Browsing by Author "Thavakumar, D."

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The Effect of Supportive Work Environment on Employee Commitment- Mediating Role of Employee Engagement in Apparel Industry in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2020) Jayasinghe, W. G. N. M.; Thavakumar, D.
Supportive work environment develops an atmosphere to attract and retain a talented and motivated workforce to an organization. It further improves the commitment and dedication of employees towards more work. As a key player of the Sri Lankan economy and the second largest foreign exchange earner to the country, apparel industry requires to consider to keep such a workforce by creating a supportive work environment. In Sri Lankan context, few empirical studies are available which were addressed on the work environment in the apparel sector. The existing empirical knowledge gap concentrates on giving attention on this aspect. Therefore, the objectives of this study were as to analyze the relationships among the supportive work environment, employee engagement, employee commitment and explore the mediating role of employee engagement in the effects of supportive work environment on employee commitment of selected apparel firms in Sri Lanka. To achieve these objectives, data were collected from 203 machine operators of the selected two apparel companies using structured questionnaire. The sample was chosen through Stratified Random sampling technique. Stratified sampling is where the population is divided into sub groups (strata) and a random sample is taken from each subgroup. Researcher was chosen machine operators based on the company size from the whole population. In this case, subgroup was grounded on company size. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. In this study, supportive work environment is the independent variable, employee commitment is the dependent variable and employee engagement is the mediating variable. The results indicated that significant positive relationships exist between independent, dependent and mediating variables and complementary partial mediation effect of employee engagement in the effects of supportive work environment on employee commitment. As a result of this study, Managers of Apparel companies must give their attention for combination of supportive work environment and employee engagement to increase level of employee commitment. This study only covered two firms in Nuwaraeliya Apparel Industry. So in future scope will be expanding beyond the research area, it will be effective and useful.
Occupational Stress: A Study of the Private Banks in Batticaloa District
(2011) Victor, L.D.; Thavakumar, D.
Employees in many countries increasingly complain about high and rising levels of stress at work. As stress levels have increased, employers have faced rising medical bills, more accident insurance claims, increased absenteeism, and declining morale. Most corporate efforts to handle the problem have focused on the symptoms of stress, with, for example, therapy, counseling, gym memberships, and in-house exercise facilities. This research studies the occupational stress of private bank employees in the Batticaloa District. The data for this study is collected from 100 employees selected from banks. In this study we are concerning about two variables, namely Work Demands and Decision Latitude. Work demands are the psychological stressors the job places on the worker and include: the volume of work, the speed of work, the lack of time, and the conflicts involved in having to do different types of work at the same time. Decision latitude encompasses decision authority, which refers to the worker?s authority to make decisions involving how the work is done, and skill discretion, which refers to his or her opportunity to use a variety of skills on the job. The researchers used the questionnaire to collect the primary data. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data, Mean and standard deviation was used in the descriptive statistics to find out the influence of each factor in the dependent variable, stress. And the correlation and regression was done to find out the relationship between independent and dependent variable. The researchers used SPSS 14.0 to analyze the data. In general, we found that stress increases when work demand is high. And the stress reduces when the decision latitude are high. As a result, we suggest the managers to decrease the work demand and increase the decision latitude to keep the stress in a balance level.
A Survey of Factors Influencing Employee Engagement: A Case of Insurance Companies in Batticaloa District
(Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Thavakumar, D.; Evangeline, S.J.
Employee engagement is a fulfilling work-related state of mind characterized by feelings of energy, dedication, and more concentration towards role performance. This concept is rapidly gaining popularity and is used in workplace to retain quality employees. This study examines the factors that influence employee engagement and measures the overall level of employee engagement in insurance sector. Four main factors were identified such as involvement and participation; recognitions and rewards; internal communication and work-life balance. To attain the objectives, the quantitative method was used and data were collected through questionnaires. A total of 210 questionnaires were distributed to the employees who are in marketing and distribution level in insurance companies in Batticaloa District. Only 202 questionnaires were received and used for further analysis. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. The findings exhibited that, there were relationship between factors and employee engagement and also employee engagement of employees is in high level in insurance companies in Batticaloa District. However, all factors are positively and significantly correlated with employee engagement.
Work-Family Conflict of Women Employees (Special Reference to Banking Sector) in Batticaloa District
(2011) Victor, L.D.; Thavakumar, D.
The question of how to strike a balance between work and life is attracting increasing attention at both the national and international level (Crompton and Lyonette, 2006). Interest in this issue has grown with the increase in dual career couples and single-parent households and the concomitant decrease in traditional single income families. As long as the society continues to emphasize a woman?s basic role as that of mothering, working women will face role struggles. As married working women, many women employees have to assume multiple roles in the family in addition to their career. They must be bear major responsibility for household chores and childcare. These responsibilities give rise to work-family conflict, which becomes an obstacle in managing their employment. This research studies the work-family conflict among married women employees in banking sector. The data for this study came from 100 married women in public and private banks who responded to a self-administered questionnaire. By using the primary data, the researchers tend to find out the extent of work characteristics and family characteristics influence on the Work-Family conflict. The work characteristics include Number of hours worked, work flexibility, work stressors. The family characteristics include number of children, age of children, family support. ICBI 2011 Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies 2 The researchers used the questionnaire to collect the primary data. Also researchers used interview method to clarify the things. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyse the data, Mean and standard deviation was used in the descriptive statistics to find out the influence of each factor in the dependent variable, stress. And the correlation and regression was done to find out the relationship between independent and dependent variable. The SPSS 14.0 package was used to analyze the data. From the discussion of the findings, several implications arouse. There is a need for greater spouse support, flexible work schedule child care centers and family support in order to alleviate work-family conflict. Maintenance of good marital relations is important in reducing spouse conflict and increasing well being in women employee.