Can we really have it all? The attainment of work and family values

We discuss the role values and value attainment play in the complex and dyn amic process of balancing work and family demands. We contend that an indiv idual experiences conflict between work and family demands because of value incongruence between that individual and a pivotal family member (i.e., la ck of value similarity) or because of the incongruent values between that i ndividual and the organization (i.e., lack of value congruence). We further argue that work-family conflict leads to job and life dissatisfaction for individuals because this conflict frustrates the attainment of important wo rk and family values. We develop and propose a conceptual model, capturing both work and family values as they relate to work-family conflict, value a ttainment, and outcomes.