Abstract
The value of education is a dynamic and multi-dimensional concept that refers not only to the educational model but also to the institutional mission and its goals, as well as to the specific standards of the system, facility, program, or event. In today's competitive scenario, the academic institutions need to focus explicitly on providing effective and quality education to the students with the help of experienced academicians. The education quality would increase when the faculty members are having a better quality of work life, and this can be possible by providing better welfare conveniences to them by the academic institutions. Welfare amenities enable the staff members to live a quality and more satisfactory life. These facilities also help to keep their motivation levels high. The chapter articulates the existence of quality of work life programs in academic institutions in order to retain valuable faculty members who influence the value of education.
TopIntroduction
Quality of Work Life (QWL) is probably the most powerful type of reward that an organization can offer to its employees in today’s competitive business environment (Dargahi & Yazdi, 2007). The quality of work life has become an imperative issue to achieve the goals of an organization in every sector whether it is education, service sector, banking sector, tourism, manufacturing, or any other sector. The employees’ commitment and productivity depends upon the dimensions of quality of work life such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, reward and recognition, welfare facilities (Patro, 2017), participative management, work life balance, proper grievances handling, work environment etc (Yadav and Khanna, 2014). When an organization provides better quality of work, then it develops a healthy work environment as well as satisfied employee (Patro, 2013). High quality of work life results in better organizational performance, effectiveness, innovativeness, etc. Quality of work life is the corroboration between employees and their organization as it improves the family life as well as work life of the individual (Patro, 2015).
Muftah (2011) mentioned that QWL was one of the key areas of human resource management that is attracting attention and research focus. It was a philosophy that considers people as the most important recourses in the organization and views them as an asset' to the organization rather than as costs. Patro (2012a) argued that welfare facilities play an important role in managing Human Resource in any organization. These facilities increase the job satisfaction level of employees and QWL, which in turn leads to overall development of organizations. By the result of improved quality of work life among employees, their involvement in job gets increased and results in increased productivity of the organization. Ahmad (2013) stated that the core pillar of QWL was to create a work environment that employee can work cooperatively with each other in order to achieve to organization objectives. Thus, QWL provides healthier, more satisfied and more productive employees, which in turn increases the efficiency, productivity and profitability of the organization (Sadique, 2003).
Most organizations today view QWL as an important mechanism, but do not formally link it to any of their strategic or business plans (Periman, 2006), which affects the employee job satisfaction and retention (Newaz, Ali, & Akhter, 2007). This scenario has created an urge for the private academic institute policy makers to identify and evaluate the underlying situations and reasons and has brought them to the consideration of the QWL issue. Faculty members play the key role in manipulating their services through providing better education and building the nation, thus faculty turnover has a crucial effect on the ultimate education system of any country (Hasan, Chowdhury, & Alam, 2008). To improve the value of education in the academic sector skilled, knowledgeable, experienced faculty are very important resource. Because of the influence of present socio economical factors, the retention rate of faculties are reducing day by day. In order to maintain this resource QWL interventions are more important. It is essential for the academic institutions to develop quality relation between its employees and working environment (Patro, 2014). In order to attract and retain employees, an organization has to develop a high quality of work life. Organizations by adopting QWL programmes ensure to create excellent work condition and job for its employees. Hence, QWL seeks to create such a work environment where the employees work co-operatively and make positive contribution in achieving organizational objectives.
In the present scenario the academic institutions are facing the challenges of increased competitions. In such environment, faculty retention is very important factor for competition and survival. This chapter aims at exploring the perception of employees towards quality of work life in academic institutions. The main objective is to know the impact of Quality of Work Life (QWL) on Value of Education (VOE) in academic institutions.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Perception: It is referred as the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
Effectiveness: It is referred as the capability of producing a desired result or the ability to produce desired output.
Education: Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.
Opportunity: An opportunity is a situation in which it is possible for you to do something that you want to do.
Behavior: It refers to the way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others.
Productivity: Productivity is an economic measure of output per unit of input. Inputs include labor and capital, while output is typically measured in revenues and other gross domestic product (GDP) components such as business inventories.
Satisfaction: Satisfaction is referred as the customer level of approval when comparing a product's perceived performance with his or her expectations.