Table Of ContentOkechukwu E. Amah · Marvel Ogah
Work-life Integration
in Africa
A Multidimensional
Approach to Achieving
Balance
Work-life Integration in Africa
·
Okechukwu E. Amah Marvel Ogah
Work-life Integration
in Africa
A Multidimensional Approach to
Achieving Balance
Okechukwu E. Amah Marvel Ogah
Lagos Business School Lagos Business School
Pan-Atlantic University Pan-Atlantic University
Lekki, Nigeria Lekki, Nigeria
ISBN 978-3-030-69112-7 ISBN 978-3-030-69113-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69113-4
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The authors dedicate this book to God Almighty who gave us the
inspiration, wisdom, and strength to write the book.We also dedicate to our
wives and children who gave us their maximum support while we were busy
writing the book.
Foreword
AbigcongratulationtoDr.OkechukwuEthelbertAmahandDr.Marvel
OgahontheproductionofthisholisticbookonWork–LifeIntegration,
withanAfricanfocus.Iamthrilledatitsrichcontent.Goingthroughthe
book,Iobservedthatitwaswritteninawayandmannerforallcategories
of readers.There is a summary for each chapter for light readers and in-
depthstudymaterialforthosewhowanttogofurther.Morespecifically,
I find the book encompasses the key subject areas of Work–Life Inte-
gration, backed up by research findings, tables and illustrations, with an
abundance of references. It also highlights the social cultural challenges
confrontingmanagementinNigeriaandindeedAfrica.Theseformegive
an indication of the amount of work done by the authors to achieve the
comprehensive nature of the book and affirm it’s thoroughness.
Imustsaytheuseofthetwo-by-twomatrixesonLeadershipmindset,
WLB personality types, gender attitudes, categorization of organizations
based on the number of WLI policies, etc. in the book, fosters reflec-
tion and self-examination in the individual reader enabling assessment
of their current situation at this multidimensional approach to WLI.
Furthermore, the book goes to the fundamentals of the purpose of life
vii
viii Foreword
and meaning of success and elaborates on several definitions of success
and the consequences of each.This goes to the rootof the dignity of the
human person which is one of the core values of the Institute for Work
and Family Integration (IWFI).
As the Academic Director, you know very well that over the years,
IWFI have been at the forefront of advocacy, through her Work and
Family Conference to sensitize Human Resources professionals, on the
benefits of family friendly policies and to enable better Work–Life Inte-
gration (WLI) and one of the questions that kept coming up is How
can we do this? This book provides answers to this question in its
multidimensionalapproach;withpracticaltipsintimemanagementand
discipline as integral factors for productivity which highlights the time
wasters impacting on work–life integration and productivity at indi-
vidual and organizational levels. It delves into Scheduling and planning
tactics which engenders productivity improvement, and dwells on the
step-by-step processes for achieving the benefits of WLI, strategies for
both employees and employers.
In summary, this book promotes the missions of IWFI which is
providing solutions to the challenges of the demographic shifts in the
workplace and rapidly changing technology. It brings it home to the
family context in Africa given our own peculiarities. It is a must read for
anyone searching for their purpose and meaning in life as it utilizes the
wheeloflifeconcepthelpingindividualsestablishhowsuccessshouldbe
defined to achieve balanced life highlighting why tradeoffs are necessary
sinceindividualscannothavealltheywantandexpect.Itrustthepartic-
ipants at the programs of the Institute will be delighted by this book.
We would be glad to recommend it to business leaders and managers
attending our conferences as it contains such references and illustrations
whichwehavecometorelyonincommunicatingtheneedsandessence
of leadership lifestyle changes to enable success at work and family.
Foreword ix
We at IWFI are particularly proud of this book and congratulate Dr.
OkechukwuEthelbertAmahandDr.MarvelOgahforanexcellentwork,
onWorkLifeIntegration,givinganAfricanperspective.Congratulations!
Engr. Charles Osezua OON KSG
Chairman Institute forWork Family Integration (IWFI)
Lagos, Nigeria
Preface
The motivation to write this book came from two sources: first, from
a series of seminars we gave to the employees of some organizations in
Lagos, Nigeria, which gave us an on-the-spot assessment of the plight
of employees in managing demands from multiple roles; the second is
from the realization that despite the changing nature of work in the
twenty-first century characterized by the increased involvement of males
and females in the work and family domains, the prevalent traditional
genderideologyisstillhighlyresistanttothechangingnatureofwomen’s
involvement in work domain in Africa. Increased levels of work inter-
fering with life, and life interfering with work, were identified by all
participantsoftheseminars.Intherealizationofthis,organizationshave
proactively improved the number of family-friendly policies they offer.
Three issues are however associated with these policies. The first is that
organizationsarenotuptospeedconcerningthekindofpoliciesrequired
in the changing work demographics.The second is that the effectiveness
of these policies is questionable, and the third is the general realization
that the use of work–family policies is not the only way to effectively
xi
xii Preface
achieve work–life integration, hence the suggestion of the multidimen-
sional approach in this book. The third issue has not been adequately
addressed in previous books.
The current book utilizes a multidimensional approach and views
work–life integration from three perspectives namely, organizational
perspectives (production process, technology, leadership and organiza-
tional climate, and work–life-friendly policies), individual perspectives
(understanding self and defining what success means), and family and
cultural perspectives (the meaning of family and cultural gender role
definition). The perspective of this book is that these dimensions affect
efforts at managing work–life integration and must be jointly studied in
amodeltoproperlyunderstandtheworkandlifeexperiencesofindivid-
uals. Hence, the uniqueness of the book is that it considers all possible
contributors to the effectiveness and achievement of work–life integra-
tionandisundertakenintheAfricancontextwherestudiesonwork–life
integration are scarce.The book concluded by developing a system view
of a work–life integration model that encompasses the various dimen-
sions recognized in the chapters ofthis book.It is argued herein thatthe
testing of the model will begin with the development and validation of
the appropriate measures of the variables in the model.
Lagos, Nigeria Okechukwu E. Amah
Marvel Ogah
