CHAPTER III

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The objective of this review of literature is to allow the scholarly and research work that
addresses the problem- based tasks of work-life balance and the issues associated with
working women in specific. This study gives a wider knowledge of different aspects that
are associated with woman WLB. The factors that disturb the women work-life are
detailed and the way they handle plays a significant role. There are exclusive studies that
mainly pay attention towards the WLB of women. The WLB decides the career building
aspects and time spent on their family and responsibilities. These days’ women are mainly
stressed by balancing the work life to a major extent. Every woman in every level of the
organization faces these problems.

3.1 WLB

WLB is “defined as the perfect amalgamation amongst work and life”. To reduce
interruptions employees are striving hard by giving their best for work-life balance which
is generating massive pressure and henceforth they need compulsory finish their work
regardless of time (Meenakshisundaram & Panchanatham, 2012). QWL is stated as "the
quality of relationship between employees and the total working environment"
(Subhashini & Gopal, 2013). Beukema (1987) defined QWL as “the degree to which
employees are able to shape their jobs actively, in accordance with their options, interests
and needs”. It is the degree of power an organization gives to its employees to design their
work. This means that the individual employee has the full freedom to design his job
functions to meet his personal needs and interests.

It is difficult for the organization to fulfill the personal needs and values of each
employee. However if the organization provides the appropriate authority to design work
activities to the individual employees, then it is highly possible that the work activities
can match their employees’ needs that contribute to the organizational performance.

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Studies also assess the different benefits for work-life balance. These studies suggested
several factors such as equitable remuneration; Fit working conditions; Security;
Opportunities for career advancement, other programs etc. (Valarmathi & Bhalakarishnan,
2013).

The individual personal life must not be stressed by the working hours including work
amid inconvenient hours, over time work, transfers, business travel, vacations, etc.
Various studies have explored how better operating conditions affect the lives of workers,
especially women and their families (Satrya et al., 2017). Women are the main
contributors in the garment industries around the world. Workplaces employing women
are classified according to the working conditions. Their experiences in the organization
affects not only their well-being and also their home front (Satrya et al., 2017; Valarmathi
& Bhalakarishnan, 2013).

3.2 WORK LIFE BALANCE AT GARMENT INDUSTRY

Numerous researches are being conducted on the WLB of the women workforce in the
garment industries (Anandi et al., 2017; Chowdhury et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2017; MR et
al., 2016; Satrya et al., 2017). These studies have uncovered that the life is getting terrible
in garment industry day by day, they are required to accomplish their objectives and if not
the garments would be tossed on their faces. Most of the women are recruited with the
least or no qualification at all and basically they are from a very low financial
background, they endure all the humiliation as they are sharing the financial burden or
they are breadwinners of the family. There are a couple of situations where especial the
women workers have committed suicides as they not able to balance both work and
personal life. This study discloses that work and family life is getting disturbed and results
in the family getting more disturbed due to the disturbances in the work areas. Studies
have found that better salary, less work load, housing benefit, conveyance benefit, crèche,
flexible working hours and children education benefit can progress their work-life balance
(Chowdhury et al., 2015).

In the garment industry the manager plays a vital role because he runs the business
(Anandi et al., 2017). Studies were conducted to know the magnitude and the level of job

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stress and in association with personal, family and socio-demographic issues (Mendis &
Mythili Devi & GF, 2017; Pranambika et al., 2017; Weerakkody, 2014;) particularly in
garment industry (eg. Indumathy, R. 2012; Romli & Ghani, 2018).

Stress is one of the most challenging issues in the present reality. Stress is cause for many
ailments, some of the people end up with various medical issues and this even causes
disturbances in the families. The significant cause of stress is representatively due to low
income and improper planning or execution. A leader is someone who recognizes the
different variables influencing elements that affect their profitability and envision major
circumstances, rather than worrying at the later stage. He should concentrate on the
methods to improve his performance.

Tremendous expectations from the organizations put managers under stress and pressure
in achieving the targets, which in turn affects their health. If they are unable to achieve
their targets and they become crestfallen, this will in turn affect the organizational
commitment. The outcome specified that the work life balance of managers are not totally
fruitful due to their current working hours, employed atmosphere and raise in products
prices, work overload, tasks in work and reduction of job security due to recession. The
workers working in the garment factory are under tremendous pressure as managers are
the chief contributors who can reduce the stress (Anandi et al., 2017).

3.3 WORK LIFE BALANCE OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES

Studies have been conducted to understand the problems faced by the women employees
and their satisfaction in the work area (eg. Dam & Daphtardar, 2013; Kamalaveni &
Suganya, 2017; Nishanthi & Thalgaspitiya, 2017). These studies reveal that woman
employees are subjected to more pressure, as they have to balance their work and personal
life equally. The priority should be given equal importance and if not, leads to mental
stress and productivity of work decrease which results in an imbalance of work-life
balance.

WLB is well defined as the perfect incorporation between the work & life. To support the
family maximum, women are working to be financially independent. The chief challenges

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for the women are how to balance family and work. In the ancient days it was the men’s
liability to work and women’s liability is domestic work but in the contemporary situation
the scenario is changed and she started supporting the family financially. The work life
balance strategies have elevated its demand due to dual income single kid couples and for
nuclear families. Previously work life balance is restricted only for few professions now
the thought process is completely changed.

Nishanthi & Thalgaspitiya (2017) studied the “effect of work life balance on job
engagement amongst the married female machine operators in Sri Lanka”. The major
inferences of the research are “both work & family life balance are positively and strongly
correlated with the job engagement of married female machine operators of the apparel
industry Sri Lanka. It is determined that work and family life balance should be measured
for enhancing the job engagement of married female machine operators in this industry”.
Dam & Daphtardar (2013) concentrated on the WLB of the women staff working in
Management universities in Pune. The study uncovered that most of the women working
there are imbalanced which in turn aggravates their health and even occasionally they
don't have time to deal with themselves. Similar Studies were also conducted to test the
financial status and dependency among women employees.

The role of woman in the society has been evolving from time to time. Women perform
various roles and duties it is very burdensome for them to be comfortable working by
managing their personal life. Despite these issues faced by them, they are highly
productive in their work. The organizations are concerned about women workers and
provide them with various welfare programs that provide women to work comfortably and
help in their career building (Kumaraswamy & Ashwini, 2015). Studies depict that
women employees are going through a lot of mental agony and stress more than men. The
reason is they have family responsibilities, which are given high priority, and not reaching
the expectations will lead to work-life imbalance.

Though there is upsurge in female leaders, women are always considered as inferior to
men. A woman after taking care of domestic work and children she needs to focus on
work, with her strong determination and motivation she can advance in her career. It is
probable that there is interaction between gender and work life initiatives. These

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initiatives help to integrate both work and life. It is noted if these initiatives are engrossed
it would encourage women in fulfilling their leadership ambitions (Fritz & van
Knippenberg, 2018).

Romli & Ghani (2018) performed study on advanced strategies of women entrepreneurs
mixing work with family for maintaining a healthy balanced life. The study focused on
numerous challenges faced for attaining WLB. There are 3 key strategies accepted by
Terengganu Malay women entrepreneurs for attaining WLB. The strategies are: (i) Stress
management programs; (ii) planning the work and home; (iii) technology. The challenges
faced for attaining WLB are as (i) discussion of professional problems with family
members; (ii) Not taking care of family responsibility (iii) facing mental and physical
health problems. To achieve work life balance women should always try new plans by
involving family members and spouse, stress management programs, and planning
flexible work. The personal issues and financial problems are leading to absenteeism,
stress and low levels of concentration at work. Work-life balance is the key aspect for
enhancing effectiveness and satisfaction.

3.4 FACTORS INFLUENCING WORK LIFE BALANCE

In this present society women are facing various numbers of issues and there are required
to be very versatile. As their contributions towards their families are increasing, more
number of women are working, this has made her don dual role in the society as a home
maker and as employees. This causes stress and affects their physical and mental health.
According to Syele a stressor “Whatever produces stress with or without functioning
hormonal or nervous systems”. Numerous studies have been conducted to identify the
factors influencing work life balance (eg. Aishwarya & Ramasundarum, 2011; Indumathy
2012; Mahi Uddin & Chowdhury, 2015; Mohanty & Jena, 2016; Rincy & Panchanatham,
2018; Saleem, 2015). Every coin has two sides the concept of work-life has both the sides
one is work and the other is personal life which are linked to each other if one is affected
there would an impact on the other too. Due to the huge demand in the work there is a
negative spillover on family and due to demand from family there is a negative spill over
on family. At that point of time the conflict arises as both are very important which will
affect performance and health of the employee simultaneously. The organizations have

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started various strategies to overcome the negative impact of work life balance (Singh et
al., 2018).

Indumathy (2012) investigated the level of WLB employed employees occupied in the
garment industries. An attempt was made to perceive QWL amongst employees “with a
particular reference to textile industry in Tirupur District – A textile hub”. The study has
exceptionally emphasized that the key factors that influence and determine the QWL are
“attitude, environment, opportunities, nature of employment, people, level of stress, career
prospects, challenges, growth and development and risk involved in the work and
rewards”.

Saleem, (2015) inspects the influence of job and life characteristics on WLB. The
research results confirmed that together, life and field of activity affects work life balance.
Employees who have larger control over work schedule, supervision, social support, and
co-worker, who have few expectations regarding family role, less working hours and
numbers of kids, had positive perception about work life balance.

Chen et al., (2017) conducted a survey entitled “313 blue-collar workers and also on 228
white-collar workers on various concerns like decent work, workers’ issues, satisfaction
levels and attitudes towards decent work.” The author found that the workers gradually
value soft factors, overall work experience and not just financial benefits. The study
contributes to understanding the garment workers perceptions of decent work and its
implications for industries in China.

Aishwarya & Ramasundarum, (2011) In Bangladesh, respondents with an influence on

business are role over-burden, welfare issues, sub-standards care, time management and
family support. Of these five elements, work over-burden and issues regarding care are
associated with WLB, while issues related to welfare, time management and family and
social support have a constructive association with WLB.

Mahi Uddin & Chowdhury, (2015) study conducted on male and female nurses working
in two hospitals in Bangalore. It concentrated on various issues influencing the WLB for
the nurses. WLB is the level of compatibility between work and life. The study found that

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work-life balance levels was more amongst the female nurses instead of male nurses, and
furthermore uncovered that there is no link between age and involvement for WLB
inequalities.

Mohanty & Jena, (2016) conducted structured interviews in diversified industries with
few HR managers. They indicated that MNC’s came forward to offer employees
programs that would help them complete their work without coming into the workplace.
In addition, there is no official track taken to enhance the WLB. The factors associated
with leaden-footed pace HR policy responses in India are government interventions and
socio-cultural implications and the employers’ response to them.

Many aspects that influence the work-life balance and Retention rate, HR policies, work
culture are the main factors (Kumari & Devi, 2013). In today’s world where the work-life
balance plays a crucial role, businesses providing childcare assistance are a boon to its
employees. This plays a key role in retaining employees. This shows that there is an
interrelationship between the employee retaining and childcare assistance (Babu & Raj,
2013). Social dialogue, persistence and security are the key aspects for achieving WLB
and decent working conditions to achieve WLB by small entrepreneur (Hussain & Endut,
2018). WLB means balancing work and family life, non-professional domains are
perceived differently by different employees it varies as per gender, marital status and
child-care responsibilities. Non-work preferences should to be considered during WLB
research, and while designing WLB practices (Prakash, 2018).

Rincy & Panchanatham, (2018) study conducted to close the gap and the degree of
opportunity in achieving the key objectives by testing the nature of association between
family related issues and WLB in service sector employees of Chidambaram taluk, in
Tamil Nadu. The numerous service sector establishments covered are education,
healthcare, finance and banking, information and communication services (ITES),
transport, law and order, civil administration and hospitality sectors. The study proved the
existence of high, medium and low level of family related issues. High-level Family
related issues found to be harmful were related to work-life balance.

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Pranambika et al., (2017) study conducted among the women employees working in
textile industry, Karur. As the study did not focus on a particular company, as it is was a
convenient and open research sampling technique adapted for this research. This study
enumerates the problem faced by women employed in the textile industry and this
highlighted the factors, which caused stress to them.

Several aspects define QWL, one of which is work environment. Subhashini & Gopal,
(2013) “focused on the factor influencing QWL of employees, level of employee
satisfaction with the current level of QWL”. Shobharani & Kumara, (2018) conducted
study on work life balance for employees in Shimoga region. According to them work life
balance means work and leave flexibility for employees. The survey depicted that there is
no substantial change among the SME's employees in Shimoga region, to maintain a
respectable balance between work & life is a growing concern for the current employees.

Greenhaus et al., (2003) focused on 3 important elements i.e Time, Involvement and
fulfillment, his review revealed that in order to achieve work-life balance always deal
with prioritization of Time, Involvement and Satisfaction. In this review, likewise showed
that employees who are more associated with family affairs are more adjusted than the
employees who could not invest Quality time with their family.

In the 21st century, technology has made our lives comfortable and problems like work-
life balance are rising with new issues, employee personal lives are being exploited. The
woman plays many crucial roles like parenting, wife, daughter, and daughter- in- law and
due to work-life imbalance; she is not able to justify her role to the utmost satisfaction
(Murthy & Shastri 2015).

The work-life balance in CCIL is seen as a critical component to increasing productivity,

in order to justify the highest level of employee performance for the company. CCIL is an
organization that gives tools to employee, plans and appraises human capital as the main
resources of the organization. This depends on work-life balance and is of major
importance in CCIL (India) (Sinha, 2013).

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Cunningham, & Eberle, (1990) described that, “the elements relevant to an individual’s
quality of work life include the task, the physical work environment, social environment
within the organization, administrative system and relationship between work life and
personal life”. Chan & Einstein, (1990) pointed out “QWL reflects a concern for people’s
experience at work, their relationship with others, their work environment and their
effectiveness at work”.

Work-life balance always plays a crucial role in everyone’s triumph. Most of the
organizations plan different welfare activities for their employees to maintain balance
between professional and personal tasks. Most of the plans are executed while some plans
do not work. Even though these are executed for the interest of employees, the usage
differs from person to person to balance WLB. The employee's personal life is affected
when extra time apart from work is spent on professional aspects (Rs & Murthy, 2016).

3.5 WLB, EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND MORALE

“European Foundation for the Improvement of Living Conditions (2002) described that
the WLB as a multi-dimensional construct, consisting of a number of interrelated factors
that must be carefully considered in order to be conceptualized and measured. It is
associated with job satisfaction, motivation related to engagement, productivity, health,
safety, job security, competence development and balance between work life and personal
work life”.

The perception of work has changed from time to time. Gone are the days when people
only worked for survival and basic needs. The essential aspect in the present scenario is
work satisfaction and career building which plays the major role in every person’s life.
Though work-life balance is given utmost importance, it is essential to know how the
person is achieving it on daily basis. Achieving work-life balance differs from person to
person. Some can easily attain it by planning their time, while others find difficult. This
includes various conditions like family support, age factor, workplace, and other benefits.
A balanced life comes to existence when it is attained with no barriers. Globally,
organizations are concerned with the work-life balance and addressing it as a serious issue

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and trying to provide their employees with various welfare measures that might help them
to overcome the hurdles of work-life balance.

Studies have been conducted to test the interrelationship between WLB, job satisfaction,
job engagement, involvement and morale (Goyal & Babel, 2015; Indumathy, 2012; MR et
al., 2016; Nishanthi & Thalgaspitiya, 2017; Saleem, 2015).

Indumathy (2012) investigated the level of WLB of employees working in the garment
industries. The study discloses that there is an inter-link between WLB & job-satisfaction;
WLB and employee-commitment towards the organization. The study found that QWL
denotes the “happiness or dissatisfaction” level in one's career. Work life balance needs
to be monitored on a regular basis otherwise it might lead to job dis satisfaction and
general loss of focus on work may occur (MR et al., 2016).

Jabeen et al., (2018) tested QWL and its stimulation on job-satisfaction and labour
turnover in numerous public-sector organizations in UAE. The study is conducted using
the questionnaire method and discovered that QWL has positive inspiration on job
satisfaction by improving employee’s motivation and negatively influencing the turnover.
Similarly, Talukder et al., (2018) discovered the relationship amongst supervisor support,
work life balance, job attitudes and performance for the Australian financial sector
employees. The study covers 305 employees currently working in financial sectors. The
research contributed to the existing literature by recognizing a key mechanism by which
supervisor support was linked to WLB, which influenced job-satisfaction, life-satisfaction
and organizational commitment & Job performance.

Haider et al., (2018) tested the moderate mediation model by indicating how work life
balance affects the employee’s job performance and how their satisfaction improved their
colleagues’ job performance. This research donates to employee’s management by
elucidating moderated mediation devices that will provide better work life balance and in
addition psychological well being too.

Oktosatrio, (2018) tested the relationship between motivation and WLB in the public
sector in Jakarta, Indonesia. From the motivational and WLB theories the theoretical

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framework is designed to find out the research variables. The outcomes from the research
disclosed that private life affects the work and maximum employees are choosing flexible
working hours and work from home. When associated with males the maximum females
prefer to opt working from home. It also proved that women are more efficient than men
in managing their personal and professional life.

Today employee commitment is estimated as the objective and inspiring strategy for the
development of the business. A highly committed employee is more gainful than a less
engaged employee. The associations are concentrating on worker commitment programs
for plunging the feelings of anxiety, which will consequently make a path for an
increment of the efficiency levels and as the best retention strategy. Employee
commitment was a win-win strategy. This paper explained on employee-commitment;
inspect work put culture and WLB and the practices followed in industries keeping in
mind the end goal to advance employee commitment in their organizations (Susi &
Jawaharrani, 2011).

The work-life balance is the burning issue in current society mainly in the corporate world. In
this study, the work-life balance is taken as independent and employee-performance as
dependant variable. Mendis & Weerakkody, (2014) verified, “there is a positive
correlation between work-life balance and employee performance that recommends the
training programs to overcome stress management”. Goyal & Babel, (2015) appraises the
work-life balance as an Investment to have growth in productivity, employee retention,
adaptable working hours and effective customer services. The strategies implemented are
considered useful for the long-term retention of the workforce in the banking industry.
Employee engagement plays a vital role and is proven to be the best strategy for balancing
work life. WLB is progressively significant for engagement as it increases employee
satisfaction.

Studies have also focused on understanding the relationship between social networking
and WLB, revealed that there is no gender difference in online usage and the 2
dimensions of WLB “Intrusion of work into Work and improvement of Personal Life
through work. While there exists a difference in gender in the other two dimension of
work life balance-Intrusion of Work into Personal Life and Personal Life Enhancement by

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Work. The study reveals that the longer an individual spends online, more interference is
found in work life and in personal life”.

Very few studies are found in the literature, measuring and testing relationships between
WLB, employee satisfaction & morale in garment industry. The present research is to
recognize the critical aspects to measure the WLB and develops a model that tests the
relationships between WLB, employee satisfaction & morale. The study was carried out
in 11 garment companies in Visakhapatnam, AP, India.

The current study intended to theorize the effects of WLB on satisfaction and morale.
These work life balance aspects are expressed in a model that is assumed to be
comprehensive enough to explain employee satisfaction & morale. The study builds on
the work life balance theory and evaluates the relationship between the three concepts in
garment industry.

3.6 CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Based on the above sources, the study identified the model with relationships between
work life balance, employee satisfaction and morale. Figure 3.1 presents the conceptual
model based on theory that suggests WLB directly lead to employee satisfaction and
morale; and employee satisfaction directly leads to morale. Studies indicate the influence
of life balance on employee satisfaction (eg. Goyal & Babel, 2015; Indumathy, 2012; MR
et al., 2016; Mendis & Weerakkody, 2014; Nishanthi & Thalgaspitiya, 2017; Saleem,
2015) and morale (eg. Haider et al., 2018; Jabeen et al., 2018; Krishnan et al., 2018;
Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, 2010; Susi & Jawaharrani, 2011).

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 Employee
Satisfaction

Work Life Balance

Employee Morale

Figure 3.1 Conceptual Model 1

The study also aimed to test the effect of demographical factors on work life balance,
satisfaction and morale. Demographic factors basic measures to understand and assess the
employee behavior patterns. Hence study considered and tests the effect of demographical
factors on work life balance, satisfaction and morale (fig. 3.2).

Work Life
Balance

Demographics
Age
Education Employee
Experience
Satisfaction
Number of Children
Marital Status
Family type

Employee Morale

Figure 3.2 Conceptual Model 2

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3.7 RESEARCH GAP

The textile industry has undergone tremendous changes since the early 1900s. Textile
industry is one of the “first Indian industries to have a formidable presence in the national
economy”. The Textile Industry contributes and represents 13% share of the total exports.
The total textile exports for fiscal years 2017-18 amounted to $ 37.74 billion (US$). The
Indian textile industry is estimated at US$150 billion, a figure that is expected to reach
US$ 230 billion by 2020. The above statistics indicates that the growth of sector with
complexity and the circumstances will force companies to maintain proper working
environment for their employees. Studies have been conducted to identify the factors
influencing WLB in Indian garment industry, but no comprehensive study has been
conducted to study amongst the women employees in Andhra Pradesh, India. Therefore,
the study focused on identifying critical factors measuring WLB of women employees in
Garment-industry -Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Study also aimed at testing the
interrelationships between work life balance, employee satisfaction and morale.

3.8 CONCLUSION

Work is an essential part of everyday life, “as it is our livelihood or our career or our
business”. Normally we spent 12 hrs everyday of our lives working and it is the 1/3rd of
our entire-life. WLB is considered to be more imperative at the individual & the
organization level. Today’s “organizations need to be more flexible so that they are
equipped to develop their workforce and enjoy from their commitment”. The findings of
various studies discussed above contribute to understanding ways that the top
management attempts in attaining a career, which fits between the needs of the employees
and the needs of the organization. These studies shed light on the existing literature on
WLB of employees in garment-industry & other variables, which influences and build a
model study. Depending on the literature source, the study developed a conceptual model
that tests the interrelationships between work life balance, employee satisfaction and
morale.

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