1) The document analyzes the quality of work life (QWL) conditions for workers at National Textile Corporation (NTC) mills in Tamil Nadu, India. 2) It finds that workers have different levels of satisfaction with various QWL factors, with interpersonal relationships, recognition, and participatory management rated most positively and welfare facilities and physical working conditions rated least positively. 3) The study concludes that improving certain QWL factors like interpersonal relations, participatory management, and physical working conditions could help ensure a robust work culture at the NTC mills.

1. International Journal of Management (IJM), – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online) IJM
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), pp. 37-43
© IAEME, http://www.iaeme.com/ijm.html ©IAEME
QUALITY OF WORK LIFE SUSTAINS ROBUST WORK
CULTURE:
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON NTC MILLS
P. Mohanraj
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Management Studies
Chettinad College of Engineering and Technology
Karur, Email: drpmohanrajmba@gmail.com
A.Ashok kumar
Assistant Professor, VSA School of Management
Uthamasolapuram, Salem – 636010, India.
Email: ashok1975kumar@rediffmail.com
Dr. M. Arunachalam
Principal
Rajagiri Dhawood Batcha College of Arts and Science,
Papanasam, Thanjavur District, India.
ABSTRACT
The present study attempts to assess prevailing of Quality of Work life (QWL)
condition in National Textile Corporation (NTC) mills in Tamilnadu and how QWL
sustains healthy and strong work culture. QWL includes adequate and fair remuneration,
safe and healthy working conditions and social integration in the work organization that
enables an individual to develop and use all his or her capacities. Most of the definitions
aim at achieving the effective work environment that meets with the organizational and
personal needs. It is an attempt to identify role of QWL to sustain a robust work culture
to the workers of the NTC mills. Primary data were collected through a well structured
undisguised questionnaire. This study has highlighted some positive aspects of QWL and
the main finding is that employees of different status differ in their preference of QWL
factors. The results of this study reveal that the expectation of flexi-working condition &
alternative work schedule is high. The workers’ perception towards the facets of the
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2. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
QWL was different and the workers have high dissatisfaction with existence of some
facets of the QWL, such as Welfare facilities, Recognition and Physical working
conditions. The strategies which are recommended here is to give divergent facet of
QWL to the workers in different status and improve the Interpersonal relations,
Participatory management and Physical working conditions to ensure robust work
culture.
Keywords: Quality of Work life, Facets of QWL, Robust work culture, Participatory
management.
INTRODUCTION
Quality of work life (QWL) refers to the Favorableness or unfavorableness of job
environment for people. It refers to the quality of relationship between employees and
the total working environment. The basic purpose is to develop work environment that
are excellent for people as well for the work culture of the organization. Many experts
define quality of work life as “a process of joint decisions making, collaboration and
building mutual respect between management and employees”. It is concerned with
increasing labour-management co-operatives to solve the problems at improving
organizational performance and employee’s satisfaction.
Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a multifaceted concept, implying the concern for
the members of the organization irrespective of the level they belong to. QWL covers a
person's perception or feelings about every dimension of work including economic
rewards and benefits, security, working conditions, organizational and interpersonal
relationships and intrinsic meaning in a person's life. The basic concept underlying the
QWL is what has come to known as "humanization of work". It involves the
development of an environment of work that stimulates the creative ability of the workers
and generates cooperation and a strong work culture. Culture is made up of the values,
beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people. In
many ways, culture is like personality. In a person, the personality is made up of the
values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, interests, experiences, upbringing, and habits
that create a person’s behavior. A norm of accountability will help make your
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3. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
organization successful. A strong (Robust) work culture helps the organization to realize
its business goal easily and effectively.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Loscocco and Roschelle (1991), the most common assessment of
QWL is the individual attitudes. This is because individual work attitudes are important
indicators of QWL. The ways that people respond to their jobs have consequences for
their personal happiness, the effectiveness of their work organizations and even the
stability of society. Individuals selectively perceive and make attributions about their jobs
in accordance with the expectations they bring to the workplace. The Employee benefits
protect employees from risks that could jeopardize their health and financial security.
They may also provide services or facilities that many employees find valuable. In
addition, benefit plans that are designed to increase in value over time encourage
employees to remain with their employer (Gomez-Mejia: 2001), consequently, they have
a moderating effect on firm productivity, irrespective of industry or firm size. A major
result of a study conducted by Susan J. Harrington (2006) reveals that higher levels of
hierarchical and rational values were associated with higher levels of quality of work life
and less professional isolation among textile employees. A study conducted by James W.
Westerman (2007), examine the relationship between personality, work environment
preferences, and the outcome variables, performance and commitment. This study
indicates that the relationship between personality, work environment, and employee
outcomes. The significance of employee goal-orientation preferences is fully mediating
the relationship between personality and workplace outcomes.
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
The National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC) is a Central Public Sector
Enterprise under the Ministry of Textiles which was incorporated in April 1968 for
managing the affairs of sick textile undertakings, in the private sector, taken over by the
Government and starting with 16 mills in 1968. The number of units increased to 119 by
1995, which are controlled by NTC (HC) Limited with the help of 9 subsidiary
Corporations. The National Textile Corporation (NTC) owned 15 textile units in Tamil
Nadu and Pondicherry, over 4,500 textile workers are employed. So, a specific study is
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4. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
essential to identify the need and existence of QWL in this sector. This study is designed
to explore the prevailing conditions of QWL and to suggest for ensuing robust work
culture to the textile workers. The suggestions help the policy makers to improve the
quality of work life for promoting a strong work culture.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The major objectives of this study are to identify prevailing quality of work life
conditions in NTC mills of Tamilnadu and to sustain a robust work culture through
QWL. This study was confined to the permanent workers of NTC Mills in Tamilnadu.
Spinning workers from seven sections namely Blow room, Carding, Comber Preparatory,
Draw frame, Spinning, Winding and Doubling were interviewed. The methodology
involved collecting primary data and secondary data and analysed with suitable statistical
tools for interpretation. Primary data were collected through a well structured undisguised
questionnaire. The questionnaire was of multiple choice types and Likert scale was used
as the rating scale. The required secondary data have been collected from reference
books, websites and brochures related to this industry. The research was in descriptive
nature.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The data gathered were analysed by using the methods of ‘Z’ test, Correlation,
Chi-square and other tools. Totally 09 facets of QWL was taken, The method of ‘Z-test’
analyses shows (Table -1) that textile workers perceived different facets of QWL with
different intensities of influencing their work culture. They perceived the following facet
of QWL positively contributing to strong work culture. They were: Interpersonal
relationship, Recognition, Participatory Management, Work load and Physical working
conditions. The respective mean score of theses facets are 4.12, 4.07, 3.78, 3.65 and
3.33, respectively. The remaining four factors of QWL: Training facilities, Job security,
Welfare facilities and Duration of work preferred with the mean score of 2.59, 2.34, 1.91,
and 1.46, respectively. It is found that 18 percent of the NTC mill workers were highly
satisfied with available QWL factors and remaining 34 and 48 percent of the workers had
indicated moderate and low satisfaction respectively (Table-2). In general, most of them
are dissatisfied with the prevailing conditions of QWL factors.
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5. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
Table 1: Mean score of the specific QWL factors sustains robust work culture
S.No. QWL factors Mean scores Standard Z
Deviation
1 Physical working conditions 3.33 1.00 1.54
2 Training facilities 2.59 0.95 1.63
3 Welfare facilities 1.91 0.82 1.98
4 Interpersonal relationship 4.12 0.37 1.99
5 Recognition 4.07 0.46 1.87
6 Work load 3.65 0.77 1.19
7 Participatory Management 3.78 0.74 1.85
8 Duration of work 1.46 0.68 2.92
9 Job security 2.34 0.89 0.82
Source: Primary Data
Table 2: Differences in the overall satisfaction on the availability of QWL factors in NTC Mills
Level of Satisfaction Score Range Total No. of Workers in percentage
Low 38-51 48
Medium 52-65 34
High 66-79 18
Source: Primary Data
The correlation value (Table-3) in this study is +0.6575 and research shows that
“Culture” and “Job satisfaction and QWL measures” are factors that prove to be
significantly correlated to each other. A Chi-square test applied to find the significant
relationship between QWL measures and employee’s Work culture (H1). It is calculated
that the Chi-square value (135.70) is greater than the tabulated value (9.488), therefore it
is significant. It is found that the term QWL have different connotations to different
persons, the factor contributing QWL are also varied. To the workers on the Blow room,
Carding, Comber Preparatory preferred more on the QWL factors of Welfare facilities,
work load and physical conditions. To the workers in Draw frame, Spinning, Winding
and doubling sections preferring Training facilities and Duration of work. The young
professionals are giving much importance on Recognition and Job security but the
experienced workers giving priority on Participatory management of the QWL factors. In
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6. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
general, most of the workers prefer Industrial relations is the main QWL factor to
sustaining robust work culture.
Table 3 “Work Culture” and “Job satisfaction and QWL measures”. (Analysis done by
applying Correlation Co-efficient)
A B C D E F G H
I 40 68 20 400 -15 238 -308
II 30 72 10 100 -11 130 -114
III 20 83 0 0 0 0 0
IV 10 0 -10 100 -83 6960 834
∑= 20 600 -109 7328 412
[A-Culture, B-Midpoint X, C- Job satisfaction and QWL measures, D- dx= x-20, E- (dx)2, F- dy= y-83,
G- (dy)2 , H- dx.dy.].
CONCLUSION
It is suggested that the employees who have great in culture tend to have high
expectations in the quality of work life and Job satisfaction. Thus NTC mills can
concentrate on organization culture by providing adequate QWL conditions. It has been
proved that the QWL factors are essential for promoting a strong work culture. A good
human resource climate, work culture can cause to develop a feeling towards the
company and also that would motivate them to do the job well.
REFERENCES
1. Feuer, D., 1989. Quality of work life: a cure for all ills? Training: The Magazine of
Human Resources Development, 26: 65-66.
2. Gomez-Mejia, L.R., Balkin, D.B. and Cardy, R.L. (2001), Managing Human
Resources, 3rd Edition, Prentice-Hall of India Private Ltd., New Delhi.
3. Hackman J.R. and Suttle J.L. (1997). Improving life at work: Behavioral science
approaches to organisational change. California; Good year.
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7. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online)
Volume 1, Number 2, July - Aug (2010), © IAEME
4. James W. Westerman, (2007) The Effects of Work Environment on the Personality-
Performance Relationship: An Exploratory Study, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol.
XIX, pp: 288-30.
5. Loscocco, K.A. and A.R. Roschelle, (1991). Influences on the quality of work and
non-work life: two decades in review. J. Vocational Behavior, 39: 182-225.
6. Susan J. Harrington, Julie Santiago, (2006), Organizational Culture and
Telecommuters’ Quality of Work Life and Professional Isolation, Volume 6, Issue 03.
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