Rajiv Ranjan Sinha

Improving quality work by infusing a “sense of belongingness” in lowest-level workers.

• Authors Details :  
• Rajiv Ranjan Sinha,  
• Sayan Kumar

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Objective: Improving quality work by infusing a “sense of belongingness” in lowest-level workers. The present work focuses on the management of human resources in an enterprise where contract workers are involved in carrying out quality work related to the parent organisation. In today’s world, where the number of supervisors has reduced significantly, it is a challenge to maintain the quality of work at a satisfactory level. The paper proposes to enhance the quality of work by infusing a “sense of belongingness” into lowest-level workers. Methodologies adopted: Case studies. The first case study was conducted between 2007-2011 during a project related to Rural Electrification Work in the Bokaro district under the scheme RGGVY. The author was deputed to supervise the rural electrification work of 300 villages with thousands of kilometres of 11kv and 415V distribution lines, along with over 400 distribution transformers in four blocks of the Bokaro district in Jharkhand. Contractors engaged local workers for erection of all infrastructure. The author explained the process of erection to local communities and brought about a sense of belongingness in them towards the infrastructure being developed. The second case review was conducted between 2013-16 at Chandrapura, Bokaro, during the operation and maintenance work of the 220KV switchyard. Six workers were involved in the maintenance work of the switchyard. They rectified faults during emergencies and took care of housekeeping. However, they only followed orders and never worked proactively. The author divided the workplace into eighteen parts, each maintaining three parts. During monthly walk-in inspections, one worker was awarded as the best contractor’s employee of the month of that section, which introduced a sense of competition among them. Analysis: During the first case study, after pointing out the benefits of the infrastructure being developed and how the quality of work will help in its sustainability for an extended period, villagers realised its importance in their well-being. As a result, they kept vigil over the contractor’s work during the erection process. In second case study, the repetitive external motivation (awards and appreciation) infused a “sense of belongingness” in them. Thus, all employees started functioning proactively. As a result, the occurrence of electrical faults was reduced drastically, and housekeeping improved. Findings: These two case studies lead the author to coin the term “sense of belongingness”, which can lead to improve the quality of work by the lowest-level workers in a company. There are five ways to develop a “Sense of Belongingness” (SOB) among workers- external motivation, which can lead to internal motivation; mutual respect; a sense of duty (every person has their own responsibility); brainstorming sessions (to make them feel as an integral part of the department); encouraging them to do more than expected. Conclusion: All these steps help to develop a “sense of belongingness” among the lowest-level workers in an organisation. Without these principles, it will be a challenge to achieve quality work. The paper addresses all the processes in detail to improve the work culture in a department and, ultimately, an organisation.

Article Subject Details

• Engineering
• Engineering management
• Hr and admin management
• Human resource management
• Human resources

Article Keywords Details

• lowest level worker
• motivation
• quality
• Sense of duty
• Sense of belongingness

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