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Quality of Working Life in Bangladeshi Business Enterprises: An Empirical Analysis

Executive Summary: Quality of working life (QWL) is a popular issue in the industrialized Western countries, where workers are becoming more and more educated, skilled and consequently more vocal and demanding. The study shows that quality of working life is of vital importance for enhancing employee satisfaction, morale, commitment and organizational effectiveness. Despite its importance in improving employee productivity, paper on QWL in Bangladesh is very limited. This paper deals with the state of quality of working life prevailing in the ready-made garment ( RMG) industries of Bangladesh- the countrys main source of export earning for the last couple of years. The study reveals that the QWL in the said industry is not at all satisfactory, which may have bad effect on employee productivity. The study also makes attempt to unearth the causes of poor QWL in the sample organizations. Among others, the important factors, according to the respondents, contributing to the poor QWL are: inadequate wages, unhealthy and unhygienic working environment, lack of job security, autocratic supervision style, insufficient reward system, inadequate training and development opportunities, limited opportunities for career development, lack of opportunities for participation in decision making, absence of freedom of association and freedom of expression of views, etc. Poor QWL may have bad effect on employee morale and productivity. Finally, the study offers some suggestions with a view to improving the QWL situation in the sample organizations.

1. Introduction

The scenario of work force has rapidly changed over the last few decades, especially in the developed world, where employees, especially younger generations, are now becoming more and more educated, skilled and knowledgeable. As a result, their demands, needs and aspirations, and expectations are changing very fast and these are much different from those of their predecessors. They are becoming more independent and vocal. They are not merely happy with traditional incentives- money and financial benefits. The importance of money as a motivator has been consistently downgraded by most behavioral scientists (Herzberg, 1972; Elton Mayo, 19; Robbins, 1998). They argue that money does not motivate most employees. Money is not important to all employees. This may be due to the fulfillment of their monetary requirement. Money should have little impact on these people. Perhaps, they have reached higher-order needs. In addition to money, they demand something else. Although money is important, it is only one of many things that influence their behavior. They want to grow and develop. They like to be appreciated and recognized. These educated workforces have a strong desire for challenging, interesting, and meaningful jobs. High achievers are intrinsically motivated. As Drucker (1996) points out, there is a need to give educated workers more opportunity to use advanced skills, more opportunity for growth and more chances to contribute their ideas. The job is not only a means of earning bread but also a source of satisfaction (Herzberg, 1978). A real example will make this point clear. In 1996, an unusual strike occurred at the General Motors assembly plant at Lordstown, Ohio (Parkinson, 1996). It is called unusual because the strike was in protest against meaningless or monotonous work and the authoritarian management. They were bored with over- specialization. In other words, the strike was not for higher wages or financial benefits. The excellent companies in the USA, according to Peters and Waterman (1982), also give their people more work autonomy and freedom, because these companies adopt a strategy of productivity through people. Work autonomy is a source of satisfaction for educated and skilled people.

The traditional role of the manager may be blurred further as workers take a greater and greater part in planning work, doing it, and controlling it. This is direct departure from Taylors idea of scientific management. According to Taylor (19), planing should be separated from doing. Rigid management controls were introduced in place of craft pride and self discipline. Jobs were fragmented and simplified. In his opinion, managers are planners and workers are doers. Instead of improving productivity, these measures have created worker dissatisfaction and industrial unrest is accentuated and productivity has declined ( Davis, 1996). Scientific management creates a positive distaste for work. It kills all interest in work. The human potential is not at all utilized, and organizations fail to make proper use of its most valuable resource, its men.

Now the employees and even the customers are getting involved in improving efficiency. Toyota Company of Japan, for example, invites customers to take part in the quality improvement programs. It is the customers who ultimately decide what to buy and why to buy. In the twenty -first century prototype corporation, a key component of managing people will be empowering them to make decisions that affect them (Cascio, 1996). Employees want to live as human beings and they want a better quality of working life. It is the age of employee empowerment. Employees want to be consulted and given an opportunity to participate in the activities of the firm. The classical job design may not be appropriate for the new generation workforces, who are more educated and vocal. In the example of General motors cited above, employees went for strike demanding better quality of working life. This is a new set of values and a new way of thinking that focuses on quality of working life (QWL).

During the last decade the term QWL has gained popularity all over the world, especially in the developed countries. Experts are examining how workplaces and work can be reformed so that life in factories befits the dignity of man. Progressive managers also feel that workers are now highly educated and unless work is restructured their dissatisfaction will grow. A lot of research conducted to find the effectiveness of QWL in organizational context. Research findings indicate that QWL and productivity go hand in hand (White, 1981; Kiechel, 1986 and Werther 1989; Jacobs, 2000). Higher the QWL, greater the productivity improvement and vice versa. Through gain in productivity, managers can reduce costs, save scare resources, and enhance profits. In turn, improved profits allow an organization to provide better pay, benefits, and working conditions. The result can be a higher QWL for employees, who are more likely to be motivated toward further improvements in productivity. QWL can nurture a more flexible, loyal and motivated work force, which is essential in determining a companys competitiveness. It reduces employee turnover, absenteeism and improves job satisfaction.

Bangladesh is still economically poor. Its economy remains stagnant for the last few couple of decades. The GDP growth rate varies from three to five percent, although productivity growth is of vital importance to feed its increased population. Most people live in abject poverty. It is reported that the industrial relations system of country is very vulnerable, which is demonstrated by the increased number of industrial strikes occurred during the last few years. The country has already opened up its economy. The economic liberalization poses a lot of problems for the local industrial firms. Local industrial firms are facing stiff foreign competition. Local industries cannot withstand this competition. As a result, local market is increasingly submerged with foreign goods. The countrys trade deficit is on the increase. We are miserably failed to reap the benefits of globalization. Under this circumstance, we have no alternative to improving quality and productivity. It is believed that Bangladesh can easily achieve its desired economic growth by designing its existing management practices, especially QWL. This management technique does not involve excessive cost.

This paper is a modest attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice of QWL in the context of Bangladesh. Articles and papers on this popular topic in the context of Bangladesh are very limited. The issue is yet to receive proper attention in Bangladesh. It is hoped that this paper will be important reading for practicing managers and policy makers in industrial enterprises of Bangladesh. Against this backdrop, an attempt has been made to conduct a study on QWL in the Bangladeshi industrial organizations. It is hoped that this paper will be important reading for practicing managers and policy makers in the industrial enterprises of the country.

2. Conceptual Dimensions

Despite its popularity, there is no general definition of the concept of QWL. Still it is a growing subject. Literature on this topic is not sufficiently rich. So, it is not easy to define QWL precisely. But it is possible to give some broad indications of the various aspects of the QWL. The term QWL was first introduced in 1972 during an international labor relations conference. It received wide attention after the United States Autoworkers and General Motors initiated a QWL program for work reforms. The staff of the American Center for Quality of working life developed the following comprehensive definition:

QWL improvements are defined as any activity which takes place at every level of an organization which seeks greater organizational effectiveness through the enhancement of human dignity and growth, a process through which the stakeholders in the organization learn how to work together better, to determine for themselves what actions, changes and improvements are desirable and workable in order to achieve the twin and simultaneous goals of an improved quality of life at work for all members of the organization and greater effectiveness for both the company and the unions.

Key elements of the definition are highlighted as being a) promote human dignity and growth, b) work together collaboratively, c) participatively determine work changes, and d) assume compatibility of people and organizational goals.

QWL is fundamentally a philosophy or an approach that can permeate many different activities in the workplace. QWL programs may include job enrichment and enlargement, instead of highly specialized job assignments, joint union-management, joint superior-subordinate evaluation instead of evaluation by the supervisor, group -based financial rewards and so on. Any specific improvement in and around the workplace is often included under the catchall term of QWL. Qwl is a group-oriented technique to stimulate collaboration and cooperation rather than individualism and competition. Management undertakes various activities to promote higher degree of cohesiveness.

Keith Davis (1990) defines QWL as the favorableness or unfavorableness of a job environment for people. Davis argues that the basic purpose is to develop jobs that are excellent for people as well as for production. Jobs are required to fit people as well as production. He opines that classical job design, which focuses on specialization and efficiency for the performance of the narrow task, may be best for a poor, uneducated workforce that lacked skills but it is less appropriate for the new workforce who are well educated, skilled and demanding. It is, therefore, imperative to redesign the jobs and the organization to suit them to the changing need aspirations and attitudes of the new work force. According to this new approach, jobs are required to fit worker as well as technology, while the classical job design focuses on the technological imperatives and give inadequate attention to the human needs. QWL produces more humanized jobs. It upgrades workers humanness. Effective QWL can supplement other personnel actions and provide improved employee motivation, satisfaction and productivity. Robbins (1998) defines QWL as a process by which an organization responds to employee needs by developing mechanisms to allow them to share fully in making decisions that design their lives at work. He speaks of workers control and empowerment.

Lawler and Mohrman (1995) define QWL from two point of views. In their opinion, QWL consists of two different types of components, namely, objective and subjective. The objective organizational conditions and practices are: promotion from within policies, democratic supervision, employee involvement in designing work, safe and healthy working conditions, equitable compensation, wellness, two way communication, career development, opportunities for growth and development and job security. The subjective components include employees perception that they are safe, relatively well satisfied, and able to grow and develop as human beings. In many cases these two views merge. These are the important components of a good QWL but all these factors may not be equally important for all due to individual differences.

Moksal (1999) defines QWL in terms of employees perception of their physical and mental well being at work. This is why QWL may not be the same all over the world. It is not universal.

QWL approaches are designed to help employees feel good about themselves, their jobs and their organization. QWL is a managerial program that increases outcomes such as productivity by better management of jobs, people and working conditions. The basic objectives of an effective QWL program are improved working conditions (mainly from an employees perspective and greater organizational effectiveness (from an employers perspective). A win-win situation may result if QWL is positively linked to business performance.

Literature on QWL is not very rich as mentioned earlier. It is a recent development in the literature of management. An examination of the review of existing literature clearly indicates that a good number of interrelated factors are critical to improving QWL. Authors or experts on QWL could not reach a consensus as the to factors contributing to QWL. But it helps us identify the common factors affecting QWL and accordingly we evaluate the QWL in Bangladesh basing on such factors as, job security, style of supervision, safe and healthy working environment, adequate and fair wages and salaries, employee wellness, loyalty to the organization, conflict resolution, organizational justice and fairness, flow of communication, opportunity to employee growth and development, opportunities for advancement, workers participation in decision making or workers involvement through CBA or joint consultation and better union-management cooperation.

3. Objectives and methodology

The main objective of this study is to examine the state of QWL prevailing in the business or industrial enterprises in Bangladesh. What are the factors that affect the QWL in the sample organizations? To what extent are these factors prevalent in the sample organizations? This paper will address these issues.

Still now, the contribution of industrial sector to the Economy of the country is negligible (only 19%). There is no denying the fact that the country is lagging far behind in this respect. This is why the present study focuses on the manufacturing sector of the country. To this end, ten garment factories located in and around Dhaka City were selected purposively as this region represented the concentration of RMG business in Bangladesh. It is estimated that about 2000 RMG factories are in operation in Dhaka city.

Garment industry is chosen due to its ever-increased role in the Economy of the country. It occupies a very important place in the economy of Bangladesh. It is the largest foreign exchange earning sector. It occupies over 75 percent of the countrys annual export. The RMG has turned the identity of Bangladesh as an apparel exporting country in the international market. It has achieved 20% growth rater for the last two decades. Its contribution to the export earnings has increased from 16 in 1985 to 75% in 2000. At present there are 3500 RMG factories in operation in the country employing more than 1.5 million people (BJMEA). And female workers hold most of the jobs (about 90%). It thus helps empower the poor and vulnerable section of the country economically. Women are increasingly participating in various employment activities. Additionally, the donor countries are putting too much pressure on our Government to raise labor standards in the Garment sector. The countrys export is conditioned with the maintenance of the labor standards. This article also helps us know the extent to which the labor standards, prescribed by the donors, are met by the local industrial enterprises.

Both primary and secondary data have been used for this study. A total of 100 employees of different categories working in the sample enterprises were interviewed. The numbers of employees selected from each enterprise were not same due to the difference in the size of the firm and number of total personnel employed. The sample was restricted to mainly female workers. Of the respondents, number of female is 80% and the rest are male.

Five female investigators, who are presently pursuing MBA degree at the Dhaka University, are assigned the task of interviewing the female respondents with the hope that the female workers would feel free to express their views with the female investigators. No interviewer conducted more than ten interviews and all respondents were unknown to the interviewers.

The respondents were asked to express their opinions about the factors that contribute to the QWL in their respective enterprises. Judging the QWL is quite difficult since it depends on many interrelated issues, which are again mostly cognitive in nature. For that matter, endeavors have been made to quantify through some numerical values on the basis of the result from the survey. They were asked to give opinions on the five points scale extending from strongly significant to not al all significant. They are interviewed by using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contains items on employment security, method and mode of wage payment, employee empowerment, freedom of expression of ones opinion, freedom of association, working environment, safety, health and hygienic factors, attitude of management towards workers, supervision style, settlement of conflicts, etc. Respondents freely expressed their views on these points. The respondents completed the questionnaire in the presence of the interviewers. The questionnaire is originally prepared in Bengali keeping in mind the educational background of the respondents and then translated into English. . Furthermore, published articles, books and manuals are examined to supplement the primary data. Informal discussions were also made with few managerial people of the sample organizations to get a real picture regarding the QWL of their enterprises. By analyzing the QWL of the surveyed enterprises, the author tried to draw a few general propositions on the private sector business entities of Bangladesh.

This study is not without limitation. This study was restricted to manufacturing firms and did not include service firms. No foreign firm doing the same line of business was considered in this study. Any conclusions drawn from this study must be assessed against these limitations of the study.

4. Results and Discussions

Most of the respondents are not well aware of the term QWL. Even they do not hear the term. They are given an idea of QWL. They are told about the factors that contribute to the QWL. Then they are asked to express their views about the existence of these factors in their organizations. Most of the respondents (80%) are not adequately happy with the existing quality of working life. Their views and attitudes towards these factors of QWL are discussed below:

a) Most of the respondents of the ready-made garments industry feel that they are suffering from constant fear of losing job. Job security has become the most essential component of QWL. Employee commitment to increased productivity cannot be achieved without adequate job security. The responding workers mentioned that they were compelled to take up jobs in the industrial units to feed themselves and their family members. Jobs are the means of their livelihood. They would not like to lose it under any circumstances. They are always in tension when to lose their jobs. As a result, they cannot make even rational demands for fear of being victimized and harassed. They reported that their employers could dismiss them on no excuse or lame excuse. Muhammad (1999) contends that in Bangladesh employers can hire and fire unskilled workers at any time. Employers often violated the service contract. They were actually threatened with termination. Employers on the other hand argued that they dismissed workers only on the grounds of inefficiency and dishonesty.

b) In response to a question about the amount of salary drawn by the employees, a good number of respondents opined that their take-home pay was not enough at all to maintain a minimum standard of living and their monthly salary ranged from taka 600 to taka 3000. The responding workers alleged that their employers did not follow minimum wage rule set by the government. They mentioned that they couldnt meet their basic needs with this meager amount of salary. Prices of essentials are going up by leaps and bounds every other day. But workers did not get salary at inflated amount. They cannot afford the minimum expenditures for survival in the society. They were not even provided with regular wages. According to news item published in the Daily Star on September 10, 2000, more than five hundred female workers of a Garments factory brought out a procession demanding for outstanding wages of the previous months and twenty workers were injured in collusion with the police. There are many cases when workers are dismissed on the ground of overdue wage payment. They also raise allegation about high pay differential between managers and workers. As a group of female workers pointed out,

Managers and employers are rich because we are poor, we are made poor, they are healthy but we are sick, we are made sick; they are loan defaulters, we are not; they monopolize all benefits by exploiting us; there is none on earth to take care of us, to preserve our interests, there is none to do justice.

The above statement made by the respondents indicates high pay or benefit differential between workers and managers. Most of the female workers are living in abject poverty. It appears that most of the female workers do not have good physical and mental health. They put on unclean dresses. They are suffering from a variety of diseases. Most of them are slum-dwellers without modern health and hygienic facilities. Sound physical and mental health is critical to improving employee productivity because happy workers are usually productive workers.

c) The large majority of the female respondents reported that employers are more biased towards male while giving benefits even they have same qualifications like men. Female respondents make serious compliant that the salaries of the female workers are lower compared to those of the male workers, although they are doing same job. They firmly believe that they are the victims of wage discrimination. Employers or managers have some superstitions and pre-conceived ideas about women. For example, women are inefficient and incapable of using new methods of work. Both married and unmarried women admitted that their husbands did not like their staying outside home for a longer time. Employers reported that women are more involved in household works, which is a constraint for providing them a responsible job, in spite of having necessary academic qualifications.

d) A safe or non-hazardous working places for workers are their fundamental human rights. There are factory rules that workers must be provided with safe conditions while at work and compensation for any physical or mental harm caused on them from breach of these rules. Safety is a major issue in Bangladesh today. But almost 100% of the respondents reported that they were not provided with a safe and congenial working environment. The employers manage the office of the chief inspector of factories on this issue. This hampers their performance. The responding workers give a vivid description about the prevailing safety and health conditions of their working places. According to them, the poor lighting, high temperature, dust and fume and noise cause physical discomfort and impair their health and efficiency. Inadequate ventilation affects the health of the workers. Workroom is overcrowded. Working environment is very unhygienic.

In most cases the factory gates are very narrow and the passages and stairways of the factory building are not wide enough. In many cases, there are no alternative staircase and exits to face emergency situation. As a result, five to six workers couldnt make movement smoothly in the case of emergency. There is not fire extinction equipment installed in the factory. Accidents are often caused due to unsafe working conditions such as inadequate exits or emergency escapes. Numbers of death cases due to fire are increasing every year. Accidents result in untold miseries, sufferings, and financial losses to the employees. According to a news item published in the Daily Ittafaq, on 13th December 2000, a total of 62 fire incidents occurred in the ready-made garments sector during the last decade, which resulted in the deaths of 200 poor workers. Most of the victims died of suffocation and in stampede while some died while jumping from the building. It also costs the employer heavily by way of medical expenses, compensation, loss of production, damage to machines, etc.

It is reported that many factories in the past did not compensate workers for death due to fire at the work place. Often employers do not honor their commitment. Compensation is often limited to the expression of oral condolence only.

Sufficient supply of pure drinking water at suitable pints conveniently accessible to all workers is not arranged. Latrines are not kept in a clean and hygienic condition. This is for want of education of the workers and proper attention bestowed by the management. In a factory, it is found that there are two toilets in each floor for two hundred employees. Sufficient number of spittoons is not provided in convenient places and they are not maintained in a clean and hygienic condition. Industrial workers need education on health matters, but this not receiving due attention in Bangladesh. It is the primary responsibility of the employer to educate the employees on health and safety consciousness and to provide all facilities necessary for their medical care.

Most of the RMG industries are set up like prisons where workers enter in the morning and leave late at night and pass their time in almost locked up conditions. The employers and managers give an irrational logic for locking the gate during the working period. They do so for fear of losing or stealing valuable items by the workers from the factories. To them employees life is not that much valuable. This inhuman attitude they hold toward their employees. Workers may be burned to death anytime from fire or other accidents. The industries have not been set up in proper zones or premises designed for the purpose but in multistoried building of the residential category with a single staircase for entry and exit. This is one of the main reasons why fire accidents take such a toll. .

e) Majorities of the industrial workers in cities are migrants from rural areas. The first problem they have to face after securing a job is accommodation. Problem of housing is very acute in Dhaka City. It is reported that the majorities of the garment workers live in dark, damp and unhygienic houses. This can be called slum. There are no drains, no bathrooms, no ventilation, no moving space; full of dirt and dust and surrounded by unhealthy conditions. This is the real picture of a workers abode. A worker cannot give his best when he lives under overcrowded conditions with no privacy and minimum comfort.

f) Female workers are often victims of sexual harassment both inside and outside of the factory. Violence against women working in the garment sector has been endemic. A recent study (ILO, 2000) also confirmed this allegation. According to the report ILO report, 75% of abusive incident occur on the streets as the garment female workers commute to and from work. They are attacked by mustans, sometimes kidnapped, often assaulted and sexually harassed by young hooligans and even the police. Frequent beatings and verbal abuse of garment workers by the supervisors inside the factories have also been alleged. The management of the factories, however, denied the allegation. A few respondents said that some vagabond youths often made obscene comments to them while they were coming to and leaving from factories.

g) Workers of the sample factories are not allowed to form their association, known as trade unions, although Bangladesh is a signatory of ILO convention. The political party and government remain silent on this sensitive issue. Silence of the government is mysterious. It is believed that the government might tolerate this harsh working conditions on the grounds that RMG sector provides employment opportunities for many people and it is the main source of export earnings and labor getting organized in it could undermine its competitiveness. Workers personally face the management if they have any problem. Supervisors usually handle the employee problems. Management decides everything; workers have no voice. Wages and conditions of employment are not decided jointly by the workers and management. Employers do not adopt democratic methods in their relations with the workers. Although workers are most valued assets of the organization, they are not allowed to make decisions of organizational matters. Employee representation on the board is not allowed at all, which is common in Germany. Employee director can present problem facing employees and help in moulding the policies regarding them. Managers do not consider workers as an integral part of the operations of the organization to which they are attached. Their contribution to the production process is not appreciated. Workers, due to absence of collective bargaining agent, often could not t realize their basic demands. There is none in the country to penalize the employers for violating the ILO convention of allowing workers to have their own freedom of association. Interestingly, employers of the garment factories in Bangladesh have their own association to realize their demands.

h) Workers are also unhappy thy way they are managed and supervised. They have a hatred for tight and closed supervision. Managers do not treat them as human beings. They behave with them like an animal. They do not trust them. Workers do what they are told to do. They do not have any voice in decision making. They cannot make any protest against injustices or unfair treatments. They are working like a machine. They are over-controlled. Workers are not allowed to make mistake and learn from it. Management does not have any tolerance for mistake. Managers often impose punishment for mistake.

i) Workers alleged that managers are not fair in their dealings with them. Managers play favoritism and partiality. As a result, they feel jealous to each other. The responding workers reported that they were heavily penalized for minor offences. They mentioned that they were not given enough opportunity to defend themselves. They have grievances against management. But managers are not sincere to resolving their grievances. Complaining to higher authorities sometimes rather brings additional troubles. On a broad range of issues, employees expect to be treated justly, fairly and with due process. This may minimize employee grievance and conflict. It is a fact that grievance handling is time consuming and costly.

j) Managers have little apathy for workers welfare issues. Most of the workers reported that they were not provided with canteen facilities. As a group of workers point out, We get up early morning and finish our ablutions hurriedly. We are in a hurry to reach the factory gate in time; we may or may not be able to take a substantial breakfast. Further by walking three to four miles, we are tired. A hungry stomach will cause physical weakness, mental worry and fatigue. We need good lunch and this must be less expensive and substantial. It is impossible for the us to prepare lunch at home and bring it with us or through tiffin carriers on account of time and distances as well domestic problems.

Employers spend very little for workers well being. They are very inconsiderate and unkind to them. A little delay in attending work place is not tolerated, although they are not provided with any official tranport facilities. They get up early in the morning and make their meals. They used to finish luncheon with homemade foods. They have to walk five to seven miles daily. They do not have any security while coming to and going from their work places. There is no social security for them. Working mothers complained that they were anxious for their babies. The employers do not provide them with child day-care centers facilities. It is reported that absenteeism is a big problem and this is higher among women workers and among workers who live away from the place of work. Thus it is clear that work and family needs are well balanced. It is relevant to note here that in the advanced countries women and people with disabilities are provided with alternative career paths, extended leave and flexible work scheduling.

Few responding female workers alleged that they were not given maternity leave facilities, which is a gross violation of Factory Act, 1965. The surveyed organizations do not have any medical center to take care of problem employees. Even they do not have any counseling program do deal with employees who are emotionally and psychologically disturbed. They do not have separate toilet and rest room facilities in the premises of the work place. This also inhibits quality of their working life.

k) In response to a question about working hours, the overwhelming majority of the respondents replied that they have to work up to 16 hours a day for meager wages with not even weekly holiday. They get very few holidays. This very long working period cause stress and anxiety both physically and mentally.

l) They are very little empowered. Managers do not supply them with any relevant information. They have a tendency to keep information secret. This secrecy creates confusion and contradiction. Managers tend to believe themselves superior and thus underestimate workers creative potentials. They do not allow them to express their feelings, emotions, and grievances. Communication is one-way, not two-way. Two-way communication is an important factor to build high quality of working life.

m) Workers have little scope to get promoted as a manager. Promotion from within is practiced up to a level. Beyond that, fresh employees are recruited. The close relatives of the employers usually hold top positions. Most of the garment factories are small in size and owned by few people. They do not like to share managerial power with outsiders.

n) Most of the responding female workers felt that they were either unskilled or semiskilled labor. Many female workers could not read and write. They could not comprehend basic quality control statistics and computations. There is none to develop them. Their employers are not serious to impart training program for them. Training is highly ignored, although training is very vital in this competitive world in order to respond to changing demands and needs. Employers tend to recruit trained workers and do not feel to train up fresh employees. Employees are not provided necessary counseling and information to upgrade the skills of the deprived poor female workers. A respondent mentioned that our new generation employers are only crazy for money and they would like to be rich overnight; they do not feel any social responsibilities for the vulnerable section of the community.

5. Measures taken to improve QWL in Bangladesh

The research findings reveal that the QWL in Bangladesh is not satisfactory at all. Poor employee productivity may be attributed to this poor quality of working life. The majority of the employees are de-motivated and frustrated, which in turn, leads to poor performance. The review of existing literature and suggestions made by the respondents help the researcher find out ways and means of improving QWL in the context of Bangladesh. It is true that all the suggestions cannot be implemented overnight. The employer, employee and the Government have to play proper roles to create a congenial work environment in the country. The following suggestions have been made in order to promote and improve a better QWL in the RMG sector of Bangladesh:

- Top management commitment is vital to make QWL efforts successful. Top management must convince that the QWL programs have lasting effects on motivation or productivity. Top management must show through its actions that he really means it. Commitment, however, is different from permission. Top management must initiate efforts towards the improvement of QWL. It requires a willingness to share power. Managers must realize the fact that sharing power is really increasing the total amount of power (Davis, 1996). Power is meaningless if it cannot be exercised.

- Managers must become leaders, helpers, and coaches, not bosses and dictators. Managers and workers must work as a cohesive team. There is a synergetic effect if people work as a team. Synergy means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The responsibility of building team spirit ultimately lies with management. Managers must recognize the fact that workers are not slaves; they should not be used as a cog of industrial machinery, rather they are equal partners of industrial peace and prosperity. It goes without saying that cooperation between management and labor, not contradiction, brings success. None of this is simple or easily done.

- Managers should run their enterprise in a democratic manner. They should allow workers to form their association through which workers can express their feelings, injustice, grievance, problems and causes for conflicts to management. Management should sensitive to the employees problems. Listening problems with patience may redress employee grievance. Employees should be given opportunity to select their CBA. Employment related issues should be determined through negotiation between managers and the elected representatives of the workers. In Bangladesh, CBA is not allowed to set employee wage, which is done by the government through National Wage board. There can be no trust between management and workers where there is not an open policy and a real partnership in industry.

- Openness and trust are necessary. Openness removes all suspicion and doubts. It increases employees loyalty and sense of ownership. To this end, employees should be provided with all relevant information. Sharing information will create a common fate. All-important decisions should be made in consultation with workers representatives. Joint consultation is a widely used technique for establishing industrial democracy in Japanese organizations (Ouchi, 11981).

- Job security is the central focus of QWl companies. Novel Laureate Economist Gary, S. Becker (1996) estimates that human capital accounts for more than half of all the wealth in the USA. It is more important than any other asset to maintain and retain people and to use their unlimited potentials. To the Japanese, a firm exists for two purposes: to provider a return on assets for shareholders and to provide a livelihood for employees. Taylor (1990) contends that job security leads to increased job satisfaction, which ultimately translated, into increased profitability and an enhanced competitive position.

- QWL cannot be used as a tool to break unions or keep them out. It must remain separate from the collective bargaining contract. And union should not use it as a tool against management. Some unions have resisted QWL programs; they view these programs as weakening the power of the union in its adversarial relationships with management (Skinner, 1998).

- Extensive training for workers and managers is of vital importance in order to support greater worker involvement. Workers must get to know the basics of cost, quality, profits, losses, and customer satisfaction. They need exposure to problem solving, group processes, and business concepts. Managers must come to understand their new role: leaders, helpers, and information gatherers. Both managers and workers need to learn basic interpersonal skills necessary to treat others with dignity and respect. Managers must realize the fact that investment on human resource development is the most rewarding and profitable. It is human resources that provide a firm a competitive edge. Empowerment without adequate employee skill and knowledge will not yield due result.

- Considerable patience is required by all concerned. The QWL program will not succeed overnight. One reviewer found that QWL efforts often require 3 to 5 years or more to become fully integrated into a business (Ozley and Ball, 1992).

- QWL must change continually and go forward from initial problem solving to an actual partnership between management and workers. A single program cannot be used for a long time. It must be updated regularly.

- Joint labor-management participation or cooperation is the very essence of QWL efforts. Participation as an effort to improve QWL requires that managers treat lower-level employees as mature individuals, for participation implies a redistribution of power within the organization. They should treat their employees with respect and dignity. Participation programs that are tied directly to financial incentives for employees tend to result in productivity increases for the organization (Fein, M.1982). That is, productivity gains tend to be larger if workers are provided with adequate financial rewards. The participation programs die out eventually if the pay system fails to acknowledge the new activities and contributions of workers. Employees must be rewarded adequately for the contribution they made to the organizations.

- The fire incidents, which resulted in the deaths of many workers every year, emphasize the importance of safety. The working environment of the factory must be improved as much as possible. There are many industrial safety laws, but these laws and rules are not followed in letters and spirits. What is important is to ensure the proper enforcement of safety and health standards. This can be enforced through a system of inspectors, citations and penalties. To inspect health and safety conditions, the concerned govt. officials may enter any business at a reasonable time and penalize for gross violation of standard rules and regulations. A sizeable amount of money should be provided as compensation if any worker is killed in accident despite all safety measures. It is the responsibility of the owners and managers to make general workers aware of the safety and health standards. They should take proper steps so that workers lives are not threatened under emergencies. The owners ought to be sensitized to the need of providing safe working conditions to their workers and the relevant government ministry and departments can play a singularly important role in this matter. All garments industries must set up fire exits and other structures for the safety of the workers. The owners and managers of the RMG sector must be made aware of their responsibilities about the workers and they must be sincere in carrying out these responsibilities.

The responding female workers of the Garments factories suggested some measures to avoid fire-related accidents. Among the important of these are the following:

Passages and stairways of their factories should be sufficiently lighted, wide and kept clear of obstructions.

All factories would have to construct useable alternative stairs.

The RMG factories should not be allowed to run after 10 p.m. as most of the accidents occurred at night.

Floor should not be slippery.

Safety committee can be organized and encouraged to educate about safety precaution and rules. They will suggest preventive measures. Health is wealth. Health service in industry should be more preventive than curative. It is the primary responsibility of management or employer to educate the employees on health and safety consciousness and to provide all facilities for their medical care. Employees must be provided with a congenial working condition with regard to temperature, ventilation, lighting, cleanliness and satiation. Employees will look after a company if they are properly looked after. Employees must be provided with canteen facilities. Food, drinks, and snacks served at the canteen should be on a non-profit basis. Pricelist must be displayed.

- More welfare facilities should be provided to the employees and these will increase their loyalty to the company. Child day- care centers can by set up at the factory premise and professional nurses and child experts can be hired to take care of children. Working mothers also can meet their children during the rest period. A recent study reveals that the establishment of day care centers for the children of the female workers who account for a majority portion of the total workforce has increased productivity of the garment factories. Workers and their family members should be allowed to join different entertainment programs sponsored by the company. Medical center can be established to and medical experts can be made available to take care of problem employee. Employees will love their companies when companies will spend lavishly for their welfare. Employees and management or owners are members of a same family. Loyalty is not a one way game. Both the management and employee must be sensitive ands responsive to each others needs. The company management should keep in mind that happy and motivated employees will work hard for the company. This may increase productivity, reduce wastage and turnover and absenteeism.

- Labor unrest is very often based on wage questions. Wage must be adequate and fair. It must be good enough to meet workers basic human needs. Wage must be paid as early as possible. It appears that most of the responding female workers are in abject poverty. Still, money is a big motivator for them. Wage fixation should consider productivity and skill of the workers and the capacity of the industry to pay.

6. Concluding Remarks

The importance of QWL cannot be overestimated, as it is essential for making an organization successful. It improves employee satisfaction, morale and work commitment. In spite of its importance, the scope, content and goal of QWL differ from country to country, which may be due to differences in a countrys stage of economic development, its style of management, political and business system and above all, workers and managers level of education, skill, and commitment. Available evidence suggests that companies achieving high employee productivity give much importance on improving QWL (Moksal, 1999). Because QWL and productivity goes hand in hand. Workers of excellent companies are not only well paid, they are also allowed to participate in decisions affecting their interests (Peters and Waterman, 1982). There is democracy in enterprise management. Reference can be made to Japan and Germany. Management treats workers with respect and dignity. Workers are treated as equal partner of industrial progress and peace. Workers are no more slave, they are human beings- the most valued asset of the organization. Management behaves with them more humanly. Their jobs are highly humanized. Management and workers jointly make constant efforts to make the jobs interesting and meaningful.

But a reverse situation is prevalent in the sample organizations of Bangladesh. Here employees are treated as a commodity or a cog of a machine, not as a human being. They are working in condition o slavery. Employees are rarely allowed to participate in making organizational decisions affecting them. Authority is highly centralized. Responsibility is decentralized. Workers do not have any voice; they do what they are told to do, without any question. They are not provided with relevant information. Managers do not have enough faith in workers. Managers run the enterprises without taking workers into confidence. Workers in the Garment industries have no formal association to prevent and defend themselves from exploitation by the employers and managers. Industrial democracy is not in vogue. Workers of this sector feel that they are highly deprived. Workers always feel frightened to loose their jobs. They are ill paid. Working environment is very inhuman. The employers do everything to monopolize all benefits. The employers, managers and workers- the actors and players of the industrial relations, should come forward to improve the situation. The situation may not be same as it is now. Employees are now more aware of what is happening around the world because of mass media. Workers will be more vocal in the years to come. They will not keep silent. They will protest as the time goes on. So necessary measures should be taken beforehand. Otherwise, the situation may get more complicated. Be proactive to be in the race. More training program should be imparted to keep the workers up-to- date, so that they can make meaningful contribution to the goal of the organization. Participation in the decision making will not be effective unless workers are highly trained, skilled and motivated. There is no denying the fact that the ultimate responsibility lies with the employers or managers. RMG sector is facing serious problems with the existing factory laws that were formulated in 60s and 80s when there was no export oriented garment industry in the country. There is an urgent need to update the relevant laws of the factory so that the needs of the employers and employees can be well integrated.

References

Cascio, W. F, (1996), managing human resources- productivity, quality of work life and Profits, McGraw-Hill INC, New Delhi.

Ewing, W. D. (1971), Who wants corporate democracy, HBR, Vol. 49. NO. 5. Sep-Oct.

Fein, M. (1992), Improved productivity through worker involvement, HBR, VOL. 49. NO. 5.

Hian, C. C (11990), Quality of work life: What can unions do? Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 55(2), p. 17-22.

Jacobs, R. L, (2000), A win-win paradigm for QWL and business performance, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Vol.9, No. 3.

Lawler, E.E (1994), Productivity and QWL, National Productivity Review, PP. 23-36.

Moksal, B. S (1994), QWL in factory: How far have we come, Industry week,

Ozley, M. L. and Ball, J. S (1992), Quality of working life: initiating successful efforts in Labor-Management organization, The Personnel Administrator, Vol. 27, NO. 5, May, P. 27.

Pylee, M.V (1998) Industrial Relations in India, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.

Werther, W, B (1992), Human Resources Management, McGraw-Hill Inc, New York.

Disciplining the Problem employee

Introduction

Discipline is an important aspect of man management, because all employees are not rule-abider. A good number of employees are also rule-breakers. It is of paramount importance to discipline rule-breakers or problem employees. It is essential for the smooth running of an organization and for the maintenance of industrial peace, which is very foundation of industrial democracy. Organization with heterogeneous people cannot work smoothly without discipline. Discipline action must be fair, equitable and consistent in order to reap maximum benefits from it. Management must be wise enough to make and implement a discipline policy.

Concept of DisciplineAll employees are not always obedient to organizational rules and regulations. All employees do not comply with set rules of the organization. They do not always do what they are told. They may not accept the responsibility of self-discipline. It is fact that some people are very sensitive, whereas others are not at all. Even good employees may sometime make mistakes. There are some employees for whom the motivational concepts are not enough to elicit the accepted norms of responsible employee behavior. Counseling does not work for them. These employees are known as problem employees. These employees require some degree of extrinsic disciplinary action or punishment. These employees behavior is destructive or performance is unacceptable. Under these circumstances, it is essential to adopt disciplinary practices. Avoiding action may aggravate the situation.

Discipline is indispensable to management control to correct problem employee. In the wider sense, discipline means orderliness. In the military circle, the term discipline is synonymous with regimentation. In the industrial context, it does not mean strict and technical observance of rigid rules and regulations. It simply means working and behaving in a normal and orderly manner as any reasonable person expects an employee to do. It mans orderly behavior in accordance with the rules and procedures of the organization. Keith Davis (1994) defines discipline as a management action to encourage compliance with organization standards. It refers to a condition in the organization when employees conduct themselves in accordance with the organizations rules and standards of acceptable behavior. For the most part, employees discipline themselves. By that we mean that members conform to what is considered proper behavior because they believe it is the right thing to do. Once they are made aware of what is expected of them, and assuming they find these standards or rules to be reasonable, they seek to meet those expectations.

Discipline may be preventive and corrective. Preventive discipline is action taken to encourage following standards and rules so that infractions are prevented. The basic objective is to encourage self-discipline among employees. The best discipline is self-discipline. Employees will abide by rules if they feel that rules by which they are governed are fair and reasonable. In this way, the workers maintain their own discipline, rather than having it imposed by management. The techniques followed by management to achieve this type of discipline include positive motivational activities such as praise, participation and incentive pay. Corrective discipline is an action that follows a rule violation or infraction. It seeks to discourage further infractions and to ensure that future acts are in compliance with standards. The corrective action is a penalty of some type for the offending employees, such as a warning or suspension without pay. An employees immediate supervisor initiates it, but actions may require approval by a higher-level manager and / or procedural approval by the personnel department. The main objectives of corrective discipline are to reform the offender, to deter others from similar actions, and to maintain consistent effective group standards. They are educational and corrective, rather than a negative slapping back at employees who have done wrong. The goal is to improve the future rather than punish for the past.

Importance of discipline

Importance of discipline in an industry can hardly be overemphasized. Orderly behavior is essential for achieving the organizations objective. Without discipline, no organization would prosper. Any organization consists of people with different backgrounds. They are not identical. It is natural that some of them will be deviant. Management will take disciplinary action when employees are at fault. Ideally, discipline should serve as a corrective mechanism to prevent serious harm to the organization (Baum, 1991). The fundamental reason for taking disciplinary action is to correct situations that are unfavorable to the company. Discipline may be beneficial if it is administered properly. Weitz (1995) reported that disciplinary action produced a lot of benefits. Among the important of these are the following:

Discipline may alert the marginal employee to his low performance and result in a change in behavior.

Discipline may send a signal to other employee regarding expected levels of performance and standards of behavior.

If other employees perceive the discipline as legitimate, it may increase motivation, morale and performance.

Discipline enhances efficiency and reduces costs. Absenteeism and employee turnover are minimized.

Despite the potential benefits of disciplinary actions, many managers want to avoid using discipline. Discipline is one of the hardest human resource management actions to face. Managers may avoid imposing discipline because of ignorance of organizational rules, fear of formal grievances, fear of losing the friendship of employees (Dalton, 1991). In many cases, indiscipline stems from the managerial faults and lapses ( Strauss and Sayles, 1988).

2. Rationale of the studyIt cannot be denied the fact that most of the organizations of Bangladesh are experiencing poor discipline. Employee indiscipline is very acute in the business enterprises in Bangladesh, where employee performance is far below the acceptable level. Workers unrest is a common issue in Bangladesh. Workers engage in conflicts with their colleagues, managers and employers. A section of workers are arrogant and militant. They are not sincere in the performance of their duties. They are engaging in terrorist activities. They are not adequately disciplined. They are not rule abiders, rather rule violators. There is no doubt that all these factors are making our enterprises sick. State enterprises are suffering from financial losses. Truly speaking, absence of employee discipline leads to poor organizational performance. Management is in great trouble with these problem employees. They do not know how to handle them. Poor discipline suggests the need of correction. The correction implies some degree of force and penalty. Against this backdrop, a study on disciplining problem employee is considered to be important to make our organizations more effective and efficient by improving employee morale and productivity. Discipline is more important to restore industrial peace and progress.

3. Objectives of the studyIn view of its importance in correcting employee behavior, improving employee morale, motivation, and productivity, this paper makes a modest attempt to find out the types and nature of disciplinary problems generated or created by the employees, to suggest actions to handle disciplinary problems, to identify the key factors that influence disciplinary decision and to suggest few guidelines to make a sound disciplinary policy.

4. Types and nature of disciplinary problems

Stephen Robbins (1996), who conducted a study in USA- based business organizations, categorized disciplinary problems into major four types. According to him, these four categories are attendance, on-the-job behaviors, dishonesty, and outside activities.

Attendance

A serious disciplinary problem facing mangers involves attendance. A study found that leaving without permission or absenteeism, habitual late attendance, abuse of sick leave, and other aspects of attendance were rated as the foremost problems by 79% of the respondents (Robbins, 1996). Now question arises: why is attendance such a serious problem? Robbins (1996) has identified few factors responsible for this. . First, many organizations have failed to align workers goals with those of the organization and this results in decline in attendance. A second reason may be a changing attitude toward employment. A third reason may be the different backgrounds of new entrants with little previous experience into the job market. Their values and attitudes differed from those of the new entrants of the previous decades. Fourth, many employees believe that earned sick leave days have to be consumed, regardless of whether they are ill or not. It is their right. A final reason is the difficulty involved in firing an employee, especially those union members protected by a collective bargaining agreement. In Bangladesh, union leaders enjoy avoiding responsibilities. They have jobs but they do not any work. They draw salary without work.

On-the job Behaviors

Some behaviors are expressly forbidden on the job. These are treated as offenses. These are: a) failure to obey safety rules, b) drunk on the job, c) defective work and sleeping on the job, d) failure to report accidents, e) loafing and fighting, f) gambling, g) abuse of drugs, h) malicious destruction of organization property, I) gross insubordination (refusing to obey a bosss orders), j) carrying a concealed weapon, k) attacking another employee with intent to seriously harm, l) smoking where prohibited, m) engaging in sabotage, n) holding meetings without authority (Cascio, 1996).

Dishonesty

Dishonesty is major an offense. Dishonest people cannot be trusted. Dishonesty includes a) concealing b) defective work, c) stealing or theft, fraud, d) taking or giving any bribes or illegal gratification, e) falsified information on the employment application, f) any act subversive of discipline, g) disclosing secrets, h) convention of offense involving moral turpitude.

Outside Activities

Employee may engage in activities outside of their work. Some of these activities may either badly affect employees job performance or damage the image of their organizations. Their behaviors off- the- job may embarrass the organization. These activities may include: wage garnishment, unauthorized strike activity, working for a competing company, outside criminal activities, questioning the organizations key values in public. Employees off the job activities must fall within the acceptable standards of the organization; otherwise they will be subjected to disciplinary action.

5. Factors influencing the disciplinary decision

There are many problems that might require disciplinary action. But the severity of these problems is not same. So these problems call for different actions. Some factors that need to be considered if managers are to have fair and equitable disciplinary practices. Here an attempt has been made to identify the factors that can influence the disciplinary decision. W. Wohlking (1975) proposed nine factors that help us analyze a discipline problem. These are: seriousness of the problem (minor serious or major serious), duration of the problem, frequency and nature of the problem (committing problem frequently), extenuating factors (external factors may cause problem), degree of socialization (employee may be unaware of the accepted behaviors), history of organizations discipline practices, implications for other employees, and management backing.

6. Disciplinary ActionsBefore taking actions, managers must have understanding about the factors as mentioned in section three. Discipline problems are not same in terms of severity and seriousness Some are minor offenses while others are serious. So they should be treated differently. By making such a distinction, management can be able to establish a consistent and equitable discipline policy. To over-penalize is unfair but leniency may encourage more and more violation. If drastic action is necessary, it should be taken without hesitation. Employees must be given a chance to respond to charges made against them. Infractions of rules that go without penalty encourage the rule- breaker to continue on this way. He must be given an opportunity to defend himself. If a disciplinary action is challenged, the personnel department must have sufficient documentation to support the action. Discipline generally follows a typical sequence of six steps: oral warning, written warning, suspension, demotion, pay cut, and dismissal. Let us now discuss these actions in detail.

Oral warning

It is the mildest form of discipline. It should be used in a private and informal environment. Employees who experience their first minor offense might expect an oral warning. Managers inform the employees that they are causing problems by violating rules of the organization. Managers should make the employee aware of the problem and give him opportunity to correct the problem. He should tell the employee about the consequences of non-compliance of rules. This is sufficient to in most case to change the attitude of an employee who has broken some regulation. If the employee fails to improve, the manager will need to consider more severe action.

Written warning

The second step in progressive discipline is the written warning. It is more severe than oral warning. It is permanently recorded in the employees official file. If an employee does not respond to oral warning, then a formal written warning is called for. It is a bad remark in the employees service record and is likely to be used against him in future. The procedure of written warning is the same as the oral one. The employee is advised of the violation, its effect and potential consequences of future violations. The manager writes up the warning. Written warnings are often prepared in four copies- one for the personnel department, one for the supervisor, one for the foreman and one for the disciplined employee. Management will conclude the warning by obtaining the employees signature to make sure that the problem employee read and understand the warning. Of course employees are given chance to defend the allegation.

Suspension

Suspension or temporary removal form service is next in severity. Suspension may be for several days or weeks. Since suspension is a form of lay-off, it should not be used unless the offense calls for at least a lay-off.

Demotion

If suspension has not been effective and management wants to avoid dismissing the problem employee, demotion may be an alternative. Management is usually reluctant to use demotion as a discipline measure because it tends to demoralize not only the employees but also the co-workers ( Decenzo, 1998).

Pay cut

Cutting the problem employees pay is sometimes used as a discipline measure. Although it has a demoralizing effect on the employee, it is rational action if the last one is dismissal. If the pay cut can always be rescinded if the problem employee alters his behavior. Management does not like to use dismissal because it means losing the individuals experience and background. Hiring new employees is expensive, as they need to be trained to do the job.

Dismissal

Dismissing the problem employee is the managements ultimate disciplinary action. It is generally referred as industrial capital punishment. It should be used only for the most serious offenses. It is used when other measures failed to bring about correction. If the employee continues to engage in misconduct, then dismissal is the right remedy. Dismissal decision should be legally justified. The dismissed employee may take legal action to fight the decision.

7. General Guidelines in Administering DisciplineDessler (1997), Davis (1994), Huberman (1985), Condon (1985), Ghosh (1995), and Decenzo (1998) develop few general guidelines for administering discipline. These are as follows:

i) Discipline should be corrective. The objective of disciplinary action is not to deal out punishment. The objective is to correct an employees undesirable behavior. Punishment has undesirable side effects.

ii) Discipline should be progressive. Typically, progressive disciplinary action begins with an oral warning and proceeds through a written warning, suspension, and only in the most serious cases, dismissal. Progressive discipline means that there are stronger penalties for repeated offenses. The purpose is to give an employee an opportunity to take corrective action before more serious penalties are applied.

iii) Discipline should be immediate. Just like touching a hot stove, where feedback is immediate, there should be not misunderstanding about why discipline was imposed. It is best that disciplinary process begin as soon as possible after the violation is noticed. If the penalty is delayed, the employee may have forgotten the wrong doings and think that the company is picking on him.

iv) Discipline should be with warning. You know what happens if you touch a red- hot stove. Employees must know very clearly what the consequences of undesirable work behavior will be. It is common sense that an employee will obey an instruction more readily if he understands it. The manager has an obligation to give advance warning prior to initiating formal disciplinary action. They must be given adequate warning. If an employee can show that management failed to give adequate notice of rules, management has difficulty justifying the discipline before a union or arbitrator.

v) Discipline must be consistent. Every time a person touches the hot-stove- he gets the same response- he gets burned. Lack of consistency causes employees to feel discriminated against. When rule violations are enforced in an inconsistent manner, the rules lose their impact. If there is a hint of unfairness in a disciplinary action, it can lead to a prolonged, costly dispute. Strikes can occur. Morale will decline and employees will question the competence of management. Productivity will suffer as a result of employee insecurity and anxiety.

vi) Discipline must be impersonal. A hot-stove is blind to who touches it. So managers cannot play favorites by disciplining subordinates they do not like while allowing the same behavior to go unpunished for those they do like. All individuals- big and small-should receive equal punishment for equal indiscipline, otherwise management is bound to be accused of favoritism.(Tripathi, 1994) Penalties should be connected with a given violation, not with the personality of the violator. The idea is to condemn the employees wrongful act, not the employee as a person. That is, discipline should be directed at against an act and not against the person. As a manger, you should make it clear that you are avoiding personal judgements about the employees character. And all employees committing the violation can be expected to be penalized.

vii) The employee should be given an opportunity to explain his action. He must be given a show cause notice or a charge sheet. An offender is innocent until he is proved guilty beyond doubt. No punishment can be imposed on an employee unless he is proved guilty of some misconduct. The burden of proving the violation always lies on the management. In other words, disciplinary action should be carried out by the immediate line supervisor. The accused employee should have the right to appeal to higher authorities.

viii) Disciplinary action should be taken in private. After the disciplinary action ha been taken the supervisor must assume a normal attitude towards the employee. This is possible only when the supervisor uses an impersonal approach in administering a penalty.

8. Concluding Remarks This paper highlights a good number of aspects regarding disciplining problem employee. This paper shows that disciplinary action is beneficial if it is practiced fairly and equitably and consistently. The most common discipline problems can be classified as related to attendance, on-the-job behavior, and dishonesty and outside activities. The severity of disciplinary action should depend on such factors as seriousness of the problem, duration of the problem, employees work history and implication of other employees. Considering these factors, mangers should undertake actions, which range form warning to dismissal. Executives must convince that disciplinary action is needful and effective. It is a tool that must be used for the companys benefits. The main reason for disciplinary action to correct employee behavior. A manager must consider it as tool and not as a weapon of supervision. Since disciplinary action involves penalties and since it has bad implications, management must fully know when, why, how, and when the disciplinary action should be taken. Only then the disciplinary action will gain its purposes with a minimum loss of employee goodwill. The law of natural justice should be followed; that is, the offended should be given an opportunity to defend him. Another important point is that managers must be disciplined otherwise subordinates will not listen to them. Disciplinary action must be evaluated in term of its effectiveness after it has been applied.

References

Baum, L (1991). Punishing workers with a day off, Business Week, p.80.

Cascio, W, F. (1996), Managing human Resources, McGraw-Hill, Singapore.

Condon, T, J. and Richard, H. W. (1985), A Comparative Disciplinary Practices, Public Personnel Management, 14, No. 13, 245-251.

Decenzo, D. A. (1998), Human Resource Management, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi.

Dessler, G. (1997), Human Resource Management, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill of India, New Delhi.

Ghosh, B. (1995), Personnel Management and Industrial Relations in India, The World Press Private Limited, Calcutta.

Huberman, J. (1985), Discipline without punishment, Harvard business Review, July-August, pp. 6-8.

Jucious, M.J. (1990), Personnel Management, 9th Edition, Toppan company ltd, Tokyo, Japan.

Robbins, S. P. (1997), Organizational Behavior, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi.

Tripathi, P.C ( 1994), Personnel and Industrial Relations, Sultan Chand and Sons, New Delhi.

Weitz, B. A. (1990), managing marginal employees: The use of warnings and dismissals, Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 467-484.

Werther, W. B. and Devis, K. (1994), Human Resource Management, McGraw-Hill, Singapore.

Wohlking, W. (1985), Effective Discipline in Employee Relations, Personnel Journal, September, pp. 491-92.

Employee Productivity through Motivation

1. Introduction

The aim of all managers is the same; they must be productive. They have to create a surplus. Without surplus, organizations cannot survive and grow. Productivity improvement is the main objective of all managers. The developed countries are far ahead in the race of productivity. Bangladesh, in contrast, lag far behind in this issue. Productivity is the ratio of output and inputs. Of all the factors used for the transformation of inputs into output, the most important one is human resources. So managers should encourage their people so that they can make maximum contribution to the organization. Productivity through people is an esatblished fact. Making employee productive is the prime responsibility of management at all levels. They must create an environment in which employee with diverse backgrounds work together as a group, to achieve the predetermined goals effectively and efficiently. In other words, Managers are responsible for providing an environment conducive to better performance.

Now the relevant question is, why is human resource superior to other factors of production? Human resources are endowed with some unique qualities. The wonder of wonders is man. Among the important these are:

People can think and imagine. They can create something.

They can be motivated. When people are motivated, they work hard.

They can work as a team.

They have synergetic power. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Two and two can make five or more in the case of positive synergy. Synergy may be also negative.

The main function of any manager is to secure and maintain optimum performance from their employees. Performance is a function of the individual ability, knowledge and motivation. Ability is the capability of doing a thing successfully. We can hire employees with extra ordinary competence and develop these abilities and still not be assured that they will perform satisfactorily. The mere presence of ability and knowledge cannot guarantee that individual will put forth his best effort. There is another factor operating in the situation, namely motivation, which finally determines the effort, which can reasonably be expected from such employee. People who are motivated exert greater effort to perform than those who are not motivated. It will activate the potential of our employees. Managers must be concerned with providing stimulus that converts employee talent into successful job performance.

1. 2. What is meant by motivation?

Today, virtually all people have their own definitions of motivation. It means many things to many people. The term motivation can be traced to the Latin word movere, which means to move. It is moving people to perform something. Motivation attempts to influence or cause certain behavior. It is the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways. Motivation is the way in which drives or needs direct a persons behavior toward a goal. Psychologists agree that all conscious behaviors are motivated. Let us define drive. Drives or motives are set up to alleviate needs. People have a need for food. Needs are basic for survival. The need for food may be translated into hunger drive. Motivation induces people to act in a desired manner. It concerns the level of effort put forth to pursue specific goals. It is the willingness to exert high levels of effort toward organizational goals, conditioned by the efforts ability to satisfy some individual need (Decenzo and Robbins, 1999). There are three elements in this definition: effort, organizational goal and needs. Needs are created whenever there is physiological and psychological imbalance. When someone is motivated, he put more effort. Individual needs must be compatible and consistent with the organizational goals.

Motivation and Satisfaction: A Comparison

Late professor Harold Koontz (1992) makes a distinction between motivation and satisfaction. He argues that motivation is different from satisfaction. Motivation is the drive or efforts to satisfy a want. Satisfaction is the happiness experienced when a want is satisfied or fulfilled. In other words, motivation is the drive toward an outcome, and satisfaction is the outcome already experienced.

1. 3. Motivation as a ProcessMotivation is a process involving a few steps. Motivation process begins with needs or a deficiency. People have needs although number of needs is limited. Needs are essential for survival. An unfulfilled or unsatisfied internal need creates tension that stimulates drives within the individual. We can say that motivated employees are in a state of tension. To relieve this tension, they exert effort. The greater the tension, the higher the effort level. These drives generate a search behavior towards achieving goals, which will satisfy need and finally result in satisfaction or reduction of tension. A person may have a need for food. This need for food can be translated into hunger drives. Drives are action-oriented. The hungry person then examines the surroundings to see which foods are available to satisfy that hunger. Eating food can tend to restore the balance and reduce the corresponding drive. People will seek different foods to satisfy their needs. This difference may be attributed to individual differences and cultural environment may have a bearing on this. There are limitations of this simple need-want-satisfaction chain. Many needs are influenced by environmental factors. Needs do cause behavior but needs also may result from behavior. Motivation can be seen as a need-satisfying process. The motivation process is shown in the following way: Unfulfilled needTensionDrives

Search behaviorSatisfied need Reduction of tension.

1.4 Importance of the study of motivation

Management is getting things done with and through others. In order to be successful in management, a manger must be able to understand the people through whom he gets his job done. According to Tiffin (1974), the productivity of employee depends on two aspects, his ability and motivation. Hence the study of motivation is important on the following counts:

Managers must be able to predict the behaviors of his employees correctly. Human behavior is very complex and critical. A systematic approach to study human behavior improves our understanding and predictive capabilities.

Managers must believe that there is no average person. Firms develop rules and regulations with the assumptions that people are essentially alike. But it is not true because people are unique- they have different needs, ambitions and attitudes and potentials. Unless managers understand the complexity and individuality of people, they may misapply the generalizations about motivation, leadership and communication. This knowledge is essential to predict their behavior. Modern organizations are made up of people of heterogeneous backgrounds in terms of religion, language, education and gender. Managers must understand this workforce diversity.

Globalization has intensified competition. In order to survive, organizations must be innovative and creative. They encourage productivity through people. They give more attention on people. This has led to the concept of human capital. So it is more important to motivate people to be creative and innovative.

1.5 Theories of Motivation

There are many theories of motivation. Among the important these theories are:

The Carrot and Stick theory,

McGregors theory X and Y,

Ouchis theory Z,

Maslows Needs Hierarchy theory,

Alderfers ERG theory,

Herzbergs Two Factors theory,

Equity theory,

Expectancy theory,

McClellands needs theory

2.1 Motivation: The Carrot and Stick

Using rewards and penalties to induce desired behavior is the oldest theory of motivation. To make a donkey move, one must put a carrot in front of him or jab him with a stick from behind. Rewards and punishments are considered strong motivators. The carrot may be money in the form of pay or bonus. The stick may be in the form of fear of loss of job, income, demotion or some other penalty.

2.2 Theory X and Y

In the Human Side of Enterprise, published in 1960, Douglas McGregor contrasted two sets of assumptions about workers attitudes to work and responsibility and commonly known as Theory X and Theory Y. These two sets of assumptions are fundamentally different. Theory X is pessimistic, static, and rigid. In contrast Theory Y is optimistic, dynamic and flexible, with an emphasis of self-direction. They are assumptions only. They are not prescriptions or suggestions for managerial strategies. Rather, these assumptions must be tested against reality. Furthermore, these assumptions are intuitive deductions and are not based on research. Theor5ies X and Y do not imply hard or soft management. Theory X assumes that lower order needs dominate employees and theory Y assumes that higher order needs dominate. Lower -order needs and higher- order needs are best expressed in theory of motivation presented by Maslow. This is described next. McGregor himself held to the belief that Theory Y assumptions were more valid than Theory X. So he proposed ideas like employee participation in decision making and opportunities for challenging jobs that would maximize an employees job motivation.

The traditional assumptions about the nature of people, according to McGregor, are included in Theory X as follows:

People dislike work and will avoid it if possible.

People must be coerced, controlled and threatened to get things done.

Average human beings prefer to be directed, wish to avoid responsibility.

They have little ambition and want security above all.

Theory Y

The theory Y managers assume that the average employee:

Enjoys work and does not want to avoid it.

Wants to attain organizational goals through self-directed behavior.

Will accept responsibility.

Has initiative and can be creative in solving organizational problem.

Theory X assumes that lower order needs dominate employees and theory Y assumes that higher order needs dominant.

2.3 Theory Z

In his book Theory Z, William Ouchi (1982) has identified the characteristics of successful Japanese and US management styles and organizational practices. Theory Z provides a useful example of the way in which behavioral prescriptions for management must be adopted tom fit the organizations cultural environment (Davis, 1997). Theory Z selectively adapts some Japanese practices to the American culture. Ouchi identifies the management practices of Theory Z type organization, which are as follows:

Lifetime employment ( to help satisfy physiological and safety needs),

Consensus decision making ( to help satisfy social needs),

Individual responsibility ( to help satisfy self-esteem needs),

Careful evaluation and promotion (to build confidence and self esteem),

Concern for the total person (to help satisfy self-actualization).

Opportunity to use skills (to help satisfy self-actualization needs).

It is evident from the above that theory Z is believed to foster close, cooperative and trusting relationships among workers, mangers and other groups. The main theme is to make people an important item. Treat people with respect and dignity. Theory Z is not without criticism. It has been suggested that Theory Z is not new, but merely an extension of earlier theories. It is very much consistent with theory Y suggested by Douglas McGregor. Perhaps, the most damaging criticism is the idea that theory Z fails to provide useful criteria for helping managers decide when to use it and when not to use it (Davis, 1997).

2.4 Needs Hierarchy Theory

Abraham Maslow has developed the need hierarchy theory of motivation. Need hierarchies assume that people have different needs that can be arranged in a hierarchy of importance. He proposes that human needs are not of equal strength. He saw human needs in the form of hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest. He argued that people are motivated to satisfy five need levels. These are:

Physiological ( need for food, shelter, sleep, sex, and other bodily needs),

Safety ( job ,and financial security),

Social (friendship or interaction with others),

Esteem ( high status, recognition, autonomy, self respect),

Self-actualization (full use of potentials, able to be creative, independence, total self-direction).

Lower-order and higher-order needs

Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower order needs. Physiological and safety needs were described, as lower order needs. They are similar to primary needs. Social, esteem and self-actualization as higher order needs. Higher order needs are satisfied internally and the lower order needs are satisfied externally.

Interpretation of the hierarchy of needs

The concept of hierarchy of needs ha two consequences. Firstly, unless and until a lower need is satisfied, higher order needs do not motivate. In other words, as the lower order needs are reasonably satisfied, a person places more emphasis on the higher order needs. Higher needs emerge as lower needs are fulfilled or satisfied. Secondly, once a need is satisfied, it no longer motivates. A fully satisfied need would not be a strong motivator. Only unmet needs motivate. So an effective manger is one who can identify and accept employee needs and recognize that needs may differ among employees.

Criticisms of Hierarchy of needs Theory

In spite of the benefits mentioned above, Maslows hierarchical arrangement has been questioned. Given below are some limitations:

Practical evidence points towards a two -level rather than a five-level hierarchy. Edward Lawler has observed, which higher-order needs come into play after the lower ones are satisfied and in which order they come into play cannot be predicted. It seems that most people are simultaneously motivated by several of the same level needs.

Five levels of need are not always present and that the order of the levels is not the same as postulated by Maslow. In addition, people from different cul