Investigating the effect of dimensions of quality of work life on the satisfaction of employees of the executive bodies of Gilan province

Dissertation for Master's Degree (M.A)

Field: Public Administration

Abstract

Quality of work life as a goal that improves organizational performance by creating more challenging and effective jobs and work environment for people in all organizations. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of dimensions of quality of work life on the job satisfaction of employees in Gilan province. The variables of the quality of work life are: fair payment, rule of law, opportunity for continuous growth, social dependence, ensuring security, development of individual capabilities, environmental safety, social integration. This is a descriptive field research. The statistical population of this research includes the employees of the executive bodies of Gilan province, which includes 40,713 employees in 73 executive bodies.  To determine the sample size, Morgan's table was used and 380 samples were selected from among the employees of the executive bodies under study, and after the reliability of the questionnaires was measured with Cronbach's alpha coefficient and its value was 99%, which indicated the high reliability of the mentioned questionnaires. Then the necessary information was collected through a questionnaire and the data was analyzed using SPSS software. The results obtained from the research hypotheses showed that the relationship between the variables of the quality of work life and the job satisfaction of the employees of the executive bodies of Gilan province is positive and significant. Keywords: quality of work life, job security, quality dimensions, job satisfaction, executive devices. is created If the goods and services received by the customer are evaluated at the level of expectations, he will feel satisfied. If the level of service and product is higher than the level of customer's expectations, it will cause the customer to be satisfied, and if it is lower than the level of customer's expectations, it will lead to his dissatisfaction. Customer satisfaction requires keeping customers happy and satisfied both in daily interactions and from a long-term and global perspective (Beerli & et al, 2004). Researchers who care about human values ??argue that job satisfaction should be one of the main goals of the organization, and organizations should provide conditions that keep employees satisfied, and it is in line with these goals that the quality of work life has been considered as a global concept. During the research that has been conducted, their results show that the quality of work life has a positive relationship with other variables in the organization (performance, productivity, organizational commitment, etc.), among which we can mention job satisfaction, which has a significant effect on increasing the efficiency of the individual and the organization.

1-2) Statement of the problem

When we say the word problem, it does not necessarily mean that there is a serious problem in the course of work that must be solved immediately, the problem can only be the existence of interest in a subject that finding answers about it helps to improve a situation, and therefore, it is appropriate to consider a problem as any situation in which There is a gap between the existing state and the desired state. The definition of the problem can include both the issues and problems in the current situation and the efforts to achieve the ideal states of the organization (Sekaran, 2010, p. 56).

Wirtz [1] and Bateson [2] have stated that satisfaction is the result of a cognitive part and an emotional part (emotional) from the evaluation of a consumption process, both of which are valuable and necessary in modeling consumer behavior in service design. Also, Oliver believes; Emotion plays a role in creating satisfaction along with various cognitive judgments and is necessary to understand the consumption process of customers. Therefore, some indicators of satisfaction show the cognitive dimension and others show its emotional and affective nature.  But in most researches, the emotional or emotional point of view is accepted (Wazirzanjani et al., 2019). Job satisfaction refers to the perception that a person has of his work. Various theories have been presented about job satisfaction. Also, the underlying factors that create job satisfaction are diverse and numerous, which can be categorized into internal aspects including personality traits, emotional feelings and emotional states, and external aspects including organizational, social and cultural conditions and characteristics. (Cherose, 2006) according to Shelley et al.According to Shelley et al. (2003), job satisfaction is the result of employees' perception of how their important expectations are met by their jobs. They considered two important aspects for job satisfaction: first, job satisfaction is an emotional response to work conditions, and second, job satisfaction can be determined through how goals are achieved or expectations are met. When we say that a person has high job satisfaction, we actually mean that he liked his job to a great extent, has positive feelings towards it, and through it he was able to satisfy his needs (Appleton et al, 1998; Ford, 2002). Since the 1930s, job satisfaction has been studied as one of the basic organizational components under the influence of three important industrial engineering movements (1920s), human relations movement (1930s and 1940s) and the view of growth or the nature of work, and many researches have been conducted regarding job satisfaction and its effect on the effectiveness of the organization and other human and organizational variables. One of the very important categories that, along with job satisfaction, plays a very important role in the level of efficiency and effectiveness, as well as the physical and mental health of people. But unfortunately, in organizations and institutions, especially Iranian organizations and institutions, not enough attention has been paid to it, it is the category of negligence. Organizations whose people suffer from procrastination and job dissatisfaction, fatigue, disappointment, quitting, absenteeism, lack of success, and physical and mental problems will be the characteristics of their employees, and lack of transformation, loss of performance and efficiency will be their organizational characteristics (Khosravi, 2018). Quality of work life is not only about people doing better work, but also about how to do better work. In other words, the quality of work life in an organization focuses on the participation of employees and workers in problem solving and also in decision making (Abdul Aziz et al, 2011). One of the effective factors in the performance of human resources in the organization is how to design their jobs. Job design is not only effective in the efficiency of human forces, but the quality of their working life also depends on how they design their jobs. The design of a job actually reflects the organizational, environmental and behavioral elements and expectations of an employee. Anyway, the level of work of the employees and their satisfaction shows the fact that a job is designed in a good way or not. Jobs that are not designed well lead to a decrease in efficiency and an increase in the amount of personnel waste, absences, complaints, resignations, dismissals and other problems in the organization (Abtahi, 2017). The quality of work life is the perceptions that the organizational environment makes to meet the needs of employees to do better work. According to the researches, the various dimensions of the needs based on the quality of work life are divided into two main categories, which are: low-level needs and high-level needs, the low-level needs of the quality of work life include health, safety, and economic and family needs, and the high-level needs of the quality of work life include social needs, respect and self-actualization needs, and the needs related to knowledge and beauty (Koonmee et al. et al., 2010). Discrimination and injustice can affect people's attitude and behavior level.  Inequality in the distribution of dignity causes a feeling of inferiority and a decrease in human dignity. Inequality in the distribution of cultural capital diminishes the influence of the subjective element and the role of agency in social changes, and at the same time increases social determinism and non-directional changes, on the contrary, having control over the decision-making process strengthens the sense of justice.  Having autonomy of action in organizing work, participation in decision-making and decision-making, participation in determining goals and policies, and justice in the distribution of valuable and rare opportunities are among the elements that help to internalize the goals of the organization and ultimately to job satisfaction (Kats et al, 1996). The quality of work life is defined as employees' satisfaction with a variety of needs through the resources, activities and consequences of their participation in the work environment. Studies have shown that employees with a high quality of work life tend to report a high level of their organizational identity, job satisfaction, job performance, and low levels of change and transformation, as well as transferring and moving people (Marta et al, 2011).  Many employees have found that the demands of work and duty are often incompatible with their personal lives and cause some conflicts in life and work (Jiang, 2012).