Beyond Work-Family Balance

Preface. The Authors. Chapter 1. Introduction: The Equity Imperative. Part 1: Context and Concepts. Chapter 2. Pursuing Equity in Gendered Organizations. Chapter 3. Linking Equity and Organizational Effectiveness: The Dual Agenda. Part 2: Collaborative Interactive Action Research (CIAR). Chapter 4. Pursuing the Dual Agenda with CIAR. Chapter 5. Making Change. Chapter 6. Walking the Talk: Reflections from the CIAR Team. Part 3: Looking Ahead. Chapter 7. Sustaining and Diffusing Equitable Change. Chapter 8. Looking Ahead to an Equitable World. Appendix: The Book in Context. Notes. Published Reports of Dual Agenda Experiments and Additional References. Index.

Rhona Rapoport is director of the Institute of Family and Environmental Research in London. She is the author or coauthor of numerous books including Dual Career Families; Fathers, Mothers and Society; Leisure and the Family Cycle; and Men and Women as Equals at Work. Lotte Bailyn is the T. Wilson Professor of Management at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of Breaking the Mold and Living with Technology and coauthor of Working with Careers. Joyce K. Fletcher is professor of management at the Center for Gender in Organizations, Simmons Graduate School of Management, in Boston, and a senior research scholar at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at Wellesley College Centers for Women. She is the author of Disappearing Acts, which was nominated as one of the year's best management books by the Academy of Management. Bettye H. Pruitt is president of Pruitt & Company, Inc. She is the author of numerous articles and books in organizational history including Timken: From Missouri to Mars.

A welcome contribution to theory and practice, this volume describes aprogram developed by the authors (academics and professionals experienced in the work/family and organizational behavior fields) to create a more equitable and satisfying workplace. Their program is different in that it attempts to tie together two organizational goals usually tackled separately: improving the bottom line and improving employees' ability to manage their work and personal lives. The authors' underlying beliefs that work and family life should be integrated and that when it is, gender and diversity issues will be addressed and employees will be more effective contributors to their organizations. When it is not integrated, management often experiences costs without productivity gains, while employees often feel work/family initiatives have not been successful. The authors detail actions taken in several consulting assignments with various companies, sharing surveys and meeting agendas. They describe a process that includes many discussions, frequent feedback, and reevaluation. Problems andfailures as well as successes are reported. Clients are assisted inunderstanding assumptions associated with work needs, personal requirements, communication methods, outcome measurements, and rewards. The ideas presented in this volume are provocative and the suggestions realistically appraised. Recommended for graduate, research, and professional collections. -- F. Reitman, Pace University