INTRODUCTION QUALITY OF WORK LIFE (QWL) The term refers to the favorableness or unfavourableness of a total job environment for people. QWL programs are another way in which organisations recognize their responsibility to develop jobs and working conditions that are excellent for people as well as for economic health of the organisation. The elements in a typical QWL program include – open communications, equitable reward systems, a concern for employee job security and satisfying careers and participation in decision making. Many early QWL efforts focus on job enrichment. In addition to improving the work system, QWL programs usually emphasize development of employee skills, the reduction of occupational stress and the development of more co-operative labour-management relations. Vigorous Domestic and International competition drive organisations to be more productive. Proactive managers and human resource departments respond to this challenge by finding new ways to improve productivity. Some strategies rely heavily upon new capital investment and technology. Others seek changes in employee relations practices.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
QUALITY OF WORK LIFE (QWL)
The term refers to the favorableness or unfavourableness of a total job
environment for people. QWL programs are another way in which organisations
recognize their responsibility to develop jobs and working conditions that are excellent
for people as well as for economic health of the organisation. The elements in a typical
QWL program include – open communications, equitable reward systems, a concern for
employee job security and satisfying careers and participation in decision making. Many
early QWL efforts focus on job enrichment. In addition to improving the work system,
QWL programs usually emphasize development of employee skills, the reduction of
occupational stress and the development of more co-operative labour-management
relations.
Vigorous Domestic and International competition drive organisations to be more
productive. Proactive managers and human resource departments respond to this
challenge by finding new ways to improve productivity. Some strategies rely heavily
upon new capital investment and technology. Others seek changes in employee relations
practices.
Human resource departments are involved with efforts to improve productivity
through changes in employee relations. QWL means having good supervision, good
working conditions, good pay and benefits and an interesting, challenging and rewarding
job. High QWL is sought through an employee relations philosophy that encourages the
use of QWL efforts, which are systematic attempts by an organisation to give workers
greater opportunities to affect their jobs and their contributions to the organisation’s
overall effectiveness. That is, a proactive human resource department finds ways to
empower employees so that they draw on their “brains and wits,” usually by getting the
employees more involved in the decision-making process.
Job specialisation and simplification were popular in the early part of this century.
Employees were assigned narrow jobs and supported by a rigid hierarchy in the
expectation that efficiency would improve. The idea was to lower cost by using unskilled
workers who could be easily trained to do a small, repetitive part of each job.
Many difficulties developed from that classical job design, however. There was
excessive division of labour. Workers became socially isolated from their co-workers
because their highly specialised jobs weakened their community of interest in the whole
product. De-skilled workers lost pride in their work and became bored with their jobs.
Higher-order (social and growth) needs were left unsatisfied. The result was higher
turnover and absenteeism, declines in quality and alienated workers. Conflict often arose
as workers sought to improve their conditions and organisations failed to respond
appropriately. The real cause was that in many instances the job itself simply was not
satisfying.
FORCES FOR CHANGE
A factor contributing to the problem was that the workers themselves were
changing. They became educated, more affluent (partly because of the effectiveness of
classical job design), and more independent. They began reaching for higher-order needs,
something more than merely earning their bread. Employers now had two reasons for re-
designing jobs and organisations for a better QWL:
Classical design originally gave inadequate attention to human needs.
The needs and aspirations of workers themselves were changing.
HUMANISED WORK THROUGH QWL
One option was to re-design jobs to have the attributes desired by people, and re-
design organisations to have the environment desired by the people. This approach seeks
to improve QWL. There is a need to give workers more of a challenge, more of a whole
task, more opportunity to use their ideas. Close attention to QWL provides a more
humanised work environment. It attempts to serve the higher-order 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 them to improve their skills. The idea is that
human resources should be developed and not simply used. Further, the work should not
have excessively negative conditions. It should not put workers under undue stress. It
should not damage or degrade their humanness. It should not be threatening or unduly
dangerous. Finally, it should contribute to, or at least leave unimpaired, workers’ abilities
to perform in other life roles, such as citizen, spouse and parent. That is, work should
contribute to general social advancement.
JOB ENLARGEMENT VS. JOB ENRICHMENT
The modern interest in quality of work life was stimulated through efforts to
change the scope of people’s jobs in attempting to motivate them. Job scope has two
dimensions – breadth and depth. Job breadth is the number of different tasks an
individual is directly responsible for. It ranges from very narrow (one task performed
repetitively) to wide (several tasks). Employees with narrow job breadth were sometimes
given a wider variety of duties in order to reduce their monotony; this process is called
job enlargement. In order to perform these additional duties, employees spend less time
on each duty. Another approach to changing job breadth is job rotation, which involves
periodic assignment of an employee to completely different sets of job activities. Job
rotation is an effective way to develop multiple skills in employees, which benefits the
organisation while creating greater job interest and career options for the employee.
Job enrichment takes a different approach by adding additional motivators to a job
to make it more rewarding. It was developed by Frederick Herzberg on the basis of his
studies indicating that the most effective way to motivate workers was by focusing on
higher-order needs. Job enrichment seeks to add depth to a job by giving workers more
control, responsibility and discretion over hoe their job is performed. The difference
between enlargement and enrichment is illustrated in the figure on the next page.
In the above figure we see that job enrichment focuses on satisfying higher-order needs,
while job enlargement concentrates on adding additional tasks to the worker’s job for
greater variety. The two approaches can even be blended, by both expanding the number
of tasks and adding more motivators, for a two-pronged attempt to improve QWL.
BENEFITS OF JOB ENRICHMENT EMERGE IN THREE AREAS
JOB ENRICHMENT
BENEFITS
Individual: Growth Self-
actualisation
Organisation: Intrinsically
motivated employees
Better employee performance
Less absenteeism and turnover; fewer grievances
Society: Full use of
human resources
More effective organisations
Its general result is a role enrichment that encourages growth and self-
actualisation. The job is built in such a way that intrinsic motivation is encouraged.
Because motivation is increased, performance should improve, thus providing both a
more humanised and a more productive job. Negative effects also tend to be reduced,
such as turnover, absences, grievances and idle time. In this manner both the worker and
society benefit. The worker performs better, experiences greater job satisfaction and
becomes more self-actualised, thus being able to participate in all life roles more
effectively. Society benefits from the more effectively functioning person as well as from
better job performance.
APPLYING JOB ENRICHMENT
Viewed in terms of Herzberg’s motivational factors, job enrichment occurs when
the work itself is more challenging, when achievement is encouraged, when there is
opportunity for growth and when responsibility, feedback and recognition are provided.
However, employees are the final judges of what enriches their jobs. All that
management can do is gather information about what tend to enrich jobs, try those
changes in the job system and then determine whether employees feel that enrichment
has occurred.
In trying to build motivational factors, management also gives attention to
maintenance factors. It attempts to keep maintenance factors constant or higher as the
motivational factors are increased. If maintenance factors are allowed to decline during
an enrichment program, then employees may be less responsive to the enrichment
program because they are distracted by inadequate maintenance. The need for a systems
approach in job enrichment is satisfied by the practice of gain sharing.
Since hob enrichment must occur from each employee’s personal viewpoint, not
all employees will choose enriched jobs if they have an option. A contingency
relationship exists in terms of different job needs, and some employees prefer the
simplicity and security of more routine jobs.
CORE DIMENSIONS: A JOB CHARACTERISTICS APPROACH
How can jobs be enriched? And how does job enrichment produce its desired
outcomes? J. Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham have developed a job characteristics
approach to job enrichment that identifies five core dimensions – skill variety, task
identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Ideally, a job must have all five
dimensions to be fully enriched. If one dimension is perceived to be missing, workers are
psychologically deprived and motivation may be reduced.
The core dimensions affect an employee’s psychological state, which tends to
improve performance, satisfaction and quality of work and to reduce turnover and
absenteeism. Their effect on quantity of work is less dependable. Many managerial and
white-collar jobs, as well as blue-collar jobs, often are deficient in some core dimensions.
Although there are large individual differences in how employees react to core
dimensions, the typical employee finds them to be basic for internal motivation. The
dimensions and their effects are shown in the following figure and discussed in greater
detail here.
THE HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT’S ROLE
The role of human resource department in QWL efforts varies widely. In some
organisations, top management appoints an executive to ensure that QWL and
productivity efforts occur throughout the organisation. In most cases, these executives
have a small staff and must rely on the human resource department for help with
employee training, communications, attitude survey feedback, and similar assistance. In
other organisations, the department is responsible for initiating and directing the firm’s
QWL and productivity efforts.
Perhaps the most crucial role of the department is winning the support of key
managers. Management support – particularly top management support appears to be an
almost universal prerequisite for successful QWL programs. By substantiating employee
satisfaction and bottom-line benefits, which range from lower absenteeism and turnover
to higher productivity and fewer accidents, the department can help convince doubting
managers. Sometimes documentation of QWL can result from studies of performance
before and after a QWL effort. Without documentation of these results, top management
might not have continued its strong support.
The department also has both a direct and indirect influence on employee motivation
and satisfaction.
Satisfaction
Direct
Orientation
Training and
Development
Career Planning
Counselling Supervisor Employee
Indirect
Safety and
Health policies
Compensation practices
Other policies and
practices
Motivation
As the above figure illustrates, the department makes direct contact with
employees and supervisors through orientation, training and development, career
planning, and counselling activities. At the same time, these activities may help a
supervisor do a better job of motivating employees.
Human Resource
Department
QUALITY OF WORKLIFE
The policies and practices of the department also influence motivation and
satisfaction indirectly. Rigorous enforced safety and health programs, for example, can
give employees and supervisors a greater sense of safety from accidents and industrial
health hazards. Likewise, compensation policies may motivate and satisfy employees
through incentive plans, or they may harm motivation and satisfaction through
insufficient raises or outright salary freezes. The motivation and satisfaction of
employees act as feedback on the organisation’s QWL and on the department’s day-to-
day activities.
MOTIVATION
Motivation is a complex subject. It involves the unique feelings, thoughts and past
experiences of each of us as we share a variety of relationships within and outside
organisations. To expect a single motivational approach work in every situation is
probably unrealistic. In fact, even theorists and researches take different points of view
about motivation. Nevertheless, motivation can be defined as a person’s drive to take an
action because that person wants to do so. People act because they feel that they have to.
However, if they are motivated they make the positive choice to act for a purpose –
because, for example, it may satisfy some of their needs.
JOB SATISFACTION
Job satisfaction is the favourableness or unfavourableness with which employees
view their work. As with motivation, it is affected by the environment. Job satisfaction is
impacted by job design. Jobs that are rich in positive behavioural elements – such as
autonomy, variety, task identity, task significance and feedback contribute to employee’s
satisfaction. Likewise, orientation is important because the employee’s acceptance by the
work group contributes to satisfaction. In sort, each element of the environmental system,
can add to, or detract from, job satisfaction.
REWARDS SATISFACTION AND PERFORMANCE
A basic issue is whether satisfaction leads to better performance, or whether better
performance leads to satisfaction. Which comes first? The reason for this apparent
uncertainty about the relationship between performance and satisfaction is that rewards
intervene as shown in the figure below.
A REWARD PERFORMANCE MODEL OF MOTIVATION
Rewards
Reinforcement
Performance Satisfaction
Motivation Self-image
Inner drives Self-esteem
Self-expectation
Needs and Desire
Whether satisfaction is going to be improved depends on whether the rewards
match the expectations, needs and desires of the employee as shown at the bottom of the
above figure. If better performance leads to higher rewards and if these rewards are seen
as fair and equitable, then results in improved satisfaction. On the other hand, inadequate
rewards can lead to dissatisfaction. In either case, satisfaction becomes feedback that
affects one’s self-image and motivation to perform. The total performance-satisfaction
relationship is a continuous system, making it difficult to assess the impact of satisfaction
on motivation or on performance, and vice-versa.
employee
Job itself Small
groups Organisatio
n External
INDUSTRY PROFILE
The information technology (IT) industry has become of the most robust
industries in the world. IT, more than any other industry or economic facet, has an
increased productivity, particularly in the developed world, and therefore is a key driver
of global economic growth. Economies of scale and insatiable demand from both
consumers and enterprises characterize this rapidly growing sector.
The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) explains the
“information technology” as encompassing all possible aspects of information systems
based on computers.
Both software development and the hardware involved in the IT industry include everything from computer systems, to the design, implementation, study and development of IT and management systems.
Owing to its easy accessibility and the wide range of IT products available, the
demand for IT services has increased substantially over the years. The IT sector has
emerged as a major global source of both growth and employment.
Information Technology is one of the most important industries in the Indian
economy. The IT industry of India has registered huge growth in recent years. India's IT
industry grew from 150 million US Dollars in 1990-1991 to a whopping 50 billion UD
Dollars in 2006-2007. In the last ten years the Information Technology industry in India
has grown at an average annual rate of 30%.The liberalization of the Indian economy in
the early nineties has played a major role in the growth of the IT industry of India.
Deregulation policies adopted by the Government of India have led to substantial
domestic investment and inflow of foreign capital to this industry.
In 1970, high import duties had forced IBM to leave India. However, after the
early nineties, many multi national IT companies, including IBM, have set up their
operations in India. During the ten year period 1992-2002, the Indian software industry
grew at double the rate as the US software industry.
Some of the major reasons for the significant growth of the IT industry of India are
Abundant availability of skilled manpower
Reduced telecommunication and internet costs
Reduced import duties on software and hardware products
Cost advantages
Encouraging government policies
Some of the major companies in the IT industry of India are -
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Infosys
Wipro
IBM
HP
HCL
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS)
Patni
Satyam
India's IT industry caters to both domestic and export markets. Exports
contribute around 75% of the total revenue of the IT industry in India. The IT
industry can be broadly divided into four segments
IT services
Software’s (includes both engineering and Research and
Development)
ITES-BPO
Hardware
This yearly list offers 2000 companies active in all kinds of industries. By
selecting software & services a sublist can be made, which was 32 companies long in
2007. Forbes offers figures such as sales, profits, assets and market capitalization. Only
public companies are listed. The ranking seems to be based upon a multiplication of
sales*profits*assets*market capitalization. An extract of the Forbes list is provided
below. The Forbes Global 2000 includes the following list of the world's largest software
companies, ranked here by sales revenues: [1]
IBM
Microsoft Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Google
SAP
First Data
Electronic Data Systems
Softbank
Yahoo!
Symantec
In the present scenario most of the countries over the world have relied upon
Indian software company and firms or Software Companies for the software development
activities, as the country possesses a global competency in the IT sector.
The Software development company India comprises of businesses related to the
production and maintenance of computer software. The roots of the Software Industry
India lies in the IT phenomenon. Services regarding software such as training, consulting
and maintenance are a part of this ever-growing industry. The Software companies is
witnessing a rapid growth and offers lucrative job opportunities making IT a premium
career option for the youth. Infact it is one of the fastest growing sector of Indian
industry.
India is emerging as a Global IT superpower. The success can be attributed to
factor advantage of high quality of software human resources. The Software Industry has
succeeded in converting this comparative advantage to increasing exports. More and
more companies are receiving the ISO 9000 certification and the day is not far when
India will have the highest number of ISO 9000 companies in the world.
Indian Software Industry is estimated to be worth USD 1.2 billion. Unfortunately
the growth has been limited to a few cities around Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Noida.
One problem that software companies in India are facing is that of outflow of IT
professionals. This can be looked into by ensuring the conditions for investment and
growth in the industry are safeguarded by political stability.
Services exports, accounting for nearly two thirds of the total, are
estimated to be growing at 32.6 percent in FY2007. This beats the industry forecast of
27-30 percent, estimated earlier – at the beginning of the year (June 2006).
Strong fundamentals including a large base of skilled talent, demonstrated quality
and service delivery expertise at a signifi cant cost advantage and an enabling
environment have ensured that India attracts a disproportionately larger share of the
global demand for offshore IT-ITES – and continues to drive India’s export led growth.
The top 40 publicly listed Indian fi rms have reported a top line year-on-year
growth of nearly 35 percent, over the fi rst half of the current fi scal. MNC owned captive
units have been scaling up their operations steadily with the headcount estimated to be
growing by about 25-30 percent this year.
COMPANY PROFILE
IBIN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
IBIN Technology Solutions is one of the leading software solution provider
company in Chennai India, with its associates in USA and UK, it fulfils software
solutions requirement of many companies across the globe. IBIN provides complete
software solutions which include software development, project consultancy, project
management, implementation of ERP(s), software maintenance and networking related
services to manufacturing and service industry.
We are a worldwide information services provider focusing on the delivery of
high quality information technology services and products. We specialize in the design,
development, implementation, and migration of small to large size systems. We have
successfully delivered large size projects on-time and under budget repeatedly to our
customers.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure is the backbone of our operations. To support mission- critical
business processes and applications, IBIN has put in place a world-class infrastructure at
its delivery center in Chennai, India. Our hardware and communication infrastructure are
designed to bridge the offshore / on-site distance and provide near real- time information
to our customers, round-the-clock. We have implemented best-of-breed infrastructure
management policies.
IBIN development centers are equipped with the following infrastructure and facilities:
Support services 24/7 for a software development.
Windows, Linux and Sun Solaris Servers.
High Bandwidth Internet Connectivity.
Data Connectivity (Secure authentication through Firewall and RADIUS Server
on Active Directory Secure FTP facility).
Scalable network architecture and systems.
Contingency servers and workstations available with software images pre-loaded.
Redundant network and communication devices.
IBIN safety and IP security systems as well as advanced communications
infrastructure ensure reliable client connectivity and 200% data security
IBIN is also capable of scaling up a highly secure, robust and agile infrastructure based
on your specific requirements.
ENTERPRISE PORTAL
Following are the Enterprise Portal development related services offered by IBIN
From the above table the respondent’s job responsibilities are 55% of them to a
great extent, 27.5% of them to very much, 15% of them to some extent and 2.5% of them
says never.
Chart showing the Employees Job Responsibility
15
55
27.5
2.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Respondents
ToSomeExtent
To AGreatExtent
VeryMuch
Never
Opinion
Job Responsibility
Percentage
Chart - 17
TABLE – 18
Table showing the employees relationship with others.
5 – Very Healthy 4 – Healthy 3 - Neutral 2 – Unhealthy 1 – Very Unhealthy
S.No Factors 5 4 3 2 1Weighte
d Average
a.Relationship with your
Superiors 105 85 10 0 0 58.53
b.Relationship with your
Subordinates 100 85 15 0 0 59
c. Relationship with your Peers 95 70 35 0 057.33
INFERENCE:
From the above table the employees says that they Healthy Relationship with their
Superiors, subordinates and Peers.
TABLE – 19
Ranking Method
Attributes that have an impact on Quality of work life
S.No Factors Rank1 Job security 22 Recognition 63 Rewarding systems 34 Career growth 15 Flexi time 46 Work and working environment 87 Relationship with others 58 Usage of latest information technology 119 Skills and powers 910 Decision making authority 1011 Job satisfaction 12
12 Individual training 7
INFERENCE:
From the above table it is clear that Career growth is given as Rank – 1, Job
Security as Rank – 2 and as in the row Job Satisfaction is given Last Preference.
a. You have confident on Senior Management decisions
b. You communicate the needs of subordinates to your superiors with sensitivity
c. Your subordinates offer you support
d. You are supportive to your co-workers’ home life situation
e. You encourage spirit of teamwork among your co-workers
S.No. Attributes Rank
a. Job Securityb. Recognition c. Rewarding Systemsd. Career Growthe. Flexi - Timef. Work and Working Environmentg. Relationship with othersh. Usage of Latest Information
Technologyi. Skills and Powersj. Decision Making Authorityk. Job Satisfactionl. Individual Training
S.NoFactors
Level of satisfaction5 4 3 2 1
a. Job Securityb. Recognition c. Rewarding Systemsd. Career Growthe. Flexi - Timef. Work and Working Environmentg. Relationship with othersh. Usage of Latest Information
Technologyi. Decision Making Authorityj. Job Satisfactionk. Individual Training
BIBILIOGRAPHY
NAME OF
THE BOOK
AUTHOR PUBLICATION
Human Resource and
Personnel Management
Aswathappa.K Tata Mc Graw Hill Publications
Managing Human
Resources
Cascio F. Wayne Mc Graw Hill Publications
Human Resource
Management
Prasad L M Sultan Chand
& Sons.
Organizational Behavior Robbins P. Stephens Prentice Hall of
India Publication
Human Resource
Development
Tripathi. P .C Sultan Chand
and Sons
Research C.R. Kothari. New Age International Pvt.
Methodology. Ltd.
Statistical Tools S. P. Gupta. Sultan Chand & Sons