Leadership practices in relation to men's work-family balance in Finnish organizations

ABSTRACT

Leadership practices in organizations play an important role in shaping the conditions for employees’ work-family balance. Previous research on the topic has mainly focused on women; fathers are said to receive little support from leadership for combining work and family. In this study, the focus is on men working in six Finnish organizations representing male-dominated, female-dominated and gender-balanced organizations. Although Finland is considered a frontrunner in gender equality globally, Finnish women still carry the main responsibility for housework and child-care. Through a discursive approach, we seek to answer the following research question: What kind of discourses do working men construct of leadership practices that affect their work-family balance? This study offers insights into the variety of understandings of how men's work-family balance is constrained and/or supported through leadership practices. Our conclusion is that the gender composition and degree of hierarchy of an organization affect leadership practices regarding men's work-family balance. A good relationship between leader and employee supports balance. Fatherhood seems to be handled differently from motherhood in leadership practices. The information produced in this study is not only important with respect to the quality of life of men and their families, but also necessary to advance gender equality in organizational life and society in general.

RÉSUMÉ

Les pratiques de leadership dans les organisations jouent un rôle important dans la création de conditions d’équilibre travail-famille des employés. Des études antérieures sur le sujet ont porté essentiellement sur les femmes; les pères recevraient peu de soutien de la part des dirigeants pour concilier travail et famille. La présente étude porte sur des hommes travaillant dans six organisations finlandaises représentant des organisations à prédominance masculine, à prédominance féminine et à parité des sexes. Bien que la Finlande soit considérée comme un pays pionnier dans l’égalité des sexes partout dans le monde, les femmes finlandaises continuent à assumer la responsabilité majeure des travaux domestiques et des soins aux enfants. Par une approche discursive, nous cherchons à répondre à la question de recherche suivante: quel genre de discours les hommes au travail élaborent-ils des pratiques de leadership qui affectent leur équilibre travail-famille? Cette étude donne un aperçu de la diversité de comprendre comment l’équilibre travail-famille des hommes est limité et/ou soutenu par les pratiques de leadership. Nous en sommes arrivés à la conclusion que la composition homme/femme et le degré de hiérarchie d’une organisation affectent les pratiques de leadership en matière d’équilibre travail-famille des hommes. De bonnes relations entre le leader et l’employé favorisent l’équilibre. La paternité semble être gérée différemment de la maternité dans les pratiques de leadership. Les informations produites dans cette étude sont non seulement importantes pour la qualité de vie des hommes et de leurs familles, mais elles sont également nécessaires pour faire progresser l’égalité des sexes dans la vie organisationnelle et sociale en général.

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Paternité
• analyse du discours
• pratiques de leadership
• hommes
• organisation
• équilibre travail-famille

KEYWORDS:

• Fatherhood
• discourse analysis
• leadership practices
• men
• organization
• work-family balance

Acknowledgement

This research was part of the programme Equality in Society (WeAll project, 292883), supported by strategic research funding of the Academy of Finland (weallfinland.fi). We gratefully acknowledge this support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Strategic research funding of the Academy of Finland (WeAll project) [grant number 292883].

Notes on contributors

Emilia Kangas

Emilia Kangas, M.Sc., is a doctoral student in management and leadership at School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her in the making doctoral thesis concerns fatherhood and management. She has also been involved in research concerning gender in management and leadership. Her main research interests are gender in management, responsible leadership, and work-family balance. She has published both nationally and internationally on topics related to gender and leadership. She has been mainly teaching topics related HRM and work-family balance.

Anna-Maija Lämsä

Anna-Maija Lämsä is Professor of Human Resource Management at Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, Finland. Her main research interests are in ethical approaches to management, leadership and organizations, gender in management and leadership, and women's leadership development. She researches these topics in different sociocultural contexts. Her work has appeared in journals like Gender, Work and Organization; Journal of Business Ethics; International Journal of Human Resource Management; Scandinavian Journal of Management; Business Ethics: A European Review; Baltic Journal of Management; Gender in Management: An International Journal; Journal of Workplace Learning and Leadership & Organization Development Journal. She has published three textbooks in Finland and won the Edita award for her textbooks in 2005.