Career and work-family relationship among academics : An exploratory study

Despite the increase, in recent years, of women’s participation in the labour market, sex discrimination remains a reality in most work organisations. In this matter, academic organisations are no exception. Evidence of sex inequalities is well documented in the literature. At the individual level, inequalities are partly explained by family responsibilities mainly held by women. Having to spend a considerable amount of time in home and children related activities women are left with less time available for scientific work than their male colleagues. With the purpose of understanding how academics experience the relationship between work and family, 32 in-depth interviews were conducted among Portuguese academics of both sexes in one particular university. The findings confirmed that work-family conflict is stronger among female faculty than among their male counterparts. Additionally, the prejudice against maternity and the way it is compatible with a successful career appears to survive the new gender relations. Difficulties felt by female academics could be minimised by the introduction of «family-friendly» policies and the development of a positive organisational climate towards maternity and family issues.

Sketching the temporal landscape : The case of night nursing

We take for granted that we exist in dimensions of time and space. We accept that time passes and that space extends as a matter of course. Just as our personal space is important to us, so is time of our own. The individual is capable of developing a variety of time perspectives or orientations, each applicable to a different aspect of life, for instance, home, leisure, economic, political and organisational. Our temporal perspective influences a wide range of psychological processes, from motivation, emotions and spontaneity to risk-taking creativity and problem-solving. Our temporal landscapes are made up of recognisable domains, with permeable borders – private time and public time, home time and work time, past, present and future time, cyclical time. Just as a geography of space contains recognisable natural features – rivers, deserts, mountains – and features created by human beings – canals, roads, skyscrapers – so our temporal landscape contains natural features – day and night, the seasons – and features created by us – the ordering of social, economic, legal, and organisational time into, among others, the practices of family life, financial periods, prison sentences and workloads. This paper views the temporal landscapes of night nurses, and is based on longitudinal ethnographic research. It highlights areas such as shift work, workload, and the temporal aspects of caring. The result is the production of a map, albeit a rough one, of the temporal landscape inhabited by night nurses as they go about their working lives.

Estilos de liderança, gerações e work engagement: Qual o impacto em contexto de trabalho?

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações