Variables Affecting Managers' Willingness to Grant Alternative Work Arrangements

Flexible Working Arrangements: Implementation, Outcomes, and Management

“…Klein et al's (2000) findings support institutional theory and other research on the role of applicants gender (Barham, Gottlieb, & Kelloway, 1998) in that managers were more likely to grant requests to women than men and to those related to childcare than those from employees who wanted time for writing a novel. Powell and Mainiero (1999), on the other hand, found managers less willing to grant requests relating to childcare than eldercare, which was viewed as short term and therefore potentially less disruptive.…”

Managers’ Family-Supportive Supervisory Behaviors: A Multilevel Perspective

“…Consistent with the leadership trait approach and workfamily theoretical conceptualizations of the relationship between managers' empathy and family-supportive behaviors (Barham et al, 1998(Barham et al, , 2006, our results indicate that a manager's empathy significantly predicts a manager's familysupportive behaviors. As such, our study provides the first empirical evidence of a relationship between managers' empathy and subordinates' perceptions of the managers' familysupportive behaviors.…”

“…Empathetic managers tend to understand and be sensitive to employees' personal situations, needs and concerns. Work-family research shows managers' empathetic reaction to female subordinates' caregiving responsibilities is positively related to managers' support for women's use of flexible work arrangements (Barham, Gottlieb, & Kelloway, 1998;Powell & Mainiero, 1999). Foley et al (2006) proposed that empathy mediated the relationship between gender and racial similarity and family-supportive supervision.…”

May I Work Part-Time? An Exploration of Predicted Employer Responses to Employee Requests for Part-Time Work

“…Single parents in nonprofessional positions may in fact be the individuals who would most like to reduce their work hours, but who can least afford to do so. Barham et al (1998) found that requests for reduced working hours were more likely to be approved for subordinate than for managerial employees. Thus, those least likely to be able to afford the cut in pay associated with a shift from full-time to part-time work may be most likely to have the opportunity to work part-time.…”