CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

INTRODUCTION
Quality of work life denotes all the organizational inputs which aim at the employees
satisfaction and enhancing organizational effectiveness. The basic purpose is to develop jobs and
working conditions that are excellent for employees as well as economics health of organization.
It refers to the level of satisfaction, motivation, commitment and involvement an individual
experience with respect to their line at the work. The quality of work life is the degree of
excellent brought about work and working conditions that contribute to the overall satisfaction
and performance primarily at individual level at organization level.
Quality work life (QWL) has become one of the most important issues these days in
every organization. Employees are the force that is behind every successful organization. No
organization 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 actually
introduced in the late 1960s. From that period till now the term is gaining more and more
importance everywhere, at every work place. Initially quality of work life was focusing on the
effects of employment on the general well-being and the health of workers. But now its focus has
been changed. Every organization need to give good environment to their workers including all
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 a happy and
healthy employee will give better turnover, make good decision and positively contribute to the
organization goal.
The quality of work life is a process by which an organization responds to employee needs
for developing mechanism that allow them to share fully in making decision that designs their
life at work. Thus QWL means having good supervision, good working condition, good pay and
benefits and interesting, challenging and rewarding job.

CONCEPT

Quality of work life is a prescriptive concept; it attempts to design work environments so as to

maximize concern for human welfare. Quality of work life acts in two dimensions.
Goal
Process
Quality of work life acts as goal by
Creation of more involving
satisfying and effective jobs
Work environment for people at all levels of the organization
Quality of work life acts as process by
Make efforts to realize this goal through active participation
The whole essence of Quality of work life may be stated thus, the Quality of work life is co
operative rather than authoritarian; evolutionary and open rather static and rigid; informal
rather than mechanistic; mutual respect and trust than hatred against each other.
Objectives of QUALITY OF WORK LIFE
The major three main objectives for the Quality of work life are
Improve employees satisfaction strengthen workplace learning, and
Better manage on going chance and transition
Factors affecting quality of work life:
Job satisfaction:
Job satisfaction is the favorable or unfavorable with which 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 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. In sort, each element of the
environmental system, can add, or detract from, job satisfaction.
Pay:

Quality of work life is basically built around the acceptance of equitable pay. In this days ahead,
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. Those are 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, gangsters, politicians, public
figures and celebrities. These situations demand high level of prudence, cool temper kindness,
humor, diplomacy and sensitive
Health conditions of employee:
Organization should realize that their true wealth lies employees and so providing healthy
environment for employees should be their primary objectives.
Personal and career growth opportunities:
An organization should provide employees with opportunity for personal/profession
development 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 participative
management only specific the goals that too in collaboration with the team. The team organizes
the contents and structure of its job, evaluates its own performance, establishes its speed and
chooses its production method. It makes its own distribution of tasks and decides its own
membership. Autonomous team approach increases satisfaction and reduces turnover and
absenteeism.
Motivation:
Motivation is complex subject. It involves the unique feelings, thoughts and past experiences of
each of us we share a variety of relationship within outside organizations. To expect a single
motivational approach, work in every situation is probably unrealistic. In fact, even theories and

research take different points of view about motivation. Nevertheless, motivation can be defined
as a persons 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.

Work life balance:

Organization 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
by forcing on them by demanding working hours, overtime work, business travel, untiming
transfers. 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
will ultimately ensure Quality of work life. Today an employee desires work to be more
meaningful and challenging because quality is the acid test. A Quality of work life gives an
opportunity for deep sense of fulfillment. Employees seek a supportive work environment that
will enable them to balance work with personal interests. Quality of work life provides a more
humanized work environment. It attempts to serve the higher order needs of workers as well as
their basic needs. Quality of Work Life indicates that 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. Employees in several
companies that instituted Quality of work life experienced better health and 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 and respect between management
and workers. The term Quality of work life has been applied to a wide variety of organizational
improvement efforts. The common elements seem to be, has good man indicates, an attempt to
restructure

multiple dimensions of the

organizational and

to institute a

mechanism which

introduces and sustains changes overtime. Aspects of the change mechanism are usually an
increase in problem solving between the union and management Responsiveness to employee

concerns. In every organization, people and their behavior assumes vital role in determining the
performance and effectiveness. While many studies concentrated on physical and financial
performance of organization. Studies on behavioral aspects seem to be inadequate. 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 a long term implication for
the human development and enrichment. It tries to balance both the work and family life. Hence
integrated approach with regard to Quality of work life is required for the success of an
individual and an organization. This underlines the necessity of searching studies on the nature of
human relations and the problems of human relations and the problems of 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 detail about the topic
WAYS TO CREATE HIGH QUALITY OF WORK LIFE
Quality of work life deals with the relationship between every employee and his or her work
organization. This relationship is formal in sometimes less formal. This contract is psychological;
contract. "Psychological contract is the set of expectations held be the individual specifying what
the individual and the organization expect to give and receive from each other in the course of
their working relationship". This contract represents the expected exchange of values that
encourages the individual to work for the organization and motivates the organization to employ
that person, (i.e.) Contribution and Inducements.
. A healthy psychological contract means that inducements and contributions are balance.
INDUCEMENTS = CONTRIBUTIONS
(Organization to employees) = (employee to organization) This is the way for organization to
create healthy psychological contract and Jobs satisfaction for their members is to provide them
with High Quality of work life environment.

ASPECTS OF HIGH QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

Quality of work life is highlighted by the following benchmarks of managerial
excellence:
Participation: -involving peoples from all levels of responsibility in decision making
Trust: - Reside signing jobs systems and structures to give people more freedom atwork.
Reinforcement: - reward systems that are fair, relevant and contingent on work performance
Responsiveness: - Making the work setting more pleasant and able to serve individual Needs.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE PROGRAMMES

Quality of work life programmers concentrate on creating a working environment that is
Conductive to the satisfaction of worker needs. This program assumes that a job and the work
environment should be structured to meet as many of the workers needs as possible. Richard
Walton has organized into eight categories. These should be integrated, coordinated and properly
managed. These programmers are helped to avoid some pitfalls like

Quality of work life program must be implemented with the co-operation of management
and labour.

Action plans must be carried to completion.

Care must be taken to concentrate the focus on the joint objectives of improving the
Quality of work life.

RESULTS OF HIGH QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

High Productivity

Increase organizational effectiveness

High employee satisfaction

High morale.

Reduce the absenteeism and labour turn over

Increase the quality of life of employees

High employee involvement

Peaceful industrial relation

MEASUREMENT:
A recent statistical analysis of a new measure, the Work-Related Quality of Life scale
(WRQoWL), indicates that this assessment device should prove to be a useful instrument. The
WRQoWL measure uses six core factors to explain most of the variation in an individuals
quality of working life:

Job and Career Satisfaction;

Working Conditions;

General Well-Being;

Home-Work Interface;

Stress at Work and

Control at Work.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AS HR STARTEGY- AN ANALYSIS

Todays workforce consists of literate workers who expect more than just money from them
work
In the modern scenario, QWL as a strategy of Human Resource Management is being recognized
as the ultimate key for development among all the work systems, not merely as a concession.
This is integral to any organization towards its wholesome growth. This is attempted on par with
strategies of Customer Relation Management
Strategy and Tactics
Over the years, since industrial revolution, much experimentation has gone into
exploiting potential of human capital in work areas either explicitly or implicitly. Thanks to

the revolution in advanced technology, the imperative need to look into QWL in a new
perspective is felt and deliberated upon. Major companies are tirelessly implementing this
paradigm in Human Resources Development. Globalization has lowered national boundaries,
creating a knowledge- based economy that spins and spans the world. Major economies are
converging technologically and economically, and are highly connected at present moment. The
new global workplace demands certain prerequisites such as higher order of thinking skills like
abstraction system thinking and experimental inquiry, problem solving and team work. The
needs are greater in the new systems, which are participative ventures involving workers
managed by so-called fictional proprietors.
Money Matters:
For good QWL, cash is not the only answer. Today, the workers are aware of the job
requirements of job as also the fact that the performance of the same is measured against
the basic goals and objectives of the organization and more importantly, wages are paid
according to the larger picture specific to the industry and the employer
s place in the same. The increased
share of workers in wages and benefits through legislation as well as competitive interplay of
superior managements in various fields of industry and business on extensive levels has reshaped
the workers idea of quality
of work life. Moreover, other things being equal, the employers are increasingly vying with their
rivals in providing better working conditions and emoluments. Doubtlessly, the increased
tendency of recruiting knowledge bases is giving the modern managements payoffs in myriad
ways. Some of them are intended potentials for product innovations and cost cuttings. Talking of
product, it may appear far-fetched to some that product is being assessed in the market for its
quality and price by the environment created in the areas where workers and customers are dealt
and transact, like ambience in facilities / amenities as also
the companys pay scales.
This goes to prove that Quality of Work Life of manufacturer / service provider is synonymous
with the quality of product.
Non-economic- Job Security
The changing workforce consists of literate workers who expect more than just
money from their work life. Their idea of salvation lies in the respect they obtain in the work

environment, like how they are individually dealt and communicated with by other members in
the team as well as the employer, what kind of work he is entrusted with, etc. Some of these noneconomic aspect are: Self-respect, satisfaction, recognition, merit compensation in job allocation,
incompatibility of work conditions affecting health, bullying by older peers and boss, physical
constraints like distance to work, lack of flexible working hours, work-life imbalances, invasion
of privacy in case of certain cultural groups and gender discrimination and drug addiction. One
or more of the problems like above can cast a job
insecurity question, for no direct and visible
fault of the employer. Yet, the employer has to identify the source of workers problems and try
to mitigate the conditions and take supportive steps in the organization so that the workers will
be easily retained and motivated and earn ROI. The loss of man hours to the national income due
to the above factors is simply overwhelming. Employer should instill in the worker the feeling of
trust and confidence by creating appropriate channels and systems to alleviate the above
shortcomings so that the workers use their best mental faculties on the achievement of goals and
objectives of the employer. To cite some examples, employers in certain software companies
have provided infrastructure to train the children of workers in vocational activities including
computer education, so that the workers need not engage their attention on this aspect. Employee
care initiatives taken by certain companies include creation of Hobby clubs, Fun and Leisure
Clubs for the physical and psychological well-bitingness of workers and their families. After all,
the workers are inexorably linked to the welfare of their families, as it is their primary concern.
Dual income workers, meaning both spouses working are the order of the day. The work life
balance differs in this category and greater understanding and flexibility are required with respect
to leave, compensation and working hours in the larger framework.

Teamwork:
Teamwork is the new mantra of modern day peoples excellence strategy. Todays teams are selfpropelled ones. The modern manager has to strive at the group coherence for common cause of
the project. The ideal team has wider discretion and sense of responsibility than before as how

best to go about with its business. Here, each member can find a new sense
of belonging to each each another in
the unit and concentrate on the groups new responsibility towardsemployers goals. This will
boost the coziness and morale of members in the positive environment created by each others
trust. Positive energy
as, free of workplace anxiety, will garner better working results. Involvement in teamwork deters
deserters and employer need not bother himself over the detention exercises and save money on
motivation and campaigns. Everything said and one, the workers are considered as the invisible
branch ambassadors and internal customers in certain industries. It is evident that most of the
managements are increasingly realizing that quality alone stands to gain in the ultimate analysis.
Restructuring the industrial relations in work area is the key for improving the quality of product
and the price of the stock. Without creating supportive environment in restructured environment,
higher quality of work cannot be extracted