals experience interference between work and home. In a study conducted by

(Wayne etal,.2004) it was found that Type-A personality traits and negative affectivity were

significantly related to behavior based work-family conflict. Similarly, (Beauregard, 2006) found

the personality trait of perfectionism to be significantly related to work-home and home-work

interference. In another study conducted by (Andreassi and Thompso, 2007), it was found that

26
there is a significant negative relationship between locus of control and work-family conflict.

Correspondingly, (Blanch and Aluja, 2009) found personality traits such as impulsive sensation

seeking, neuroticism-anxiety, aggression-hostility, activity and sociability to be negatively

related to work-family interference. An extensive study conducted by (Rotondo and Kincaid,

2008) reported that a direct action approach by individuals and positive thinking as coping styles

with respect to work-family conflict were associated with lower levels of family-work conflict

and higher levels of work-family facilitation. The fact that there are various personality traits that

could also have a direct effect on work-life interaction, but in this particular study each

personality types not considered for testing. Here also in addition to personality treats there are

different demographic variables which have relationship with work life balance: Demographics

refer to quantifiable statistics of a given population and usually refer to individual variables such

as gender, age, ethnicity, languages, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status,

and even location. In most major studies, demographics are considered as an influencing variable

on the relationships being studied. Since the 1980’s demographics became an important factor in

the study of work-life balance, as more women with children entered in the labor market. As a

result most studies only involved women and initiatives were developed to support women in the

workplace to balance their work and family roles. However, recently many changes in the

workplace, economy and technology have taken place, as well as the type of people that operate

in it, increasing the need to understand the interactions between employees’ work and non-work

domains (Dash et al., 2012)

27
Home and social domain variables

social domain variables which interface with paid work domain variables includes religion,

hobbies, leisure, sports, spouse, parent, recreation, child, volunteer, sibling, friend, committee

member, relative etc. issues are some of social activities of an individual which interface with

work related variables and resulted work life imbalance, impacting the work/non-work

relationship. More and more pressure is placed on employees to meet both work and non-work

demands and expectations, in a world that is focused on service excellence, effectiveness and

efficiency, resulting in different level of work life balance achievement for both employees and

the organization (Dash, et al 2012)

Technology and its usage

Besides its unquestionable advantages, technology have found impacting work life balance

impacting work-life balance, as the internet and mobile phones has made it possible for

employees to work anytime and from anywhere, distorting the boundaries between work and

home and also different communication medias such as face book, have an impact on employees

work life balance(Beauregard, 2004).

Ways to enhance work life balance

In order to effectively reduce work-life imbalance or work-family conflict and increase the use of

work-life balance arrangements, organizations should create a work-family culture that considers

the above determinants and supports employees by rendering different work-life balance

initiatives and arrangements.

Organizational support

Organizational support enables employees to be better able to control the work-life conflict

relationship in their lives. Having organizational support establishes a better person-environment

28
fit and has been shown to be a better predictor of reduced psychological distress and improved

quality of life. Employer acknowledgement, support and understanding in conjunction with

effective work-life balance initiatives and support programs can be very valuable in assisting

employees in balancing and coping successfully in the multiple roles in their lives, achieving

work-life balance (Richman et al., 2008).

A study on (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006) indicates organizational support consists of, but not

limited to, a combination of work-life balance arrangements and initiatives, flexible work

policies and other work life balance support practices, positive work-life culture and work-life

balance education and information provided by an organization and organizational support also

facilitates positive experiences and attitudes in the work domain for employees, which transfers

to the life domain, contributing to work-life balance. Greenhause and Powell define this

phenomenon as work-family enrichment, due to the extent to which experiences in one role

improve the quality of life in the other role. They proposed that the resources and flexibility

provided by organizations in an attempt to support employees to balance their work and life

roles, directly contribute to the positive experience and achievement of work-life balance.

Greenhause and Powell further suggest that the resources generated at work due to

organizational support, could be utilized to directly enhance performance in life roles.

Work-life balance initiatives

In a situation where work -home culture adopted, there will use of work-life balance initiatives

and will experience a decrease in the negative forms of work-life interaction, and an increase in

the positive forms of work-life interaction. Work-life balance initiatives are benefits and

practices provided by an organization to its member’s in order to assist them to effectively meet

29
their work and personal life obligations Work-life balance initiatives provide employees with the

ability to make choices influencing when, where and for how long they engage in work related

tasks enabling employees to control their work and life roles, decreasing conflict between these

two domains and as a result achieve work satisfaction and engagement (Hill etal., 2001).The

initiatives include flexible working and leaving options such as flexible hours, tele-work/

working from home arrangements), leave arrangements, part time, , job-sharing, EAP as well as

childcare and eldercare facilities, information or financial support pertaining to the non-work

sphere of life, and various onsite services. Such practices also termed as termed as family-

friendly policies (FFPs) or work-life benefits and policies (WLBPs) (Dex, 2002).Here below

some of these initiatives discussed.

Flex-time: Flexible working arrangements take a number of structures. These include the

flexibility in working time arrangement, the number of hours worked and with regard to place of

work (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). For employees, flexible working arrangement can facilitate

the reconciliation of work and family needs and let individuals to balance both responsibilities

and thereby achieve quality of life. Therefore, it is believed that employees are more likely to

stay in the organization when they were approved flexibility work schedule. The concept of

flexibility especially in terms of working time (flexi time) and work location (flex place) are

often looked as effective ways to achieve positive spill over and are essential to achieve work-

family balance (Hill et al., 2001)

Family Leave: Family leave policies allow employees to be away from the workplace for

varying period of time in order to deal with family responsibilities (Bond and Wise, 2003).

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP): Employee assistance programs are intended to

recognize the interaction between peoples domestic and working lives and to offer confidential

30
counseling to staff to address personal or other problems, including work-related stress that may

be affecting their performance (Clemmet,1998).The typically examples of EAPs included

providing assistance in the areas of personal issues, relationship issues, eldercare, childcare,

parenting issues, harassment, substance abuse, job stress, balancing work and family, financial or

legal and family violence. Some EAPs providers are also able to offer other services including

retirement or lay-off assistance, and wellness and health promotion and fitness while others may

offer advice on long term illnesses, disability issues, counseling for crisis situation. Therefore,

EAPs does not just limit on counseling services and may include life skills programs and fitness

programs. It can help employees in managing stress and resolving personal problems as well.

(Cooper,1994) reported that EAPs are an important to improve employee mental and physical

well-being so that they have enhanced performance at work and enhanced job satisfaction and

reduced turnover intention.

Job sharing: Is a very widespread form of work that has many constructive aspects and is also

viewed as a family-friendly practice. It is an employee driven trend and is variously used in

response to the perceived need for more family friendly policies or as a means of tackling the

work life imbalance difficulties (Gunnigle et al., 1998).

Part-Time Work: From the employer’s point of view, the use of part-time workers, where

feasible, can help maximize the use of human resources and increase operational flexibility, by

providing additional coverage during peak periods (Clarke etal ., 2004).

Job Performance

(Williams and Anderson, 1991) define that performance is the aggregated value of employee

contribution both directly and indirectly to organizational objectives. According to (Bashir,

2010). Performance of an employee at their workplace is a point of concern for all organizations

31
irrespective of all the factors and conditions. (Moorman et al., 1993) states that employees’

performance can be defined based on in-role and extra-role performance. In-role performance

refers to the individual contribution to the organization as stated in the job description and it is

the behavior of individual employee intended to achieve organizational goal as stated in their job

description and specification. Whereas, extra-role performance focuses on the involvement of

individual employees in the organization as well as group to enhance the group behavior toward

achieving both group and organizational goal. Extra-role performance is discretionary in nature

such as, acting courteously, helping others, good relationship with colleagues and supervisors

required for overall organizational effectiveness. A good performance of employees of an

organization leads towards a good organizational performance thus ultimately making an

organization more successful and effective (Armstrong & Baron, 1998). (Khan, 2011) also found

out that organizational performance is based on harder and softer part of organization. Harder

part is based on infrastructure, machinery and tangible assets of the organization but processes

and employees are considering as the softer part. For the management of the softer part of the

organization it imperative to handle the issues relevant to employees’ performance. Ultimate

success or failure of an organization is determined majorly by the performance of their

employees (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1995).Consequently the employees are considered to be very

important asset for their organizations (Qureshi etal., 2006). One of the problem arise for the

organizations is that the absence of frequent dig out of factors which affect employees good

functioning and perceiving that their employees already performing their best and with great

efficiency and furthermore, there is no need for further improvement in their organization

(Hyman, 2009). But there are different factors which affect employees well-functioning such as

work life balance problem which intended to investigate in the current study. In the past,

32
employees’ performance was often perceived as a function of skills and knowledge but, in recent

years the performance of employees depends not only on their competence (knowledge, skills)

but also on their availability (retention and presence), their motivation and job satisfaction, as

well as the availability of infrastructure, equipment and support systems, such as the

performance management, information systems, resources and accountability systems that are in

place (Zurn et al., 2005).Work-life conflict has immense impact on employees’ performance,

which is affecting the organizational performance. Hence keeping in view these barriers must be

tackled and addressed as they result in underdeveloped competencies and more over lead

towards organizational ineffectiveness.

Impact of Work life balance on employees’ job performance and social life

WLB has emerged as a strategic issue for human resource management (HRM) and a key

element of an organization's improvement strategies (Cappelli, 2000). It has been argued that

organizations need to be aware of the changing needs of employees and provide flexible WLB

strategies in order to retain their employees and make them best performer (Bruck et al., 2002).

But, there is insufficient awareness to support the notion that work-life balance enhances

employees’ performance in CBE context particularly in Arbaminch branch. So, using a wide

range of studies from a variety of disciplines, this paper examines the literature to identify the

various ways in which organizational work-life balance influence employees’ performance.

(Beauregard and Henry, 2009) shows that there are a number of routes by which work-life

balance practices can influence employees performance, different multi-level analysis and

research have shown that work life balance influence employees performance through multiple

directions:

33
Reduction of work-life conflict

Interference between work and non-work responsibilities has a number of negative outcomes that

have been well established in the literature. In terms of job attitudes, employees reporting high

levels of both work-to-life and life-to-work conflict tend to exhibit lower levels of job

satisfaction and performance (Burke & Greenglass, 1999). Both directions of conflict also leads

to include reduced work effort, and increased absenteeism and turnover, stress, burn out

(Anderson etal., 2002).Cognitive difficulties such as staying awake, lack of concentration, and

low alertness (MacEwen & Barling, 1994), and reduced levels of general health and energy

(Frone etal., 1996).Work-life balance initiatives can assist individual employees to manage their

work and life roles and demands. Work-life balance initiatives serve as resources for employees

to manage their work-life conflict and as a result they succeed in balancing their work and life

strains and demands. Several studies reported by (Beauregard and Henry,2009) have shown that

the use of flexible working hours, perceived control, family supportive policies, practices and

perceptions have been associated with lower levels of work-life conflict.

Improves employee loyalty:(Lambert, 2000) averts that improving a company’s WLB practices

not only leads to greater productivity but greater loyalty and job satisfaction among employees.

(Hobson et al., 2001), for instance, say that, critical support provided by an employer can be

expected to result in heightened efforts on the part of an employee to reciprocate. This could be

in the form of increased motivation, productivity, attendance, commitment, loyalty and so forth.

Reduces absenteeism: (Beauregard et al, 2009) founded a fascinating change in employee’s

absenteeism since the employers introduced work-life balance policies. Work-family conflict is

positively related to work absenteeism (Thomas and Ganster, 1995) and to turnover intentions

(Netemeyer et al., 1996). Several researches report that work-life balance friendly firm that

34
offers respective initiatives and epitomizes a supportive culture notices reduced absenteeism

among employees (Boyar et al., 2003). Work-life programs generate performance benefits for

firms by enhancing recruitment and reducing absenteeism and turnover (Greenhaus and

Parasuraman, 1997).

Satisfaction and commitment

According to (Blau, 1964), using social exchange theory interpreted as when employees treated

favorably by the organization, they will feel obliged to respond in kind, through positive attitudes

or behaviors’ toward the source of the treatment. Using the provision of work-life balance

practices as an indicator of favorable treatment, employees will reciprocate in ways beneficial to

the organization – increased commitment, satisfaction with one’s job, and citizenship behaviors,

increase their perceptions of organizational support.(Lero et al, 2009) states that the availability

of work-life balance initiatives, the actual use of these initiatives and reduction of work-life

conflict are very likely to change employees’ attitudes and perceptions of an organization; and in

turn affect their personal satisfaction and commitment towards their job and organization.

(Beauregard et al,2009) have also found that the availability of several work-life balance

initiatives, use of it, and satisfaction with it, were associated with increased organizational

commitment and performance, reduced turnover intentions; and increased job satisfaction and

loyalty. The provision of work-life balance initiatives and support by the organization strongly

affects an employee’s decision to join an organization or to stay with their current employer, as

well as their overall work and life satisfaction and the adoption of work/life balance practices can

help ease the problem of skill shortages by attracting and retaining previously ‘untapped’ pools

of talent (Wang, 2006).

35
Improved personal health and wellbeing

The effort-recovery (E-R) model, as originally proposed by (Meijman and Mulder, 1998),

provides the theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between several

determinants of work-life balance and personal health and wellbeing. The E-R model facilitates

understanding of the impact that certain work stressors can have on personal well-being, as it

proposes that effort expenditure in the form of work, is associated with short-term physiological

and psychological costs, in terms of fatigue, tension and stress. The negative effects of these

costs can be reversed when the individual reduces effort investment and exposure to work load

and pressure. This process is known as the recovery phase, as the individual takes time to break

away from effort investment and accompanied pressures. If sufficient time is taken for recovery,

negative loading effects will be kept at a minimum and thus excessive fatigue and stress will be

low. Negative loading built up during the working day will come to an end when time is taken to

recover, physical and psychological systems will stabilize during resting periods, and no negative

physiological and psychological effects will occur. Studies (Eby etal, 2005) and (Geurts, 2006)

have shown that high levels of effort expenditure and low levels of recovery are associated with

high levels of work-life interference and low levels of personal well-being. It can thus be

assumed that making use of work-life balance initiatives provides individuals with recovery

opportunities, enabling them to achieve reduced stress, depression and exhaustion levels together

with reduced role strain. (Lero et al. 2009) found in his study that work-life balance practices had

a positive impact on reducing job stress and improved morale and mental health.(Judge and

Ilies ,2004) found that mood at work is positively related to mood at home, a phenomenon

referred to as ―mood spillover.

36
Happy employee: (Adams et al., 1996) found work-family conflict was negatively related to

both job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Negative relationships between job-life satisfaction and

various forms work-family conflict exert considerable influence on family life in the form of

unpleasant moods. Employees enjoy better relation with spouse, kids, friends, etc.

Reduces tension: Employees said to benefit through greater job satisfaction. WLBPs create a

sense of assurance for employees that their organization/employer is supportive of employee

wellbeing and non-work related needs. According to perceived organizational support theory

(Eisenberger et al., 1986) and social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), the feeling of supportiveness

results into higher positive attitudes towards the organization and promotes employee

participation and initiative through a felt obligation to give extra effort in return for additional

benefits.

Psychological well-being: Work-life balance is associated with decreased psychological distress

(Major et al., 2000).Experiences of both types of work-family conflict produces increased

depression levels (Allen et al., 2000) reports that work-family conflict and family-work conflict

leads to depression among employees. Physical health: Studies have showed that higher levels

of WFC and FWC experiences relate to decreased levels of self-reported overall physical health

as well as more physical and somatic health complaints on specific symptom checklists (Allen et

al., 2000). Experiences of conflict also relate to self-reported nervous tension and fatigue as well

as more self-reported sickness absence (Anderson et al., 2002). Successful work-life integration

is related to reduce physical and psychological complaints such as illness, increased appetite and

energy levels, decreased fatigue, nervous tension and anxiety (Allen et al., 2000).

37
Conclusion

Based on the above literature, we can conclude that the term work–life balance has become a

crucial contemporary issue in today’s business context. Although many researchers conduct

several studies that have made an effort to address this issue, it is still a delusion for many

without a proper solution. Due to organizational demands on the employees’ adherence to the

organization and improved performance, this study confirms that work–life balance still remains

a dominant factor for this matter. Based on the empirical evidence of the present study it can be

concluded that the higher achievement of work life balance, the higher employees effort

contribution for the organization. It reveals that when employees are in a position to successfully

compartmentalize their conflicting work and non-work roles, the role conflicts are minimized

and employees encounter lower levels of stress, a lower level of dissatisfaction as well as

achieving a desirable level of work–life balance and there is also multiple factors related to

organizational, individual, social and family, technology affect the work life balance of an

individual

Conceptual frame work

According to the above literature review and to achieve the research objectives the following

conceptualized research model is developed. Further, Figure below shows that work life balance

of employees influenced by different determinants which grouped in four categories

organizational, home and social, personal variables and technology. And also the model indicates

the effect of work life balance on employees’ job performance and social life status. Moreover,

the determinants of work life balance were significantly explaining the variation in work life

balance and since work life balance positively and significantly predict employees’ job

38
performance. Therefore, work life balance is one of the several factors that have an effect on

employees’ job performance.

1.organizational

variables

Employees’ job

2.home/social
Work life balance Performance
variables

Employees social
3.personal variables
Life status

4. technology

Figure 2. 1 Conceptual frame work of the study

39
 METHODOLOGY

Introduction

The main objective of this chapter is to give an overview of the research design and methodology

used to investigate the research problem. Since, obtaining the right data from the right source by

using the right method and analyzing it via the right analytical tool is the most important for the

best accomplishment of the study (Kothari, 1990),in this section, the following methodologies

and procedures discussed below:

Research Design

Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means concerning an inquiry or a

research study constitute a research design. The research design will be used descriptive and

explanatory research design using quantitative method. The rationale behind using descriptive

study design is it is preferable to describe the existing phenomena regarding to work life balance

using behind explanatory research design is to determine how the independent variable /work life

balance / explain the dependent variable/job performance/ of the study.

Source of data

Both primary and secondary source of data will be used. The primary sources are employees of

the CBE. They are considered being the relevant sources of data because they are the ones who

know or have experience with every activities of the bank. In addition secondary sources like

Articles, Journals, and researches will be used.

40
Method of data collection

Method of data collection involves questionnaires for primary data and beside these the above

secondary data will be used. The purpose of using questionnaires in the research is because of

the direct response and feedback from the respondents that can be collected in short period of

time and in an easier manner.

Population of the study and study area

CBE has 4 branches in Arbaminch town. Three of them located in sikella, named Sikella branch

and the rest one located in shecha, called Secha branch. The number of employees in each bank

is 32 28, 17 and 19 respectively ,Since the total number of employees of CBE in Arbaminch is

96,the researcher decided to undertaken the whole population as a target group through census

survey because of the number of employees is small and manageable.

Data Processing

The method of data processing in this study is both manual and computerized system. In the

Processing procedure editing, coding, classification, and tabulation of the collected Data will be

used. The researcher will edit the data which will be collected from each respondent to detect

errors, omissions, checking that whether each questions answered or not. Then process of

assigning numerical symbols will be conducted to reduce responses into a limited number of

categories or classes. After this, the processes of classification or arranging large volume of raw

data in to classes or groups on the basis of common characteristics were undertaken. Data having

the common characteristics were place together and in this way the data were divided into a

41
number of groups. Finally, tabulation will be used to summarize the raw data and displayed in

the compact form (in the form of statistical table) for further analysis.

Data Analysis

After the data will be collected and processed this is further transformation of the processed data

according to the objective of the study to look for patterns and relationships between variable,

proper analysis and interpretation will be conducted. Here the researcher will use both

descriptive and inferential Statistical analysis. In this regard a power full statistical tool, SPSS

version 25 will be used.

Descriptive Analysis: The researcher will use descriptive analysis to reduce the data in to a

summary format and with respect to the nature of each question, the descriptive statistics utilized

will be cross tabulations for related double questions and summary statistics such as means,

standard deviations, minimum and maximum were computed for the rest variables.

Inferential Analysis: According to (Sekaran,2000), “inferential statistics allow researchers to

infer from the data through analysis the relationship between two variables; differences in a

variable among different groups; and how several independent variables might explain the

variance in a dependent variable. The following inferential statistical methods will be conduvted

conducted in this study.

The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient:(Cohen and Swerdlik ,2002) posit that

the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient is a widely used statistical method for

obtaining an index of the relationships between two variables when the relationships between the

variables is linear and when the two variables correlated are continuous. On this study Pearson’s

Product moment correlation Coefficient will be used to determine the following relationships

42
among variables for the respondents or to ascertain whether a statistically significant relationship

exists between:

 WLB and employees job performance and

 WLB and employee’s social life

Regression Analysis used to investigate the impact of independent variable on dependent

variable. In the current study simple linear regression will be used to investigate the impact of:

 Work life balance on employees’ job performance and

 Work life balance on employees’ social life status

Ethical issues of the Study

Concerning ethical considerations the researcher will take in account:

Confidentiality – the respondents will be assured that they will not confuse and that their

response remained confidential. The information they provide is confidential and will be used for

academic purpose only.

Organizational approval – A written letter that explains the research idea as well as a copy of

the research proposal will be provided to the study site. The researcher will obtain approval prior

to any research activity at the specified location will being carried out.

Informed consent – Cover letters will explain the purpose of the questionnaire and well as for

what purpose the study is going to be conducted.

43
Validity and Reliability

Validity: The extent to which the measurement what intends to measure. The instrument will

designed by taking in to consideration the basic question and all items included in the

questionnaires.

Reliability: Reliability of the instrument is also taste to check on its internal consistency using

Cronbach’s alpha result for all the seven categories of the questionnaire

References

Accent, 2013) Employees work life balance survey, Research Institute of Economy, Trade &
Industry in Japan (RIETI). 2158 que07.

Adams, G., King, L. & King, D. (1996).Relationships of job and family involvement age.
Philadelphia: Pearson/Wharton School Publishing.

Allen T.D., Herst D.E., Bruck C.S. and Sutton M., (2000) Consequences associated with work-
to-family conflict: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of occupational
Health Psychology, Vol. 5(2), pp. 278-308.

Allen, T., & Russell, J.(1999). Formal organizational initiatives and informal workplace
practices: Links to work-life conflict and job-related outcomes. Journal of Management,
28(6), 787-810.

Allen, T., (2001). Family-supportive work environments: The role of organizational perceptions.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, 414-435.

Anderson E.S., Coffey S.B., & Byerly T.R. (2002). Formal Organizational Initiatives and
Informal Workplace Practices: Links to Work-Family Conflict and Job-Related
Outcomes. Journal of Management: 28,787.

Andreassi, J.K., & Thompson, C.A. (2007). Dispositional and situational sources of control:
Relative impact on work-family conflict and positive spill-over. Journal of Managerial
Psychology, 22(8), 722-740. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.81.4.411

44
Armstrong, M., & Baron, A.Performance management, Human resource management.

Ashfaq, (2014) Creating sustainable organizations: How flexible work improves wellbeing and
performance. New York: Flexpaths.

Babbie, E., and Mouton, J. (1998). The practice of Social Research. Cape Town: Oxford.

Ballout, H.I. (2008). Work-family conflict and career success: The effects of domain-specific
determinants. Journal of Management Development, 27(5), 437-466.

Baltes, B., Briggs, T., Huff, J., Wright, J., & Neuman, G. (1999). Flexible and compressed work-
week schedules: A meta-analysis of their effects on work-related criteria. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 84, 496–513.

Barnett RC, Baruch GK (1985) Women’s involvement in multiple roles and psychological
distress.J Pers Soc Psychol 49:135–145.

Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1995).Changing the role of top management: beyond systems to
people. Long Range Planning, 28(4), 126-126.

Basher, U. (2010). Impact of Stress on Employees Job Performance. A study on banking Sector
of Pakistan. International Journal of marketing Studies, Vol. 2, 122.

Baughman, Reagan, Daniela, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, (2003) “Productivity and wage effects of
“family-friendly” fringe benefits,” International Journal of Manpower, Vol.24, No.3, pp.
247-259.

Beauregard, A., (2004). Interference between Work and Home: An Empirical Study of the
Antecedents, Outcomes, and Coping Strategies amongst Public Sector Employees.

Beauregard, T.A. (2006). Predicting interference between work and home: A comparison of
dispositional and situational antecedents. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(3), 244-
264.

Beauregard, T.A., & Henry, L. C., (2009). Making the link between work-life balance practices
and organizational performance. Human Resource Management Review, 19, 19-22.

Becker, B. and Gerhart, B. (1996) 'The impact of human resource management on organizational
performance' Academy of Management Journal 39 (4). p. 779-801.

45
Bird.J, (2006) Work life balance doing it right and avoiding the pitfalls. Employment Relations
Today, Vol.33, no.3, pp 21-30.

Blanch, A. & Aluja, A. (2009). Work, family and personality: A study of work-family conflict.
Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 520-524.

Blau, P.M. (1964), Exchange and power in social life. Wiley, New York, NY.

Bless C., and Smith, C. (1995). Fundamentals of social research methods: An African
perspective (2nd ed.). Cape Town: Juta and Co. Ltd.

Champoux, J.E. (1978). Perceptions of work and non-work: A reexamination of the

compensatory and spillover models. Sociology of work and occupations.

Chen, M., Vanek, J. and Carr, M. (2004). Mainstreaming informal employment and gender in
poverty reduction, London: Commonwealth Secretariat

Clark, S.C. (2000). Work/family border theory: A new theory of work/family balance. Human
Relations.

Dikkers, J.S.E., Geurts, S.A.E and Kompier, Does work load cause work-life interference or it
the other way around? Stress and health.DOI:10.1006/jvbe.2001.1836

Eaton, Susan C. 2001. If you can use them: Flexibility policies, organizational commitment and
perceived performance. Faculty research working Paper Series, Harvard University
Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Mass.

Eby, L. T., Casper, W. J., Lockwood, A., Bordeaux, C., & Brinley, A. (2005). Work and family
European Journal of Business and Management, (2013) ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN
2222-2839 Vol.5, No.15, 2013

Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational
support. Journal of Employee Relations, 29(4), 385-399.

Elloy, D.F. & Smith, C.R. (2003. Patterns of stress, work-family conflict, role conflict, role
ambiguity and overload among dual career couples: An Australian study. Cross Cultural
Management, 10(1): 55-66.

Finck, G., Timmers, J. & Mennes, M. (1998). Satisfaction vs. motivation. Across The Board,
35(9), 55-56.

46
Francis V E (2004), Supportive organizational cultures and their effect on male civil engineers,
The Australian Journal of Construction Economics and Building. Vol 4 (1), pp.1 - 9.

Friedman, D. E., & Johnson, A. A. (1997).Moving from programs to culture change: The next
stage for the corporate work– family agenda. (pp. 192–208).

Frone MR, Russell M, Cooper ML (1997), Relation of Work – Family Conflict to Health
Outcomes: A Four – Year Longitudinal Study of Employed Parents. J. Occupational.
Orgsan. Psychol., 70: 325-335.

Frone, M. R., &Yardley, J. K. (1996). Workplace family-supportive programs: Predictors of

employed parents’ importance ratings. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology, 69, 351-366.

Frone, M., (2003). “Work life conflicts”: Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology, British
Psychological Association p. 143–148.

Geurts, S.A.E., Taris, T.W.,& Kompier, M.A.J.,(2005). Work-home interaction from a work
psychological perspective: Development and validation of a new questionnaire, the
SWING. Work & Stress.

Geurts, S.A.E., & Sonnentag,S.(2006).Recovery as an explanatory mechanism in the relation

between acute stress reactions and chronic health impairment. Scandinavian Journal of
Work, Environment &Health, 32, 482–492.

Goldberg, W. A., Greenberger, E., (1989). Attractiveness of child care and related employer-
supported benefits and policies to married and single parents. Child and Youth Care
Quarterly, 18, 23-37.

Gray, M, Qu, L, Stanton, D and Weston, R (2004). Long work hours and the wellbeing of fathers
and their families, Australian Journal of Labor Economics, 7(2): 255–273.

Greenhaus, J.H. & Beutell, N.J. (2003).Sources of conflict between work and family roles.
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 10, pp. 76-88.

Greenhaus, J.H., & Powell, G.N. (2006).When work and family are allies: A theory of work
family

impact of managerial styles’, Employee Relations, 20:2, 115-31

47
Harrington, (2007) work life evolution study, Boston College Center for Work & Family

Hayman, J. R. (2009). Flexible work arrangements: Exploring the linkages between perceived
usability of flexible work schedules and work/life balance .Community, Work and
Family, 12(3), 327-3 Hudson,(2005). The case of work/life balance: Closing the gap
between policy and practice. Hudson Highland Group, Inc.

Hughes, E.L., & Parkes, K.R., (2007). Work hours and well-being: The roles of work-time
control and work-family interference.

Hyman, J. & Summers, J.,(2004). Lacking balance? Work-life employment practices in the
modern economy.

Judge, T., & Ilies, R. (2004). Relationship of personality to performance motivation: A meta-
analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 797-807.

Khan J., AyubT., Asfaq s.,(2014),Impact of Work Life Conflict on Organizational Performance
World Applied Sciences Journal 32 (3): 349-358, 2014 ISSN 1818-4952 DOI:
10.5829/idosi.wasj.2014.32.03.898

Khan, K. U., (1997). The relationship between Human resource and organizational performance
in commercial banks of Pakistan. Research Journal of Internatıonal Studıes(14), 37-54.

Kirrane, M. & Buckley F. (2004. The influence of support relationships on work-family conflict:
Differentiating emotional from instrumental support. Equal Opportunities. 23(1/2): 78-
96.

Kodz, J. (2003) Working Long Hours: A review of the evidence, Employment Relations
Research Series, DTI, London.

Kodz, J., Harper, H., & Dench, S. (2002). Work-life balance: Beyond the rhetoric. Institute for
Employment Studies Report 384. London 38.

Major, V.S, Klein, K.J.,& Earhart, M.G. (2002). Work time, work interference with family and
psychological distress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 427 – 436

Marian N., Ruder man, Phillip W., Braddy, Kelly M., and Kossek, (2011), making your life
work, A new approach to increase your effectiveness on and off the job, center of
creative leadership, USA

48
MarianN.Ruderman, (2011) Making your life work, A new approach to increase your
effectiveness on and off the job.

Mccrea, R, Boreham, P and Ferguson M., (2011). Reducing work-to-life interference in the
public service: The importance of participative management as mediated by other work
attributes, Journal of Sociology, 47(3):313–332

McDaniel, C., and Gates, R.(2006). Marketing Research Essentials (5th ed.). New Jersey: John
Wiley and Sons Inc.

MacEwen, K. E., &Barling, J. (1994). Daily consequences of work interference with family and
family interference with work. Work and Stress, 8, 244-254.

McPherson, (2007). The role of managers in work life balance implementation. Labor,
Employment and Work in New Zealand.

Meijman, T.E., & Mulder, G., (1998). Psychological aspects of workload. A meta-analytical
examination. Journal of Labor Research.

Noor.k.m, (2011). Work-Life Balance and Intention to Leave among Academics in Malaysian
Public Higher Education Institutions: International Journal of Business and Social
Science Vol. 2 No. 11

Piotrkowski, C., (1979). Work and the Family System. New York: The Free Press.

Pleck, J.H., Staines, G.L., & Lang, L. (1980).Conflicts between work and family life.

Qureshi M., Tahir &Ramay I., (2006). Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on
Organizational Performance in Pakistan‟. Journal of Occupational research in IO/OB:
(1980-2002).

Sharma, (2013), Balance between Work and Life: Challenges and Solutions: International
Journal of Applied Research and Studies Volume 2, Issue 11

Spinks, N., 2004). Work-life balance: Achievable goal or pipe-dream? The Journal for Quality
and Participation. Stress: Studies in role conflict and ambiguity. New York: Wiley.

Stanton & Young, (2009), Work-Life Balance and Intention to Leave among Academics in
Malaysian Public Higher Education Institutions, International Journal of Business and
Social Science Vol. 2 No. 11

49
Sturges, J., & Guest, D. (2004). Working to live or living to work? Work/life balance early in the
career. Human Resource Management Journal, 14(4), 5-20.

Taris, T.W., Verhoeven, L.C., Geurts, S.A. (2006). Recovery opportunities, work-life
interference, and well-being among managers. European Journal of Work and
Organizational Psychology, 15(2), 139-157.

Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. (2001). Unbinding time: Alternate work schedules and work-life
balance. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 22(2), 101-119.

Thomas, L.T. & Ganster, D.C. (1995). Impact of family-supportive work variables on work-
family conflict and strain: A control perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 6 –
15. 92.

50
 Appendix I: Work Plan

TABLE 1: Work plan

Activity Nov Dec Jan Feb Apr Jun

Topic selection 
Literature search 
Proposal 

submission and

presentation
Data collection 
Data analysis 
Research 

submission and

presentation

51
Appendix II: Budget Plan

TABLE 2: Budget plan

Item Amount Per unit cost Total cost

Pen 10 Bick Br 6 60Br
Paper 1 package 0.5 cent 200Br
Mobile card 40 10*5br=50Br 520 Br

26*10br=260Br

14*15br=210 Br
Printing 37 1br 37Br
Miscellaneous - - 455Br

expense
Contingent cost - - 1000Br
Total …………………………………………………………………..1772Br

52