AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AMONG EXECUTIVE LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN SHIPPING INDUSTRY

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1 AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AMONG EXECUTIVE LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN SHIPPING INDUSTRY Dr. D. Rajasekar Associate Professor AMET Business School, AMET University ECR, Kanathur, Chennai ABSTRACT Quality Work Life is an important tool for the development of desirable motives and attitudes on the part of both management and emnployees. Quality of Work Life serves as an important means for the development of effective work habit and methods of work and thereby improves job performance reduces the wastes and accidents, prepare individuals for modified jobs, avoids unnecessary turnover, improves the quality of the product. Quality of Work Life programme is a serious problem that affects both the employees and the organization. An industrial organisation is a large and ever growing family. An implication of Taylor's work on Scientific Management was that the workers acted as they did due to the way they were managed. The meaning of work to the individual is important in the overall context of human relations, because it is the only factor contributing to one's satisfactory adjustment which transforms in the work place. Again, since work is an activity, one needs to remember that everyone approaches the work with a different attitude and desires varied expectations out of it. In order to improve quality of work life, various coping techniques have been suggested to upgrade the employee s attitude towards their job and the working environment in the organization Keywords: Quality of Work Life programs, industrial organization and employees attitude INTRODUCTION Human Resource Management is a very vast area which covers all aspects of the employee s work life in an organization right from the time he enters into the organization (Recruitment) till he leaves it (retirement). Human Resource Management takes care of the employee s economic, social and psychological needs. It also influences the social, political and cultural aspects of the employee s life, as organizational life is major part of the employee s life. Recruitment, Selection, induction, training and development, transfers, promotions, demotions, compensation package, working conditions that prevail are all part of human resource management. Many new concepts and trends are taking place in human resource management and are gaining importance. One such important concept is Quality of work life. Though the importance of quality of work life was realized long ago, its practice is being stressed upon and specific title is being given only recently. Since then, employees, government and academicians are using this term extensively. QUALITY OF WORK LIFE DEFINITION Quality of Work Life is the existence of a certain set of organizational conditions or practices. This definition frequently argues that a high quality of work life exists when democratic management practices are used, employee s jobs are enriched, 1

2 employees are treated with dignity and safe working conditions exist. In recent years the phrase Quality of life has been used with increasing frequency to describe certain environmental and humanistic values neglected by industrial productivity and economic growth. Within business organizations attention has been focused on the Quality of human experience in the work place. At the same time many firms have questioned their viability in increasingly competitive world markets. These dual concerns have created a growing interest in the possibilities of redesigning the nature of work. Many current organizational experiments seek to improve both productivity for the organization and the quality of working life for its members. Quality of work life involves three major parts: occupational health care, suitable working time and appropriate salary. The safe work environment provides the basis for the person to enjoy working. The work should not pose a health hazard for the person. The employer and employee, aware of their risks and rights, could achieve a lot in their mutually beneficial dialogue. The concept of Quality of Work Life in short is related to job satisfaction, humanization, work or individualizing the organization, organization development programs. Hence we can see that the concept of Quality of Work Life is a very broad concept which embraces activities like job enrichment, management by objectives, job rotation, work enlargements, participative management, cooperation, etc. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To find out the work area of Quality of work life in Shipping Industry. To find out the level of satisfaction with respect supervisor guidance. To analysis the Employees and management relationships To find the employees expectation in the various field of quality of work life. To suggest measures for improving quality of work life in the study unit. SCOPE OF THE STUDY As quality of work life is the back bone for organizational development. The concept of quality of work life has to be enhanced. So this study focuses on the quality of work life at shipping industry.this article was undertaken to suggest some of the measures for improving quality of work life at shipping industry.the aim of quality of work life is to makes the employee deliver his fullest potential and bring out his best results.the quality of work life measures will be an effective one, if the employees are more satisfied with the system. So the study is undertaken to know about their satisfaction towards various constitutes of quality of work life. VARIABLES OF THE STUDY The study was designed with the following two sets of variables:- (1) Dependent Variables The study warrants one dependent variables: Quality of Work Life Independent Variables The dependent variables were analysed in relation with the independent variables (viz.) Gender, Age, Educational Qualification, Income Status, Level of satisfaction towards the job security, Present Payment, Satisfaction level of Training Oppurtuinites, Supervisor guidance, Employee requirement, Level of Stress. HYPOTHESIS Ho:There is no significant releationship between Education and Satisfaction level of quality of work life in the organization.. 2

3 H1: there is a significant relationship between Education and satisfaction level of quality of work life in the organization. Ho: There is no significant relationship between Workload Stress levels with age in the organization. H1: There is a significant relationship between Workload Stress levels with age in the organization RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Methodology is the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and finding relevant solution to a specific marketing situation or problem RESEARCH DESIGN In this paper descriptive research was carried out as a survey was conducted to understand the factors that influence the Quality of Work Life (QWL) of workers in shipping industry. The descriptive research approach is considered best for the current research because this study intends to accomplish the aims by using descriptive statistics. DATA COLLECTION PRIMARY DATA A structured questionnaire given to the employees of shipping industry and is used for the collecting primary data. SECONDARY DATA Secondary data are collected from company database, references of magazines, journals, past records of the company and websites. SOURCE OF DATA The primary data collected from the employees of shipping industry with the help of questionnaire. The research methodology used is survey method through questionnaire and through interviews to do in depth analysis of the shipping industry workers Quality of Work Life. SAMPLING UNIT Questionnaire is used for the collection of data. In this study this questionnaire is given to the employees at shipping industry. SAMPLING SIZE The total of 285 executive managers in the shipping industry in which 260 respondents are responded. QUESTIONAIRE DESIGN Questionnaire is the research instrument which is direct and structural. It consists of open ended and multiple choice questions. (Refer Table 1 to 13) NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) Assume that there is no significant relationship between Education and satisfaction level of quality of work life in the organization. ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1) Assume that there is a significant relationship between Education and satisfaction level of quality of work life in the organization. Formula Χ² = [(O-E)² / E] Calculated Value of Chi-square = Degrees of freedom = (r-1) (c-1) = (4-1) (3-1) =6 Tabulated Value of Chi-square for 6 degrees of freedom at 5% level of significance is Since Calculated Frequency > Tabulated Frequency, so we reject null hypothesis. INFERENCE: Alternative hypothesis (H1) 3

4 Assume that there is a significant relationship between Education and satisfaction level of quality of work life in the organisation. * Computation of calculated frequency given in explanatory notes. (Refer Table 14) NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) Assume that there is no significant relationship between Workload Stress level with age in the organisation. ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1) Assume that there is a significant relationship between Workload Stress level with age in the organisation. Formula Χ² = [(O-E)² / E] Calculated Value of Chi-square = Degrees of freedom = (r-1) (c-1) = (4-1) (3-1) =6 Tabulated Value of Chi-square for 6 degrees of freedom at 5% level of significance is Since Calculated Frequency > Tabulated Frequency, so we reject null hypothesis. INFERENCE: Alternative hypothesis (H1) Assume that there is a significant relationship between Workload Stress level with age in the organisation. * Computation of calculated frequency given in explanatory notes. DISCUSSION 67.7% of respondents are male and 32.3% of respondents are female. Since the company prefer to recruit male employees towards the job attitudes. 10.8% of respondents belong to below 25yrs, 32.7% respondents belong to yrs, 35% of respondents belong to yrs and 21.5% of respondents belong to 51 yrs and above. Majority of the respondents are belonging to yrs. 50.7% of respondents are school, 23.4% of respondents are diploma, 14.2% of respondents are graduate,4.8% of respondents are professional and 6.9% of respondents are others. 5.8% of respondents belong to less than 5000 income group, 43.5% of respondents belong to income group, 30.4% of respondents belong to income group, 13.5% of respondents belong to income group and 6.8% of respondents belong to above income group.. 6.9% of respondents are highly dissatisfied with job security, 13.1% of respondents are dissatisfied with job security, 22.3% of respondents are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with job security, 37.7% of respondents are satisfied with job security, and 20% of respondents are highly satisfied with job security. SUGGESTIONS The promotion expectation is not fairly fulfilled by the management. Pay can be increased to match the same provided by the shipping industry. Training method should be increased by the management for the best results from the employees. The promotion policy can be altered a little bit so that all the employees can be benefited from that, the organization can make promotion on seniority cum performance basis; Review of work load should by done systematically. There can be due recognition to employees who attain higher qualification. 4

5 Systematic job rotation will increase productivity. The work area is not enough towards the products. The encouragement and appreciation is anticipated by the workers as as symbol of recognition of their sincerity in work. Supervisor guidance should be improved. Pending orders and work can be executed at the right time. The department should conduct meeting with the employees of the regular interval. The management should properly communicate with the employees through appropriate channels about the new policies of the company. The market strategy followed by the company to be increased. The new technology should be increased whenever the introduction of them. Maintain open communication in the organization so as to allow the employees to be informed, ask question and share information and to inspire them to share vision of the company. Stress can be avoided in order to change the handling machine operations. Quality of work life can be increased to maintain the employees with respect to give the adequate payment policy, promotion and effective guidance and take care the health and safety of the employees. CONCLUSION The present study was primarily aimed at identifying the Quality of Work Life in shipping industry. From the study it is found that the Quality of work life is extremely satisfactory. Shipping Industry is striving to provide its employees Quality of work Life on par with global standards. If a systematic revamp is carried out in certain areas like promotional opportunities, career development and stress management etc., it will definitely stand out from the crowd. If an attempt is made to review various aspect of Quality of work life and certain changes will continue to be the growth in the marine industry. LIMITATIONS The Study was carried out with its own limitations in terms of time and resources, thus there is a need to testify the results by undertaking the similar research work on a larger sample in shipping sector.the number of respondents were 260 which may be small to represent the shipping sector. The study was restricted to shipping industry of Chennai district only. The findings of the study are based on the information supplied by the respondents, which might have their own limitations. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH The findings of the present study are reasonably limited in its scope with regard to many aspects. The results can be made more elaborate if a number of future scientific enquiries are conducted in this area. Hence the following research areas are identified and suggested for further research on the Quality of Work Life among executive level employees in the shipping industry. The study can be extended to identify the pattern of relationship among different dimensions of Quality of Work Life of executive level of employees in shipping industry. A study can be conducted to explore the Quality of Work Life of semiprofessionals in the shipping companies and to compare the results with that of professional employees. 5

6 REFERENCES C.B Mamoria (2003), Personnel management,new Delhi: Himalaya Publishing House Prasad,L.M.,(2015), Principles and Practice of Management.New Delhi: Sultan Chand and Sons P.C Tripathi, (2013), Personnel Management And Industrial Relations.New Delhi : Sultan Chand and Sons C. R. Kothari (2009) "Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques".New Delh: New Age International Publishers Fred Luthans, (2001), Organisational Behavior. New York : McGraw Hill Hakanen, J., Schaufeli, W.B. and Ahola,K. (2008), The Job Demands-Resourcesmodel: A three-year cross-lagged study of burnout, depression, commitment and work engagement, Work & Stress, Vol.22(No. 3), pp Ross, L.E. and Boles, J.S. (1994), Exploring the influence of workplace relationships on work-related attitudes and behaviors in the hospitality work environment, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 13 (No. 2),pp Serey, T.T. (2006), Choosing a Robust Quality of Work Life. Busines Forum, Vol. 27(No. 2), pp

7 LIST OF TABLES: Table1: Table Showing Gender Wise Respondents TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR ANALYSIS GENDER NO. OF REPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Male Female Percentage Method Chi-Square Test Table 2: Age Wise Respondents AGE NO. OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Upto and above Table 3: Education Qualification of the Respondents EDUCATION NO.OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE School Diploma Graduation Professional Others

8 Table 4: Income Status of the Respondents INCOME NO.OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Less than Above Table 5: Level of Satisfaction towards the Job Security. JOB SECURITY NO.OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Highly Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied Satisfied Highly Satisfied

9 Table 6: Showing the Opinion of the Respondents about Job Requirements Factors Job requires I keep Learning New things Job requires that I Work very fast I have a Lot of say about what happens on my job I have to much work To do everything well On my job, I know exactly what is expected of me Strongly Res % R es Disagre e % Re s Neither Agree Agree nor % Re % Re s Strongly Agree % s

10 Table 7: Level of Satisfaction with the Present Payment. PRESENT PAYMENT NO.OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Highly Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied Satisfied Highly Satisfied Table 8: Showing the Opinion of the Respondents about Job characteristics. Characteristics Time of work is flexible Opportunity to develop career More enjoyable than going out to work Opportunity to use skills and abilities Opportunities for challenges Strongly Neither Agree nor Agree Strongly Agree Res % Res % Res % Res % Res %

11 Table 9: Showing the Satisfaction Level of Training Opportunities TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES NO.OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Strongly Neither Agree nor Agree Strongly Agree Table 10: Showing the Satisfaction Level of Supervisor Guidance Supervisor Guidance Strongly Neither Agree nor Agree Strongly agree Res % Res % Res % Res % Res % Treats Fairly Relationship with coworkers Welfare concentration Helpfulness

12 Table 11: Showing the Level of Employees Requirements. EMPLOYEES REQUIREMENTS NO. OF RESPONDENTS IN PERCENTAGE Always Often Sometimes Never Table 12: Showing the Level of Stress. Stress Not a source of stress Minimal stress Moderate stress Extreme stress Not applicable Res % Res % Res % Res % Res % Work load Unproductive committee work Review/promotio n process difficult relations with colleagues keeping up with technology Repetitive

13 CHI SQUARE ANLYSIS Table 13: Analysis to study the relationship between Education and Satisfaction with Quality of Work Life in the organisation. Quality of work life Education Professional and others Agree Neither Agree Nor Total Graduate Diploma School Total Table 14: Analysis to study the relationship between Workload Stress level with age in the organization. Workload Minimal Moderate Extreme Total Age Stress Stress Stress Upto and above Total