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Abstract
Employees around the world are motivated to work and perform effectively based on the kind of positive rewards they expect to earn as a result of their performance. This paper is an attempt to relate quality of work life with the Expectancy theory proposed by Victor Vroom. The three factors of the theory are associated and viewed from the perspective of various work related components such as working environment, amenities and resources with reference to an educational institution in Oman. The paper supports the idea that employees' efforts propelled by positive behavior and valued goals are instrumental in increasing the QWL.
Key Words: Quality of Work life, expectancy theory, motivation, rewards
1. Introduction
Quality of Work Life (QWL) has gained the attention of people worldwide, particularly in the last two decades and has been an interesting area of study for researchers, academicians, managers and experts who have looked at it as a core indicator for job satisfaction, employee motivation, performance management and enhanced productivity. Numerous studies have reported that QWL is an important factor for employee retention and improving the productivity of the organization. It is indeed true that work - life balance is imperative for an organization to be successful. Employees need to be provided the right kind of work atmosphere and facilities to enhance the effectiveness of the organization. This has made organizations worldwide to look into the finer aspects of developing healthy QWL for the employees.
It is generally believed that it is the organisation's responsibility to take initiatives for improving the QWL for their employees. Several studies have reported that the organization need to provide job security, safe and healthy working conditions, fair compensation, career opportunities and welfare facilities for the employees in order to improve the QWL. While this is largely necessary, it also takes initiatives from the employees themselves to enhance the QWL. In this paper the authors have taken efforts to show how employees' efforts propelled by positive behavior and valued goals are instrumental in increasing the QWL. The authors have presented a model showing effectiveness of QWL among staff in an educational institution in Oman by adapting the Victor Vroom's Expectancy theory.
2. Definitions
According to J. Richard and J. Loy, "QWL is the...