JOB SATISFACTION

WHAT IS JOB SATISFACTION?

Job satisfaction refers to how well a job provides fulfillment of a need or want ,or how well it serves as a source or means of enjoyment.

Job satisfaction is a degree to which individual s feel positively or negatively about their job.

Job satisfaction falls into two levels:  affective job satisfaction . Affective job satisfaction is a person's

emotional feeling about the job as a whole.

cognitive job satisfaction. Cognitive job satisfaction is how

satisfied employees feel concerning some aspect of their job, such as pay, hours, or benefits.

CONSEQUENCES OF JOB SATISFACTION

Productivity Employee turnover Absenteeism Union activities Safety Other effects

Job satisfaction and productivity

Is there any positive relationship between satisfaction and productivity? This controversy has been there over a number of years. Although, majority of people believe that there is a positive relationship, but research evidence concludes that there is not strong relationship between these two.

According to the research findings of VROOM conducted in 1964, the medium correlation between satisfaction and performance is only 0.14. LAWLER and PORTER found that there is more evidence to suggest that job performance leads to job satisfaction and not the other way round. An employee who is a poor performer will get fewer rewards and will be less satisfied with his job experience.

However, the sayings that “A happy worker is a productive worker” are not always wrong. If people receive rewards which have both intrinsic and extrinsic value and they feel that there rewards are equitable, they will be satisfied and this will lead to greater job performance.

Job satisfaction and employee turnover

High employee turnover is a matter of concern for the management as it disrupt the normal operations and continuous replacement of employees who leave the organization is costly and technically undesirable.

Managerial concern is mostly for the turnover which arises because of job dissatisfaction. The employees, thus, tries to keep the employees satisfied on their jobs to minimize the turnover.

Though, high job satisfaction in itself cannot keep the turnover low but considerable job dissatisfaction will definitely increase the employee turnover.

The employee turnover is affected by certain other factors also, in addition to job satisfaction. Commitment to the organization is one such factor some employees, however dissatisfied they arc with their jobs, they cannot imagine themselves working anywhere else.

Another important factor is the better opportunities of employment. Even if the people arc highly satisfied with their jobs, they arc willing to leave if there are better opportunities available anywhere else. If no other opportunities are available, the employees will stay where they arc, irrespective of dissatisfaction.

On the overall basis, we can say that there is an important role played by job satisfaction in employee turnover.

Job satisfaction and absenteeism

there is an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism.

When satisfaction is high, absenteeism is low and when satisfaction is low, absenteeism is high.

Less satisfied employees are more likely to be absent from work due to avoidable reasons. This is known as voluntary absenteeism as against unavoidable

absenteeism which is due to illness or other emergency reasons. Management must be concerned with voluntary absenteeism, because it is related to job satisfaction.

Absenteeism can be modified by certain factors. Research has found that people who believe that their work is important have lower absenteeism as compared to those who do not feel that way. Moreover, it is important to remember that while high job satisfaction will not necessarily result in low absenteeism (because of unavoidable absenteeism), but low job satisfaction will definitely bring about high absenteeism.

Job satisfaction and union activities

It has been proved that satisfied employees are generally not interested in unions and they do not perceive them as necessary.

Job satisfaction has proved to be the major cause of unionization. The employees join the unions because they feel that individually they are unable to influence changes which would eliminate the causes of job dissatisfaction.

The level of union activities is related to the level of job dissatisfaction. Low level of dissatisfaction results in only grievances while higher levels of dissatisfaction will result in employee strikes.

Job Satisfaction and Safety

When people are dissatisfied with their jobs, company and supervisors, they are more prone to experience accidents. An underlying reason for this is that dissatisfaction takes one’s attention away from the task at hand and leads directly to accidents.

A satisfied worker will always be careful and attentive towards his job, and the chances of accidents will be less. Here, we are discussing about the avoidable accidents and not the unavoidable ones.

Other effect of job satisfaction

there are a number of other effects brought about by high job satisfaction.

Highly satisfied employees tend to have better physical and mental health,

learn the new job related tasks easily, have less job stress and unrest. Such employees will become more co-

operative such as helping coworkers, helping customers etc.

Such behavior will improve unit performance and organizational effectiveness.

Barriers for job satisfaction

Being underpaid. Limited career growth. Work relationships. Job stress. Lack of appreciation. Lack of good working environment. Ambiguity. Poor management. Work-life balance 

HERZBERG’S Motivation-Hygiene Theory

In 1959, Frederick Herzberg, a behavioural scientist proposed a two-factor theory or the motivator-hygiene theory.

According to Herzberg, there are some job factors that result in satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction.

According to Herzberg, the opposite of “Satisfaction” is “No satisfaction” and the opposite of “Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction”.

Herzberg classified these job factors into two categories-

Hygiene factors Motivational factors .

Hygiene-Hygiene factors are those job factors which are essential for existence of motivation at workplace. These do not lead to positive satisfaction for long-term.

These factors are extrinsic to work. Hygiene factors are also called as dissatisfiers or

maintenance factors as they are required to avoid dissatisfaction. These factors describe the job environment/scenario.

Hygiene factors include: (things that cause you to not hate your Job):

Pay. Company Policies and administrative

policies. Fringe benefits. Physical Working conditions. Status. Interpersonal relations. Job Security

Motivational factors- According to Herzberg, the hygiene

factors cannot be regarded as motivators. The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction.

These factors are inherent to work. These factors motivate the employees

for a superior performance. These factors are called satisfiers. These

are factors involved in performing the job. Employees find these factors intrinsically rewarding

Motivational factors include. (things that cause you to like your Job):

Recognition. Sense of achievement. Growth and promotional opportunities. Responsibility. Meaningfulness of the work .

According to the Two-Factor Theory there are four possible combinations:[8]

High Hygiene + High Motivation: The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few complaints.

High Hygiene + Low Motivation: Employees have few complaints but are not highly motivated. The job is viewed as a paycheck.

Low Hygiene + High Motivation: Employees are motivated but have a lot of complaints. A situations where the job is exciting and challenging but salaries and work conditions are not up to par.

Low Hygiene + Low Motivation: This is the worst situation where employees are not motivated and have many complaints.

Herzberg called the causes of dissatisfaction "hygiene factors." To get rid of them, you need to:

Fix poor and obstructive company policies.

Provide effective, supportive and non-intrusive supervision.

Create and support a culture of respect and dignity for all team members.

Ensure that wages are competitive. Build job status by providing meaningful

work for all positions. Provide job security.

To create satisfaction, Herzberg says you need to address the motivating factors associated with work. He called this "job enrichment." His premise was that every job should be examined to determine how it could be made better and more satisfying to the person doing the work. Things to consider include:

Providing opportunities for achievement. Recognizing people's contributions. Creating work that is rewarding and that matches

people's skills and abilities. Giving as much responsibility to each team member as

possible. Providing opportunities to advance in the company

through internal promotions. Offering training and development opportunities, so

that people can pursue the positions they want within the company.

THANK YOU..