An Exploration of the Dynamics of the Overlapping Worlds of Work and Family

The relationship between the working lives and family lives of people in our society is a concern to both families and corporations. This article describes a research project that yielded theoretical statements about the interactions between organization life and family life for members of large corporations; grounded theory methodology and a systems theory approach were used. Data were obtained in a large multinational corporation from managers and their families who were undergoing three different kinds of organizational stress: international transfer, extensive travel, and job change to facilitator of personal and organizational change. The findings give reason for viewing organization and family as interacting systems and for considering the uniqueness of each individual's response to stressful events. They also indicate that an individual's feeling of influence over stressful events at the organization-family boundaries are significant for both organizational and family effectiveness.