High Quality Of Work Life Research Articles

Relationship between Quality of Work Life and Career Advancement among Iranian Academics

Background and aims: Career advancement can lead to productivity and success of educational canters and universities. Academic employees have a significant role in the community education and social development. Success in universities depends on academic employee's career advancement and quality of workplace. Quality of work life (QWL) views the organizational environment in accordance with employees’ needs (health and safety, economic and family, social, esteem, actualization, knowledge and aesthetic). This study investigated the relationship between QWL and career advancement among academic employees in Hamadan, Iran. MethodsThe structured questionnaires were based on information of 307 randomly selected academics in two Hamadan public universities in year 2013. The data collection was based on a self-administered questionnaire including background characteristics, seven dimensions of quality of work life and four dimensions of career advancement. Data was analyzed with structural equation modelling (AMOS) method. ResultsThe mean age of respondents was 39.67 (7.4) years. Most of them had Ph.D (70%) and 30% had M.Sc. educational level. Majority of respondents perceived moderate level of QWL (73%) and perceived high level of career advancement (62.2%). The results of the patch analysis showed that quality of work life and career advancement was significantly and positively related (ß=.28, P=.039). ConclusionsIt can be concluded that there was a positive and significant relationship between quality of work life and career advancement. The results of the study supported this idea that higher quality of work life lead to higher career advancement. Therefore, improving quality of work life of academics in universities might have high impact on educational and community development in country.

KUALITAS KEHIDUPAN KERJA DITINJAU DARI KEPUASAN KERJA DAN PERSEPSI TERHADAP KINERJA

Abstract N o wa d a y s , employees are more aware wi t h the quality of life issue than before. Consequently, quality of work life (QWL) also becomes an important issue in the management of human resources in an organization. Higher QWL in workplace brings positive implication to the organizational performance. This study aims to investigate the role of work satisfaction and perceived work performance towards QWL on civil servants (PNS). This study used a survey method; it wa s conducted in the Bantul municipality, Yogyakarta. The population of civil servants in this municipality is 600 employees. This study comprised 150 employees as study sample that was approached using purposive sampling me t h o d . Three instruments were used to collect data: Quality of Work Life (QWL) scale (20 items; α = 0,867); Work Satisfaction scale (22 items; α = 0,837); and Perceived Work Performance scale (20 items; α = 0,904). Multiple regressions was used to analyze the data. The results showed wo r k satisfaction and perceived work performance had significant affects towards QWL ( F = 17,852; p < 0,001)

Supervisor support: Does supervisor support buffer or exacerbate the adverse effects of supervisor undermining?

Empirical investigations concerning the interplay between supervisor support and supervisor undermining behaviors and their effects on employees yielded contradictory findings, with some studies suggesting that support buffers the adverse effects of undermining, and others suggesting that support exacerbates these adverse effects. Seeking to explain such contradictory findings, we integrate uncertainty-management perspectives with coping theory to posit that relational uncertainty is inherent in the mixture of supervisor support and undermining. Hence, whether supervisor support buffers or exacerbates the adverse effects of supervisor undermining on employee health and well-being depends on factors pertaining to employee ability to resolve and manage such relational uncertainty. Specifically, we hypothesize a buffering effect for employees with high self-esteem and high quality of work life, and an exacerbating effect for employees with low self-esteem and low quality of work life. Analyses of 2-wave data collected from a probability stratified sample of U.S. Air Force personnel supported our predictions. Two supplementary studies of the U.S. military replicated our core findings and demonstrated its practical significance.

Quality of Work Life Factors for Mental Health Therapists Providing Neurofeedback

The current study investigates factors connected to Quality of Work Life (QWL) for mental health therapists providing neurofeedback (NFB) based on previous NFB conceptual framework and QWL findings (Larson, In Press; Larson, Cothran, Drandorff, Morgan, & Ryan, 2012; Larson, Ryan, & Baerentzen, 2010). One hundred and ninety-eight NFB therapists completed online surveys gathering demographics and ratings of practice behaviors and characteristics. SPSS version 20 was utilized for descriptive statistics, frequencies, means, standard deviations, ranges, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation analyses, independent samples t-tests, and a regular simultaneous regression analysis. Results of this study found that QWL separately correlated with calmness, observant, realistic, and optimistic scores, and therapists with high levels of technique and commitment reported significantly higher QWL scores compared to therapists with moderate levels of technique and commitment. The current findings indicated that 40% of the variance in the QWL can be determined by variance in a significant multiple correlation of confidence, monthly NFB sessions, years of NFB experience, and burnout.

Demographical Study on Quality of Work Life in Nationalized Banks

Quality of work life (QWL) refers to the level of happiness or dissatisfaction with one’s career. Those who enjoy their careers are said to have a high QWL, while those who are unhappy or whose needs are otherwise unfilled are said to have a low QWL. QWL is the quality of relationship between employees and total work environment, concern for the impact of work on individuals as well as on organizational effectiveness and the idea of participation in organizational problem-solving and decision-making. In concurrence with the ascertained importance of an employee’s role in the service exchange process, therefore, the present research is an attempt to study QWL in nationalized banks of Indore district. Data was collected from 150 employees of nationalized banks. T-test and One-way ANOVA were used for data analysis. The study reveals that a significant difference exists between income, experience, age and employees QWL and no significant difference exists between gender and QWL.

Organisational Pressure on Quality-of-worklife of Women in Tertiary Institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria

An approach to motivation in the contemporary world of work is the implementation of Quality-of-Worklife (QWL) programmes, which is aimed at easing the pressures faced at work by employees. Quality-of-Worklife is a philosophy of improving productivity by providing workers with the opportunities required to put in their best at work, without jeopardizing their personal self improvement and responsibilities at home. The effectiveness of organisational factors and QWL programmes in the Nigerian tertiary institutions is under-researched. This study, therefore, investigates the organisational pressure on Quality-of-Worklife of women in tertiary institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is a survey of the ex-post facto type. 3,640 senior cadre women working in the four purposively selected degree awarding institutions in Lagos State (University of Lagos, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos State University and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital) and their managers formed the population. Out of these, 1000 women and 19 managers were randomly selected as sample. A QWL survey and structured interview made up the instrument. Four hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significance level. There were significant differences among the institutions in the compliance to International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and in the Quality-of-Worklife of their women workers. Moreover, there were significant relationships between QWL and sources of pressure and QWL and organisational pressure. Factors such as salary, health-care benefit, day-care services, recognition, workload and others, influenced QWL of women. Government and management committees of the tertiary institutions should ensure the reduction of organisational pressure and promote high QWL of women workers, in other to improve on their productivity and promote organisational growth.

The impact of quality of work life on job embeddedness and affective commitment and their co‐effect on turnover intention of nurses

To verify with empirical evidence the hypothesised relation and the effect of quality of work life, job embeddedness and affective commitment on turnover intention of clinical nurses in China. High turnover of the nursing workforce in healthcare organisations is a difficult and recurring problem in China as well as in many other countries in the world. It leads to great waste of resources and increases management cost. Developing and retaining the nursing workforce, which is a major challenge faced by human resources practitioners in hospitals and public health agencies, also becomes a subject of interest for management studies. Most of the literature about voluntary turnover focused on such traditional measures as job satisfaction and job alternatives in the past. The introduction of such new concepts as quality of work life, job embeddedness and affective commitment, which views the issue from a much broader and comprehensive spectrum, made a great breakthrough in the turnover study. In this study, we selected quality of work life, job embeddedness and affective commitment - three of the most important factors in employer-employee relations - and analysed the interaction between each one of them, as well as their co-effect on turnover intention of Chinese nurses. Cross-sectional survey and structural equation modelling were applied in studying the self-report questionnaires distributed to 1000 nurses employed in five large-scale government-owned hospitals in Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. Our study confirmed the hypothesised positive relation of quality of work life with job embeddedness and affective commitment and the hypothesised negative relation of quality of work life with turnover intention, that is, high quality of work life perceived by the nurses enhances their job embeddedness and affective commitment and thus reduces their intention to leave the job. The effect of quality of work life is positive on job embeddedness and affection commitment and negative on turnover intention. Nurse managers should pay great attention to the nurses' perception of quality of work life, and make great efforts in developing strategies and projects that can strengthen the nurses' embeddedness or connection with the job.

Organisational Pressure on Quality-of-Worklife of Academic and Non- Academic Women Workers in Tertiary Institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria

An approach to motivation in the contemporary world of work is the implementation of Quality-of-Worklife (QWL) programmes, which is aimed at easing the pressures faced at work by employees. Quality-of-Worklife is a relatively new concept in human resource management. It is a philosophy of improving productivity by providing workers with the opportunities required to put in their best at work, without jeopardizing their personal self improvement and responsibilities at home. This study, investigated the organisational pressure on Quality-of-Worklife of academic and non - academic women in tertiary institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study was a survey of the ex-post facto type. 3,640 senior cadre women working in the four purposively selected degree awarding institutions in Lagos State (University of Lagos, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos State University and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital) and their managers formed the population. Out of these, 250 women were selected as sample from each institution using the stratified random sampling technique. Three instruments were used for the study: Quality-of-Worklife survey of Women Workers (QWLSWW) r= .815, Head of Department Check List (HODCL) and Structured Interview Questions (SIQ). A research question and 3 research hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significance level. Data were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, t-test. Significant differences were found between academic and non-academic female members of staff in their sources of pressure (t=2.43, P&lt;0.05). The factors included: salary, health-care benefits, day-care services on workplace premises and workload. However, no significant differences were found between academic and non-academic female members of staff on sources of satisfaction which included, daily workload, salary, fairness in performance assessment, special recognition for high performance, internet facilities at work and health- care benefit and organisational pressure factors. Factors such as salary, health-care benefit, day-care services, recognition, workload and others influenced QWL of women. Government and management committees of the tertiary institutions should ensure the reduction of organisational pressure and promote high QWL. This would enable the women workers contribute to the productivity of their organisation.

Teachers' quality of work life in secondary schools

The purpose of this research as a causal-comparative design was to compare the rate of quality of work Life among technical and theoretical high school teachers in Kordestan province in Iran. Quality of work life is a process by which interest groups in the organization will learn how to work better together, how to determine for themselves what activities, changes and improvements are desirable and effective to the organization to be more efficient; as teachers at technical schools have different integration in the organization, work life and social dependence, overall living space from the other theoretical schools, thus, leading to different development of human capability and growth opportunities. Sample consisted of 410 high school teachers selected by cluster sampling. The questionnaire of quality of work Life (QWL) was used. The reliability of the instrument was calculated to be 0.98 by Cronbach alpha. The data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that (a) the quality of work Life among technical and theoretical high school teachers in Kordestan was average; and (b) there was no meaningful relationship between high school type (technical and theoretical) and quality of work life. There were no differences in types of high schools ' QWL and all technical and theoretical high schools in Kordestan province have the same quality of work life. Key words: Quality of work life, organization health, high school teachers, technical schools, theoretical schools.

Radiology Employees ‘Quality of Work Life in Tehran University of Medical Sciences Hospitals’ Radiology Departments

Radiology Employees ‘Quality of Work Life in Tehran University of Medical Sciences Hospitals’ Radiology Departments

Does TQM improve employees’ quality of work life? Empirical evidence from Malaysia's manufacturing firms

Quality of work life (QWL) has recently received surmountable attention, but many of the past studies lack in conceptual analysis and empirical evidence. This article is believed to be one of the first few empirical studies investigating the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and employees’ QWL in relation to the Malaysian ISO9001 certified manufacturing firms. The proposed framework was tested on a sample of 202 firms using the structural equation modelling technique. The survey evidence identified that leadership, process management, information and analysis and customer focus have an impact on employees’ QWL. However, human resource management and strategic planning did not show any significant correlation with employees’ QWL, implying that both variables do not provide extensive opportunities for employees to achieve a better balance in both work and life. This research evidence has given managers a better comprehension on the relevant TQM practices to be adopted to improve employees’ QWL. Hence, greater TQM implementation can ensure a higher QWL, and this serves as a competitive edge, ensuring organisational success.

Quality of Worklife Human Well-being Linkage: Integrated Conceptual Framework

Quality of work life (QWL) is not only one of the most important domains in peoples’ lives, but also affects andshapes many of the components of the general/ total quality of life (wellness) of organizational members, as wellas other peoples at the community, national, regional and even global levels.There has been ample research studying QWL, but very little attempts have been made to link QWL with generalwellness/ well – being. As peoples every where suffer from the many unfortunate and sad crises and outcomesbrought by organizations, QWL deserves more intensive and in-depth research, especially examining QWLlinkage with whole well – being. This paper attempts to provide a framework of guidelines to help organizationscreate and develop high QWL that can enhance and promote the welfare, goodness and total wellness, not onlyof organizational members, but also all other stakeholders and the broader societies at community, national andglobal levels. Thus, developing and nurturing among organizational members not only good organizationalcitizenship behavior, but also good national and even global citizenship behavior.

Call centres, quality of work life and HRM practices

PurposeThe paper seeks to determine whether and how the quality of working life (QWL) varies between call centres (CCs) in the in‐house/outsourced, public and private sectors and the implications of these findings on human resource management (HRM).Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports on findings derived through empirical qualitative case study research in two Australian CCs: Govtcall, an in‐house, public‐sector CC, and Salesplus, an outsourced, private‐sector CC. Quality of work life outcomes are determined through in‐depth interviews with CSOs, supervisors and managers, where a comparative approach is utilised.FindingsThe in‐house, public‐sector CC Govtcall emerges as being inferior in terms of job content, working hours and managerial/supervisory style and strategies. Conversely, Salesplus features a management model that is more akin to what would be expected in a CC operating under a professional service model.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was limited to two CCs; thus, the findings may not be representative of the wider CC context.Practical implicationsA productivity orientation and employee focus are not a mutually exclusive phenomenon. Union presence and public‐sector status do not guarantee better working conditions and higher QWL. Managerial styles and strategies have a significant impact on QWL in the CC context.Originality/valueQWL is an under‐researched area where CCs are concerned. Similarly, much of the existing CC research is based on the private sector, despite the public sector emerging as a large user of CC operations.

The quality of work life of child protective investigators: A comparison of two work environments

While the job of the child protective investigator has been described as complex, stressful, and extremely difficult, previous studies have only considered the job in the context of a public child welfare agency. This study compares the quality of work life of child protective investigators in two very different organizational settings: a public child welfare agency and a law enforcement agency. Legislation passed in Florida in 1998, transferred responsibility for investigations from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to the Sheriff's Offices (SO) in four counties. As part of a larger evaluation effort, a survey was conducted of investigators in the four experimental counties and in four comparison counties where DCF was still conducting investigations. The survey asked respondent to rate their quality of work life in five domains and also asked their perceptions of their role and their work environment. The findings indicate that while both groups had similar demographic characteristics and perceptions of their role, the investigators who worked for the SO experienced a higher quality of work life than those who worked for DCF.

Addressing Occupational Strains and Sprains: Musculoskeletal Injuries in Hospitals

Recognition related to the need for ergonomic design improvements among health care workers, management and administration, and equipment manufacturers is growing. The future should bring new concepts and innovations which can provide many benefits. Beyond the potential reduction in caregiver injuries, many possibilities exist to improve patient outcomes through better equipment design. As an additional benefit, applying the principles of ergonomics may enhance and increase caregiver productivity through a reduction of patient transfers required, and by minimizing staff required to ambulate patients. Another added value to applying ergonomics to equipment design is the development of convertible furnishing which could create a reduction in operating and capital expenses by reducing the need for some furnishings. Equipment such as cardiac chairs, sling scales, patient chairs, special rental surfaces, and other features might be incorporated into bed design. Ergonomic programs make sense and provide opportunities to create win-win situations throughout the health care industry. Current and future innovations will provide improvements resulting in outcomes from which everyone will benefit. These benefits include a higher quality of work life for health care workers and an improved quality of care for patients.

Quality of work life and performance – An ad hoc investigation of two key elements in the service profit chain model

Service profit chain is a well‐received model to explain the sustainable competitiveness of many service organizations. The model attributes a service organization’s financial and market performance to its relationships with its customers and employees. According to the service profit chain, internal service quality serves the foundation of the model and it ignites a chain effect leading to an organization’s growth and profitability in the end. The purpose of this study is to provide an ad hoc analysis of two key elements of the service profit chain. Specifically, this research explores the direct linkage between performance in growth and profitability and quality of work life, which is a proxy for internal service quality in the service profit chain model. The performance of companies with a reputation of high quality of work life were contrasted to a control group of S&P 500 companies using COMPUSTAT data.

A win‐win paradigm for quality of work life and business performance

AbstractThis study develops and tests hypotheses to examine empirically how the perceived image of a company's quality of work life will affect its market and financial performances. Growth and profitability of two groups of publicly held companies were compared based on sales growth, asset growth, return on equity, and return on assets. The first group consisted of fifty‐eight companies identified as the best companies to work for in the United States; the second group consisted of eighty‐eight of Standard and Poor's top one hundred companies. Statistical evidence found in this study supports a paradigm that aligns the interests of the investor, manager, and employee stakeholders into a win‐win situation. Findings from this empirical study suggest that companies with high quality of work life can also enjoy exceptional growth and profitability.

Managing Creation: The Challenge of Building a New Organization.

Managing Creation describes, evaluates, and generalizes from an attempt to foster a high quality of work life (QWL) during the start-up of a medical-products laboratory. This book reports the second in a series of eight QWL projects being evaluated by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. It contributes uniquely to the QWL literature. First, the project's consultants set out to involve inexperienced workers operating complex, prototypical technologies in a brand-new plant. This combination is unprecedented in the QWL movement. Second, the project's evaluators (the authors) designed their research carefully and conducted it independently. Both characteristics are unusual. Third, the book was published despite the failure of both the QWL project and its evaluation to achieve their objectives. Administrative science can benefit from such candid reports of negative results.