西 南 交 通 大 学 学 报
第 55 卷 第 4 期
2020
年 8
月
JOURNAL OF SOUTHWEST JIAOTONG UNIVERSITY
Vol. 55 No. 4
Aug. 2020
ISSN: 0258-2724 DOI：10.35741/issn.0258-2724.55.4.20
Regular article Social Sciences
M
ARITAL
S
TATUS
&
W
ORK
-L
IFE
B
ALANCE
:
A
C
ASE
S
TUDY OF
C
OMMERCIAL
P
ILOTS OF
P
AKISTAN
婚姻狀況和工作生活平衡：以巴基斯坦商業飛行員為例
Mariyam Malik *, S. Khurram Khan Alwi, Musarrat ShamshirGreenwich University
DK-10, 38th Street, Darakshan, Phase VI Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, Pakistan,
mariyammalik.gu@gmail.com
Received: April 22, 2020 ▪ Review: June 16, 2020 ▪ Accepted: July 4, 2020
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Abstract
The aim of this research is to examine whether the states of work-life balance differ according to the different marital statuses of commercial pilots in Pakistan. The increasing intensities resulting from globalization have led to pressure on organizations, and in times such as the present when job insecurity and downsizing are a norm, employees tend to invest more effort and time into their professions to provide them with greater security. As a result, employees often neglect the other and equally important domain, the life domain. The variables that were used for the research study are marital status and work-life balance. This quantitative study concluded that commercial pilots, regardless of their marital statuses, undergo massive imbalances in their work and life domains. The study also provides recommendations for improving levels of work-life balance.
Keywords: Marital Status, Work-Life Balance, Commercial Pilots, Pakistan
摘要 這項研究的目的是根據巴基斯坦商業飛行員的婚姻狀況，檢查工作與生活的平衡狀況是否有 所不同。 全球化導致的強度不斷提高，給組織帶來了壓力，例如在當前不安全和精簡規模成為常 態的時期，員工往往會在職業上投入更多的精力和時間，以提供更高的安全性。 結果，員工經常 忽略另一個同樣重要的領域，即生活領域。 用於研究的變量是婚姻狀況和工作與生活的平衡。 這 項定量研究得出的結論是，商業飛行員，不論其婚姻狀況如何，在工作和生活領域均遭受巨大的 失衡。 該研究還提供了改善工作與生活平衡水平的建議。 关键词: 婚姻狀況，工作與生活平衡，商業飛行員，巴基斯坦
I. I
NTRODUCTIONToday, maintaining a balance between the work domain and the life domain presents challenges. The strong influences of globalization have intensified pressure on organizations, and organizations are pressuring employees by demanding that they work around the clock with faster and more unpredictable workflows, tighter deadlines, and work-related commitments extending beyond conventional working hours, since clients are now available 24 hours a day. Women as well as men have become a major part of the workforce in areas such as managerial jobs, and therefore traditional roles that involve staying at home and taking care of the family have been altered. The changing norms have made it difficult for both genders. Women and men alike need to struggle to have lives that are free of work-family conflict and family-work conflict [1], [2], [3]. Work-family conflict occurs when participation in family role is made more difficult due to participation in work role. Family-work conflict occurs when participation in work role is made more difficult due to participation in family.
Many research studies have postulated that working couples undergo intense work-family conflicts since their families end up with unmet needs that intensify with time. Parents have little or no control over this and therefore carry stress and pressure at work, which results in family-work conflict[4]. Other research concludes that employees who have children exhibit higher levels of conflict, whether this is work-family conflict or family-work conflict, than those who are not parents. The transition from a non-parent to a parent also entails higher stress levels [5], and this eventually leads to a transition in the intensity of relationships and the number of responsibilities, and then results in higher frequencies of preoccupation [6], [7], [8]. It is essential to examine the ways through which employees who are parents and those who are not parents tackle their work-based and non-work-based responsibilities and to focus on considering this topic as a root cause of work-family conflict. Previous research has postulated that the effects of work-life conflict influence employees and lead to stress-related turnover intentions, absenteeism, and job dissatisfaction [9].
Another research study concluded that higher intensities of work-family conflict lead to lower levels of organizational commitment [10], and other research determined that work-family conflict leads to declines in levels of family satisfaction [11], absenteeism, delays in family-related activities, family overload, lack of family
support, and poor performance in family roles [12], [13].Work-life balance has attracted considerable interest, and European documents emphasize supporting employees, to help mitigate family-work and work-family conflicts. In the western world, many programs have been implemented to curb work and family conflicts. However, in the eastern part of the world there is a lack of understanding regarding the importance of such conflicts. Based on available research, the inflexible cultures within organizations focus on performance while ignoring the human factor [14]. Undoubtedly, employers play crucial roles in the management of conflicts and creation of organizational cultures that promote flexible work schedules, access to daycares or after school facilities, and career management programs that can curb work-family and family-work conflicts. Balancing family-work and life is an issue that is common to all employees, regardless of the nature of their jobs and their marital statuses [15], [16], [17]. Whatever their marital statuses are, employees can experience imbalances between work and life [18] They can also have lower levels of work-life balance, and organizations need to prioritize this balance to ensure that their employees perform at levels that meet the standards of the organizations.
To examine reducing the inequity, all aviators (unmarried, unmarried with children, married with children, married without children, and divorced with children) were analyzed for this study.
II. M
ETHODS/M
ATERIALSThe aim of the study is to analyze the effects of marital statuses on the work-life balances of commercial pilots in Pakistan. The study involved 255 commercial pilots who were divided into two categories: single/divorced and married. Four commercial aviation organizations in Pakistan, including both private and government-based ones, were contacted for the research, and it took one year and six months to complete the process of data collection. The two groups were the single group (N=46) and the married group (N=209). To be a research participant, subjects needed to be commercial pilots who held commercial pilot licenses (CPL) and were employed at commercial aviation organizations. Pilots belonging to general aviation were not included. The study used the convenience sampling method. The construction of the work-life balance inventory was extracted from [19]; and [20]. The scale included 5 items, and the questionnaire used a 7-point Likert scale. A pilot study was also conducted on 100
3
commercial pilots, and Cronbach's alpha was found to be .936. Four commercial organizations in Pakistan were contacted, and the questionnaire was emailed to all the pilots who worked for them.
The purpose of this research was to identify the relationship between marital status and work-life balance and therefore, the following hypotheses were formed:
Hypothesis 1: Single commercial pilots and
married commercial pilots do not have the same levels of work-life balance.
Hypothesis Null: Single commercial pilots
and married commercial pilots have the same levels of work-life balance.
Table 1.
Cronbach’s Alpha test
Cronbach's Alpha N of items
.936 5
III. R
ESULTS ANDD
ISCUSSION Table 2. Marital Status Frequen cy Perce nt Valid percent Cumulative percent Va li d Single Marrie 46 18.0 18.0 18.0 d 209 82.0 82.0 100.0 Total 255 100.0 100.0 Table 3. Group Statistics Marital status N Mean Std. deviatio n Std. error mean WLB Single 46 18.0 18.0 18.0 Marrie d 209 82.0 82.0 100.0 Table 4.Kruskal-Wallis Test (WLB as computed variable)
Null Hypothesis Test Sig. Decision
The distribution of WLB is the same across categories of Marital Status Independent samples Kruskal Wallis Test .554 Retain the null hypothesis
The results indicate that the null hypothesis was not rejected (p>.05); therefore, we postulate that single and married commercial pilots have the same levels of work-life balance. In conclusion, there are no differences in the levels of work-life balance or imbalance among commercial pilots, regardless of their marital statuses (single with children, single without children, married with children, and married
without children). However, with ever-increasing globalization and differences in time horizons, employees are being pressured to work around the clock. Rosters are generated according to the demands of the companies and thereby filtering out the human factor. Pilots are made to work for more hours than the prescribed amounts (Civil Air Patrol (CAP)-371 Recommendations) in Pakistan. They are made to work for 16 hours at a stretch with two hours of break, whereby the cabin crew is changed halfway but the cockpit crew remains the same, which eventually leads to higher levels of stress, sleep deficiency, and family pressure. Pilots do have a gap of 12 hours amidst two flights, but they don’t get to spend the time at their home base. Instead, they spend it where they landed, which could be for a day or days, thus intensifying the detachment from the family. Upon getting back home, their family has high expectations that need to be met, but the pilot is already exhausted with high levels of sleep deprivation and stress from the flying so that the only thing he wants to do is sleep. And when he awakes, he will only get up and get ready for the next flight [21].
IV. C
ONCLUSIONThe current research postulates an insight that can benefit not just the employees but the employers, too. If the civil aviation authority of Pakistan ensures that the CAP-371 policy, which endorses a 12-hour work limit, is implemented rather than its status remaining pending, then wives and children will be able to connect with the pilot at an emotional level rather than his being just a money-making machine. Single employees will look forward to being married as they will be able to devote time to their parents and family-to-be.
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