When fit is fundamental: performance evaluations and promotions of upper-level female and male managers

Using archival organizational data, the authors examined relationships of gender and type of position (i.e., line or staff) to performance evaluations of 448 upper-level managers, and relationships of performance evaluations to promotions during the subsequent 2 years. Consistent with the idea that there is a greater perceived lack of fit between stereotypical attributes of women and requirements of line jobs than staff jobs, women in line jobs received lower performance ratings than women in staff jobs or men in either line or staff jobs. Moreover, promoted women had received higher performance ratings than promoted men and performance ratings were more strongly related to promotions for women than men, suggesting that women were held to stricter standards for promotion.     

The costs of today’s jobs: Job characteristics and organizational supports as antecedents of negative spillover

This study examined job characteristics and organizational supports as antecedents of negative work-to-nonwork spillover for 1178 U.S. employees. Based on hierarchical regression analyses of 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce data and O∗NET data, job demands (requirements to work at home beyond scheduled hours, job complexity, time and strain) had positive relationships, and job resources (autonomy and skill development) and organizational supports (flexible work arrangements and two work-life culture facets) had negative relationships to negative spillover, but not all relationships held when multiple predictors were examined. Organizational supports did not moderate relationships of job characteristics to negative spillover, and relative weights analysis indicated that job characteristics accounted for the majority of explained variance in negative spillover. The findings underscore the importance of job characteristics, and suggest that job characteristics and organizational supports both need to be considered when developing work-life policies intended to reduce employees’ negative work-to-nonwork spillover.     

Can a manager have a life and a career? International and multisource perspectives on work-life balance and career advancement potential

The present study was the first cross-national examination of whether managers who were perceived to be high in work-life balance were expected to be more or less likely to advance in their careers than were less balanced, more work-focused managers. Using self ratings, peer ratings, and supervisor ratings of 9,627 managers in 33 countries, the authors examined within-source and multisource relationships with multilevel analyses. The authors generally found that managers who were rated higher in work-life balance were rated higher in career advancement potential than were managers who were rated lower in work-life balance. However, national gender egalitarianism, measured with Project GLOBE scores, moderated relationships based on supervisor and self ratings, with stronger positive relationships in low egalitarian cultures. The authors also found 3-way interactions of work-life balance ratings, ratee gender, and gender egalitarianism in multisource analyses in which self balance ratings predicted supervisor and peer ratings of advancement potential. Work-life balance ratings were positively related to advancement potential ratings for women in high egalitarian cultures and men in low gender egalitarian cultures, but relationships were nonsignificant for men in high egalitarian cultures and women in low egalitarian cultures.     

Work and Pregnancy: Individual and Organizational Factors Influencing Organizational Commitment,Timing of Maternity Leave,and Return to Work

The authors surveyed 86 pregnant women (73%White, 8% Asian, 7% African American, 6% Hispanic, and1% Native American) to examine individual andorganizational factors associated with organizationalcommitment and planned timing of their maternity leavesand return to work after childbirth. Women whoseorganizations offered guaranteed jobs after childbirthplanned to work later into their pregnancies and toreturn to work sooner after childbirth. Women whoperceived supportive work-family cultures were morecommitted to their organizations and planned to returnmore quickly after childbirth than women who perceived less supportive cultures. Also, women with lesstraditional attitudes toward parenting planned to worklater into their pregnancies and return to work soonerafter childbirth.     

Gender Differences in Five Factor Model Personality Traits in an Elderly Cohort: Extension of Robust and Surprising Findings to an Older Generation

In college and adult samples, women score higher then men on the Five Factor Model (FFM) personality traits of Neuroticism and Agreeableness. The present study assessed the extent to which these gender differences held in a sample of 486 older adults, ranging in age from 65-98 (M = 75, SD = 6.5), using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. Mean and Covariance Structure models testing gender differences at the level of latent traits revealed higher levels of Neuroticism (d = .52) and Agreeableness (d = .35) in older women than older men. The consistency of these findings with prior work in younger samples attests to the stability of gender differentiation on Neuroticism and Agreeableness across the lifespan. Gender differences on these traits should be considered in personality research among older, as well as middle age and younger adults.     

Life Spillovers: The Spillover of Fear of Home Foreclosure to the Workplace

Work–life research has focused on the spillover of family experiences to the workplace but has neglected other life experiences that may also be brought to work. Addressing this shortcoming, we present a conceptual framework for the study of life spillovers. We offer the idea that life experiences can include shocks and that the fear associated with nonwork shocks can spill over to the workplace. The national shock of the collapse of the U.S. financial and housing markets in 2008 offered an opportunity to test these ideas and build an empirical foundation for the study of life spillovers. Using a sample of 2,135 organizationally employed homeowners, we examined the spillover of fear of home foreclosure to the workplace. In support of our moderated mediation model, employees with greater fear of losing their homes to foreclosure reported more physical stress‐related symptoms at work, and their acknowledgment of home‐to‐work spillover fully mediated this relationship. Fear of foreclosure also directly predicted job search behaviors and negatively affected employees’ organizational commitment and turnover intentions through multiple mediators involving home‐to‐work spillover and stress. Resources and demands from the home and, to a lesser extent, work domains amplified the spillover of fear of foreclosure to the workplace. Taken together, these findings support widening the work–life lens to include a broader array of nonwork experiences. Practical implications are presented as well as new directions for future research using the life spillover framework.     

Experiences of Families Transmitting Values in a Rapidly Changing Society: Implications for Family Therapists

Intergenerational value transmission affects parent–child relationships and necessitates constant negotiation in families. Families with adolescents from rapidly changing societies face unique challenges in balancing the traditional collectivistic family values that promote harmony with emerging values that promote autonomy. Using modern Turkey as an example of such a culture, the authors examine the transmission process in families that hold more traditional and collectivistic values than their adolescent children. Special consideration is given to generational and cultural differences in the autonomy and relatedness dimensions.     

Fitting a square peg in a square hole: Using metaphor in narrative therapy

This paper examines the assumptions of the narrative mode of therapy and the assumptions of therapeutic metaphors. The premise is that the use of metaphor fits the assumptions of narrative therapy and can enhance and expand narrative therapy. This paper examines the structure and types of metaphor, explores their fit within the narrative model, and gives three case examples which illustrate the use of metaphor in narrative therapy.Kevin Lyness, MS, is a doctoral candidate, MFT Program, 1269 Fowler House, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1268, and a doctoral candidate in the MFT Program, Purdue University. Volker Thomas, PhD, is assistant professor, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, 1269 Fowler House, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1269. Reprint requests should be sent to the first author.     

Climbing the corporate ladder: do female and male executives follow the same route?

This study compares the careers of matched samples of 69 female executives and 69 male executives by examining perceived barriers and facilitators of advancement, self-reported developmental experiences, and career histories. Consistent with tokenism theory, women reported greater barriers, such as lack of culture fit and being excluded from informal networks, and greater importance of having a good track record and developing relationships to facilitate advancement than did men. Career success, measured by organizational level and compensation, was positively related to breadth of experience and developmental assignments for both genders, but successful women were less likely than successful men to report that mentoring facilitated their advancement. Developmental experiences and career histories were similar for female and male executives, but men had more overseas assignments and women had more assignments with nonauthority relationships.     

Are female managers quitters? The relationships of gender, promotions, and family leaves of absence to voluntary turnover.

This study examined the relationships of gender, promotions, and leaves of absence to voluntary turnover for 26,359 managers in a financial services organization. Using Cox regression analyses and controlling for human capital, the authors found that, contrary to their prediction, female managers' voluntary turnover rates were slightly lower than those of their male counterparts. Managers who had been promoted were less likely to resign than nonpromoted managers only if the promotion had occurred within the past 11 months, and promoted women were less likely to resign than promoted men. The authors also found that managers who had taken family leaves had higher voluntary turnover rates than managers who had not taken leaves, and among family leave takers, managers with graduate degrees were less likely to resign than managers with less education.