Conflict between work and nonwork roles of employees in the mining industry: Prevalence and differences between demographic groups

Betsie Steyl,Eileen Koekemoer

doi:10.4102/sajhrm.v9i1.277

Abstract

Orientation: International researchers have increasingly recognised the interaction between work and nonwork roles as an interesting and important topic. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of different work–nonwork conflict subscales and differences between demographic groups in work– nonwork conflict.Motivation for the study: Several studies have shown that demographic groups differ in their experiences of the interaction between work and family life. This may also be true of conflict between work and nonwork roles. The prevalence of work–nonwork conflict and nonwork– work conflict is also very important for organisations that may find the results very valuable for developing organisational and individual interventions and performance management in organisations.Research design, approach and method: The researchers chose a random sample of mining employees (n = 245) from a platinum mine in Rustenburg. The researchers used self-developed items similar to items developed in the Work–nonwork Interference Scale of Koekemoer, Mostert and Rothmann (2010) to measure conflict between work and various nonwork roles. The researchers used descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-tests, multivariate analysis of variance and one-way analysis of variance to analyse the data.Main findings: Work–nonwork conflict was more prevalent than nonwork–work conflict. Work–family conflict was more prevalent than work–domestic conflict and work–religion/ spirituality conflict. The researchers found significant differences for marital status and language groups about work–nonwork conflict. Results showed that participants who spoke African languages experienced higher levels of private–work conflict.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations need to recognise the negative interference or conflict between work and nonwork roles for different demographic groups and address the prevalent work–nonwork conflicts in their organisations.Contribution/value-add: Organisations are able to focus interventions and programmes that specifically address the problem of work–nonwork conflict in specific roles and for different demographic groups.

Highlights

There is growing evidence that workers have faced increased pressures at work and in their personal lives during the past few years (Brink & De la Rey, 2001; Geurts & Demerouti, 2003)
The results showed that mining employees reported more work–nonwork conflict than nonwork–work conflict
Work–nonwork conflict was more prevalent amongst mining employees, the results showed the prevalence of the specific subscales of nonwork–work conflict

Summary

Introduction

There is growing evidence that workers have faced increased pressures at work and in their personal lives during the past few years (Brink & De la Rey, 2001; Geurts & Demerouti, 2003). According to Geurts, Rutte, and Peeters (1999), the interdependence between these domains is increasingly recognised. This shows that, apart from work demands, workers face increasing demands in their family or private lives ( called ‘nonwork’ domains). This is mainly because of the demographic and structural changes in family and workforce structures, both nationally in transformation and technological developments as well as high unemployment rates (Cavaleros, Van Vuuren & Visser, 2002) and internationally (Geurts et al, 1999; Geurts & Demerouti, 2003). As a result, increasing demands in their work and nonwork domains confront more and more employees and many of their daily work difficulties become incompatible with their private responsibilities (Jansen, Peeters, De Jonge, Houkes & Tummers, 2004)

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