The father of scientific management Taylor 's (1911) approach to job satisfaction was based on a most pragmatic & essentially pessimistic philosophy that man is motivation by money alone. That the workers are essentially 'stupid & phlegmatic ' & that they would be satisfied with work if they get higher economic benefit from it. But with the passage of time Taylor 's solely monetary approach has been changed to a more humanistic approach. It has come a long way from a simple explanation based on money to a more realistic but complex approach to job satisfaction. New dimensions of knowledge are added every day & with increasing understanding of new variables & their inter play, the field of job satisfaction has become difficult to comprehend.
The term job satisfaction was brought to limelight by Hoppock (1935). He reviewed 32 studies on job satisfaction conducted prior to 1933 & observed that job satisfaction is a combination of psychological, physiological & environmental circumstances that cause a person to say. 'I am satisfied with my job '. Locke defines job satisfaction as a "pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one 's job or job experiences". To the extent that a person 's job fulfils his dominant need & is consistent with his expectations & values, the job will be satisfying.
Job Satisfaction - Theory
One way to define satisfaction may be to say that it is the end state of feeling. The word 'end ' emphasises the fact that the feeling is experienced after a task is accomplished or an activity has taken place whether it is highly individualistic effort of writing a book or a collective endeavour of constructing a building. These activities may be minute or large. But in all cases, they satisfy a certain need. The feeling could be positive or negative depending upon whether need is satisfied or not & could be a function of the effort of the individual
References: Relationship Between Morale & Job Satisfaction : According to Seashore (1959), morale is a condition which exists in a context where people are :