Case Study$-35\%$

QUESTIONS:

Dual Career Planning

Carey Moler is a $32-$year$-$old account executive for a communication company. She is married to Mitchell Moler, a lawyer. Carey and Mitchell did not make any definite plans about how to juggle their careers and family life until Carey reached age $36.$ Then they decided to have a baby, and career planning took on a whole new dimension. A company named Catalyst talked to $815$ dual$-$career couples and found that most of them, like the Molers, had not made any long$-$range career decisions regarding family lifestyle.

From the business perspective, such dual$-$career families created real concerns. There are problems with relocation, with child care, and so on that affect recruiting, productivity, morale, and promotion policies.

For a couple such as the Molers, having both career and family responsibilities are exhausting. But that is just one problem. If Carey is moving up in her firm, what happens if Mitchell gets a terrific job offer a thousand kilometers away? What if Carey gets such an offer? Who is going to care for the baby? What happens if the baby becomes ill? How do they plan their vacations when there are three schedules to balance? Who will do the housework? Dual careers require careful planning and discussion, and those plans need to be reviewed over time. A couple that decides at age $22$ to do certain things may change their minds at age $30.$ Whether or not to have children, where to locate, how to manage the household, all such issues and more can become major problems if not carefully planned.

The same is true for corporations. They too must plan for dual$-$career families as well as single parent$$s families. They must give attention to job sharing, flextime, parental leave policies, transfer policies, nepotism rules $($i$.$e$.$ rules about hiring family members$),$ and more.

Discussion Questions

$1.$ In addition to the examples stated above, what other issues can you see developing because of dual$-$career families? How is this affecting children in such families?

$2.$ What kind of corporate policies need changing to adapt to these new realities?

$3.$ What are the advantages of dual careers? What are the disadvantages? What can couples do to minimize the problems of dual careers? How can a couple reap the rewards?

$**2$ sources required for answering each question please provide sources too