SAGE Journal Articles

Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Journal Article 1: Byrne, U. (2008). If you want something done, ask a busy person. Business Information Review, 25, 190-196.

Abstract: Effective use of personal time management skills and techniques can ensure a successful balance between work and personal life. This article suggests ways of analysing how time is spent, and offers advice on making plans for the future in a business and personal environment.

Journal Article 2: Byrne, U. (2005). Wheel of life: Effective steps for stress management. Business Information Review, 22, 123-130.

Abstract: This continues the author’s previous article, in which the concept of work-life balance was described and defined as a way of tackling the problem of increasing amounts of stress in the workplace as people try to juggle a wide range of factors in their life/work environment, including: work; family; friends; health; and spirit/self. (Byrne, 2005). Reviews the major factors involved in stress, with suggestions about ways of managing it. Notes that the term has become overworked to cover a wide range of aspects of modern living, putting forward some possible reasons why this has come about. Attempts to place stress in the health context of why certain types of stress can be good for the individual and why others can be bad. The typical signs of stress are listed in some detail, with a discussion of how such symptoms can impinge on the quality of an employee’s work through its effect on physical well-being, mental abilities and behaviour. Describes how excessive stress can be traced to: excessive workload; the assumption that staff can read an individual’s mind; bullying; continual change; lack of challenge; constant interruptions; and poor internal communication. The article concludes that the problems of stress can be overcome through the application of a simple tool called the ‘Wheel of Life’, which can indicate where the imbalances lie in an individual’s life at present and point to ways of addressing them. The Wheel of Life, a familiar concept in many religious and spiritual cultures, represents the constant movement and change in life and comprises a wheel/circle divided into eight segments into which the individual places the top eight top priorities currently in force in their life. The wheel/circle then forms the central part of a plan for stress relief and ways in which it can be applied are described.

Journal Article 3: ten Brummelhuis, L. L., Oosterwaal, A., & Bakker, A. B. (2012). Managing family demands in teams: The role of social support at work. Group & Organization Management, 37, 376-403.

Abstract: A majority of today’s workforce juggles work and family roles, whereby family life often interferes with work. Thus far, not much is known about work–family interference at the team level. This study explores how team members’ family demands influence team processes (taskwork and teamwork) and consequently, team performance. In addition, we investigate whether social support at work helps to prevent possible disadvantageous effects of team members’ family demands on team processes. Using a sample of 61 teams (520 employees), we found that team members’ average family demands were negatively related to supervisor-ratings of team performance, through reduced taskwork. Supervisor and organizational social support attenuated this negative relationship. Family demands were positively related to teamwork when coworker and supervisor support were high. These findings specify that under conditions of adequate support at work, harmful effects of a team’s family context on team performance are less likely, whereas teamwork is even enhanced.

Journal Article 4: Ford, J., & Collinson, D. (2011). In search of the perfect manager? Work-life balance and managerial work. Work, Employment and Society, 25, 257-273.

Abstract: Work-life balance debates continue to proliferate but give relatively little critical attention to managerial workers. This article draws on research into the experiences of managers in a local government organization revealing an intricate, multifaceted and heterogeneous picture of fragmentation, conflicting demands, pressures and anxieties. The study highlights the importance of paid work for public sector managers; the concomitant difficulties in controlling working hours for those in managerial roles and the extent to which shifts in work orientation occur during managers’ careers. Research findings suggest that in practice work-life balance initiatives may only serve to increase managerial anxieties and pressures, the very opposite outcome to that intended. These themes do not feature in many work-life balance debates, which tend to assume the perfect manager who is able and willing to create a symmetrical balance between different spheres of life.