ABSTRACT
People cannot fully enjoy their personal lives whiles achieving all their job related goals. In many situations, people are forced to make compromises; conflict between their work and family are no exception. Work-family conflict is a determinant in maximizing productivity in every industry and in fulfilling the duties in respective homes. Parents are saddled with a lot of work and they are again demanded to care for their children. The inter-role conflict that occurs when engaging in one role makes it more difficult to engage in the other role; this brings about an imbalance that has rippling effects on the performance of their children.
This research seeks to determine the effects of work-family conflict on the performance of children who attend Smart Kids School. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were conducted to achieve the objectives of this research. Samples of 250 respondents were systematically selected for the quantitative study from the parents whose children attend Smart Kids School. 12 respondents participated in the qualitative study, who were selected from pupils in primary 5 and 6 in Smart Kids School. Data from the quantitative studies were entered into a Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software while the qualitative data was transcribed and analysed thematically. Analyzed data were presented in tables.
Findings from the study showed (82%) of the respondents believed they had a good Work- family balance (WFB), (18%) admitted they had Work- family conflict (WFC). Further statistical analysis showed that, work family conflict significantly impacts on their children, with an R² value of .402. pupils who were interviewed verified that their academic performance had decreased due to the WFC of their parents.
SECTION ONE
INTRODUCTION
Time, as is said, is never enough for anything. Everyone has to make time for something that he or she feels is worthwhile and it may leave other aspects of that person’s life, wanting. Maertz, & Boyar (2011, p.69) noted that, “Choosing one role over the other is known as compromise”. In many situations, people are forced to make compromises and conflicts flanked by their job and family are no exception. Work- family conflict (WFC) is a form of inter-role conflict that occurs when engaging in one role makes it more challenging to engage in another role (Kossek, Pichler, Bodner & Hammer, 2011). In some work-family conflict episodes, a person can pick one duty over another or choose to partly meet both duties. In either case, one responsibility becomes somewhat unfulfilled. For instance, when it comes to coping with the dual life of working and schooling or taking care of a family whilst working; an imbalance is observed. This may result in poor academic performance or neglected family duties, hence the conflict.
The effect of work- family conflict on the wellbeing of parents differs with varying age groups of parents, their individual personalities, behaviors, gender, marital status, financial status and the nature of the occupation in question. It also depends on the flexibility of their job schedule, demands of the job and related stress, the duration spent on childcare, and the age of the youngest child (Maertz & Boyar, 2011). A single mother of three kids who works in the bank may not have enough time for her children as compared to one who is self –employed, has a shop and has the liberty of choosing what time to close or go to work. Also people who are well to do, may not need to work at two or more places to make ends meet and hence may have more time for their families and consequently, a fairly balanced life.
Michel et al (2011) held in their research that, the number of children people have, influence their ability to accommodate family roles with work demands. Younger children typically, need more care, and thereafter more resources, time and money, from their caregivers. By dint of this notion, parents with younger children at home report more conflict between work and family roles (Michel et al, 2011). Many researches are fixated on women because they are believed to play multi-roles in the family and at the work place. So the gender of the parent was said to be a factor of the intensities of conflict between job and life obligations. Contrary to this, Byron (2005) indicated that, currently, there is a surge in the number of dual-career couples, where husbands and wives have busy work schedules, taking on multiple jobs; therefore, making gender as a factor of WFC, questionable. Duties of work, family, and childcare are no longer delegated to customary gender roles. In Ghana, men are gradually getting actively involved with catering for their kids and some are even agreeing to switch roles by staying at home, whiles their wives work. In effect, they too could experience work-family conflicts. Presently, divorce and single-parenting cases keep escalating. Concomitantly, extended family support is decreasing: leaving every nuclear family to survive on their own.
Work and family systems though different, are interconnected. Clark (2000) asserted that the disappointment people experience in one of the systems may cause them to pursue more fulfilling roles in the other. “Work- family conflict is usually documented as consisting of two distinct, concepts: work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW)” (Byron, 2005, p.15). A study by Greenhaus & Beutell (2013) on conflict between work and family roles, suggests that work- family conflict happens when time allocated to the necessities of one role makes it problematic to satisfy necessities of another. Again, the anxiety from participating in one role reduces their efficiency in the other role. Furthermore, they added that, particular actions
required by one role make it almost impossible to carry out another role. For example, if a Doctor is always on duty on weekends, he or she cannot attend family outings or church services with their family.
