Dual Career Couples- Stressors & Strains

Dr S.Sridhar Professor & Head, Department of

Management Studies NMIT

Who are DCCs? • “Dual Career Couples constitute a specific

population of partners who both derive satisfaction from participation in the full-time pursuit of career and family” (Rapoport &

Rapoport, 1971).

9/13/2014 2 Dr S. Sridhar, NMIT

Who is the DCC?

• “Are they a pair of young professionals with much money to spend and little desire to be restricted by responsibility or are they a pair of haggard, overworked partners who have no time for themselves or one another?” (Marion Stoltz Loika, 1992)

9/13/2014 Dr S. Sridhar, NMIT 3

Single career to Dual career family system

• Bread winners in a family – single to dual; Percentage of families with both husband and wife working, has steadily increased from 20% in 1970’s to 80% in 2010’s

• Wage earner to career woman (unskilled and illiterate to highly skilled and qualified)

• Transition from Worker to Employee to Associate/ Contingent employee

• Dual career families at different life stages


Differences in perceptions about male and female employees

He works

• The family picture is on HIS desk: “Ah, solid, responsible family man.”

• HIS desk is cluttered: He’s obviously a hard worker and a busy man.

• HE’S talking with co-workers: He must be discussing the latest deal.

• HE’S not at his desk: He must be in a meeting.

She works

• The family picture is on HER desk: “Hmm, her family will come before her career.”

• HER desk is cluttered: She’s obviously a disorganized scatterbrain.

• SHE’S talking with co-workers: She must be gossiping.

• SHE’S not at her desk: She must be in the ladies’ room


Different impressions …

He works

• HE’S not in the office: He’s meeting customers.

• HE’S having lunch with the boss: He’s on his way up.

• The boss criticize HIM: He’ll improve his performance.

• HE’S getting married: He’ll get more settled.

She works

• SHE’S not in the office: She must be out shopping.

• SHE’S having lunch with the boss: They must be having an affair.

• The boss criticized HER: She’ll be very upset.

• SHE’S getting married: She’ll get pregnant and leave.


Different impressions …

He Works

• HE’S having a baby: He’ll need a raise.

• HE’S going on a business trip: It’s good for his career.

• HE’S leaving for a better job: He recognizes a good opportunity.

She Works

• SHE’S having a baby: She’ll cost the company money in maternity benefits.

• SHE’S going on a business trip: “What does her husband say?”

• SHE’S leaving for a better job: Women are undependable.


Wife and husband in the ‘provider role’

1. Greater economic security associated with two sources of income;

2. When wives work more hours, their husbands tend to be more involved in childcare responsibilities, which is good for both kids and dads (Family adaptation research);

3. Women with higher incomes & higher education experience less marital conflict in their homes. (We can investigate this hypothesis; Is it really true? What about personality clashes, ego problems, higher pay for wife??)

4. Husbands who are the sole bread winners are found to be more susceptible for depression. (Another hypothesis on which we can work upon)


How the early research was done?

• Their studies were descriptive in nature, bringing to light a strange new phenomenon of dyads in a world of mostly single wage earner households.

• They captured small case studies of families and depicted qualitative narratives from participants who were experiencing varied degrees of success as dual-careerists.

• Earlier studies reflected more leisure time in a work day to run errands.


DCC issues • Salient to : spouse (particularly women)

• family

• organization

• For these families “Time” is the most precious commodity (Lagerfeld, 1998); Quality time (Elaine Marchena, 2004)

• Phenomenon of spending more time at work and less time for leisure, called the “leisure squeeze” has been identified by researchers (Schor, 1991; Leete & Schor, 1994)

• Stresses faced by DCCs

• Negative and positive facets of DCC

• Divorce rate among DCCs


DCC issues … • Less companionship among spouses;

• Less H-W contact due to different working hours;

• Less communication; heart-to-heart talk;

• Less marital bliss

• “Is it possible to have a successful career without sacrificing personal satisfaction, life balance or relationships?” What does this require??? (Can this be your topic of research?)


DCC Issues…

• Juggling work-life roles

• Guess how many roles does an Indian career woman dons?

• What happens as the life cycle advances?


DCC issues … • Shifting of research focus from “challenges of

sharing the household chores” to “concerns about work-life quality, emphasizing the importance of working on marriages as well as careers” (Perrone & Worthington, 2001).

• Levner (2000) talks about “three-career family”- with family life represented as the third career.


DCC issues – vulnerability to

• Problems of work-family spillover, conflict and crossover.

• Work-family spillover : can be negative or positive or bidirectional; it involves transfer of mood from one domain (home or workplace) to the other (Almeida, Wethington & Chandler, 1999;

Bromet, Dew & Parkinson, 1990)


Work-Family Spillover

Type of Spillover Example

Negative Family-to-work

Disagreement with spouse leading to poor performance at work

Work-to-family

Heavy workload leads to distraction and irritability at home

Positive Family-to-work

Positive relationships at home energize and improve ability to cope at work

Work-to-family

Experience at work makes one more interesting at home


Work-family conflict (WFC) • Conflict occurs when the

responsibilities of work and family interfere with one

another.


WFC in the Indian context • Similarities and differences in W-F conflict

were studied in the Indian context (Reeves

Wesley & Muthuswamy, 2005).

• The study revealed that WFC is more prevalent

than FWC.

• Men and women in DCCs do not differ in their

perception on WFC.

• Further it indicated that men and women in

India are equally family oriented (deviation

from the report of Gordon & Whelan, 1998).


Quality time issues with kids


WFC….

• Mom is rushing trying to pack her office materials at home, while getting her two young daughters ready (for the school, presumably).

• She’s on her cell phone, setting up a meeting with a client, when her 4 year old

asks her “Mommy, when do we get a meeting?”


WFC.. Mommy when do we get a meeting?

• A realization comes over mom, and the next scene shows the girls excited because mom is taking the day “off” to spend with them at the beach.

• Next scene at the beach: you don’t see mom building sand castles with her daughters, or splashing in the ocean. No. Mom can be seen working on her files and talking on a cell phone. The wireless technology company totes the ability to handle both roles at once. – Commercial for wireless technology


Crossover

• This situation occurs when events at the workplace influence the mood or behaviour of one’s spouse (Bolger,

DeLongis, Kessler & Wethington, 1989).

• Findings show crossover of distress, depression, burnout and WFC from one spouse to another (Barnett, Raudenbush, Brennan, Pleck & Marshall, 1995; Hammer, Bauer & Grandey, 2003).


Crossover …

• Though crossover is usually defined and studied as transmission of stress, Westman (2001) suggested that the scope of its definition and investigation should be broadened to include the transmission of positive events or feelings as well.


DCC issues … • From an organizational perspective, Ginac

(2002) emphasizes that “as leaders and managers, we need to devise ways to make it possible for two advancing career professionals to thrive at work without sacrificing their personal relationships or their health”.


DCC issues ….Whose career comes first?

• In the Catalyst (1998) study, most DCCs saw each career as equal in importance, although where a difference was noted, in heterosexual couples, it was generally the man’s career that came first.

• Lang (2000) reported a similar finding – despite a sense of equality, women were twice as likely as men to limit their work commitments.

• Lang also discovered that, even in cases where one career was identified as primary, that partner indicated making such accommodations as being available for emergency childcare or turning down an opportunity to relocate.


DCC Issues … Travel, Trailing spouses and commuter marriages

• Many executives and professionals are expected to travel more often.

• This leads to complexity of dual career relationships, unless there is support from the family.

• Life becomes even more challenging when a career move may require leaving the country, rather than to an office across the city (trailing spouses). In such a case some couples choose to set one career aside temporarily.

• Often it is the woman’s career that gets sacrificed as she focuses on settling the family into their new home (Judd, 2004).


Pluses of Commuter marriage • Husband is not breathing down your neck; No micro-

management; No nagging (what a relief???)

• “It is surprisingly good for couples to get a break from each other. Done right, each coming together heightens your appreciation of each other – its like a mini honeymoon. Being on your own enhances the autonomy of each partner and prevents taking each other for granted. Surprisingly, it often improves communication because you have to be clear when you are at a distance” (interviewee)


Pluses of commuter marriage …

• “I don’t like having him here, 24/7, and he doesn’t like being around me 24/7 – that’s the straight scoop,” Katharine Parks of Ohio, who has been married to John an IT entrepreneur for 32 years.

• Empty-nesters, he is gone about 70% of the time. “[Absence] teaches you self-sufficiency,” she says.

• “And reunions can be pretty special. Someone who will make me feel that I am center of their universe – that makes up for a lot.”


Pluses of commuter marriage …

• “Your commuter marriage will teach you many subjects. If you keep in mind that you are a student and the problems exist to teach you something, getting through the hard parts becomes easier


DCC Issues … Corporate Policies

• Kenneth E Newgren, C.E. Kellog and William Gardner (1987) demarcate the corporate policies affecting DCCs:

• Spouses employed by the same company but in different units;

• Spouses employed by the same company and in the same unit or chain of command;

• Spouses employed by different companies in unrelated industries;

• Spouses employed by different companies, but in the same industry, perhaps with major competitors.


DCC issues.. Kenneth E Newgren, C.E. Kellog and William Gardner

(1987)

• Policies regarding

1. Nepotism

2. Transfer policies (Relocation issues)

3. Flexible work arrangements

4. Day care policies

5. Conflicts of interest


Trailing spouses


DCC issues … Commuter marriages

• My husband and I got married 14 months ago.We knew that I would need to find a job to relocate to where he lives.

• With the state of the current economy and job market, it’s been tough finding a job.

• It’s tough starting off a marriage this way, but I think it would be tougher if I were jobless as one loses marketablility in the job market with each passing month without a job.


Stress faced by dual career couples

• Flogarty and Rapoport (1961) – the five dilemmas faced by couples in DCF (dual career families): (i) Overload of work = f {x1; x2; x3; x4}

(ii) dilemma arising from the discrepancy between personal and social norms;

(iii) dilemma arising from the need to maintain personal identity and self esteem, despite activities at work and family front;


Stress faced by dual career couples • x1= degree to which having kids and family is

salient;

• x2= degree to which the couple aspire to upgrade their domestic wing

• x3= degree to which satisfactory arrangement for reallocation of tasks in the household is possible

• x4= degree to which the sheer physical strain is enhanced by psychological strain


Stress faced by dual career couples (contd) • (iv) social network dilemma (networking with

dual career couples rather than on individual basis; larger network – includes both the circles of husbands and wives

• (v) Role cycling dilemma (conflicts between roles that may be variable in their demands at different periods of time)


Research focus on DCCs • Current studies, as compared to previous,

involve a drastic change in temporal demands (Fraenkel & Wilson, 2000)

• DCCs are “pressured to do more, be more, know more, think more, talk more, relate more- and do all this as quickly as possible.”

• The complaint, “There’s never enough time”, might well be the theme song of the 21st century (Papp, 2000)


research focus on DCCs…

• Continued growth in the population of DCCs became the domain of research; and these studies focused their attention on

• Physical and psychological distress or well-being spurred on by the increased stress experienced from the inevitable role strain felt by both partners in DC families (Sekaran, 1983, 1985; Pearlin, 1983)


Research focus on DCCs…

• Initial studies, as well as the trend in more recent ones on DC families, focused on negative relationships: between

(a) work-family conflicts;

(b) Marital well-being (Burley, 1995) → attempting to capture only the difficulties of DCC’s struggles.

Kluwer, Heesink and Van De Vliert (1996) emphasize that the intrapersonal conflict experienced by couples actively engaged in both work and family roles is bound to translate into interpersonal conflict within the marriage.


Research focus on DCCs…

• Trend to simplify and pare down in a variety of ways, including switching from dual-career to dual-earner status, consciously downsizing career pushes, and even making physical geographical moves from metropolitan cities to more rural areas (Becker & Moen, 1999).

• Values at work and home must be compromised or the time pressures that result will be overwhelming to partners (Gilbert, 1988).


Research focus on DCCs… Positive

• Other studies put forth the benefits of dual careerhood.

• DC partners utilize their shared work and organizational experiences to help them function more effectively at home (Hertz, 1986).

• Thoits (1983) argues that the sheer number of roles possessed by DC partners may provide gratification, security and increase their purpose in life.


Research focus on DCCs… Positive

• Crohan et al., (1989) suggest that active participation at work and in family is associated with feelings of control which can offset pressures of time and role overload and lend greater overall life satisfaction for both men and women.


Women’s economic activity as a destabilizing factor for marriage

• Basic assumption of Becker’s (1991) theory is that the husband specializes in the labour market and is the household’s main breadwinner; the theory predicts that higher earnings for men would enhance marriage stability.

• His assertion that “the gain from marriage is reduced, and hence the attractiveness of divorce is raised, by higher earning and labour force participation of married women” has been summarized by the various studies that have investigated this claim through several hypotheses


Women’s economic activity… hypotheses

1. Role specialization hypothesis (Schoen et al.,

2002)

2. Wife’s independence hypothesis (Ono 1998; Rogers

2004)

3. Specialization and trading hypothesis (Oppenheimer 1997; Schoen et al., 2002)

4. Interdependence hypothesis (Schoen et al., 2002)

5. “Price” effect (Moffitt 2000) or the “Division of labour hypothesis” (Poortman and Kalmijn, 2002)


Women’s economic activity… hypotheses

• All of the above hypotheses suggest that, when wives have higher earnings or income, the propensity of both spouses to divorce increases because the interdependence between them no longer exists; i.e. the wife is no longer dependent on her husband’s income- and the husband does not receive the level of household services he would expect under the assumption of full specialization.


Effects of Dual-Career & Marital Conflict on the Mental Health of Couples (Tam Cai Lian, 2008)

• Malaysian context; 399 participants;

• Instruments used

(i) General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) [David Goldberg, 1972]; 12 items;

(ii) Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) [Strauss, 1990]; 20 items: “Yourself”; “Spouse” and “Ever Happen”;

(iii) Dual-Career Family Scale (DCFS) [Pendleton, Poloma & Garland, 1980]; 31 items; Device yields 6 subscales: marriage type; domestic responsibility, satisfaction, self-image, career salience and career line.

(iv) Dual Employed Coping Scales (DECS) [McCubbin and Thompson, 1991]; 58 item scale; 4 subscales: maintaining the family system; procuring support; modifying roles & standards; maintaining perspective/ reducing tension.


Findings of Tam Cai Lian’s study

• Conflict tactics were observed to have significant effect on general health, though the correlation between the two was low.

• Results supported the hypothesis that how an individual handles conflict may have a positive influence on spouse’s ability to handle conflict.

• Significant relationship also was found to exist between self-image with general health and also career salience with general health.

• A person with a better sense of self and a promising career is more likely to have better mental health.


DCCs in academia • Academic couples face an

extremely difficult task, namely finding two positions that will permit both partners to live in the same geographic region, to address their professional goals, and to meet the day to-day needs of running a household which, in many cases, includes caring for children or elderly parents


DCCs in academia …

• Shared or split positions?? (Most common

in liberal arts colleges)

• In a shared position, a single faculty position is shared by two individuals (50% of the duties of full time position)

• Issues: conditions of promotions, increment, benefits

• Split position:

• The position is split into 1/3rd and 2/3rds between husband and wife.

• How can you and your partner help yourselves the most?

• Work hard and build up your resumes, so that each of you is as competitive in the market as possible.


Parsons’ Status Competition Theory; Oppenheimer’s Gender Asymmetry and Doing Gender (West & Zimmerman,

1987), Gender Display, (Brines, 1994; Goffman, 2007)

• When traditional perceptions of gender roles exist in a society, a wife who earns more than her husband is not fulfilling her socially accepted gender role, and is therefore more prone to divorce (Blossfeld

& Muller, 2002)


Studies related to stress faced by dual career couples

• Stress as a cognitive state in which an individual faces a decision-making and problem solving situation (characterized by uncertainty of high levels and long duration and important outcomes for each partner)

• Cognitive states of two individuals are of concern (cognitions of both partners of the dual career couples, either separately or taken together)

• Work role and family role of the members of dual career couples


Conceptual Frame work for studying stress faced by DCC (Beehr & Bhagat, 1995)

• Work roles and Family roles of partners A and B and the interaction between the two

• The extent of importance, magnitude of duration and uncertainty arising out of this interaction

• Result: increased levels of stress

• Stress reduction strategies used by DCC

• Stress reduction strategies used by the Os


Conceptual Frame work for studying stress faced by DCC (Beehr & Bhagat, 1995) (contd)

• Consequences for couple

In the work role: Enhanced productivity; Career advancement; Job satisfaction.

In the family role: Marital adjustment; satisfaction; children or divorce (-> single parent kids)

Health : Effect on physical and mental health


Conceptual Frame Work for studying Stress faced by DCC (Beehr & Bhagat, 1995) (contd)

• Consequences for organization

• Recruitment; Retention; Enhanced productivity; Attrition; Loss of star performers


Interaction of Work and Family roles, within and between the partners of DCCs

Sources of Dual Career Stress

Work role Family role Inter-role

From own role(s)

1 Experienced by job/ career holders

2 Experienced by couples

3 Experienced by job/ career holders

From interaction with partner’s role(s)

4 Experienced by two-job/ career couples

5 Experienced by couples

6 Experienced by two-job/ career couples


Stressors experienced by DCCs

1. Intra-individual work role stressors

2. Intra-individual family role stressors

3. Intra-individual inter-role (work vs family role) stressors

4. Inter-individual work role stressors

5. Inter-individual family role stressors

6. Inter-individual inter-role (work vs family role) stressors.


Outcomes of different studies • Aryee & Luk (1996) – Effect of work and non- work

influences on the career satisfaction of DCCs in Hong Kong (structured questionnaires)

• Findings: 1. Work related influences explained more of the variants in the career satisfaction of both wife and husband than non-work influences

2. Satisfaction with child-care arrangements, supervisor support, skill utilization and organization based self-esteem were common significant determinants

3. Apart from these variables, work identity was significant for husbands and income was significant for wives.


Outcomes of different studies (contd)

• Aryee (1993) examined the work and non-work sources of stress and burnout in Singapore among the DCC families. He found the factors that contributed to the stress experienced by dual earner couples, such as work role ambiguity, work schedule inflexibility, lack of career progress, job- parent conflict and quality of spousal relationship.


Outcomes of different studies (contd)

• Role overload;

• Negotiating and maintaining a personal identity in the midst of family and job responsibilities;

• Role cycling (moving back and forth from work to family activities on a daily basis);

• Time management, competition with spouse for career success;

• Extensive travel due to career demands;

• Communication difficulties;

• Lack of intimacy and conflicts associated with taking work problems home.


Women’s economic activity as a destabilizing factor for marriage

• Becker(1991) Specialization Model:

• Gain from marriage is highest for both spouses when specialization and pronounced differentiation in gender roles exist within the household.

• “Gain from marriage is reduced, and hence the attractiveness of divorce is raised, by higher earning and labour force participation of married women” (Becker, 1991)


Offshoots from Becker’s Specialization hypothesis

• Role specialization hypothesis (Schoen et al., 2002)

• Wife’s independence hypothesis (Ono, 1998; Rogers 2004)

• Interdependence hypothesis (Schoen et al., 2002)

• Division of labour hypothesis (Poortman and Kalmijn, 2002)


Independence hypothesis H1: : predicts wife’s employment will increase

the risk of divorce (Becker et al., 1977). Wives with an independent income have less incentive to work out marital problems.

H1b: In all countries we should observe the smallest divorce risk among couples where the wife remains out of the labour force, a somewhat greater risk among couples where she works part‐time, and the greatest risk among full‐time dual‐earner couples.

• • 9/13/2014 62 Dr S. Sridhar, NMIT

Flexibility hypothesis • H2 : wives’ employment (over more recent time

periods) should predict greater marital stability. As gendered division of paid and unpaid labour within the family is a high‐risk strategy leaving households vulnerable to economic downturns Oppenheimer (1997).

• H2b. In all countries we should observe the smallest divorce risk among couples where the wife remains in full‐time employment, a somewhat lower risk among couples where she works part‐time, and the greatest risk in couples where the wife is economically inactive.


Types of Husband-Wife relationships • Not every dual career family

is stressful. It depends on the husband-wife relationship (HWR)

• Four-fold model of HWR

• Pattern One: A thrusting husband and a caring wife (most common pattern; traditionally accepted way of life; little stress because life is structured and predictable);


Husband-wife relationships Pattern 2

• Both husband and wife are thrusting (high nAch and need for dominance).

• The chaos increases when kids arrive, because the husband tries his best to get the wife to adopt her traditional role.


Husband-wife relationships Pattern 2

• All their energy & time is devoted to their work and career aspirations home front becomes chaotic.


Four-fold model of HWR Pattern 3 (contd)

Both are high achievers, at the same time,

they also place high value on caring and

belonging. “They prefer to share arenas,

not separate them” (Handy). Stress level

in such DCCs is fairly high because both

partners are basically thrusters, though

tempered down by their caring attitude.

Rather than resolving problems by

defeating the other partner, they resort to

compromise and discussion. Such

marriages emerge to be very resilient and

flexible so that though one partner may

have to compromise one day, the other

partner makes every effort to ensure that

his/her partner eventually gets what he/she

wants.


Four-fold model of HWR Pattern 4 (contd)

• This involves an involved husband and a caring wife. The husband is likely to be under considerable stress because he wants to realize his ambitions without hurting others.

• These relationships are more intense and emotional and there could be problems.


Tim Hall’s Model (1980): Four Dual Career

Family Role structures

• I. Accommodators: Career involvement of one is complemented by the home involvement of the other, leading to low stress level;

• II. Adversaries: Both are thrusters


Tim Hall’s Model (1980) (contd)

• III. Allies: Two people who are both highly involved in either career or home, but with little identity tied up in the other. In one ally orientation neither partner identifies with a career, deriving satisfaction from the family & interpersonal relationships. In the other orientation, both partners identify strongly with their jobs but not with the home. The family is bound together by a “purchased” support system: maids, catering services, dining out or ready-to-eat foods. Potential stress problem is that the couple simply does not have the time or inclination to work on their relationship.

• IV. Acrobats: Two people who are highly involved in both home and career. Both roles are equally important to them & they try to juggle their time and priorities between home and work. Role overload and role conflict constitute the main source of stress. They would like “having a successful career, being a good partner, having a well ordered home, providing real and emotional support for the spouse and still finding time for the relationship” (Tim Halls)


WFC – A conceptual model


Scales used in Research Studies • Career-marriage aspirations:

1. Relationship Values Issues (RVI), Wilcox-Matthew & Minor, 1989;

2. Work Values Issues (WVI), Bridges, 1989;

3. Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), Spence & Helmreich, 1978.


Scales used in Research Studies

4. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), David Goldberg, 1972;

5. Conflicts Tactics Scale (CTS), Strauss, 1990;

6. Dual Career Family Scale (DCFS), Pendleton, Poloma & Garland, 1980;

7. Dual Employed Coping Scales (DECS), Mc Cubbin and Thompson, 1991;

8. Planning for Career & Family Scale (PCFS)

9. Inventory of Parent & Peer Attachment (IPPA)


Scales used in Research Studies

10. Gender Role Conflict Scale

11. Career Aspiration Scale

12. Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

13. Life Role Salience Scales

14. The Couples Resource Map Scales (CRMS) – comprising of 84 items related to personal sphere, relationship sphere and contextual sphere.


Family therapists’ and Family Counsellors’ point of view

• Strengths-based approaches to couples and families has more promise than one focused on failure and pathology (DeFrain et al., 2005);

• These approaches emphasize the resourcefulness, courage & creativity of clients (Walter & Peller, 1992)

• Family counsellors and therapists use

1. Solution-focused therapy (O’Connell, 1998);

2. Narrative therapy (Monk et al., 1997);

3. Competence-focused approach (Waters & Lawrence, 1993);

4. Collaborative therapy (Anderson & Goolishan, 1992)


Assessment Instruments for measuring Relationship Distress and Problems

1. Discord Questionnaire (Beier & Sternberg, 1977);

2. Construction of Problems Scale (Hetherington et al.,

1998);

3. Dominance-Accommodation Scale (Hoskins,

1986);

4. The Kansas Marital Conflict Scale (Eggeman et al.,

1985);

5. The Marital Instability Index (Edwards et al., 1987);


Research study conducted by Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

• Oil and Natural Gas companies are situated in remote areas;

• A total of 24,699 invitations to participate in the survey were sent targeted at a stratified random sample (50% US; 50% non-US) of SPE members, excluding students;

• Around 2,200 responses were received, of which 80% indicated experience with DC challenges and 1,359 proceeded to answer questions in the survey.


• Working Wives And Dual-earner Families

• Author: Rose M. Rubin

• Format: paperback Publisher: Praeger Publishers ISBN: 9780275953386 Seller: Landmark Ltd.


http://books.rediff.com/publisher/praeger-publishers

http://books.rediff.com/publisher/praeger-publishers

http://books.rediff.com/sellers/landmark-ltd./4261

He Works She Works (Jim and Jane Carter, 1995)

• Written from the perspective of both sexes. It examines the point of view of the man who is doing his best to be a promotable employee, loving partner, father, and son, but who feels torn between his obligations to his family and his need to focus his energies on his job. It probes the point of view of the woman who is striving to progress in her job, be a loving partner, caring mother and daughter, but who is also struggling to help her partner, in-laws, friends, and boss.


Conclusions • DCCs are an integral part of the demographics

of the Indian workforce. Their number in the workforce will rise further.

• Research on DCFs becomes important for understanding how contemporary couples can integrate work and family and the outcomes of this integration

• Systematic study relevant to DCF can be useful in the development of psychological/ sociological/ organizational theories.


Conclusions …

• “Total Customer Satisfaction Experience” (Fr Ozzie’s paradigm) – can this be applied to DCCs in a holistic manner: at work; at home; in the societal relationships; over different life cycles; among different types of DCCs

• Can we relate our research on DCCs to different disciplines of management?


Conclusions …

• Marketing – Purchasing styles or behaviour among DCCs; Preference for online shopping; Should the malls be open up to midnight for DCCs?

• Comparison of consumer decision-making behaviour of married and cohabiting couples (Nabil Razzouk, Victoria

Seltz and Karen Pordigalidad Capo, 2007. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(5), pp 264-274)

• Can we market unique one-stop services for

DCCs – baby care; care of old aged parents;

payment of bills, premia; LPG refill;

vegetables, laundry; pick up and drop of

relatives; repairs at home.


Conclusions …

• Finance: Investment pattern among DCCs;

• Are the DCCs more conservative or risk-taking while considering huge investments?

• Is there any significant difference in the investment styles of Single-Earner Families and DCCs?

• Who takes the decisions about investments? Is it the husband or wife or a shared decision?

• Relative Earnings of husbands and wives in DCCs


Conclusions … • HR – Stresses among DCCs and their effect on work,

family and organization;

• WFC; FWC; Combination of WFC and FWC;

• (Sanghamitra Buddhapriya (2009). Work-Family Challenges and Their Impact on Career Decisions: A Study of Indian Women Professionals, Vikalpa, 34(1), 31-45.)

• Organizational issues : support, policies and flexibility

• DCCs and rate of success in marriages

• DCCs and well-being of children (upbringing, their education and achievements)


Final word • Issues revolving around DCCs are enormous.

• No final word is told in any study or research as it involves: two educated individuals, organizations, interactions between individuals ; individuals and organization; and the institution of “marriage” and “family”.

• I could only capture 45-55% of the issues revolving around DCCs.

• Lot remains to be explored and studied.

• Happy researching.


Dual Career Couples- Stressors & Strains

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