Precedence of Work Environment Factors Influencing Employee Performance: A RIDIT Approach

Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of work environment on employee performance and to establish the ranks and prioritize the items related to work environment (WE) in order to maximize employee performance. Methods: Descriptive methodology was used for the study. Association between work environment and employee performance was identified by using correlation analysis. Means of the items of WE were obtained and ranks were provided to the various factors of work environment using RIDIT analysis. Findings/application: The review founds the need to connect work environment with the performance of workers. The managers need to study the rankings provided to the various factors of the work environment and derive the policies or make amendments as and where needed, according to the priority of the factors. This will enhance the overall performance of the employee of the organization as suggested in the study. The uniqueness of this study is, prioritizing the items of work environment with respect to employee performance by using RIDIT analysis. Hence, firms can concentrate and give utmost importance for those items to maximize workers’ efficiency and hence organization performance.


Introduction
Employee performance (EP) is determined by various factors. Employees can put their heart and soul for the organization if the work environment (WE) is smooth and comfortable for them. Better work environment inspires the workers and increase their efficiency. Worker's mistake rate, level of novelty and teamwork with other staffs, absence and, duration of stay in the job are influenced by the way they engage with the organization, especially with their instantaneous setting. Numerous studies have exposed that if there is no association and mutual understanding between the workers and their immediate managers, then most of the workers leave their organization and their administrators. There is a significant relationship between works, pressure, and health consequences [1]. Studies were done for improving the behavioral work environment and the ways to stop absenteeism of workers due to issues related to well-being [2]. "WE" is all about making circumstances where employees can complete their responsibilities happily [3].
Stability between workers task and demands can be obtained by applying Ergonomics perfectly. Moreover, organizational performance will improve if there is an increase in worker efficiency, worker safety, physical and mental well-being and job satisfaction. Various aspects need to be analyzed about things which have created a situation in which a company requires its workers more than the workers require the company [4]. People operate the surrounding for their survival. Incorrect operations become as a threat and disturb employee performance. Hence workroom requires an atmosphere in which the worker accomplishes his work [5]. An active workroom is a setting in which outcomes can be attained as anticipated by the organization [6][7]. Researchers studied about the psychosocial stressors faced by the employees and analysed about those stressors, the consequences and their significant impact in the work place [8].
Various physical and mental disorders were caused which affect the performance of the workers. Recent researches focus on the factors of "work environment" and top priority is given to "psychosocial factors". The work environment has a significant impact on the psychological and wellbeing of staffs [9]. Clients will feel happy with better work environment design. Hazards and wounds can be reduced or eliminated with better WE and expensive redesigns can be avoided. Experts from the field of Ergonomics and Psychology, create better procedures and products with their knowledge and skills. The present task of any organization is to create an environment which can motivate its employees for improving performance. All the managers in various levels are accountable for this act. They need to brainstorm and innovate new methods to create better work atmosphere in which workers feel comfortable, pleased and satisfied to perform their job. Physical and psychological well-being is affected by the work environment positively and negatively. Expectations about work environment are different and unique in the business world and it is changing in different time frame.
There are lot of changes between the relationship of employer and employee nowadays. In the present economy, employees have plenty of chances and limitless job opportunities. This situation made the condition where employers need their employees rather employees need employer. Hence, the main focus is, to realize about better work environment which is very essential to impress the employees.The output of workers is determined by WE in which they work. WE include all the features which act and react on the heart and soul of an employee. Productivity and performance of employees are optimized by physical, mental, and social environment. The ultimate aim is to create an environment where positive things are maximized and negative things are minimized by considering economic, mechanical, and psychological aspects. Effective WE motivate its workers and help to increase the growth and economy of the firm. Physical, psychological, and social aspects which impact the working conditions are included in the idea of WE.

Background
Excellence of work station has an influence on employee's attitude and their performance [10]. Work environment design has an influence on the employee's conduct and is vital in attaining tactical, professional purposes [11]. Enhancement in physical design of office, increases employee productivity [12]. Better results were produced by better work environments. According to American Societies of Interior Designers, employees prefer physical comfort in the office. Organizations which have a better workplace environment, accomplishes the employees' requirements help to improve their productivity [10].

Statement of the Problem
In many organizations, the workplace atmosphere, its importance and its related problems are pointedly over looked [10]. Less consideration was given to the workroom environment. Employers and workers are not conscious about the effect and changing aspects of workplace environment which causes delay in work accomplishment, hindrance, increase in absenteeism and effect on personal growth, etc [10].

Objectives of the Study
• To understand the connection between the factors of work environment and workers' performance. • To rank the items of work environment with respect to their impact on workers' performance. • To analyze how Physical, Social, and Psychological work environments affect the employees' performance

Workplace Environment (WE)
WE play an important role and are one of the vital requirements to complete any job successfully [13]. Numerous researches have tried to explain WE in diverse areas. Factors of WE were studied and researched by many researchers [14][15][16][17][18]. The importance of WE was explained by various scholars [19][20][21]. Relation between WE and Retention of workers is explained in those studies. Studies on WE were conducted to find the factors which impact employees' decision-making regarding acceptance or rejection of a job [22]. According to many researchers, WE must be taken care very seriously to reduce grievances and absenteeism [13]. Moreover, studies were conducted regarding physical surroundings, office design and their effects on employee performance [18,[23][24][25]. Variations in existence of life, balance of work-life and issues related to well-being are influenced by the factors of WE. Behavioral environment, work place design and connectivity ware analyzed by many researchers to obtain extensive knowledge in the domain of WE [25][26][27][28][29]. In many studies, factors of WE were identified and the relationship between WE and EP was proved. Studies regarding collaborative knowledge work environments were conducted by many scholars [24,[30][31]. Quality of WE, office personalization, employee wellbeing and effect of new work place were discussed by various researchers [32][33][34][35]. Comfort and happiness of the employees are greatly influenced by WE which impacts the success of business also [36]. The present study concentrates on prioritizing the items of WE which improve workers' performance and also identifying the impact of WE on worker performance in terms of wellbeing and satisfaction.

Employee Performance (EP)
Readiness and the sincerity of the employees impact their performance and productivity [37]. Previous studies viewed workers performance in a different manner. Few researchers claimed that attitude and behavior impact employee performance. Attitude and behavior of the workers have significant association with performance [38]. By monitoring employees' behaviors, organizations can improve work performance [39]. Task performance and contextual performance of the workers are led by the behavior of the workers [40]. Companies must have a track on the jobs of the employees to attain objectives of the organization [41]. By doing so, they can watch their employees and help them to progress and maximize their performance that various training and motivation sessions can be helpful for improving performance of the workers [42]. The performance of the workers is very much essential for improving organizations performance. Identifying the factors which affect EP and the role of WE are vital for any institution [43].

Methodology
The study is descriptive in nature. The population consists of employees of various manufacturing organizations, Bangalore. The sample for the study would be limited to 350 respondents and the list of workers forms the sampling frame. Each worker of the sample constitutes the sampling unit. Stratified sampling method was used for the study.

Analysis and Interpretation
During data collection, questionnaire was sent to 350 respondents and 273 complete responses were collected. The response rate of the survey is 78%, which is acceptable and suitable for the study. Table 1 shows the mean and standard deviation of the items representing different work environments. Seventy items were taken from Physical, Social, and Psychological work environments out of which only thirty-eight items have mean more than 3.5.
Only these 13 items were considered for further analysis in the present study.

RIDIT Analysis for Work Environment Items
RIDIT analysis was familiarized by I. Bross, and has been used in various functional areas of business. Postulation about the distribution is not compulsory since it is distribution free [42][43]. RIDIT score can be derived with the help of mathematical methods. RIDIT analysis converts ordinal data to a probability scale. Prominently, RIDIT analysis is firmly connected to the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Mean RIDIT and Wilcoxon test statistic are directly connected. Hypothesis that there is no significant difference between mean RIDITS across all groups using a χ 2 statistic can be tested [44]. Similar test between any group and the reference group was defined by them. Work environment data and employee performance were chosen as reference data set. The frequencies of the responses are exposed in Table 4. The last row of reference dataset represents the RIDIT values of the reference data set for each item in the following Table 5. RIDIT values are derived by summing the weights. Priority rankings connected with the RIDIT scores are provided in the following table.
Taking the first row in Table 6 which has the variable OB01, the value of 0.0003 is derived from Table 5 by multiplying the frequency of 6 (from the row marked WE01 in Table 5) by the reference group RIDIT values of 0.012398 (found in the bottom row of Table 5) and  1  2  3  4  5   WE01  6  15  56  141  55  273  WE02  3  17  53  150  50  273  WE05  6  20  64  132  51  273  WE06  4  26  48  116  79  273  WE16  14  26  77  95  61  273  WE29  1  29  83  120  40  273  WE35  10  37  48  121  57  273  WE36  4  26  65  126  52  273  WE42  9  23  74  121  46  273  WE44  3 Table 5). RIDIT scores were obtained by adding the weights from the five columns. Statistically, the average RIDIT value will be 0.5. Those items with comparatively more response of 5 and 4 will tend to have a RIDIT value of larger than 0.5. Those items with relatively more responses of 2 and 1 will have a RIDIT value of less than 0.5. Subsequently, the higher the RIDIT value is the higher priority the sample places on the item will be. We allocate priority rankings to the items with the highest priority going to the maximum RIDIT value. The Kruskal-Wallis 'W' was calculated to be 84.825. Because the value of W (84.825) is significantly bigger than χ 2 (13-1) = 22.362, it can be understood that the opinions about the scale items among the respondents vary statistically. It is nonparametric and based on ranks. It is used to test whether there are significant differences among two or more groups of the items of work environment. This test does not demand that the data should be normal. Perhaps the ranks of the data values ware used for analysis. From the RIDIT ranking analysis (Table 6), it was identified that out of all the work environment items, the item which states, "Cooperation, support, and empowerment exist in the organization" was given utmost priority by the respondents followed by the item which states, " Compassion, respect and understanding exist in the organization", "My organization is training and development focused", "There exists strong leadership from the top management" whereas the least priority was assigned to the item which states, "In the organization conflicts resolved in a fair way". Using RIDIT analysis, the overall ranking of the items of work environment was shown in Table 6.

Discussion
There exists a significant positive relationship between the items of work environment and employee performance. In addition, the study established the priority ranks of the items of work environment in order to maximize employee performance. According to the results, companies need to concentrate more on creating a work environment where cooperation, support, compassion, respect, and understanding exist always in the organization in order to improve the performance of the employees. Moreover, an organization needs to focus on training and development to improve employee performance. Employees need to sense challenged and to be given assignments that motivate, test, and stretch their capabilities. Better selection and connection of team members also play a vital role to improve employee performance.
The administrative team of the organization needs to offer an environment in which morality and honesty are valued. State of the art technology needs to be used and the employees need to be trained to expertise in various fields. Staffs need to feel accepted and treated with courtesy, listened to, and invited to express their thoughts and feelings by the top management. Organizations need to have a fun and productive atmosphere so that employees feel happy to work there. Workers need to have optimistic working relationships among them. Conflicts need to be resolved in a fair-minded way in the organization. In many studies, factors of WE were identified and the relationship between WE and EP was proved. But the uniqueness of this study is, prioritizing the items of WE with respect to EP by using RIDIT analysis. Hence, firms can concentrate and give utmost importance for those items to improve the efficiency of staffs and thus organization performance.

Limitations and Future Scope of the Study
This study was aimed to assess the impact of work environment on employee performance in manufacturing industries of Bangalore city in India. In spite of valuable outcomes of the present study, this study possesses few limitations. One major limitation of the study is that the findings cannot be generalised as the sample represented in the study belongs to a specific geography and demography. Future studies are suggested to extend the geographical area and increase the sample size for more in-depth conclusions. Second limitation is that of the identified factors as the present study may have not accessed few crucial factors due to the infrastructural restrictions. Future studies need to explore more extensive literature reviews to get other significant factors of work environment that may have a significant influence on employee performance. Another limitation lies in the sample domain selected for the study. Future studies may try the explored factor and its influence in different industry verticals. Last but not the least; the time always has its constraints and limitations in academic researches. That was true for the present study also.

Managerial Implications
The findings of the present study, in its present state, do have the ability to influence the HR decision making for the manufacturing industries similar to the nature of the sample represented. The managers need to study the rankings provided to the various factors of work environment and derive the policies or make amendments as and where needed according to the priority of the factors. This will enhance the overall performance of the employee of the organization as suggested in the study. Priority rakings should be used by the managers to decide their course of actions as to which one to focus more and which one later. This will also improve the organizational efficiency as a whole.