Article 21 of the Constitution of India After Maneka Gandhi’s Case Essay

INTRODUCTION To a great extent, the Supreme Court of India finds its strength in Article 21 of the Constitution, for the reason that much of its judicial activism has been based on interpreting the scope of this Article. Majority of the PIL cases have been filed under this Article only. The Supreme Court is now known as an activist court. There has been no change in the words used in Article 21, but there has been a change in the way it has been interpreted. The scope of the Article has expanded considerably post the Maneka Gandhi decision. This will be critically analysed in the following few pages. ARTICLE 21 The Article reads- â€Å"No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.† Constituent Assembly Debate Over Article 21 India’s constitutional system was rooted in the traditions of British parliamentary sovereignty and legal positivism. Thus, the emergence of a strong Supreme Court challenging parliamentary legislation via substantive due process was unlikely given this traditional historical context. But aside from the historical legacy of British rule and legal positivism, two specific historical factors directly influenced the Constituent Assembly to explicitly omit a due process clause in the section on Fundamental Rights. The first was the influence of United States Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter on Constitutional Adviser B.N. Rau, who traveled to Britain, Ireland, the United States and Canada in 1947 to meet with jurists regarding the drafting and framing of the Indian Constitution. The second factor was the tumultuous and chaotic period of communal violence that gripped Northern India as a result of the partition of Muslim Pakistan from Hindu India, which led the framers of the Indian Constitution to remove the due process clause from their draft constitution for the protection of individual liberty.1 The Constituent Assembly of India originally included a due process clause in the Fundamental Rights provisions associated with preventive detention and individual liberty in the initial draft version adopted and published in October of 1947. At this point, a majority of members of the Constituent Assembly favored inclusion of a due process clause, because it would provide procedural safeguards against detention of individuals without cause by the government. However, Rau had succeeded in qualifying the phrase liberty with the word â€Å"personal,† effectively limiting the scope of this clause as applying to individual liberties, and not property rights. After this draft version was published, Rau embarked upon a multi-nation trip to the United States, Canada, and Ireland to meet with jurists, constitutional scholars, and other statesmen. In the United States, Rau met with American Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, a student of Harvard Law professor James Bradley Thayer, whose writings about the pitfalls of due process as weakening the democratic process had already impressed Rau prior to the visit. In his meeting with Rau, Frankfurter indicated that he believed that the power of judicial review implied in the due process clause was both undemocratic and burdensome to the judiciary, because it empowered judges to invalidate legislation enacted by democratic majorities. 2 Frankfurter had a lasting impression on Rau, who upon his return to India, became a forceful proponent for removing the due process clause, ultimately convincing the Drafting Committee to reconsider the language of draft Article 15 (now Article 21) in January 1948. In these meetings Rau apparently was able to convince Ayyar, the crucial swing vote on the committee, of the potential pitfalls associated with substantive interpretation of due process, which Frankfurter had discussed extensively with Rau. Ayyar, in ultimately upholding the new position on the floor of the Assembly in December 1948, supported removing the due process clause on the grounds that substantive due process could â€Å"impede social legislation.† With the switch in Ayyar’s vote, the Drafting Committee endorsed Rau’s new preferred language-replacing the due process clause with the phrase â€Å"according to the procedure established by law,† which was apparently borrowed from the Japanese Constitution.3 Protection of Life and Personal Liberty Gopalan’s Case Immediately after the Constitution became effective, the question of interpretation of the words â€Å"life and personal liberty† arose before the court in the case A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras.4 In this case, the Petitioner had been detained under the Preventive Detention Act, 1950. The petitioner challenged the validity of his detention on the ground that it was violative of his Right to freedom of movement under Article 19(1)(d), which is the very essence of personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. He argued that (i) the words ‘personal liberty’ include the freedom of movement also and therefore the Preventive Detention Act, 1950 must also satisfy the requirements of Article 19(5). (ii) It was further argued that Article 21 and Article 19 should be read together as Article 19 laid out the substantive rights while Article 21 provided procedural rights. (iii) It was also argued that the words â€Å"procedure established by law† actually meant â€Å"due process of law† from the American Constitution which includes principles of natural justice and the impugned law does not satisfy that requirement. Thus the main question was whether Article 21 envisaged any procedure laid down by a law enacted by a legislature, or whether the procedure should be just, fair and reasonable. On behalf of Gopalan, an argument was made to persuade the Supreme Court to hold that the courts could adjudicate upon the reasonableness of the Preventive Detention Act, or for that matter, any law depriving a person of his personal liberty. Majority Decision in Gopalan The Supreme Court ruled by majority that the word ‘law’ in Article 21 could not be read as meaning rules of natural justice. These rules were vague and indefinite and the Constitution could not be read as laying down a vague standard. The Court further interpreted the term ‘law’ as ‘State made law’ and rejected the plea that the term ‘law’ in Article 21 meant jus naturale or principles of natural justice. Justice Fazl Ali’s Dissenting Judgment Justicle Fazl Ali in his dissenting judgment observed that preventive detention is a direct infringement of the right guaranteed in Art. 19 (1) (d), even if a narrow construction is placed on the said sub-clause, and a lawrelating to preventive detention is therefore subject to such limited judicial review as is permitted by Art. 19 (5). There is nothing revolutionary in the view that â€Å"procedure established by law â€Å"must include the four principles of elementary justice which inhere in and are at the root of all civilized systems of law, and which have been stated by the American Courts and jurists as consisting in (1) notice, (2) opportunity to be heard, (3) impartial tribunal and (4) orderly course of procedure. These four principles are really different aspects of the same right, namely, the right to be heard before one is condemned. Hence the words â€Å"procedure established by law â€Å", whatever its exact meaning be, must necessarily include the principle that no person shall be condemned without hearing by an impartial tribunal. Relationship among Articles 21, 22 and 19 An attempt was made in Gopalan to establish a link between these three Articles. The underlying purpose was to persuade the Court to adjudge the reasonableness of the Preventive Detention Act. It was therefore argued that when a person was detained, his several rights under Article 19 were affected and thus, the reasonableness of the law, and the procedure contained therein (regarding reasonable restrictions), should be justiciable with reference to Arts. 19(2) to (6). Rejecting the argument, the Court pointed out that the word ‘personal liberty’ under Article 21 in itself had a comprehensive content and ordinarily, if left alone, would include not only freedom from arrest or detention, but also various freedoms guaranteed by Art. 19. However, reading Articles 19 and 21 together , Article 19 must be held to deal with a few specific freedoms mentioned therein and not with freedom from detention whether punitive or preventive. Similarly, Art. 21 should be held as excluding the freedoms dealt with in Article 19. The Court ruled that Arts. 20 and 22 constituted a comprehensive code and embodied the entire constitutional protection in relation to life and personal liberty and was not controlled by Article 19. Thus, a law depriving personal liberty had to conform with Arts. 20 and 22 and not with Art. 19, which covered a separate and distinct ground. Article 19 could be invoked only by a freeman and not one under arrest. Further, Article 19 could be invoked only when a law directly attempted to control a right mentioned under it. Thus, a law directly controlling a citizen’s right to freedom of speech and expression could be tested under the exception given under Art. 19(2); and a law that does not directly control the fundamental freedoms under Article 19, could not be tested under the clauses (2) to (6) of Article 19. This judicial approach meant that a preventive detention law would be valid, and be within the terms of Article 21, so long as it conformed to Article 22. Due Process of Law The V Amendment of the US Constitution lays down inter alia that â€Å"no person shall be deprived of his life, liberty or property, without due process of law.† The use of the word ‘due’ in this clause is interpreted to mean ‘just’, ‘proper’ or ‘reasonable’ according to judicial review. The courts can pronounce whether a law affecting a person’s life, liberty or property is reasonable or not. The court may declare a law invalid if it does not accord with its notions of what is just, fair and reasonable. Thus, this clause known as the ‘due process clause’ has been the most significant single source of judicial review in the US. It was contended in Gopalan that the expression procedure established by law in Art. 21 was synonymous with the American concept of ‘procedural due process’, and therefore, the reasonableness of the Preventive Detention Act, or for that matter, of any law affecting a person’s life or personal liberty, should comply with the principles of natural justice. The Supreme Court rejected this contention giving several reasons: i) The word ‘due’ was absent from Article 21. ii) The fact that the words ‘due process’ were dropped from draft Article 15 (present Article 21), signified the intention of the Constituent Assembly, that was to avoid the uncertainty surrounding the due process concept in the USA. iii) The American doctrine generated the countervailing but complicated doctrine of police power to restrict the ambit of due process, i.e., the doctrine of governmental power to regulate private rights in public interest. If the doctrine of due process was imported into India, then the doctrine of police power might also have to be imported, and which would make things very complicated. The ruling thus meant that to deprive a person of his life or personal liberty- i) There must be a law ii) It should lay down a procedure iii) The executive should follow this procedure while depriving a person of his life or personal liberty. Criticism Gopalan was characterized as the ‘high-water mark of legal positivism.’ Court’s approach was very static, mechanical, purely literal and was coloured by the positivist or imperative theory of law, which studies the law as it is. Article 21 was interpreted by the majority to mean that Art. 21 constituted a restriction only on the executive which could not act without law and that it was not applicable against legislative power, which could make any law to impose restraints on personal liberty, however arbitrary they may be. GOPALAN TO MANEKA: 1950-1977 Gopalan held the field for almost three decades. It can be observed during this period from the court decisions that the two major points settled in the case [that is, firstly that Articles 19, 21 and 22 are mutually exclusive and independent of each other, and secondly that Article 19 was not to apply to a law affecting personal liberty to which Article 21 would apply] got diluted to a great extent until finally in Maneka Gandhi’s case this position was reversed. The decisions immediately proceeding Gopalan’s case were decided on the same basis. For example, in Ram Singh v. Delhi5, where a person was detained under the Preventive Detention Act for making speeches prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, at a time when public order was not contained under Article 19(2), the Supreme Court refused to assess the validity of preventive detention under Article 22 with reference to Article 19(1)(a) read with Article 19(2) stating that even if a right under Art. 19(1)(a) was abridged, the validity of the preventive detention order could not be considered with reference to Art. 19(2) because of the Gopalan decision that legislation authorizing deprivation of personal liberty did not fall under Art. 19 and its validity was not to be judged by the criteria in Art. 19. The beginning of the new trend can be found in RC Cooper v. Union of India6, where Article 31(2) which had been amended to dilute the protection to property, the Court established a link between Article 19(1)(f) (right to property) and Article 31(2). But the draconian Gopalan ruling found its way back and reached the lowest point in ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla7, remembered as the black day in Indian Constitutional history. In this case the political dissenters of the Indira Gandhi government were arrested and Shivkant Shukla contended that this was in violation of their right to life and personal liberty and so the writ of habeas corpus should be issued. Court held that during the period of emergency, a person could be detained and his right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 could be suspended, and such suspension could not be challenged and the writ of habeas corpus could not be issued during the emergency. This case showed that Article 21 could not play any role in providing any protection against any harsh law seeking to deprive a person of his life or liberty. It is the dissenting judgment of Fazl Ali J that was subsequently applied in the decision in Maneka Gandhi’s case and the cases after that, regarding the right to life and personal liberty. MANEKA GANDHI’S CASE In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India8 and ever since, the Supreme Court has shown greater sensitivity to the protection of personal liberty. The court has reinterpreted Article 21 and overruled its Gopalan decision and which, in the words of MP Jain, can be regarded as a highly creative judicial pronouncement on the part of the Supreme Court. In this case, Maneka Gandhi’s passport was impounded by the Central Government under the Passport Act in the interest of the general public, as was provided under S. 103(c) of the Passport Act. This was challenged on the ground of being arbitrary to Article 21 and also because this was done without affording her a chance to be heard. The Court observed that as the right to travel abroad falls under Article 21, principles of natural justice must be observed and the right of hearing should be given, even though not expressly provided for under the statute. Some of the main propositions laid down by the court in this case are as follows: 1. The court reiterated the proposition that Articles 14, 19 and 21 are inter-related and not mutually exclusive. This means that a law prescribing a procedure to deprive a person of their personal liberty, should conform to the provisions under Article 19. Moreover, the procedure established by law under Article 21 must meet the requirements of Article 14. According to K. Iyer, J, no Article in the Constitution pertaining to a Fundamental Right is an island in itself. Just as a man is not dissectible into separate limbs, cardinal rights in an organic constitution have a synthesis. Here, the dissenting judgment of Justice Fazl Ali in Gopalan’s case was followed. 2. The court emphasized that the expression ‘personal liberty’ was of the widest amplitude covering a variety of rights which go to constitute the personal liberty of man. Some of these attributes have been raised to the status of distinct fundamental rights and given additional protection under Article 19. 3. The most significant aspect of Maneka’s decision is the reinterpretation by the court of the expression ‘procedure established by law’ used in Article 21. It now means that the procedure must satisfy certain requisites in the sense of being fair and reasonable. The procedure cannot be arbitrary, unfair or unreasonable. The reasonableness must be projected in the procedure contemplated by Article 21. IMPACT OF MANEKA GANDHI’S DECISION Article 21 which had lain dormant for nearly three decades was brought to life by the Maneka Gandhi decision. Since then Article 21 has been on its way to emerge as the Indian version of the American concept of due process. It has become the source of many substantive rights and procedural safeguards to the people. Some of the broad fields of this impact will be discussed as below: 1. Interpretation of the Word Life In Francis Coralie9 the Supreme Court, following the principle laid down in Maneka Gandhi’s case, has interpreted the meaning of life as has been interpreted by the US Supreme Court in Munn v. Illinois10, and held that the expression ‘life’ under Article 21 does not connote merely physical or animal existence but embraces something more. As recently as 2006, the Supreme Court has observed that Article 21 embraces within its sweep not only physical existence but also the quality of life. These cases only reflect a part of the scope and ambit of the word ‘life’ under Article 21, which has been extended widely by the Supreme Court over the years proceeding Maneka. There have been a number of areas in which the Supreme Court has related some of the Directive Principles of State Policies to the word ‘life’ under Article 21 and made it enforceable as a fundamental right. A classic example of this is the large number of environment related cases filed by MC Mehta. 2. Personal Liberty It does not mean merely the liberty of body, i.e., freedom from physical restraint or freedom from confinement within the bounds of a prison. The expression ‘personal liberty’ is not used in a narrow sense but as a compendious term to include within it all those variety of rights of a person which go to make personal liberty of a man. To begin with, the expression ‘personal liberty’ in Art. 21 was interpreted so as to exclude the rights mentioned under Article 19. The view was expressed in Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh11 that while Art. 19(1) dealt with particular species of that freedom, ‘personal liberty’ in Art. 21 would take in the residue. This view was followed in Gopalan’s case as well. But the minority view expressed by Justice Subba Rao adopted a much wider concept of ‘personal liberty’. He differed from the majority view that Art. 21 excluded what was guaranteed by Art. 19. He pleaded for an overlapping approach of Arts. 21 and 19. In a recent judgment of 2009, Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration12, the Supreme Court asserted the strict boundaries of ‘personal liberty’ but that such liberty must also accommodate public interest. A woman’s right to make reproductive choice has been held to be a dimension of ‘perso nal liberty’ within the meaning of Art. 21. 3. Law Ordinarily, the word law in Article 21 denotes an enacted law, i.e., a law made by the Legislature. But in AK Roy v. Union of India13, the question was whether an ordinance in the context of National Security Ordinance, 1980, promulgated by the President to provide for preventive detention in certain cases and connected matters, a law? The petitioner argued that since this was made by an executive it was not law and could not, thus, deprive a person of their ‘personal liberty’. The Supreme Court held that an ordinance passed by an executive is well within the meaning of ‘law’ and must therefore, also be subject to Fundamental Rights, just like an Act of the Legislature. 4. Procedure After Maneka Gandhi, it is now established that the procedure for purposes of Art. 21 has to be reasonable, fair and just. The Supreme Court has reasserted in Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab14 that the procedure contemplated by Art. 21 is that it must be ‘right, just and fair’ and not arbitrary, fanciful or oppressive. In re The Special Courts Bill, 1978, the Special Courts Bill proposed that a special court would be constituted to try certain persons holding high political offices during the emergency of 1975-1977. The special Court was to be presided over by a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court, to be appointed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. The accused could appeal to the Supreme Court against the verdict of the special Court. For the procedure to be just, fair and reasonable, the Court suggested certain modifications: There should be a provision for transferring a case from one special court to another so as to avoid the possibility of a trial where a judge may be biased against the accused Only a sitting High Court Judge ought to be appointed, for the retired Judge would hold the office as a Judge of the special court during the pleasure of the government, and the â€Å"pleasure doctrine was subversive of judicial independence.† Instead of mere consultation, the Chief Justice’s concurrence should be there, which would inspire confidence not only of the accused but also of the entire community in the special Court. CRIMINAL JUSTICE AFTER MANEKA Arrest In Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh15, the Supreme Court has observed that an arrest can cause incalculable harm to a person’s reputation and self-esteem. Arrest should be made not merely on suspicion but only after a reasonable satisfaction reached after some investigation as to the genuineness and bona fides of the complaint and a reasonable belief to the person’s complicity and even as to the need to effect arrest. Speedy Trial Speedy trial has not been mentioned as a fundamental right in the Constitution. Yet the Court has declared this as a fundamental right in Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar (I).16 In this case, the undertrials were in prison for a long period of time, awaiting their trials. Bhagwati, J. held that although, unlike the American Constitution speedy trial is not specifically enumerated as a fundamental right, it is implicit in the broad sweep and content of Article 21 as interpreted in Maneka Gandhi’s case. This position was reiterated in Hussainara Khatoon(No. 2) and Hussainara Khatoon(No. 3). In a significant judgment in Abdul Rehman Antulay v. RS Nayak17, the Supreme Court has laid down guidelines for the speedy trial of an accused: i) Fair, just and reasonable procedure implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution creates a right in the accused to be tried speedily. Right to speedy trial is the right of the accused. The fact that a speedy trial is also in public interest or that it serves the societal interest also, does not make it any-the-less the right of the accused. ii) Right to Speedy Trial flowing from Article 21 encompasses all the stages, namely the stage of investigation, inquiry, trial, appeal, revision and retrial. That is how, this Court has understood this right and there is no reason to take a restricted view. iii) The concerns underlying the Right to speedy trial from the point of view of the accused are: (a) the period of remand and pre-conviction detention should be as short as possible. In other words, the accused should not be subjected to unnecessary or unduly long incarceration prior to his conviction; (b) the worry, anxiety, expense and disturbance to his vocation and peace, resulting from an unduly prolonged investigation, inquiry or trial should be minimal; and (c) undue delay may well result in impairment of the ability of the accused to defend himself, whether on account of death, disappearance or non-availability of witnesses or otherwise. In Sunil Batra (II) v. Delhi Administration18, it was held that the practice of keeping undertrials with convicts in jails offended the test of reasonableness in Art. 19 and fairness in Art. 21. Prison Administration In Sunil Batra (I) v. Delhi Administration19, the important question before the court was whether solitary confinement imposed upon prisoners who were under sentence of death, was violative of Articles 14, 19, 20 and 21. It was held that under Sections 73 and 74 of the IPC, solitary confinement is a substantive punishment, which can be imposed by a court of law, and it cannot be left within the caprice of prison authorities. It further observed that if by imposing solitary confinement there is total deprivation of camaraderie amongst co-prisoners, comingling and talking and being talked to, it would offend Article 21 of the Constitution. The liberty to move, mix mingle, talk, share company with co-prisoners if substantially curtailed, would be violative of Article 21 unless curtailment has the backing of law. Here we see the high regard that the Supreme Court gives to human life and personal liberty, notwithstanding a person’s jail sentence. In Prem Shankar v. Delhi Administration20, the Supreme Court has held that handcuffing should be resorted to only when there is clear and present danger of escape. Even when in extreme cases, handcuffing is to be put on the prisoner, the escorting authority must record simultaneously the reasons for doing so, otherwise the procedure would be unfair and bad in law. This is implicit in Article 21 which insists upon fairness, reasonableness and justice in the procedure for deprivation of life and liberty. Legal Aid In Hussainara21, the Supreme Court has observed that it is an essential ingredient of reasonable, fair and just procedure to a prisoner who is to seek his liberation through the court’s process that he should have legal services available to him. Providing free legal service to the poor and the needy is an essential element of any reasonable, fair and just procedure. In Suk Das22, the Court quashed the conviction of the appellant because the accused remained unrepresented by a lawyer and so the trial became vitiated on account of a fatal constitutional infirmity. The court held that free legal assistance at the cost of the State is a Fundamental Right of a person accused of an offence and this requirement is implicit in the requirement of a fair, just and reasonable procedure prescribed by Article 21. Public Interest Litigation One of the most effective instruments evolved by the Supreme Court for attaining social justice is Public Interest Litigation (PIL). Any person with a sufficient interest and acting bona fide can file a PIL in the Supreme Court under Art. 32 or Art. 226. If there is a violation of any fundamental right or legal duties and there is legal injury to a person or a class of persons who are unable to approach the court by ignorance, poverty or by any disability, social or economic, any member of the public can make an application for an appropriate direction or order or writ before the High Court under Article 226 and before the Supreme Court under Article 32 for redressal. This was the gist of the principle laid down in SP Gupta v. Union of India23, in which the Court has given considerable relaxation to the doctrine of locus standi. PILs have played an important role in the fields of prison reforms, gender justice, environment protection, child rights, education, wherein the court has constantly made an attempt to uphold the value of a dignified human life, which is not merely confined to access to food, shelter and clothing, but goes much beyond. For instance, in Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan24, an incident of rape was held to be violative of not only the right to gender equality under Art. 14, but also of the right to life under Article 21. The Supreme Court has laid down specific guidelines as to what constitutes sexual harassment at workplace, placing the responsibility on the employer to ensure the safety of their employees, also making it mandatory for all public offices to have a Women’s Cell, where the women employees could take their grievances. These guidelines can also be found in the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013. In MC Mehta v. Union of India25, the Supreme Court has developed the concept of absolute liability regarding the payment of compensation by an enterprise engaged in dangerous and hazardous activities. The Supreme Court has also exercised epistolary jurisdiction, wherein a letter has been treated as a petition before the court. In Labourers Working on Salal Hydroelectric Project v. State of Jammu and Kashmir26, litigation was started on the basis of a letter addressed by the People’s Union for Democratic Rights to Mr. Justice D.A. Desai enclosing a copy of the news item which appeared in the issue of Indian Express pointing out that a large number of workmen working on the Salal Hydro Electric Project were denied the benefit of various labour laws and were subjected to exploitation by the contractors to whom different portions of the work were entrusted by the Central Government. In all of these cases, and a number of others, a reflection of Maneka’s decision can be found, wherein the Court has tried to uphold the sanctity of a dignified human life. CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF MANEKA’S DECISION The kind of wide interpretation that has been given to Article 21 post Maneka, has not been given to any other provision. Article 21 read with Articles 32 and 226, has become the most important weapon of judicial activism. By relating Directive Principles of State Policy with Fundamental Rights, court is granting remedies on an ever increasing scale. But it must be remembered that Directive Principles are non-justiciable in nature and cannot be enforced. Yet, the Supreme Court has gone to great lengths to enforce these by relating them to right to life. But balancing of conflicting interests is an important function of law. Function of law is social engineering. This has to be performed by both, the Legislator as well as the Judiciary. Justice Cardozo also says that the court can evolve a process for dealing with the social ills. Thus, where legislators fail to balance the interests, it is the Court which must do it. The court will be criticized for judicial over-reach, that is, for undertaking the power of the legislator and laying down a law, as it happened in Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan. But it must be realized that where the Legislators fail, the court has to step in. The gaps need to be filled. Thus, from the perspective of Roscoe Pound’s social engineering theory, which is very relevant in the present scenario, court’s actions cannot be termed as judicial overreach. CONCLUSION Thus, the decision of the Supreme Court in Maneka Gandhi’s case became the basis of the court’s decisions in subsequent cases pertaining to not only Article 21 expressly, but wherever the court found a relation between life and another aspect of it. The Court developed a theory of ‘inter-relationship of rights’ to hold that governmental action which curtailed either of these rights should meet the designated threshold for restraints on all of them. In this manner, the Courts incorporated the guarantee of ‘substantive due process’ into the language of Article 21. This was followed by a series of decisions, where the conceptions of ‘life’ and ‘personal liberty’ were interpreted liberally to include rights which had not been expressly enumerated in Part III.27 The width of Article 21 will keep expanding as long as our Supreme Court upholds its title of the activist court, and intervenes dutifully to preserve the fundamental rights of the people. The Court has, thus, played the role of a social engineer, constantly making an effort to balance the conflicting interests of the state with those of the society and the individuals. REFERENCES 1. Indian Constitutional Law, M.P. Jain, Sixth Edition (2013). 2. Constitutional Law of India, J.N. Pandey, Forty Third Edition (2006).

The Cross-Cultural Management Implications for a UK Manager Undertaking an International Business Assignment to another Country

Abstract This report looks at the implications for cross-cultural management for a UK manager undertaking an international business assignment in China. Key ways of understanding cultural differences, particularly Hofstede’s and Trompenaars cultural dimensions, are discussed. Although the UK and China have some similarities, they are very different in several dimensions, and the ways these differences impact upon business practice are pointed out. Finally, key recommendations are made. 1. Introduction The following looks at the cross-cultural management implications for a UK manager undertaking an international business assignment to China. It uses a theoretical framework of cultural differences to explore the ways in which the two different countries have different business styles (including differences in style of management, communication and staff issues).The exploration of the differences between the UK and China is used to support a number of recommendations to the UK manager about best practice. China offers unparalleled opportunities for business, and over the last 30 years has shown unprecedented economic growth, with a percentage rise of 8.7% in 2009, better than all other major economies (UK Trade and Investment 2012 [online]). China is large, both in terms of size (3.7 million square miles) and population (1.3 billion).Its capital is Beijing, and its population largely (92%) Han Chinese, with the remainder 55 different ethnic minority groups. Although officially an atheist country, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Daoism are practiced. Mandarin is the main language, although there are a number of local dialects, and the currency is the Yuan or Renminbi (Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2012 [online]). China’s communist government have, over the last 30 years, brought about substantial change to bring about market-oriented economic systems (Gore 2011) in order to deliver the prosperity that it seemed the Marxist system could not provide (Grant 2005). The transformation has been built upon the large workforce, offering the possibility of cheap labour and hence low-cost manufacturing. It has seen economic reforms which have meant China have become a force in the global business market (Brandt and Rawski 2006). China is, however, culturally very different from the UK, and in order to conduct business successfully it is essential to understand these differences and the impact on management. 2. Cross-Cultural Theorists Two theorists, Hofstede and Trompenaars, are particularly useful for understanding the differences between cultures. Hofstede has been very influential in contemporary management theory attempts to understand cross-cultural differences. His ideas were rooted in a large scale study of IBM (Matsumoto and Juang 2012), and involve five different dimensions which characterise a nation. Each country has a different value for each dimension, and a unique picture of the cultural nature of that country is built up through all five dimensions. The five dimensions are power distance, individualism / collectivism, masculinity / femininity, degree of uncertainty avoidance, and time orientation (Hofstede 1984).Power distance concerns the extent to which people are happy with an unequal society, and the extent to which the society is hierarchical with a large gap between the powerful and those without power. A low power distance country, for example, would be more egalitarianism and intolerant o f power imbalance. Individualism / collectivism refers to the extent to which people think of themselves as individuals or as part of a group.Individualistic societies are competitive and value creativity for example (Phillips and Gully 2011). The dimension of masculinity and femininity expresses the extent to which the culture displays predominantly masculine values: gender roles are clearly defined, assertiveness and striving are praised. In a feminine culture roles are more fluid and more caring values respected (Tian 2004). Uncertainty avoidance refers to how comfortable people are with ambiguity. Cultures high on this like rules and regulations (Sorrentino 2005).Interestingly for the context of this report, Hofstede’s final dimension was based on data collected from China, with the help of Michael Harris Bond (Berry et al 1997).Time orientation concerns the way in which people think about time, with a distinction between short-term and long-term orientation. Cultures which are short-term oriented life in the moment, while long-term cultures are strong on planning (Daft and Marcic 2010). Trompenaars (1993) model can be seen as a development of Hofstede’s ideas. He suggested seven different dimensions, again based on a large-scale study across many different countries. These dimensions cover three main areas: how people relate to others, their perceptions of time, and their experiences of the environment (Lane 2004). The seven dimensions overlap with Hofstede’s dimensions to some extent, with some being very similar and others new. The dimensions he specifies are: Universal v. particular: whether the society is organised around set rules and procedures or whether the needs of the individuals come first Individual v. collectivism: whether people predominantly act for themselves or think about the group Affective v. neutral: whether people are predominantly demonstrative emotionally, or are controlled and rational Specific v. diffuse: whether organisational systems determine employee behaviour, or systems arise out of the needs and perspectives of individuals. Achievement v. ascription: whether achievement or background, education and other fixed variables assumed to be important about people Sequential v. synchronous: whether time is seen fixed and linear or flexible and open Internal v. external control: whether people believe that nature can be controlled through human will, or human beings are part of nature and subject to its laws. (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 2004). While Trompenaars is clearly influenced by Hofstede’s work, Hofstede has criticised the former for lacking the intellectual rigour he believes the five dimensional model possesses. Hofstede has also attracted criticism, for example that five dimensions are inadequate to fully capture the complexity of cultural differences (Browaeys and Price 2008). Despite criticisms, however, both these models are useful to help understand how cultures differ from each other, and will influence the next section. 3. Discussion / Analysis According to Hofstede (Geert-hofstede.com 2012 [online]) (see appendix), China and the UK show fairly different cultural styles. They are, however, identical for masculinity / femininity (66) and near-identical for uncertainty avoidance.Both the UK and China tend towards masculinity in society, with drivenness and competition valued. Additionally, both are low for uncertainty avoidance, in other words, both societies are happy with ambiguity and believe rules should be followed flexibly and selectively. Both societies are adaptable, which encourages entrepreneurship. China is higher than the UK for power distance (80 v. 35), that is, China is comfortable with hierarchy, power structure and wide gaps between people. There is more likelihood of abuse of power, and authority is important. Aspiration above ones status is unacceptable. In the UK, people see each other as equals to a greater extent, have less respect for authority, do not tolerate abuses of power, and aspire to change their status. There is also a gap between the UK and China in regards to individualism, with the UK scoring much higher (89 v. 20). In other words, in China there is a much higher degree of interdependence between people, with people defining themselves as part of a group. In the UK the tendency is to think about oneself, and one’s family before society as a whole. Chinese people act to serve the group rather than themselves, and are likely to have much higher organisational commitment, as well as feeling it acceptable for closer groups (e.g. family) to get preferential treatment at work. Whereas UK people tend to be generally agreeable to those outside the preferred group, in highly collectivist societies those outside their group may be demonised. China are much more long-term oriented than the UK. There is a greater value placed on persistence and long-term goals. They are happy to save and be economical with resources, and have great respect for the past and for tradition. By contrast, people in the UK are more able to enjoy the moment, and can be flexible with regards to goals. According to Trompenaars, China is one of the most particularist of the countries he looked at (Rugman and Collinson 2008), meaning that they look at the particular case and take all circumstances into account, rather than looking at general principles. For example, an employer in a particularist culture might excuse poor work behaviour if the individual’s circumstances offer a good reason. In addition, China scores highly for affectivity, level of diffuseness and external control (Aswathappa 2010).That is, people conduct business in an emotional way, displaying emotions openly, do not have a strong sense of the barriers between public and private life, and feel that fate plays a stronger role in what happens to an individual or organisation than choice and self-motivation. While there are some similarities, China and UK have a very different cultural make-up, according to both sets of dimensions. What impact does this have on business styles This can be considered in terms of different areas. For team work, for example, the high-power distance might mean that Chinese staff are uncomfortable with sharing feedback and frank discussions. However, their low individualism suggests that they would put the team before themselves, and would therefore be motivated by team-based rewards. UK staff, by contrast, might find sharing opinions as a team fairly easy, as they have a lower power distance, but might put their own interests before those of the team or organisation as a whole. In terms of communication, China have high affectivity, which suggests they might work better if communication styles are emotional rather than neutral. For example, written communications in the UK tend towards formal business English: a more open and friendly style might suit the Chinese market more. Additionally, China scores highly for diffuseness against specificity. That is, there may be a tendency for communications to be more roundabout, with things left unsaid or communicated non-verbally. Diffuse cultures also have a higher degree of overlap between work and home (Amant 2007), which may mean that there is a greater reliance on shared experience upon which to base communication amongst the Chinese. There is also a need for a different management style, to take into account the greater power distance in China. Whereas UK workers respond better to power sharing and partnership styles, in China there may be a need to confirm the hierarchy, making it clear who is in charge, and defining roles carefully.However China also score highly for particularism, which suggests that management needs to take into account the details of each situation, rather than rigidly follow rules. Employees are likely to expect that rules can be bent to suit circumstance. Motivation and performance management are also likely to differ across the cultures. As mentioned, China scores much lower for individualism, which suggests that team-based rewards would be more motivating for them than in the UK. China are also markedly more long-term oriented, which means employees are likely to respond to goals set for the distant future, rather than needing near-instant reward. There is also an issue here for motivating teams which consist of employees from both China and the UK, as each employee group is likely to have a different perspective on what is a motivating factor. The higher score for China on external control suggests that employees are less likely to enjoy spontaneous decision making. As they feel that the forces which drive business are located outside of themselves, this removes some of the responsibility for making decisions, and places it in the hands of fate, or higher authorities in the organisation. This is confirmed by the high power distance in China, which suggests that employees are very comfortable with letting decision making be carried out by those higher in the corporate hierarchy. By contrast, UK employees are likely to desire more participation in decisions. Negotiation should also be handled with care. The higher affectivity and diffuse culture in China may mean that great attention needs to be paid to the non-verbal cues when negotiation takes place.The higher power distance might also mean that negations need to be carried out between staff perceived to be at similar levels. In addition to the dimensional analysis of culture, Tian (2007) suggests that negotiation in China is determined by a set of core traditional values including the importance of sincerity and trust, respect for age and hierarchy, maintaining social harmony and avoiding getting angry or being unpleasant to others. This might mean that negotiation between two people of very different ages might be tricky, for example. 4. Conclusions Although they have some common areas, for example similarly masculine cultures and a similar tolerance of uncertainty, China and the UK have key cultural differences which are likely to impact attempts to manage a diverse work team. In particular, China employees are likely to be much more comfortable with hierarchy and unequal distribution of power, to value the group over the individual, to be focussed upon the long-term (but less likely to react spontaneously to the moment). They are also more likely to expect rules to be bent to the particular case, to attribute the cause of events to circumstances or agents external to themselves, and to prefer styles of communication which heavily emphasise the non-verbal and tacit. While, to a certain extent, globalisation has meant that cultural diversity is threatened, (Homann et al 2007), to be successful management needs to anticipate and plan for difference. 5. Recommendations Recognise that hierarchy has a more important role in China Adapt communication styles to pay attention to context, body-language and assumed information Plan team-work to incorporate two very different perspectives on the relative importance of the individual and the group Ensure Chinese employees are kept fully informed about the long-term perspective 6. References Aswathappa, K (2010) International Business (4th edn.), Tata McGraw-Hill Education, India. Berry, J W, Portinga, Y H and Pandey, J (1997) Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology: Social behavior and applications (2nd edn.), John Berry. Brandt, L and Rawski, T G (2006) China’s Great Economic Transformation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York. Browaeys, M-J and Price, R (2008) Understanding cross-cultural management, Pearson Education, Harlow, Essex Daft, R L and Marcic, D (2010) Understanding Management (7th edn.), Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2012) ‘China: Country Information’ [online] (cited 22nd February 2012), available from http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asia-oceania/china Geert-hofstede.com (2012) ‘What about China?’, [online] (cited 22nd February 2012), available from http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html ‘What about china?’, Gore, L (2011) The Chinese Communist Party and China’s capitalist revolution: the political impact of the market, Taylor & Francis, Oxon. Grant, R G (2005) Communism: Systems of government, Evans Brothers. Hofstede, G H (1984) Culture’s consequences: international differences in work-related values (2nd edn), SAGE, Thousand Oaks, CA Homann, K, Koslowski, P and Luetge, C (2007) Globalisation and business ethics, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, Aldershot, Hants. Lane, H W (2004) The Blackwell handbook of global management: a guide to managing complexity, John Wiley & Sons / Blackwell, Oxon. Matsumoto, D and Juang, L (2012) Culture and Psychology (5th edn), Cengage Learning, Belmont CA Phillips, J and Gulley, S M (2011) Organizational Behavior: Tools for Success, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA. Rugman, A M and Collinson, S (2008) International Business (5th edn.), Pearson Education, Harlow, Essex St. Amant, K (2007) Linguistic and cultural online communication issues in the global age, Idea Group Inc, Hershey PA Sorrento, R M (2005) Culture and social behaviour, Routledge, UK Tian, Q (2004) A transcultural study of ethical perceptions and judgements between Chinese and German businessmen, Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, Germany Tian, X (2007) Managing international business in China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Trompenaars, F (1993) Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in business, Economist Books. Trompenaars, F and Hampden-Turner, C (2004) Managing people across cultures, Capstone. UK Trade and Investment (2012) ‘China’ [online] (cited 22nd February 2012), available from http://www.ukti.gov.uk/export/countries/asiapacific/fareast/china.html

Marketing homework word

Western is a loyal customer of Egan for 63 years. It was the more important customer. But, these last few years, because of the financial crisis in the European Union, and here more precisely in the United Kingdom, Western company has only half of the normal activity. That decreasing amount of work implies financial issues, and Egan is loosing money when they work with Western.Before evaluations the relevance to continue business with Western, we must sake into account that a loyal customer is a relationship very hard to build in the business world, and It can take several years to find and to build a loyal relationship with a new customer. We have to split the responsibilities of the bad economic situation of the company between Westerly's faults and environment's faults. Taking a decision about an old loyal customer means to be sure that all the details of the strategies of the two companies have been understood.Egan & Sons is not a company with a good economic situation in long te rm because its strategy has a robber because the administration of the society is too traditional. These problems were highlighted by the emergence of new competitors. If Egan wants to be shown like an interesting society in long terms benefits, they will have to adapt their strategy to all the recent changes. The external environment are also Important to consider If we want to have a precise idea of the responsibilities of this situation.Egan has to do something because several extern competitors threaten the society benefits. Indeed, Chinese impasses highlighted the lack of adaptability of the firm. Furthermore, the external environment in united Kingdom is really bleak and businesses are slowing or falling down. This environment can explain a part of the economic problems of Western, but that doesn't excuse all of the bad issues of this company. The external environment, the financial crisis, the increasing of the competition, raise an other important obstacle for the future of the firm Egan without Western.Indeed, If this Important and loyal customer Is dropped, that will be really official to find a trustful and loyal supplier with a good financial situation. Egan will have to decrease Its production if they want to avoid that the costs become higher than the revenues. One or two months. The negotiations with Western must treat of the strategy of the firm. Tommy should explain clearly the situation of the relationship between the two companies and state that or Steve and Western radically change their strategy or they will no longer be a customer of Egan. Even if they change their strategy, decisions will make a long mime to have some effects.On the loyalty ladder, Western is on the top of the loyal customers. Egan has to change the type of customer of Western. Before, Western was a privileged customer with special benefits but with the current situation, it cannot continue anymore. Western must become a discount customer with less advantages in order to balance the losses and the benefits of the two companies. That will be a problem for Western because they have already financial problems and if they become Just a discount customer of one of their best appliers, their profitability will be really affected.The administration will have, after the change of strategy, to change the organization in order to create short term benefits. A reconstruction of the firm must be studied and an audit of all the suppliers and customers must be done so the costs will be minimized and the products standardized. It is highly recommended that Tommy waits to see the effects of all the different effects of the changes on long term, strategy, and on short term, organization, before to drop this customer.

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RBSs Internationalization Models Into Mexico As An Emerging Markets Essay

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The importance of GDP indicator for assessing the effectiveness of the Essay

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Dubois and Washington Essay Example for Free

Dubois and Washington Essay In assessing the suitability of W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington approaches towards the black development goals in the South of Jim Crow laws era we need to have a little ides of what the Jim Crow laws were designed to achieve. Permitting African Americans to develop while those laws were in place and peaceful struggle to work against the discriminatory laws would be my standard of suitability of the measures used by the two Race Leaders. I believe that Washingtons approach was too meek and would have damaged the black cause. On the other hand Duboiss approach seems arrogant for the time. Both Race Leaders being in the same period must have had a positive effect on the black rights as each approach considered separately was likely to be harmful to the black cause. Jim Crow Laws During the period of slavery, the relationship between white masters and black slaves was clearly defined as that of a master and slave, with all the rights belonging to the master and none to the slave. Once the blacks were declared as free, the need for keeping the ex-slaves in their place became important and the states and local communities began to pass laws to segregate blacks in social and public life. Blacks were, as to say segregated from cradle to grave (from hospitals, schools, trains, restrooms, water, fountains, parks, dance halls, barbershops, penitentiaries, restaurants, theaters, asylums, and institutions for the blind and deaf, cemeteries [Mercer Beckett, 2003]). Initially blacks were intimidated to keep away from politics and using their votes but gradually a variety of bureaucratic and extra legal methods were used to disenfranchise the blacks. The legal and extra legal methods such as violence and intimidation to disenfranchise the African Americans was to ensure that blacks are not in a position to use their political strength to oppose the second class status assigned to them in the South [Mercer Beckett, 2003]. These discriminatory laws were called Jim Crow laws after a character in the then popular song and dance minstrel show. Dubois and Washingtons Approach to Black Rights Jim Crow laws were designed to destine the black Americans to a second class citizen status. Booker T Washington was faced with living and operating in the southern United States which had still not come to term with the equality of races. Washington realized that in order to improve the lot of his black countrymen he would need the support of white majority He knew that he would have to allay their fears regarding all claims of equality to seek their help to provide education and support for the black causes. W. E. B. Du Bois was settled in the much relaxed and liberal North. Du Bois wanted to see an America with social equality where individuals would be rewarded according to their merits [Bauerlein, 2004]. Washingtons Atlantas Compromise was effectively a surrender to the wishes of White racist America and Jim Crow laws and made Washington the favorite black leader of the white America who were happy to see him advocate their vision of blacks role in America. Conservative blacks who wanted to consolidate their position before demanding their rights found Washingtons approach pragmatic and supported him whole heartedly too. Du Bois on the other hand insisted that the black Americans had every right to be treated as equals, the right to vote and opportunities for the talented blacks (what he called Talented Tenth). He warned that if the blacks were not given their rights the white America will suffer too . DuBois Critiques Booker T. Washington Du Bois acknowledges Washingtons success as being the result of different interpretation of his Atlanta compromise, The radicals received it as a complete surrender of the demand for civil and political equality; the conservatives, as a generously conceived working basis for mutual understanding. So both approved it, and today its author is certainly the most distinguished Southerner since Jefferson Davis, and the one with the largest personal following [Dubois, 1903]. He recognizes Washingtons success and acknowledges that Washington has to work in difficult southern setting, In the South especially has he had to walk warily to avoid the harshest judgments, and naturally so, for he is dealing with the one subject of deepest sensitiveness to that section [Dubois, 1903]. Dubois criticizes Booker Washington for his approach and asking Black Americans to give up claims for political power, their insistence on civil rights and higher education for black youths. He argues that Washingtons advocacy of these critical matters resulted in black disenfranchisement, legal creation of civil inferiority of Black Americans and withdrawal of financial support from institutions of higher education for blacks [Dubois, 1903]. DuBois accuses Booker Washington of encouraging evil, It is wrong to encourage a man or a people in evil doing; it is wrong to aid and abet a national crime simply because it is unpopular not to do so[Dubois, 1903]. On one hand Booker Washington follows a eek approach and hopes that blacks will eventually prove themselves to be worthy of being treated as equals, On the other hand Duboiss arrogant attitude could only be expected to create additional obstacles in the obviously racist South of that period. Discussion and Conclusions I find that both leaders approaches were unsuitable to handle the Jim Crow laws. Washingtons approach was that of a pathetic submission to second class status for black Americans. Duboiss approach went to the other extreme alienating even the sympathetic whites from the cause of helping blacks achieve their rights. While, Washingtons submissive approach won him huge funds for his projects and a leadership role that was acknowledged right up to the White house. Dubois insistence on equality now and legal course to winning the black rights did restore the pride of black America. Thus the counterbalance of the two approaches reduced the possible harm that the two approaches would have done the cause of black America if they were applied without the influence of the other. Bibliography Bauerlein, M. , (2004), Washington, Du Bois, and the Black Future, the Wilson Quarterly, Volume: 28. Issue: 4, Page Number: 74+, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Du Bois, W. E. B. , (1903), The Souls of Black Folk, Chicago Mercer, D. and Beckett E. , (2003), New Jersey AAH Curriculum Guide _ Unit 8: The Rise of Jim Crow and the Nadir, 1878-1915, New Jersey State Library. [Online] retrieved from Internet on May 06, 2007, http://www. njstatelib. org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/AAHCG/unit8. html Olson, J. , (2005), W. E. B. Du Bois and the Race Concept, Northern Arizona University, USA, http://www. yale. edu/polisci/info/conferences/W. E. B. %20DuBois/Papers/Olson-DuBoisRace-III. pdf Tell, B. , (1996). Separate yet One, Library of Congress Information Bulletin, [Online] retrieved from Internet on May 06, 2007, http://www. loc. gov/loc/lcib/9603/booker. html

Maintaing A Work Family Balance Social Work Essay

Maintaing A Work Family Balance Social Work Essay Achieving a balance between work and family is important to everyone. A balance between work and family responsibilities occurs when a persons need to meet family commitments is accepted and respected in the workplace. Helping people achieve a balance between their family needs and their work commitments supports productive workers as well as committed family people. Provisions to assist with the balance between work and family must be available to everyone in the workplace. However, not all people in the workplace will need to or wish to access these provisions. These provisions reduce the barriers that may prevent people from entering and remaining in the workforce. They enable people with caring and family responsibilities to have equitable opportunities to progress in their career in the same way as those without these responsibilities. Work and family balance provisions contribute to equality in the workplace by recognising that some workers have caring responsibilities. They enable those workers to have fair access to workplace opportunities. Work-family facilitation, or the extent to which individuals participation in one life domain (e.g., work) is made easier by the skills, experiences, and opportunities gained by their participating in another. Frone (2003) suggested that work-family balance likely represents multiple dimensions composed of bidirectional (i.e., work-to ­family and family-to-work) conflict and facilitation. Finally, Hammer (2003) called for an explicit expan ­sion of the work-family paradigm to include work- family facilitation. Unfortunately, work-family facil ­itation remains conceptually and empirically underdeveloped (Frone, 2003), and its distinction from conflict remains unclear. Background Work-family conflict is a form of interrole conflict in which role pres ­sures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985, p. 77). The conflict does not operate in one direction. Family sometimes interferes with work (FIW), and work can interfere with family (WIF). Further, some researchers suggest that conflicts between the work and family domains can occur when (a) time consumed by one role results in a lack of time for the other, (b) strain caused by the activities of one role makes it difficult to fulfill responsibilities in the other, or (c) in-role behavior in one domain is incompatible with the role behavior in the other domain. The time conflict is fairly obvious and probably most salient to us lay people (i.e., non ­work family conflict experts). So is strain-if were totally stressed-out at work, we may not be able to deal with our family responsibilities and vice versa. However, the behavior component is less obvious. It has been sug ­gested that we may sometimes behave in ways in one domain that is incom ­patible with the other domain, such that the behavior in question does not facilitate fulfilling ones roles in the other domain. For instance, being a per ­fectionist may be useful at work, but the same behaviors may lead to less effective parenting or in other ways inhibit one from adequately fulfilling family responsibilities. It should be noted that the conceptual grounding of time, strain, and behavior-based dimensions of work-family conflict have been debated. As Mike notes, they do not have strong empirical validation and may confound the work-family construct with its putative causes and outcomes. What happens if work-family conflicts are not effectively managed? Work-family conflict can result in a number of dysfunctional outcomes, including burnout, decrease in mental well-being, deteriorating relationships, and job and life dissatisfaction. Presumably in the hopes that a better under ­standing of the causes of work-family conflict will help people avoid it, con ­siderable research has been directed toward trying to understand the antecedents of work-family conflict. Some of the things that lead to conflict are fairly intuitive. For example, working long hours, long commutes to and from work, workload, lack of management support, job involvement, and level of importance assigned to ones work, all predict the extent to which WIF. Further, marital status, number of children, level of importance assigned to family roles, and lack of family support all contribute to FIW. Further, some people are more susceptible to work-family conflict than others. For instance, research suggests certain personality types are more inclined to experience work-family conflict. Neuroticism, Type A tenden ­cies, and negative affectivity are all related to work-family conflict. As one might expect, age also relates to work-family conflict. Theres initial evi ­dence that as we get older, we develop more effective strategies for dealing with these conflicts. Objective:-Both academic and corporate research are confirming the existence of work-to-family and family-to-work spillover and the importance of healthy work-family interface for families and businesses. This is to prove that there is a need of balancing work family in everybodys life irrespective of the work he/she is doing to maintain a healthy time table for the commencement of day to day activities.Our day to day schedule is becoming hectic.In such situation peoples are losing their temper, are into wrong doings of all sort.Schedule needs to made for maintaining a healthy Work-Family Balance.People are so busy in making money that they started neglecting their family.They start giving more importance to their work and no time for family.This should not be the case as all these make a man a mechanized robot.They began neglecting all social activities,as a result their family suffers or feel their absence and sadness fill their lives. Unhappiness creeps in such family and destr oys their life.We should keep in mind that Money is not everything in Life.Yes,we can say money as the need fulfiller.we can fullfill are needs with the money earned.But we should not be always money making oriented.If we neglect our family for making more money, then all money earned goes worthless ! So,apart from work giving quality time to the family is very essential. Work-Family Balance Work- family balance is a term that refers to an individuals perceptions of the degree to which s/he is experiencing positive relationships between work and family roles, where the relationships are viewed as compatible and at equilibrium with each other. Like a fulcrum measuring the daily shifting weights of time and energy allocation between work and family life, the term, work-family balance, provides a metaphor to countervail the historical notion that work and family relationships can often be competing, at odds, and conflicting. Sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter was one of the first scholars to critique the prevailing assumption that workplaces and jobs must be designed to separate work from family demands. She challenged this approach as being socially necessary for employee effectiveness in carrying out the dual demands of being a worker and being a family member. She noted that as employing organizations shifted to be more demographically diverse, these stereotyped views on appropriate work and family relationships needed to be re-viewed in order to prevent negative processes affecting individuals and groups who were demographically different from the majority. Women as a growing minority group in employing organizations were having difficulty rising up the hierarchy and being accepted as managers as they juggled employment, and caregiving and domestic demands. These same issues are still relevant to organizational studies today. Most men and women are juggling competing life demands outside of workplaces that still are largely designed based on a culture that work is the central role in employees lives, and a belief that workers should sacrifice family personal roles in order to be successful on the job. From Work-Family Conflict To Work-Family Enrichment: Competing Negative and Positive Views Traditionally, researchers have assumed a win-lose relationship between work and family and focused on work-family conflict, based on the belief that individuals have limited time and resources to allocate to their many life roles. Most research relevant to the notion of work-family balance has been conducted on work-family conflict, which can be viewed as the opposite of work-family balance. The construct work-family balance is a more positive way of viewing work-family relationships. It is consistent with the emergence of a new stream of research being promulgated by such writers as Greenhaus and Powell on work-family enrichment, the idea that work and family can also enrich and complement each other. Overall, research on work-family balance can be characterized as being organized along these competing positive and negative perspectives. Work-Family Conflict The negative perspective on balancing work-family relationships emanates out of role conflict theory, which Goode noted assumed that having multiple roles is distracting, depletes resources, and results in role strain and overload. With regard to work family roles, when employees try to carry these competing demands out while being embedded in traditional workplaces that are designed to support separation of work and family demands, they are likely to experience higher work-family role conflict. Greenhaus and Beutell wrote one of the earliest theoretical articles on work-family conflict. They defined work-family conflict as a type of inter-role conflict where work and family roles are incompatible and seen as competing for an individuals time, energy, and behaviours on and off the job. Their work built on earlier role theory by Ebaugh and others who defined a role as involving behavioural expectations associated with a position in a social structure. Early research on work and family didnt necessarily differentiate where the role conflict was occurring, such as whether it was due to an inflexible job (work to family conflict) or whether it was due to not having back up child care for when a child was sick (family to work conflict) Later Kossek and Ozeki conducted a meta-analysis reviewing decades of studies that show that life and job satisfaction for men and women is affected by the type and direction of these competing role dynamics. Given womens traditional greater responsibility for caregiving, work to family conflict was found to affect life satisfaction to a greater degree for women than for men. Job satisfaction for men and women was equally affected by family to work conflict. Understanding the type, direction, and source of the conflict can help organizations and managers design appropriate workplace interventions to support work-family balance. For example, having to work overtime on a job and being forced to miss a childs school event is an example of time-based work-to-family conflict. However, being absent from work because a babysitter did not show up is an example of time-based family- to- work conflict. For the overtime example, an organization might allow for just in time worker scheduling to allow those workers with the most interest in overtime to volunteer. In the other example, managing overtime wouldnt solve the babysitter not showing up. Helping the employee find back-up care for emergencies or letting them work from home once in a while in emergencies would. An example of energy-based family-to-work conflict is when an employee is too tired to work well in the morning because he or she was up all night with an ill spouse. An example of energy- based work to family conflict is when someone is too tired to cook dinner or clean the house, because of working too intensely on the job. In order to promote work- family balance to promote better energy allocation between roles, in the first example, the firm needs to provide dependent care support or leave from work. In the second example, the firm might need to increase staffing levels so the workload is dispersed among more workers, or provide stress management techniques that allow workers to take breaks. An example of behaviour-based family-to-work conflict is when one is so stressed from a family demand, that the individual is unable to concentrate at work or exhibits private emotions such as crying at work that would be more associated with the private sphere. An example of behaviour- based work- to-family conflict is when someone comes home and yells at ones spouse or kicks ones pet because of anger related to work. In these cases, interventions to reduce the stress in the particular domain where it is occurring would result in better work-family balance. Work-family enrichment. The positive approach to studying work-family balance emanates from Seibers role accumulation theory which assumes that having multiple life roles can be psychologically enriching, as long as the roles are ones that the individual has high identity with, sees of good quality, and reap rewards and life privileges. Under a role accumulation perspective, a person can achieve balance by being able to regulate and have greater control over when where and how invest time and energy between work and family to ensure that they perceive they are accumulating positive outcomes from both roles. The more roles one has that provide positive rewards, the better off an individual is, unless s/he has too much too do from the sum of these roles (causing role overload) or has too many competing role demands. The assumption is that work and family balance have instrumental and affective paths. The instrumental path focuses on how positive skills and behaviours and rewards from one domain (such as incom e, learning how to manage people or solve problems) can help one perform better in the other domain. The affective path focused on the degree to which mood and emotions from one domain can seep in and positively impact how one feels, acts and behaves in the other domain. So if someone has a good day at work, s/he comes home and are able to have extra energy and emotions to allocate to the family. Or if one has a wonderful family life, s/he is able to bring these positive emotions to work. A final set of studies focus on the processes of balancing relationships between work and family. Some writers focus on compensation- how having a better role quality and higher identity in one domain such as the work role may compensate for lower role quality and investment in another domain such as family. For example, an individual who highly identifies with work might invest more in work roles to compensate for a less fulfilling family life. Other writers might focus on segmentation and integration processes, the degree to which individuals have preferences for keeping work and personal roles segmented or integrated. Job and organizational design can interact with preferences for the enactment of life roles and management of the work and family boundary. A study by Kossek, Lautsch, Eaton on teleworking found that individuals who teleworked and adopted an integrative boundary management style were likely to experience higher work to family conflict but not family to work conflict than individuals who adopted a separation style. Their study showed that the more the workplace is brought into the home via job and organizational design, the more likely it increases work-to- family conflict, particularly for individuals who like to integrate work and family roles (say watching children while taking a work call). Cross-over effects is another new area of study: how the work-family balance of one family member such as a wife or husband may transfer over positive and negative relationships to the other spouse. For example, if a spouse has a good or bad day at work the balance of the partner may be affected. Direction Of Work- Family Interactions, Disciplinary Foci, and Levels of Analysis It is also important to note that research on work-family balance is grounded in distinct disciplines that are not well integrated, which influences the direction and content of studies focus. Besides generally designing research studies as measuring generally positive or negative outcomes from balancing work and family, writers in the field have tended to focus on either how work affects family OR how family affects work. This tendency to assume a particular direction of relationship has ramifications for the measures and outcomes studies. In several handbooks such as Work and Life Integration and The Work and Family Handbook, the editors noted that researchers who study how family demands are affected by work demands often use different measures and focus on different levels of analysis in assessing work-family relationships then management scholars who might study how work responsibilities are affected by being a parent or a spouse. One large cluster of studies focuses on how family demands affect work. Historically, much of the writing in the management and organizational literature followed this approach. A general assumption is that the more family and other nonwork demands and interests an individual has, the more likely work is going to be negative impacted. For example, researchers in this stream might measure the number of children an employee has, his or her marital status. They would then link these personal demographics to the degree to which a person experiences positive work attitudes (e.g., commitment, job satisfaction) and work behaviors (e.g., turnover, performance). The level of analysis tended to be largely individual and focused on the employees personal, family and work characteristics. The other directional group of studies examines the different ways work impacts the family. Writers coming from this approach tend to emanate out of psychology and sociology and belief that the structure, stresses, and demands of work can make it more difficult for individuals to fulfill their family responsibilities as well as experiencing job stress at home. Some people refer to this negative seepage as negative spillover from work to home. Writers from this perspective might measure the degree to which inflexible work hours, lack of supervisor support, job demands and the structure of the workplace, negatively impact family and personal outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, equal participation in family and domestic roles, life satisfaction, work-life balance). Here the level of analysis tended to focus more on workplace, job and organizational level. Researchers also might typically study of the availability of policies to support work and family, and the degree to which organizational culture and managers provided a supportive culture and norms to facilitate use of policies as well as positive relationships between work and home. For example, an individual would not have to sacrifice their family life in order to get ahead at work. Moving From Study of Work and Family To Study of Work and Life Integration The future directions of the work and family field are moving from the notion of work and family balance and conflict to terms of growing acceptance of work and nonwork life balance or work and life balance. Such terms suggest that many employees, even those without dependents or visible forms of family related to caregiving can experience the need to seek work and family balance. It also suggests as men become more involved in caregiving and domestic roles and women more involved in work and breadwinning roles, conflict and enrichment may more strongly relate to the role an individual is enacting (e.g., caregiver or breadwinner) than gender. METHODOLOGY Managing Work and Family Surprisingly, our literature has more to say about the antecedents and con ­sequences of work-family conflict and less on strategies to effectively man ­age it. However, there are some studies that have explored this issue and just knowing what causes work-family conflict can lead to an understanding of how to effectively manage conflict. Carefully consider work-family issues when choosing a job. The prede ­cessors of this column once interviewed Kevin Murphy and asked him how he manages work-family conflict. One thing he did was to choose a job that would offer him flexibility to deal with his family life. For example, if a potential employer seemed less than favorable about bringing children to meetings, that wasnt a job he wanted. Admittedly, not all of us have so many options to choose from that we can afford to be this selective, but its cer ­tainly worth considering the type of environment that would be ideal and aiming for such positions. Be sure to find out how the organization youre considering feels about bringing kids into work or if there is a strict culture of coming in early and working late. If the organization frowns upon anyone leaving before 5:00 and you have kids that need to picked up from school, thats got to factor into your job decision or you could be facing years of con ­flict. Some firm s are family friendly while others have a reputation of not being so family friendly. Further, dont feel guilty or feel like you are settling by considering these issues. As Lillian points out, finding a job that allows you to meet your fam ­ilys needs is an issue of fit. We consider a host of fit issues when we make a job choice; why shouldnt we also consider how the decision is going to fit other aspects of our life? In other words, its important to take a holistic approach when youre searching for a job. Dont just jump on the most pres ­tigious offer or the one that offers the most money. Work-family issues must also be considered. Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC). SOC is a life-man ­agement coping style for work-family situations. Although related, SOC is different from time management. This coping style consists of being more selective in focusing on a few goals, persistence in order to achieve those goals, and seeking additional resources (e.g., child care) to compensate for lack of time. Basically, it is suggested that those experiencing work-family conflict should take the time to evaluate which goals are most important to them and focus on achieving those goals. Take the time to evaluate your goals and if the activities you engage in on a daily basis help you to meet those goals. Does reviewing a textbook help you meet your goals, or is it a task that takes considerable time but does not help you make progress toward one of your goals? If a task does not help you make progress toward a goal and you have the ability to avoid it (i.e., its not a requirement of your job), dont hesitate to sa y no. Further, its important to recognize that you dont need to go it alone. You should find ways to compensate for lack of time. This may involve child care, paying to have your house cleaned, having groceries delivered to your home, or getting someone to walk your dog. Lillian points out that it may be easier for folks with money to compensate for lack of time because they can pay to outsource many of these things. Research shows that application of SOC in both the work and family domains leads to lower job and family stressors which lowers work-family conflict (in both directions). For a more detailed account of this strategy see Baltes and Heydens-Gahir (2003). Communicate your responsibilities to those at work and at home. As Lou points out, a very important part of managing work-family conflict is simply making those around you aware of your responsibilities. For instance, if you only have daycare certain times of the week and need to watch the kids when theyre not in daycare, tell your employer this schedule so you can be sure your home responsibilities are considered when meetings are arranged. You should have similar discussions with your significant other as well. There may be days he or she will need to make dinner or pick the kids up from school. Its also a good idea to talk often. Responsibilities at both work and home may change so its important to inform everyone when that occurs. Also, you may find some things are not working out and you need to devise a new strategy to accommodate all of your responsibilities. Time management. To minimize work-family conflict, its important to manage your time well. Im probably not telling you anything you dont already know, but let me add to this. Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, and Phillips (1990) suggest that time management can be broken down into three dimen ­sions. First, goal setting and prioritization involve daily decisions about what is most important to be accomplished. Second, the mechanics of time man ­agement include such activities as making to do lists. Finally, a preference for organization involves maintaining a methodical, organized approach to work. Just like the SOC model, the time-management model first stresses the importance of deciding on what goals are most important for you to achieve and making sure you focus on those goals Increase your social network. I know some of you are balking at this sug ­gestion. After all, if youre struggling to make time for work and family, how on earth are you going to fit a social life into the equation? Who has time for friends? Well, believe it or not, theres evidence that increased social support can help decrease work-family conflict. Further, Leslies own research sug ­gests that decreasing social involvement in nonwork activities actually leads to higher levels of work-family conflict (Neal Hammer, forthcoming). So, dont quit spending time with friends because you feel like you have too much to do at home and at work. Doing so could make you less effective in both domains. Future Research Trends Research on work-family balance is only likely to increase among organizational scholars. One reason for heightened interest around the globe in work-family balance today is changing workforce demographics. A general trend around the world is a gradual but constant growth in the labor market participation of women. Using the U.S. as an example, which has some of the highest rates, research by the Families and Work Institute shows that 83% of all two-parent families with children under 18 have both parents working at least part of this time. Another study by Cohen reports that half of all children under 18 will live in a single parent home for at least part of their childhood in the U.S. Besides individuals with children, work-family balance concerns affect employees in general. For example, research by the Families and Work Institute reports that one third of employees say they have to choose between advancing in their jobs or devoting attention to their family or personal lives and one third will have managed elder care- care for a parent over the past year. Another reason for growing interest relates technological transformations that have resulted in some workplaces operating 24-7 as well as the ability to telework and be constantly accessible to work and jobs by email and cell phone and pagers even when not formally at the workplace. With 24-7 operations, the definition of the typical workday and what work hours are normal to support work family balance are also likely to redefined. For example, a U.S. based view of a 9-5 Eastern time zone of normal working hours, may not provide balance for workers where it is the middle of the night in India or China. Future research on work family balance will focus on differences in cross-cultural perceptions, how needs for balance shift over the life course, and how different jobs, family structures, and demographic groups may vary in their access to, perceptions of and outcomes from the level of work family balance they are afforded on and off the job. Multi-level research integrating individual and organizational perspectives and measures, and positive and negative measures is also likely to increase in future studies. Job design and work and family rewards and resources are likely to become of particularly increasingly importance in studying work family balance and conflict with highest stresses at either end of the economic spectrum. Individuals in higher paid managerial jobs are likely to experience higher work conflict and a lower balance due to overwork. There will be too many work hours competing for individual time and energy and too high workloads. Individuals at the lower end of the economic spectrum will experience work and family conflict more likely due to a lack of flexibility and ability to control when one works and a lack of economic resources to buy high quality child care and dependent care. Thus, employees throughout the organizations hierarchy will experience lower work-family balance but for different reasons. This trend makes it critical for future research to not only measure conflict, but to assess the processes and reasons for conflict and the role of organizational and job structures, as well as family and social and cultural structures (such as how family responsibilities are shared or viewed as ought to be shared) in enhancing or mitigating conflict and balance. The more that workers have access to jobs enabling higher control how when and where they do their jobs and the amount of workload, and the more that communities are design to provider greater public and private supports to enable dual enactment in w ork and family roles, the more likely that members of society will have greater work-life balance. Further Readings and References Bond, J., Thompson, C., Galinsky, E., Prottas, D. (2003). Highlights of the 2002 national study of the changing workforce. NY Families and Work Institute. Cohen, S. (2002). Cohabitation and the declining marriage premium for men. Work and Occupations, 29,343-383.. Ebaugh, H. (1988). Becoming an ex: The process of role exit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Goode, W. (1960). A theory of role strain. American Sociological Review, 25, 483-496. Greenhaus, G. Powell. G. 2006. When work and family are allies: A theory of work-family enrichment. Academy of Management Review, 31, 72-92. Greenhaus, J. Beutell, N. 1985. Sources of conflict between work and fmaly roles. Academy of Management Review, 10: 76-88. Hammer L.,Bauer T.  Grandey A. (2003). Work-family conflict and work-related withdrawal behaviors. Journal of Business and Psychology.17, 419-436. Kanter, R. (1977). Work and family in the United States: A critical review for research and policy. NY, NY: Russell Sage. Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books. Kossek, E., Lautsch, B., Eaton, S. 2006. Telecommuting, control, and boundary management: Correlates of policy use and practice, job control, and work-family effectiveness. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68, 347-367. Kossek, E. E. Lambert, S. (2005). Work And Life Integration: Organizational, Cultural and Psychological Perspectives. Mahwah, N.J.: LEA Press. Kossek E. Ozeki, C. (1998). Work-family conflict, policies and the job-life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for work-family research. Journal of Applied Psychology.83: 139-149.fol Pitt-Catsouphes, M., Kossek, E. Sweet, S. (2006). The Work-Family Handbook: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives, Methods, and Approaches. Mahwah, N.J.: LEA Press. Seiber, S. (1974). Toward a theory of role accumulation. American Sociological Review, 39, 567-578 Sources of Data(References): 1.Finding an Extra Day a Week: The Positive Influence of perceived Job Flexibility on Work and Family Life Balance. Published by: National Council on Family Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/585774 2. The Impact of Job Characteristics on Work-to-Family Facilitation: Testing a Theory and Distinguishing a