Work-life Integration in Africa A Multidimensional Approach to Achieving Balance

This book examines how individuals and organizations in Africa have found ways to integrate work and life roles effectively. It reflects on the notions that while many cultures have embraced women’s participation in the workplace, African culture has been more resistant to change thereby forcing companies and employees to invent their own solutions. This presents its own set of challenges, for example African organizations are generally not up to speed with the family-friendly policies that are required in the modern workplace; the effectiveness of such policies is questionable and there is an increasing realization that work-family policies are not the only way to achieve work-life integration and others may be considered, such as workplace mentoring and introducing incentives.

With this in mind the authors consider multiple approaches to balancing work and life responsibilities with emphasis on three perspectives, namely organizational, individual and family and cultural. The book highlights and examines the joint responsibility that organizations, leaders and individuals have in achieving work life integration. Secondly the book considers why work-life integration initiatives fail and identifies the sources and remedies for these failures. Each chapter discusses the role of the identified dimensions necessary for collective achievement of work-life integration, while the final chapter sets out further research avenues and a conceptual framework that brings together the findings of the book.

A. Introductory Chapters

1.     Overview of the Book and Book Chapters

This chapter will develop the common thread across the five main sub-headings and how they jointly contribute to the multidimensional and multifunctional views advocated in the book. Thereafter, the chapter will give an overview of all the 14 chapters in the book.

2.     Work-Life Integration: Overview and Trends

The chapter will begin by stating the meaning of the concepts: work-life conflict, life-work conflict and work-life integration and will present some research on their negative effects on individual and organizational productivity. It will trace the research journey on WLI bringing out the movement from scarcity model that leads to conflicts, to the positive psychology model which identifies mutual beneficial effects of involvement in multiple roles. It will present work-life integration as a way to ameliorate the negative effects of involvement in multiple roles and highlight sources of the integration. The chapter will also contribute to the debate of any difference and similarity between work-life balance and work-life integration which has never been resolved (Alton, 2018; Dresdale, 2016; Harrington & Ladge, 2009). It will review the research on WLI with the view to identifying the gap which the current book is to fill. It will justify the multidimensional approach to achieving WLI advocated in the book and show that past books and studies have neglected this.

B. Organizational Perspectives

3.  Organizational Production Process and Work-Life Integration

Structural and production process issues have not been given much attention in the analysis of WLI in the past (Lambert et al., 2002). Hence, in this chapter, discussions will focus on the concept of productivity process as an integral aspect of work-life integration; what constitutes the elements of productivity at individual and organizational levels. Inter alia, the relationship that subsists between productivity process and work-life integration will be explored as a basis for a creative and integrated process flow both for individuals and organizations as units for building a healthy society. Discussions will also include the role of productivity procedure, elements of inputs and optimal output flow. The components of an ideal and practical productivity procedure and productivity quotient at individual and organizational levels will be explored, as well as identification of value-add component of work-life integration and its relationship with productivity.

Thus, major issues that will be addressed in this chapter include:

q  Concept of productivity vis-à-vis work-life integration and the relationship that is inherently subsumed between work-life integration (WLI) and productivity at both the individual and organizational levels. Thus, the contents of this chapter will include the operational definition of WLI, productivity, factors affecting WLI and productivity value stream flow.

q  Process flow perspective of productivity, work-life integration and factors impacting on work-life integration.

q  What determines an optimal productivity procedure

q  Which outputs constitute value-add at individual and organizational levels vis-à-vis an ideal work-life integration.

q  Prioritization: importance of prioritization hinged on work-life integration towards eliciting optimal productivity

q  Time management and discipline as integral factors for productivity: Time wasters impacting on work-life integration and productivity at individual and organizational levels.

q  Scheduling and planning tactics

q  Productivity improvement strategies within the continuum of work-life integration for employees and employers.

4.      Technology and its Impact on Work-life Integration

In this chapter, discussions will revolve around the impact of technology on work-life integration. There are conflicting reports about the effect of technology on WLI. Some authors have stated that technology has negative effect on WLI (Nam 2014), while others believe that it has positive effect (Hickma and Robison 2020;Vlacic 2013; Yanus, Zain and Aman 2018). This chapter will review existing reports and find out why the same variables has conflicting effects on WLI. It will review human behaviors that impact on the effect of technology on WLI with the view to itemizing what organizations and individuals must do to ensure that they leverage on technology and still achieve WLI. Since technology has engendered technology-enabled work ecosystem and the seamless integration of other components of life, the discussion will include how work-life integration, considered from multidimensional perspective, is impacted by the evolving nature of technology in the 21^st century. It will also review the outcomes of such impact such as self-esteem, competing demands of family and society. 

5.    Leadership and Organizational Climate: Effects on WLI

The chapter will begin with a formal definition of leadership, and from this definition state the necessary factors for the effectiveness of leadership in organizations. It will review the hidden drivers of leadership style and how they affect individuals’ behavior. It will review the role of the climate created by the leader in enhancing the management of WLI. It will discuss the determinants of the climate created by leader and make special case for the role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness and team dynamics. The chapter will make a case for situational leadership style as a way of helping individuals manage the demands of work and family. The chapter will end by prescribing exercises that can aid the development of the components of EI. Pattern analysis will be a major step to be discussed with examples given. Issues to be addressed include:

q  Leadership effectiveness as a result of three factors

q  Leadership style considered from the leader’s emphasis on people and production/results

q  Leadership mindset and its role on leadership style

q  Climate created by leader and the role of emotional intelligence in creating such a climate

q  Ways for enhancing leaders’ emotional intelligence

6.     Family Friendly Policies: Trend and Expectations in Africa

Employees face the consequences of work-family conflict and if nothing is done, they burnout, thus affecting their productivity. Hence, organizations institute family-friendly policies aimed at helping their employees manage the demands from work and family domains. This chapter will chronicle the various policies that organizations have implemented over time and the effectiveness of such policies. It will review a number of such policies across nations and identify why some nations are more advanced in implementing policies than others. Issues to be discussed include:

q  Review of the meaning of ‘family’ across cultures and why it is important in the study of family-friendly policies

q  Why family policies are necessary in organizations

q  Identification and explanation of each policy and their effectiveness

q  Identification of nation-specific policies

7.     Evaluation of the Contr