CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES. The QWL is a broad expression covering a vast variety of progammes,

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES The QWL is a broad expression covering a vast variety of progammes, techniques, theories and management styles through which organization and jobs are designed so as to grant workers more autonomy, responsibility and authority than is usually done. A review of previous studies on quality of work life is essential to know the areas already covered and also the areas to be covered. In review of Indian workers (Kapoor, 1967, Vaid, 1968) found that wages were ranked first in importance by Indian workers than other working aspects i. The term quality of work life was first introduced by Davis (1972) at an international conference on quality of working life at Arden House, Harrinam, New York, in the context of the prevailing poor quality of life at work place; but he did not define the term specifically. Then it referred to the quality of relationship between the worker and his environment as a whole, emphassing more on human dimensions. Sirota (1973) found that under utilization of worker s skill and abilities cause low QWL and suggest job enrichment programme to correct the problems of workers ii. Job enrichment, job satisfaction, incentives, division of work and opportunities given by work settings along with considerations for humanization of work place were chief concerns in 1974 (Acker,1974; Flangers,1974; Cherrington.J. and Cherrington.J.O. 1974;Bradburn, 1974; 19

2 Andrretta,1974) iii. Studies show that individuals have completely unique sets of standards for evaluating the quality of work life (Walton, 1974; Seashore, 1975) iv.to quote Beinum (1974), it is the quality of the content of relationship between human beings and their work v. Walton (1974) one of the major interpreters of QWL movement, has proposed eight major conceptual areas for understanding what this is all about vi. Fricke (1975) reviews the subject of the humanization of work, considering especially its impact on the social aspect of the conditions of work which matter more than the technical aspects. Allenspach. H. (1975) report on flexible working hours based on experiments in Switzerland, discusses its advantages and disadvantages including its effect on job satisfaction and employee attitude vii. From the study of Cherisilicheer (1975) regarding working conditions and job satisfaction, it is clear that work cannot be considered merely from the point of view of productivity and that the improvement of working conditions must cater to the satisfaction of workers needs. Johnston, R (1975) supports the other studies which view that workers often value factors such as job interest and good working conditions above pay viii. According to Trist (1975), the quality of working life is both an end and a means. It is an end in itself because it is a highly significant component in the quality of life in general and it is a means to experience concern with improving working life, which may help employees acquire the civic competencies and skills ix. De, Nitish R (1975) writes that the quality of working life is an indicator of how free the society is 20

3 from exploitation, injustice, inequality, oppression and restrictions on the continuing growth of man leading to his development to the fullest stature x. The study made by Ganguli and Joseph (1976) regarding young workers in Air India with special reference to life and job satisfaction issues concluded that various physical and psychological working conditions, pride in organization and reasonable working hours are more positively correlated with job satisfaction than friendship with colleagues, good work location, physical strain, variety of skills and risk of injury. Expectations and aspirations of young workers affect the QWL xi. According to Majumdar (1976), the quality of working life directly affects the output from an individual. Vasedev and Rajbir (1976) studied 60 skilled and 60 semi skilled industrial employees on 10 job factors and concluded that it is the interaction among these factors, rather than in isolation that accounts for overall job satisfaction xii. There are differences in approaches to the concept of QWL. One approach looks at it on a broadband encompassing all aspects of work life including wages, hours of work, work environment, employment benefits, career prospects, and human relations. In other words, it embraces the whole gamut of every conceivable aspect of work ethics and work conditions (Merton 1977) xiii. According to Suttle (1977), the quality of working life aims at healthier, more satisfied and more productive employees and more efficient, adaptive and profitable organizations xiv. 21

4 Kavoussi et al (1978) compared the unauthorized absenteeism rate in two large textile factories in Isfahan, Iran and could find out that working conditions in the study factory were unsatisfactory, unlike the control factory and concluded that closer attention was to be paid for improving the quality of working life to reduce widespread absenteeism. The comprehensiveness of it is reflected in the definition given by Guest (1979). He says that quality of working life is a generic phrase that covers a person s feelings about every dimension of work including economic rewards, benefits, security, working conditions, organizational and interpersonal relations, and their intrinsic meaning xv. During 1980s, employees welfare and union management relationships were accorded importance. Even thoughts were forwarded to have national policies on QWL. Life at work is an integral part of total life space (Lawler III et.al 1980). The QWL may therefore be conceptualized as a subset of the quality of work life, which is an all inclusive notion of life and living conditions (Mukherjee, 1980, Szalai and Andrews 1980). Keith Davis (1981) studied employees who worked in organizations which provided either a high or low QWL. Results showed that QWL dimensions were related to job satisfaction in both types of organizations xvi. Sayeed and Sinha (1981) examined the relationship between QWL, job stress and performance. The results indicate that higher QWL leads to greater 22

5 job satisfaction and better performance xvii. Ghosh and Kalra (1982) found that QWL is influenced by age, income, qualification, experience, etc xviii. The importance of training, role, and system analysis incentives to have a better working environment was the theme of Bharadwaj (1983) emphasized that the values, concepts and methodologies of quality of working life have to be adopted by us to suit our needs, and our dreams of an evolving society xix. Singhal (1983) commented that quality of working life will be meaningful only if the people working in organizations live a happy and healthy life in the society. She says that quality of working life is a time and situation related concept and will require constant revisions and modifications as socio organizational contexts change over time xx. Sengupta (1983) in his study of managers from the public sector concludes that the overall perceived QWL in the Indian industry is considerably poor. Rahman (1984) in his study on the industrial workers of India found that subjects having low educational background and lower income had better perception of QWL than those having higher education and higher income xxi. Levine, Taylor and Davis (1984) suggested that the construction of quality of working life should be specific and concrete xxii. Rao (1986) conducted a study to evaluate the difference between quality of working life of men and women employees doing comparable work. The result shows a significant higher composite quality of working life score for men than for women employees. Men employees had significantly higher 23

6 scores for opportunities to learn new skills, challenge in job and discretionary elements in work. Rao found that age and income had a positive impact on perceived quality of working life for women. Historically, the QWL among African Americans has been structured by inequality (Farley and Allen 1987). Thus, for most African Americans, work life consists of poor work conditions, inadequate earning, less autonomy, and job instability xxiii. Gupta and Khandelwal (1988) conducted a study and found a significant positive relationship between quality of work life and role efficacy. They also found that supervisory behavior is the most important dimensions of the quality of work life contributing 21 per cent of the variance in the employee s role efficacy xxiv. Best (1988) argues that quality of working life means democratization of the workplace xxv. According to Best (1988), quality of working life also asserts that workers have entitlements beyond money, health and safety issues, and basic rights under the collective agreement. Best further advocates that workers also require the opportunity for personal growth in the jobs that they do. In emphasis was on the relationship of QWL with quality of life, advancement in technology and work environment. The concept of socio technical system with an emphasis on the effective utilization of human resources, impact of technology on working systems, introduction of robots for safe and healthy 24

7 working conditions, has been one of the issues being addressed presently in developed countries, with shadows being cast in the developing countries. Haque (1992) examined the relationship between QWL and job satisfaction and found that QWL led to greater job satisfaction. Also found that QWL is positively related to performance and negatively correlated to absenteeism. But no significant relationship was found between perceived QWL and workers age, education and job experience xxvi. Previous research on job satisfaction of Africian Americans reveals lower level of job satisfaction than whites (Austin and Dodge 1992) xxvii. Wadud (1996) found that QWL was significantly higher among the private sector women employees than their counterparts in the public sector xxviii. QWL has been found to be important for job performance, job satisfaction, labour turnover, labour management relations and such other factors which play a crucial role in determining the overall well - being of any industrial organization (Hoque and Rahman, 1999) xxix. Hossain and Islam (1999) found that there existed a positive relationship between QWL and job satisfaction among government hospital nurses in Bangladesh xxx. The study of Md.Mosharraf Hossain and Md.Tariqual Islam (1999) deals with the correlation between QWL and job satisfaction, QWL and performance, and job satisfaction and performance. The findings reveal that there was significant positive correlation between QWL and job satisfactions, QWL and performance and job satisfaction and performance. 25

8 In another study, Hussain (2000) found that public sector bank employees were in a better position in terms of their job satisfaction than private sector bank employees. The research by Saipin Narongrit and Supit Thongdri (2001), deals with the quality of work life and organizational commitment. It was found that staff quality of work life were moderate. All factors of quality of work life had positive correlation with organizational commitment. Another empirical study was done to predict QWL in relation to career related dimensions (Raduan Che Rose, LooseeBeh, Jagak Uli and Khairuddin Idris, 2006). The sample consists of 475 managers from the free trade zone areas in Malaysia for both the multinational corporations and the small medium industries. It was found that the results indicate that three exogenous variables are significant; career satisfaction, career achievement and career balance, with 63 per cent of variance in QWL. QWL had the highest contribution to performance. Perceptions of QWL and job satisfaction were significantly higher among the respondents in small organizations than in the large organizations. Morning shift nurses perceived higher QWL and job satisfaction than the night shift nurses. Night shift nurses were suffering from more security problems than the nurses of other shifts. Thus it is suggested to allow the nurses to work in small groups. This would provide the nurses not only a feeling of security but also an opportunity to interact with each other which in turn would lead to improved and congenial working relationship in the hospitals. 26

9 QWL has different connotations to different persons and the factors contributing to QWL are also varied. To workers it may mean a fair day s work, safe working conditions, and a supervisor who treats him/ her with dignity. To the young professional it may mean opportunity for advancement, career growth, being able to utilize one s talents etc. To an academic it may mean being able to satisfy important personal needs, etc. Thus many factors contribute to QWL, such as adequate and fair remuneration, safe and healthy working conditions, security of employment, opportunity for growth and advancement, promotion prospects, nature of supervision, application of principles of natural justice and equity and respect at work place. Most research studies in the field focus on two sets of factors; organization - driven factors and Individual - driven factors. Under the first category such policies and procedures that deal with retaining the employees are being highlighted. The second factors are those that are very much governed by individual likes and dislikes. Both factors are essential for maintaining quality of work life of employees. Several companies have convened focus groups and conducted employee satisfaction surveys to find out how their employees feel and to determine what they can do to make their employees happy. There are also a number of independent organizations that conduct employee surveys to gather this information. One such organization is the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit research centre that provides data to inform decision making on the changing workforce and workplace, changing family and changing community. 27

10 Founded in 1989, FWI is known for ahead of the curve, non partisan research into emerging work life issues; for solutions oriented studies addressing topics of vital importance to all sectors of society, and for fostering connections among workplaces, families and communities. The level of economic development considerably determines people s quality of life. While the linkage between industrial relations and quality of people in general seems distant, there does exist a more direct relationship between Industrial relation and QWL. It may be stated that Industrial relation provides the backdrop for QWL and the successful human resource management policies eventually lead to organizational effectiveness. In today s high tech, fast paced world, the work environment is very different from it was a generation ago. According to the Institute of Industrial Engineers, it is not uncommon for a person to change career on an average of six times in his or her lifetime. It is now rare for a person to stay with a single company in his or her entire working life. Because employees are often willing to leave a company for better opportunities, companies need to find ways not only to hire qualified people, but also to retain them. By and large the studies in this area show the effect of organization and individual - driven factors on satisfaction and commitment of employees to their jobs. Most studies focus on the linkage of QWL with some of the outcome variables such as performance, productivity, job satisfaction, etc. The 28

11 present study concentrates on the quality of work life of selected private and public sector manufacturing enterprises in Kerala. 29

12 REFERENCES i Kapoor, S.D., The Prepotency of Specific Motive among Indian Industrial Workers, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 1967, 4(2), ii Sirota, D., Production of Service Personnel and Job Enrichment, Work study, 22(1), Jan. 1973, 9-15 iii Cherrington.J. and Cherrington.J.O. 1974, Improving productivity and the QWL, Praeger special studies, Newyork. iv Walton, R.E., Improving the QWL. Harvard Business Review, June 1974, pp.12ff. v Biennium, Van,(1974), On the Strategic Importance of the Quality of Working Life. A paper presented at the 5 th International Personnel Conference, Canada, Montreal November, vi Richard E. Walton Quality of Working Life: What is it? vii Allenspach.H. (1975), Flexible Working Hours, International Labour Office, Geneva, 64. viii Johnston, R., Pay and Job Satisfaction; a survey of some Research Findings, International Labour Review, 111(5), May, 1975, ix Trist, E. (1975) Planning the first steps towards QWL in a developing society. In L.E.Davis and A.B Cherns (eds), The quality of working life; Problems prospects and the state of the art (Vol.1), New York: Free Press. x De, Nitish R., New Forms of Work Organisation in India, International Labour Office, Geneva, xi Ganguli. O. N and Joseph. J. S (1976), QWL: Work Prospects and Aspiration of Young Workers in Air India, Bombay, Central Labour Institute, xii Vasudev, P and Rajbir, Correlation of Job Satisfaction among Industrial Workers, Indian Journal of Social, 1976, Vol.37 (3), xiii Merton, H.C. (1977) A Look at Factors Affecting Quality of Working Life, Monthly Labour Review, 100(10). xiv Suttle, J.L. (1977), Improving Life at Work Problems and Prospects, In J.R. Haboman and J.L.Suttle (eds), Improving Life at Work, Goodyear, Santa Monica, California. 30

13 xv Guest, R (1979) QWL: Learning from Tarrytown, Harward Business Review, Julu- August, pp xvi Keith Davis, Human Behaviour at work. Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Ltd., 1981, New Delhi, p.273. xvii Sayeed, O.B. and Sinha, P. (1981), QWL in Relation to Job Satisfaction and Performance in Two Organisation, Managerial Psychology 2, xviii Ghosh, S. and Kalra, S.K. (1982), Perceptual Differences in QWL Factors, Indian Journal of Training and Development, 12(3&4), xix Bharadwaj, S B L (1983) QWL: Perspectives, dreams and realities. Hyderabad: National Symposium on Quality of Working Life, July 25-26, Mimeographed. xx Singhal, Sushila (1983) QWL: A reexamination of assumptions. Hyderabad, National Symposium on QWL, July 25-26, Mimeographed. xxi Rahman, A. (1984), QWL as Perceived by the Industrial Shift Workers, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Osmania University, Hyderabad India. xxii Evaluating the QWL, human resource development, B.S Bhatia, G.S. Batra xxiii Farley, R. and W.R.Allen (1987), Blacks and Whites: Narrowing the Gap? Boston, Harvard University Press. xxiv Gupta and Khandelwal (1988) QWL in relation to role efficacy, Psychological Studies 33(1), pp p.73. xxv Best, G. (1988) Understanding QWL, QWL Focus: The News Journal of the Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre. 6(1), pp xxvi Haque, A.B.M.Z. (1992), Perceived Quality of Working Life and Job Satisfaction of Industrial Workers in Relation to Certain Demographic Variables, Bangladesh Journal of Psychology, 13, xxvii Austin, R.L. and H.H. Dodge (1992), Despair, Distrust and Dissatisfaction among Blacks and Women, , Sociological Quarterly 33: xxviii Wadud, N. (1996), Job Stress and QWL among Working Women, Bangladesh Psychological, Studies, 6, xxix M.E. Hoque and A.Rahman (1999), QWL and Job Behaviour of Workers in Bangladesh : a comparative study of Private and Public sectors, Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 35,3, Oct

14 xxx Hossain, M.E and Islam, M.T. (1999), Quality of Working Life and Job Satisfaction of Government Hospital Nurses in Bangladesh, Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 34,