Impact of Work Life Balance on Performance

Impact of Work Life Balance on Performance CHAPTER ONE Its all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family Philip Green, British billionaire businessman 1. INTRODUCTION: In cultured and well developed societies including both eastern and western countries the conflicts of work and life balance has been the main issue in the modern and globalised economy. Apparently, the need to maintain flexible work-life balance has become essential as the number of female workers and part time workers have gained more part in the growing globalised multinational organisations (Shelton, 2006). These conflicts are traditionally from societal norms which still requires a man to concentrate on careers rather than on family issues, and it works vice versa with the female members of the society who are supposed to take care of the family more rather than working towards their career options (Walker et al., 2008). The work-life pressures and conflict between personal and professional roles has become the primary area for researches to find the impact of organisational performance due to the imbalanced work-life culture and especially the source of disadvantages women faces in the corporate society. It can be justified as the focus was more on low payment, part-time work culture and absence at the top levels of business (Doherty, 2004). Some more researches of Human Resource and their roles argued that the work-life issue affects the living standards of their employees (Hammer et al., 2004; Shelton, 2006). It was also proved by Shelton (2006), that the working pattern affects the work-life culture and strategies to maintain a balanced structure and the organisational performance. In United Kingdom a variety of work-life balance rules and policies has been implemented by the Labour government since their three successive rules since 1997 (Lewis and Campbell, 2007). 1.1 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTION: The main purpose of this research work is to analyse the impact of work-life balance on the organisational performance, especially the retail sector (TESCO), which is operating at a huge scale in United Kingdom and Europe and moving internationally. The main area of this research concentrates on the shop floor workers who work in direct relation with their customers who are the main sources of income for the organisation. This study can be used by the Store Managers and Operational Managers of TESCO to develop and implement various needs and wants of their employees especially the shop floor workers in order to improve the organisational performance. The following questions are considered to be the main areas of my research: How the imbalanced work-life culture affects the organisational performance in the retail industry (TESCO), whose main customers is the general public. This question leads to some sub-questions which need to be analysed in order to attain the answer for the main area of study, specifically: How organisations handle work-life conflicts? Is there any influence on the work-life balance strategies on Human Resource and other management practices? What are the main strategies to maintain a balanced work-life culture? What are the main factors of motivation? Is there any relationship between work-life balance and organisational performance? My research is organised in a flow to understand the needs and wants of an employees who works in direct contacts with customers. In my first chapter the major definitions to terms, role of balanced work-life culture, and its importance in relation with Human Resource Management is discussed before moving to the literature part of my research work. In the next chapter the previous studies relating to my research work has been critically analysed to support my research work and moving down to methodology chapter to state how the data collection work was carried out to support my research. This chapter depicts the ways used to collect data and how it was interpreted. The last chapter of my research work is the crucial one and it analysis all the data and gives empirical results of my research study supported by recommendations and conclusion to my work. 1.2 BACKGROUND: In the developed countries, the work-life balance conflict has gained its prominence as the globalised world tends to increase the level of competition among the rival firms in the same sector. Hence, it is considered that Human Resource Management department has a role to play in maintaining a balanced work-life culture in order to motivate the employees to work committed for the organisational growth. The retail market in the United Kingdom is expected to plunge by 15% by 2011 valuing over  £312bn (Datamonitor, UK Retail Futures 2011), showing the slowdown in the annual growth and the increase in the operating cost which acts as the hindrance to utilise the limited available capital. The world economic crisis and changes in the spending perspective of the general public has changed the way the retail industry was operating. Thus, Human Resource is considered as the vital department to tackle this operational changes by finding right people for the right job and ensure they work c ommitted for the organisational growth. Thus overall view of the retail industry has been a tough challenge for the HRM to provide high standards of training and development programmes to their employees. But at the same time it is necessary to understand the needs and requirements of the employees at the operational level who directly work with the end customers in order to provide quality services. TESCO, a leading supermarket retailer in the food and non-food sector operating in United Kingdom and in 13 other countries around the world have more than 500,000 employees and moving rapidly with new and potential markets. This shows the importance of Human Resource Management to maintain a balanced work-life culture which will boost organisational growth. There are various motivational factors that gives job satisfaction and helps to maintain a balanced life, which has to be identified in order to concentrate on that to provide quality training and development needs. 1.3 CONCLUSION: This research work concentrates on finding the motivational factors and the level of awareness among the Customer Assistants who work in the shop floor of TESCOs to improve the training and development programmes. The current economic situation has spared the corporate with limited sources and hence it is not wise to spend lot of money on unnecessary and unwanted programmes. The researcher has used the time and resources to collect and discuss some related topics in the literature review chapter before choosing his research methods. After the discussion about the importance of the objectives in the literature review the researcher moves to methodology chapter to know about the available methods and techniques to collect and analyse the data. At last the analysed data is used to interpret and conclude the argument to find out some recommendations for the organisation. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW: A days work is a days work, neither more nor less, and the man who does it needs a days sustenance, a nights repose and due leisure, whether he be painter or ploughman George Bernard Shaw 2.1 INTRODUCTION: The role of Human Resource Management has increased lately, as the globe has become too small and the brands have moved internationally. This revolution in the global trade has increased the nature of job to be more time bound and customer oriented leaving the employees lot of stress to maintain a balanced work-life culture. Hence, it has become the primary role of Human Resource Department to train and develop their employees to maintain a balanced work-life culture. This chapter finds the literature research works that have been carried out in the past to support the research questions and aims and objectives of the research work. 2.2 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: The Human Resource Management (HRM) is undergoing significant change in designing management systems to utilise the skilled human talents efficiently and effectively to attain the increased levels of organisational goals. All types of organisations, including from small to big, have to recruit, select, train and manage effectively to attain their individual and corporate goals. Hence, Human Resource is essential to fulfil the requirements of both side employees and employers. On the other hand HR has to abide by the legal systems that has been passed out by the government of the nation, and especially in case of international or multinational business firms. Therefore Human Resource Management is considered to be a vital management department whose prime responsible not only stick to recruitment and placing the employees under job, but extends from job satisfaction and retention till retirement, as they are the main capital of every organisation (Mathis and Jackson, 2007). The introduction of part time work culture in United Kingdom has been the cause for the improvement of HRM activities as the multicultural society faces lot of legal and other issues from social backgrounds. Especially the retail giants like TESCO, Sainsbury, Primark, and Marks Spencer are investing lot of their time and money to frame some strategic systems to maintain a balanced work culture which has its direct impact on the organisational performance (Maxwell et al., 2008). On the contrary some people take their employment as their career opportunity to grow within an organisational sector and works dedicated balancing both lives. In such cases the Human Resource Management has to support their employees through training and development programmes to motivate them to go forward with their balanced work life. 2.3 RETAIL INDUSTRY: The growing technology and internationalisation has been a challenge to most industries including the retail industry which operates all over the west and in direct relationship with their customers. This is one of the major industries which have close contact with the customers daily on face to face basis. Hence, this industry requires the employees to be have well balanced work-life culture to deal smoothly with their customers. Retail internationalisation has gained overwhelming focus during the recent years, as the concept of globalisation has attained maturity. This concept has given the well-established retailers like TESCO, Sainsbury, Wall-Mart, etc., to move into international markets with their strong domestic success. The new concepts in the Human Resource Management and the development in the globalisation has given lots of challenges to maintain employees at peace across culture and across global and international laws (Burt et al., 2005). Until late 1990s products were c entral to some organisations, including both intangible and tangible assets. Traditionally manufactures were concerned about the designing and production of goods, whilst retailers were engaged in gathering the products for directly selling to the customers. Moving forward with the economic and cultural changes, the way the retailers work have been changed from just retailing the products and services to manufacture, market, and sell their goods and services and make it available to customers at all convenient levels. Thus the retail market has widened its business from selling to overall business opportunities. The retail industry has split further into various sectors and includes various types of products and contributing a major chunk to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of United Kingdom, both in the production output and employment rate (Varley, 2001). This evolution of retail business in the west especially in the Europe and United States has given lot of opportunities to the retail business to set up lots of projects under pipeline. This developed the construction and food industry in the United Kingdom and in most European countries. The development in the retail industry has widened the opportunities for the international studen ts and the locals studying in United Kingdom. The retail industry in-spite of recession is doing good and pushing the economy from recession to recovery. During 2007, retail industry has produced the highest return in the property business. The retail business has increased the existence of shopping centres accommodating lots of restaurants, entertainment and other complexes which attracts a huge customer base (Dijkman, 2008). The 2007-2008 economic crisis had shaken the entire industry from its development. Though the economic hit was hard, the retail industry jumped out from the storm to lead the economy towards recovery. The growth of high street business was slowed down during March 2009 and thereon, whereas more than 13% of retailers showed stronger sales during this period when compared to the same period a year ago in 2007. This proved the consumer spending is more in the retail industry and its plays an important challenge to the Human Resource Management to rightly take up this opportunity to develop their business. Hence Human Resource works out to fix employee satisfaction and employees benefit to increase their operational output (Wade, 2010). 2.4 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: Human Resource department has become the back bone of every organisation, and it is vital for the employees to know how it operates. In others view it is urged that Human Resource is an evil, a bureaucratic force enforcing unnecessary rules and regulations, restricting innovation and hinders the required changes. The Human Resource department is responsible in finding the suitable hires for the right job at the right time, which is considered as one of the main reason for increasing job stress and unsatisfactory level of performance (Mathis and Jackson, 2007). Any strategic activity by HRM is done once it has identified and analysed thoroughly the surroundings or environment where it operates. Hence, organisational culture plays a vital role in maintaining work life balance among its employees (Torrington et al., 2005). Human Resource Management (HRM) is considered as the basis of all management and not as the basis for business activity. The old organisational culture of depending on product or services offered by them to increase the organisational performance does not hold well in modern developed economy. The employees or workers of the company are considered as the major asset to increase the organisational performance and brand image in the market. Managing these resources has to be done constantly by balancing the organisational needs and employees needs that work together to attain the corporate objectives. The changes in the workforce and expectations among the employees and companies HR managers have to work innovatively to convert their organisational background or culture a more friendly and efficient. Especially the employees working in the retail market is considered as the important market in the United Kingdom and are forms the major workforce (Boone, L., and Kurtz, D., 2008). 2.5 E-HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: The modern technological world has witnessed changes in the policies and practices that have been followed in old organisational culture. It is very important for all brick-and-mortar organisations to adopt changes out from the introduction of electronic and web based practices, as the newly introduced web based practices changed the business-to-business practices, the activities of a marketplace, changes in the supply chain, and acts as a catalyst for business. These changes provide HR management with lots of challenges to maintain value in the system to attract the employees and make them satisfied with their work culture in order to maintain a balanced work-life culture to improve the organisational performance. The dot com business has changed the way the business was carried out and it has given a challenging work culture to the employees in all major sectors including the retail market. This revolutionary age has been the reason for Enron to file bankruptcy, and internet age is growing together with the business and globalisation and not going down. The growth in the B2B business and B2C business has enhanced the usage of eHRM within and outside the organisation. This has been a challenge to maintain work-life balance as this web based technology has introduced work from home culture, any time availability for work, etc., which disturbs the personal life at every moment (Torres-Coronas and Arias-Oliva, 2005). 2.6 WORK LIFE BALANCE: Work-life balance is usually viewed as the lack of work-life conflict or mostly the strength in which where work life interferes with family life or vice versa (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). Work-life balance relates to the absence of conflict in their personal and professional life (Clark, 2000) as satisfaction and committed and dedicated work without any role conflicts (Guest, 20002). Shaw (2003) has stated that work-life balance extents to individuals who are engaged equally and fully satisfied in both places. It is also considered as a global assessment that work resources meet family demands, and family resources meet work demands such that participation is effective in both domains (Voydanoff, 2005; Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). Work and leisure is no longer related to any certain kind of jobs or market, and it has become an international requirement for every organisation to compete with their rivals and maintain a satisfied employees group (Lewis, 2003). In terms of United King doms department of Trade and Industry, Work-Life balance is defined as the about adjusting working patterns regardless of age, race or gender, [so] everyone can find a rhythm to help them combine work with their other responsibilities or aspirations (Maxwell, 2005). It is always considered that the work-life balance is very essential to maintain a health working conditions for the organisational benefit and for the benefit of its employees (Barnett, 1998; Edwards and Rothbard, 2000). Similarly, it had been proved by so many research works that the conditions of work life balance have its impact on the performance of the organisation (Kersley et al., 2005; Bureau of Labour, 2007). To maintain work and life a in a balanced scale, there are so many factors and so many persons to play in maintaining balance and harmony of their employees (Allen et al., 2006). Work life balance concerns on employees having a measure to control about where, when and how they work (Clutterbuck, 2003), and the new policies are initiated in strengthening the work life balance in United Kingdom and European Union (DTI, 2002; Lewis et al., 2003) and it has been argued that the employees should co-ordinate various aspects of professional and personal life to have a balanced life. After the introduction of globalisation in the economy, most organisations including the retail firms have started to move across cultures and across oceans to increase their presence and customer base. So, it has seen an intense increase in the working peoples working hours and their working life, which has both positive and negative impact on individuals professional and personal life (Lewis et al., 2003; Bryson et al., 2007; Bulger et al., 2007; Fereday, 2007). This term work-life balance has come out to replicate the concerns the working individuals face to manage their lives equally to improve the living conditions of the society and the performance of the organisation (Greenblatt, 2002; de Cieri et al., 2005; Pocock, 2005; Bryson et al., 2007, Fleetwood, 2007, McDonald et al., 2007). The retail industries have grown to support the community and it has converted the main stores to provide 24/7 services to the society (Pryjmachuk and Richards, 2007). Supple working conditions facilitate autonomy in work place and it improves work-life balance of the employees (Barriball et al., 2007; Dwyer et al., 2007). Many organisations tout work-life balance as a value, and always the workaholics are given more rewards and respect. But this concept holds no good any more as the introduction of globalisation and its cultural impact has turned the organisations to show more interest in maintaining work-life balance for its employees. The modern era has c reated more leaders to pay their attention towards work-life balance and they moralize the good value of upholding a balanced life inside and outside the organisation. It helps to improve more productivity while at work. Work and family issues are not the case during survival farmers and their families worked together to make a living. It has started once the family units made a male breadwinner for their house-wives. It was stated that during world war II, when most of the men in the west are out for war, the women population of more than70% were in the workforce, including pregnant women, which had been a hot topic of those times to maintain balance between their family commitments and to make a living (Shilling, 2009). It is very important to maintain a good balance especially when the employees have kids and old people to take care at home. In the views of Shelton (2006), work-life disagreement is the form of inter-role issue starting due to stress originating from one or more roles and responsibilities. The bonus, pay and other options are great but at the same time every job has got its roles and responsibilities that gives pressures and has direct and indirect effects on the personal and organisational life. This depends on the leadership and managerial skills of the manager who manages the team (Flaum, 2009). Especially women employees are considered more sentimental and dedicated towards their personal and professional life and have less free time as they are tied up with family and society. Shelton (2006) created a hypothetical framework on the constructs based on role conflicts and role involvement to positive plans the effective strategies to reduce work-life conflicts, through influencing roles. The work-life conflict reduces the well-being of the organisational culture and gradually affects the overall organis ational performance. 2.7 HISTORICAL OUTLOOK OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE: Since the introduction of globalisation and free trade, organisations started to move globally and freely with fewer restrictions on investments in the outside market and this has changed the roles and responsibilities of HRM. Originally the issue of work-life was considered as a problem between family and work (Lewis, 2003), and eventually it was argued that its not the issue between work and life, but between the organisational performance and employee satisfaction and dedication towards work. Furthermore the working timings of the employees were considered as one of the major issue to maintain a balanced work culture and they have introduced flexitime to challenge this issue. This issue broadened along men, women, families, and cultures of the organisations (Bird, 2006). Major research work considers individuals as a unit (Family or Team) and not as separate individual who works without any relationship with their sub-ordinates. Traditionally it is viewed as the absence of conflic t among work and family, or the level of intensity or frequency of work interfering family or vice versa (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). 2.8 GLOBAL AND DOMESTIC WORK-LIFE BALANCE MODELS: In many contexts it is considered whether the domestic models hold good in international podium, where the globalisation has changed the international business are carried out. In the global context the main issues to be examined is whether work interferes with life on certain outcomes. In United States it has been proved that the domestic work interferes more on personal life than in any other country, but in other global environments it is considered that personal life interfere with work. This depends on the responsibilities and roles the employees play within an organisation and their role in the family, hence considering both sides from life to work and work to life (Greenhaus, 1988; Dixbury and Higgins, 1991; Frone et al., 1997; Edwards and Rothbard, 2000; Shaffer et al., 2001). The United Kingdom is facing lots of political issues out from people living longer, the changes in the needs of men and women in the labour market in terms of private life and other ways of working. Lots of models have been framed to calculate the work life balance of both genders at various periods and requirements of life. Shelton (2006) created a notional structure supporting role involvement and conflict to envisage the importance of strategies to lower the impacts of conflicts on balanced work culture or manoeuvring roles. This conflict is positively correlated with both organisational performance and family commitments. It is always considered that soaring levels of conflicts are expected for the female employees who have huge targets. 2.8.1 SCIENTIFIC MODEL: Frederick Taylor (1911) proposed that every job possibly will be measured by the amount of work completed and it is always linked with the number of pieces finished or piece rate. This theory is based on the concept that harder the employees work the more rewarded they are. Taylor considered that monetary benefits serve as the motivational factor for the committed employees to work more efficiently and effectively. 2.8.2 TWO FACTORS MODEL: Frederick Herzbergs two factor model or motivation-hygiene theory states certain motivational factors that will have positive impact on the role of employees towards organisational development, like the good basic pay and clean work environment. It was considered that once these factors are in place it automatically keeps up the strengths of the employees to work dedicated for the organisations and stays with the organisations for a long time. 2.8.3 HIERARCHY OF NEEDS: The above two theories were criticised by another great management guru, Maslow, where he showed that people needs to have certain basic needs like safe and secure workplace, emotional fulfilment, self esteem, relationship etc., to be with the organisation with their full committed minds and souls. This concept has gained its attraction since globalisation as it turned up many organisations to go international and grow parallel with the increasing technology and changing market culture. 2.9 LONGITUDINAL EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE: Globalisation has changed the way the works are being carried out and it has changed the roles and responsibilities at each level of hierarchy, giving both positive and negative effects in their balanced life. This also includes the mental strength, changes in the physique, health effects, etc., which might be a reason out of its increased job pressure or imbalanced work-life. 2.10 IS ORGANISATIONAL INTERVENTION IMPROVES WORK-LIFE BALANCE? The world worst economic crisis has given fears in the minds of workers at all levels of management and the management has restricted and reduced the spending on the organisational development in terms of employee benefits and other allowances, by considering cost effectiveness and cost cutting programmes to effectively handle the risked finance to reduce the risk of being cut. The increased concern about the security, family preferences, the multinational organisations are trying to implement various strategies to effectively use their capital for the retention of its skilled and talented employees by providing balanced work-life. However, it is not the only remedy to be auctioned to gain a balanced work group (Harris and Brewster, 2003; Poelmans, 2005). In the perspective of employees, Work Life Balance is maintaining balance between the roles and responsibilities at home and at work. Work Life Balance is the principle that paid employment should be integrated with domestic life and community involvement in the interests of personal and social well-being (Heery and Noon, 2008). Work Life Balance is not only the time we spend working against non-working. It is about how employees use their time to relax, work and energies themselves and spends time with their family and kids (Morgenstern, 2008). It is considered that there exist a direct relationship between the work life balance of the employees and the organisational performance. Work Life Balance is considered as a strategic model to implement lots of Human Resource polices and rules in order to change the organisational atmosphere and organisational cultur e of how the hierarchy works, i.e., either in the vertical way or horizontal way, leading to satisfied employees and managed which in turn leads to organisational success and improved growth. Strategies of Work Life Balance in organisations includes roles and polices including flexible work arrangements, childcare, depends care and other personal and parental benefits (Blari-Hoy and Wharton, 2002; Hyman and Summers, 2004; De Cieri et al., 2005). It is considered that the widespread changes in work-life issues and changes in the workforce demography in developing and developed societies have increased issues of work-life balance (Fleetwood, 2007; Lewis et al., 2007). The increased pressure towards the multi skilled employees out from roles and responsibilities has changed the organisational environment and work culture (Campbell and Charlesworth, 2004). Emphasis on family is considered as more important and higher quality and any imbalance caused by work has a negative effect on both personal and professional life (Frone et al., 1992; Greenhaus et al., 2003; Singh, 2010). Every job is considered to have an element of fun and it gives satisfaction and pleasure instead of stress and pressure. This directly and indirectly leads to the increased organisational output and innovation for the long strategic roles. The term has been in the field of Human Resource over the last two decades and it is considered a vital one in the developed and improve technological world. Work-Life balance is one of the major things to maintain balanced and motivated employees whom even monetary benefits cannot afford to improve the organisational performance. At times salary will not be an attractive one to hold back the employees within the organisation as a committed employee, but the balanced work-life culture provided by the organisations will hold the employees with commitment till their retirement in the same organisation (Mehra, 2010). Human Resource plays a vital role in maintaining transparency to ensure that the office environment doesnt create pressure on their empl oyees and their nature of work. Work-Life balance has been very famous for the last two decades where technology started encroaching peoples time more and more. It is considered that the term itself inherent some problem which presupposes a separation among work and life. In United States most companies offer work-life balance programs to attain competitive advantage whereas in Europe and United Kingdom it is considered as a social responsibility but it is considered that both these terms are not different and the goals are intertwined wherein competitive advantage can be gained through recruiting skilled employees and retaining with socially responsible activities to enhance the reputation of the organisation. 2.11 IMPACT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEES: Every organizations sets their workplace to be more attractive than their rivals to gain the competitive advantage through satisfying the employees needs and wants by providing balanced work-life culture. Some organisations still believe on the importance of money for the employees as they consider only monetary benefits motivate the individuals to work committed. Some companies find increasing Impact of Work Life Balance on Performance Impact of Work Life Balance on Performance CHAPTER ONE Its all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family Philip Green, British billionaire businessman 1. INTRODUCTION: In cultured and well developed societies including both eastern and western countries the conflicts of work and life balance has been the main issue in the modern and globalised economy. Apparently, the need to maintain flexible work-life balance has become essential as the number of female workers and part time workers have gained more part in the growing globalised multinational organisations (Shelton, 2006). These conflicts are traditionally from societal norms which still requires a man to concentrate on careers rather than on family issues, and it works vice versa with the female members of the society who are supposed to take care of the family more rather than working towards their career options (Walker et al., 2008). The work-life pressures and conflict between personal and professional roles has become the primary area for researches to find the impact of organisational performance due to the imbalanced work-life culture and especially the source of disadvantages women faces in the corporate society. It can be justified as the focus was more on low payment, part-time work culture and absence at the top levels of business (Doherty, 2004). Some more researches of Human Resource and their roles argued that the work-life issue affects the living standards of their employees (Hammer et al., 2004; Shelton, 2006). It was also proved by Shelton (2006), that the working pattern affects the work-life culture and strategies to maintain a balanced structure and the organisational performance. In United Kingdom a variety of work-life balance rules and policies has been implemented by the Labour government since their three successive rules since 1997 (Lewis and Campbell, 2007). 1.1 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTION: The main purpose of this research work is to analyse the impact of work-life balance on the organisational performance, especially the retail sector (TESCO), which is operating at a huge scale in United Kingdom and Europe and moving internationally. The main area of this research concentrates on the shop floor workers who work in direct relation with their customers who are the main sources of income for the organisation. This study can be used by the Store Managers and Operational Managers of TESCO to develop and implement various needs and wants of their employees especially the shop floor workers in order to improve the organisational performance. The following questions are considered to be the main areas of my research: How the imbalanced work-life culture affects the organisational performance in the retail industry (TESCO), whose main customers is the general public. This question leads to some sub-questions which need to be analysed in order to attain the answer for the main area of study, specifically: How organisations handle work-life conflicts? Is there any influence on the work-life balance strategies on Human Resource and other management practices? What are the main strategies to maintain a balanced work-life culture? What are the main factors of motivation? Is there any relationship between work-life balance and organisational performance? My research is organised in a flow to understand the needs and wants of an employees who works in direct contacts with customers. In my first chapter the major definitions to terms, role of balanced work-life culture, and its importance in relation with Human Resource Management is discussed before moving to the literature part of my research work. In the next chapter the previous studies relating to my research work has been critically analysed to support my research work and moving down to methodology chapter to state how the data collection work was carried out to support my research. This chapter depicts the ways used to collect data and how it was interpreted. The last chapter of my research work is the crucial one and it analysis all the data and gives empirical results of my research study supported by recommendations and conclusion to my work. 1.2 BACKGROUND: In the developed countries, the work-life balance conflict has gained its prominence as the globalised world tends to increase the level of competition among the rival firms in the same sector. Hence, it is considered that Human Resource Management department has a role to play in maintaining a balanced work-life culture in order to motivate the employees to work committed for the organisational growth. The retail market in the United Kingdom is expected to plunge by 15% by 2011 valuing over  £312bn (Datamonitor, UK Retail Futures 2011), showing the slowdown in the annual growth and the increase in the operating cost which acts as the hindrance to utilise the limited available capital. The world economic crisis and changes in the spending perspective of the general public has changed the way the retail industry was operating. Thus, Human Resource is considered as the vital department to tackle this operational changes by finding right people for the right job and ensure they work c ommitted for the organisational growth. Thus overall view of the retail industry has been a tough challenge for the HRM to provide high standards of training and development programmes to their employees. But at the same time it is necessary to understand the needs and requirements of the employees at the operational level who directly work with the end customers in order to provide quality services. TESCO, a leading supermarket retailer in the food and non-food sector operating in United Kingdom and in 13 other countries around the world have more than 500,000 employees and moving rapidly with new and potential markets. This shows the importance of Human Resource Management to maintain a balanced work-life culture which will boost organisational growth. There are various motivational factors that gives job satisfaction and helps to maintain a balanced life, which has to be identified in order to concentrate on that to provide quality training and development needs. 1.3 CONCLUSION: This research work concentrates on finding the motivational factors and the level of awareness among the Customer Assistants who work in the shop floor of TESCOs to improve the training and development programmes. The current economic situation has spared the corporate with limited sources and hence it is not wise to spend lot of money on unnecessary and unwanted programmes. The researcher has used the time and resources to collect and discuss some related topics in the literature review chapter before choosing his research methods. After the discussion about the importance of the objectives in the literature review the researcher moves to methodology chapter to know about the available methods and techniques to collect and analyse the data. At last the analysed data is used to interpret and conclude the argument to find out some recommendations for the organisation. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW: A days work is a days work, neither more nor less, and the man who does it needs a days sustenance, a nights repose and due leisure, whether he be painter or ploughman George Bernard Shaw 2.1 INTRODUCTION: The role of Human Resource Management has increased lately, as the globe has become too small and the brands have moved internationally. This revolution in the global trade has increased the nature of job to be more time bound and customer oriented leaving the employees lot of stress to maintain a balanced work-life culture. Hence, it has become the primary role of Human Resource Department to train and develop their employees to maintain a balanced work-life culture. This chapter finds the literature research works that have been carried out in the past to support the research questions and aims and objectives of the research work. 2.2 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: The Human Resource Management (HRM) is undergoing significant change in designing management systems to utilise the skilled human talents efficiently and effectively to attain the increased levels of organisational goals. All types of organisations, including from small to big, have to recruit, select, train and manage effectively to attain their individual and corporate goals. Hence, Human Resource is essential to fulfil the requirements of both side employees and employers. On the other hand HR has to abide by the legal systems that has been passed out by the government of the nation, and especially in case of international or multinational business firms. Therefore Human Resource Management is considered to be a vital management department whose prime responsible not only stick to recruitment and placing the employees under job, but extends from job satisfaction and retention till retirement, as they are the main capital of every organisation (Mathis and Jackson, 2007). The introduction of part time work culture in United Kingdom has been the cause for the improvement of HRM activities as the multicultural society faces lot of legal and other issues from social backgrounds. Especially the retail giants like TESCO, Sainsbury, Primark, and Marks Spencer are investing lot of their time and money to frame some strategic systems to maintain a balanced work culture which has its direct impact on the organisational performance (Maxwell et al., 2008). On the contrary some people take their employment as their career opportunity to grow within an organisational sector and works dedicated balancing both lives. In such cases the Human Resource Management has to support their employees through training and development programmes to motivate them to go forward with their balanced work life. 2.3 RETAIL INDUSTRY: The growing technology and internationalisation has been a challenge to most industries including the retail industry which operates all over the west and in direct relationship with their customers. This is one of the major industries which have close contact with the customers daily on face to face basis. Hence, this industry requires the employees to be have well balanced work-life culture to deal smoothly with their customers. Retail internationalisation has gained overwhelming focus during the recent years, as the concept of globalisation has attained maturity. This concept has given the well-established retailers like TESCO, Sainsbury, Wall-Mart, etc., to move into international markets with their strong domestic success. The new concepts in the Human Resource Management and the development in the globalisation has given lots of challenges to maintain employees at peace across culture and across global and international laws (Burt et al., 2005). Until late 1990s products were c entral to some organisations, including both intangible and tangible assets. Traditionally manufactures were concerned about the designing and production of goods, whilst retailers were engaged in gathering the products for directly selling to the customers. Moving forward with the economic and cultural changes, the way the retailers work have been changed from just retailing the products and services to manufacture, market, and sell their goods and services and make it available to customers at all convenient levels. Thus the retail market has widened its business from selling to overall business opportunities. The retail industry has split further into various sectors and includes various types of products and contributing a major chunk to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of United Kingdom, both in the production output and employment rate (Varley, 2001). This evolution of retail business in the west especially in the Europe and United States has given lot of opportunities to the retail business to set up lots of projects under pipeline. This developed the construction and food industry in the United Kingdom and in most European countries. The development in the retail industry has widened the opportunities for the international studen ts and the locals studying in United Kingdom. The retail industry in-spite of recession is doing good and pushing the economy from recession to recovery. During 2007, retail industry has produced the highest return in the property business. The retail business has increased the existence of shopping centres accommodating lots of restaurants, entertainment and other complexes which attracts a huge customer base (Dijkman, 2008). The 2007-2008 economic crisis had shaken the entire industry from its development. Though the economic hit was hard, the retail industry jumped out from the storm to lead the economy towards recovery. The growth of high street business was slowed down during March 2009 and thereon, whereas more than 13% of retailers showed stronger sales during this period when compared to the same period a year ago in 2007. This proved the consumer spending is more in the retail industry and its plays an important challenge to the Human Resource Management to rightly take up this opportunity to develop their business. Hence Human Resource works out to fix employee satisfaction and employees benefit to increase their operational output (Wade, 2010). 2.4 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: Human Resource department has become the back bone of every organisation, and it is vital for the employees to know how it operates. In others view it is urged that Human Resource is an evil, a bureaucratic force enforcing unnecessary rules and regulations, restricting innovation and hinders the required changes. The Human Resource department is responsible in finding the suitable hires for the right job at the right time, which is considered as one of the main reason for increasing job stress and unsatisfactory level of performance (Mathis and Jackson, 2007). Any strategic activity by HRM is done once it has identified and analysed thoroughly the surroundings or environment where it operates. Hence, organisational culture plays a vital role in maintaining work life balance among its employees (Torrington et al., 2005). Human Resource Management (HRM) is considered as the basis of all management and not as the basis for business activity. The old organisational culture of depending on product or services offered by them to increase the organisational performance does not hold well in modern developed economy. The employees or workers of the company are considered as the major asset to increase the organisational performance and brand image in the market. Managing these resources has to be done constantly by balancing the organisational needs and employees needs that work together to attain the corporate objectives. The changes in the workforce and expectations among the employees and companies HR managers have to work innovatively to convert their organisational background or culture a more friendly and efficient. Especially the employees working in the retail market is considered as the important market in the United Kingdom and are forms the major workforce (Boone, L., and Kurtz, D., 2008). 2.5 E-HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: The modern technological world has witnessed changes in the policies and practices that have been followed in old organisational culture. It is very important for all brick-and-mortar organisations to adopt changes out from the introduction of electronic and web based practices, as the newly introduced web based practices changed the business-to-business practices, the activities of a marketplace, changes in the supply chain, and acts as a catalyst for business. These changes provide HR management with lots of challenges to maintain value in the system to attract the employees and make them satisfied with their work culture in order to maintain a balanced work-life culture to improve the organisational performance. The dot com business has changed the way the business was carried out and it has given a challenging work culture to the employees in all major sectors including the retail market. This revolutionary age has been the reason for Enron to file bankruptcy, and internet age is growing together with the business and globalisation and not going down. The growth in the B2B business and B2C business has enhanced the usage of eHRM within and outside the organisation. This has been a challenge to maintain work-life balance as this web based technology has introduced work from home culture, any time availability for work, etc., which disturbs the personal life at every moment (Torres-Coronas and Arias-Oliva, 2005). 2.6 WORK LIFE BALANCE: Work-life balance is usually viewed as the lack of work-life conflict or mostly the strength in which where work life interferes with family life or vice versa (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). Work-life balance relates to the absence of conflict in their personal and professional life (Clark, 2000) as satisfaction and committed and dedicated work without any role conflicts (Guest, 20002). Shaw (2003) has stated that work-life balance extents to individuals who are engaged equally and fully satisfied in both places. It is also considered as a global assessment that work resources meet family demands, and family resources meet work demands such that participation is effective in both domains (Voydanoff, 2005; Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). Work and leisure is no longer related to any certain kind of jobs or market, and it has become an international requirement for every organisation to compete with their rivals and maintain a satisfied employees group (Lewis, 2003). In terms of United King doms department of Trade and Industry, Work-Life balance is defined as the about adjusting working patterns regardless of age, race or gender, [so] everyone can find a rhythm to help them combine work with their other responsibilities or aspirations (Maxwell, 2005). It is always considered that the work-life balance is very essential to maintain a health working conditions for the organisational benefit and for the benefit of its employees (Barnett, 1998; Edwards and Rothbard, 2000). Similarly, it had been proved by so many research works that the conditions of work life balance have its impact on the performance of the organisation (Kersley et al., 2005; Bureau of Labour, 2007). To maintain work and life a in a balanced scale, there are so many factors and so many persons to play in maintaining balance and harmony of their employees (Allen et al., 2006). Work life balance concerns on employees having a measure to control about where, when and how they work (Clutterbuck, 2003), and the new policies are initiated in strengthening the work life balance in United Kingdom and European Union (DTI, 2002; Lewis et al., 2003) and it has been argued that the employees should co-ordinate various aspects of professional and personal life to have a balanced life. After the introduction of globalisation in the economy, most organisations including the retail firms have started to move across cultures and across oceans to increase their presence and customer base. So, it has seen an intense increase in the working peoples working hours and their working life, which has both positive and negative impact on individuals professional and personal life (Lewis et al., 2003; Bryson et al., 2007; Bulger et al., 2007; Fereday, 2007). This term work-life balance has come out to replicate the concerns the working individuals face to manage their lives equally to improve the living conditions of the society and the performance of the organisation (Greenblatt, 2002; de Cieri et al., 2005; Pocock, 2005; Bryson et al., 2007, Fleetwood, 2007, McDonald et al., 2007). The retail industries have grown to support the community and it has converted the main stores to provide 24/7 services to the society (Pryjmachuk and Richards, 2007). Supple working conditions facilitate autonomy in work place and it improves work-life balance of the employees (Barriball et al., 2007; Dwyer et al., 2007). Many organisations tout work-life balance as a value, and always the workaholics are given more rewards and respect. But this concept holds no good any more as the introduction of globalisation and its cultural impact has turned the organisations to show more interest in maintaining work-life balance for its employees. The modern era has c reated more leaders to pay their attention towards work-life balance and they moralize the good value of upholding a balanced life inside and outside the organisation. It helps to improve more productivity while at work. Work and family issues are not the case during survival farmers and their families worked together to make a living. It has started once the family units made a male breadwinner for their house-wives. It was stated that during world war II, when most of the men in the west are out for war, the women population of more than70% were in the workforce, including pregnant women, which had been a hot topic of those times to maintain balance between their family commitments and to make a living (Shilling, 2009). It is very important to maintain a good balance especially when the employees have kids and old people to take care at home. In the views of Shelton (2006), work-life disagreement is the form of inter-role issue starting due to stress originating from one or more roles and responsibilities. The bonus, pay and other options are great but at the same time every job has got its roles and responsibilities that gives pressures and has direct and indirect effects on the personal and organisational life. This depends on the leadership and managerial skills of the manager who manages the team (Flaum, 2009). Especially women employees are considered more sentimental and dedicated towards their personal and professional life and have less free time as they are tied up with family and society. Shelton (2006) created a hypothetical framework on the constructs based on role conflicts and role involvement to positive plans the effective strategies to reduce work-life conflicts, through influencing roles. The work-life conflict reduces the well-being of the organisational culture and gradually affects the overall organis ational performance. 2.7 HISTORICAL OUTLOOK OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE: Since the introduction of globalisation and free trade, organisations started to move globally and freely with fewer restrictions on investments in the outside market and this has changed the roles and responsibilities of HRM. Originally the issue of work-life was considered as a problem between family and work (Lewis, 2003), and eventually it was argued that its not the issue between work and life, but between the organisational performance and employee satisfaction and dedication towards work. Furthermore the working timings of the employees were considered as one of the major issue to maintain a balanced work culture and they have introduced flexitime to challenge this issue. This issue broadened along men, women, families, and cultures of the organisations (Bird, 2006). Major research work considers individuals as a unit (Family or Team) and not as separate individual who works without any relationship with their sub-ordinates. Traditionally it is viewed as the absence of conflic t among work and family, or the level of intensity or frequency of work interfering family or vice versa (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007). 2.8 GLOBAL AND DOMESTIC WORK-LIFE BALANCE MODELS: In many contexts it is considered whether the domestic models hold good in international podium, where the globalisation has changed the international business are carried out. In the global context the main issues to be examined is whether work interferes with life on certain outcomes. In United States it has been proved that the domestic work interferes more on personal life than in any other country, but in other global environments it is considered that personal life interfere with work. This depends on the responsibilities and roles the employees play within an organisation and their role in the family, hence considering both sides from life to work and work to life (Greenhaus, 1988; Dixbury and Higgins, 1991; Frone et al., 1997; Edwards and Rothbard, 2000; Shaffer et al., 2001). The United Kingdom is facing lots of political issues out from people living longer, the changes in the needs of men and women in the labour market in terms of private life and other ways of working. Lots of models have been framed to calculate the work life balance of both genders at various periods and requirements of life. Shelton (2006) created a notional structure supporting role involvement and conflict to envisage the importance of strategies to lower the impacts of conflicts on balanced work culture or manoeuvring roles. This conflict is positively correlated with both organisational performance and family commitments. It is always considered that soaring levels of conflicts are expected for the female employees who have huge targets. 2.8.1 SCIENTIFIC MODEL: Frederick Taylor (1911) proposed that every job possibly will be measured by the amount of work completed and it is always linked with the number of pieces finished or piece rate. This theory is based on the concept that harder the employees work the more rewarded they are. Taylor considered that monetary benefits serve as the motivational factor for the committed employees to work more efficiently and effectively. 2.8.2 TWO FACTORS MODEL: Frederick Herzbergs two factor model or motivation-hygiene theory states certain motivational factors that will have positive impact on the role of employees towards organisational development, like the good basic pay and clean work environment. It was considered that once these factors are in place it automatically keeps up the strengths of the employees to work dedicated for the organisations and stays with the organisations for a long time. 2.8.3 HIERARCHY OF NEEDS: The above two theories were criticised by another great management guru, Maslow, where he showed that people needs to have certain basic needs like safe and secure workplace, emotional fulfilment, self esteem, relationship etc., to be with the organisation with their full committed minds and souls. This concept has gained its attraction since globalisation as it turned up many organisations to go international and grow parallel with the increasing technology and changing market culture. 2.9 LONGITUDINAL EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE: Globalisation has changed the way the works are being carried out and it has changed the roles and responsibilities at each level of hierarchy, giving both positive and negative effects in their balanced life. This also includes the mental strength, changes in the physique, health effects, etc., which might be a reason out of its increased job pressure or imbalanced work-life. 2.10 IS ORGANISATIONAL INTERVENTION IMPROVES WORK-LIFE BALANCE? The world worst economic crisis has given fears in the minds of workers at all levels of management and the management has restricted and reduced the spending on the organisational development in terms of employee benefits and other allowances, by considering cost effectiveness and cost cutting programmes to effectively handle the risked finance to reduce the risk of being cut. The increased concern about the security, family preferences, the multinational organisations are trying to implement various strategies to effectively use their capital for the retention of its skilled and talented employees by providing balanced work-life. However, it is not the only remedy to be auctioned to gain a balanced work group (Harris and Brewster, 2003; Poelmans, 2005). In the perspective of employees, Work Life Balance is maintaining balance between the roles and responsibilities at home and at work. Work Life Balance is the principle that paid employment should be integrated with domestic life and community involvement in the interests of personal and social well-being (Heery and Noon, 2008). Work Life Balance is not only the time we spend working against non-working. It is about how employees use their time to relax, work and energies themselves and spends time with their family and kids (Morgenstern, 2008). It is considered that there exist a direct relationship between the work life balance of the employees and the organisational performance. Work Life Balance is considered as a strategic model to implement lots of Human Resource polices and rules in order to change the organisational atmosphere and organisational cultur e of how the hierarchy works, i.e., either in the vertical way or horizontal way, leading to satisfied employees and managed which in turn leads to organisational success and improved growth. Strategies of Work Life Balance in organisations includes roles and polices including flexible work arrangements, childcare, depends care and other personal and parental benefits (Blari-Hoy and Wharton, 2002; Hyman and Summers, 2004; De Cieri et al., 2005). It is considered that the widespread changes in work-life issues and changes in the workforce demography in developing and developed societies have increased issues of work-life balance (Fleetwood, 2007; Lewis et al., 2007). The increased pressure towards the multi skilled employees out from roles and responsibilities has changed the organisational environment and work culture (Campbell and Charlesworth, 2004). Emphasis on family is considered as more important and higher quality and any imbalance caused by work has a negative effect on both personal and professional life (Frone et al., 1992; Greenhaus et al., 2003; Singh, 2010). Every job is considered to have an element of fun and it gives satisfaction and pleasure instead of stress and pressure. This directly and indirectly leads to the increased organisational output and innovation for the long strategic roles. The term has been in the field of Human Resource over the last two decades and it is considered a vital one in the developed and improve technological world. Work-Life balance is one of the major things to maintain balanced and motivated employees whom even monetary benefits cannot afford to improve the organisational performance. At times salary will not be an attractive one to hold back the employees within the organisation as a committed employee, but the balanced work-life culture provided by the organisations will hold the employees with commitment till their retirement in the same organisation (Mehra, 2010). Human Resource plays a vital role in maintaining transparency to ensure that the office environment doesnt create pressure on their empl oyees and their nature of work. Work-Life balance has been very famous for the last two decades where technology started encroaching peoples time more and more. It is considered that the term itself inherent some problem which presupposes a separation among work and life. In United States most companies offer work-life balance programs to attain competitive advantage whereas in Europe and United Kingdom it is considered as a social responsibility but it is considered that both these terms are not different and the goals are intertwined wherein competitive advantage can be gained through recruiting skilled employees and retaining with socially responsible activities to enhance the reputation of the organisation. 2.11 IMPACT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEES: Every organizations sets their workplace to be more attractive than their rivals to gain the competitive advantage through satisfying the employees needs and wants by providing balanced work-life culture. Some organisations still believe on the importance of money for the employees as they consider only monetary benefits motivate the individuals to work committed. Some companies find increasing

Americans with Disability Act of 1990

The American population of disabled workers previously had no protection of their employment or mandates pressed upon their employer to provide necessary work accommodations, to protect their livelihood, until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights law that prohibits employers to discriminate based on an employee’s disability. This paper will demonstrate the components of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as well as provide relevant United States Supreme Court cases set out between employee and employer where the law was challenged or upheld. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is an Act set out to â€Å"establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability† (Americans with disabilities, 1990). The Act was introduced to the Senate by Senator Tom Harkins on May 9, 1989. The Act was passed by the Senate on September 7, 1989 by a vote of 76-8 and passed by a unanimous voice vote before the House of Representatives on May 22, 1990. The Act was enacted by the 101st United States Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 26, 1990 (Americans with disabilities, 1990). ADA Issue: Definition of Disability Under the American with Disabilities Act the term â€Å"disability† refers to a â€Å"physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity† (Americans with disabilities, 1990). The case between Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams was presented to the United States Supreme Court on November 7, 2001. The case primarily questioned how you determine whether an individual is substantially limited in the major life activity of performing manual tasks. Under the American’s with Disabilities Act of 1990, 104 Stat. 328, 42 U. S. C. 12101 et seq. (1994 ed. And Supp. V), a physical impairment that â€Å"substantially limits one or more†¦major life activities† is a â€Å"disability. † 42 U. S. C. 12102 (2) (A) (1994 ed. ). Respondent, Ella Williams, claimed to be disabled due to carpal tunnel syndrome and sued, petitioner, her former employer, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. , for failing to provide accommodations as required under the American with Disabilities Act. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, (00-1089) 534 U. S. 184 (2002). ] Ella Williams began employment at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Kentucky, in August of 1990. She was placed on the engine fabrication assembly line, where her duties included work with pneumatic tools. Utilizing these tools over time caused pain in respondent’s hands, wrists and arms. She was treated by her physician and found to have carpal tunnel syndrome and bilateral tendonitis. Her physician released her to return to work with restrictions that included no lifting more than 20 pounds, she could not lift or carry objects weighing more than 10 pounds, must not engage in constant repetitive motion of the wrists and elbows and no overhead work or performing tasks utilizing vibratory or pneumatic tools. Toyota Motor Manufacturing responded to Williams’ restrictions, for the next two years, by modifying her job responsibilities within the medical restriction guidelines. Despite this revision, Williams missed work for medical leave and she filed a claim under the Kentucky Worker’s Compensation Act. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann 342. 0011 et seq (1997 and Supp. 2000). The parties settled this claim and Williams returned to work. Williams was still not satisfied with petitioner’s efforts to accommodate her work restrictions and she filed suit against Toyota in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky alleging that petitioner ha d violated the ADA by refusing to accommodate her disability. The suit was settled, and as part of the settlement, respondent was able to return to work in December of 1993. Upon Williams return, Toyota accommodated respondent by placing her in the Quality Control Inspection Operations Department. The team’s tasks included (1) â€Å"assembly paint†, (2) â€Å"Paint second inspection†; (3) â€Å"shell body audit†; and (4) â€Å"ED surface repair†. Williams was placed on a team that performed only two of these tasks and rotated between the two roles. In assembly paint, Williams would visually inspect painted cars moving slowly down the conveyor and then rotated every other week to the second piece of her role, which was to examine the cars by lifting the hoods and opening the doors. She was able to perform these duties as described. There was a change in workflows in the Department of Quality Control where all employees must rotate between the four tasks of the quality operations. Williams attempted to perform all four duties as required, but began having increased pain, sought medical treatment was diagnosed with myotendonitis bilateral periscapular, inflammation of the muscles and tendons of the shoulder blades and forearms and thoracic outlet syndrome. Williams requested to return to only performing the two components of her position. The parties disagree on what happens next, Williams’ states that Toyota refused her request. Toyota states that the employee began missing work excessively and they were forced to terminate her position for poor attendance. Williams again sued under the Americans with Disability Act of 1990. During the court proceedings and on deposition Williams stated that she was â€Å"disabled† as she was no longer able to perform activities of daily living that included (1) manual tasks; (2) housework; (3) gardening; (4) playing with her children; (5) lifting; and (6) working, all of which, she argued, constituted major life activities under the Act. [Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, (00-1089) 534 U. S. 184 (2002). Under the ADA the claimant must show that the limitation on the major life activity is substantial 42 U. S. C. 12102 (2)(A). â€Å"Substantially limits† was defined as unable to perform a major life activity that the average person in the general population can perform†. In determining whether an individual is substantially limited i n a major life activity, the regulations instruct that the following factors should be considered: â€Å"the nature and severity of the impairment; the duration or expected duration of the impairment; and the permanent or long term impact, or the expected permanent or long-term impact of or resulting from impairment. 1630. 2(j)(2)(i)-(iii) (Americans with disabilities, 1990). The court concluded on January 8, 2002 that the respondent’s impairments substantially limited her in the â€Å"major life activities† of performing manual tasks and was found to be â€Å"disabled† as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and therefore granted judgment to respondent on the basis that Toyota violated the Act by not accommodating her request as a disabled individual. [Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams, (00-1089) 534 U. S. 184 (2002). ADA Issue: Definition of Disability and Direct Threat The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, under Title II, prohibits disability discrimination by all public entities. Public entities must comply with the ADA regulations by the U. S. Department of Justice and includes granting access to all programs and services without disability discrimination. Under the ADA regulations there is also a â€Å"direct threat† provision which protects facilities where an individual may pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others (Americans with disabilities, 1990). The U. S. Supreme Court Case No. 97-156, Randon Bragdon, Petitioner v. Sidney Abbott, Respondent, poses the question whether asymptomatic HIV infection is a disability under the ADA, and when determining whether an individual with HIV poses a direct threat to a health care provider, should the courts defer to the providers professional judgment [Bragdon v. Abbott (97-156) 107 F. 3d 934, (1998). ] Abbott is infected with HIV, but it had not manifested into the serious stages at the time of the incident. Abbott presented to her dental office and disclosed her HIV infection. Rangdon Bragdon, her dentist, refused to treat her in his office setting and sited his policy on filling cavities on HIV patients. He was willing to treat her in the hospital for no extra charge, but she would be responsible for the hospital bill. She declined and filed suit under the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against any individual†¦ â€Å"on the basis of disability in the †¦enjoyment of the†¦services†¦of any place of public accommodation by any person who†¦operates [such] a place,† 42 U. S. C. 2182 (a), but qualifies the prohibition by providing: â€Å"Nothing [herein] shall require an entity to permit an individual to participate in or benefit from the†¦ accommodations of such entity where such individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others,† 12182(b)(3) (Americans with Disabilities, 1990). The court ruled in favor of the respondent, Sidney Abbott, on June 25, 1998. E ven though the respondent’s HIV had not progressed to the point of being symptomatic, HIV is a â€Å"disability† under 12102 (2)(A), that is, â€Å"a physical†¦impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities. The life activity upon which respondent relies, her ability to reproduce and to bear children, constitutes a â€Å"major life activity† under the ADA. In affirming the summary judgment, the court did not cite sufficient material in the record to determine, as a matter of law, that respondent’s HIV infection posed no direct threat to the health and safety of others. The ADA’s direct threat provision, 12182 (b)(3), stems from School Bd. Of Nassau Cty v. Arline, 480 U. S. 273, 287. [Bragdon v. Abbott (97-156) 107 F. 3d 934, (1998). ADA Issue: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment, unless to do so would cause undue hardship. An accommodation is typically any change in the work environment that allows an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities (American with disabilities, 1990). The U. S. Supreme Court case U. S. Airways, Inc. v. Robert Barnett poses the question under â€Å"Reasonable Accommodation†, when an employee with a disability seeks reassignment as an accommodation under the ADA, does the employees right to reasonable accommodation trump another employee’s seniority rights when the employer has a seniority system. Robert Barnett, respondent, obtained a back injury when he was a cargo handler for petitioner, US Airways, Inc. Following the injury, he transferred to the mailroom, which was less physically demanding. The mailroom position later became open to a senior-based employee bidding under US Airways seniority system. US Airways gave the position to the most senior employee, refused Robert Barnett’s request to accommodate his disability, and Barnett lost his job. Robert Barnett sued US Airways, Inc. under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee with a â€Å"disability† who with â€Å"reasonable accommodations can perform the essential job functions, 42 U. S. C. 2112(a) and (b), unless the employer â€Å"can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of [its] business†, 1211(b)(5)(A) (Americans with disability, 1990). US Airways presented that their seniority system had been in place for decades and governs over 14,000 US Airways agents and the policy would trump all other requests. They had been consistent with the usage of the seniority system and allowing any other rationale to alter the policy would cause undue hardship to both the company and the non-disabled employees. The court ruled on April 29, 2002 in favor of US Airways and stated that undermining seniority systems would cause a undue hardship on employers [US Airways v. Barnett, 535 US 394 (2002)]. ADA Issue: Scope of Title III Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires an entity operating â€Å"public accommodations† to make â€Å"reasonable modifications† in its policies to accommodate when necessary disabled individuals, unless the entity can demonstrate that making such modifications would alter the nature of their operations, 12182(b)(2)(A)(ii), (Americans with disabilities, 1990). The case, PGA Tour, Inc v. Casey Martin tests the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 and questions whether Title III of the ADA protects access to professional golf tournaments by qualified entrant with a disability; and whether a contestant with a disability may be denied the use of a golf cart because it would fundamentally alter the nature of the tournament to allow him to ride when all other contestants must walk. Casey Martin, respondent, suffers from a degenerative circulatory disorder that prevents him from walking long distances on the golf course. When Martin became a professional golfer he posed a request, which was supported by medical documentation, that while in tournaments he be accommodated by utilizing a golf cart. Petitioner, PGA Tour, Inc. refused and respondent filed suit under Title III of the ADA. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Martin in a 7-2 decision on May 29, 2001. The Supreme Court found that the PGA Tour should be viewed as a commercial enterprise operating in the entertainment industry and not as a private club. In addition, Martin should be provided a golf cart to utilize as a means of reasonable accommodations [PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 984 F. Supp. 1320 (2001). ] The Americans with Disability Act of 1990 has brought valuable protection and necessary accommodations to employees and applicants that otherwise may have been faced with discrimination, which was the principal goal of the legislation. The act has been instrumental in providing access to public programs and services that may have not been available to disabled Americans previous to the inception of the ADA. The ADA makes it possible for everyone to be treated as equals and prevents unethical discriminatory behaviors from being placed upon those individuals that suffer from disabilities.

If human nature does alter Essay

What is human nature? According to an interesting article I have read, humanity can be interpreted in three ways: mechanistic, mysterian and materialist views of humanity. A mechanistic view sees human beings largely as objects through which nature acts. A mysterian view suggests that there are aspects of human existence not knowable to mere mortals. A materialist view sees humans as exceptional because humans, unlike any other beings, possess consciousness and agency. In Judaism, human nature is the ability to make our own choice and we will all be held responsible for our actions. From a scientific perspective, human nature is the behavior of human being physically, socially and mentally. There are many different interpretations of human nature and it will never have a specific definition. From my point of view, human nature is how human beings interpret themselves as. Therefore, human nature does alter when we begin to look at ourselves in a new way. In this essay, I have chosen one play from â€Å"The Three Theban Plays† by Sophocles; â€Å"Oedipus the King† and â€Å"Death and the Maiden† by Ariel Dorfman. Looking at the two tragedies, I am going to illustrate how the writers make us â€Å"look at ourselves in a new way†. Searching for the truth is a human nature; because everyone has curiosity. For example, babies feel curious when seeing new items and try to figure out what it is. However, searching for truth is not always beneficial. Sophocles certainly did prove his point through his play, â€Å"Oedipus the King†. Oedipus basically assassinated his father, Laius, acquire his crown and ironically his wife, Oedipus mother, Jocasta. However, Oedipus didn’t have any knowledge of this. To save the city from the plague, he was desperate to track down the murderer of Laius, not knowing that he was the murderer. Throughout the play, Sophocles employs the repetition of blindness to associate with the spiritual blindness of Oedipus to the truth. He was not only blinded to the truth, but also the consequences of discovering the truth. Moreover, the repetition of blindness foreshadows that Oedipus will blind himself at the end of the play when he recognize the truth and what he had done. He is sightless to the advice of people attempting to stop him going down the road of destruction. At the beginning of the play, I have already noticed the wide use of blindness in the dialogue: â€Å"Oedipus: I would be blind to misery not to pity my people kneeling at my feet† (Pg. 159 L14-15) â€Å"Oedipus: You’ve lost your power, stone-blind, stone-deaf – senses, eyes blind as stone! † (Pg. 181 L421-422) From the quotes mentioned, I could see that the word â€Å"blind† often appears in the dialogues of Oedipus. He told his people of Thebes he wouldn’t be â€Å"blind to misery† and promised to save Thebes. However, he is blind to the truth and his identity instead. He insulted Tiresias’ blindness for revealing the prophecy and the truth about Oedipus’ identity which he doubted vigorously. Oedipus’ abuse to Tiresias has a huge contradiction to his own blindness to the outcome of the discovery. Although Tiresias is physically blind, he wasn’t blind to the truth and the effect of revealing it; whereas Oedipus wasn’t blind, but he couldn’t notice the purpose of Tiresias’ actions and ignore his warnings. The repetition of blindness draws attention of the audience every time the characters say the word. This emphasizes the idea of humans are often blind to themselves, the others and also the truth behind things. When they seek to search for the truth, the outcome can be catastrophic: â€Å"Messenger: He rips off her brooches, the long gold pins holding her robes – †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ he digs them down the sockets of his eyes,† (Pg. 237 L1402-1405) â€Å"Messenger: And there we saw the woman hanging by the neck, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ spinning, swinging back and forth. † (Pg.237 L1395-1397) In the exodus of the play, the ending is a disaster, Jocasta hanged herself and Oedipus blinded himself. Truth can be harmful sometimes, therefore it is better to stay the same and be ignorant. At least we could be better off and happier because truth sometimes doesn’t give us any satisfaction at all. This made us to have a whole new perception about the exploration of truth. After studying the play, I would be more objective about my actions and be humble to the others’ advice, to prevent anything destructive happening. But on the other hand, Oedipus is a man of great quality, he had the courage to seek for the truth even though people persuaded him not to because the truth was dangerous. If we are satisfy about the current state and choose to be â€Å"blind† to many truths on the world, there would be no improvement and development at all. There is certainly no an ultimate answer to the question whether or not we should seek for the truth. In â€Å"Death and the Maiden†, truth is also an important issue. The scene was set in Chile, which had just received democracy after years and years of dictatorship. Gerardo was appointed to be the Head of the Investigating Commission. The purpose of the commission establishes certain truths in a public way, to become part of official history. However, it only deals with the dead, not people suffered but still alive. Paulina, Gerardo’s wife, was one of them, she was put into torture and raped. Ariel Dorfman portrayed Paulina as a desperate person to find out the truth. Paulina is going to search for the truth by all means since she suffered so much pain and was haunted by the past. The only way to relieve her pain is to attain the truth. She had gained power by holding the gun and transformed into a totally different person. We can identify this by looking at the text: â€Å"Paulina: Besides you that if the police do show their noses her I’ll put a bullet through his man’s head. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ And then I’ll put the gun in my mouth and pull the trigger. † (Pg. 18) â€Å"Gerardo: My God, Paulina! †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ she has never spoken like this in her life. † According to the quotes above, the gun has given power to Paulina and she had dominance over the man. Paulina had turned into another person, even the way she speaks, that Gerardo didn’t recognize anymore. This indicates what truth can do; it can drive somebody mad and turns them into a different person. Paulina was so obsessed about the truth that she is willing to sacrifice anything: â€Å"If he’s innocent? Then he’s really screwed. † (Pg. 29) In order to know the truth, she is willing to give up her morals. Even though she wasn’t sure if Doctor Miranda was really one of the people who tortured her, she had already assumed he is guilty and enforced him to confess by threatening to kill him. Paulina didn’t even care if he is innocent or not, she just wanted a confession no matter what, because this is the only way she could reconcile her pain. Perhaps Miranda is guilty, the truth is so thrilling that even me as an audience wanted to know it so badly. In the end, nobody knows if justice has been achieved by Paulina’s outrageous actions. The play also exemplify the idea of too much truth may be dangerous. On the way of searching the truth, Paulina didn’t realize that she is destroying many things, their relationships, and Gerardo’s trust to her etc. Gerardo had already warned her not to continue her pursuit of truth: â€Å"Gerardo: People can die from an excessive dose of the truth, you know. † (Pg. 36) Gerardo could foresee the disastrous outcome of the whole event and tried to stop Paulina continue to look for the truth. It is because Gerardo sensed that too much truth won’t do good to all of them. The idea of too much truth is dangerous in â€Å"Death and the Maiden† links back to the idea of the catastrophic consequences of obtaining the truth from â€Å"Oedipus the King†. Paulina and Oedipus are very similar, they strife for the truth which they don’t know is destructive. Paulina destroyed the relationship between Gerardo and herself; whereas Oedipus devastated his kingdom, his family and most significantly, he blinded himself. Both tragedies raised our caution to the pursuit of truth, acknowledge us that truth is double-edged, it can favour but also destroy someone. Human can’t be too ignorant and also can’t know too much truth. â€Å"It is better to settle for half. † as Alfieri puts it in the play â€Å"A View from the Bridge†.

How Is Marriage Defined - 1054 Words

How is marriage defined? Any of the diverse forms of interpersonal union established invarious partd of the world to form a familial bond that is recognized legally, religiously, or socially, granting the participating partners mutual conjugal rights and responsibilities and including, for example, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, plural marriage, and arranged marriage. Sadly many religions still will not accept same sex marriage. A ruling by Massachusetts highest court that prohibiting same-sex marriage violates the state s constitution has forced that state, and by extension the rest of the country, to tackle one of the most incendiary social issues on the American political landscape. Marriage is among the most basic of†¦show more content†¦The issue has been making its way to the for front since the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26th, 2015 reversed laws banning homosexual sex, prompting righteous anger from the far right and celebrations on the far left. Gay rights is part of a long list of cultural issues -- along with the death penalty, guns, abortion, affirmative action and the Confederate flag -- that have in recent years piercingly divided the two political parties, blocs of voters and regions. Same-sex marriage is one of the most powerful issues. Of those who considered themselves extremely religious, 80% said they were against of same-sex marriage, with 12% in favor of it. The strongest resistance came from white Protestant evangelicals. Those who called themselves secular favored same-sex marriage by 64% to 28%. In the East, feelings on same-sex marriage were relatively even, with 42% in favor and 50% opposed, while the South against it by 67% to 23%. People under 30 were split -- 45% in favor, 46% opposed -- while those over 65 were against it, 74% to 13%. The peril for Democrats was evident in the results showing that Republicans were fairly united against same-sex marriage by 75% to 18%, while Democrats were split. Those calling themselves liberal Democrats favored same-sex marriage by 59% to 31%, and those who said they were moderate or conservative were against it 60% to 33%. And the Pew poll showed that those who were