Dissatisfaction with work-life balance represents a potentially costly issue for firms and their employees. From an organizational perspective, human resource management practices are expected to foster attitudes and behaviors among employees that facilitate better work-life balance; supervisors play a crucial role in this regard. Additionally, individual factors influence how people resolve work-family conflicts. Because employees have different perspectives on work-life balance, there are considerable individual differences in how they achieve this balance. Therefore, this study examines the impact of supervisors on subordinates’ work-life balance satisfaction, using longitudinal personnel and employee satisfaction data to control for individual-specific effects. The results demonstrate that effective communication by supervisors on both work and family/personal life topics enhances subordinates’ work-life balance satisfaction, after controlling for individual-specific effects. The findings also suggest that companies should identify the traits and/or specific competencies of supervisors that most significantly impact employees’ work-life balance satisfaction.
This study examines how Generation Y employees understand and combine work and family responsibilities in the view of social norms in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach: Interviews are conducted with 18 married women and men employees in executive level and thematically analysed using Social Role Theory and the Generational Cohort Theory to examine Generation Y employees' understanding of work and family life. The findings from the data demonstrate that Generation Y employees understand that flexible work schedules help them to have a better combination between work and family. Men and women Gen Y employees’ work-family balance understandings may vary in the way they are experienced and observed from the previous generations, especially from their baby boomer parents. This study also identified women are less likely to believe that they can professionally succeed compared to men. This qualitative research deeply focused on Generation Y's different Work-family balance understandings from a developing country perspective. The findings provide the complex interplay of Generation Y employees' work and family life. This research provided practical implications for practitioners and employers.
This paper examines how the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model influences the operational HR roles of first-line managers (FLMs), namely administrative expert (AE) and employee champion (EC), and how these roles contribute to HR competency (HRC) development in private banking organizations in Bangladesh. Data were collected from 230 FLMs across 12 private commercial banks using a time-lagged, three-wave survey administered at 3-month intervals. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to investigate the hypothesized associations. The findings confirm that ability and motivation are significant drivers of FLMs’ enactment of the EC and AE roles, whereas opportunity is not. Both EC and AE positively influence HRC and significantly mediate the relationships between FLMs’ ability and motivation and their HRC. However, they did not mediate the effect of the opportunity factor on HRC. The study’s validity and reliability were supported through careful survey design and rigorous statistical testing. Whereas much of the previous research has focused on HRC among HR managers, FLMs, as key implementers of HR policies at the operational level, have received comparatively limited attention. By positioning FLMs as key stakeholders in HRC research, this study provides new insight into how operational HR roles facilitate the development of strategic HR competencies. The findings offer practical implications for HR practitioners and bank managers seeking to strengthen HRC through targeted AMO-based interventions at the frontline management level.
Managers’ efforts to repair workplace harm are known to benefit both offenders and organizations, yet related research suggests these restorative actions could also lead to unintended negative consequences. Drawing on a framework of restorative justice and unethical prosocial behavior, we examine whether managerial attempts at moral repair can inadvertently prompt employees to engage in unethical pro-supervisor behavior (UPSB). In a multi-wave survey of 244 full-time employees who recalled an incident in which they caused workplace harm, we find that managers’ restorative justice behaviors are positively associated with employees’ subsequent UPSB. This effect is mediated by employees’ gratitude, desire to reciprocate, and identification with their manager. Further, employees with a strong moral identity show weaker links between gratitude, desire to reciprocate, and UPSB. We discuss implications for restorative justice theory and managerial practice.
