FACETS OF WORKPLACE MILIEU AMONG FISHERIES EXTENSION OFFICERS IN ODISHA, INDIA

Workplace milieu influences the quality of work and performance of the employees. Job involvement and satisfaction typically controls the organizational growth and productivity. Efficient public service delivery system like State line departments solely depends upon organizational work culture.

This study was attempted to assess the job involvement and satisfaction of field level fisheries extension officers of Odisha state, India in SY 2018-19. A structured online questionnaire consisting of the target variables (job involvement and job satisfaction) and key information (age, gender, education, service experience, training imparted, training exposure, mass media exposure, etc.) was administered through Google Forms for the survey. Totally 110 fisheries extension officers were invited to participate in the survey and 41 responses (26 Male, 15 Female) were received. The target variables were measured using a five-point Likert scale and the Job Involvement Index (JII) and Job Satisfaction Index (JSI) were developed.

The results inferred that almost all the extension staff, both women and men, were young (average age 26 years), had an average of 2 years of service experience and were mostly (85.4%) graduates. The extension staffs, in general, were found to have moderate levels of job involvement (0.66) as well as job satisfaction (0.63). Student t-test for difference of means revealed that a significant difference exists between men and women officers concerning their job involvement (p=0.021<0.05) with a higher engagement level among men (Mean 0.69±0.104) than women (Mean 0.61±0.09), but with no difference was found in job satisfaction. Service experience and age were positively correlated with both JII and JSI, Training exposure had significant positive correlation with the age and service experience, as increased age gathers more experience with relatively more number of trainings during the service period. RBQ scoring of the constraints indicated that lack of official  logistics support, involvement in additional non-core duties and shortage of technical and support staff were the most cited issues limiting the effective job involvement, especially for women.