PROGRAM QUALITY OF LIFE AT WORK IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS OF INNOVATION: A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The present study searched the existing relationship between different patterns of adoption of new management practices and the implementation of quality of work life programs (WLQP’s). Four patterns of innovation were defined, identified from the national average of adoption of such practices, which were a set of companies considered highly innovative, another set of companies considered lowly innovative, a third set of companies, considered innovative in people management practices and a last set of companies considered innovative in work process rationalization practices. In order to achieve the proposed goal, this study adopts a survey like questionnaire, applied to the production managers in a sample of 220 companies from the industrial sector, showing more than 150 employees. Through descriptive data analysis and the Homals multivariate data analysis, run by SPSS, it was possible to identify three kinds of association between the patterns of innovation and WLQP’s: lowly innovative companies ten not to adopt WLQP’s, whereas companies considered highly innovative ten to adopt WLQP’s in health and professional development. Companies considered innovative in people management practices or in work process rationalization practices develop WLQP’s in leisure and social relations.