Human Resource Management International Digest Emerald Article: Working out the quality of work life: A career development perspective with ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Human Resource Management International Digest
Emerald Article: Working out the quality of work life: A career
development perspective with insights for human resource management
Roland K. Yeo, Jessica Li
Article information:
To cite this document: Roland K. Yeo, Jessica Li, (2011),"Working out the quality of work life: A career development perspective
with insights for human resource management", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 19 Iss: 3 pp. 39 - 45
Permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09670731111125952
Downloaded on: 30-01-2013
References: This document contains references to 6 other documents
To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
This document has been downloaded 6151 times since 2011. *
Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: *
Roland K. Yeo, Jessica Li, (2011),"Working out the quality of work life: A career development perspective with insights for human
resource management", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 19 Iss: 3 pp. 39 - 45
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09670731111125952
Roland K. Yeo, Jessica Li, (2011),"Working out the quality of work life: A career development perspective with insights for human
resource management", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 19 Iss: 3 pp. 39 - 45
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09670731111125952
Roland K. Yeo, Jessica Li, (2011),"Working out the quality of work life: A career development perspective with insights for human
resource management", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 19 Iss: 3 pp. 39 - 45
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09670731111125952
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by Western Michigan University
For Authors:
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service.
Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit
www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in
business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as
well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is
a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive
preservation.
*Related content and download information correct at time of download.Working out the quality of work life
A career development perspective with insights for human resource
management
Roland K. Yeo and Jessica Li
sk anyone a basic question: ‘‘Do you like your work life?’’ The answer could be much
A more multifaceted than meets the eye.
Research on the quality of work life suggests that there are different relationships between
the satisfaction with work life and, for instance, employees’ engagement in, and commitment
to, their work (Rice et al., 1985).
Roland K. Yeo is Associate
Professor of Organizational Employees perceive quality when fundamental expectations about the workplace and their
Behavior at Kuwait job are adequately met. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, these expectations could
Maastricht Business range from the more immediate physical needs such as workplace facilities, to security
School, Salmiya, Kuwait. needs such as compensation and benefits, to affiliation needs such as social-networking
Jessica Li is Assistant and collaboration opportunities, to esteem needs such as autonomy and decision making, to
Professor in the Department actualization needs such as strategic planning and involvement (Sirgy et al., 2001).
of Learning Technologies,
College of Information, What can managers do to help to improve their employees’ quality of work life and how could
University of North Texas, this improvement be realized in the form of career development for employees? This article is
Denton, Texas, USA. based on a US study of data collected between 2007-2009 from 140 working people who
had decided to improve their career prospects and, thereby, their quality of work life, through
professional education (Li and Yeo, 2011).
The following eight factors were found to influence the quality of work life, with implications
for career development and human resource management (HRM).
1. Organizational culture
Employees believe they have a high quality of work life when there is a clear sense of
openness and trust between management and employees and no fear of being
short-changed or misguided in task performance. Particularly, the level of moral
intelligence as associated with the work ethic is viewed as important in maintaining the
equitable treatment of employees across the organization. The transparency of
organizational practice as enforced by policies and regulations should be strongly and
consistently upheld. Power distribution among managers must be clearly structured through
an appropriate hierarchy, as this prevents employees from receiving conflicting signals
based on managerial decisions.
DOI 10.1108/09670731111125952 VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011, pp. 39-45, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0967-0734 j HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST j PAGE 39‘‘ Employees believe they have a high quality of work life when
there is a clear sense of openness and trust between
management and employees and no fear of being
short-changed or misguided in task performance. ’’
Career development enabler
An organizational culture of openness and trust provides employees with the spontaneity
they need to recreate their identity through job enlargement and enrichment. The focus is on
recognizing flexibility and creativity as sources of motivation for increasing individual
competence and intellectual capacity.
HRM insight
The organization of social structure is institutionalized through the construction of meanings
and actions by employees. Boundaries of assumptions and routines are reshaped by
individuals’ interpretation of the notion of quality that mediates work and personal life.
2. Leadership
Quality of work life is characterized by opportunities for learning, particularly from mistakes
and new endeavors, and these could be realized from the type and extent of supervision
given to employees. For instance, the mentorship of managers would help employees to
cope with their daily challenges and increase their competence in handling complex tasks.
Further, the decision-making and problem-solving capability of managers can transform
potential obstacles into opportunities for learning and reflective inquiry for employees. The
appropriate use of authority, particularly for ensuring work and resources are distributed
fairly, creates a balance between expectation and outcome for employees.
Career development enabler
Appropriate leadership guides employees in aligning their individual goals to those of the
organization. Such an alignment encourages individuals to view their day-to-day tasks in
terms of making an impact on other strategic prospects of the organization. The focus is on
promoting task significance through autonomy and empowerment.
HRM insight
The distinction between management and leadership is crucial to understanding
transactional and transformative leadership. A fundamental competence in transactional
leadership, with a transformative perspective, helps employees to conquer present
challenges for future competitive advantage.
3. Communication
The quality of work life is determined by the type of information employees receive about the
organization and the extent to which they themselves are heard by the organization.
Employees thus regard communication as a crucial channel towards understanding,
agreeing and sharing common goals in the workplace. This process involves constant
dialog and feedback, where employees engage in the interpretation of their work and its
impact on their immediate context. Communication helps them to understand their current
position and takes them to another level of contribution.
j j
PAGE 40 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011Career development enabler
An open communication system in an organization is the basis for gathering individual and
collective voices. The focus is on understanding employees’ attitudes and opinions about
their jobs and the environment to identify diversity in job functions for the achievement of
various skills.
HRM insight
Interpretation of meanings is subject to the engagement of feedback loops to promote
reflective action taking. Negative feedback may be reconstructed to produce amplifying
effects for debate and inquiry.
4. Teamwork
Most employees view teamwork as a key determinant in shaping their quality of work life.
They seek to pursue collaborative inquiry through the enlargement of their worldviews, which
in turn helps them to become reflective practitioners. Quality is largely determined by the
opportunity to capitalize on one another’s strengths to produce bigger outputs that meet
organizational demands. Teamwork also promotes shared expectations, complementary
member competence and a task-interdependence system. Collaboration taps employees’
socialization, communication and negotiation skills, offering them an enriching work
experience.
Career development enabler
Teamwork promotes cross-boundary interaction that creates opportunities for collaborative
learning, problem solving and decision making. The focus is on job redesign that provides
the potential for division of labor and job rotation where experiential engagement in
less-familiar work contexts helps an employee to realize each facet of knowledge, skills and
abilities.
HRM insight
Collaborative inquiry increases employees’ capacity to engage in adaptive and generative
coping strategies to produce a concerted outcome. Coping increases an employee’s ability
to function competently in unstable conditions.
5. Job identity
Quality of work life is more fundamentally associated with the job itself that an employee
performs. This can range from job boundaries to skill variety to clarity of roles to expectation
of job extension. Employees want to be recognized for their professionalism, particularly the
expertise and skills that define their job identity. They therefore attribute the depth and
interdependent features of their job to the quality of impact their job can create on wider
functions, which ultimately benefit the organization. The clearer the job identity, the greater
the level of quality as associated with work life.
Career development enabler
Recognition of jobs and the value they create for the organization is essential for increasing
the commitment and involvement of employees. The focus is on creating value in job
contribution, the impact it brings to work processes and the significance it accords to
organizational growth.
HRM insight
Diffusion in job identity induces work disengagement. Employees see themselves as
operating outside the purview of the organization’s vision. Clarity of job definition gives
meaning to work and promotes connectedness.
j j
VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST PAGE 416. Performance
Being able to accomplish a task well, particularly with minimal supervision but with a
fundamental level of autonomy, translates into a type of experiential quality work can bring to
an employee. For instance, the ability to manage tangible outcomes such as increasing
productivity and keeping task-related errors at bay has contributed to employees’ sense of
control and ownership of their job. Employees’ understanding of their performance as
determined by clarity in goal setting and a realistic appreciation of their competence has led
to intangible responses as well. These include a greater level of commitment, less
absenteeism and lateness, and lower employee turnover.
Career development enabler
An appropriate measurement of performance at individual and group levels helps
employees to identify their effectiveness in achievable ways. The focus is on harnessing a
commitment to quality and productivity through job sharing, specialization and
standardization.
HRM insight
Performance measures influence employees differently. Target achievement may constitute
work that relies on repeating familiar tasks and may truncate innovative intentions. When
evaluation of output becomes less straightforward, recognition of intangible performance
characteristics may be the answer to achieving the wider dimension of organizational
performance.
7. Rewards and recognition
The most immediate connection to the quality of work life is extrinsic rewards such as basic
compensation, facilities, and fringe benefits such as health-care provisions and annual
leave. All of these can help to shape employees’ motivation and wellbeing at work. More
importantly, employees have increasingly realized the need to be recognized for their
achievements as a means of deriving intrinsic motivation. This type of motivation is much
more durable than extrinsic rewards as it increases the quality of work involvement including
task significance and goal orientation.
Career development enabler
The worthiness of a job is often determined by appropriate reward and recognition apart
from the more intrinsic aspect of the impact of the job on to the organization. The focus is on
generating a commitment to excellence through job innovation where functions, processes
and outcomes determine the boundaries of job specialization.
HRM insight
The sustainability of employee motivation requires a comprehensive and strategic total
rewards package. However, too extensive a benefit may be taken for granted and lose its
appeal and value.
8. Training and development
Employees view their growth path in their organizations as a way of defining the quality of
work life. This includes opportunities for learning, knowledge sharing and reflections through
job enlargement and enrichment. The ability to expand their learning capacity through
training and development as well as professional-development programs will contribute to
the overall repositioning of their competence, ultimately affecting the organization. In this
way, employees attribute the quality of work life to a time dimension where they see
themselves moving forward as more valuable employees.
j j
PAGE 42 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011Career development enabler
Learning and development are key aspects of valuing human resources through the
expansion of intellectual assets. The focus is on talent development that will have an
influence on succession planning, employee retention and performance.
HRM insight
Employees view learning and development as current opportunities for future job
enlargement. The present-versus-future perspective of training reduces employees’
current capacity for optimal contribution, exchanging short-term deficiencies for long-term
anticipated contributions.
The practical way forward
Finally, the study led to a classification of the quality of work life and career development into
two matrices. This was supported by data analysis that revealed a number of key themes
and concepts, as illustrated in Tables I and II.
Table I Quality of work life matrix
Low impact High impact
Internal factors Cognitive passivity Psychological safety
† Self versus others † Private versus public life
† Self-sufficiency † Openness
† Critical and suspicious of others † Trust
† Lack of meeting points between personal † Ability to handle feedback constructively
goals and those of the work team and/or † Self-confidence
organization at large
Reflective inquiry Reflective inquiry
Why do I need to put up with my co-workers and How do I engage myself more optimally at work
superiors who are not as competent as as I am given the space and time to demonstrate
expected? How could I possibly depend on my skills without the fear of making mistakes
others if they cannot depend on themselves to do knowing that I can garner the kind of support
a decent job? needed to get the job done?
Assumption Assumption
If I am not going to be duly recognized for my If people care about me to offer me useful
contribution at work and may end up being feedback about my job, they want me to improve
blamed for the mistakes incurred by others, I will my skills in whichever capacity I am in. If I remove
have a negative connection with my work and my fear of making mistakes, I can boldly turn my
hence may modify my personal goals and abstract conceptualizations into concrete
contribute below the company’s expectation of experimentations. This will add an innovative
my commitment. I would have to fight for myself dimension to my work connecting me to my job
all the time even more
External factors Environmental disturbance Stimulus-response catalyst
† Management conflict † Management support
† Fragmented team dynamics † Collaborative climate
† Lack of welfare support † Reward and recognition
† Too much ‘‘noise’’ from gossip and backbiting † A blame-free environment
Reflective inquiry Reflective inquiry
How could I possibly work with people who do What can I do more to prove myself and make my
not appreciate what I do and think less of me? colleagues and superiors happy with my work?
Why should the company not provide enough How can I go that extra mile to establish my
welfare benefits to boost our morale? competence and be duly recognized for my hard
work?
Assumption Assumption
If the value of my work is undermined by a lack of If I am regarded as a positive contributor in the
integrity and accountability on the part of my company, I know my work has been appreciated
colleagues and superiors, I will be demoralized and has made an impact in some way. If I know
and will withdraw from being too connected with my work will be rewarded both intrinsically and
my work. If the company does not take care of extrinsically, I will be more motivated to be
our welfare, why should I slog for them? engaged in my work and be connected to the
company’s vision and mission
j j
VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST PAGE 43Table II A career development matrix
Individual impact Organizational impact
Internal factors Endogenous carriers Strategic carriers
† Personal values † Organizational culture
† Career aspiration † Organizational structure
† Education background † Organization goals and objectives
† Competencies † Management philosophy
Quality of work life factor: cognitive participation Quality of work life factor: psychological safety
Career enablers Career enablers
† Task identity † Job enlargement
† Task significance † Job enrichment
† Continual education † Job rotation
External factors Exogenous carriers Competitive carriers
† Family † Information exchange through external
networks
† Friends † Technological development
† Community † Global economic competition
† Social network † External business environment
Quality of work life factor: environmental Quality of work life factor: stimulus-response
reinforcement catalyst
Career enablers Career enablers
† Committee participation † Job standardization
† Community service † Job specialization
† Collaborative work functions † Apprenticeship
† Job sharing † Telecommuting
† Flexible hours
The quality of work life is further divided into four dimensions, namely cognitive passivity,
psychological safety, environmental disturbance and stimulus-response catalyst. These are,
in turn, characterized by internal and external factors, and determined by the level of impact
between high and low.
On the other hand, the career development dimensions are determined by endogenous,
Keywords:
exogenous, strategic and competitive carriers. These are also influenced by internal and
Job satisfaction,
external factors and can potentially lead to either an individual or organizational level of
Career development,
impact.
Motivation (psychology),
Human resource In short, these matrices will be useful for managers to work out the quality of work life for their
management employees in practical and realistic ways.
References
Li, J. and Yeo, R.K. (2011), ‘‘Quality of work life and career development: perceptions of part-time MBA
students’’, Employee Relations (forthcoming).
Rice, R.W., McFarlin, D.B., Hunt, R.G. and Near, J.P. (1985), ‘‘Organizational work and the perceived
quality of life: toward a conceptual model’’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 296-310.
Sirgy, M.J., Efraty, D., Siegel, P. and Lee, D.J. (2001), ‘‘A new measure of quality of work life (QWL) based
on need satisfaction and spillover theories’’, Social Indicators Research, Vol. 55 No. 3, pp. 241-302.
Further reading
Gregory, A. and Milner, S. (2009), ‘‘Editorial: Of work life balance: a matter of choice?’’, Gender, Work
and Organization, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 1-13.
Grote, G. and Raeder, S. (2009), ‘‘Careers and identity in flexible working: do flexible identities fare
better?’’, Human Relations, Vol. 62 No. 2, pp. 219-44.
Harrington, B. and Ladge, J.J. (2009), ‘‘Of work life integration: present dynamics and future directions
for organizations’’, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 148-57.
j j
PAGE 44 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011About the authors
Roland K. Yeo holds a PhD from the Leeds Business School in UK and is currently an
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Kuwait Maastricht Business School.
He also teaches on the executive MBA program at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals in Saudi Arabia as an adjunct faculty. His research interests include the social
aspects of learning in organizational contexts, team processes in problem solving and
action learning as well as organizational learning and change. Roland K. Yeo can be
contacted at: yeokkr@yahoo.com
Jessica Li holds a PhD from the Pennsylvania State University and is currently an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Learning Technologies, College of Information, at the
University of North Texas. Before becoming an academic, she worked for ten years in
business corporations such as Motorola, Nokia and Raytheon. She has also taught at Texas
A&M University and North China University and Technologies. Her research interests include
work ethic, international human resource development and emerging technological
applications for learning in the workplace. She has published various articles in these
areas and has won the best research paper award at the Academy of Human Resource
Development.
To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com
Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
j j
VOL. 19 NO. 3 2011 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST PAGE 45You can also read
