DECLARATION

I, the undersigned Prof. SAPNA PREMCHANDANI hereby declare that this Research

Paper “A Study of Quality of Work Life as a determinant of Job Satisfaction in

Service Sector” is my original work and has never been published anywhere in the

same context.

TITLE OF THE STUDY

A Study of Quality of Work Life as a determinant of Job Satisfaction in Service

Sector

Abstract

The current study was conducted with an aim to examine whether Quality of Work Life is an

important determinant of Job Satisfaction in service sector or not. In this perspective, the present

investigation has been designed and planned to make an initial probe on the quality of work life

and job satisfaction of employees working in service sector of Indore, to understand how these

variables operate and function among the employees to promote the effectiveness of the

organization. Results indicated that Quality of Work Life was favorable, and moderate level of

positive correlation was found between Quality of Work Life and Job Satisfaction in service

sector. In addition to this, Quality of Work Life showed significant impact on job satisfaction.

Keywords- Quality of Work Life, Job Satisfaction, Service sector.

About the author

Mrs. Sapna Premchandani B.Sc., M.B.A (HR)

Research Scholar and Lecturer S.R.G.P. Gujrati Professional Institute (DAVV) Indore.

Email: premchandanisapna@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION

In recent scenario, globalization is seen in every field. Every organization has to compete

globally for their survival and to achieve goals. Today's organizations need to be more flexible

and develop their workforce in a manner to enjoy their commitment. Quality of work life is

being identified as important indicator for the sustainability of business organizations. Therefore,

organizations are required to adopt a strategy to improve the employees 'quality of work life' to

satisfy both the organizational objectives and employee needs. Quality of Work Life (QWL)

has been defined as “The quality of relationship between the employees and

the total working environment”. QWL is concerned with the overall climate of

work and the impact on work and people as well as on organization

effectiveness. This study reviews the meaning of quality of work life and job satisfaction and

try to find out whether Quality of Work Life is an important determinant of Job Satisfaction or

not in service sector. The main purpose of this study is to help the organization to know the

importance of quality of work life by clarifying strong and weak points in the interface between

the organization and its employees. And this recognition will lead to high productivity and

higher job satisfaction.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Quality of Work Life

Quality of work life focuses primarily on the personal consequences of the work experience and

how to improve work to satisfy personal needs.

Quality of work life is defined as “a process by which an organization responds to employee

needs by developing mechanisms to allow them to share fully in making the decisions that

design their lives at work”.

Quality of work life is viewed as an alternative to the control approach of managing people. The

quality of work life approach considers people as an ‘asset' to the organization rather than as

‘costs'. It believes that people perform better when they are allowed to participate in managing

their work and make decisions. This approach motivates people by satisfying not only their

economic needs but also their social and psychological ones. To satisfy the new generation

workforce, organizations need to concentrate on job designs and organization of work. Further,

today's workforce is realizing the importance of relationships and is trying to strike a balance

between career and personal lives. Successful organizations support and provide facilities to their

people to help them to balance the scales. In this process, organizations are coming up with new

and innovative ideas to improve the quality of work and quality of work life of every individual

in the organization. Various programs like flexible timing, alternative work schedules,

compressed work weeks, telecommuting etc., are being adopted by these organizations.

Technological advances further help organizations to implement these programs successfully.

Organizations are enjoying the fruits of implementing quality of work life programs in the form

of increased productivity, and an efficient, satisfied, and committed workforce which aims to

achieve organizational objectives.

For the last decade, the increasing effects of factors such as globalization, information

technology, world business competitiveness and limited natural resources have changed people’s

views of how a good company is defined. In the past, financial figures were the major factor in

defining “a good company”. In the recent years, quality of work life is increasingly being

identified as progressive indicators related to the function and sustainability of business

organizations.

Warr et al., (1979), in an investigation of quality of working life, considered a range of

apparently relevant factors, including: work involvement, intrinsic job motivation, higher order

need strength, perceived intrinsic job characteristics, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, happiness,

and self-related anxiety.

The concept of QWL is considered as multidimensional (Davis and Cherns, 1975).Walton (1982)

provides conceptual categories for analyzing the features of QWL. They are;

1. Adequate and fair compensation.

2. Safe and Healthy working conditions

3. Immediate opportunity to use and develop human capacities

4. Future opportunity for continual growth and security

5. Constitutionalism

6. Total life span

7. Social relevance of work life.

Job Satisfaction

It is to strive for satisfaction in every aspect of life, and in the organizational context, this may be

related to striving towards securing a good job, with a good pay and high job satisfaction.

Satisfaction with job has always been an area of concern for practicing managers and

employees/workers primarily because of the reason that job satisfaction significantly affects

major organizational outcomes, such as individual performance, organizational productivity,

employee’s absenteeism and employee turnover.

Job Satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of

one’s job

Greenberg and Baron (1997) defined job satisfaction as an individual’s cognitive, affective, and

evaluative reactions towards his or her job.

Job satisfaction is simply how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs. It is

the extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs (Spector,

1997).

An alternative approach is that proposed by Sousa-Poza and Sousa-Poza, based on the

assumption that there are basic and universal human needs, and that, if an individual’s needs are

fulfilled in their current situation, then that individual will be happy. This framework postulates

that job satisfaction depends on the balance between work-role inputs - such as education,

working time, effort - and work-role outputs - wages, fringe benefits, status, working conditions,

intrinsic aspects of the job. If work-role outputs (‘pleasures’) increase relative to work-role

inputs (‘pains’), then job satisfaction will increase (Sousa-Poza and Sousa-Poza, 2000).

5.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Hamdia Mudor (2011) had conducted a study on Job Satisfaction by adopting three variables

human resources management practice (supervision, job training, and pay practices), job

satisfaction, and turnover to explain the relationships among them. Results indicated that job

satisfaction played an important role to employees’ turnover as it lead employees to resign when

their satisfaction was low.

Tamini et al., (2011) conducted a study to ascertain the relationship of quality of work life with

organizational commitment and job burnout between government and private bank employees in

Zahedan city and found significant positive correlation of quality of work life with affective

commitment, continuance commitment, normative commitment, overall scores of organizational

commitment and personal accomplishment but negative correlation with emotional exhaustion

and depersonalization. Organizational commitment was a significant positive predictor for

quality of work life while depersonalization was a significant negative predictor for quality of

work life in government bank employees, whereas in private bank employees, continuance

commitment was a significant positive predictor for quality of work life.

Kheradmand, E. et al., (2010) found a significant positive relationship between quality of work

life and job performance.

Janus et al., (2008) assessed how work-related monetary and nonmonetary factors affect

physicians' job satisfaction at three academic medical centers in Germany and the United States.

Results revealed that German physician respondents were less satisfied than their U.S.

counterparts. In both countries, participation in decision making that may affect physicians' work

was an important correlate of satisfaction. In Germany other important factors were opportunities

for continuing education, job security, extent of administrative work, collegial relationships, and

access to specialized technology. In the U.S. sample, job security, financial incentives, interaction

with colleagues, and cooperative working relationships with colleagues and management were

important predictors of overall job satisfaction.

Bhusita et al., (2006) studied quality of work life and happiness development strategies of

Mahidol University and purposed four strategies namely: Strategies on strengthening motivation,

creation and promotion of an environment in workplace to support a good work life, increasing

quality of life and happiness during work life and participation toward sustainable happiness

with three main strategies on prevention, promotion, monitoring and co-ordination.

Wong (1989) had conducted a study on the impact of job satisfaction on intention to change jobs

among secondary school teachers in Hong Kong and found that low in teachers’ job satisfaction

tend to have low level of commitment and productivity. Linn et al (1985) had compared

academic and clinical faculty affiliated with a major teaching hospital in terms of work

characteristics, job stress, conflict between work and personal life, job and life satisfaction, and

perceived health. There were no significant differences between the two physician groups on

job satisfaction, total stress, anxiety, or depression scores. However, academic faculty reported

working longer hours, taking less vacation time, and spending more time in research and

teaching, but seeing fewer outpatients. Academic physicians experienced more conflict

between work and personal life, were burdened by a variety of time pressures, and were less

satisfied with their finances, but experienced fewer recent episodes of physical illness than

clinical faculty. However, compared with what is known about the general population, both

physician samples seemed equally or more satisfied with their health and their lives.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study Quality of work life of employees in service sector.

2. To study Job Satisfaction of employees in service sector.

3. To study correlation between Quality of work life and Job satisfaction.

4. To find out impact of Quality of work life on Job satisfaction.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

The study is descriptive in nature. Statistical tools like Coefficient of Correlation, t-test were

applied.

Sample

A survey instrument in the form of questionnaire was used for the purpose of

collecting the main data for the study. The study was carried on 100 executives

working in service industry in Indore, who were selected on random basis. The respondent

belonged to the senior and middle level. The extraneous variables of age, gender, education and

other variables were controlled by randomization and elimination.

Tools for data collection

The instrument used in this study is composed of 2 parts. The first part deals

with Quality of work life. This scale consisted of 24-items.Participants were asked to evaluate

themselves on each of the 24-items with response possibilities ranging from 1= strongly disagree

to 5= strongly agree. In the current study, the Cronbach α internal consistency coefficients of the

scale was satisfactory; (0.677).

Similarly, Job satisfaction had 20-items.Respondents had to write their responses by using

numbers corresponding to the scale in the brackets provided. The current study indicated

satisfactory internal consistency of the job satisfaction measure (α = 0.71).

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Hypotheses

H01 The Quality of work life in service sector is not favorable.

Descriptive Statistic was used to know whether Quality of work life is favorable or unfavorable

in service sector.

Table-1

Statistics

Total-QWL

N Valid 100

Missing 0

Mean 90.20

Percentiles 25 84.00

50 91.00

75 94.00

It can be seen from Table-1 that mean-value of Quality of Work Life is 90.20, which is greater

than 84.00 but less than 94.00. Therefore it can be interpreted that QWL is moderately favorable

in service sector, hence null hypothesis namely H01- the Quality of work life in service sector is

not favorable is rejected. It may be concluded that Company’s competitive wage structure,

Periodic feedback, participative leadership style, and assignment of challenging task makes

employees more competitive and helps in maintaining good quality of work environment.

H02 Quality of work life is negatively related to Job satisfaction in service sector.

Here the researcher studied the relationship between Quality of work life and Job satisfaction in

service sector.

Statistical tool like correlation was applied to find such relationship..

Table-2

Descriptive Statistics

Mean Std. Deviation N

Total-QWL 90.20 6.778 100

Total-JS 69.54 7.971 100

Table-3

Correlations

Total-QWL Total-JS

Total-QWL

Pearson Correlation 1 .583**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 100 100

Total-JS Pearson Correlation .583** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 100 100

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Nature of association ship between Quality of work life and Job satisfaction in terms of

coefficients of correlations was found to be 0.583**, (Table-3) which lies between the range 0.25

to 0.75. It largely reveals a moderate amount of positive relationships- which does not speak in

favor of the acceptance of H02. Therefore null hypotheses namely H02 Quality of work life is

negatively related to Job satisfaction in service sector is not accepted. It can be signified that

company’s climate of trust, openness and well defined goal increase the performance and job

satisfaction of the employees up to certain extent.

H03 there is significant impact of Quality of work life on Job satisfaction in service sector.

Table-4

Statistics

Total-QWL

N Valid 100

Missing 0

Median 91.00

It can be seen from Table-4 that the median value of QWL of employees in service sector is 91.

Table-5

Group Statistics

Total-QWL N Mean

Std. Deviatio

n

Std. Error Mean

Total-JS >= 91 58 74.09 4.143 .544

< 91 42 63.26 7.743 1.195

Table-6

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for Equality of

Variances t-test for Equality of Means

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

F Sig. T df

Sig. (2-

tailed)Mean

DifferenceStd. Error Difference Lower Upper

Total-JS

Equal variances assumed

46.684 .000 9.022 98 .000 10.824 1.200 8.443 13.205

Equal variances not assumed

8.245 57.973 .000 10.824 1.313 8.196 13.452

It can be observed from Table-6 that t-value is significant. It means that QWL produced

significant effect on Job Satisfaction and therefore null hypothesis namely H03 there is significant

impact of Quality of work life on Job satisfaction in service sector is accepted. Further, the mean

scores (table-5) of favorable QWL group is 74.09 which is significantly higher than that of mean

scores of unfavorable QWL group (63.26). Thus it can be concluded that employees with

favorable QWL are more satisfied with their jobs as compared to employees with unfavorable

QWL in service sector.

DISCUSSION

The purpose of this study was to determine level of quality of work life. After interpretation of

results, our H01 was not sustained as QWL was found to be favorable in service sector. Further,

moderate amount of positive relationships was found between QWL and Job satisfaction, this

finding seemed consistent with the findings of Hanita Sarah et al., (2008) who reported that three

variables of QWL (meaningfulness of job, optimism on organizational change and autonomy)

are significantly related to Job Satisfaction. Furthermore, this research attempted to find out the

impact of quality of work-life on job satisfaction. QWL as a whole were proven to be directly

related to job satisfaction. This finding was consistent with the previous researches for example

by Hagedorn (1994) as well as Olsen and Near (1994) as reported in Johnsrud (2002); where

work life variables such as salary, perceived support of colleagues, satisfaction with the

administration, work and non work conflict have been proven to directly affects or are predictive

of job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Quality of work life is the buzz term for Job satisfaction. It is rapidly gaining popularity, use and

importance in the workplace and impacts organizations in many ways. The present research

showed a moderate degree of positive correlation between Quality of work life and Job

satisfaction. Further, favorable conditions and environment of a work place promotes employee

satisfaction if they provided with rewards, job security and growth opportunities etc.

An organization should thus recognize employee’s quality of work life more than any other

variable, as powerful contributor to a company's competitive position. Therefore quality of work

life should be a continuous process of learning, improvement, measurement and action. Hence it

can be concluded that raising and maintaining quality of work life lies in the hands of an

organization and requires a perfect blend of time, effort, commitment and investment to craft a

successful endeavor.

LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

This present study was able to explore and document some very important relationship between

quality of work life and job satisfaction. While appreciating the overwhelming support obtained

from the empirical findings for all of the research hypotheses, the present research has certain

limitations attached with it. However future studies can overcome these limitations

The following limitations were noted for the research conducted:

The sample size (100) was small in the study, hampering the capacity for generalization.

This research study was limited to employees working in Indore.

There are several dimensions inherent in Quality of Work Life, and it would have been

better to treat each of them separately, but in this study it was not considered separately.

This process is likely to have a certain amount of invalidity due to the respondent’s

overestimated perception.

The study is not a complete analysis of quality of work life and job satisfaction, as this

required further detailed study in different geographical areas and collection of further

data.

IMPLICATION

Findings from this study have important and practical implications. QWL was found to be

moderately favorable in service sector. Management can make highly favorable QWL by proper

work-life integration to increase job satisfaction of their employees. The study has revealed that

QWL affects job satisfaction. This becomes an important implication for organizations that if

companies successfully maintain the climate of trust, openness and various programs like

flexible timing, alternative work schedules can result increased productivity, and an efficient,

satisfied, and committed workforce which aims to achieve organizational objectives.

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ANNEXURES

Questionnaire of Quality of Work Life

Name : Age

Designation : Experience:

Level : Education:(Top/Middle/Operative)

Annual Salary(50,000-1 lac) (1.0-2.5 lac)(2.5-5.0 lac)(5.0-7.5 lac)(7.5 lac & above)

SCALE: Quality of Work Life

SA A N D SD

5 4 3 2 1

SA Strongly AgreeA AgreeN NeutralD DisagreeSD Strongly Disagree

1. Assignment of challenging task makes employees more competitive. ( )2. Company’s competitive wage structure helps to retain competent staff. ( )3. Periodic feedback from superiors on areas of strength and improvement helps them to

perform better on their jobs. ( ) 4. Organization provides ample of opportunities for personal development to employees. ( )5. Company offers attractive monetary and non monetary rewards to motivate employees. ( )6. Proper balance between centralization and decentralization facilitates prompt and better

decision making. ( )7. Organization’s philosophy rests on participative leadership style as it ensures high employee

commitment. ( )8. Company should reward creativity and innovation. ( )9. Company offers counseling to employees for maintaining balance in their personal and

professional life to manage conflict. ( )

10. Compensation offered to the employee should be fixed on the basis of work done, responsibility undertaken, individual skills, performance and accomplishments.

11. Company’s well defined goal increases the performance and reduces the stress.12. Company’s climate characterized by trust and openness results in healthy interpersonal

relationship. ( )13. Company should have the ability to adopt change and reinforce the change by demonstrating

relationship between new behaviour and organizational success. ( )14. Trained employees make better economic use of resources that result in reduced wastage and

spoilage.15. Company’s wage and salary plans establish fair and equitable remunerations. ( )16. Superior should be concerned about his subordinate’s future benefit like promotions and pay

raises. ( )17. Group success is more important than individual success. ( )18. Organization should encourage the use of uniform procedures. ( )19. Organization takes care of health of employees by providing medical facilities. ( )20. Workers pay should be linked to their productivity level. ( )21. Pay secrecy should be maintained in organization. ( )22. Inappropriate equipment, long work sessions without breaks result in lower productivity at

work. ( )23. Low social support, serious conflict, exclusion by superior and co worker at work are

important determinants of depression. ( )24. Training programs should focus on molding the employee attitude and help them to achieve

better cooperation which will lead to job satisfaction and high morale. ( )

Questionnaire of Job Satisfaction

SCALE: Job Satisfaction

SA A N D SD

5 4 3 2 1

SA Strongly AgreeA AgreeN NeutralD DisagreeSD Strongly Disagree

1. I am contented with the increments that the organization grants us. ( )2. I will quit the present job if I am offered another at a higher pay. ( )3. My organization provides good housing facilities to its employees. ( )

4. I have substantial discretion in scheduling the work and determining the procedures in carrying out work. ( )

5. The most important thing that happens to me is involved with my job. ( )6. My present job demands a high degree of accuracy. ( )7. I have to work very hard here if I am to keep my job secure. ( )8. I have control over the pace of my work. ( )9. Present job requires use of different talents which are presence in me. ( )10. I feel that my contribution to the organization is worth while. ( )11. I like to go on learning as much as possible about my work. ( )12. I often complete work just for the heck of it. ( )13. I often feel that my employer will not terminate if I commit a mistake. ( )14. My job is more varied and less monotonous. ( )15. In the working of my organization my opinion/participation is considered. ( )16. I have various venues open for refreshing my knowledge in my field. ( )17. Drinking water facility is satisfactory and usually provided at work place. ( )18. Since I have joined this organization I have hardly had time to fulfill my various desires due

to time constraints. ( )19. Noise pollution is kept under control here. ( )20. Fringe benefits in my organization are fantastic. ( )

2. Gani , A ( 1993) , Quality of Work Life ( QWL) in a State Setting : Findings of an EmpiricalStudy . The Indian Journal of Labour Economics. 36(4) pp 817823.3. Kanungo , R. N. (1982) Work Alienation – an Integrative approach Prager Publisher , NewYork , USA.4. Velayudhan, A. and Venkatachalam, J. (1997). Quality of Work Life Dimensions: AnEmpirical Study. Indian Journal of Applied Psychology, 34(2) pp 17.5.6. Yousuf A. S. M. (1996) Evaluating the Quality of Worklife, Management and LabourStudies, 21 (1), pp 515.