Identify management strategies for balancing work and family roles.
Identification should include strategies related to
- managing work-life balance, particularly investing quality time with children
- prioritizing family and work responsibilities
- monitoring stress levels of adults and children
- maintaining health and adhering to safety issues, including caring for a child that is sick
- managing crises (e.g., death, illness) and state of emergency situations (e.g., natural disasters, pandemics)
- practicing conflict resolution
- promoting family and work values
- acknowledging stages of the family and career life cycles
- identifying red flags and unhealthy and abusive family behaviors.
Process/Skill Questions
Thinking
- What is the relationship between the family’s circumstances and work productivity?
- Why is it important to a person, to the family, and to the employer to balance work and family roles?
- What factors should be considered when developing management strategies related to family? To the workplace?
- What responsibility does an employer have for a worker’s well-being at home?
- When is it appropriate for an employer to intervene in an employee’s personal/family life?
- What is the relationship of community activities and responsibilities to work and family roles?
- How do management strategies for balancing work and family roles change as the family progresses through its life cycle?
Communication
- When is it appropriate for an employee to communicate personal/family problems to an employer?
- How can the importance of balancing work and family roles be communicated to others?
- How can family members communicate that they need assistance in balancing work and family responsibilities?
Leadership
- What leadership techniques can address and resolve conflict regarding work and family roles?
- What skills do family members need to become leaders?
- What criteria should be used to assess efforts at balancing work and family roles?
Management
- What management skills help to set priorities at work and at home?
- What management skills help to deal with issues at different stages of the family life cycle?
- What management skills should be used when it becomes difficult to balance work and family responsibilities?