EFFECT OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

The management discourse has increasingly focused on the efficiency and effectiveness of employees, and stated that work is an important constituent ofan individual's life. This school of thought involves variety of activities related to the authorities and action orientation, and is concerned with the psychological well-being of employees at workplace. But currently, in organizational behavior, very few researches have been initiated to delineate the psychological well-being of employees, from the perspective of life satisfaction. This perspective has been neglected by the management and practitioners, and observed that policing is the profession which involves physical dangers, threats and stress in day to day life, and causes behavioral problems which lead them to experience low level of psychological well-being at workplace. This view can be extended that low psychological well-being when spilled over at the other domains of life leads to life dissatisfaction and makes an employee less competent to face the existential challenges of life. There is a dire need of researches which can focus on the ways that police employees can experience psychological well-being while providing them optimum level of quality of work life and perceive justice at workplace. This resultantly creates an environment of satisfaction and meaningfulness, and when spilled over at the other domains, leads to life satisfaction. Earlier, psychological well-being has been studied from the perspective of psychosomatic disorders (stress, depression, insomnia, and anxiety), low self-esteem, suicidal ideation and aggressive behavior of police employees. But not with the viewpoint that how the work experiences (quality of work life and organizational justice) affect the psychological well-being of police employees, from the ii perspective of life satisfaction. This unexplored aspect of work life balance can be studied while offering optimal quality of work life (QWL) and perception of justice, which can enable police employees to experience positive evaluations about their lives, while transforming themselves as competent enough to strike a perfect balance between work and non-work domains, and accomplish the goals of life. The present study has carved the niche which focused on experiencing quality of work life (support from manager/supervisor, freedom from work related stress, job satisfaction, challenge, use of skills and autonomy, salary and additional benefits, relationship with work colleagues, involvement and responsibility at work, and communication, decision-making and job security) and perception ofjustice at workplace (distributive, procedural and interaction justice) which enhance psychological well-being (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance), leading to life satisfaction. The study has been extended with the viewpoints that to what extent positive experiences at workplace have spillover effect on personal domains of an individual, and make them to be fully functional, flourishing and lead to life satisfaction. The purpose of the present research is to explore the effect of quality of work life and organizational justice on psychological well-being (life satisfaction) of police employees. The study has been conducted on a sample of 200 police officers, including constables, sub-inspectors and circle officers. The participants were chosen as purposive convenient sampling. The data was analyzed with the Pearson's r and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to examine the effect of quality of work life and perception of justice on the psychological well-being amongpolice employees. In addition, to examine in the factor structure of the measures taken up in the study, scales were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Kaiser's Varimax Rotation. To sum up, the analyses have been conducted using SPSS 12.0 version for Pearson's Correlation, Stepwise Regression Analysis and Factor Analysis. The results have indicated a positive and significant relationship of quality of work life and organizational justice with the psychological well-being of police employees. Dimensions of quality of work life have shown significant relationships with the dimensions of psychological well-being while the dimensions which have demonstrated insignificant correlation, have been subjected to the methodological reasons. The findings have supported the nascent viewpoint that work is central to an individual's life, and dramatically affects employees' well-being (life satisfaction). The study provides valuable implications for the police practioners, researchers and management body to better understand the psychological needs and workplace expectations of police employees where they can experience themselves to be fulfilling and develop as global citizens with true human potentials at work and non-work domains of life, whereby transforming them as flourishing rather than languishing.