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How to Balance Quality of Life and Work Organizational behavior as a science is based on several important aspects of management, such as management from the position of psychology and human relations, and behavioral concepts. The main components of organizational behavior are: social interaction, motivation, power and leadership, organizational and communicative system, substantive ness of the work and quality of life (Hammer, 1994). The effectiveness of organization directly depends on effectiveness of its human resources, because the objective to improve profitability, productivity, efficiency and quality directly depends on employees quality of life and work. In such a way, one of the most important issues involves the necessity to balance quality of life and work. In order to learn how to balance quality of life and work we need to have comprehension how job design (i. e.
the way by which the managers make decisions concerning individual job tasks and authority) is able to improve job performance, and in its turn, to improve the balance between work and personal life. Many companies undertake all possible efforts to help employees to balance quality of life and work. They consistently experiment with benefit offerings and work design (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 367). For example, the managers provide employees with flexible work schedule, as far as flexibility benefits both the company and the employee, thus giving an employee a possibility to achieve a better life / work balance. The Deloitte & Touche Company can serve a perfect example of an effective organization that implements different initiatives.
Their program consists of several factors: the reduced hours (i. e. the workers are free to choose options of job sharing, or a part-time job), reduced workload (i. e.
high-performing employees can ask for a reduced workload during a certain period in their life due to personal reasons, such as a care for a newborn child or a sick spouse / parent , etc), flextime (i. e. the employees are able to choose their work schedule by adjusting it to their particular needs), telecommuting (the company allows some employees working from home) (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 368). Thereby we come to conclusion that effective job design contributes to the effective job performance. As far as ineffectively organized process of job can be a source of stress, to the equal degree the effective job contributes to the workers success and self-realization (Johns, 1996).
Besides, the effective job performance increases the employees motivation and helps him to achieve both quality of life and work. Yet, in order to understand what does the quality of work and life means, we have to examine the concept more thoroughly. The concept of QWL (Quality Work Life) is often referred to as a philosophy of management that enhances the dignity of all workers; introduces changes in an organizations culture; and improves the physical and emotional well-being of employees (e. g. providing opportunities for growth and development) (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 369).
QWL indicators embrace sick leave usage, accident rates, number of grievances filed, employee turnover, etc. many organization use QWL programs to enhance workers motivation, to increase their involvement, trust and problem solving (Kotter, 1996), thus contributing to increase organizational effectiveness and employee satisfaction. What concerns work/ family balance and job design, many employees face difficulties in balancing between work and family needs. Job sharing can be one of sound solutions to the problem. So, what is job sharing?
It is a kind of work arrangement, where two or more workers share hours, benefits and responsibilities among themselves. Job sharing can be of great interest to people, who have small children at home and want to spend more time with them. The experience of Barbara Camera and Robin Como from Xerox Corporation prove that job sharing is very effective (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 370).
Employees, who approach the retirement age, can also accept job sharing as a good opportunity to meet career cycle and family needs. Flextime is also a kind of flexible work arrangement, in which the workers decide when they will work in the office. For example, an employee can make a decision that instead of 5 days per week he / she will work a 4 -day/ 10 -hour schedule (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 370). Such schedule can be more effective than a traditional one, as far as the employee will have an option to choose when to work based on his personal / family needs. According to numerous studies, flexible schedules positively impact on employee absenteeism, performance and job satisfaction.
However, the researcher note that flextime schedules should not be too unstructured and that they lose some of their effectiveness over time (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 371). Telecommuting should also be examined as an effective flexible work arrangement. Telecommuting allows the employees working from homes both on full time and part time basis. The employees communicate with the office by phone and internet. However, it is quite risky to allow the employees working full time from homes.
In order to maintain control over the employees performance, the companies adjust telecommuting schedule to their particular needs. For example, Pfizer Inc. implemented telecommuting program and limited the number of working-at-home days to two per week. Due to unquestionable effectiveness of flexible work arrangements, the companies positively respond to such challenges, as far as they have to accommodate the workers needs by proposing them more convenient work schedule. However, there are three important issues to be considered.
Firstly, the programs should be open to all employees to avoid discrimination. Secondly, some employees are afraid accepting flexible work schedules due to fear of being derailed from their career progression (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 371). The managers of the company should explain employees all advantages of flexible work schedules. Thirdly, the companies should take into account the laws that may impact these policies (e. g.
Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, etc. ) There are some important aspects of organizational effectiveness and job performance that should be taken into account. Both concepts depend on different intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The managers should undertake all possible efforts to develop the most effective strategy concerning their employees and job design. In order to succeed, they should take into account functional job analysis, job requirements, job contents, range and depth. Effective practical use of these factors is conductive to development of the most effective strategy aimed to increase employee job satisfaction. Job rotation and job enlargement strategies can be cited as the examples.
Job rotation strategy should also be examined as a practice that allows increasing employee satisfaction, reducing mental workload, and improving efficiency and production. This strategy involves increasing the range of jobs and the perception of variety in the job content (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 381). The managers can implement job rotation strategy by rotating managers and non-managers from one job to another. However, critics claim that this strategy is not very effective, as far as people are forced to perform several monotonous jobs instead of one, as far as the strategy foresees no change in basic characteristics of the assigned jobs. Job enlargement is often referred to as an alternative strategy.
According to the recent researches, employees are often dissatisfied with highly specialized jobs. Job enlargement offers a possibility to increase the job range in order to increase job satisfaction. For example, this strategy is designed such that the employee performs seven tasks instead of four. Yet, the managers should take into account personal characteristics of their employees, as far as not all workers are able coping with enlarged jobs. At the same time, in case the workers are able to perform enlarged jobs, job satisfaction and product quality will increase.
If the employees are successful in coping with enlarged jobs, the managers may provide the workers with greater opportunities to exercise discretion (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 382) by implementing the strategy of job enrichment. Job enrichment is the practice of increasing discretion individual can use to select activities and outcomes (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 382). This strategy increases job depth and provides growth and autonomy needs.
The main features of job enrichment are: direct feedback (when the managers timely evaluate the employee performance), new learning (a good job provide people possibilities to growth and learn), scheduling (employees obtain skills of scheduling the part of their own work), uniqueness (each job task should have certain unique features), high level of motivation (Clark 1998), control over resources, self-actualization and personal accountability (employees should be responsible for their work). In such a way, all these strategies contribute to responsibility for the outcomes of the work, knowledge of the actual results of work activities, and, in their turn, result in high internal work motivation, high-quality work performance, high job satisfaction, low absenteeism and turnover (Gibson, J. et al. 2006, p. 383). The positive outcomes of these strategies are obvious.
Employees feel job satisfaction and responsibility for their job performance. The effective implementation of strategies satisfies the demand for self-realization and contributes to workers personal growth and development, thus helping the employees to achieve a balance between quality of life and work. References: Clark, D. R. (1998, March 19). Big Dog's Leadership Page - Organizational Behavior.
Retrieved February 23, 2007, from web Gibson, J. , Ivancevich, J. , Donnelly, J. , Konopaske, R. (2006). Organizations Behavior, Structure Process (12 th edition ed. ). Irwin: McGraw-Hill. Hammer, M. (1994). Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. New York: Harper Business.
Hunt, V. (1996). Process Mapping: How to Re engineer Your Business Processes. New York: Wiley. Johns, G. (1996). Organizational Behavior: Understanding and Managing Life at Work (4 th ed.
ed. ). New York: Harper-Collins. Kotter, J. P. (1996).
Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
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Research essay sample on How To Balance Quality Of Life And Work
