RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF WORK LIFE, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT & EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

Abstract

Work is an important constituent of an individual's life and is integral to the life of all human beings. It gives a unique identity to an individual and fulfils many of his/her financial, personal, and social needs. It is assumed that the ways in which people respond to their jobs have significance for their personal happiness, the effectiveness of their work organizations, and even the stability of society. Moreover, an individual's experiences in the workplace and his/her Quality of Work Life (QWL) influence his/her health and well-being, besides affecting organizational outcomes. QWL is a generic term which refers to an individual's evaluative reactions to, and satisfaction with, his/her work and working environment. Various aspects of QWL studied in the present research are: support from manager/supervisor, freedom from work-related stress, salary and additional benefits, job satisfaction, challenge, use of skills and autonomy, relationships with work colleagues, involvement and responsibility at work, and communication, decision-making and job security. Earlier research show that QWL is an important predictor of various organizationally relevant variables, which further contribute to enhance overall organizational effectiveness. One of the important organizational outcomes of QWL is organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is a psychological bond between an individual and organization, which keeps the individual with the organization. There are three components of organizational commitment, namely affective, continuance, and normative commitment, that have been studied in the present research. Besides predicting organizationally relevant variables, QWL does also influence the health and n psychological well-being of employees. Psychological well-being can be defined as the positive psychological functioning of an individual. Dimensions of psychological wellbeing studied in the present research are: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. This study explores the relationship between QWL, organizational commitment, and psychological well-being, and also investigates the influence of QWL on organizational commitment and psychological well-being of employees. In addition, the present research does also identify the dimensions of QWL that are important predictors of organizational commitment, affective commitment, continuance commitment, normative commitment, and psychological well-being of employees. For the present study, data was collected with the help of structured questionnaires from a total of 232 employees working in various public sector banks in India. Participants of the study are: clerical staff, middle and senior level managers. Major statistical techniques employed for the analysis of data are: bivariate correlation, standard regression analysis, and stepwise regression analysis. The findings of this study reveal that there is a positive and significant relationship between QWL, organizational commitment and psychological well-being, and QWL is found to be a significant predictor of organizational commitment and psychological well-being of employees. It is also observed from the results of the study that from a total of seven, six dimensions of QWL, namely support from manager/supervisor, freedom from work-related stress, salary and additional benefits, job satisfaction, challenge, use of skills and autonomy, involvement and responsibility at work, and communication, decision-making and job security are significant predictors of organizational commitment. Moreover, the results of the study indicate 111 that from a total of seven, five dimensions ofQWL (support from manager/supervisor, freedom from work-related stress, job satisfaction, challenge, use of skills and autonomy, relationships with work colleagues, and communication, decision-making andjob security) are important determinants of psychological well-being. This study identifies the empirical relationship between QWL, organizational commitment, and psychological well-being of employees. Moreover, the findings of this research provide a valuable insight into various aspects of work and working environment that contribute significantly towards organizational commitment and psychological well-being. This study suggests that managers (especially human resource managers) should take into consideration their employees' QWL while formulating organizational policies and procedures. Limitations of the study, directions for future research, and implications of the study for practice as well as research are also discussed.