Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dilip Patel 2012
Dilip Patel 2012
Dilip Patel 2012
Name: Name:
Qualification: Qualification:
Designation: Designation:
ANNUXERE – D
(UNIVERSITY STUDY CENTRE CERTIFICATE)
Certified:
Prof. (Dr.) Jayshreeben Thakore
BA (Hons.), MSW, L.B. & Ph.D.
Associate Director (Placement)
IBMR, Ahmedabad
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
2 Quality of Life 2
3.1 Attitude 15
3.2 Environment 24
3.3 Opportunities 27
3.7 Challenges 51
4 Conclusion 62
Objective of Study
In modern organizational environment employees’ stress
is a significant factor and Quality of Work Life is the most
important factor determining the quantum or absence of work
stress. As can be seen from the succeeding pages in this
project work many factors can be included in the list of
determinants of quality of work.
1
Quality of Life
The concept of Quality of Life has become an important
topic both in the health field and social welfare. Enhancing the
QOL is more and more considered to be an objective in
treatment and prevention of illness together with the provision
of psychosocial support. For the last few years Quality of Life
has been a major issue of debate, and in recent years the
concept of Quality of Life or living “a good life” has been the
subject of a number of philosophical and psychological studies
It is becoming increasingly apparent that illness is closely
related to the individual perception of a good life, and
therefore the exploration of indicators related to QOL appears
to be of broad importance for the prevention and treatment of
diseases.
2
THE QUALITY OF LIFE
3
Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow developed a theory of personality that
has influenced a number of different fields, including
education. This wide influence is due in part to the high level
of practicality of Maslow's theory. This theory accurately
describes many realities of personal experiences. Many people
find they can understand what Maslow says. They can
recognize some features of their experience or behavior which
is true and identifiable but which they have never put into
words.
Maslow is a humanistic psychologist. Humanists do not
believe that human beings are pushed and pulled by
mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcements
(behaviorism) or of unconscious instinctual impulses
(psychoanalysis). Humanists focus upon potentials. They
believe that humans strive for an upper level of capabilities.
Humans seek the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches of
consciousness and wisdom. This has been labeled "fully
functioning person", "healthy personality", or as Maslow calls
this level, "self-actualizing person."
4
(and mostly it is not) they will not grow tall and straight and
beautiful.
5
Physiological Needs
These are biological needs. They consist of needs
for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body
temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a
person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones
would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.
Safety Needs
When all physiological needs are satisfied and are
no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs
for security can become active. Adults have little
awareness of their security needs except in times of
emergency or periods of disorganization in the social
structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often
display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.
6
person gets from others. Humans have a need for a
stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and
respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the
person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in
the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person
feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.
7
education can switch from its usual person-stunting tactics to
person-growing approaches. Maslow states that educators
should respond to the potential an individual has for growing
into a self-actualizing person of his/her own kind.
Suggestions:
8
We should teach people that controls are good, and
complete abandon is bad. It takes control to improve the
quality of life in all areas.
9
Extrinsic Hygiene Factor
10
Herzberg argues that both factors are equally important,
but that good hygiene will only lead to average performance,
preventing dissatisfaction, but not, by itself, creating a positive
attitude or motivation to work. To motivate the employee
management must enrich the content of the actual work they
ask them to do. For example, building into tasks set a greater
level of responsibility, and the opportunity to learn new skills.
In advocating making work more interesting, and improving
the quality of the work experience for the individual, Herzberg
coined the phrase 'Quality of Working Life'.
11
The table below lists the common hygiene factors and
motivators identified within organizations.
Salary,
Nature of Work,
Job Security,
Sense of Achievement,
Working Conditions,
Recognition,
Level and Quality of
Responsibility,
Supervision,
Personal Growth and
Company Policy and
Advancement
Administration,
Interpersonal Relations
12
not generate any internal desire to do the task well. In fact to
get an individual to perform the task again, he argues, we will
need to offer more money.
13
Quality of Work Life
Work is an integral part of out everyday life, as it is our
livelihood or career or business. On an average we spend
around ten to twelve hours daily in the work place, that is one
third of our entire life; it does influence the overall quality of
our life. It should yield job satisfaction, give peace of mind, a
fulfillment of having done a task, ass it is expected, without
any flow and having spent the time fruitfully, constructively
and purposefully. Even if it is a small step towards our lifetime
goal, at the end of the day it gives satisfaction and eagerness
to look forward to the next day.
9 Attitude
9 Environment
9 Opportunities
9 Nature of Job
9 Cultural Diversity
9 Stress Level
9 Challenges
14
Attitude
15
The person who is entrusted with a particular job needs
to have sufficient knowledge, skill and expertise, enough
experience, enthusiasm, energy level, willingness to learn new
things, dynamism, sense of belongingness in the organization,
involvement in the job, inter personnel relations, adaptability
to changes in the situation, openness for innovative ideas,
competitiveness, zeal, ability to work under pressure,
leadership qualities and team-spirit.
Optimism
Success, longevity and happiness are all by-products of
optimism. With an optimistic attitude, you will see yourself as
being able to influence the world and will carry a flame of hope
that enables you to take risks and accept failure.
16
Confidence
Confidence stems from optimism. If you are confident,
you believe in your own abilities and think you have the ability
to impact your environment. Your confidence remains steady
during setbacks, because you see them merely as challenges,
and are ready to take new risks.
Creativity
Positive attitudes are at the heart of innovation, because
it takes a risk to try something different. Without confidence
and hope, you would not attempt a new idea.
Conflict resolution
If you pause and think, you can probably think of dozens
of examples of where differing attitudes have caused problems
or conflict in your personal and professional relationships.
Conflict arises because we expect everyone to have the same
attitude as ourselves. But, with a positive attitude you can
build your empathy and can more readily see how other
people think and feel.
Emotional intelligence
Once you have the attitude, you will find your emotional
intelligence moving into overdrive. This will enable you to
better manage and express your emotions and understand
others.
17
Achievement drives
The attitude of achievement, i.e. the will to get results,
enables you to set challenging goals, takes calculated risks
and learns how to improve performance.
Motivation
Surveys show that most people’s motivation in their job
comes from stimulation and challenge – the chance to learn.
Bringing an optimistic attitude to the workplace will create a
culture of innovation. The creativity and stimulation of ideas
will keep you and your workforce motivated and keen to learn.
Focus
If you are focused, you are committed to tasks, take
responsibility for them and are able to align your goals with
the company’s goals.
18
towards her will reflect this – you might be unpleasant back to
her or avoid contact with her altogether). But if you were to
learn that she had just been diagnosed with cancer, your
attitude might alter somewhat. Your attitude could be positive
(you will feel compassion and your behaviour will be kind and
understanding).
Education
Learning helps develop your attitude. For example, after
learning about emotional intelligence in one of our workshops,
participants reported an average of 55 percent improvement in
their ability to deal with negative emotions.
19
It is easier to have the ‘right attitude’ if you have the right
knowledge.
Experiences
Experiences shape our attitudes. You can provide
employees with the opportunity to think differently. For
example, employees may have poor relationships until they
are given an opportunity to bond together through team
building exercises.
20
Building a resilient attitude means becoming more
optimistic.
21
But it’s in the optimistic moments that brilliance shines
through. Optimists don’t internalise negative events, but they
often take credit for positive ones. They are confident and live
with hope – so they are more ready to take risks and cope with
failure.
22
by changing people’s attitudes to their job, their environment,
each other and themselves.
23
Environment:
• Culture
• Values
24
• Company reputation
• Risk taking
• Leading technologies
• Trust
Learning environment
Support environment
o Flexible hours
o Telecommuting
o Dependent care
o Vacations
o Wellness
25
Work environment
26
Opportunities
27
Nature of Job
For example, a driller in the oil drilling unit, a diver, a
fire-fighter, traffic policeman, train engine driver, construction
laborers, welder, miner, lathe mechanic have to do dangerous
jobs and have to be more alert in order to avoid any loss of
limb, or loss of life which is irreparable; whereas a pilot,
doctor, judge, journalist have to be more prudent and tactful
in handling the situation; a CEO, a professor, a teacher have
more responsibility and accountability but safe working
environment; a cashier or a security guard cannot afford to be
careless in his job as it involves loss of money, property and
wealth; a politician or a public figure cannot afford to be
careless, for his reputation and goodwill is at stake. Some jobs
need soft skills, leadership qualities, intelligence, decision
making abilities, abilities to train and extract work from
others; other jobs need forethought, vision and yet other jobs
need motor skills, perfection and extreme carefulness.
28
In today's world, you will also be working for an
organization that is likely to be very different due to
competitive pressures and technological breakthroughs.
Organizations today are:
29
Internet that enable work to be separated from time and
space.
30
Creating the Lean Machine: Changes in Organizational
Structure and Relationships
Adopting lean principles and lean thinking has led to
numerous changes in organizational structure to improve the
efficiency of internal processes, with a goal of eliminating
waste and defining customer value.
31
pressures to make rapid decisions, to reduce
inefficiencies, and to continually improve work
processes.
• Cognitive competence
32
• The new "psychological contract" between employees and
employers
Cognitive Competence
Cognitive workers are expected to be more functionally
and cognitively fluid and able to work across many kinds of
tasks and situations. The broader span of work, brought
about by changes in organizational structure, also creates new
demands, including:
33
they need to be continuous learners in their knowledge
fields and to also be more conversant with business
strategy. Time to read and attend training classes is no
longer a perquisite of only a few, it is essential for all
workers.
34
of relational and interactive aspects of work. As collaboration
and collective activity become more prevalent, workers need
well-developed social skills—what the report calls "emotional
labor."
35
together to aid transmission of tacit knowledge. Learning
also develops from mentoring relationships between
newcomers and those with experience and organizational
know-how.
36
employers—what each expects of the other—focuses on
competency development, continuous training, and work/life
balance. In contrast, the old psychological contract was all
about job security and steady advancement within the firm. As
already discussed, few workers expect, or desire, lifelong
employment in a single firm.
37
too little time to do it. In order to keep up with
workloads, many workers are spending longer hours at
work, according to reports by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics and the Center for Workforce Development.
38
Table 1. Drivers, Solutions, and Issues for the Changing
Workplace
Workplace and technology
Drivers Issues and concerns
solutions
Increased use
• More meeting space • Increased noise
of teams and
cross unit • Greater variety of meeting • Increased distractions and
work; more spaces (open & enclosed, large interruptions
pressure for & small)
communication • Potential for "over
and information • Smaller individual communicating"
flow workspaces
• Cultural barriers to
• More open individual behavioral change
workspaces
• Individuals working longer
• Unassigned workspaces hours to compensate for
lack of time to do individual
• Greater interior visibility to
tasks
support awareness
• Expectations that workers
• Mobile supports (phones, laptops,
are always available
PDAs, wireless)
• Personal video, instant
messaging, desktop team
software
• More use of project rooms
• Displayed information and work
progress
• Small rooms for individual
focus
• Lockers for personal belongings
Greater use of
• Increased use of video • Expansion of the workday to
dispersed work
conferencing, computer-based accommodate geographically
groups—often
team tools dispersed team meetings
global
• More reliance on conference • Loss of opportunity to
calls develop trust through face to
face interaction
• Greater need for mobile
technological supports for • More difficulty managing
meeting rooms and coordinating
• Use of facilities beyond normal • Very high dependence on
working hours technological reliability
Continual
• Flexible infrastructure to support • Acoustical problems with
reorganization
rapid reconfiguration loss of good enclosure
and
restructuring • Mobile furnishings • Potential for reduced
ergonomic effectiveness
39
Reduced
• Shared or unassigned • Increased distractions and
costs/more
workspaces interruptions
efficient space
use • Centralized filing system • Increased noise
• Reduced workstation size and • May meet with employee
increased overall densities resistance
• Greater overall spatial variety to • More difficult for paper
enable different kinds of work intensive work
to be accommodated at same
time
Improved
• More equitable access to daylight, • Resistance from those who
quality of work
views, and other amenities support hierarchical space
life and
allocation
attraction of • More equitable spatial
new workers allocation and workspace
features
• Amenities for stress reduction
and quiet relaxation
40
Cultural Diversity
Employees in almost any organization are divided into
subgroups of various kinds. Formation of groups is
determined by two broad sets of conditions. First, job-related
differences and similarities, such as type of work, rank in the
organization, and physical proximity to one another,
sometimes cause people to align themselves into groups.
However, a second set of non-job-related conditions arise
primarily fro an individual’s personal background; these
conditions are highly important for legal, moral and economic
reasons. In particular, the U.S. workforce has rapidly become
much more diverse, with females, African Americans,
Hispanics and Asian
immigrants bringing their
talents to employers in
record numbers. This
cultural diversity or rich
variety of differences
among people at work
raises the issue of fair
treatment for worker who
are not in position of
authority.
41
employment agencies to treat all people equally, without
regard to race, colour, religion, national origin, gender, sexual
preference or age in all phases of employment.
If Equal Employment
Opportunity were completely
successful, it would produce lost
of greater benefits. Although
considerable progress has been
made, it has often been show,
and problems still remain while a
societal debate over the merits of
affirmative action has raged. Problems may persist because of
a key difference in this context between discrimination and
prejudice. Discrimination is generally exhibited as an action,
whereas prejudice is an attitude. Either may exist without the
42
other. The law focuses on an employer’s actions, not feelings.
If actions lead to what is legally determined to be
discriminatory results, such actions are unlawful regardless of
the employer’s alleged good intentions.
43
Stress Level
44
when they worry that they cannot cope9. The pressures of
working life can lead to stress if they are excessive or long-
term. Examples of long-term or chronic stress are the fear,
frustration and anger that may be produced by an unhappy
relationship with one's boss or with a difficult customer, and
the unhappiness of an unsuitable job. .
45
to those used by the problem centered approach it is much
more proactive in identifying ways to create a healthy
workforce.
46
Should an organization have a stress policy?
47
Stress and the employee
Excessive pressure and problems can occur in an
employee's personal life as well as at work. If an employee is
facing a relationship breakdown, financial problems,
difficulties with neighbors or bereavement, it is possible that
these problems may affect the employee's ability to work
effectively. Employees do not have to describe the nature of
their personal problems to their manager or HR. However, if
personal problems begin to affect performance at work then
this will need to be raised and discussed with the employee.
The objective of the meeting would be to identify the help that
the manager or HR can give to the employee to return to
effective working.
Signs of stress
The first signs that indicate employees may be suffering
from excessive pressure or stress are changes in behaviour or
appearance. A guide on the kinds of changes that may occur
is given below.
48
Work performance Regression
• declining/inconsistent • crying
performance • arguments
• uncharacteristic errors • undue sensitivity
• loss of control over work • irritability/moodiness
• loss of • over-reaction to problems
motivation/commitment • personality clashes
• indecision • sulking
• lapses in memory • immature behaviour
• increased time at work
• lack of holiday
planning/usage
49
Other behaviours Physical signs
50
Challenges
51
Growth and Development
52
development as individuals. It is easier to acknowledge this
fact, however, than it is to create and maintain a corporate
culture that embodies the principles of trust and shared
decision-making.
53
and not working. These organizations build in time for
professional development. Leadership skills are taught and
nurtured across the company, so that employees can learn
and practice new skills and have the time to plan, implement
and assess progress. In a healthy work environment,
employees have a common vision about what's possible, and
they feel empowered to make that vision a reality. A sense of
commitment and passion is shared among employees. People
are willing to risk thinking creatively; share their ideas openly;
and deal with conflict in a timely and thoughtful fashion.
54
Pressure Zone” must successfully address in order to progress
along the game board.
55
In each of these simulated experiences, employees practice
new ways of communicating with each other and, in the
process, they establish a healthier work environment that
promotes mutual respect and trust.
156
company must commit the time required for teams of
employees to work on improving the company's internal
communications. In our experience, what seems initially to be
time away from daily work is in fact an investment in the
development of a positive, forward-looking organizational
energy that yields long-term productivity. Creating a climate
for positive change within a company begins with courageous
and committed executives who are open, flexible and
responsive – who are themselves willing to take a risk.
57
climate of the organization, such as current vision; level of
trust within the company; clarity regarding employee roles and
responsibilities; employee morale and commitment to
company goals; degree of confidence in the organization’s
leadership; and employee empowerment and willingness to
take risks.
Running Town Meetings After all data from Focus Group
meetings has been collected, analyzed and prioritized, the
results are communicated at a large group gathering of all
employees—sometimes referred to as a Town Meeting. Town
Meetings are vital public gatherings that embody and
showcase not only a company’s commitment to
communication, but also its willingness to act on its
employees’ needs and concerns. Upper level management
conducts this meeting and plays back to employees the central
themes that came out of the Focus Group meetings and the
specific suggestions made to improve the internal workings of
the company (note that this approach demonstrates Active
Listening). A list of short- and long-term improvements is
presented with a timetable for action.
58
what is still missing from the plan of action that must be
addressed to improve communication, company morale, best
work practices, etc. Each team reports back to the large
group, and agreements are made about next steps.
59
report their progress at follow-up Town Meetings to insure
accountability and encourage ongoing input from employees
not directly involved on the teams.
60
Risk Involved and Reward
Generally reward or
compensation is directly proportional
to the quantum of work, man-hours,
nature and extent of responsibility,
accountability, delegated powers,
authority of position in the
organizational chart, risk involved,
level of expected commitment,
deadlines and targets, industry,
country, demand and supply of skilled
61
Conclusion
62