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This paper seeks to focus on the role of organizations in mediating the impact of national work‐life balance (WLB) policy on employees, in particular fathers.

It presents existing research about WLB policy implementation in organizations as well as the findings of empirical work in insurance and social work in France and the UK (questionnaire survey, case study analysis, interviews with national and sector‐level trade union officials).

These indicate that fathers' take‐up of WLB policies is the outcome of a complex dynamic between national fatherhood regimes, organizational and sector characteristics and the individual employee. They suggest that fathers tend to use WLB measures to spend time with their families where measures increase their sense of entitlement (state policies of paternity leave) or where measures offer non‐gendered flexibility (reduced working time/organizational systems of flexi‐time). In line with other studies it also finds that fathers extensively use informal flexibility where this is available (individual agency).

These findings have implications for the way WLB policies are framed at national and organizational level. At national level they indicate that policies work best when they give fathers a sense of entitlement, by giving specific rights linked to fatherhood (e.g. paternity leave or “daddy month”‐type arrangements), and or by providing universal rights (e.g. to reduced working time and/or flexible working time); however, where measures are linked to childcare they are often framed as mothers' rights when translated to the organizational level. The research also shows that informal flexibility is used and valued by fathers within organizations, but that such informal arrangements are highly subject to local variation and intermediation by line managers and co‐workers; hence, for effective and even coverage they would need to be backed up by formal rights.

Cross‐national comparative research into WLB policy and practice at national and organizational level is very rare. The empirical work presented in this paper, although exploratory, makes a significant contribution to our understanding of WLB policy and practice, particularly as it relates to fathers.

Iceland, along with the other Nordic countries, is seen as an international frontrunner in gender equality and equal sharing of responsibility for paid and unpaid work is part of the official ideology. Nevertheless, the number of women in leadership positions remains low. The purpose of this study is to analyse the practices that (re)produce power imbalances between women and men in business leadership both at the macro and the micro levels. This is done by using two theoretical explanations: gendered organizational practices and the interplay of organizations and family life.

The mixed methods are applied by analysing 51, semi-structured interviews with female and male business leaders and survey data from CEOs and executives from the 250 largest companies in Iceland.

The analyses reveal gender differences and asymmetries in work life as well as within the family. Men have longer working hours than women, higher salaries and more job-related travelling. Women carry the dual burden of work and family to a higher degree than do men. By questioning and attempting to resist the organizational culture women risk further disadvantage. The situation of male and female leaders is therefore incomparable. This is a paradox and does not fit with the idea of the Nordic gender equality of a dual breadwinner society.

It is shown that lack of gender diversity in business leadership is based on gendered organizational practices as well as on power relations within families. These two aspects are mutually reinforcing and the originality of the study is to explore the interplay between them. The authors conclude that despite being the country at the forefront of gender equality in the world, neither organizational practices nor family relations recognize the different life experiences of women and men in Iceland. This is expressed in organizational practices and different access to time and support, which may hinder gaining gender equality in top leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and describe the profiles of mental health professionals and their relationship to professional reactions and changes in working practice following a patient suicide.

Data from 713 mental health professionals working in various institutional settings and in private practice in French-speaking Switzerland were collected by written questionnaires.

Four distinct profiles with low to moderate professional reactions and changes in working practice were identified by cluster analysis. The type and intensity of relationship between professional and patient, and psychological and/or social support following the patient suicide were the most discriminant factors of the four profiles.

The findings contribute to the understanding of professional consequences of patient suicide on mental health professionals.

This study aims to explore changes in working capital management (WCM) practices in response to economic downturns, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

This study adopts an interpretative approach. This paper used semi-structured interviews with 2 finance directors and 13 top managers for data collection. This paper used thematic analysis for analysing the interview data.

The study findings suggest that the traditional ways of managing working capital may no longer be sufficient during a crisis. Instead, dynamic financing, trade credit policy and continuous staff training to develop new skills are alternative WCM practices to navigate the challenges of a crisis. Further, this paper finds that economic conditions, such as inflation rates, interest rates, exchange rates and government policy, negatively affect WCM.

The study findings highlight practical issues that may help firms meet their present and future financing needs, manage their day-to-day operational activities and enhance performance, both operational and financial. The study is beneficial for regulators in understanding a firm’s constraints during crises and respond appropriately.

This is the first study, to the best of the knowledge that uses a qualitative approach to investigate the impact of economic downturns on WCM practices of firms. Thus, this study offers new insights into the fundamentals of WCM practices during crises.

The paper considers the impact of work‐life balance policies on the work and family practices of professional, dual‐earner parents with dependent children, by assessing the extent to which “well‐balanced families” have been resultantly facilitated. It poses two research questions: the first centres on how far work‐life balance policies have better enabled working parents to manage their commitments to employers and children, whilst the second focuses on how far parental and employer responses to work‐life balance policies may be gendered. The ultimate aim is to (re)‐articulate the importance of gender in the work‐life balance agenda.

The paper draws upon historical and conceptual research on work and family practices. It invokes gender as a lens through which notions of the “well‐balanced family” are considered.

It is argued that work‐life balance policies have not led to well‐balanced, or “gender‐neutral”, work and family practices. This is for two reasons, both relating to gender. First, the take up of work‐life balance policies is gendered, with more mothers than fathers working flexibly. This is partly because organizational expectations fail to acknowledge social change around the paternal parenting role. Second, work‐life balance policies focus mainly on the issues of paid work and childcare, failing to take account of domestic labour, the main burden of which continues to be carried by mothers.

Deeply ingrained social assumptions about the gendered division of labour within heterosexual couples limit the impact of work‐life balance policies on work family practices.

The paper moves forward the debate on work‐life balance through taking an interdisciplinary approach to an issue which has often been addressed previously from discipline‐specific approaches such as health, psychology or policy.

Higher education research is replete with discussion of boundaries imagined as structural constraints in need of removal or circumvention. But, while foregrounding national–transnational frameworks, leadership strategising and institutional structures, the scholarship is subdued about how boundaries are actually dealt with at ground level. How do practitioners come together, day by day, across higher education boundaries; and what is required for desirable practices to be nurtured? It is on this issue, and in particular the theorisation of this issue, that this chapter will focus.

This chapter presents and develops a relational working framework, based on the work of Anne Edwards. We highlight three core concepts (common knowledge, relational expertise and relational agency), disaggregating each into constituent features. We then apply the framework to reinterpret previously published empirical studies, to demonstrate its broad applicability. We argue that the framework usefully conceptualises how practitioners work with others across boundaries; that it helps us to notice how many boundaries are, in fact, routinely permeated; and that it usefully highlights important aspects of local practices that are easily obscured.

This article presents a qualitative analysis of three focus groups convened during a study day for health and social care professionals, which reveals a strong perception of a philosophical difference in approaches to professional practice. The prospect of health and social care professionals working more closely together is welcomed, and evidence‐based practice should be encouraged and financially supported. While established educational strategies can be deployed to respond to the conventional perceived barriers to working together, more innovative models are needed. The authors commend the model of Significant Event Auditing.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: how can organizations be developed in such a way that it improves simultaneously performance and the quality of working life (QWL). The focus is particularly on diverse organizational and management practices and the nature of development process.

The empirical data consist of self‐assessments of development projects implemented at workplaces as a part of the Finnish Workplace Development Programme (1996‐2005). The self‐assessments have been gathered separately from management, staff and experts used in the project. The data are based on a sample of 1,113 responses from 409 development projects. The research approach is solution‐oriented, seeking factors that can promote concurrent improvements in both performance and the QWL.

Concerning the work, management and organizational practices the findings show that comprehensive development of organization, i.e. implementation of practices is associated with simultaneous improvement in performance and the QWL. Second, concerning the nature of development method, the study shows that employee participation in planning and implementation phase, close collaboration during the process, the methods used by the experts and external networking were related to simultaneous outcomes at workplaces.

This paper makes a contribution to the debate on the effects of organizational development on performance and the QWL, and adds some new empirical findings. It also emphasizes the increasing importance of discussion between organizational development and innovation literature in the future.

The literature suggests that women are less committed to and less successful in their careers than men because of family responsibilities. I examine whether mothers practicing law are less committed to their legal careers than other women. Mothers acknowledge that they violate certain time and career norms associated with practicing law and work in different settings, which may be interpreted by others as indicators of their lack of career commitment. The survey results reveal that, despite these violations, mothers report greater career commitment than other women in law. I conclude by examining possible explanations for these findings.