A Study of factors influencing quality of work life of employees of art metal ware handicraft sector of India

Vaishali Dhingra,

Head, Department of Management Studies, TMU

Research Scholar,

Teerthanker Mahaveer University

Prof Ajay K Garg

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Vancouver, Canada

Abstract

“Whenever failure comes, if we analyse it critically, in 99% of cases, we shall find that it was because we did not pay attention to the means. Proper attention to the finishing, strengthening of means is what we need. With the means alright, the end must come.”[1]

-Swami Vivekananda

The above saying forms the basis of this study. It implies that if the means adopted for any purpose are correct, the end result is bound to be good. Thus, if the QWL measures adopted by any work organization are appropriate and are implemented in true spirit, employees’ perception towards that organization is likely to be positive. There are several factors which influence the quality of work life of employees. These factors may be related to work life or even personal life of the employees but nonetheless they have a bearing upon the organizational performance.

Key Words

Quality of work life, art metal ware, handicraft sector

Quality of Work Life: Walton (1975) proposed eight major conceptual categories relating to Quality of Work Life as (1) adequate and fair compensation, (2) safe and healthy working conditions, (3) immediate opportunity to use and develop human capacities, (4) opportunity for continued growth and security, (5) social integration in the work organization, (6) constitutionalism in the work organization, (7) work and total life space and (8) social relevance of work life.

In a sequel of papers in Vikalpa, Prof.Chakraborthy S.K. (1987) defined Quality of Work Life (QWL) as a process of work organizations which enables its members at all levels to participate in shaping the organisations’ environment, methods, and outcomes.

The paradigms used to improve the quality of work life have so far been based on the human relations theories related specializations such as Oraganisational and Human Resource Development. These in turn are based on their own models of man. To illustrate, the factors underlying QWL that have been identified are adequacy and equity in compensation, opportunity for growth and security of individual employees, and health and safety in working conditions. These factors are based on models of man, economics, social or complex, such as pleasure seeking and pain avoiding individual, or a man with a hierarchy of needs, or a person seeking power.

Sangeeta Jain (1991) in her comprehensively written book suggests that quality of work life is not a single or specific notion. Rather its umbrella encompasses several concepts like: industrial effectiveness, human resource development, organizational effectiveness, work restructure, job restructure working humanization, group work concept, labour-management cooperation, working together, workers’ involvement, and workers’ participation.

The present article is an exploratory study on the issues which affect the performance of employees working in this highly prospective sector of the economy.

J.M Juran (1992) stated that “without high quality physical working conditions, workers’ satisfaction may not be realized. This is true irrespective of the size or type of the business organisation- small, medium or big, service related or production related.”

An improvement in the quality of work life of handicraft workers shall lead to improved job satisfaction and hence better productivity. This is required for motivating skilled craftsmen and artisans to remain engaged in their profession of handicrafts and not quit it due to any adverse situation.  This paper endeavours to find out the different constructs and variables which influence the quality of work life of handicraft employees.

Variables included in the study were selected after a review of the literature. The questionnaire was pilot tested on a small group of employees. 1000 questionnaires were send to four art metal ware craft clusters across India (Moradabad, Bidar, Jaipur and Balakati) out of which 410 were received back and 361 were found to be complete in all respects on which further analysis is done. A five point Likert scale was used to record the answers in which 1 indicated strongly disagree, 2 disagree, 3 indicated neither agree nor disagree, 4 indicated agree and 5 indicated strongly agree. This study is exploratory in nature.

Objectives of the study

The study attempts to identify the following objectives:

1) To assess the different factors influencing quality of work life of manpower working in the handicraft industries.

2) To identify and analyse the most important factors affecting the quality of work life.

Factors Affecting Quality of Work Life of Manpower Working with Handicraft Sector

1. Adequate and Fair Compensation

In the study the descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and distribution statistics) are calculated from the responses for each variable of the construct. These descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Descriptive statistics

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Salary in comparison with cost of living	2.687	1.067	0.264	-0.546
Salary in comparison with other organisations	2.576	0.916	0.220	-0.329
Salary in comparison with employee’s ability	2.521	0.904	0.142	-0.381
Overtime wages	3.133	1.011	-0.074	-0.518
Incentives	2.504	0.925	0.041	-0.747
Contribution to provident fund	2.227	0.939	0.464	-0.177
Gratuity and group insurance	2.404	1.029	0.436	-0.277
Advance payment in times of emergency	2.291	0.952	0.437	-0.197
Prompt payment of salary	3.706	0.993	-0.377	-0.455
Willingness to continue in job regardless of pay	2.440	0.973	0.259	-0.551

The results indicate that the mean of the variables prompt payment of salary and overtime wages are high which indicate that most of the respondents in the study agree that they receive prompt payment of their wages. It is observed in the research study  that most of the workers working in the handicraft industry receive their salary just after the completion of the month. The results also indicate that most of the employees are also satisfied with the overtime wages they get in their job. In handicraft industry due to overload of work during certain months they have to work for long hours for which they are duely paid extra wages. It is also found that the management of these organisations avoid to give any advance payments. In case of emergencies this may be due to the financial discipline of the units. In some of the organisations the number of workers are very less hence they do not get provident fund. The distribution of the responses seems to be normally distributed since the level of skewness and kurtosis is very low. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 2.

Table 2

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Maximum Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Adequate and fair compensation	Salary in comparison with cost of living	0.945	0.946	0.636	0.008	0.003
	Salary in comparison with other organizations
	Salary in comparison with employee’s ability
	Overtime wages
	Incentives
	Contribution to provident fund
	Gratuity and group insurance
	Advance payment in times of emergency
	Prompt payment of salary
	Willingness to continue in job regardless of pay

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Adequate and Fair Compensation is found to be 0.945 which ensures the presence of internal consistency reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.946 and 0.636. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Because the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct also exists.

The construct (Adequate and Fair Compensation) along with its ten variables is shown in the figure 2. The results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 3.

Figure 1

The Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Adequate and Fair Compensation. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “Salary in Comparison with other Organisations” is the highest. This represents that the most influencing variable of the construct is the worker’s comparison of his compensation with the compensation provided by other organisations. It is observed in the study that if the worker has the perception that he got reasonable compensation provided by other organisations. It is observed in the study that if the worker has the perception that he got reasonable compensation as compared to compensation provided in other organisations, this adds positive feeling in the person and contributes to the quality of work life.

Table 3: Regression coefficients

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Adequate and fair compensation	Salary in comparison with cost of living	0.746	1.0	-	.000	55.7%
	Salary in comparison with other organizations	0.857	0.987	17.07	.000	73.5%
	Salary in comparison with employee’s ability	0.821	0.933	16.26	.000	67.6%
	Overtime wages	0.786	0.999	15.47	.000	61.9%
	Incentives	0.819	0.952	16.20	.000	67.1%
	Contribution to provident fund	0.821	0.968	16.22	.000	67.3%
	Gratuity and group insurance	0.749	0.968	14.65	.000	56.1%
	Advance payment in times of emergency	0.813	0.973	16.06	.000	66.1%
	Prompt payment of salary	0.753	0.940	14.75	.000	56.8%
	Willingness to continue in job regardless of pay	0.803	0.982	15.84	.000	64.5%

The fitness of the construct is analyzed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the table 5. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.940), GFI (0.896), AGFI (0.837), and NFI (0.928) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 4: Model fitness indices

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.940	0.896	0.837	0.928	0.115	0.100	0.131

Safe and Healthy Working Conditions

The second construct Safe and Healthy Working Conditions ensures that the safety of the employees is reasonably taken care of. This can in turn reduce the costs related to employee injury like including medical care, sick leave and disability benefit costs.This component of Quality of Work Life consist of fifteen measurable variables.

The descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and distribution statistics) are calculated from the responses for each variable of the construct i.e Safe and Healthy Working Conditions. These descriptive statistics are shown in Table 5.

Table 5

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Rest period	2.399	0.9228	0.406	-0.034
Canteen facility	2.468	0.9188	0.235	-0.219
Drinking water facility	2.994	0.9718	0.175	-0.387
First aid/ medical facilities	2.756	0.9980	0.201	-0.336
Facilities for sports and games	2.191	0.9034	0.364	-0.427
Library and reading room	2.155	0.9118	0.550	-0.018
Lunch room	2.465	0.9513	0.217	-0.393
Sanitary facilities	2.859	1.0591	0.186	-0.468
Ventilation and air circulation facilities	2.776	1.0525	0.171	-0.540
Facilities for disposal of waste and dust	2.551	0.9651	0.441	-0.124
Measures for controlling pollution	2.565	1.0391	0.408	-0.234
Condition of machines and equipments	3.889	0.9303	-0.423	-0.721
Safety plan	2.618	0.9178	0.072	-0.426
Health care measures	2.587	1.0267	0.290	-0.402
Health after day’s work	2.512	0.9835	0.273	-0.445

The results indicate that the mean of the variable condition of machines and equipmentsis high (3.889) which indicate that most of the respondents in the research study agree that the condition of the machines and equipments in the handicraft units is fine. Similarly the mean score of sanitary facilities and drinking water facility is also comparitively high indicating the satisfaction of employees with regard to these two areas also. It is observed in the research study  that the basic requirements like sanitary facilities and drinking water facility are in place in the handicraft units and as such the workers have a positive perception with regard to these two areas besides the condition of machines and equipments. The mean score of facilities for sports and games and facilities for library and reading room is the least indicating the dissatisfaction among the employees. These facilities help in the mental development of the employees are therefore important.

The distribution of the responses seems to be normally distributed since the level of skewness and kurtosis is very low. In majority cases the distribution is approximately symmetric as the values of skewness and kurtosis are between -0.5 and 0.5. The Construct Validity (convergent and discriminant validity) is measured by Composite Reliability, Average Variance Extracted, and Maximum Shared Variance. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 6.

Table 6

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Safe and healthy working conditions	Rest period	0.957	0.958	0.603	0.046	0.013
	Canteen facility
	Drinking water facility
	First aid/ medical facilities
	Facilities for sports and games
	Library and reading room
	Lunch room
	Sanitary facilities
	Ventilation and air circulation facilities
	Facilities for disposal of waste and dust
	Measures for controlling pollution
	Condition of machines and equipments
	Safety plan
	Health care measures
	Health after day’s work

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Safe and healthy working conditionsis found to be 0.957 which ensures the presence of internal consistency and reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.958 and 0.603. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Because the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct also exists.

The construct (Safe and healthy working conditions) is shown in the figure 2. The results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 7.

Figure 2

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Safe and Healthy Working Condtions. The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “Facilities for disposal of waste and dust” is the highest. This represents that the most influencing variable of the construct is the facilities and measures taken by the organisation for the disposal of waste and dust. Since these measures bring upon a significant and direct influence on workers’ health, they are of prime importance. The dust produced in handicraft units especially brass units can bring an adverse impact on workers’ respiratory system and thus can inturn influence his/her quality of work life.

Table 7

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Safe and healthy working conditions	Rest period	0.751	0.861	16.821	000	56.3%
	Canteen facility	0.724	0.826	15.97	000	52.4%
	Drinking water facility	0.724	0.874	15.97	000	52.4%
	First aid/ medical facilities	0.701	0.870	15.28	000	49.2%
	Facilities for sports and games	0.765	0.859	17.31	000	58.6%
	Library and reading room	0.816	0.925	19.10	000	66.7%
	Lunch room	0.804	0.951	18.65	000	64.7%
	Sanitary facilities	0.792	1.042	18.22	000	62.7%
	Ventilation and air circulation facilities	0.762	0.950	16.04	000	52.7%
	Facilities for disposal of waste and dust	0.834	1.000	-	000	69.5%
	Measures for controlling pollution	0.820	1.059	19.24	000	67.2%
	Condition of machines and equipments	0.773	0.894	17.58	000	59.8%
	Safety plan	0.808	0.921	18.79	000	65.3%
	Health care measures	0.804	1.035	18.64	000	64.6%
	Health after day’s work	0.789	0.964	18.12	000	62.3%

The fitness of the construct is analysed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 8. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.956), GFI (0.921), AGFI (0.894), and NFI (0.935) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 8: Model Fitness

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.956	0.921	0.894	0.935	0.075	0.065	0.085

Immediate Opportunity to Use and Develop Human Capacities

The third construct of the scale measuring the Quality of Work Life is defined as “Immediate Opportunity to Use and Development of Human Capacities”. The work in handicraft industry is more or less repetitive in nature. The employee get little or no opportunity to exercise their creative skills. Quality of working life can be improved significantly if the job allows some amount of autonomy. Autonomy here means The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom independence and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.

The descriptive statistics are shown in Table 9.

Table 9

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Organizational structure	2.684	0.9006	0.344	-0.040
Appreciation of employee’s idea to bring new changes	2.493	0.8886	0.296	-0.064
Appreciation of employee’s idea to bring new changes	2.330	0.9715	0.451	-0.152
Clarity and transparency in communication	2.238	0.9825	0.532	-0.175
Freedom in work	2.271	1.0075	0.517	-0.264
Provision for information about work, work process and its result	2.241	0.9575	0.437	-0.382
Provision for self improvement of employees	2.186	0.9436	0.499	-0.251
Attitude of supervisor	2.260	1.1242	0.399	-0.574
Equitable treatment	2.748	1.0111	0.230	-0.434
Appreciation of good work	2.377	1.0311	0.372	-0.595

The results indicate that the mean of the variable Equitable Treatment is high which indicates that most of the respondents in the study agree that the employees are given equitable treatement. It is observed in the study that the employees are not treated biasedly in their organisations. They get equitable treatement irrespective of their religion, age, gender etc. The mean score is the least in case of provision for self improvement of employees which indicate that the handicraft sector units are not as such concerned and take care of the self improvement of the employees. The distribution of the responses seems to be normally distributed since the level of skewness and kurtosis is very low. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 10.

Table 10

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Development of Human Capacities	Organizational structure	0.952	0.953	0.669	0.046	0.016
	Appreciation of employee’s idea to bring new changes
	Appreciation of employee’s idea to bring new changes
	Clarity and transparency in communication
	Freedom in work
	Provision for information about work, work process and its result
	Provision for self improvement of employees
	Attitude of supervisor
	Equitable treatment
	Appreciation of good work

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Safe and healthy working conditionsis found to be 0.952 which ensures the presence of internal consistency and reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.953 and 0.669. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Because the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct also exists.

The construct (Development of human capacities) is shown in the figure 3. The results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 11.

Figure 3

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Development of Human Capacities. The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “freedom in organisation” is the highest (0.87). This represents that the most influencing variable of the construct is the employees’ freedom in the organisation.

Table 11

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Development of Human Capacities	Organizational structure	0.771	0.816	17.19	000	59.4%
	Appreciation of employee’s idea to bring new changes	0.758	0.791	16.77	000	57.4%
	Appreciation of employee’s idea to bring new changes	0.786	0.898	17.70	000	61.8%
	Clarity and transparency in communication	0.838	0.968	19.52	000	70.3%
	Freedom in work	0.869	1.029	20.67	000	75.5%
	Provision for information about work, work process and its result	0.815	0.918	18.69	000	66.5%
	Provision for self improvement of employees	0.839	0.931	19.53	000	70.4%
	Attitude of supervisor	0.844	1.116	19.73	000	71.3%
	Equitable treatment	0.829	0.986	19.18	000	68.7%
	Appreciation of good work	0.825	1.00	-	000	68.1%

The fitness of the construct is analyzed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 12. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.991), GFI (0.968), AGFI (0.949), and NFI (0.980) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 12: Model Fit Indices

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.991	0.968	0.949	0.980	0.045	0.025	0.063

Opportunity for Career Growth

The fourth construct of the scale measuring the Quality of Work Life is Opportunity for Career Growth.

The descriptive statistics are shown in Table 13.

Table 13

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Assignment of work on the basis of abilities	2.374	0.9287	0.320	-0.367
Work of organizational planning, research & development	2.025	0.8987	0.167	0.181
Assignment of work within the limits of workers’ ability	2.224	0.8832	0.348	-0.444
Facilities for individual creative work	2.219	0.8846	0..598	0.312
Facilities for using new knowledge for further work	2.319	0.9255	0.425	-0.069
Opportunities for improvement of job	3.327	0.9992	0.484	-0.211
Training	3.202	1.0412	-0.205	-0.334
Job rotation	2.152	0.9408	0.799	0.629
Promotion opportunities	2.216	0.9904	0.608	-0.56
Performance appraisal based on objective assessment	2.224	0.9644	0.491	-0.277
Appreciation of  idea to make new changes	2.440	0.9986	0.426	-0.144
Willingness to continue in the organization till retirement	2.044	0.8995	0.626	0.010

The results indicate that the mean of the variables Opportunities for improvement of job and training are high which indicate that most of the respondents in the study agree that they receive ample opportunities for the improvement and upgradation of their job related skills as well as they receive training for the improvement and upgradation of their skills. The results also indicate that most of the employees are also satisfied with the training they get in their job. In handicraft industry due to intense competition from countries like China, Germany etc. the employees need to upgrade their skills so that they may remain contemporary.

It is also found that the management of these organisations avoid to involve the employees in the job of organizational planning, research &development. This might create demotivation for the employees as they feel left out when it comes to planning issues. A number of employees are highly innovative and creative which is indeed important for handicraft sector. But, when they are not involved in such issues their motivation level is affected. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 14.

Table 14

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Opportunity for career growth	Assignment of work on the basis of abilities	0.948	0.948	0.604	0.034	0.016
	Work of organizational planning, research & development
	Assignment of work within the limits of workers’ ability
	Facilities for individual creative work
	Facilities for using new knowledge for further work
	Opportunities for improvement of job
	Training
	Job rotation
	Promotion opportunities
	Performance appraisal based on objective assessment
	Appreciation of  idea to make new changes
	Willingness to continue in the organization till retirement

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Opportunity for Career Growthis found to be 0.948 which ensures the presence of internal consistency and reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.948 and 0.604. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Because the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct also exists.

The construct Opportunity for Career Growth is shown in the figure 4. The results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 15.

Figure 4

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Opportunity for career growth. The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “Promotion Opportunities” is the highest. This represents that the most influencing variable of the construct is the promotion opportunities provided by the organisation to its employees. The employees are of the perception that ample promotion opportunities are available to them in the handicraft unit they are working with. This adds to the motivation of the employees working with the handicraft sector.

Table 15

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Opportunity for career growth	Assignment of work on the basis of abilities	0.769	0.968	15.56	000	59.2%
	Work of organizational planning, research & development	0.810	0.986	16.58	000	65.6%
	Assignment of work within the limits of workers’ ability	0.778	0.931	15.79	000	60.5%
	Facilities for individual creative work	0.786	0.941	15.97	000	61.7%
	Facilities for using new knowledge for further work	0.766	0.961	15.50	000	58.7%
	Opportunities for improvement of job	0.807	1.093	16.52	000	65.2%
	Training	0.710	1.002	14.18	000	50.5%
	Job rotation	0.744	0.948	14.96	000	55.3%
	Promotion opportunities	0.836	1.121	17.23	000	69.8%
	Performance appraisal based on objective assessment	0.765	1.000	-	000	58.6%
	Appreciation of  idea to make new changes	0.765	1.035	15.48	000	58.6%
	Willingness to continue in the organization till retirement	0.783	0.954	15.91	000	61.3%

The fitness of the construct is analysed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 16. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.965), GFI (0.928), AGFI (0.896), and NFI (0.949) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 16

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.965	0.928	0.896	0.949	0.074	0.061	0.087

Social Integration in the Work Organisation

The fifth construct of the scale measuring the Quality of Work Life is defined as “Social Integration in the Work Organisation”. According to Walton, five important elemnets whichmust be present in any work organisation are: freedom from prejudice, egalitarianism, upward mobility, supportive work groups,and community feelings and interpersonal openness. These elements help in involving the employees socially in the organisation. This integration is essential to help improving the quality of work life.This construct of Quality of Work Life consist of fifteen measurable variables. The descriptive statistics are shown in Table 17.

Table 17

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Employees’ feeling of sense of oneness and unison	3.302	0.9311	-0.324	-0.107
Identification of an employee purely on the basis of skills, without any regard of race, sex age etc.	3.490	0.9975	-0.277	-0.445
Employees’ interaction in terms of  ideas and feelings	3.127	1.0383	-0.108	-0.532
Easiness in working as a group	3.476	0.9973	-0.340	-0.330
Preference to work collectively than individually	3.366	0.9968	-0.243	-0.352
Concern of management towards the grievances of the employees	2.454	0.9965	-0.296	-0.450
Consideration of employees’ views in resolving problems	2.086	0.8856	0.410	-0.502
Encouragement of organization in reciprocal help	2.238	0.8999	0.248	-0.622
Employees’ acceptance of rapid changes in technology	3.249	1.0049	-0.219	-0.388
Employees’ cooperation for expansion and diversification	3.476	0.9604	-0.358	-0.184
Participation in decision making process	2.144	0.9811	0.560	-0.362
Consultation by the supervisor before taking decisions	2.391	0.9774	0.372	-0.347
Co- workers relationship	3.391	0.9887	-0.240	-0.395
Subordinate- superior- relationship	2.726	1.0513	0.206	-0.552
Management- workers relationship	2.521	1.0516	0.363	-0.450

The results indicate that the mean of the variable Identification of an employee purely on the basis of skills, without any regard of race, sex age etc.is the highest which indicate that there is no discrimination on the basis of gender, race  age etc. in the handicraft units which were a part of the research study. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 18.

Table 18

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Social integration in the work organization	Employees’ feeling of sense of oneness and unison	0.959	0.960	0.613	0.015	0.005
	Identification of an employee purely on the basis of skills, without any regard of race, sex age etc.
	Employees’ interaction in terms of  ideas and feelings
	Easiness in working as a group
	Preference to work collectively than individually
	Concern of management towards the grievances of the employees
	Consideration of employees’ views in resolving problems
	Encouragement of organization in reciprocal help
	Employees’ acceptance of rapid changes in technology
	Employees’ cooperation for expansion and diversification
	Participation in decision making process
	Consultation by the supervisor before taking decisions
	Co- workers relationship
	Subordinate- superior- relationship
	Management- workers relationship

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Social Integration in the Work Organisationis found to be 0.959 which ensures the presence of internal consistency and reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.960 and 0.613. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Because the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct also exists.

The construct (Social Integration in the Work Organisation) along with its fifteen variables is shown in the figure 5 the results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 19.

Figure 5

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Social Integration in the Work Organisation. The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “relation between co workers in the organisation is good and amicable” is the highest. This represents that the most influencing variable of the construct is the friendly and healthy relationship exists between  the employees working in the handicraft units. This adds to their quality of work life. Besides amicable relationship amongst co workers.

Table 19

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Social integration in the work organization	Employees’ feeling of sense of oneness and unison	0.798	0.948	17.91	000	63.7%
	Identification of an employee purely on the basis of skills, without any regard of race, sex age etc.	0.775	0.986	17.15	000	60.0%
	Employees’ interaction in terms of  ideas and feelings	0.783	1.038	17.43	000	61.4%
	Easiness in working as a group	0.757	0.963	16.599	000	57.3%
	Preference to work collectively than individually	0.813	1.034	18.401	000	66.1%
	Concern of management towards the grievances of the employees	0.724	0.921	15.64	000	52.5%
	Consideration of employees’ views in resolving problems	0.779	0.880	17.29	000	60.7%
	Encouragement of organization in reciprocal help	0.791	0.908	17.68	000	62.6%
	Employees’ acceptance of rapid changes in technology	0.763	0.978	16.79	000	58.2%
	Employees’ cooperation for expansion and diversification	0.816	1.000	-	000	66.6%
	Participation in decision making process	0.763	0.955	16.79	000	58.2%
	Consultation by the supervisor before taking decisions	0.803	1.001	18.07	000	61.3%
	Co- workers relationship	0.831	1.049	19.02	000	69.1%
	Subordinate- superior- relationship	0.776	1.041	17.20	000	60.2%
	Management- workers relationship	0.769	1.031	16.96	000	59.1%

The fitness of the construct is analysed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 20. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.940), GFI (0.883), AGFI (0.844), and NFI (0.920) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 20

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.940	0.883	0.844	0.920	0.089	0.079	0.099

Constitutionalism in the Work Organisations

The sixth construct of the scale measuring the Quality of Work Life is defined as Constitutionalism in the Work Organisation. The descriptive statistics are shown in Table 21.

Table 21

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Taking care of the welfare of workers of all ages	2.526	0.9399	0.246	-0.305
Equal treatment to all the employees	2.501	0.9920	0.322	-0.406
Different approaches to work according to the nature of job and ability of the employee	2.404	0.9113	0.330	-0.198
Maintenance of privacy regarding personal matters	3.482	0.9459	-0.285	-0.162
Functioning of a conflict resolution mechanism	2.355	0.9077	0.315	-0.259

The results indicate that the mean of the variable Maintenance of privacy regarding personal matters is high which indicate that the employees perceive that their privacy regarding their personal matters in the organisation is respected. The employees may not feel like or may not be comfortable in sharing their persoanl issues at the work place. The employers in the handicraft units under study maintain this privacy of the employees which helps in developing a positive feeling in the employees. On the contrary the mean score of is the lowest (2.355) which indicates the low level of satisfaction of the employees with regard to functioning of a conflict resolution mechanism. This indicates that the conflict resolution mechanism is not in place in the handicraft sector units and employees are not quite satisfied with it. The distribution of the responses seems to be normally distributed since the level of skewness and kurtosis is very low. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 22.

Table 22

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Constitutionalism in the work organization	Taking care of the welfare of workers of all ages	0.910	0.910	0.670	0.009	0.003
	Equal treatment to all the employees
	Different approaches to work according to the nature of job and ability of the employee
	Maintenance of privacy regarding personal matters
	Functioning of a conflict resolution mechanism
	Equal treatment to all the employees
	Different approaches to work according to the nature of job and ability of the employee
	Maintenance of privacy regarding personal matters
	Functioning of a conflict resolution mechanism

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Constitutionalism in the work organizationis found to be 0.910 which ensures the presence of internal consistency reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.910 and 0.670. this ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist.

The construct (Adequate and Fair Compensation) along with its ten variables is shown in the figure 6. The results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 23.

Figure 6

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Constitutionalism.The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of two variables “Different approaches to work according to the nature of the job” and “Maintenance of privacy regarding personal matters” is the highest. It is observed in the study that if the worker has the perception that the organisation follows different approaches or tailor makes its approaches to suit the requirement of the work, that brings the employees in the comfort zone of working in that particular organisation and in turn contribute to the quality of work life. Moreover, the persoanl space of the employees is respected i.e. due privacy is maintained in personal matters. This enhances quality of work life.

Table 23

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Constitutionalism in the work organization	Taking care of the welfare of workers of all ages	0.771	1.000		000	59.6%
	Equal treatment to all the employees	0.799	1.093	15.931	000	64.0%
	Different approaches to work according to the nature of job and ability of the employee	0.854	1.073	17.225	000	72.7%
	Maintenance of privacy regarding personal matters	0.849	1.108	17.126	000	72.2%
	Functioning of a conflict resolution mechanism	0.815	1.021	16.325	000	66.5%

The fitness of the construct is analysed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 24. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.991), GFI (0.983), AGFI (0.949), and NFI (0.987) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 24

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.991	0.983	0.949	0.987	0.075	0.034	0.120

Work and Total Life Space

The seventh construct of the scale measuring the Quality of Work Life is defined as Work and Total Life Space. Thee descriptive statistics are shown in Table 25.

Table 25

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Satisfaction of employees’ needs by the job	2.463	0.9969	0.357	-0.312
Awareness about health in spite of the nature of the job	2.681	1.0088	0.247	-0.331
Social and individual requirements	2.604	1.0060	0.199	-0.467
Effect of energy and time spent on the job on workers’ life	2.249	0.9938	0.593	-0.106

The results indicate that the mean of the variable awareness about health inspite of the nature of job is the highest which indicates that most of the respondents in the study agree that they are in general aware about the implications of job on their health. The distribution of the responses seems to be normally distributed since the level of skewness and kurtosis is very low. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 26.

Table 26

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Work and total life space	Satisfaction of employees’ needs by the job	0.862	0.862	0.609	0.034	0.010
	Awareness about health in spite of the nature of the job
	Social and individual requirements
	Effect of energy and time spent on the job on workers’ life

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Work and total life space  is found to be 0.862 which ensures the presence of internal consistency reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.862 and 0.609. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Because the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct also exists.

The construct Work and Total Life Space is shown in the figure 7. The results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 27.

Figure 8

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Work and total life space. The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “Effect of energy and time spent on the job on worker’s life” is the highest. This indicates that the time and energy spent by the employees in their work organisations has a positive bearing on their life. It is observed in the study that if the employee has a perception that the time and energy he is spending in his organisation is worth it, it adds to the positive feeling in the person and contributes to the betterment of quality of work life.

Table 28

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Work and total life space	Satisfaction of employees’ needs by the job	0.786	1.000			62.4%
	Awareness about health in spite of the nature of the job	0.779	1.003	14.674	000	60.4%
	Social and individual requirements	0.759	0.974	14.283	000	57.4%
	Effect of energy and time spent on the job on workers’ life	0.798	1.013	15.015	000	63.5%

The fitness of the construct is analysed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 29. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.996), GFI (0.996), AGFI (0.978), and NFI (0.995) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 29

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.998	0.996	0/978	0.995	0.042	0.000	0.121

Social Relevance of the Working Life

The frequency distribution of the responses is shown in Table 30. below.

Table 30

Variables	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Agree	Strongly agree
Social responsibility of the organization	2 (0.6%)	29 (8.0%)	137 (38.0%)	144 (39.9%)	49 (13.6%)
Nature of job and social prestige	50 (13.9%)	138 (38.2%)	132 (36.6%)	36 (10.0%)	5 (1.4%)
Effect of job to improve social security	73 (20.2%)	155 (42.9%)	102 (28.3)	28 (7.8%)	3 (8.0%)
Nature of organizational goals	19 (5.3%)	93 (25.8%)	147 (40.7%)	78 (21.6%)	24 (6.6%)
Matching of work life and social life	61 (16.9%)	152 (42.1%)	115 (31.9%)	31 (8.6%)	2 (0.6%)
Organization’s awareness of method of industrial pollution	38 (10.5%)	110 (30.5%)	142 (39.3%)	54 (15.0%)	17 (4.7%)
Price of goods and services from social point of view	54 (15.0%)	138 (38.2%)	124 (34.3%)	4 (11.1%)	5 (1.4%)
Importance to quality of products and services	0 (0.0%)	29 (8.0%)	125 (34.6%)	147 (40.7%)	60 (16.6%)
Contribution towards improving culture of the society	72 (19.9%)	147 (40.7%)	116 (32.1%)	24 (6.6%)	2 (0.6%)

In the study the descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and distribution statistics) are calculated from the responses for each variable of the construct. These descriptive statistics are shown in Table 31.

Table 31

Variables	Mean	S.D	Skewness	Kurtosis
Social responsibility of the organization	3.579	0.8433	-0.110	-0.297
Nature of job and social prestige	2.468	0.9004	0.222	-0.219
Effect of job to improve social security	2.260	0.8968	0.393	-0.226
Nature of organizational goals	2.986	0.9760	0.118	-0.346
Matching of work life and social life	2.338	0.8768	0.225	-0.366
Organization’s awareness of method of industrial pollution	2.729	0.9964	0.210	-0.261
Price of goods and services from social point of view	2.457	0.9243	0.243	-0.332
Importance to quality of products and services	3.659	0.8484	-0.082	-0.630
Contribution towards improving culture of the society	2.271	0.8746	0.244	-0.386

The results indicate that the mean of the variable Importance to quality of products and services is the highest. This implies that  most of the respondents in the study agree that the handicraft units lay emphasis on the quality of products and services. Infact this variable remains quite important for the handicraft sector because the rate of rejection is also very high in case the product do not meet the specifications of the buyers.  The distribution of the responses is normally distributed since the level of skewness and kurtosis is very low. The results of reliability and validity analysis are shown in Table 32.

Table 32

Construct Name	Variables	Cronbach Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance extracted	Measured Shared Variance	Average shared Variance
Social relevance of the working life	Social responsibility of the organization	0.931	0.932	0.604	0.030	0.011
	Nature of job and social prestige
	Effect of job to improve social security
	Nature of organizational goals
	Matching of work life and social life
	Organization’s awareness of method of industrial pollution
	Price of goods and services from social point of view
	Importance to quality of products and services
	Contribution towards improving culture of the society

The results indicate that the Cronbach Alpha of the variables in the construct Social relevance of the working life is found to be 0.931 which ensures the presence of internal consistency reliability in the constructs. The Composite Reliability and Average Variance Extracted of the variables in the construct is found to be 0.932 and 0.604. This ensures that Convergent Validity of the construct exist. Since the Average Variance Extracted statistic is more than Maximum Shared Variance and Average Variance Extracted, Discriminant Validity of the construct  also exists. The construct Social relevance of the working life is shown in the figure 8  the results of the Construct Analysis are shown in Table 33.

Figure 8

It is found that the Standardised Regression Weights of all the variables is more than 0.7 which indicates that each item of the construct is significantly representing the part of Social relevance of the working life. The Standardised Regression Weights represent the corelation between the measured variable and the construct. In the results it is found that the Standardised Beta of the variable “Matching of work life and social life” is the highest. This indicates that the most influencing variable of the construct Social relevance of the working life is matching of work life and social life which means that the handicraft units are aware of their social responsibility and they take care to match social and work obligations.

Table 33

Construct	Variables	Standardised Regression Weight	Unstandardised Regression Weight	CR	P Value	Multiple Correlation
Social Relevance of Working Life	Social responsibility of the organization	0.776	1.000			60.2
	Nature of job and social prestige	0.641	0.882	12.617	000	41.1
	Effect of job to improve social security	0.788	1.080	16.131	000	62.0
	Nature of organizational goals	0.784	1.170	16.036	000	61.5
	Matching of work life and social life	0.816	1.093	16.841	000	66.6
	Organization’s awareness of method of industrial pollution	0.785	1.195	16.041	000	61.9
	Price of goods and services from social point of view	0.778	1.099	15.882	000	60.9
	Importance to quality of products and services	0.814	1.056	16.803	000	66.0
	Contribution towards improving culture of the society	0.797	1.065	16.354	000	63.4

The fitness of the construct is analysed with the help of Goodness of Fit indices as well as Badness of Fit Indices as shown in the Table 34. The Goodness of Fit Indices CFI (0.983), GFI (0.962), AGFI (0.937), and NFI (0.971) represent that the construct is statistically fit. Similarly the low values of Badness of Fit Indices represent the statistical fitness of the model.

Table 34

Goodness of Fit Indices				Badness of Fit Indices
CFI	GFI	AGFI	NFI	RMSEA	LO 90	HI 90
0.983	0.962	0.937	0.971	0.060	0.040	0.080

The statistical analysis of the constructs and their variables prove that there exists validity and reliability and the variables are statistically fit for the study on quality of work life of the employees working in the handicraft sector in India.

References:

1. Agarwal. S. (2009). Growth of Handicrafts. CRAFTCIL, Monthly in- house journal of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, Volume 4, Issue 2, P. 6.

2. Cascio, W.F., Manages Human Resource Productivity Quality of Work Life Profits. 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston 1998.

3. Chakraborthy, S.K. (1987). Will to do Yoga and Quality of Work Life Revisited. Vikalpa, Vol. 12. No. 3.

4. EPCH, “Background note on definition of handicrafts’. Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, Circular. Available at:                <http://www.epch.in/circulars/circulars/definition.pdf>, Last viewed on August 18, 2011.
5. Garg A.K. (2004), Management of Indian Organisations: A Study into its Quality Dimensions with reference to Handcrafted Artware and Giftware Industry, Ph.D. Thesis, Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, p. 33
6. Garg A.K. (2012). Managing Quality in Indian Handicraft Industry. New Delhi, Readworthy Publications.
7. Garg, A. K., Dhingra, V. (November 2014). Newyork Science Journal. Employees’ perception about quality of work life: insight of handicraft sector.  Retrieved from http://www.sciencepub.net/newyork
8. George, N. D.(2011). Socio- Economic Condition of Handloom Workers in India, Yojana- A Development Monthly, Volume 55, 12-16.
9. Ghosh A., Moradabad Exporters Smile Cautiously, The Times of India, New Delhi, Thursday, August 29, 2013

10. Goswami, B.N. (August 7, 2011). Art and craft metalware from South. The Tribune, Spectrum. Accessed on January 4, 2012

11. Harris, L.C. (2002). The emotional labor of barristers: An exploration of emotional labor by status professionals. Journal of Management Studies, 39(4), 553–584.

12. http://dcmsme.gov.in/dips/DIP-%20Bidar.pdf, Retrieved, January 3, 2013

13. http://handicrafts.nic.in/state/rajasthan.htm, Retrieved, March 11, 2012

14.  http://karnatakaindustry.gov.in/documents/Annual_Report.pdf, Retrieved, March 20, 2012

15. http://tradeportalofindia.com/contentmgmt/Desktops2.html?compid=itpo&itemcode=I334, July 14, 2013

16. http://www.ediindia.org/DSR/SNK-Cluster-Balakati.pdf, Retrieved, February 20, 2012

17. http://www.epch.in/moreDetails.htm, Retrieved, May 10, 2014

18. http://www.epch.in/policies/exportdata.pdf Retrieved August 22, 2014

19. http://www.india-exports.com/handicraft.html, Retrieved, July 13, 2013

20. Jabbar, A. (2011, February). A peek into the past with Mr. Abdul Jabbar- an industry veteran. CRAFTCIL Monthly in-house journal of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, Volume 5, Issue 9, P.34.

21. Jagadeesh Chandran G, Quality of work life in the industrial estates of Kerala, Ph.D. Thesis submitted in Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam
22. Jain, S. (1991). Quality of Work Life. Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi.
23. Juran, J.M. (1992). Juran on Quality by Design. New Delhi, the Free Press Publications.
24. Juran, J.M., Juran on Quality by Design, the Free Press Publications, New Delhi

25. Robbins, S. P. (1998), Organizational Behavior. (8th ed.). New Jersey: Simon & Schuster.

26. S. Buddhapriya, Work-Family Challenges and Their Impact on Career Decisions: A Study of Indian Women Professionals, Vikalpa, Volume 34, No. 1 January - March 2009.

27. Stronge, S. (1985).  Bidri Ware: Inlaid Metalwork from India. London: Victoria and Albert Museum.

28. Walton, R.E. Criteria for quality of work life, in Davis, L. E. et al. Quality of working life, projects and the state of the art. New York: Macmillian, 1975

---

[1] Complete works of Swami Vivekananda- Volume 2. Work and its secret (Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 4, 1900). Retrieved from http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_2/work_and_its_secret.htm