Humane orientation, work-family conflict, and positive spillover across cultures.

Although cross-national work-family research has made great strides in recent decades, knowledge accumulation on the impact of culture on the work-family interface has been hampered by a limited geographical and cultural scope that has excluded countries where cultural expectations regarding work, family, and support may differ. We advance this literature by investigating work-family relationships in a broad range of cultures, including understudied regions of the world (i.e., Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia). We focus on humane orientation (HO), an overlooked cultural dimension that is however central to the study of social support and higher in those regions. We explore its moderating effect on relationships between work and family social support, work-family conflict, and work-family positive spillover. Building on the congruence and compensation perspectives of fit theory, we test alternative hypotheses on a sample of 10,307 participants from 30 countries/territories. We find HO has mostly a compensatory role in the relationships between workplace support and work-to-family conflict. Specifically, supervisor and coworker supports were most strongly and negatively related to conflict in cultures in which support is most needed (i.e., lower HO cultures). Regarding positive spillover, HO has mostly an amplifying role. Coworker (but not supervisor) support was most strongly and positively related to work-to-family positive spillover in higher HO cultures, where providing social support at work is consistent with the societal practice of providing support to one another. Likewise, instrumental (but not emotional) family support was most strongly and positively related to family-to-work positive spillover in higher HO cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Work, family, and managerial attitudes and practices in the European workplace: comparing Dutch, British, and Slovenian financial sector managers.

Managers are key actors shaping employees' capabilities to utilize work­life policies. However, most research on managers' implementation of these policies has been conducted in liberal welfare states and ignores the impact of institutional context. In this study, we situate managers within specific workplace and national layers of context. We investigated how managers in financial organizations in the Netherlands, UK, and Slovenia talk about the utilization of work­life policies. Managers' discourses stressed disruption and dependency considerations in these case studies, as in the US research. However, a further management discourse of the moral case or right thing to do also emerged. The lack of resources for replacing staff on leave creates disruption and reduces managers capability to support the use of work­life policies, even when they are statutory or if managers are inclined be supportive (dependency or moral argument). This is likely to impact on parents' capabilities.

Work-life initiatives and organizational change: Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream.

This article examines perspectives on employer work-life initiatives as potential organizational change phenomena. Work-life initiatives address two main organizational challenges: structural (flexible job design, human resource policies) and cultural (supportive supervisors, climate) factors. While work-life initiatives serve a purpose in highlighting the need for organizational adaptation to changing relationships between work, family, and personal life, we argue they usually are marginalized rather than mainstreamed into organizational systems. We note mixed consequences of work-life initiatives for individuals and organizations.While they may enable employees to manage work and caregiving, they can increase work intensification and perpetuate stereotypes of ideal workers. In order to advance the field, organizations and scholars need to frame both structural and cultural work-life changes as part of the core employment systems to enhance organizational effectiveness and not just as strategies to support disadvantaged, non-ideal workers. We conclude with an overview of the articles in this special issue.

Neonatal hypoxia in the rat: effects on exocrine pancreatic development.

BACKGROUND: Glucocorticoids profoundly affect pancreatic development during the suckling period. Increases in circulating glucocorticoids during exposure to hypoxia may alter the normal pattern of pancreatic enzyme development. METHODS: Rats were exposed to hypoxia from birth to 7 days (suckling) or from 28 to 35 days of age (weaned at day 21). RESULTS: Hypoxia in neonatal rats (0-7 days) led to decreased pancreatic weight, and trypsin, lipase, and amylase activity compared with normoxic controls. In contrast, rats exposed to hypoxia from 28 to 35 days of age had decreased lipase activity but no change in other pancreatic parameters. Two weeks after hypoxia (0-7 days) pups were returned to normoxia, and their body weights remained smaller than the age-matched, previously normoxic controls. Pancreatic enzyme activities were decreased in the group recovering from hypoxia compared with controls. Recovery of enzyme activities was observed 3 weeks after hypoxic rats were returned to normoxia. Normoxic pups were given dexamethasone to simulate the hyperglucocorticoid state in hypoxia at 7-day olds. Dexamethasone administration led to decreased body weight, but increased pancreatic weight and enzyme activity compared with normoxic, age-matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: Hypoxia in newborn rats delays the maturation of pancreatic exocrine enzymes. The mechanism is not related to increased serum glucocorticoids.