SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES

(IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS)

By:

Advisor:

DIRE DAWA, AUGUST 2018

 ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................................2
1. 1 Background Of The Study .......................................................................................................................................... 2
1. 2 Statement Of The Problem ........................................................................................................................................ 3
1.3 Objective Of The Study ............................................................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Research Question ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
2. REVIEW LITERATURE ...................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 The Concept Of Work-Life Balance ........................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Why Is The Wlb Concept Still An Issue? ...................................................................................................................... 6
2.3 Definitions And Implications ......................................................................................................................................... 7
2.4 The Scope Of Work Life Balance ................................................................................................................................. 8
2.5 Work Life Balance And The Challnges Ahead ........................................................................................................ 8
2.6 The Influencing Elements In Work Life Balance ....................................................................................................... 8
2.7 The Global Scenario Of Work Life Balance .............................................................................................................. 8
2.8 Work/Life Discourses........................................................................................................................................................ 9
2.9 Changes In The Discourse ............................................................................................................................................. 9
2.10Work/Life Theories ..........................................................................................................................................................10
3. R E S E A R C H METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................................................................13
3.1 Research Type And Approach ...............................................................................................................................13
3.2 Research Population ..................................................................................................................................................13
3.3 Research Design ...........................................................................................................................................................13
3.4 Research Plan .............................................................................................................................................................14
3.5 Expected Outputs .......................................................................................................................................................14
3.8 Budget Breakdown/Details Of Expenditure .......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.9 Work Plan/Activity Time ................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................................15

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

1 INTRODUCTION

1. 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A nation may be endowed with abundant natural and physical resources and the necessary capital &
technology but unless there are competent people it is nearly impossible to mobilize, organize and harness
the resources for production of goods and/or services, it cannot make rapid strides towards economic
and social advancement. The strengths and weakness of an organization are determined by the quality
of its human resources, which play a vital role in using other organizational resources and the
development process of modern economies.

Human resource is the most strategic resource as no other resource can be fully utilized to generate
income and wealth of a nation without the active involvement of this resource. In fact, the differences
in the levels of economic development of the countries are largely a reflection of the differences in the
quality of their human resources and their involvement in national building. The key elements such as
values, attitudes, general orientation and the quality of the people of a country determine its economic
development. However, human resources are being wasted through unemployment, disguised
unemployment, obsolescence of skills, and lack of work opportunities, poor personnel practices and the
hurdles of adjusting to change. Human resource accounts for a large part of national output and there
exists a wide scope for increasing national wealth through their proper development. Human factor
provides value to physical resource and necessary dynamism in the economy.

Dynamic people can build dynamic organizations. Effective employees can contribute to the
effectiveness of their organization. Competent and motivated people can make things happen and enable
an organization to achieve its goals. Hence, organizations should continuously ensure that the
dynamism, competency, motivation and effectiveness of the employees remain at high levels.

Human resource is even the most critical factor for determining the efficiency and effectiveness of an
organization because it is precisely the people who will decide when and how to acquire and utilize
various resources, including human resources, in the best interest of the organization. The ultimate
success and survival of an organization will invariably be determined by the quality and competence of
its human resources.

Work-life balance practices are deliberate organizational changes in programs or organizational culture
that are designed to reduce work-life conflict and enable employees to be more effective at work and in
other roles. The transition from viewing work-life balance practices solely as a means of accommodating
individual employees with care giving responsibilities to recognizing their contribution to organizational
performance and employee engagement is an important paradigm shift that is still very much ‘in process.’

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 ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

It is visible that less attention is given to the concept of work-life balances in developing countries like
Ethiopia. This study will assess the current practices concerning this matter and suggest some
professional recommendations.

1. 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Work life balance is a universal struggle, experienced by both men and women across different life-
stages and in all types of professions (Darcy, McCarthy, Hill & Grady, 2012; Emslie &Hunt, 2009).
Part of the struggle with work-life balance is the challenge of juggling work and personal life (Perrone,
Wright, & Jackson, 2009). Currently, Americans are working more and longer hours compared to any
other industrialized nation, taking less leave or vacation and personal time (International Labor
Organization, 2009). With this, comes the struggle to find a balance between work, home, family and
personal life (Hochschild, 1997).

A lack of work-life balance is associated with emotional and behavioral problems such as: anxiety,
depression, guilt, decreased productivity, and problematic drinking (Kalliath & Brough, 2008).
Additionally, a lack of work-life balance can lead to increased stress and a sense of burnout (Ten
Brummelhuis & Van Der Lippe, 2010). Regardless of sex, gender identity, or marital status, both men
and women struggle with work life balance (Powell & Greenhaus, 2010).

Over the years a number of work-life balance initiatives have been implemented in the workplace with
the goal of creating better balance for employees (Zacharious, 2005). However, these initiatives have
largely been geared towards women in the workplace and tend to be underutilized, especially by men
and pre-retirement employees (Darcy et al., 2012). As a starting point, it is important to understand
what the term work-life balance means and how it is defined. A cohesive, definite and consistent
definition of work-life balance has not been adequately defined in the literature (Greenhaus, Collins, &
Shaw, 2003; Reiter, 2007)

There is a lot of problems concerning this work-life balance concept which are sated above. And it is
known than higher education and academic institutions need a better focus concerning this concept
since higher academic institutions have a lot to contribute in shaping the a certain country. And the
success of Academic institutions will be the success of a nation. This study studies the work-life balance
practices and trend in one of the universities in Ethiopia and tries to see which practices are harmful
and which should be motived for further improvement.

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

GENERAL OBJECTIVE
 To assess the practice of work-life balance in Dire Dawa University academic staffs.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE
 To identify strategies that should be used to achieve better balance in their lives.
 To examine which practices should be appreciated and which should be eliminated.
 To exploring the views and experience of work/life balance to manage commitments in their work
and non-work domains.
 To find ways how work/life balance can be managed and utilized to improve Universities capability
and sustainability.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

The study set out to find answers to the following questions:
1. What are the practices employed by Dire Dawa University staffs to achieve work/life balance?
2. What features of Dire Dawa University and personal practice enable staffs to achieve work/life balance?
3. What features of Dire Dawa University and personal practice get in the way of staffs achieving work/life
balance?
4. How might the workmanship be changed to provide better opportunities for staffs to achieve work/life
balance?

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

2. REVIEW LITERATURE

2.1 THE CONCEPT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Work–life balance is a concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition)
and "lifestyle" (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development/meditation). This is related
to the idea of lifestyle choice.
The work–leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid-1800s. Paul Krassner remarked that
anthropologists use a definition of happiness that is to have as little separation as possible "between your
work and your play". The expression "work–life balance" was first used in the United Kingdom in the
late 1970s to describe the balance between an individual's work and personal life. In the United States,
this phrase was first used in 1986.
According to 2010 National Health Interview Survey Occupational Health Supplement data, 16% of
U.S. workers reported difficulty balancing work and family. Imbalance was more prevalent among
workers aged 30–44 (19%) compared with other age groups; non-Hispanic black workers (19%)
compared with non-Hispanic white workers (16%), and Hispanic workers (15%); divorced or separated
workers (19%) compared with married workers (16%), widowed workers (13%), and never married
workers (15%); and workers having a bachelor's degree and higher (18%) compared with workers having
a high school diploma or G.E.D. (16%), and workers with less than a high school education (15%).
Workers in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industries (9%) had a lower prevalence rate of
work–family imbalance compared to all employed adults (16%). Among occupations, a higher
prevalence rate of work–family imbalance was found in legal occupations (26%), whereas a lower
prevalence rate was observed for workers in office and administrative support (14%) and farming,
forestry, and fishing occupations (10%)

The importance of managing an employee’s WLB has increased markedly over the past 20 years (De
Bruin & Dupuis, 2004). Changes in the definition of ‘normal working hours’, the demographic make-
up of the labour force (i.e. gender, ethnicity, dual career couples, and religion), and the very nature of
the employment contract have necessitated an increased organisational concern for their employees’
wellbeing (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). In order to achieve a WLB, leading western organisations have
tended to adopt policies such as on-site child-care facilities, on-site gymnasiums, telecommuting
opportunities, and even on-site sleeping quarters for the employee and their family (Hacker & Doolen,
2003; Hyman & Summers, 2004). Each has attempted to increase the flexibility by which employees
can effectively enact their work-roles whilst simultaneously enabling them to enact their family-based
roles to the extent necessary. Ideally, the WLB concept requires organisations to effectively integrate
employees’ work and non-work roles such that levels of multiple-role conflict, and the associated stress
and job-dissatisfaction, are minimised or avoided (De Bruin & Dupuis, 2004; Greenblatt, 2002).

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2.2 WHY IS THE WLB CONCEPT STILL AN ISSUE?

Despite the best intentions of organisations to implement WLB policies, there remains considerable
contention about their effectiveness in delivering flexibility and reducing stress and job-dissatisfaction in
the workplace (Eates, 2004; Kirrane & Buckley, 2004). Researchers have identified two empirical
shortcomings within the WLB literature that have served to undermine its theoretical usefulness. The
first relates to the WLB literature’s almost exclusive focus on the work-family interface. Buzzanell et al,
(2005) notes that the WLB literature typically portrays role conflicts for white, married, professional
and managerial women, with little reference to the many other demographics represented in the modern
organisation. Shorthose (2004) and Wise and Bond (2003) go so far as to state that the WLB discipline
is essentially flawed, as it is ‘one-dimensional’, assumes a unitary perspective, and that its underlying
management has been one of maintaining status-quo rather than supporting the development.

The second relates to the literature’s inability to clearly define the array of non-work roles that impact
employees’ working-life. Elloy and Smith (2004) and Spinks (2004), for example, state that because an
individual’s non-work roles are inherently ambiguous and idiosyncratic, organisations are incapable of
understanding how their enactment (or otherwise) impacts each individual. Spinks (2004), in particular,
suggests that organisations are either incapable (or unwilling) to understand their workforce in sufficient
detail, and have instead defaulted to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy regime that has simply enabled employees
to ‘stay at work longer’ rather than enable them to enact their non-work roles.

The inadequacy of current WLB policy regimes is highlighted by Kiger’s (2005) study that revealed that
less than two percent of employees actually participate in available WLB programs. Dex and Smith
(2002) cite two main causes for this low figure. The first relates to equity, with many employees
reporting that they did not wish to appear a ‘special case’ or to require ‘special treatment’ to their
colleagues. The second is that the wide range of policies adopted by organisations have been based on
an ill-informed conceptualisation of contemporary WLB, and that this has led to its ineffective
formalisation in human resource management practices.
The contribution of the WLB literature, therefore, appears limited in its ability to provide a useful
framework for both academics and practitioners alike (Hyman & Summers, 2004). Despite its name, the
WLB literature remains largely focused on the work-family interface and fails to accurately identify and
define the array of non-family roles that impact on an individual’s working-life (Hacker & Doolen, 2003;
Mellor, Mathieu, Barnes-Farrell & Rogelberg, 2001; Noor, 2004; Pocock, 2005).

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

2.3 DEFINITIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The word Work-Life Balance is sometimes considered as interwoven with Work-family conflict.
However, it can be argued that the latter is more limited in scope than the former because the focus in
work-family conflict is more on the relations between work & family. It is also referred to as family
friendly work arrangements, (FFWA), and in international literature, as alternative work arrangements
(AWA).

Work-Life Balance is the relationship between time and space of work & non-work in societies where
income is predominantly generated and distributed through labor markets. Work-Life Balance is being
aware of different demands on time and energy saving the ability to make choices in the allocation of
time and energy knowing what values to apply. Much confusion and ambiguity surrounds in
understanding and defining the term Work –Life Balance. As a term in its own right Work-Life Balance
is rarely defined for reasons that will become clearer as the discussion progresses. Many authors attempt
to define Work-Life Balance policy or Work-Life Balance arrangements. Nevertheless it is possible to
discern a number of distinct strands in the literature in relation to definitional and conceptual issues.
The first of these themes concerns the contention area of family friendly versus Work-Life family in
order to reflect a broader and more inclusive way of conceptualizing the issue and to enable men and
those without children, for example to identify with them . However the perception that Work-Life
Balance policies are a family matter and aimed solely at women with children is still held by many
employees & employers.

Despite the worldwide quest for Work-Life Balance very few have found an acceptable definition of
the concept: here are some proven definitions that will positively impact one’s every day value & balance.
Best individual Work-Life Balance will vary overtime, often on a daily basis. The right balance today
will probably be different for tomorrow. The right balance when one is single will be different when
after marriage and having children; when one is on a start to new career versus when one is nearing to
retirement. There is no perfect, one size fits all, as balance is different for each of us because we all have
different priorities and different lives. However, at the core of an effective Work-Life Balance definition
are two key everyday concepts that are relevant, they are daily achievement and enjoyment, ideas, almost
deceptive in their simplicity. Enlarging a fuller meaning of these two concepts takes us to most of the
ways a positive

Work-Life Balance achievement. Achievement means finish something successfully, especially after
trying hard or receiving what one wants. Enjoyment does not mean happiness but it means pride,
satisfaction, happiness, celebration, love a sense of wellbeing and all the joys of living. Achievement and
enjoyment are the two sides of the coin value in life. One can’t have one without the other. Trying to
live a one sided life is why so many “successful” people are not happy or not nearly as happy as they
should be.

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2.4 THE SCOPE OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

The issue is complex and difficult to tackle from an organization’s perspective because it is
different for every individual. The traditional definition of family is a husband who provides financial
support, a wife who maintains the household. Cultural differences influence family decisions, and more
and more families represent blended racial backgrounds but making work–life integration a way of
corporate life is much more difficult. The change in workforce composition has been gradual, but steady.
More women are working and, thus, more mothers are in the workforce. In 1996, women comprised46
per cent of the total workforce, compared to 1986 when 44 per cent of the work force was women.
Women are less likely to drop-out of the labor force for significant periods of their lives, and more and
more women are responsible, alone or with a spouse, for the economic security of their families. The
Family and Medical Leave Act, signed by President Clinton in 1993, allowed all US workers to take
unpaid leave for up to twelve weeks to care for a seriously ill or new member of the family without
putting their jobs at risk. This Act has made the employment picture even more desirables for working
mothers, single parents, future parents and two career families. Those demanding balance, however,
include not only parents with children, but the rest of the employee population, as well. Older employees
need flexibility when dealing with ageing parents.

2.5 WORK LIFE BALANCE AND THE CHALLNGES AHEAD

The complex society of ours makes the individuals with conflicting responsibilities and commitments;
hence the work-life balance has become a predominant issue at the workplace. The major factors such
as the global competition, the renewed interest in personal lives/ family values; and managing the
workforce etc. have made it more significant. Studies have revealed that human resource professionals
seek innovative ways to attain their organization's competitive advantage in the marketplace and it is
found that work-life balance activities offer a win-win solution in this regard.

2.6 THE INFLUENCING ELEMENTS IN WORK LIFE BALANCE

Many companies have responded to the evolving set of issues and with the influencing elements related
to work life balance by introducing a wide variety of work-life balance practices. These practices help
the employees to balance both work and life equally where it supports the employer to increase the
retention of the employee. Some of the influencing factors include working hours and flexibility, time
bind, Job satisfaction, Job Autonomy and Organizational Commitment.

2.7 THE GLOBAL SCENARIO OF WORK LIFE BALANCE

During the 1960s and 1970s, employers considered work-life mainly an issue for working mothers who
struggled with the demands of their jobs and raising children. During the 1980s, recognizing the value
and needs of women contributions, pioneering organizations (IBM, Deloitee) began to change their
internal workplace policies, procedures and benefits. The changes included maternity leave, employee
assistance programs (EAPs), flexi-time, home-based work, and child-care referral. During the 1980s men
also began voicing work-life concerns. The term ‘work life balance’ was first coined in 1986 in reaction

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

to the unhealthy choices that many Americans were making in favor of the work place as they opted to
neglect family, friends and leisure activities in the pursuit of corporate goals. Articles of the time
suggested a sharp increase in the working hours of the Americans. This had started to affect their families
and individual health. Work life balance slowly was gaining grounds in the various organizations. By the
end of the decade, work life balance was seen as more than just a women’s issue, affecting men, families,
organizations and cultures.

In 1990s solidified the recognition of work-life balance as a vital issue for everyone women, men,
parents and non-parents, singles and couples. The 1990s saw a rise in the number of working women
and dual-income families. A second family configuration, the lone parent household also became
prevalent in the 1990s.The labor force experienced considerable challenges in balancing the work and
family responsibilities. This growing awareness of the central importance of the issue resulted in major
growth in attempted work-life solutions during this decade. Numerous studies showed that the
generations from baby boomers to new college graduates were making job choices based on their own
work-life issues and employer’s cultures.

2.8 WORK/LIFE DISCOURSES

This section of the review examines the changes in the work/life discourse to include positive
themes. Strategies for effecting work/life balance, such as multiple roles, self-care, gender, self-efficacy,
and concepts of resilience and thriving are explored and compared. A focus on sustainability, seen also
in the principal ship literature, is acknowledged as a contemporary theme in the work/life literature.

2.9 CHANGES IN THE DISCOURSE

Research regarding the competing demands of work and non-work has focused on constraints
that organizations (or individuals themselves) impose. This line of research might be described as the
“demand/diminish” themed literature, discussed in the introduction of the literature review. Work/life
imbalance relates to demanding and intensified work practices, work encroaching increasingly on private
lives, and the workplace being required to be more efficient, with less lab our regulation and constant
change (Gambles, 2006). Multiple roles, too, are seen to deplete energy and contribute to role overload
and stress (Goode, 1960) and long working hours are seen to be deleterious to personal health and
family well-being(Pocock, 2003). Such perspectives provide instances of the conflict/resources
depletion concepts in certain, particularly early views, of work/life balance.

Developments in the work/life discourse have increasingly paid attention to workplace practices,
structures and cultures (Fletcher, 1996, 2002; Rapoport, 1996, 2000) and to consideration of an
“expansionist/enrichment” perspective with a focus on concepts of reciprocity and facilitation (Barnett
& Hyde, 2001; Greenhaus, 2006; Grzywacz, 2002).Barnett (2001) explores an expansionist model in
which multiple roles are seen to bebeneficial for men and women, in that performance in one role can
facilitate performance in other roles. On this, Voydanoff & Donnelly (1999) suggests that there is an
upper limit of roles beyond which overload or conflict may occur, but that importantly, it is the quality

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of the role that has significance in terms of stress and work/life balance. Barnett (2001) also questions
some views on gender and contends that opportunity structures at work shape work behaviors and that
role quality is associated with stress, which did not differ by gender.

Other related areas of research that have paid attention to expansion and enrichment dimensions have
indicated that the number and range of work and non-work roles can enhance feelings of well-being in
both work and non-work domains (Bailyn, 1993; Friedman, 2000; Rothbard, 1999). They also argue
that contextual factors, such as emotional support (Epstein, 1987, 2000), work challenge, life/career
priorities and gender equity (Rapoport, 2002), can play a positive role in supporting work/life balance.
Related to this dimension of research is the literature on the effects of individual agency. This recognizes
that individuals, particularly those in managerial and professional roles, have an opportunity to exercise
some control, discretion or capacity for negotiation in relation to work and non-work activities
(Poelmans, 2004).

The concept of the dual agenda (Rapoport, 2002) is increasingly a feature of work/life commentary.
The theoretical underpinnings in DoE’s Flexible Work Options: achieving work/life balance program
(DET, 1998, Palamara, 1999), indicate a commitment to a dual agenda—of meeting individuals’ needs
for work/life balance and improving organizational, work unit, and individual performance in a climate
of devolved responsibility for human resource management in schools.

2.10 WORK/LIFE THEORIES

In this appreciative study, four broad work/life theories, which all fall into the
enrichment/expansionist category, were examined to assess their capacity to inform the study and the
design of a professional development program:
1. Work/life border theory (Clark, 2000; Singh, 2002)
2. Work/life expansion theory (Barnett, 2001)
3. Theory of work-family enrichment (Greenhaus, 2006)
4. Balanced work/life: a matter of balance (Limoges, 2003).

The contribution of Border theory to understanding work/life issues is underlined by Hyman(2004),

who places the issue of boundary management at the core of work/life balance, stating that it is a
necessary element for securing balance between work and non-work. Clark’s(2000) definition of borders
encompasses psychological categories and tangible boundaries that divide the times, place and people
associated with work versus family. Work/Life Border Theory distinguishes three types of boundaries
between work and non-work domains:

1. Physical
2. Temporal
3. Psychological.

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Clark’s (2000) theory offers a set of eight propositions relating to the strength and weakness of borders
and the similarity and differences of domains. It contends that borders and domains must work in
tandem for balance to take place and those changes to borders (e.g. flexibility)require analogous changes
to the domain’s culture and values (accountability, deadlines,support). Other propositions are that
control and influence within a domain increase controlover borders, and levels of in-domain support
increase work/life balance. It draws on the work of Nippert-Eng (1996) which explores issues of control
over placement and transcendence ofwork and non-work boundaries and Perlow (1998). Perlow (1998),
in a study of a work unit comprising seventeen professionals in a high-technology firm, explored the
nature of thetemporal boundary between work and life outside of work. Whilst the study focused on
the imposition of temporal demands at work, it also considered the effects on the structuring ofboth
work time and non-work time and made the observation that while all employees in thestudy faced
boundary control, some were acceptors and others resistors. Spouses, also included in the study, had
either acceptor or resistor reactions.

Singh (2002) uses Clark’s (2000) Work/Family Border Theory, repositioned as Work/Life Border
Theory, to underpin research into managers’ strategies for work/life balance and maps these strategies
according to levels of accommodation or negotiation with the organization or with the family—an
approach which draws on Perlow’s (1998) categorizations (above). This line of research appears to offer
insight into both the action of management and the process of effecting work/life balance, and, as such,
offers useful insights into the research questions.

Barnett (2001) proposes a Work Family Expansionist Theory in which multiple roles are seen to be
beneficial for men and women. Performance in one role, it is argued, can facilitate performance in other
roles. Barnett also questions whether some gender and work/life balance theories may be outdated,
contending that opportunity structures at work and role quality, which did not differ by gender, are
associated with stress and work/life balance.

Work-Family (or Work-Life) Enrichment (Greenhaus, 2006) describes a theoretical model(Appendix

1) that identifies the types of work and family resources that have a capacity to promote work-family
enrichment. It describes the pathways by which work and family resources can promote work-family
enrichment and the moderator variables under which resources in one role are most likely to enrich the
quality in another. In this theory, resources and experiences generated in one role (work or non-work
domain) can improve the other, in relation to:

• Skills and perspectives (such as interpersonal, coping, multi-tasking skills, trust)

• Psychological and physical resources (such as self-efficacy, self- esteem, hardiness, optimism,
hope and physical health)
• Social-capital resources (such as influence and information)
• Flexibility (meaning discretion and control over time and place where role requirements are met)

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• Material resources (for example, financial reward).

This theory also identifies the paths by which resources create an effect in work and non-work roles and
identifies the factors that moderate the effect of the above resources—salience of the role (perceived
importance of the role to an individual); perceived importance of resources to the role in question, and
the match between the resources and the requirements and norms of the work or non-work role.

One example of a theory or approach which deals with the process of managing the work/life interface
is presented by Limoges (2003). The theory describes the following actions as those determining the
successful balancing of work and personal life:

• drawing on a wide range of managerial and personal strategies and applying them in the work
and non-work domains
• Ensuring workload is manageable and off-setting new tasks by letting go of less important ones
• Placing importance on nurturing relationships and involvement in non-work activities
• engaging fully in work and non-work domains. Limoges (2003) approaches the issue from a
career planning perspective and includes taxonomy of work/life strategies

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH TYPE AND APPROACH

The research mainly focuses on assessing the current practices of work-life balance in Dire
Dawa University. The type of the research will be descriptive research which describe some aspect of a
phenomenon, i.e., the status of a work-life balance. And the approach of this research will be qualitative,
which will describes the behavioral aspects of Dire Dawa University Academic staffs.

3.2 RESEARCH POPULATION

The assessment o f t h i s r e s e a r c h will be under Dire Dawa, Particularly Dire Dawa
University. More in-depth the focus will be on the academic staffs. So generally Speaking the populations
of this research will be Dire Dawa University academic Staffs.

3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.3.1 R E S E A R C H METHODS
The research method for this research will be Survey Studies or Survey. Which will be started with
gathering data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing
conditions of work-life balance against which existing conditions can be compared, or determining the
relationships that exist between specific practices.

The Researcher will use this procedures will utilizing this research Methods.
• First gathers data on a one-shot basis
• represents a wide target population
• generates numerical data;
• provides descriptive, inferential and explanatory information;
• manipulates key factors and variables to derive frequencies;
• presents material which is uncluttered by specific contextual factors.

It is known that there are two main types of survey: a descriptive survey: concerned with identifying
& counting the frequency of a particular response among the survey group, or an analytical
survey: to analyses the relationship between different elements (variables) in a sample group.so the
researcher will use a mixed type of methods to collect the necessary information and the type of the
survey will be a descriptive one.

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

3.4 RESEARCH PLAN

3.4.1 D a t a collection
Data will be collected from selected samples from the population which will be Dire Dawa University
academic staffs using those methods. During data collection and analysis, quantitative research
method will be performed which involve some numerical and statistical analysis of data.

3.4.2 A n a l y s i s of data
The Data analysis for this study is made using regression analysis. And finally the result will be clearly
presented using tables and plots of charts. The reason why the researcher chooses regression analysis is
because it gives the best result in analyzing relationships between two independent and one dependent
variable. And it is one of the most frequently used tools in researches. In its simplest form, regression
analysis allows researchers to analyze relationships between one independent and one dependent variable.
In its applications, the dependent variable is usually the outcome we care about (e.g., time), while the
independent variables are the instruments we have to achieve those outcomes with (e.g., scheduling).
Regression analysis can provide insights that few other techniques can. The key benefits of using
regression analysis are that it can:

1. Indicate if independent variables have a significant relationship with a dependent variable.

2. Indicate relative strength of independent variables’ effects on a dependent variable.
3. Make predictions.

3.5 EXPECTED OUTPUTS

The assessment on the current practice from the selected samples will be collected and based on the
results professional recommendations will be given which may be used as an input while making and
updating the strategic-goal of the university. And lot further this could be used as a base line for the
researcher that will be made in this topic or Area. These will be the final output of the research.

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ASSESSMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES (IN CASE OF DIRE DAWA UNIVERSITY STAFFS) BY SHALOM YACOB

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