problem Statement, Purpose Statement and Research Question (RQ)
Major Assignment 1 (MA1) is a major paper. That means it begins with a cover page and ends with a reference list. There is no Abstract. The paper has three distinct sections: problem Statement, Purpose Statement and Research Question (RQ). That means each section will have a distinct heading.
Your paper must be organized as follows using the headings that are in red:
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The Problem Statement is a total of only 1 to 3 short paragraphs. I want to emphasize short. I only read 3 paragraphs. I suggest using one paragraph per study. Some of the samples I provide have 4 paragraphs. I would like only 3 paragraphs.
The Problem Statement is a review of three current research studies ATTACHED. For each of the three studies you will report only specific information in the paragraph. Each paragraph must contain only the following information:
The purpose of the study
The findings from the study
What the researcher explicitly stated needs further study
PURPOSE STATEMENT
1. The Purpose Statement must come from what the researcher (Gyanchandani, 2017) in the qualitative study you included in the Problem Statement stated needs further study. It is not your opinion of what to study. It comes directly from the qual study in your Problem Statement. We are building on prior research on your topic of interest. If you used more than one qual study then you must select the “gap” that most closely aligns with what you want to study. If a researcher identified several areas that need further study, select one of them.
2. The Purpose Statement is one of the gaps (explicitly stated need for further study) identified in the qualitative study in the Problem Statement.
3. State this as your first sentence: The purpose of this study is to … (citation). You repeat what the researcher said needs further study as the purpose of your study.
4. The Purpose Statement needs to include the in-text citation where the gap was identified. You do not include what the other researchers stated needs further study. This is only from the qual study you reviewed and what the researcher said needs further study.
5. Use what the grading rubric also states is needed in this section. This is important.
RQ
1. The RQ has to be written as a qual question. It does not begin with a verb and it does not end in a period. It is an actual question.
The RQ must use the same language from the Purpose Statement.
53A Qualitative Study on Work-Life Balance of Software Professionals© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
A Qualitative Study on Work-Life Balance of Software Professionals
Rajni Gyanchandani*
* Assistant Professor, Sinhgad Institute of Management and Computer Application, Narhe, Pune 411041, Maharashtra, India. E-mail: rajni.gyanchandani@gmail.com
Work-life balance is characterized by a condition of balance in which the demands
of both a man’s occupation and individual life are equivalent. It involves contributing
equivalent measures of time and vitality between work and individual life. The
transformation of information and communication technologies and its usage has
affected individuals work and family lives positively or negatively. The objective of
this study is to explore the work-life balance among select employees (N=30). The
study employs thematic analysis through six themes: social need, personal need,
time management, team work, compensation and benefits, and work. The outcomes
suggests that many employees relinquish their own time keeping in mind the end
goal to strike a balance between work and life. Employees, particularly women, have
a great deal of role clash as moms and other family members. Men nowadays need
to take up family duties. A considerable measure of adapting procedures that the
workers used have been talked about in the present study.
Introduction
The conventional wisdom indicates that employees will never feel truly satisfied with work
until they are satisfied with life. But in this new age it seems that organizations have
failed to comprehend that work-life balance is an important aspect for the individual as
well as for the organization. The survival of any enterprise today is not only dependent
on its own ability to innovate and systemize its activities but also on the happy workers
and it can be achieved by maintaining the balance between work and personal life. So
the biggest challenge for human resource professionals is recruiting, training and retaining
the people by keeping in mind the cost involved in all and this it is very important that
organizations cultivate the culture that provides for balance between the professional and
non-professional life of employees. Work-life balance is the term used to describe those
practices at workplace that acknowledge and aim to support the needs of employees
in achieving a balance between the demands of their family life and work lives (Agarwal,
The IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. XVI, No. 4, 201754
2009). According to Kofodimos (1993), work-life balance alludes to “a fulfilling, sound,
and beneficial life that incorporates work, play and love”. Work culture ought to provide
great environment to an individual and his/her family. Thus, the work-life balance is about
overseeing internal pressure from one’s own particular cravings and setting sensible
objectives which do not impinge on family commitments. Work-life balance can be defined
as a state of equilibrium in which sufficient amount of time should be given to personal/
family interests and organizational interests. Those who achieve this balance tend to
achieve higher level of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, as well as lower level
of stress and turnover. In sum, proof proposes a work technique of “running yourself worn
out” which has costs both for meeting performance objectives and be pleased about life;
the employee and the organization gain most when specialists experience extraordinary
equivalence between what they do on and off the clock.
Literature Review
The paper explores the work-life balance among select employees explaining thematic
analysis through six themes: social need, personal need, time management, team work,
compensation and benefits, and work.
Work/Life Balance Defined and Explored
Work-life balance is a challenging issue for the organizations and has attracted the
attention of many researchers. Work-life balance was initially utilized in the 1970s to
describe the balance between an individual’s work and personal life (Newman and
Mathews, 1999). Work-family conflict is characterized by the incongruence between
obligations at home and workplace, which are observed to be commonly inconsistent
(Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Work ought to give great environment to an individual
and his family. Hence, work-life balance is about managing internal pressure from one’s
own desires and setting reasonable objectives which do not perpetrate on family
obligations. The absence of inadmissible level of contentions among work and non-work
demands may bring about lower organizational performance.
Work-life balance is described as the sum of practices of individuals who control and
oversee both life and career with accomplishment and fulfillment. It is the term used to
describe those practices at workplace that recognize and intend to support the efforts
of employees in accomplishing a balance between demands of their family and work-
life. Work-life balance implies conforming the pattern of work so that the employee can
benefit from a better fit between their work and zones of their own life and in the long
run would accomplish feasible improvement and profitability.
Theories of Work-Life Balance
A great deal of speculation has been encircled on work-life balance which have been bound
as a singular outline work not recognized all around (Pitt-Catsouphes et al., 2006).
55A Qualitative Study on Work-Life Balance of Software Professionals
A few frameworks on work-life balance incorporate spillover, segmentation, compensation,
congruence, enrichment, inter role conflict, border and boundary theory (Zedeck and
Mosier, 1990; Frone et al., 1992; Clark, 2000; Edwards and Rothbard, 2000; Frone, 2003;
and Greenhaus and Powell, 2006). The theories which are prominent in work-life balance
are as follows:
• Spillover Theory: Spill-over is a process whereby experiences in one role affect
experiences in the other, rendering the roles more alike. Research has
examined the spill-over of mood, values, skills and behaviors from one role to
another (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000). A considerable research work has been
done on spillover theory (Zedeck and Mosier, 1990). Researchers have quite
a while ago perceived that work and family are most certainly not ‘isolate
circles’, yet are related areas or parts with ‘permeable’ limits (Kanter, 1977;
and Pleck, 1977). Spillover can be both positive or negative and if an employee
is feeling stressed in one domain, he/she may feel dissatisfied with other domain
also. On the other hand, positive spillover is when the employee is satisfied
with one domain of his life either work or family, he will feel satisfied and happy
with the other domain as well. This theory supports work-life balance theory
taking into account that distressing occasions and issues in one space has
an impact on how workers see their fulfillment in the other space.
• Segmentation Theory: Work and family were considered two separate areas
and independent of each other (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000). Segmentation
theory has been used to define that work and life are two different areas and
do not impact each other. This theory has been used for the study as it states
that if employee wants to feel satisfied, he can maintain the balance between
work and personal life by disconnecting himself with one of the domains, i.e.,
either work or family.
• Compensation Theory: It considered work and family to have a place with
two different spaces and the negative experience of one space could be…
