PBS Series, ‘Livelyhood,’ “Night Shift” Episode

Activity Description:

Livelyhood is a series of one-hour PBS specials focused on the work lives of Americans and how work impacts families, homes and communities.  It examines the changing nature of work and the economy and how American families are affected by these changes. Episode topics include “Working Family Values,” “The Workday that Wouldn’t Die,” and “Night Shift.”  Each episode listed on the Livelyhood website contains a link to a Viewing Guide and Classroom Activities and Resources.

Click here to access the homepage of Livelyhood.  Click on the second link, “Night Shift,” to access the homepage for that episode: http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/episodes.html

For a link to the Interactive Teacher Guide for the episode “Night Shift,” click here: http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/classroom/nightshift/viewing_guide.html

Activity Source:

The PBS series on the changing nature of work, Livelyhood: http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/index.html

Personal Circumstances and Work Performance

 

Activity Description:
Purpose:

To encourage students to reflect on how personal circumstances matter in the workplace;  notably how gender and non-work commitments impact the way employees are perceived at work. To start a discussion on whether personal circumstances should matter or not when taking a management decision.

Note:

The case is adapted from a real-life situation, in a French bank. The person fired was Mike and not Kelly, because the manager was concerned Kelly had children to provide for. He thought that Mike, being younger and single, would find another job easier. This case can start a discussion on cross-cultural differences as well, as personal circumstances have a different status in Europe and the US.

Steps:

Give students 10 minutes to read the Bacofis Bank case individually and answer the questions individually. Then divide the class in small groups, ideally 3-4 students, and give them 10 minutes to reach a group decision. Each group explains its decision to the class.

A quicker alternative would be to give them 10 minutes individually, organize a vote and ask volunteers from each position to argue for it, starting with the minority group.

Bacofis Bank Case
Bacofis Bank operates in the financial markets and is structured as such:

• The front office takes positions in the market, selling and buying stocks, bonds, commodities, futures and options;
• The middle office manages portfolio risks;
• The back office handles the administration of the positions taken during the day, ensuring that stocks are transferred to the bank that bought them, and so forth.

You are a manager at Bacofis Bank, in charge of the back office team that handles administration for all futures and options sold and bought by the traders.  

Your team is comprised of six persons. Because of the recent economic downturn, you have been told two weeks ago that you have to downsize and let go of one person. You are to select the person to fire, and the Head of the back office will make his final decision based on your recommendation.

You have been examining last year’s performance appraisals and considering the unique skills that you cannot afford to lose in your team. There are two persons that you could let go, who are the lesser performers and who do not possess indispensable expertise.

Kelly is 45 years old. She has been with Bacofis Bank for 10 years now. She is a mother of 3, the youngest child being 5. She is reliable in her work and her error ratio on operations handled is only 4%. Yet, she sometimes needs to miss work because of a sick child or other unexpected duties and this has been bothering you because operations need to be handled the day they are initiated.

Mike is 29 years old. He has been with Bacofis Bank for 3 years and is single. He seems to be less focused in his work than Kelly, maybe less committed as well, and as a result his error ratio on operations handled is 8%. However, he is more readily available than Kelly and typically covers for her when she needs to be off.

Both Kelly and Mike are well integrated in the team.

Who should you fire? Based on what criteria are you going to make that decision? How are you going to communicate it to the person you let go of and to the team?

Indications for debriefing

Ideal worker norms

Decision criteria:

• Performance, career potential (lesser for the working mother)
• Legal implications (severance pay linked to tenure, discrimination issues; in France: legal coefficients to protect those with a family)
• Work climate -” insecurity for all if the most tenured is fired ; on the contrary send a signal that high performance is required
• Personal circumstances (less in the US than France).

Activity Source:

Suggestion submitted by Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Rouen Business School

Perspectives on Workaholic Behavior

Activity Description:
Purpose
Pressure to work more and work harder is a reality in most businesses today, but the workaholic individual is one who responds to those pressures by over-sacrificing other life interests.  Defining how much sacrifice is too much offers lots of room for debate. Additionally, because the same behavior is interpreted differently by various people, what seems to be a problem to one group (e.g., family and friends) may also be rewarded by another (e.g., the boss).  

An appropriate video clip provides context for small groups discussions, followed by a full class debriefing to compare interpretations and implications. This exercise can be accomplished within 1 hour if needed.

 

Steps

1. Provide a worksheet to each student on which they can note critical incidents from the video that demonstrate how the individual values work, family life, outside friendships, etc.  A variety of readily available videos can be used for this. Below are a few suggestions:

Baby Boom starring Diane Keaton, distributed by MGM.  (This one is a personal favorite based on providing a short sequence that gives broad coverage of issues.  The first 6-7 minutes show scenes of her high-powered job environment, a conversation with the boss about promotion that elicits great excitement, and a personal scene in the bedroom with her significant other — very tastefully don

The 24 Hour Woman starring Rosie Perez, distributed by Artison Home Entertainment. (This one takes a slightly longer clip to make needed points, but several are acceptable throughout the movie — especially one on splicing in of extra clips to a video of her daughter’s birthday party, so it looks like Mom was there.

Livelyhood series available at www.pbs.org/livelyhood. (Episode 8: The workday that wouldn’t die, shows the work culture at “Flickerbox” a high-tech, creative environment that consumes employees’ lives.  This same series also has Episode 6: Carpool to Nirvana, including the story of SAS Institute — also high-tech but only working 35 hours/week and the difficulty new employees have accepting that.)

1. Each worksheet is marked with a role for viewing the video clip.  Depending on the total size of the class, the objective is to assign roles so that 3-5 students have each role — some combination of family and friends (one or two roles), coworkers, bosses (can split to immediate and higher up if need more groups), and perhaps customers. For a very large class, two separate groups could cover each role, adding extra comparison of ideas.
2. Students watch the video, working independently at this point to note critical incidents from the perspective of their assigned role.  If the major character is not obvious, tell them who to focus on in their observations.
3. Having completed their personal notes, students then move into groups by role.  Their task is to note on a large sheet (e.g., flipchart page), their role, whether they consider this person a good or bad employee, and a few of the clearest examples from their notes used in that judgment.  Discussions get more pointed if they are not allowed to give examples on both sides of the argument but, rather, are forced to make one final declaration of either good or bad from the perspective of their role. It also adds discussion by having each group decide from their role what constitutes a good employee versus a bad employee.
4. As each group finishes, have them post their page on the wall for full-class debriefing.  Ask each group to explain their position and it’s basis in observed behavior, with questions & comments from others.

A comment on noted trends over time:  In years past, it was very predictable that bosses would think ‘good’ and family would think ‘bad.’  More recently, bosses have become more enlightened (or groups are simply going for the socially desirable answer for a particular course or topic of the day).  That still leaves room for discussing how typical the expressed view is, and people always have examples to share from their own experiences to the contrary.

Other Recommended Books

Robinson, B.E. (1998). Chained to the desk: A guidebook for workaholics, their partners and children, and the clinicians who treat them. New York: New York University Press.

Fraser, J.A. (2001). White-collar sweatshop: The deterioration of work and its rewards in corporate America. New York: Norton & Company.

Robinson, B.E. & Chase, N.D. (Eds.). (2001). High-performing families: Causes, consequences, and clinical solutions. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Schaef, A.W. & Fassel, D. (1998). The addictive organization. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.

Schor, J.B. (1992). The overworked American: The unexpected decline of leisure. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Kofodimos, J. (1993). Balancing act: How managers can integrate successful careers and fulfilling personal lives. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Ciulla, J.B. (2000). The working life: The promise and betrayal of modern work. New York, NY: Times Books/Random House.

Beder, S. (2000). Selling the work ethic. Carlton North: Scribe Publications.

DeGraaf, J., Wann, D., & Naylor, T.H. (2001). Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Activity Source:
Content contributed by Gayle Porter, as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Point/Counterpoint: Advantages and Disadvantages of Telecommuting

Activity Description:

Purpose

To consider the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting from the employee/employer perspective.

Steps

1. Divide the class into four groups
2. Ask Group 1 to discuss and create a list of the advantages of telecommuting, from the employee viewpoint.
3. Ask Group 2 to discuss and create a list of the disadvantages of telecommuting from the employee viewpoint.
4. Ask Group 3 to discuss and create a list of the advantages of telecommuting from the employer/organizational perspective.
5. Ask Group 4 to discuss and create a list of the disadvantages of telemarketing from the employer/organizational perspective.
6. Structure a debate between Group 1 and Group 2.
7. Structure a debate between Group 3 and Group 4.
8. Ask the students to identify areas of where the employees’ and employers’ views are similar, and where they are in opposition.
9. Have a class discussion about what can be done to promote common ground between the employee and the employer/organizational perspectives.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Ellen Kossek as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Popular Culture and Work-Family Issues

Activity Description:

Purpose:

To demonstrate and critique the ways in which work-family issues are presented in popular culture

Steps:

1. Show students one illustration of content presented from popular culture that illustrates the ways in which work-family relations are managed or constructed.  For example, one can show the old Enjoli commercial that integrates the song “I am a Woman” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X4MwbVf5OA
2. Assign students to find another representation of work-family relations from popular culture (e.g., a music video, news story, cartoon, movie trailer). Suggest that students stretch their imaginations to consider work-family content as it represents a diversity of experiences and structures (such as aging, disability, childhood, etc.).  Accompanying their brief presentation of an artifact from popular culture, students are to also present findings from one empirical study or one statistic that considers the work-family concern presented. For example, if the Enjoli add shows a woman energetic and satisfied in assuming the roles of worker, homemaker, and sex object, the empirical study will identify the proportion of women who are actually satisfied or energized by this arrangement. Students may search the Work and Family Literature Database or the Statistics Database to find relevant information.

Note—To keep presentation lengths manageable and to integrate as much content into the class as possible, instructors should coach students that the presentation of popular culture content should take no longer than 3 minutes, so that longer allotments of time can be devoted to discussion of that content.

Activity Source:

Content developed by the Sloan Work and Family Teaching Task Force

Quantitative Literacy and Work-Family Issues

Activity Description:

Purpose:

Using tables to analyze statistics and then create client reports

Steps:

1. Scenario: In your position as an organizational consultant, you are typically hired by clients to help assess problems and issues faced by employers. You were recently hired by a hospital that has been working to institute flexible work arrangements. The hospital management wants to know how employees working in different positions in the hospital feel about the level of flexibility offered.

As part of your research design, you proposed fielding a short survey to a random sample of hospital employees (you also collected qualitative data through focus groups). Using a list of over 35,000 hospital employees, you randomly selected 2,500 employees to participate in the survey. A paper survey was administered to the sample through the employee mail system and employees were allowed to use work time to complete the survey. Your client is interested in evidence-based answers to the following questions:

1. Are flexible working arrangements perceived as helpful by hospital employees?
2. Are there any problems associated with flexible work arrangements?
3. Are the responses from employees generally positive or negative when they discuss working at the hospital?

2. Your Task: Your research assistant compiled and analyzed the data in the PDF. You are responsible for writing the client report. You decide to draft answers to the following 3 questions to get you started on the report. In all cases you link your analysis to information in the tables:

1. Which work arrangements are perceived to be most helpful by hospital employees? Is there a link between perceptions of helpfulness and gender?
2. What are the costs and benefits of instituting flexible working arrangements among hospital staff?
3. What do the survey data tell us about the working environment at the hospital?

Tables

Click on the document below to view the data tables (in PDF format). Document will open in a new browser window.

Activity Source:

Sweet, Stephen, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Joshua Mumm, Judith Casey, and Christina Matz. 2006. Teaching Work and Family: Strategies, Activities, and Syllabi. Washington DC: American Sociological Association.

Activity Links to Materials:

QuantLiteracy

Reconciliation of Work and Family Life in OECD Countries

Activity Description:
In this presentation, the potential impact of work-life policies on various policy objectives in OECD countries is discussed.  Findings from a comparative analysis of work-life policies in OEDC countries are also presented.

Activity Source:
Durand, M. (2006, May 29-30). Reconciliation of work and family life in OECD countries. Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and the Family, Bratislava. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/26/36939331.pdf

Research Paper Assignment of Work-Family and the Life Course

Activity Description:
Author: Catherine White Berheide, Skidmore College

Introduction:

This paper explores how Americans combine their work and family lives today. A life course perspective reminds us that these arrangements change over time. A historical perspective also reveals that these arrangements change over time. This paper explores the variety of “livable arrangements” at which parents arrive to address these competing needs at different stages of their lives and in different historical periods.

Objective:

For this paper, each student will interview two couples who are actively parenting children. Students must choose couples whose children are at different stages of their lives. The stages are:

• A couple who has at least one child under six.  
• A couple whose youngest child is between 6 and 12.
• A couple whose youngest child is between 13 and 18.
• A couple whose youngest child is over 18, but still economically dependent.
• Using the interview protocol developed by the class, interview the two couples.

Format:

Begin the paper by drawing on the course readings to frame the problem of the contemporary conflict between work and family at the theoretical level. Be sure to define key concepts. Next discuss what the data from the interviews as well as the data in the course readings tell us about contemporary work and family arrangements. Indicate whether the interview data follow the patterns described in the readings. If they do not, what makes these families different from the “typical” American families? Are these arrangements egalitarian or specialized? Are they equal or fair? What factors influence the choices the couples make? Conclude by discussing whether the arrangements are the result of individual preferences, cultural expectations, or structural changes.

The paper should be five pages long (typed and double-spaced with normal margins and type font). Attach a copy of your notes from your interviews to your paper. Include a reference page listing any of the course readings referred to in the paper. Footnote (using the internal citation format) any direct quotations or paraphrasing. Be sure you cite the exact reading to which you are referring and not the editors of the book from which the reading comes.

Activity Source:
Adapted by Jane Case from Berheide, C.W. (2006). “Work, Family, and Organizations” Syllabus.

Research Paper Assignment: Social Welfare

Activity Description:
Author: Luisa S. Deprez, University of Maine

Objective:

The purpose of this assignment is to explore a U.S. social welfare policy in depth and reveal the implications of the policy on/for women. The paper requires a historical overview of the policy; a discussion of the target population, the demographics (who benefits, eligibility criteria, etc); a discussion of ideological and values that are the basis of/inherent in the policy; an analysis (feminist) of the policy in light of its intent – a substantive discussion of the implications of the policy in regard to gender, race, and class; and consideration of alternative approaches that might better embrace a social justice perspective, or affirmation as to why and how the policy is working to attain its goal.

Format:

The paper has 5 parts:

1. an identification and discussion of a social policy and a brief historical overview of the policy. Include in your discussion an explanation of how this social policy affects or impacts women as well as society as a whole. In your historical review, examine and discuss the development of the social policy, pursue why it was developed and to what issues or problems it was responding, and identify what it was intended to accomplish;
2. a description/discussion (including statistical descriptors) of the demographics of the target population including who benefits and under what conditions (eligibility criteria) and for how long (time, age limits)
3. a discussion of ideological and values that underpin this social policy. If there are specific political influences, discuss them;
4. an analysis of the policy in light of its stated intent: a substantive discussion of the implications of the policy in regard to gender, race and class. Does the policy “do” what it intended to? If not, why? If so, how well?; and
5. the consideration and presentation of alternative approaches that might better embrace a social justice perspective, or affirmation that the policy is working to attain its goal: What approaches or solutions might better embrace a social justice perspective? If the policy is working to attain its goal, discuss how and why. In this section you should pay particular attention to how this policy is working (or not) to advance women within society.

-The paper should be between 10 and 15 pages in length and must have an outline appended as well as a properly formatted bibliography.

-The paper must be computer-printed/generated on white paper, double-spaced, paginated, with one-inch margins, in a 12 point font, and free of grammatical and spelling errors.

-Footnotes/endnotes and Bibliography must conform to either ASA (American Sociological Association) or APA style.

-In assessing your written work, attention will be given to what you say and how you say it: style, grammar, organization, presentation, and content. Work that is not acceptable may be returned.

Cautions:

Be careful in your use of online resources

Suggested areas of investigation:

Employment and Work: Pay Equity, wage gap
Family Medical Leave, Parental Leave, Sick Leave
Unemployment Insurance
Retirement, Social Security, Insurance, Pensions

Health: Birth Control/Contraception

Reproduction
Sterilization

Family: Child Care

Income Assistance: Welfare
Battered Women/Domestic Violence
Nutrition/Hunger/Food Stamps

Other: Housing

Child Support
Education

More Specific:

Challenges of securing safe, affordable housing for women – either living on their own or with children: home ownership or rental

Historical overview of the YWCA as it provided women with transitional housing

TANF: Best practices (survey of state programs) for women with multiple barriers such as:

domestic violence victims
children with disabilities
disabilities but not legally defined as disabled -” do not meet federal definition of disabled (might include those with conditions such as chronic depression, etc)

Importance of support services (child care, health care) in enabling women to secure and sustain work -” the notion that work and support services go hand-in-hand

Challenges of the low-wage labor market for women, women heading families

Public opinion on women working outside the home, low-income women, programs for those who cannot support themselves

Activity Source:
Adapted by Jane Case from Deprez, L.S. (2008). “Women, Welfare, and the State” Syllabus.

Research Paper for Work and Family

Activity Description:
Objective:

Individual Assignment.

Students are required to prepare an individual research paper addressing one of the major topics of the subject. The topic selected must focus on work, family/life issues. Your research paper must demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of critical challenges facing individuals, families, employers and/or communities in managing work, family and life issues.

Here is a checklist:

1. Clearly define the aim(s) of your report and its scope.
2. Discuss the importance of the topic

Theoretical importance

Practical importance

Is it a new, emerging, or under-researched topic

1. Literature Review

Your discussion should link to the most important literature (include highly relevant and key studies)

Recognize relevant and important areas of literature

Demonstrate an understanding of the literature

Identify major themes and issues in the literature that are relevant to the selected topic

Review literature critically, pointing out limitations, conflicts, and ambiguities

1. Discussion and Conclusion

What did you find overall?

Implications for practice that flow from your findings

What future research should now be done?

Practical implications

Activity Source:
Adapted by Jane Case from Bardoel, A. (2003). “Work, Family and Life” Syllabus.



Research Paper on Family Responsive Benefits

Activity Description:
Author: Catherine White Berheide, Skidmore College

Introduction:

This paper examines how employers respond to their employees’ family concerns. This paper explores the variety of “family-responsive benefits” which employers provide (or fail to provide) to address the challenges of combining work and family.

Objective:

For this paper, each student will choose five employers to study. The student needs to identify what family-responsive benefits each employer offers to its employees. To find out what benefits an employer offers, the student can go to the company’s web site, interview someone in the human resources department (as Galinsky and Deitch and Huffman both did), or interview an employee. All three approaches would be the optimum way to obtain the best data.

Format:

Begin the paper by drawing on the course readings to frame the issue of how employing organizations are responding to the contemporary conflict between work and family. Next discuss what the data in the course readings tell us about family-responsive benefits. Then raise the question of whether the patterns they identify are still true today. Be sure to define key concepts and to indicate how the data on the five employers were collected. Indicate whether the data from the five companies follow the patterns described in the readings. If they do not, what makes these companies different from the ones in the readings? What factors influence the choices employers make about what family-responsive benefits to offer? End the paper by drawing a conclusion about what these data indicate about the likelihood that organizations will offer more or fewer family-responsive benefits in the future.

The paper should be five pages long (typed and double-spaced with normal margins and type font). Attach a copy of your data on each employing organization. Include a reference page listing any of the course readings referred to in the paper. Footnote (using the internal citation format) any direct quotations or paraphrasing. Be sure you cite the exact reading to which you are referring and not the editors of the book from which the reading comes.


Activity Source:
Adapted by Jane Case from Berheide, C.W. (2006). “Work, Family, and Organizations” Syllabus.

Research Paper on Work and Child Care Arrangements

Activity Description:
Author: Catherine White Berheide, Skidmore College

Objective:

This paper focuses on the child care problem. First, using the course readings and your previous interviews and/or new ones, you need to identify what the problem is. Second, using course readings and your previous interviews and/or new ones, you need to describe the range of solutions workers in the United States today use to meet their child care needs. Third, you need to develop a solution to the child care problem for your company. The company can be a real one, perhaps one you studied for your second paper or it could be a company for which one of the parents you interviewed works, or it could be a company of your own creation.

Format:

Begin the paper by drawing on the course readings (and interviews) to frame the child care problem. Be sure to consider it from the point of view of the employees who are parents (or prospective parents) and from the point of view of your company.

Next discuss what the data from the interviews as well as the data in the course readings tell us about contemporary child care arrangements. Be sure to consider the complexity of the problem-“children of different ages, different times of year, different times of day, different health statuses, different numbers of parents, different income levels, etc.

Finally, develop a plan for your company to help its employees meet their child care needs. Don’t limit yourself to just providing information about or money to provide paid child care as a solution. What about parental leaves, part-time or part-year jobs, flextime, etc.? Think as well about how to enable employees to take time off, whether an afternoon for a soccer game or several months to a year after the birth of a baby, to spend with their children without committing career suicide, as Sheila Wellington called it.

The paper should be five pages long (typed and double-spaced with normal margins and type font). Include a reference page listing any of the course readings referred to in the paper. Footnote (using the internal citation format) any direct quotations or paraphrasing. Be sure you cite the exact reading to which you are referring and not the editors of the book from which the reading comes.

Activity Source:
Adapted by Jane Case from Berheide, C.W. (2006). “Work, Family, and Organizations” Syllabus.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter Awards for Excellence in Work-Family Research

Activity Description:
To expose students to studies recognized as the “best of the best” research on work and family.

Opportunities for Integration in Course Assignments:
The Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research is a partnership of the Center for Families at Purdue University, the Center for Work and Family at Boston College, and the Alliance of Work-Life Progress.  This award raises awareness of high quality work-family research among the scholar, consultant, and practitioner communities. The award is named for Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who leading scholars have identified as the person with the most influence on modern work and family research literature. The Kanter award is given to the authors who publish the best work-family research article during a calendar year.

As of 2009, ten Kanter awards had been given, representing a range of research questions and methods (see below).  The Sloan Work and Family Teaching Task Force developed a teaching module designed to expose graduate level students to engage in critical analysis of research methods of these articles.  In addition, teachers may consider having students engage in class presentations of these articles or integrating them into reading assignments.  Articles can be retrieved via the Work and Family Researchers Network Literature Database and further information on the Kanter awards can be found here.

Kanter Award Winners:

2008: Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik
Correll, S.J., Benard, S., & Piak, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1297-1338.

2007: Jeremy Reynolds and Lydia Aletraris
Reynolds, J., & Aletraris, L. (2006). Pursuing preferences: The creation and resolution of work hour mismatches. American Sociological Review, 71, 618-638.

2006: Hadas Mandel and Moshe Semyonov
Mandel, H., & Semyonov, M. (2005). Family Policies, Wage Structures, and Gender Gaps: Sources of Earning Inequality in 20 Countries. American Sociological Review, Volume 70, pp. 949-967.

2005: Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian
Sarkisian, N., & Gerstel, N. (2004). Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents: The Importance of Employment. Journal of Marriage and Family, Volume 66, pp. 431-451.

2004: Marybeth Mattingly and Susan M. Bianchi
Mattingly, M. J., & Bianchi, S. M. (2003). Gender Differences in the Quantity and Quality of Free Time: The U.S. Experience. Social Forces, Volume 81, pp. 999-1030.

2003: Michelle J. Budig
Budig, M. J. (2002). Male advantage and the gender composition of jobs: Who rides the glass escalator? Social Problems, 49(2). 40

2002: Jerry A. Jacobs and Kathleen Gerson
Jacobs, J.A., and Gerson, K. (2001). Overworked Individuals or Overworked Families? Explaining Trends in Work, Leisure, and Family Time. Work and Occupations, Volume 28, pp. 40-63.

2001: Suzanne M. Bianchi
Bianchi, S. M. (2000). Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity? Demography, 37(4), 401-414.

2001: Harriet B. Presser
Presser, H. B. (2000). Nonstandard work schedules and marital instability. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 93-110.

2000: Erin Kelly and Frank Dobbin  
Kelly, E., & Dobbin, F. (1999). Civil Rights Law at work: Sex discrimination and the rise of maternity leave policies. American Journal of Sociology, 105(2), 455-492.

Activity Source:
Content developed by the Sloan Work and Family Teaching Task Force

Shift Work or: What Time is it Anyway?

Activity Description:
The director of a community health information network, Dr. Silverman’s presentation defines shift work, outlines the uses of it in culture, describes the possible health problems associated with it, and provides strategies for minimizing these problems.

To access this presentation, visit: http://warrensilverman.com/powerpoint/shiftwork.ppt

Activity Source:
Silverman, W. Shift work or: What Time is it Anyway? Retrieved May 26, 2009 from Warren Silverman’s website: http://warrensilverman.com/powerpoint/shiftwork.ppt

Strategies for Work-Family Integration

Activity Description:

Name of activity:

Strategies for Work-Family Integration

Related Encyclopedia Entry topic:

Border/Boundary Theory and Work-Family Integration

Purpose:

To explore concepts of border ambiguities and work-family integration

Steps:

1. Discussion Starter
2. Ask students what “work” and “family” mean to them.
3. Inquire whether there have ever been times when they have tried to “kill two birds with one stone,” for example by bringing their work home or bringing their kids to work with them.
4. Debate
5. Ask for volunteers and get them to debate the topic — “Work and family— the twain shall never meet.”

Alternatively, if you teach a large class you can ask two of your teaching assistants to prepare a short 3-5 minute case and have them debate it in front of the entire class putting the for and against case. This is especially effective at the beginning of a class to get the students engaged in the topic. You can also gauge the students’ positions pre and post the debate.

Activity Source:

Content contributed by Stephan Desrochers and Leisa D. Sargent as a Suggested Work and Family Class Activity

Student Group Presentations of Work-Family Issues

Activity Description:
Format:

Presentation time: 30 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions

Objective:

Groups of four to six students will be responsible for leading a 30-minute class discussion on one of the work-family themes outlined below. This involves choosing a topic, preparing an annotated bibliography of additional articles on the topic, providing a one-page summary of the research on the topic, preparing discussion questions, and leading or facilitating the discussion.

Topics for Group Presentations:

• Issues and options regarding paid maternity and parental leave
• Social support for elder care
• Childcare – Issues and options
• The overworked family
• Public policy and work-family initiatives
• Work-family issues and the trade union movement
• How work-family issues are portrayed in the media

Evaluation Criteria:

Please note that marks for the presentation will be allocated equally to all members of your group. Presentations will be assessed on the following criteria:

1. Relevance: To what extent was the presentation relevant to the assignment topic?
2. Clarity: To what extent did this presentation assist your understanding of the content of the material/arguments/analysis presented?
3. Intellectual Extension: To what extent did this presentation encourage you to think in new ways about the situation/theme presented? To what extent did the presentation build on readings and seminars in this and/or other subjects, and enlarge your appreciation of the material presented?
4. Group Synergy: To what extent did the presentation combine and go beyond the individual efforts of group members i.e., to what extent did it come together as a group rather than as an individual effort?
5. Memorability: To what extent will the presentation help you to remember the material presented?
6. Facilitation of Group Discussion: To what extent did the structure of the presentation facilitate and encourage group discussion and sharing of ideas.
7. Quality of Annotated Bibliography: Quality of the selection of references to the presentation theme and value of the summary of the main insights and points made for these references.
8. Summary handout: Similar to an executive summary and should include the main findings and conclusions in relation to the theme.

Activity Source:

Adapted by Jane Case from Bardoel, A. (2003). “Work, Family and Life” Syllabus.

Syllabi: Women’s Economic Roles

Activity Description:

This course presents an empirical and historical overview of the economic activity and roles of women in the United States. It also examines how economic theories explain these roles and looks at policies affecting women’s economic status.

Activity Source:

syllabi women’s economic roles