The Relationship between Work Life Quality and Effectiveness of High School Teachers in Tehran City

Transcription

1 The Relationship between Work Life Quality and Effectiveness of High School Teachers in Tehran City Ghazal Fatehrad Department of educational management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Abstract The present investigation was practical in terms of objective, correlation-descriptive in terms of method of data collection. It was aimed to study the relationship between work life quality and efficiency of high school teachers in Tehran city. The population consisted of teachers who were occupied in high schools in Tehran city. In the meantime, 371 individuals were considered as the sample size using Cochran formula and stratified random sampling method. In order to collect data, Walton s work life quality (1973) and Arnold and Feldman s efficiency standard questionnaires were employed, which the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were approved. The data analysis was carried out through SPSS software. The results demonstrated that there is a significant and positive relationship between work life quality and its dimensions and efficiency of teachers in Tehran city. Keywords: : work life quality, effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, fair payment Introduction Pinnacle Research Journals 14 The necessity of paying attention to efficiency and effectiveness in educational organizations such as department of education is obvious in the present era, which is named the knowledge base era (Ford, 2014). Efficient and effective human resources, which are remembered as important organizational assets, have a significant role in higher performance and efficiency of organizations who are directly dealing with education (Crook et al., 2011). Productivity or efficiency, which is the level of effective use of each of the factors of production or service delivery, arose from a view. Based on this view, one can do his duties and assignments better than before continuously (Rezaie et al., 2012). Effectiveness is defined as the level of realization of objectives (Grunig et al., 1992). Effectiveness is allocated to the amount of work that managers can be able to manage certain results or special needs through appropriate management in organizational status. Gibson (1992) proposed effectiveness at individual, team and organizational level. He stated that the most fundamental level of effectiveness is individual effectiveness, which emphasizes on employee or specific member of an organization s job performance. The participation of all members of an organization is proposed in team effectiveness. The third view is organizational effectiveness. Since organizations contain individuals and teams, organizational effectiveness consisted of individual and team effectiveness. Therefore, organizational effectiveness consisted of individual and team effectiveness. Andrew (2005) stated that the rate of tendency to the purpose of resources provision, organizational internal efficiency, meeting the demands of stakeholders and so on are of indices that the effectiveness of an organization is measured through them. In order to measure effectiveness, the indices of Arnold and Feldman (1986), which have

2 Pinnacle Research Journals 15 been used in many researches and are comprehensive and perfect indices, were utilized. These indices consisted of profitability, growth, achieving resources, ability to adapt, innovation, exploitation, satisfaction of customers and satisfaction of employees (Arnold and Feldman, 1986). Therefore, according to the mentioned discussions, it can be stated that achieving high-quality business life demands regular efforts from the organization, which gives more opportunities to the employees for influencing on their job and collaboration on the overall effectiveness of the organization. Consequently, any organization is looking for ways to bring its employees to such a degree of ability that use their intelligence and brain through effective efficiency and productivity. This could be done by appropriate work life quality, means cooperation and participation of more employees in the process of decision-making (Kasaie, 2004). In this regard, work life quality is remembered as a significant factor that has an important role in the effectiveness and productivity of organizations (Noaham et al., 2011). According to Lee et al. (2012), work life quality is the satisfaction of employees from different needs such as resources, activities and obtained results, which are created through the participation of individual in the work environment. According to Adhikari and Gautam (2010), work life quality is an attitude that tries to improve one s quality of work life and respond to job requirements that deal with degradation in the role of a production factor beside other production factors. Work life quality could be increased by proper reaction and respond to one s individual needs and enthusiasm (Martel and Dupuis, 2006). In many programs of work life quality, it is tried to increase employees' productivity through promotion of the level of internal motivation in them. The research findings demonstrated that the implementation of such programs leads to decrease in the level of employees' complaints, decrease in the rate of absenteeism, decrease in the rate of imposition of disciplinary rules, increase in the positive attitudes in employees and increase in their participation in proposed programs (Dahl et al., 2009). Work life quality programs can create positive knowledge, real self-concept, awareness and attitude in different fields such as work, safety and health, economical and familial, and social through satisfaction of basic needs. In fact, work life quality programs help to various objective and subjective scopes of employees' issues and problems (Dong et al., 2007). According to Richard Walton (1973), the dimensions and components of quality of work life, which are used in the present investigation too, consisted of 8 components including fair and adequate payment (equal pay for equal work, and the appropriateness of payments with community and employees standards, and its appropriateness with other sort of works), safe and healthy workplace (providing working condition in terms of determination of reasonable working hours and physically), providing opportunities for continued growth and security (to provide job promotion backgrounds and continued job security in workplace), legalism in the organization of work (availability of freedom of speech without fear of official reaction), social dependence in work Life (perceptions of employees about Corporate Social Responsibility), overall living environment (establishing balance and equilibrium, coordination of live and work, and other parts of employees' life), integration and social cohesion in the organization (establishment of proper working environment to strengthen employees' sense of belonging to the organization and the fact that they are required by the organization) and development of human capabilities (providing opportunities such as self-control and independence at work, benefiting from diverse skills and accessing to data related to work). In order to explain the relationship between these two constructs, many researches have been conducted, which some of them are mentioned briefly in the following. Hong et al. (2012) concluded in an investigation entitled Relationships between work life quality of teachers with work commitment, stress and satisfaction that quality of wok life leads to the improvement of learning and teaching among the students. Noaham et al. (2011) found in their investigation among ten different countries that internal peace in work life quality of employees leads to increase in effectiveness and productivity in their job. In another investigation, Normala (2010) studied the relationship between quality of work life and organizational commitment among the employees in Malaysian companies and stated that quality of work life has significant effect on the improvement of job satisfaction and further commitment among the employees. Reham et al. (2009) found in

3 an investigation about health and effectiveness of management in Europe that work life style is known as a cognitive factor in work environment and can increase efficiency, effectiveness and higher level of productivity in employees consequently..love and Edwards (2005) found in an investigation entitled Taking the pulse of UK construction project managers' health: influence of job demands, job control and social support on psychological wellbeing that awareness of job requirements, having control over jobs and having a job with high prestige lead to increase in productivity and motivation in employees. Estele and Vilfred (2004) demonstrated in their investigation that increasing the level of work life quality could be on of the best ways of achieving more productivity and efficiency in an organization. Eventually, Katz et al. (1985) found in their research entitled Assessing the effects of industrial relations systems and efforts to improve the quality of working life on organizational effectiveness that paying more attention to things that lead to job satisfaction and feeling of safety and peace leads to more effectiveness in the organization. Hence, according to the importance of the present investigation we are looking to answer the following question. Is there any relationship between work life quality and effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city? According to the objective of the research and using the mentioned literature, the questions and conceptual framework of the research are shown in the following. 1. What is the level of work life quality of high school teachers in Tehran city? 2. Is there any significant relationship between work life quality and effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city? 3. Is there any significant relationship between the components of work life quality and effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city? Fair payment Healthy and safe work environment Continuous growth and security opportunities H b2 H b1 H b3 Pinnacle Research Journals 16 Work life quality Social coherence Legalism Social dependence The overall environment of working life Capabilities development H b4 H b5 H b6 H b7 H b8 Table 1. Theoretical framework of the research Teachers' effectiveness

4 Methodology The present investigation was practical in terms of objective, correlation-descriptive in terms of method of data collection. The population consisted of teachers who were occupied in high schools in Tehran city. In the meantime, 371 individuals were considered as the sample size using Cochran formula and stratified random sampling method. In order to collect data, Walton s work life quality (1973) and Arnold and Feldman s efficiency standard questionnaires were employed, which the indices are listed in table 1. Moreover, the reliability of the questionnaire was checked through SPSS software and using Cronbach s alpha criterion. The alpha calculated of the research constructs is mentioned in table 1. According to the table, it is demonstrated that the reliability of the research tool is approved. Table 1. The research constructs, dimension and items Value of alpha 0.91 Number questions 15 of Dimensions of the variables profitability growth achieving resources ability to adapt innovation exploitation satisfaction customers satisfaction employees of of Const ruct effectiveness Value of alpha 0.88 Number questions 32 of Dimensions of the variables fair payment safe and secure environment growth opportunities coherence legalism social dependence overall environment of working life capabilities development Const ruct Quality of work life Pinnacle Research Journals 17 Findings The findings of the research are studied in the framework of the following questions. 1. What is the level of work life quality of high school teachers in Tehran city? Descriptive statistics are used in order to answer to this question and then, the results of the single-group t-test were utilized. The descriptive statistic related to the level of work life quality of high school teachers in Tehran city and its components are listed in table 2.

5 Table 2. The descriptive statistic related to the level of work life quality and its components t-test to compare the means Sig. level t-values Standard deviation Mean values Variable/Statistical index work life quality fair payment safe environment growth opportunities coherence legalism social dependence the overall environment of working life capacities development Pinnacle Research Journals 18 The calculated average demonstrated that the mean value of work life quality is equal 4, which is more than the assumed mean value (3), and it is at appropriate level. In the next step, the differences between the calculated mean values and assumed values are studied statistically in order to determine the significance of them. In order to answer to the question, a simple-group t-test is used. According to table 2, the calculated t-value (19.83) at 0.05 alpha level is more than Therefore, it can be stated that the work life quality of high school teachers in Tehran city is significantly more than the mean value at 95% confident level (acceptable). Moreover, according to table 2, it can be concluded that the component of fair payment is below the average of the population. Therefore, it is necessary for the school administrations to create this feeling in their teachers that their payment is in harmony with their skills, level of knowledge and efforts through increasing salary and benefits. 2. Is there any significant relationship between work life quality and effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city? Pierson s correlation coefficient is used to answer to the question. The obtained results of the test (table 3) demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between the two variables of work life quality and effectiveness of teachers (r=0.76) and this correlation is significant at alpha level. Moreover, the coefficient of determination showed that 58% of effectiveness of teachers can be determined through the components of work life quality and the rest of them are affected by other factors and variables. In addition, the results declared that there is a positive relationship between the components of work life quality and effectiveness, it means that increase in any of the components leads to increase in the effectiveness of teachers. Table 3. The level of correlation between work life quality and each of its components with effectiveness Sig. level Coefficient of Independent Dependent Level correlation determination variable variable work life quality fair payment safe environment growth opportunities coherence Effectiveness legalism social dependence the overall environment of working life capacities development

6 3. Is there any significant relationship between the components of work life quality and effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city? The results obtain from multiple regression analysis is presented in table 4 by employing the step-by-step method between the subscales of work life quality and effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city. Table4: The result of step-by-step regression for prediction of effectiveness rate the standard error of estimation Square of R (r 2 ) Correlation coefficients Statistical index Regression model The results obtained of step-by-step regression analysis demonstrated that the variables of capabilities development, legalism in the work organization, the overall environment of the work life and social coherence are as the predictor variables among the components of work life quality, and they have the appropriate criteria for entry into the final regression equation to explain effectiveness changes (criterion variable). This means that the components of capabilities development, legalism in the work organization, the overall environment of the work life and social coherence determine 75% of the effectiveness variance. Moreover, the other components do not lead to increase in correlation, so we neglected them of the final equation. Conclusion Pinnacle Research Journals 19 What is nowadays observed in the field of development and achievement of students is undoubtedly indebted to sincerity, empathy and continuous efforts of teachers. Teachers who presented valuable services with the available power, money and time in the recent years and also satisfied the expectation of the authorities and people all over the country. Paying attention to work life quality of teachers is of cases that the authorities should consider in their priority according to the important and key role of teachers at different levels of the society. The results obtained from the first question of the research showed that the level of work life quality of high school teachers in Tehran city is at appropriate level and most of the teachers were satisfied of discussion that was in relationship with the construct. It should be noted that there was less satisfaction of fair payment among the teachers. Therefore, it is necessary for the school administrations to create this feeling in their teachers that their payment is in harmony with their skills, level of knowledge and efforts through increasing salary and benefits. The obtained results of the second and third questions demonstrated that work life quality and its components have significant and positive relationship with effectiveness of high school teachers in Tehran city. On other words, it can be stated that we can observe increase in effectiveness in the case that we pay special attention to the discussion such as fair payment for teachers and creation of opportunities for the growth and development of teachers. Consequently, if the managers focus on the issue of work life quality of teachers effectively, it could be expected to observe increase in effectiveness, efficiency and productivity of teachers. The results obtained from the researches of Normala (2010), Hong et al. (2012) and Noaham et al. (2011) stated that work life quality and its components are of important and effective factors on the improvement of individuals' activities and increase the organizational performance and Walton (1973) declared the programs related to work life quality as a factor leads to increase in job satisfaction, amount of production and efficiency and productivity approved the findings of the present investigation. Totally, according to the results obtained from the research hypotheses, it can be said that teachers are the most basic unit in resources come to the department of education. Therefore, department of education can expect commitment to the organization and increase in productivity, efficiency and performance by its teachers according to improvement in their work life quality.

7 Hence, according to the research findings, it is proposed to the organization s authorities who have high legislative and executive power to pay special attention to issues such as work life quality of teachers and present new codes and instruments according to the today s condition in society. In addition, according to the sensitivity of teachers' job, it is proposed to the managers to review the status of salary and benefits of their teachers to make them feel safe enough at their work and attend at their classes confidently for the achievement of students. References Pinnacle Research Journals 20 Rezaie, V.A., Mojibi, T., Motamedi, A., Emadi, A.S. (2012). Studying the factors affecting human resources productivity in organizations, The first national congress of resistive economy, Payam Nour University, Mazandaran. Kasaie, M. (2004). Attitudes of employees to work life quality and its relationship with performance, Administrative Change, No. 47, pp Adhikari, D.R. & D.K. Gautam (2010). Labor Legislations for Improving Quality of Work Life in Nepal, International Journal of Law and Management, 52(1), Andrew, d. (2005). The effect of concurrence of Leadership Behaviors on Efficiency, Dissertation of PHD, college of TENNIS. Arnold, H. J., & Feldman, D. C. (1986). Organization behavior. New York Press. Crook, T. R., Todd, S. Y., Combs, J. G., Woehr, D. J., & Ketchen Jr, D. J. (2011). Does human capital matter? A meta-analysis of the relationship between human capital and firm performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3), 443. Dahl, S. Å., Nesheim, T., & Olsen, K. M. (2009). Quality of work: concept and measurement. REC-WP Working Papers on the Reconciliation of Work and Welfare in Europe Conference. Dong, J.L.; S. Anusorn & M.J. Sirgy (2007). Further validation of a need-based quality-of-work-life (QWL) measure: evidence from marketing practitioners. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2(4), Estele, A., Vilfred, B. (2004). Vanderbilt Marking Studies to Improve Quality of Work Life, Vanderbilt University Medical Center for More Journal, 38, Ford, J. K. (2014). Improving training effectiveness in work organizations. Psychology Press. Gibson, J. (1992). Organization Behavior, Seventh Edition, Grunig, L. A., Grunig, J. E., & Ehling, W. P. (1992). What is an effective organization. Excellence in public relations and communication management, Hong, K. S., Tan, K. W., & Bujang, S. (2012). Relationships between work life quality of teachers with work commitment, stress and satisfaction: a study in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal Technology, 52(1), Katz, H. C., Kochan, T. A., & Weber, M. R. (1985). Assessing the effects of industrial relations systems and efforts to improve the quality of working life on organizational effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 28(3), Lau, R. S. M., May, B. E. (1998). A win-win paradigm for quality of work life and business performance, Human Resource Development Quarterly, 9(3): Lee, D. J., Singhapakdi, A., & Sirgy, M. J. (2012). Further validation of a need-based quality-of-work-life (QWL) measure: Evidence from marketing practitioners. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2(4), Love, P. E., & Edwards, D. J. (2005). Taking the pulse of UK construction project managers' health: influence of job demands, job control and social support on psychological wellbeing. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 12(1), Normala, D. (2010). Investigating the relationship between quality of work life and organizational commitment amongst employees in Malaysian firms. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(10): Noaham, K. E., Hummelshoj, L., Webster, P., d Hooghe, T., de Cicco Nardone, F., de Cicco Nardone, C.,... & Zondervan, K. T. (2011). Impact of endometriosis on quality of life and work productivity: a multicenter study across ten countries. Fertility and sterility, 96(2),

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