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Chapter I Introduction INTRODUCTION

Quality of work life denotes all the organizational inputs which aim at the employeessatisfaction and enhancing organizational effectiveness. The basic purpose is to develop jobs andworking conditions that are excellent for employees as well as economic health of organization.It refers to the level of satisfaction, motivation, commitment and involvement an individualexperience with respect to their line at the work. The quality of work life is the degree of excellence brought about work and working conditions that contribute to the overall satisfactionand performance primarily at individual level and finally at organization level.Quality of Work Life (QWL) has become one of the most important issues these days inevery organization. Employees are the force that is behind every successful organization. Noorganization can become successful with technology only because for the use of technology also,organizations need to have strong work force. Quality of Work Life was the term actuallyintroduced in the late 1960s. From that period till now the term is gaining more and moreimportance everywhere, at every work place. Initially quality of work life was focusing on theeffects of employment on the general well being and the health of the workers. But now its focushas been changed. Every organization need to give good environment to their workers includingall financial and non financial incentives so that they can retain their employees for the longer period and for the achievement of the organization goals.. At the end we can say that a happy andhealthy employee will give better turnover, make good decisions and positively contribute to theorganization

goal.The quality of work life is a process by which an organization responds to employeeneeds for developing mechanism that allow them to share fully in making decision that designstheir life at work. Thus QWL means having good supervision, good working conditions, good pay and benefits and interesting, challenging and rewarding job. Factors affecting quality of work life: Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction is the favorable or unfavorable with which employees view their work. As withmotivation, it is affected by the environment. Job satisfaction is impacted by job design. Jobs thatare rich in positive behavioral elements such as autonomy, variety, task identity, task significance and feedback contribute to employees satisfaction. Likewise, orientation is

important because the employees acceptance by the work group contributes to satisfaction. Insort, each element of the environmental system, can add to, or detract from, job satisfaction. Pay: Quality of work life is basically built around the concept of equitable pay. In this daysahead, employees may want to participate in the profit of the organization. People : Almost everyone has to deal with three set of people in the work place. Thoseare namely boss, co-workers in the same level and subordinates. Apart from this, some professions need interaction with people like patients, media persons, public, customers, thieves,robbers, physically disabled people, mentally challenged, children, foreign delegates, gangsters, politicians, public figures and celebrities. These situations demand high level of prudence, cooltemper, tactfulness, humor, kindness, diplomacy and sensitiveness. Health conditions of employees: Organisation should realize that their true wealth lies in their employees and so providing healthyenvironment for employees should be their primary objective. Personal and career growth opportunities: An organization should provide employees with opportunity for personal/professionaldevelopment and growth and to prepare them to accept the responsibilities at higher level. Participative management style and recognition: Flat organization structure helps organization facilitate employee participation. A Participativemanagement style improves the quality of work life. Workers feel that they have control over their work process and they also offer the innovative ideas to improve them. Recognition alsohelps in motivating employees to perform better. Recognition can be in form of rewardingemployees for their best performance. Autonomous Work Teams: An autonomous work team is one which can plan, regulate and control its own work world. Themanagement only specifies the goals that too in collaboration with the team. The team organizesthe contents and structure of its job, evaluates its own performance, establishes its speed and

chooses its production method. It makes its own internal distribution of tasks and decides its ownmembership. Autonomous team approach increases satisfaction and reduces turnover andabsenteeism. M otivation: 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 organizations. To expect asingle motivational approach work in every situation is probably unrealistic. In fact, eventheorists and researches take different points of view about motivation. Nevertheless, motivationcan be defined as a persons drive to take an action because that person wants to do so. Peopleact because they feel that they have to. However, if they are motivated they make the positivechoice to act for a purpose because, for example, it may satisfy some of their needs. Work life balance: Organisation should provide the relaxation time for employees and offer tips to balance their personal and professional lives. They should not strain employees personal and social life byforcing on them by demanding working hours, overtime work, business travel, untimingtransfers.By the globalization the modern employees are experiencing distress. To meet the challenges posed by present standards, organizational must focus their attention in bringing a balance between work life and personal life. The underlying assumption is that work life balance willultimately ensure Quality of work life.Today an employee desires work to be more meaningful and challenging because quality is theacid test. A Quality of work life gives an opportunity for deep sense of fulfillment. Employeesseek a supportive work environment that will enable them to balance work with personalinterests.Quality of work life provides a more humanized work environment. It attempts to serve thehigher order needs of workers as well as their basic needs. Quality of Work Life indicates thatthe 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 undulydangerous.Employees in several companies that instituted Quality of work life experienced better healthand greater safety on the job. Other benefits included improved employee satisfaction, morale, job interest, commitment and involvement ; increased opportunity for individual growth ; greater sense of ownership and control of the work environment development of managerial ability for circle leaders, improved communication in the organization and greater understanding andrespect between management and workers.The term Quality of work life has been applied to a wide variety of organizational improvementefforts. The common elements seem to be, has good man indicates, an attempt to restructuremultiple dimensions of the organizational and to institute a mechanism which introduces andsustains changes overtime . Aspects of the change mechanism are usually an increase in problemsolving between the union and managementResponsiveness to employee concerns. In every organization, people and their behavior assumesvital role in determining the performance and effectiveness. While many studies concentrated on physical and financial performance of organization. Studies on behavioral aspects seem to beinadequate. So, the attempts must to understand the human side of the enterprise.The Quality of work life movement

provides a value frame work and a philosophy which has along term implication for the human development and enrichment. It tries to balance both thework and family life. Hence integrated approach with regard to Quality of work life is requiredfor the success of an individual and an organization. This underlines the necessity of searchingstudies on the nature of human relations and the problems of human relations and the problemsof human behavior in the organization and suggests measures to cope with the problems. Hence,an in depth on aspects like Quality of work life can throw light on many non-identified aspects of human behavior which may help in understanding the issues involved and improving the overall performance of these organizations. There it is found that there is need to study in greater detailabout the topic Need of the study:

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important because the employees acceptance by the work group contributes to satisfaction. Insort, each element of the environmental system, can add to, or detract from, job satisfaction. Pay: Quality of work life is basically built around the concept of equitable pay. In this daysahead, employees may want to participate in the profit of the organization. People : Almost everyone has to deal with three set of people in the work place. Thoseare namely boss, co-workers in the same level and subordinates. Apart from this, some professions need interaction with people like patients, media persons, public, customers, thieves,robbers, physically disabled people, mentally challenged, children, foreign delegates, gangsters, politicians, public figures and celebrities. These situations demand high level of prudence, cooltemper, tactfulness, humor, kindness, diplomacy and sensitiveness. Health conditions of employees: Organisation should realize that their true wealth lies in their employees and so providing healthyenvironment for employees should be their primary objective.

Personal and career growth opportunities: An organization should provide employees with opportunity for personal/professionaldevelopment and growth and to prepare them to accept the responsibilities at higher level. Participative management style and recognition: Flat organization structure helps organization facilitate employee participation. A Participativemanagement style improves the quality of work life. Workers feel that they have control over their work process and they also offer the innovative ideas to improve them. Recognition alsohelps in motivating employees to perform better. Recognition can be in form of rewardingemployees for their best performance. Autonomous Work Teams: An autonomous work team is one which can plan, regulate and control its own work world. Themanagement only specifies the goals that too in collaboration with the team. The team organizesthe contents and structure of its job, evaluates its own performance, establishes its speed and

chooses its production method. It makes its own internal distribution of tasks and decides its ownmembership. Autonomous team approach increases satisfaction and reduces turnover andabsenteeism. M otivation: 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 organizations. To expect asingle motivational approach work in every situation is probably unrealistic. In fact, eventheorists and researches take different points of view about motivation. Nevertheless, motivationcan be defined as a persons drive to take an action because that person wants to do so. Peopleact because they feel that they have to. However, if they are motivated they make the positivechoice to act for a purpose because, for example, it may satisfy some of their needs. Work life balance: Organisation should provide the relaxation time for employees and offer tips to balance their personal and professional lives. They should not strain employees personal and social life byforcing on them by demanding working hours, overtime work, business travel, untimingtransfers.By the globalization the modern employees are experiencing distress. To meet the challenges posed by present standards, organizational must focus their attention in bringing a balance between work life and personal life. The underlying assumption is that work life balance willultimately ensure Quality of work life.Today an employee desires work to be more meaningful and challenging because quality is theacid test. A Quality of work life gives an opportunity for deep sense of fulfillment. Employeesseek a supportive work environment that will enable them to balance work with personalinterests.Quality of work life provides a more humanized work environment. It attempts to serve thehigher order needs of workers as well as their basic needs. Quality of Work Life indicates thatthe 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 undulydangerous.Employees in several companies that instituted Quality of work life experienced better healthand greater safety on the job. Other benefits included improved employee satisfaction, morale, job interest, commitment and involvement ; increased opportunity for individual growth ; greater sense of ownership and control of the work environment development of managerial ability for circle leaders, improved communication in the organization and greater understanding andrespect between management and workers.The term Quality of work life has been applied to a wide variety of organizational improvementefforts. The common elements seem to be, has good man indicates, an attempt to restructuremultiple dimensions of the organizational and to institute a mechanism which introduces andsustains changes overtime . Aspects of the change mechanism are usually an increase in problemsolving between the union and managementResponsiveness to employee concerns. In every organization, people and their behavior assumesvital role in determining the performance and effectiveness. While many studies concentrated on physical and financial performance of organization. Studies on behavioral aspects seem to beinadequate. So, the attempts must to understand the human side of the enterprise.The Quality of work life movement provides a value frame work and a philosophy which has along term implication for the human development and enrichment. It tries to balance both thework and family life. Hence integrated approach with regard to Quality of work life is requiredfor the success of an individual and an organization. This underlines the necessity of searchingstudies on the nature of human relations and the problems of human relations and the problemsof human behavior in the organization and suggests measures to cope with the problems. Hence,an in depth on aspects like Quality of work life can throw light on many non-identified aspects of human behavior which may help in understanding the issues involved and improving the overall performance of these organizations. There it is found that there is need to study in greater detailabout the topic Need of the study:

In the current scenario every organization expects their employees to perform at their peak potential. Though monetary aspects play an important role in motivating employees,organization around the world have come to understand that there are many other aspects thatcontributes better employee performance. It is these aspects that form the basis for this study. In particular this study aims to identify the various tangible and intangible aspects that contribute tothe quality of the workplace. It is very important for an organization to create a very conduciveworking environment for employees.This study is needed to ensure that all employees are performing at their peak potential,free from stress and strain, and to ensure all their needs are fully satisfied. This study will beused as feedback from employees to know their current perspective of workplace and also toidentify the areas of improvement for the organization. Scope of the study: The term Quality of work life in its broader sense covers various aspects of employmentand nonemployment conditions of work. This study covers the overall quality of work life of employees, i.e. their job satisfaction, work environment, working hours, work stress, their relation with their colleagues, work assignments, infrastructure provided etc ..The present studyaims at measuring the level of satisfaction of employees and to know about the various welfareactivities and

benefits provided for the employees. The study is dependent on the opinionexpressed by all the employees of all the departments.Quality of work life is a multi dimensional aspect. Some of these aspects are

Compensation and the reward for the work

Personal and career growth opportunities

Motivation

Participative management style

Health and Safety of the employees

Job security

Job specificationBy providing better quality of work life, the following results can be achieved.

Better performance of employees

More devotion and dedication towards work

Reduced absenteeism

Voluntary participation in an organizational activities

Reduced corruption

Lesser attrition

Significance of the study: Quality of work life covers the various aspects under the general umbrella of supportiveorganization behavior. Thus the quality of work life should be broad in its scope. It must evaluatethe attitude of employees towards personnel policies. The research will be helpful inunderstanding the current position of the organization. And provide some strategies to extend theemployee satisfaction with little modification which is based on the internal facilities of theorganization.The research can be further used to evaluate the facilities provided by the managementtowards the employee. This study also helps to manipulate the expectations of the employees. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Various authors and researchers have proposed models of Quality of working life which includea wide range of factors. Selected models are reviewed below. 1 . Journal Name Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16 , TitleMotivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. P.No: 250-279, Year: 1976, Author: Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G.R In this journal, author suggested that the psychological growth needs are relevant to theconsideration of Quality of working life. Several such needs were identified; Skill variety, Task Identity, Task significance, Autonomy and Feedback. They suggested that such needs have to be addressed if employees are to experience high quality of working life. 2 . Journal Name: Occupational Psychology, 52 Title: Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychologicalwell being P.No: 129-1 4 8

Year: 1979 Author: Warr. P, Cook. J and Wall. TIn an investigation of Quality of working life, the author suggested a range of apparently relevantfactors, including work involvement, intrinsic job motivation, higher order need strength, perceived intrinsic job characteristics, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, happiness. Theydiscussed a range of correlations derived from their work, such as those between work involvement and job satisfaction, intrinsic job motivation and job satisfaction, and perceivedintrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction 3. Journal Name: Occupational Behavior, 5 Title: Accounting for the quality of work life. P.No: 197-212. Year: 1984 Author: Mirvis, P. H. and Lawler, E.In this journal the author suggested that Quality of working life was associated with satisfactionwith wages, hours and working conditions, describing the basic elements of a good quality of

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In the current scenario every organization expects their employees to perform at their peak potential. Though monetary aspects play an important role in motivating employees,organization around the world have come to understand that there are many other aspects thatcontributes better employee performance. It is these aspects that form the basis for this study. In particular

this study aims to identify the various tangible and intangible aspects that contribute tothe quality of the workplace. It is very important for an organization to create a very conduciveworking environment for employees.This study is needed to ensure that all employees are performing at their peak potential,free from stress and strain, and to ensure all their needs are fully satisfied. This study will beused as feedback from employees to know their current perspective of workplace and also toidentify the areas of improvement for the organization. Scope of the study: The term Quality of work life in its broader sense covers various aspects of employmentand nonemployment conditions of work. This study covers the overall quality of work life of employees, i.e. their job satisfaction, work environment, working hours, work stress, their relation with their colleagues, work assignments, infrastructure provided etc ..The present studyaims at measuring the level of satisfaction of employees and to know about the various welfareactivities and benefits provided for the employees. The study is dependent on the opinionexpressed by all the employees of all the departments.Quality of work life is a multi dimensional aspect. Some of these aspects are

Compensation and the reward for the work

Personal and career growth opportunities

Motivation

Participative management style

Health and Safety of the employees

Job security

Job specificationBy providing better quality of work life, the following results can be achieved.

Better performance of employees

More devotion and dedication towards work

Reduced absenteeism

Voluntary participation in an organizational activities

Reduced corruption

Lesser attrition Significance of the study: Quality of work life covers the various aspects under the general umbrella of supportiveorganization behavior. Thus the quality of work life should be broad in its scope. It must evaluatethe attitude of employees towards personnel policies. The research will be helpful inunderstanding the current position of the organization. And provide some strategies to extend theemployee satisfaction with little modification which is based on the internal facilities of theorganization.The research can be further used to evaluate the facilities provided by the managementtowards the employee. This study also helps to manipulate the expectations of the employees. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Various authors and researchers have proposed models of Quality of working life which includea wide range of factors. Selected models are reviewed below. 1 . Journal Name Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16 , TitleMotivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. P.No: 250-279, Year: 1976, Author: Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G.R In this journal, author suggested that the psychological growth needs are relevant to theconsideration of Quality of working life. Several such needs were identified; Skill variety, Task Identity, Task significance, Autonomy and Feedback.

They suggested that such needs have to be addressed if employees are to experience high quality of working life. 2 . Journal Name: Occupational Psychology, 52 Title: Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychologicalwell being P.No: 129-1 4 8 Year: 1979 Author: Warr. P, Cook. J and Wall. TIn an investigation of Quality of working life, the author suggested a range of apparently relevantfactors, including work involvement, intrinsic job motivation, higher order need strength, perceived intrinsic job characteristics, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, happiness. Theydiscussed a range of correlations derived from their work, such as those between work involvement and job satisfaction, intrinsic job motivation and job satisfaction, and perceivedintrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction 3. Journal Name: Occupational Behavior, 5 Title: Accounting for the quality of work life. P.No: 197-212. Year: 1984 Author: Mirvis, P. H. and Lawler, E.In this journal the author suggested that Quality of working life was associated with satisfactionwith wages, hours and working conditions, describing the basic elements of a good quality of

work life as; safe work environment, equitable wages, equal employment opportunities andopportunities for advancement. 4 . Journal Name: Organizational Behavior, 12 Title: Routinization of job context and job content as related to employees' quality of working life P.No: 379-386 .

Year: 1991 Author: Baba V. B., & Jamal, MIn this journal, the author suggested that the typical indicators of quality of working life,including: job satisfaction, job involvement, work role ambiguity, work role conflict, work roleoverload, job stress, organizational commitment and turn-over intentions. Baba and Jamal alsoexplored routinisation of job content, suggesting that this facet should be investigated as part of the concept of quality of working life 5 Journal Name: Journal of Management, 25 Title: Health and well-being in the workplace: A review and synthesis of the literature P.No: 357-38 4 . Year: 1999 Author: Danna & GriffinIn this journal, the author suggested that Quality of Working Life is not a unitary concept, buthas been seen as incorporating a hierarchy of perspectives that not only include work-basedfactors such as job satisfaction, satisfaction with pay and relationships with work colleagues, butalso factors that broadly reflect life satisfaction and general feelings of employees . 6. Book name: Social Indicators Research, 55 Title: - A new measure of quality of work life based on need satisfaction theories P.No: 357-38 4 . Year: 1999 Author: Sirgy, M.J., & Efraty,JIn this journal, the author suggested that the key factors in quality of working life are: Needsatisfaction based on job requirements, Need satisfaction based on Work environment, Needsatisfaction based on

Supervisory behavior. They defined quality of working life as satisfactionof these key needs through resources, activities, and outcomes stemming from participation in

the workplace. Maslows needs were seen as relevant in underpinning this model, coveringHealth & safety, Economic and family, Social, Esteem, Actualization, Knowledge andAesthetics, although the relevance of non-work aspects is play down as attention is focused onquality of work life rather than the broader concept of quality of life. These attempts at definingquality 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.

Chapter III Research Design

Chapter IIIResearch Design3. 1 Objectives of the study: 1. To determine the factors influencing the quality of work life2. To measure the level of satisfaction of employees towards quality of work life.3. To find out the way to improve quality of work life 3. 2 RESEARCH M ETHODOLOGY A Research is a careful investigation or inquiry; especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge .It is a systemized effort to gain more knowledge.Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may beunderstood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. It is necessary for theresearcher to know not only the research methods or technique but also the methodology.Researcher always needs to understand the assumption underline various technique and theyneed to know the criteria by which they can decide that certain technique and procedures will beapplicable to certain problems and other will not. 3. 2 .

1 Type of research: The method of conducting research deals with research design, data collection method,sampling method. It explained about the nature of research work to be done such as descriptivenature of research, which is used in this study. 3. 2 . 2 Descriptive research: The researcher has adopted descriptive research design for the purpose of this survey.Descriptive studies are those studies which is concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group.

3. 2 .3 Types of data 1) Primary data2)Secondary data Primary Data: First time collected data are referred to as primary data. In this research the primary data wascollected by means of a Structured Questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of number of questions in printed form. It has both open-end closed end questions in it. Section I Personal Data: This section includes questions soliciting the respondents detailssuch as Age, Gender, Marital status, Education, Designation, section and Work experience. Section II Scale for measuring the issues: It comprises of single open ended type and variousclose ended questions which includes yes no type, scaling and other optional questions. Secondary Data: Data which has already gone through the process of analysis or were used by someone elseearlier is referred to secondary data. This type of data was collected from the books, journals,company records etc . 3. 2 . 4 Source of Data: The data has been collected from the employees of Office of commissionerate of CentralExcise and Service Tax of Trichy. 3.

2 .5 Sampling Unit: Sampling unit refers to process of defining the target population that will be sample. Hencefor the present study, data was collected by means of questionnaire from the employees. 3. 2 .6 Sample Size: Sample size plays a critical role, because the generalizability of the conclusion depends onsample size. Sample size for the present study is 70.

3. 2 .7 Sampling M ethod: Sampling means the method of selecting a sample from a given universe with a view to drawconclusions about the universe. Sample means representative of universe selected for the study.Sampling is a process of units(e.g. People) from a population of the interestSampling method is divided into 2 types1) Probability Method2) Non Probability MethodThe sampling method that was chosen is entirely non probabilitistic in nature. In non probabilitistic method the researcher has adopted convenience sampling method.In this method, the researcher select the accessible population members from which to getinformation and the items selected are easy to approach or easy to measure. 3. 2 . 8 Period of study: The researcher done this study from April-2011 to June 2011 3.3 Tools and Techniques: In this research the tools such as Simple percentage analysis, chi square, ANOVA andcorrelation are used for data analysis. 3. 4 Limitations of the study :

The individual perspective appears to be different.

Some of the respondents are hesitated to tell the truth so that it may result in wrongstatistical data.

The department has allowed the researcher to collect the data from the limitedrespondents only and limited departments only.