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FLEXIBLE WORKING CONDITION AND ITS IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE AND JOB SATISFACTION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background of the study

The environment is man’s immediate surrounding which he manipulates for his existence. Wrongful manipulation introduces hazards that make the environments unsafe and impede the productivity rate of the worker. Therefore, the workplace entails an environment in which the worker performs his work (Chapins, 1995) while an effective workplace is an environment where results can be achieved as expected by management (Mike, 2010; Shikdar, 2002). Flexible working condition affects how employees in an organization interact, perform tasks, and are led. Flexible working condition as an aspect of the work environment have directly affected the human sense and subtly changed interpersonal interactions and thus productivity. This is so because the characteristics of a room or a place of meeting for a group have consequences regarding productivity and performance level. The physical workplace environment is the most critical factor in keeping an employee satisfied in today’s business world. Today’s workplace is different, diverse, and constantly changing. The typical employer/employee relationship of old has been turned upside down. Workers are living in a growing economy and have almost limitless job opportunities. This combination of factors has created an environment where the business needs its employees more than the employees need the business (Smith, 2011).

A large number of flexible working condition studies have shown that workers/users are satisfied with reference to specific workspace features. These features preference by users are highly significant to their productivity and workspace performance, they are lighting, ventilation rates, access to natural light and acoustic environment (Humphries, 2005; Veitch, Charles, Newsham, Marquardt & Geerts, 2004; Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Lighting and other factors like ergomic furniture has been found to have positive influence on employees health (Dilani, 2004; Milton, Glencross & Walters, 2000; Veitch & Newsham, 2000) and consequently on productivity. This is so because light has a profound impact on worker’s/people’s physical, physiological and psychological health, and on their overall performance at the workplace. Ambient features in office environments, such as lighting, temperature, existence of windows, free air movement etc, suggest that these elements of thephysical environment influence employee’s attitudes, behaviours, satisfaction, performance and productivity (Larsen, Adams, Deal, Kweon & Tyler, 1998).

Job satisfaction is defined as the effective orientation that an employee has towards his or her work(Saari,&Judge.2004).It describes the feelings or preference of individuals regarding work. Job satisfaction is a very important component to employees in any organization (Frank & Vecera, 2008) Many researchers and administrators have noticed the importance of job satisfaction on a variety of organizational variables (Kreisman, 2002). Dissatisfied employees are likely to leave their jobs, thus understanding of employee job satisfaction and its contributing variable are important for any organization to exist and prosper (Majidi,2010). Similarly Oplatka & Mimon, (2008) noted that the principal reason as to why job satisfaction is to extensively researched is that it relates to significant association with life satisfaction (Buitendach & Dewitte, 2005), organizational commitment (Cullinah, 2005) and job performance (Buitendanch & Dewitte, 2005)

1.2 Problem statement

Companies that have implemented the flexible working conditions programs recognize that employee welfare affects the bottom line of the business. In today’s competitive world, organizations are spending lot of time and money on employee satisfaction in an effort to improve productivity, and also to help the organization needs (Bhatnagar, 2002). The existing literature demonstrates number of studies that have addressed the importance of flexible working condition, job productivity and organizational commitment for the organization as well as for the individuals in private organization. However limited study exist that examined the impact of flexible working condition on job productivity and organizational commitment among employees of educational sector specifically tertiary institutions.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of flexible working condition on performance and job satisfaction, using the Lagos State Service as a case study. Specifically the study objectives are:

To examine the type of working conditions in organisations

To determine if there is a positive relationship between flexible working condition and employees productivity

To determine if there is a positive relationship between flexible working condition and organizational commitment of employees

Significance of the study

This study on completion will help the managers and administrators of the tertiary institutions to understand the importance of effective implementation of flexible working condition policies. Understanding the relationship between employee job productivity, flexible working condition and organizational commitment is beneficial for administrators of tertiary institutions, researchers and also for the students.

Study hypothesis

The study hypothesis is:

H1: There is a positive relationship between flexible working condition and employees’ productivity?

H2: There is a positive relationship between flexible working condition and organizational performance?

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study scope is limited to investigating impact of flexible working condition on performance and job satisfaction in Lagos state civil service. Limitation faced by the research was limited time and financial constraint.

Organisation of study

The study is grouped into five chapters. This chapter being the first gives an introduction to the study. Chapter two gives a review of the related literature. Chapter three presents the research methodology; chapter four presents the data analysis as well as interpretation and discussion of the results. Chapter five gives a summary of findings and recommendations.

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