Preparing Supervisors for the Future Work Force: The Dual-Income Couple and the Work-Family Dichotomy

Abstract

workingparents and to dual-career couples, despite their growing numbers in the work force. The authors conclude that supervisory training needs to change to emphasize acceptance ofdiversity in the workplace. The supervisor encountering an employee from the 'Workforce 2000 Johnston and Packer, 1988) is likely to run up against the paradox of diversity. Traditional management theory, which has inspired 'best practice guidelines for the first-line supervisor, prescribes objectivity in decision making and suppression of subjective factors-feelings and attitudes about the ascriptive characteristics of their employees. Paradoxically, racial and gender blindness may de-value lifestyle differences and perpetuate an organization culture that demands that employees assimilate themselves to one, homogeneous ideal.