Work Life Balance - A comparative Study of Women in Senior Management Positions in Austria

Diploma Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1, Bournemouth University, course: MBA, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this research was to investigate how women in senior management positions combine a successful career and family life. The research was conducted in Austria, Denmark and the UK, and qualitative data was collected via a series of semi-structured interviews. Through this research different types of support, including womens priorities and values, as well as their abilities have been discussed with the aim to find out how they manage their work-life balance. Additionally, interactions between professional and private life have been considered in order to explore if there is a connection between work-life balance and work performance. The research findings indicated that there are some historical and cultural problems as well as individual circumstances which make it difficult to combine work and family life. Women manage their time effectively and organise everything, but managing multiple roles is a complex challenge, which requires sophisticated solutions. Women need support from their family; help from their partners and companies flexibility are identified as the most important things to reach a satisfactory work-life balance. Additionally, childcare has to be provided by the government or organised privately so that women can focus on their careers. This study concluded that women have to invest considerable personal resources, such as time and energy in order to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance through their career life cycle. In addition, evidence suggested that a satisfied work-life balance has a positive impact on work performance. Further research recommendations have been given as well as a pragmatic self-generated model.