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Outsourcing of non‐core activities and the subsequent vertical disintegration within manufacturing organisations have necessitated the need for process integration in the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to develop a maturity scale to assess supply chain integration and hence improvement in supply chain performance.

The research involved carrying out a questionnaire survey of UK manufacturing companies. In total, 29 responses were analysed.

The insight gained from the research is that the “soft” collaborative issues rather than the “hard” technological issues are the main drivers to improved supply chain performance. Most of the companies surveyed are still grappling with internal process integration with very few companies achieving closer integration with their customers.

Empirical evidence is found about an organisation's true stage of supply chain integration which affects its performance. Hard and soft variables or certain combinations of these do have a positive or negative effect on organisational performance.

A maturity scale is developed to capture an organisation's stage of supply chain integration. This scale also draws on relationships with organisational performance. As a maturity scale, it also shows direction or migratory paths to higher stages of supply chain integration.

Organizations have become increasingly interested in developing their human resources. One tool that has been explored in this quest is mentoring. This has led to a surge in mentoring research and an increase in the number of formal mentoring programs implemented in organizations. This review provides a survey of the empirical work on mentoring that is organized around the major questions that have been investigated. Then a conceptual model, focused on formal mentoring relationships, is developed to help understand the mentoring process. The model draws upon research from a diverse body of literature, including interpersonal relationships, career success, training and development, and informal mentoring. Finally, a discussion of critical next steps for research in the mentoring domain is presented.

As long as the society continues to emphasise a woman’s basic role as that of mothering, working women will face role struggles. As married working women, many women entrepreneurs have to assume multiple roles in the family in addition to their careers. They must bear major responsibility for household chores and childcare. These responsibilities give rise to work‐family conflict, which becomes an obstacle in managing their business. This research studied the work‐family conflict among married Singapore women entrepreneurs. The work‐family conflict was divided into three parts: job‐spouse conflict, job‐parent conflict and job‐homemaker conflict. The data for this study came from 102 married Singapore women entrepreneurs who responded to a self‐administered questionnaire. From the discussion of the findings, several implications arose. There is a need for greater spouse support, flexible work schedule, and full‐day school in order to alleviate work‐family conflict. Maintenance of good marital relations are important in reducing spouse conflict and increasing well being in women entrepreneurs.

Married female professionals with children (n=50) were interviewed to examine their experience of work‐family conflict and the human resources policies they would like to see implemented at their workplace to assist them to balance their home and job demands. The results revealed that the traditional nature of the Hong Kong family, compounded by long working hours, had led to an exhausting lifestyle for almost all the female married professionals. When asked about the HR practices that might be appropriate to help alleviate work‐family conflict, the overwhelming preference was “flexible hours” (n=30). Given these findings, it is suggested that changes in work patterns towards a flexible schedule would be beneficial for both employers and employees.

The purpose of this paper is to take cognisance of the work–life balance (WLB) challenges facing working women in Oman, make a review of the family-friendly policies (FFPs), related provisions in labour laws of various nations, and identify and suggest some FFP-based solutions for attracting women to private sector jobs.

Initially, desk research was used to review the labour laws of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and some pioneering countries known for their workplace policies using the major electronic databases and official websites. An exploratory approach was used to understand the lived experience of participants using 46 in-depth interviews. The data were analysed and the findings were explained and contextualised in terms of the Arab culture, wider social processes and consequences related to WLB.

The interviews revealed that the majority of women in the private sector are not fully aware of the labour laws and FFPs, and are not satisfied with the existing policies, as they do not provide the right WLB. Women in the private sector demand flexible working hours, privacy at work, reduced work hours and certain other benefits akin to the government sector. Omani Labour Law needs a review of FFPs in line with the best global practices and Oman’s diversification initiatives. The provision, awareness and implementation of FFPs in the workplace are necessary to attract Omani women to private sector jobs.

This research focusses on Oman in particular and GCC countries in general in its coverage of Omani women workers. The outcomes would be important for the specific segment but would have limited potential to generalise.

The study of WLB and FFPs is of interest for both academia and industry globally. In its strategic vision 2040, Oman aims to encourage, support and develop the private sector to drive the national economy. To retain and boost the socio-economic development in the post-oil economy, the success of the private sector will depend on the participation of the Omani workforce. The role of working Omani women will be pivotal, for they form a substantial part of the skilled human resources inventory.

Women working in Oman are influenced by labour laws, organisational culture, traditional attitudes and societal values and influences. The voices of women working in the private sector indicate a great need to create awareness of existing policies, ensure their compliance and devise additional workplace policies to enable women to contribute to the labour market.

There is a dearth of studies examining work policies and employment of women in the context of Oman in particular and the GCC Countries in general. Even in the extant literature, the sectoral imbalance between the government and private sector has not been explored from the perspective of WLB and FFPs. This study presents a unique approach and findings in this regard.

This study aims to fulfill the need to explore positive side of work–family interface, especially in emerging economies like India. The authors assessed the relationships of individual (family role salience), organizational (work–family culture) and social (community support) antecedents to work-to-family enrichment. They also examined whether gender moderated the relationship between the three antecedents and work-to-family enrichment.

Data were collected on a questionnaire scale from 487 employees.

It has been found that family role salience, supportive work-family culture and community support were directly related to work-to-family enrichment. Gender did not influence the relationship between work-family culture and work-to-family enrichment. However, relationships between family role salience and work-to-family enrichment, and between community support and work-to-family enrichment, were stronger in case of the male employees. The evolving nature of gender and integration of work-family-community domain provide insights into managers and policymakers about the importance of family and community in the organizations.

The study builds a business case for facilitating a positive work-family culture in India for both male and female employees. The results point to the transitioning socio-cultural scenario of India, which advocates more similarities than differences in modern gender role expectations and identity. The current study emphasizes that while formulating policy, managers and policymakers should keep in mind evolving preferences of both the genders.

The research provides a holistic view of how individual-, organizational- and social-level factors may affect employees’ work–family enrichment in India. It also highlights the changing role of gender. Theoretical and practical limitations are also discussed.

Despite widespread acknowledgement that work‐family conflict and career success are salient issues that impact individual wellbeing and organizational effectiveness, there is little research that studies how the two concepts are related. The purpose of this paper is to develop and present a tentative framework for understanding the relationships among antecedents of interrole conflict between work and family and career success.

Drawing on existing theoretical and empirical evidence the paper develops and presents a conceptual framework of the relationships between domain‐specific variables, work‐family conflict, and career success. The paper also presents propositions based on the relationships suggested by the framework.

The framework suggests that individual‐specific variables will be more likely to predict family‐to‐work conflict and perceived career success, while work‐specific variables will be more likely to predict work‐to‐family conflict and perceived career success. It also suggests that such domain‐specific variables influence both work‐family conflict and career success.

Future research should examine empirically the linkages suggested by this framework, along with other domain‐specific and, perhaps, cultural‐specific variables that may explain or predict dimensions of organizational cultures that are most relevant to the types of work‐family conflict and to indicators of career success. The paper suggests that employees and employers would be well advised to identify appropriate strategies for balancing work and non‐work domains in such a way that employees strive to perform work and family roles successfully, and employers ensure that employees have the necessary “infrastucture” and tailored‐made family supportive programs to encourage them to achieve dual‐success: success in family relationships and success in careers.

This paper makes a valuable contribution to both the work‐family conflict and career success literatures by being one of the first to examine the effects of domain‐specific characteristics on the relationships between these important organizational concepts and by revealing that managing work‐family conflict and career decision making is relevant for employees, employers, and career consultants.

The purpose of this paper is to, first, examine gender differences in response to the presence of diversity management and in the level of organizational commitment, second, to investigate the influence of diversity management practices on organizational commitment, and third, to examine the relationships among gender, diversity management, organizational commitment, and job performance in a more highly male-dominated culture.

Based on a review of the literature, this empirical study uses a survey and statistical analysis, including t-tests and regressions, to test the hypotheses.

The major findings are as follows: first, female workers reported a more favorable perception of diversity management practices than did male workers. However, there was no difference between female and male workers in organizational commitment. Second, diversity management was positively and significantly related to organizational commitment. Finally, the results show that gender was not related to in-role performance, while diversity management and organizational commitment were positively related to in-role performance.

The significance of this study lies in its investigation of the effect of diversity management on employees’ attitude and behavior and the gender differences in the perception of diversity management and organizational commitment in a highly male-dominated society. In addition, since Korean companies have become more performance oriented (House et al., 2004), finding the positive relationship between diversity management practices and job performance can also suggest one way for all organizations to increase their employees’ task performance for their continuous development.