Managing Time-Based Conflict Across Life Domains In Nigeria: A Decision Making Perspective

Abstract

which employees in a developing country attempt to resolve time-based conflict between work, family and other activities. A decision making framework is used to study the way Nigerian managers handled conflicting pressures from their various life domains. Participants were asked to write a diary, in a free-response format, of a whole Friday and a Saturday morning. Substantial diary excerpts are provided to enable readers to make their own judgment on the validity of the author’s constructivist interpretation. This empirical study permitted a detailed mapping of the day-to-day decision making process people engage in while facing conflicting demands from work, family and an Executive MBA, with the various factors that intervene in a complex interplay. Practical implications are drawn: 1) Managers need to develop time management, interpersonal and problem solving skills, to clarify their values and strengthen their capacity to resist external pressures; and 2) Organizations need to improve their working practices so that their employees may more readily find ways of resolving their work-family conflict. This paper adds to the work-family literature by including the environmental and cultural context in which work and family interact and by closely examining value-based conflict with its impact on a person’s decision-making and subjective experience of conflict.