Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AMONG WOMEN EMPLOYEES WORKING IN

GARMENT FACTORIES IN COIMBATORE DISTRICT

S.Subhashini1, Dr.C.S.Ramani Gopal2

Research Scholar1, Prof and Head2, Faculty of Management Studies,
Vinayaka missions University, Salem

ABSTRACT
Many factors determine the meaning of Quality of Work Life (QWL), one of which is work
environment. Quality of Work Life has been defined as "the quality of relationship between
employees and the total working environment". The study focused on the factor influencing
QWL of employees, level of satisfaction of employees on present level of QWL .This study
attempts to evaluate the quality of work life of women employees working in selected
garment factories in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu and analyze the relationship between
the productivity and quality of work life. Data were collected through questionnaire from a
sample of 100 women employees. The results of the study revealed areas where the factories
need to concentrate to bring about better quality of work life and thereby satisfied women
work force.
KEYWORDS: Working environment, quality of work life, satisfaction, productivity.
INTRODUCTION
Human resource plays an important role in the success of any organization, because most of
the problems in organizations are human and social rather than physical or technical. A good
quality of work life not only attracts new talent but also retain the existing talent. Quality of
work life involves job security, good working conditions, adequate and fair compensation
and equal employment opportunity all together. QWL aims to meet the twin goals of
enhanced effectiveness of organization and improved quality of life at work for employees.
But todays employee would not believe in such values of work. Employees work for salary,
and continue to work, if the conditions of work are encouraging and pleasant and terms of
Page | 22

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

employment are favorable to him. Women are considered as the major working group the
textile and Garment Industries of the country. These industries are more labor intensive and
require finest output at the end. QWL consists of opportunities for active involvement in
group working arrangements or problem solving that are of mutual benefit to employees or
employers, based on labor management cooperation.
WHAT IS QWL?
Quality of work life refers to the relationship between employees and their total
working environment. It considers people as an asset to the organization rather than cost.
This approach believes that people can perform to their best if they are given enough
autonomy in managing their work and make decision. And, so quality of work life is viewed
as an alternative to the control approach of managing people. Warret al. (1979) defined
quality of working life as indicative of variety 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-rated anxiety. Direct
participation of employees in problem solving and decision making particularly in areas
related to their work is considered to be necessary condition for providing greater autonomy
and opportunity for self direction and self control. This will result in upgrading the QWL. In
todays work environment, organizations need to be flexible, and adopt a strategy to improve
the employees 'Quality of Work Life' to satisfy both the organizational objectives and
employee needs. Effective quality of work life practices in organizations makes its impact
on employee performance and the overall organizations performance.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Taghi Shahr Ashoob (2006) concluded that there is a positive and significant relationship
between quality of work life and organizational commitment.
Ali Najafi (2006) concluded that there's a positive and significant correlation between
quality of work life and managers' profiting. This means that as the quality of work life
increases, the profits of the organization will also improve.
Michael (1992) studied the impact of quality of work life on organizational commitment,
and concluded that after providing quality of work life, changes also take place in
commitment.
Davoodi (1998) in a research entitled "Study of The Impact of Quality of Work Life on Job
Satisfaction among Operational Staff of Mobarakeh Steel Complex" concluded that
involvement in decision making related to work and work conditions has a significant
relationship with job satisfaction, and this relationship is direct moderate.
Maryam Fallah (2006) in a dissertation entitled "Study and Analysis of The Relationship
between Quality of Work Life and Performance of Kosar Economical Organization Staff"
concluded that there's a significant relationship between quality of work life and
performance of staff.
Page | 23

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

Lokanadha Reddy. M Mohan Reddy.P (2010) said many factors determine the meaning of
Quality of Work Life (QWL), one of which is work environment. QWL consists of
opportunities for active involvement in group working arrangements or problem solving that
are of mutual benefit to employees or employers, based on labor management cooperation.
Jeyarathnam.M, Malarvizhi .V.R (2011) inferred the intensity of working conditions and
the behavioral aspects of the employees in the study area. It concludes that the basic
strategy for improving the quality of work life is to identify employees important needs and to satisfy
those needs. The study also indicated that dissatisfaction might happen due to lack of
recognition, tedious work, unhealthy peer relations, poor working conditions, low selfesteem, occupational stress, heavy work load, monotony, fatigue, time pressures, job
insecurity, instability of job.
Indumathy.R, Kamalraj.S (2012), found that the major factors that influence and decide the
Quality of Work Life are attitude, environment, opportunities, nature of job, people, stress
level, career prospects, challenges, growth and development and risk involved in the work
and rewards.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
QWL is significant in relation to job satisfaction and overall performance in the
organization. But now-a-days employees are dissatisfied with the several functions of the job
and dealing with social relationship in the organization consequent upon the mechanization
and automation of the industry. Additionally disregard by others and less utilization of skills
caused stress and disappointment among the workforce. They experience alienation, which
may result from poor design of socio-technical systems. Poor quality of work life may lead
to increased absenteeism, stress and ultimately job dissatisfaction. Therefore, organizations
are required to adopt a strategy to improve the employees 'quality of work life'(QWL) to
satisfy both the organizational objectives and employee needs.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To assess the quality of work life among women employees.
2. To analyze the association between the total work experience of the women employees
and their participation in decision making.
3. To suggest methods for improving QWL by highlighting employees expectations and
required changes.
METHODOLOGY
The research design chosen is Descriptive in nature. The universe of the study comprises of
Women employees working in Garment factories in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu .A
sample of 100 employees from various departments was selected as respondents on the basis
of purposive sampling. In this study, the primary data was collected through questionnaire
which consists of both open ended and close ended questions. The secondary data was
collected from journals and websites. To evaluate the quality of work life among the
Page | 24

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

employees the opinion of respondents was put under 5-point scales varying from Highly
Satisfied to Highly Dissatisfied as well as Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Before
beginning the main survey, a pilot study was performed with 30 selected respondents to
check the reliability and validity of questionnaire instrument. The respondents were asked to
define the most important issues affecting the overall quality of work life.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS
This section deals with the findings related to classification of respondents on the basis of
their age, monthly family income, qualification, experience and marital status for their
responses regarding quality of work life.
Table 1 classifies the respondents on the basis of their age, educational qualification, income
per month and marital status. Table 1 highlights that, out of 100 respondents, 30%
respondents belonged to the age group of below 25 years, 33% respondents belonged to 2535 years age group, 22% respondents belonged to 36-45 years age group, 10% respondents
belonged to 46-50 years age group and 5% respondents belonged to the age group of above
50 years. It is also clear from the table that only 13% of the respondents had experience less
than one year, 49% had experience between 1-3 years, 27% of the respondents had 3-5 years
of experience ,9% of the respondents had 5-7 years of respondents and only 2% hold more
than 7 years of experience. The table also indicates that 18% of the respondents were
uneducated, 32% of the respondents had school level education, 17.8% were ITI holders,
20% were diploma holders, 25% were graduates and 5% were post graduates.
Only 10 % of the respondents had monthly income of below Rs.5000, 57% were in the
income category of Rs.5001-10000, 20% were in the income category of Rs.10001-15000,
15% were in the income category of Rs.15001-20000 and 3% were in the income category
of above Rs.20000. From the table 1, it is clear that 63% of the respondents were married
and remaining 37% was unmarried.
TABLE 1: Demographic factors of the respondents
Demographic factors
Below 25 years
25-35 years
36-45 years
46-55 years
Above 55 years

No. of Respondents
Age

Percentage (%)

30
33
22
10
5

30%
33%
22%
10%
5%

Page | 25

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

Educational Qualification
Not educated
School level
Diploma
Graduate
Post Graduate
Less than a year
1 year 3 years
3 years -5 Years
5 years -7Years
More than 7 years
Below Rs.5000
Rs.5001-10000
Rs.10001-15000
Rs.15001-20000
Above Rs.20000
Married
Unmarried

18
32
20
25
5
Experience
13
49
27
9
2
Income(per month)
10
57
20
10
3
Marital Status
65
35

18%
32%
20%
25%
5%
13%
49%
27%
9%
2%
10%
57%
20%
10%
3%
65%
35%

PERCEPTION OF RESPONDENTS TOWARDS VARIOUS FACTORS

INFLUENCING QUALITY OF WORK LIFE
Garment units being intensively labor oriented have got to first measure the women
employees perception about their working atmosphere. It is essential to identify what the
employees are expecting and which factors are most important to them. Respondents were
influenced by a variety of factors regarding quality of work life. The respondents were asked
to rate various parameters like relationship with co-worker, workload, leave facilities,
training programs, occupational stress, career growth, respect at workplace and opportunities
for utilizing skills and abilities etc. on five point Likert scales.

Page | 26

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

TABLE 2: Perception of respondents towards various parameters regarding Quality of

Work Life
S.No
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Factors(Highly Satisfied to Highly Dissatisfied)

Relationship with co-worker
Opinion about workload
Health and safety measures
Satisfaction about feedback given
Opinion about working hours
Training programs given by the organization
Opinion about Respect at workplace
Grievance handling procedure

Mean Score
3.13
2.95
2.15
3.19
3.20
3.58
3.00
4.02

Table 2 shows the responses towards critical Parameters regarding quality of work life. The
mean scores infer that the women employees of Garment units opined that their satisfaction
on Grievance handling (4.02) was good and were dissatisfied with the Health and Safety
measures (2.15) and Grievance handling procedure (4.51)
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOTAL WORK EXPERIENCE AND
PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING
This section deals with the findings related to relationship between total work experience of
the workers and their participation in decision making using Chi-Square analysis.
Null Hypothesis
There is no significant relationship between the total work experience of the women
employees and their participation in decision making.
Alternate Hypothesis
There is a significant relationship between the total work experience of the women
employees and their participation in decision making.
TABLE 3: Association between the total work experience of the women employees and
their participation in decision making.
Total Work Experience
Less than a year
1 year 3 years
3 years 5 years
5 year 7 years
More than 7 years
TOTAL

yes
0
11
11
7
2
31

No. of Respondents
No
13
38
16
2
0
69

Total
13
49
27
9
2
100
Page | 27

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

TABLE 3 (a): Calculated Chi-Square value and Table Value.

Sl.No

1.

Factor

Calculated
X2 Value

Work Experience &

Employees
participation in
Decision Making

12.343

Degree of
Freedom
4

Table
Value
9.48

Remarks
Calculated X2 value
is more than the
Table value.

Table 3 & Table 3(a) shows the calculated value (12.343) is more than the table value (9.48)
at 5% level of significance. So the null hypothesis is rejected. Hence there is a significant
relationship between the total work experience of the women employees and their
participation in decision making
MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED BY THE ORGANIZATION TO IMPROVE THE
QUALITY OF WORK LIFE
TABLE 4: Satisfactory ranks given by the women employees regarding the QWL
factors of the garment factories
Factors

HS S

Salary
Health & Safety
Job Security
Work
Atmosphere
Permitted Leave

5
2
23
43

10
12
30
22

20
16
15
10

10

12 20

DS HDS Weighted
Average
30 35
220
30 40
206
22 10
334
15 20
383

Weighted
Score
14.67
13.73
22.26
25.53

Rank

23

15.93

35

239

4
5
2
1

Table: 4 shows the Measures to be adopted by the organization to improve the quality of
work life. It proves that the women workers of the organization are most satisfied with the
Work atmosphere and job security measures of the factory. And the workers are not much
satisfied about the permitted leave that could be availed and they are least satisfied with the
Salary and Health and Safety provided by the company.
Findings of the study
The findings are presented on the basis of different tools of analysis such as Simple
Percentage analysis, Chi-Square Analysis and Weighted average.
It is observed that that the women employees of the garment factory are satisfied with on
Grievance handling procedures followed by the factory and were dissatisfied with the Health
and Safety measures provided and having more of Occupational stress.
There is a significant relationship between the total work experience of the women
employees and their participation in decision making. That means only experienced workers
are included in taking critical decision making situations.
Page | 28

Asia Pacific Journal of Research

Vol: I Issue XII, December 2013

ISSN: 2320-5504, E-ISSN-2347-4793

Women workers of the organization are most satisfied with the Work atmosphere and job
security measures of the factory and are not much satisfied about the permitted leave that
could be availed. They are least satisfied with the Salary and Health and Safety provided by
the company.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In todays Industrial World, Workers are considered as the most important assets of the
organization. An assured good quality of work life not only attracts young and new talent
but also retain the existing experienced talent. The study indicated that increase in quality of
work life results in increase in productivity. The study recommended that an attractive pay
scale can be offered and permissible leave limits can be extended. Grievance handling
procedures can be made at a satisfactory level. It is further recommended that all the workers
could be included in critical decision making situations.
REFERENCE
1. Arya, P.P (1984), Work Satisfaction and its Correlates, Indian journal of
IndustrialRelations, Vol. 20, 89-100.
2. Ashoob, Taghi, 2006. "Study of The Relationship between Quality of Work Life and
Organizational Commitment of The High Schools of Gonbad-e- Kavus City".
3. Camman, C., (1984), Productivity of Management Through QWL Programs, In
Frombun, Editor, Strategic Human Resource Management, New York: Wiley.
4. Davoodi, Seyed Mohammadreza, 1998. "Study of The Impact of Quality of Work Life on
Job Satisfaction among The Staff of Mobarakeh Steel Complex".
5. Eaton, A.E., Gordon, M.E., and Keefe, J.H., (1992), The impact of quality of worklife
programs and grievances system effectiveness on union commitment, International
and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 45, No. 3
6. Fallah, Maryam, 2006. "Study and Analysis of The Relationship between Quality of
Work Life and Performance of Kosar Economical Organization Staff".
7. Guna Seelan Rethinam, Maimunah Ismail (2008 ) Constructs of Quality of Work Life:
A Perspective of Information and Technology Professionals - European Journal of Social
Sciences Volume 7, Number 1 (2008)
8. Indumathy.R, Kamalraj.S (2012), A Study On Quality Of Work Life Among Workers
With Special Reference To Textile Industry In Tirupur District A Textile Hub - Zenith
International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research Vol.2 Issue 4, April 2012
9. Jeyarathnam.M, Malarvizhi .V.R (2011) , Quality Of Work Life Among Sugar Mill
Employees A Study In Tamilnadu - Zenith International Journal of Business Economics
& Management Research Vol.1 Issue 3, December 2011
10. Lokanadha Reddy. M , Mohan Reddy.P (2010) Quality of work life of employees:
Emerging Dimensions - Asian Journal Of Management Research,Vol.1,Jun 2010
11. Kothari.C.R.,Research Methodology,Vikas Publication House, New Delhi, 1967
12. www.chrmglobal.com/article/183/Quality of Work Life
13. www.citehr.com

Page | 29