Qality Management

Q 1 CONCEPT OF QWL

1. Definition

* Quality of life is defined as the level of enjoyment in a person's life. In general, it is based on many factors. At a minimum, a person's basic needs must be met for them to have a high quality of life---they must be generally healthy, have enough to eat and have a place to live. Once a person's basic needs are met, that person's quality of life is largely determined by their own personality, their desires and their level of personal fulfillment. A person with a high quality of life tends to feel as though all of their important needs and wants are fulfilled. They are generally happy and overall feel as though their life is good. A person without quality of life is lacking in one or several basic areas of his life. For example, the very ill or those who are no longer able to care for themselves or do activities they enjoy because of physical, mental or financial restrictions are often said to have a low quality of life.

Application to the Workplace

* Quality of work life is specifically related to the level of happiness a person derives for his career. Each person has different needs when it comes to their careers; the quality level of their work life is determined by whether those needs are being met. While some people might be content with a simple minimum wage job as long as it helps pay the bills, others would find such a job to be too tedious or involve too much physical labor and would find such a position to be highly unsatisfactory. Thus, requirements for having a high "quality of work life" vary from person to person. Regardless of their standards, those with a high quality of work life generally make enough to live comfortably, find their work to be interesting or engaging and achieve a level of personal satisfaction or fulfillment from the jobs that they do. In other words, employees who are generally happy with their work are said to have a high quality of work life, and those who are unhappy or...