The Review of Job Satisfaction

The Review Of Job Satisfaction

Deepakkumar N. Parmar Librarian at Lokniketan Institute, Ratanpur

Abstract

Job satisfaction represents one of the most complex areas facing today’s managers when it comes to managing their employees. Many studies have demonstrated an unusually large impact on the job satisfaction on the motivation of workers, while the level of motivation has an impact on productivity, and hence also on performance of business organizations. Unfortunately, in our region, job satisfaction has not still received the proper attention from neither scholars nor managers of various business organizations.

Key words: job satisfaction, Employees, performance

Introduction:

Research indicates that employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more likely to stay with their employers. According to this survey, 86% of employees indicated overall satisfaction with their current position, with 41% of employees reporting they were very satisfied. What’s more, majority of employees reported that the current economic climate has not made any difference in their level of satisfaction—and this is good news for employers, especially during the economically challenging time. It is not surprising that during the current economic downturn, which some have compared to the 1929 Great Depression, employees selected job security for the second consecutive year as the most important aspect of their job satisfaction. Benefits, compensation/pay, opportunities to use skills and abilities and feeling safe in the work environment rounded off employees’ top five very important job satisfaction contributors—nearly identical to the top five of
2008. Factors that were not strongly connected to employees’ overall job satisfaction were organization’s commitment to a ‘green’ workplace, networking, career development opportunities, paid training and tuition reimbursement programs, and organization’s commitment to professional development.

DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE OF JOB SATISFACTION

Despite its vide usage in scientific research, as well as in everyday life, there is still no general agreement regarding what job satisfaction is. In fact there is no final definition on what job represents. Therefore before a definition on job satisfaction can be given , the nature and importance of work as a universal human activity must be considered. Different authors have

different approaches towards defining job satisfaction. Some of the most commonly cited definitions on job satisfaction are analysed in the text that follows. Job satisfaction as any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully to say I am satisfied with my job. According to this approach although job satisfaction is under the influence of many external factors, it remains something internal that has to do with the way how the employee feels. That is job satisfaction presents a set of factors that cause a feeling of satisfaction. Vroom in his definition on job satisfaction focuses on the role of the employee in the workplace. Thus he defines job satisfaction as affective orientations on the part of individuals toward work roles which they are presently occupying (Vroom, 1964). One of the most often cited definitions on job satisfaction is the one given by Specter according to whom job satisfaction has to do with the way how people feel about their job and its various aspects. It has to do with the extent to which people like or dislike their job. That’s why job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction can appear in any given work situation. Job satisfaction represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work. Meanwhile, when a worker employed in a business organization, brings with it the needs, desires and experiences which determinates expectations that he has dismissed. Job satisfaction represents the extent to which expectations are and match the real awards.

Job satisfaction is closely linked to that individual 's behavior in the work place. Job satisfaction is a worker’s sense of achievement and success on the job. It is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being. Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well and being rewarded for one’s efforts. Job satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one’s work. Job satisfaction is the key ingredient that leads to recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of other goals that lead to a feeling of fulfillment. Job satisfaction can be defined also as the extent to which a worker is content with the rewards he or she gets out of his or her job, particularly in terms of intrinsic motivation. The term job satisfactions refer to the attitude and feelings people have about their work. Positive and favorable attitudes towards the job indicate job satisfaction. Negative and unfavorable attitudes towards the job indicate job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is the collection of feeling and beliefs that people have about their current job. People’s levels of degrees of job satisfaction can range from extreme satisfaction to extreme dissatisfaction. In addition to having attitudes about their jobs as a whole. People also can have attitudes about various aspects of their jobs such as the kind of work they do, their co-workers, supervisors or subordinates and their pay. Job satisfaction is a complex and multifaceted concept which can mean different things to different people. Job satisfaction is usually linked with motivation, but the nature of this relationship is not clear. Satisfaction is not the same as motivation. Job satisfaction is more of an attitude, an internal state. It could, for example, be associated with a personal feeling of achievement, either quantitative or qualitative. We consider that job satisfaction represents a feeling that appears as a result of the perception that the job enables the material and psychological needs . Job satisfaction can be considered as one of the main factors when it comes to efficiency and effectiveness of business organizations. In fact the new managerial paradigm which insists that employees should be treated and considered primarily as human beans that have their own wants, needs, personal desires is a very good indicator for the importance of job satisfaction in contemporary companies. When analyzing job satisfaction the logic that a satisfied employee is a happy employee and a happy employee is a successful employee.

2. FACTORS OF JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction is under the influence of a series of factors such as: The nature of work, Salary, Advancement opportunities, Management, Work groups and Work conditions. A somewhat different approach regarding the factors of job satisfaction is provided by Rue and Byars, Figure 4.

When talking about factors of job satisfaction the fact that they can also job dissatisfaction must be kept in mind. Therefore the issue weather job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are two opposite and excludable phenomena? There is no consensus regarding this issue among authors. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is probably the most often cited point of view. In fact the main idea is that employees in their work environment are under the influence of factors that cause job satisfaction and factors that cause job dissatisfaction. Therefore al factors that have derived from a large empirical research and divided in factors that cause job satisfaction (motivators) and factors that cause job dissatisfaction (hygiene factors)

3. MEASURING JOB SATISFACTION

Usually job satisfaction is measured by using general scientific research methods such as the questionnaire. Some of the most commonly used techniques for measuring job satisfaction include:

 Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire and  Job description index

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire is a paper-pencil type of a questionnaire and can be implemented both individually and in group, but it does not take sex differences into consideration. This questionnaire has one short form and two long forms that date from 1967 and
1977. In fact 20 work features in five levels are measured with this questionnaire. Responding to this questionnaire usually takes between 15-20 minutes. The 1967 version of the Minessota Satisfaction Questionnaire uses the following response categories:

 Not satisfied,  Somewhat satisfied,  Satisfied,  Very satisfied and  Extremely satisfied.

The 1977 version of the Minessota Satisfaction Questionnaire uses the following response categories:

 Very satisfied,  Satisfied,  Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied,  Dissatisfied and  Very dissatisfied

If compared it’s obvious that in a way the 1977 version of this questionnaire is more balanced compared to the 1967 version. This questionnaire the following aspects of job:

 Co-workers  Achievement  Activity  Advancement  Authority  Company Policies  Compensation  Moral Values  Creativity  Independence  Security  Social Service  Social Status  Recognition  Responsibility  Supervision-Human Relations  Supervision-Technical  Variety  Working Conditions

The Job Description Index is one of the most widely used techniques for measuring job satisfaction. It is a simple and easily applicable method. The measurement of strength and weakness within each factor are a sign as in which field improvement and changes are necessary. This questionnaire allows acquisition of information on all major aspects of work and takes sex differences into consideration. This questionnaire was first introduced in 1969 and it measures five major job satisfaction aspects with a total of over 70 potential job descriptions.

The factors considered by the job description index are:

 The nature of work,  Compensation and benefits,  Attitudes toward supervisors,

 Relations with co-workers and  Opportunities for promotion.

Descriptors on each of the five factors can be evaluated with three potential options by the employees: 1 which means that the description is relevant, 2 which means that the description is not relevant and 3 that means that the employee does not have an opinion.

4. EFFECTS OF JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction causes a series of influences on various aspects of organizational life. Some of them such as the influence of job satisfaction on employee productivity, loyalty and absenteeism are analyzed as part of this text. The preponderance of research evidence indicates that there is no strong linkage between satisfaction and productivity. For example a comprehensive meta-analysis of the research literature finds only a.17 best estimate correlation between job satisfaction and productivity. Satisfied workers will not necessarily be the highest producers. There are many possible moderating variables, the most important of which seems to be rewards. If people receive rewards they feel are equitable, they will be satisfies and this is likely to result in greater performance effort. Also, recent research evidence indicates that satisfaction may not necessarily lead to individual performance improvement but does lead to departmental and organizational level improvements. Finally there are still considerable debate weather satisfaction leads to performance or performance leads to satisfaction. Employee loyalty is one of the most significant factors that human resource managers in particular must have in mind. Employee loyalty so usually measured with the Loyalty Questionnaire and can cause serious negative consequences when not in a high level. Usually three types of employee loyalty are considered: affective loyalty, normative loyalty and continuity loyalty. Affective loyalty has do with the cases when an employee feels an emotional connection to the company, normative loyalty is a sort of loyalty that appears in cases when the employee feels like he owes something to the company and continuity loyalty comes as a result of the fact that the employee does not have an opportunity to find a job somewhere else.

Their research proved that the higher the degree of job satisfaction the higher is the level of employee loyalty. Employee absenteeism causes serious additional costs for companies, therefore managers are in permanent pursue of ways how to decrease and reduce it to its minimum. Probably, the best way o reduce employee absenteeism would be through an increase in the level of employee satisfaction. The main idea behind this approach is that the higher the degree of job satisfaction is the lower employee absenteeism should be. Even though the effects are modest the fact that job satisfaction contributes to decreasing the level of employee absenteeism remains. So satisfaction is worth paying attention to , especially since it is potentially under your control – unlike some of the other causes of absenteeism. But as we said circumstances can alter this equation. As a manager you could be implicitly encouraging absenteeism by in forcing company policies. If people are paid for sick days, and if they must be “used or lost” this is pretty strong encouragement for employees

to be absent. In other words, you’ve helped create a culture of absenteeism that can overcome the “satisfaction” effect. When satisfaction is high, absenteeism tends to be low; when satisfaction is low, absenteeism tends to be high.

CONCLUSIONS

Job satisfaction represents one of the most complex areas facing today’s managers when it comes to managing their employees. Although thousands of papers and research have been conducted on job satisfaction all over the world, in the Republic of Macedonia this is one of the least studied research fields. Many studies have demonstrated an unusually large impact on the job satisfaction on the motivation of workers, while the level of motivation has an impact on productivity, and hence also on performance of business organizations. There is a considerable impact of the employee’s perceptions for the nature of his work and the level of overall job satisfaction. Financial compensation has a great impact on the overall job satisfaction of employees.

References:

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Aziri, B. (2008). Menaxhimi i burimeve njerëzore, Satisfaksioni nga puna dhe motivimi i punëtorëve, Tringa Design, Gostivar, , p. 46

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