ABSTRACT

Organizational structures are commonly neglected in the analysis of work-life balance opportunities (with important exceptions, such as Lambert, Waxman, & Haley-Lock, 2002). These factors, often in the background, interact with the more typically identified factors such as attributes of individual workers and the work-life policies and strategies adopted by a firm and its managers. Our ongoing research examines the interrelationship among structural changes in industries and firms, managerial strategy, and jobs. We focus on internal labor markets and implications for the quality of jobs, particularly the changes in lower-skill and lower-wage jobs, and for opportunity or mobility. In this chapter, we extend that framework to consider implications for work-life integration opportunities as well.