Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the relationship of people-oriented and task-oriented leadership styles with the work-family and family-work conflicts and the intensity of mutual relationship between work-family and family-work conflicts. Data for the research were collected through a survey of public sector elementary and secondary school teachers of Punjab in Pakistan. Factor analysis and Pearson’s correlation were used to estimate the relationship of people-oriented and task-oriented leadership style with the work-family and family-work conflicts. The results show that the three underpinnings of relationship are positively related with each other. Significant relationship exists in the work-family and family-work conflict. People-oriented managers and principals are significantly more facilitators than task-oriented administrators at elementary and secondary school level. Leaders at higher levels of people orientation mediate the work-family conflicts between work commitment and family obligations. The research focuses on teachers at public school education sector; further research in other sectors may be necessary before generalization can be made on the entire service sector. In this study people-oriented leadership style plays an important role in work family conflict. People-oriented managers tend to be more spurring than task-oriented. Although, there are studies on relationship work family and family work conflict but research on leadership roles in it is very limited. By contributing to the body of knowledge in this area, this research adds significant value. Moreover, the study presents valuable information on the leadership behaviour of teachers, which may be unfamiliar to many readers.

Key words: Task-oriented, people-oriented, leadership style, work-family conflict, family-work conflict, teachers, public sector