Quality of Work Life (QWL)

Presented by
Pratap Kumar Pathak
Welcome
Conceptualizing Quality of Work
Life
 Context of Quality of Work Life
• Happy and satisfied, and productive workers
are the basic outcomes of QWL.
• Four things are important for QWL
– Firstly, employees must take the work pleasing
and challenging
– Secondly, they must be fit for it.
– Thirdly, they must not do too much of it.
– Finally, they must have a sense of success.
 Increasing Concerns over QWL

• QWL is based on sociotechnic approach to management

dealing with stagnating productivity
– Focus on production, office operations and other areas with close
relationships between the technical system and people.
– Emphasis only on blue-collar and lower-level work, ignores much
of other managerial knowledge.
• QWL rose to prominence only in the 1970’s, there are now hundreds
of case studies and practical programmes and a number of QWL
centers, primarily in the United States, Great Britain and Scandinavia
• It has received enthusiastic support from a number of sources since it
is regarded as a promising means of dealing with stagnating
productivity, especially in the United States and Europe.
 Increasing Concerns…continued
• It is a participatory means of improving working conditions
and productivity
• It is used as an operative means of justifying higher pay
• Government agencies have been attracted to QWL as a means
of increasing productivity and reducing inflation
• Way of obtaining industrial democracy, maintaining industrial
peace, achieving decent work.
• Close attention to QWL provides a more humanized work
environment.
 Quality of work life is the sense of
betterment and happiness at work,
and the extent to which employees
can enhance their personal lives
through their work environment and
experiences.
 Job Satisfaction

Sense of Quality of Adaptability

development Work Life

Harmony
between work
and family life
 Quality of Work Life
• QWL is the most interesting approach to motivation
concentrating on physical and mental satisfaction throughout
the life in job.
• It refers to the favourableness or unfavourableness of a total
job environment for people at work.
• Through QWL programmes, organizations recognize their
responsibility to develop jobs and working conditions that are
excellent for people as well as for the economic health of the
organization.
• It is systems approach to job design and a promising
development in the broad areas of job enrichment, combined
with a grounding in the sociotechnical systems approach to
management of human resources.
• It is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry and action combining
industrial and organization psychology, industrial engineering,
organization theory and management development,
motivation and leadership theory and industrial relations
 Prospect for
Development
Job Challenge at
Satisfaction Work

Dignity and Key Sense of

Determinants
Respect of QWL Success
 Work/life
balance

Income and
Social
Employability security

Five
Dimensions
of QWL

Quality of Time
work sovereignty
 Basic Elements of QWL
• Supportive organizational behaviour and climate
– Open communications
– Equitable reward systems
– Adequate concern for employee’s job security and satisfying careers
– Caring supervision
– Participation in decision making
– Cooperative labour-management relations
• Job enrichment and job enlargement
– Job enrichment is related to Herzberg’s theory of motivation in which recognition,
autonomy, capacity and accountability are seen as real motivators
– Efforts to change the scope and breadth of job
– Vertical and horizontal loading of job contents and responsibility
– Making the job challenging and meaningful

• Development of employee’s professional capacity: job and behaviour

• Safe and healthy working conditions
• Protection of individual interests and rights
 Supportive
organizational behaviour
and climate

Job enrichment and

job enlargement

Development of
employee’s professional Basic Elements
capacity: job and
behaviour of Quality of
Work Life

Safe and healthy

working conditions

Protection of individual
interests and rights
 Create
Positive
Attitude
Improve
Enhance
standard of
Productivity
living

Objectives
of QWL
Different Approaches to QWL

Mechanistic Economic

Behavioural Technological

Humanistic
 Impacts of QWL

Meaningful/empowered
Sense of competence
job involvement

Impacts

Job performance and

Job satisfaction productivity
 Impacts of QWL Interventions
• A study was done in 1973 by US Department of Health, Education and
Welfare based on analysis of worker attitudes and the quality of working
life.
• The study concluded that
– The primary cause of worker dissatisfaction is the nature of their work and the
quality of their working life
– Blue-collar workers will work harder if their jobs are enriched and expanded
so as to give them greater autonomy and control over their work.
 Impacts of QWL…continued
• The major impacts of QWL initiatives included
– Productivity was increased
– Organic system in the organization activated
– Absenteeism and turnover reduced
– Morale of employee improved
– Participation of employees enhanced
– Sense of achievement and accomplishment
– Raised the concern over the needs of workforce diversity, OSH
and social protection
– Become the basis for outsourcing and contingency employment
Factors of Job Satisfaction as Core Need of
QWL
• Internal Factors • External Factors
– The work – Achievement
– Role definition and
– Job variety clarity
– Autonomy – Opportunity and
– Goal determination prospects
– Feedback and – Job security
recognition – Social interactions
– Supervision
– Organizational culture
– Matching work
schedules
– Seniority and expertise
– Compensation
 Factors…..continued
• Personal and Individual Factors
– Commitment
– Expectations from work
– Job involvement
– Equity
– Influence of coworkers
– Job comparisons
– Valuing the job
– Personal outlook
– Age factor
Measuring Quality of Work Life
 Measurement Criteria for QWL
Safe and healthy
Opportunity for
work
career growth
environment

Adequate and fair

Social integration
compensation

Opportunity to Constitutionalism
use and develop in the work
human capacities organization

Quality Contribution of
Social relevance
of work of Work work on quality
of life
Life
 Measuring Quality of Work Life:
Different Indices
• Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction
• Work-related Quality of Life Scale
– Stress at Work
– Control at Work
• Job and Career Satisfaction Scale
• General Well-being Scale
• Home-work interface Scale
• Working Conditions Scale
 Different Indices for Measuring QWL
Brief Index • Job satisfaction and level of affective commitment
of Affective • Factors of affection include: pay, promotion,
supervision, relationship with co-workers, work itself
Job • Determinants of affection: Nationality, job level, job
type, population type, age group
Satisfaction

Work- • Job and career satisfaction scale

• General well-being scale
related • Stress at work sub-scale

Quality of • Control at work sub-scale

• Home-work interface scale
Work Life • Working conditions scale
 Factor Analysis in QWL
• Job factors
• Psychosocial factors
• Systemic factors
• Economic factors
• Relational factors
• Developmental factors
Enhancing Quality of Work Life
 What Influences QWL
• Adequate and fair compensation
– Sufficient for maintaining a reasonable standard of living
– Performance and competency based salary/benefit structure
– Benefits comparable to amounts received by others in similar
positions
• Safe and healthy working conditions
– Regard for occupational safety and health concerns
– Measures for protection from hazards, chemical exposures,
discrimination and all forms of abuses
• Opportunity for career development
– Addressing employee’s self-esteem
– Developing skills and knowledge to support work performance
– Place for creativity and innovativeness
– Optimizing career prospects
– Addressing the strategic career needs of workforce diversity
 What Influences….continued
• Decent work
– Rights at work, dignity and respect
– Decent employment
– Social protection
– Social dialogue for grievance handling and dispute settlement
• Utilization of human capacity: acquired and potential
– Recognition of human capacity
– Opportunity for utilization of skills and competencies
– Fair appraisal of performance
– Involvement and participation in organizational decision making
– Challenging task through job enrichment and advancement
 What Influences…continued
• Opportunity for continued growth and security
– Work as path to advancement
– Job perceived as achievement
– Economic and social security
• Ownership building
– Sense of belongingness
– Team-building
– Accountability and responsibility
• Work and total life space
– Integration between personal life and job life
– Integration between family roles and organizational roles
• Social relevance of work life
– Social responsibility of organization
– Organizational outputs relevant to employee’s pride and social value
– Ethical and moral considerations of organization’s performance
 Key Issues in QWL
Pay and stability of
employees

Job security
Occupational stress

Issues
Inadequacy of
Advancement of
opportunities and
resources
Technology

Increased virtuality
of management
system
 Improving the QWL: Different
Approaches

• Job reengineering Approach

– Job enrichment: attempt to build into jobs a higher sense of
challenge and achievement
– Job enlargement
– Job rotation
– Feedback and reinforcement
• Decent work Approach
– Dignity of work
– Productive employment
– Social protection
– Participation and dialogue
 Improving QWL…continued
• Motivation and morale Approach: Job Satisfaction
• Empowerment Approach
– Involvement in decision making
– Capacity development
– Authority delegation
– Autonomy
– Feedback and reinforcement
• Human Capacity Approach
– Job skills and competencies
– Behavioural skills and competencies
 Aspects of Improving Quality of Work
Life
• Flexible work schedules
• Job redesign
• Opportunity for development
• Autonomous work groups
• Employees participation in management
• Job security
• Equitable justice in disciplinary action, career
development and management of human
resources
 Increasing Quality of Work Life
• Avoid micromanaging while managing
workforce
• Recognizing good work
• Set goals and reward the best performers
• Put employees in challenging situation
• Entertainment and food for refreshment
Innovative Ways to Achieve QWL
• Performance-based and production-based compensation
plans
• Making job enrichment more effective
– Better understanding of what people in organization really want.
– If productivity increases are the main goal of enrichment, the QWL
programme must show how workers will benefit.
– People like to be involved, to be consulted, and to be given an
opportunity to offer developmental feedback. Therefore workers
should be considered as important part.
– Concern with worker’s welfare, provide developmental feedback to
support better performance, appreciation and recognition for the
work done by workers.
 Innovative Ways…continued
• Flextime and flexplace
– Flextime allows employees to begin their normal workday at whatever
time they wish, often within a predermined window
– Flextime enables employees to better balance work and family
responsibilities
– Flexplace allows regular employees to work at home or at another
location away from the organization in convenience.
• Flexible benefits for employees
– Employment benefit options available for employees best suited to
their personal desires and individual and family situations
• Vocational guidance and counseling
 Innovative Ways….continued
• Compressed workweek
– From 5/40 to 4/40 workweek
• Contingent employment
– Flexecutives - interim assignments for professional soundness
• Job sharing
– It is a synergic partnership of two or more employees for performing a
job.
– It is a type of part-time work that allows two or more employees to
split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job.
• Right-side-up organizations
– Putting client or customer at the top of the organization that enhances
job satisfaction and thereby reinforcing the quality of work life.
 Management Techniques to Improve
QWL
• Quality circle • Job enrichment
• Autonomous work teams • Job rotation
• Participation in decision • Job enlargement
making
• Networking

Employee Job
Involvement reengineering

Innovation Job
• Organization and • Flexi time
development creativity flexibility • Flex place
• Encouraging • Flexibility in process and
innovation method
• Management support
for innovative tasks
• Innovation schemes
Any queries, comments and
feedback…..PLEASE.
Thank You for your attention,
support and inspiration