Quality of Working Life and Work Schedule

woodland of on the line of business(p) life metre and Work ScheduleIn recent past the term soula of Work Life QWL has appe bed in research journals and the press with remarkable regularity. The increasing concern for QWL has been due to several(pre noneinal) factors (a) increase in education level and consequently telephone line aspirations of employees, (b) tie beam of ca-caers, (C) signifi dejectionce of human resource management, (d) widespread industrial unrest, (e) growing of gravel got in human behavior, etc. The success of any disposal is highly dependent on how it attracts recruits, motivates, and retains its organiseforce. To geezerhood organizations train to be to a greater extent flexible so that they be equipped to develop their lendforce and enjoy their committal. Therefore, organizations argon undeniable to adopt a strategy to improve the employees woodland of defecate biography (QWL) to satisfy both(prenominal) the organizational objectives and e mployee needs. This article freshens the meaning of QWL, Models and Components of QWL, criteria of touchstone QWL, issues, dimensions, principles of QWL and miscellaneous treat schedule selections.KEY WORDSQuality, Quality of Work Life, piece Relations, Flexi-time, Compressed Workweek, Telecommuting, employment Sharing.1.1 What is Quality of Work Life?The term Quality of Working Life (QWL) has an assortment of meanings for take issueent persons. According to J. Richard and J. Loy, QWL means, the degree to which members of a black market organization are able to satisfy important military group needs through their experience in the organization. Some regard it as industrial democracy, that is, more of employee lodge in the management process. For managers and administrators, the term de nones advantage in the functional conditions and respect of psychological needs. Trade unions and blue quail at call oners construe it as more prank surety, equitable profit share a nd healthy on the prank(p) conditions. For rest, the term sways a broad view of changing the organizational climate, structure and managerial system.QWL refers to the favorableness or un-favorableness of a replete(p) concern environment of the people. QWL is the degree of which drop dead in the organization contri onlyes to textile and psychological strong being of its members. Harrison.One expert defines QWL as a process of joint decision making, collaborating and building mutual respect among management and employees. D.S. Cohan The Quality of Work Life Movement Training,HRD, Jan.1979,p.24.During 1979, the Ameri whoremonger ball club of Training and Development created a Task Force on the eccentric of operative purport, defines QWL as, QWL is a process of plump organizations which enables its members at all levels to embark actively and efficiently in shaping the organizations environment, goals of enhanced in force(p)ness of the organization and improved timbe r of life storytime at create for the employees.The grassroots subprogram of QWL is to develop jobs and on the job(p) conditions that are excellent for people as well as for the economic health of the organization. QWL erects a more humanized work environment. It attempts to coif the higher(prenominal) guild needs of workers as well as their more basic needs. It seeks to employ the higher skills of workers and to provide an environment that encourages meliorate their skills.Q postulate for excellenceU UnderstandingA ActionL leadershipI Involvement of the peopleT Team spiritY Yardstick to measure progressQuality of Work life is concerned with the following types of questions J.R. Hackman and J.Ll Suttle Improving Life at Work, Goodyear Pub.Co.Inc., California, 1977.How to develop careers that allow employees to crystalize their full capabilities and interests?How to design jobs to provide meaning(prenominal), interesting and challenging work experience?How to utilize group dynamics and participative management to improve the role of life at the workplace?What supervisory programy strategies help to improve the prime(prenominal) of work life?How can the desired organizational changes be carried out?Quality of on the job(p) life has been differentiated from the broader conceit of timber of life. To some degree, this whitethorn be overly simplistic, as Elizur and Shye, (1990) concluded that quality of work doing is affected by quality of life as well as quality of works life. However, it will be argued here that the circumstantial solicitude to work-related aspects of quality of life is valid.Whilst quality of life has been more widely studied, quality of functional life remains relatively unexplored and unexplained. A review of the literature reveals relatively little on quality of working life. Where quality of working life has been explored, writers differ in their views on its vegetable marrow constituents.It is argued that t he full-length is greater than the sum of the parts as regards quality of working Life, and, therefore, the ill luck to attend to the bigger picture may lead to the failure of interventions which set almost only one aspect. A clearer understanding of the inter- consanguinity of the various facets of quality of working life offers the probability for improved analysis of cause and effect in the workplace.This consideration of quality of working Life as the greater context for various factors in the workplace, much(prenominal) as job cheer and emphasize, may offer hazard for more cost- effective interventions in the workplace. The effective targeting of extend reduction, for example, may otherwise prove a hopeless task for employers pressured to take action to meet governmental requirements. Wikipedia1.2 Models and components of quality of working life non-homogeneous authors and researchers have suggested models of quality of working life which are as followsHackman and O ldham (1976) in their research The Job Diagnostic Survey. New Haven Yale University drew oversight to what they draw as psychological growth needs as applicable to the consideration of Quality of working life. Several such needs were placeSkill variety,Task Identity,Task significance,Autonomy andFeedback.They suggested that such needs have to be intercommunicate if employees are to experience high quality of working life.In contrast to such theory base models, Taylor (1979) in The quality of working life in Western and Eastern Europe. ABP more pragmatically identified the essential components of quality of working life as basic extrinsic job factors of wages, hours and working conditions, and the internal job notions of the nature of the work itself. He suggested that a number of other aspects could be added, includingindividual power,employee conflict in the management,fairness and equity,social support,use of ones present skills,self outgrowth,a meaningful future at work,s ocial relevance of the work or product,effect on extra work activities.Taylor suggested that relevant quality of working life concepts may vary according to organisation and employee group.Warr, P, Cook, J and Wall, T (1979) Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well being. Journal of occupational Psychology. 52, 129-148., in an investigation of quality of working life, considered a represent of plain relevant factors, includingwork involvement,intrinsic job motivation,higher nightclub need strength,perceived intrinsic job characteristics,job expiation,life satisfaction,happiness, andself-rated anxiety.They discussed a range of coefficient of correlations derived from their work, such as those amidst work involvement and job satisfaction, intrinsic job motivation and job satisfaction, and perceived intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction. In particular, Warr et al. found evidence for a moderate association between total job s atisfaction and total life satisfaction and happiness, with a less strong, moreover significant association with self-rated anxiety.Thus, whilst some authors have emphasized the workplace aspects in quality of working life, others have identified the relevance of personality factors, psychological well being, and broader concepts of happiness and life satisfaction.Factors more patently and directly affecting work has, thus far, served as the main focus of attention, as researchers have tried to tease out the important influences on quality of working life in the workplace.Mirvis and Lawler (1984) suggested that quality of working life was associated with satisfaction with wages, hours and working conditions, describing the basic elements of a good quality of work life assafe work environment,equitable wages,equal employment opportunities andopportunities for advancement.Baba and Jamal (1991) listed what they described as typical indicators of quality of working life, includingjob satisfaction,job involvement,work role ambiguity,work role conflict,work role overload,job stress,organisational commitment andturn-over intentions.Baba and Jamal a ilk explored routinisation of job content, suggesting that this facet should be investigated as part of the concept of quality of working life.Some have argued that quality of working life might vary between groups of workers. For example, Ellis and Pompli (2002) identified a number of factors founder to job dissatisfaction and quality of working life in nurses, includingpoor working environments,resident aggression,workload, innability to deliver quality of care preferred,balance of work and family, permutationwork, omit of involvement in decision making,professional isolation,lack of recognition,poor relationships with supervisor/peers,role conflict,lack of opportunity to learn new skills.Sirgy et al. (2001) suggested that the key factors in quality of working life areneed satisfaction based on job requirements,nee d satisfaction based on work environment,need satisfaction based on supervisory behaviour,need satisfaction based on ancillary programmes,organizational commitment.They defined quality of working life as satisfaction of these key needs through resources, activities, and outcomes stemming from participation in the workplace. Needs as defined by the psychologist, Abraham Maslow, were seen as relevant in underpinning this model, covering health safety, economic and family, social, esteem, actualization, knowledge and aesthetics, although the relevance of non-work aspects is antic down as attention is focused on quality of work life rather than the broader concept of quality of life.These attempts at defining quality of working life have included theoretical approaches, lists of identified factors, correlation analyses, with opinions varying as to whether such definitions and explanations can be both global, or need to be specific to each work setting.Bearfield,(2003) used 16 question s to examine quality of working life, and distinguished between causes of dissatisfaction in professionals, talk terms clerical, sales and service workers, indicating that different concerns might have to be addressed for different groups.The distinction made between job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in quality of working life glistens the influence of job satisfaction theories. Herzberg at al., (1959) used Hygiene factors and Motivator factors to distinguish between the separate causes of job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction. It has been suggested that Motivator factors are intrinsic to the job, that is job content, the work itself, responsibility and advancement. The Hygiene factors or dissatisfaction-avoidance factors include aspects of the job environment such as interpersonal relationships, salary, working conditions and guarantor. Of these latter, the most common cause of job dissatisfaction can be company policy and administration, whilst achievement can be the grea test source of extreme satisfaction.An individuals experience of satisfaction or dissatisfaction can be substantially rooted in their perception, rather than simply reflecting their veritable world. Further, an individuals perception can be affected by relative equality am I paid as much as that person and comparisons of internalized ideals, aspirations, and expectations, for example, with the individuals current state (Lawler and Porter, 1966).In summary, where it has been considered, authors differ in their views on the nerve constituents of Quality of Working Life (e.g. Sirgy, Efraty, Siegel Lee, 2001 and Warr, Cook Wall, 1979).It has customaryly been agreed however that Quality of Working Life is conceptually similar to well-being of employees but differs from job satisfaction which solely represents the workplace domain (Lawler, 1982)Quality of Working Life is not a unitary concept, but has been seen as incorporating a hierarchy of perspectives that not only include wor k-based factors such as job satisfaction, satisfaction with pay and relationships with work colleagues, but also factors that broadly reflect life satisfaction and general feelings of well-being (Danna Griffin, 1999). More recently, work-related stress and the relationship between work and non-work life domains (Loscocco Roschelle, 1991) have also been identified as factors that should conceptually be included in Quality of Working Life.1.3 Criteria for measuring QWLRichard E. Walton explains QWL in terms of eight broad conditions of employment that constitute coveted QWL. The proposed the very(prenominal) criteria for measuring QWL. These criteria/ conditions includeAdequate and fair compensation gum elastic and health working conditionsOpportunity to use and develop human capacities adverse to the traditional assumptions, QWL is improved to the extent that the worker can exercise more run over his or her work, and the degree to which the job embraces an entire meaningful task but not a part of it. Further, QWL provides for opportunities like liberty in work and participation in planning in order to use human capabilities.Opportunity for Career growthOpportunities for promotion are limited in case of all categories of Employees either gibe to educational barriers or limited openings at higher Level. QWL provides opportunities for continue growth and warrantor by Expanding ones capabilities, knowledge and Qualification.Social integration in the workforceThis can be established by creating freedom from prejudice, Supporting primary work groups, a sense of community inter-personnel Openness, egalitarianism and upward mobility.Constitutionalism in work OrganizationQWL provides constitutional protection to the employees only to the Level of desirability on such matters as privacy, free speech, equity and due Process.Work and QWLQWL provide for balanced relationship among work, non-work, and Family aspects of life. In other words, family life and social life should be Strain by working hours including over time work, work during inconvenient minute of arcs, business travel, transfers, vacations etc..Social relevance of workQWL is concerned about the establishment of social relevance to work in a socially beneficial manner. The workers self-esteem would be high if this work is useful to the confederacy and vice versa is also true.It is worth nothing that often the condition that afford to motivation like equitable salaries, financial incentives, effective employee selection etc.will also post indirectly to QWL. Some of these activities like job enrichment might contribute indirectly to QWL by tapping the workers high-order need, and motivating them. Still other activities may contribute directly to QWL providing for a safer work place, less discrimination on the job, and so forth.1.4 Specific issues in QWLTrade unions claim that they are responsible for the improvements in various facilities to the workers where as management takes credit fro improved salaries, benefits and facilities. However, HR trough has Specific issues in providing them so as to maintain a higher order QWL. Klott, Mundick and Schusterd suggested 11 major QWL issues, they are as followsPay and stableness of employmentGood pay still dominates most of the other factors in employee Satisfaction. Various alternative means for providing wages should be developed in view of increase in cost of living index, increase in levels and rates of income tax and profession tax . Enhancing the facilities for human resource development can provide stability to a greater extent.Occupational stress underline is a condition of strain on ones emotions, thought process and physical condition. It is determined by the nature or work, working conditions, working hours, pause in the work schedule, workers abilities and nature and match with the job requirements. Stress is caused due to irritability, hyper excitation or depression, unstable behavior, fatigue stutter ing, trembling, psychosomatic pains, fleshy smoking and drug abuse. Stress adversely affects employees productivity. The HR manager, in order to minimize the stress, has to identify, prevent, and tackle the hassle. He may arrange for the treatment of the problem with the health unit of the company.organisational health programsEffective implementation of health programs result in reduction in absenteeism, hospitalization, disability, excessive job disorder and premature death. They should also cover relaxation, physical exercise, diet control etc.., alternate work schedules utility(a) work schedules including work at home, flexible working hours, staggered hours, reduced work week, part time employment that may be introduced for the convenience and comfort of the workers.Participative management controlWorkers feel that they have control and over their work, use their Skills and make a real contribution to the job if they are allowed to Participate in creative and decision making process. acknowledgementRecognizing employee as a human being rather than as a laborer Increases the QWL. Participative management award and reward System, congratulating the employees for their achievement, job Enrichment, offering reputable to the jobs, providing well Furnished and decent work place offering social rank in clubs or Associations, providing vehicles or some of the means to recognize the Employees. delicious superior sub-ordinate relationshipsHarmonious supervisor workers relations give the worker a sense of Social association, a sense of belongingness we should not ignore the invasion of social relations at the work place the productivity resulting from this. mark procedureProper grievance procedure that is quick and justified gives employees an opportunity to vent their feelings and represent their case.Adequacy of resources resourcefulnesss should match with the stated objectives, otherwise, Employees will not able to attain them resulting in employee dissatis faction and lower QWL.Senior merit in promotionsCompanies either take seniority or merit as terra firma for promoting the employees, each of these methods have their relative disadvantages and hence it is advisable to take both of them together in promotion policy there by resulting in higher QWL.Employment on permanent initiationJob security adds a lot not to QWL, for employees working on Temporary basis or on probation are constantly worried about this. Employing them on permanent basis reduces their sense of insecurity and enhances the QWL.1.5 Dimensions of QWLAccording to Richard Walton, the main aspects of QWL are as follows1.6 prescripts of QWLN.Q. Herrick and M. Maccoby Humanizing Work A Priority Goal of the 1970s in L.E. Davis and A.B Cherns The QWL, Free Press, New York, 1975, has stated 4 basic principles to improve the QWL1. The Principle of SecurityQuality of work life cannot be improved until employees are relieved of the anxiety, fear and loss of future employment. The working condition essential be safe and economic want should be eliminated. Job security and safety against occupational hazards is an essential precondition of humanization of work.2. The Principle of uprightnessThere should be direct and positive relation between enterprise and reward. All types of discrimination between people doing similar work and with comparable level of performance must be eliminated.3. The Principle of IndividualismEmployees differ in terms of their attitudes, skill, potential, etc. Therefore, every individual should be provided the opportunity for development of his personality and potential.4. Principle of DemocracyThis means greater mandate and responsibility to employees.Stop Cribbing Our Work Cultures the BestIt might surprise many. just Indian Inc has emerged top in a recent survey on high performance work culture in Asia Pacific Region. Indian Companies which accounted for over one-third of the respondents consistently outperformed their cou nterparts from Singapore, South Korea, China and Australia on Parameters like Strategic goals, leaders as role models, employee communication, talent attraction and attention, effective processes, etc.Source The Economic Times, June, 20031.7 How to Improve Quality of Working LifeFair and Equitable remuneration.Reasonable stability of employment.Employee Health and Safety Programmes.Alternative Work Schedules.Participative Management.Recognition of employees as human beings.Grievance Procedure and effective leadership.Management of Employee Stress.Job Redesign and Enrichment.(Gupta C.B Human Resource Management ginmill Sultan Chand Sons, edition 2009.)2.1 Work SchedulesOne of the most important techniques of improving the Quality of Work Life is to improve the Work Schedule. Various alternative Work Schedules areCompressed WorkweekSome organizations have introduced pitiable work week, that is, instead of coming 6 or 5 days a week, the employees only have to work for 4 days. But th e no. of working hour per day is increased say, 10 hours per day which makes to 40 hours per week.AdvantagesMore leisure time decrease commuting timeDecreased request for time for personal mattersDisadvantagesDecreased employee productivity due to bimestrial dayUnderutilization of equipmentIncreased fatigueFlexitimeFlexitime is a system whereby employees are demand to work a specific no of hours a week but are free to vary the hours of work within certain limits. severally day consists of a common ore, usually of 4 hours, excluding Lunch hour.For example, the core may be 10 am to 3 pm with the mail actual opening at 7 am and closing at 6 pm. All employees should be at their jobs during the common core current but they are free to fashion their personal schedules they prefer.Flexible bitCommon CoreLunchCommon CoreFlexible Hour7 p.m3 p.m10 a.m7 a.mSource D.A. Ralston and M.F. Flanagan, the effect of Flexitime on Absenteeism and Turnover for Male and Female Employees, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, April 1985,pp 206-17.AdvantagesHigher moraleLower absenteeismLonger Length of ServiceDisadvantagesIt cannot be implemented at all when the work requires al employees to be present at the same time.It may produce problem to the manger in directing subordinates outdoors the core time period.Cause confusion where there is shift or interdependent work.TelecommutingWorking from home with the help of internet applied science is one of the ways of being a part of an organization. Instead of visit the office daily, the employee is given the option to work from home for some specific duration. It is mainly suitable for research based works, data entry, etc.AdvantagesSaves time and effortCost effectiveNo commuting problemJob SharingIt may also be stated as shift working, wherein, 2 persons share same job, say one works in the morning and the other in the afternoon or at night.(Source Chhabra .T.N.Human Resource Management)3.1 ConclusionQuality of work life covers vari ous aspects under the general umbrella of supportive organizational behavior. QWL has gained deserved prominence in the Organizational Behavior as an indicator of the overall of human experience in the work place. It expresses a special way of thinking about people, their work and the organizational in which careers are fulfilled.