An MBA’s work-life balance. The importance of having

QUESTION:

An MBA’s work-life balance. The importance of having employees with a healthy work-life balance has been recognized by U.S. companies for decades. Many business schools offer courses that assist MBA students with developing good work-life balance habits and most large companies have developed work-life balance programs for their employees. In April 2005, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) conducted a survey of over 2,000 MBA alumni to explore the work life balance issue. (For example, one question asked alumni to state their level of agreement with the statement, “My personal and work demands are overwhelming.”) Based on these responses, the GMAC determined a work-life balance scale score for each MBA alumni. Scores ranged from 0 to 100, with lower scores indicating a higher imbalance between work and life. Many other variables, including average number of hours worked per week, were also measured. The data for the work-life balance study are saved in the GMAC file. (The first 15 observations are listed in the accompanying table.) Let x = average number of hours worked per week and y = work-life balance scale score for each MBA alumnus. Investigate the link between these two variables by conducting a complete simple linear regression analysis of the data. Summarize your findings in a professional report.

Based on “Work-life balance: An MBA alumni report.” Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Research Report (Oct. 13, 2005).