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This paper explores how the introduction of policies, both private in the form of work/family policies offered by individual corporations, and public in the form of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), have come to alter men and women's perceptions regarding the intersections between their work and family lives. Findings suggest that since the 1990's with the adoption of work/family policies at many workplaces and the adoption of the FMLA in 1993, women have come to perceive work/family conflict as a public responsibility at higher rates than men. Gender differences in perceptions of work/family conflict as a public or private issue are significantly different regardless of individuals' ratings of their employer's family friendliness or if their workplace is covered under FMLA or private work/family benefits. These findings suggest that gender differences between men and women, when controlling for demographic as well as workplace characteristics, remain significantly different regarding perceptions of work/family conflict as a public or private issue. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how high-technology and biotechnology organizations implement and integrate work-family policies into their work structures. This research finds three significant gendered aspects of work-family policies. First, despite the fact that most organizations have come to adopt numerous work-family policies, the conflict between these policies and already established organizational structures reinforces the status quo while discouraging the true integration of these policies. Second, by allowing for largely unchecked managerial discretion over their employees' use of alternative work arrangements, organizations fail to require a standard of expectations for employees seeking alternative work arrangements and other policies intended for better balance between work and home. Finally, by encouraging the use of certain policies such as telecommuting over less traditional arrangements, organizations come to reinforce a gendered structure in which those employees who devote the most time to the organization remain the most valued. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This symposium aims to deepen and expand our understanding of the relationship between the way organizations and managers understand and provide narratives related to inequality and their subsequent diversity practices. The four papers presented in this symposium offer new theoretical insights and mechanisms for the conditions under which organizations are more (less) apt to redress inequality. This symposium brings together strategic management scholars, economic sociologists, and organizational behavior scholars investigating, with a wide range of methods (qualitative, observational, and experimental), inequality in the workplace. We believe this symposium will generate an insightful discussion and fuel further inquiry into the role organizational narratives play in perpetuating inequality. From Self-Diagnoses to Change: Organizational Narratives and the Gender Pay Gap. Presenter: Mabel Abraham; Columbia Business School. Organizational Responses to Diversity Disclosures. Presenter: Daphné Baldassari; U. of Toronto. Presenter: Sarah Kaplan; U. of Toronto. Presenter: Aaron Dhir; York U. What about the Managers? Means-ends decoupling of work policies and the actors liable for their use. Presenter: JoAnne Delfino Wehner; Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab. Presenter: Kristine Kilanski; UC San Diego. Presenter: Alison Tracy Wynn; Stanford U. Intervening to Advance Equity in Tech. Presenter: Robin J. Ely; Harvard Business School. Presenter: William A. Kahn; Boston U. Presenter: Sanaz Mobasseri; Boston U. Questrom School of Business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]