Employee Job Satisfaction

 

Employee satisfaction is an important concern that most organizations focus on in the current era. Employees are considered as assets to an organization and one form of means to achieve sustainable competitive advantages for long term success. According to Spector (1997) employee job  satisfaction is  associated  with how people perceive,  think,  and  feel  their  jobs. Locke (1976) determines that job satisfaction is an enjoyable emotional state ensuing from the appraisal of one’s job and job experience. Job satisfaction is an important vital attitude. According to  Rainey (1997), organizational satisfaction related to how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their work.  Employee satisfaction is therefore the general information that an individual holds about its workplace and job.  Therefore, it is proven in studies that intentions of the employee towards the workplace or employee have an impact on the satisfaction level of employees (Sweeney et al, 2002; Cranny et al., 1992). There are many works done on understanding job satisfaction. One such major study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne studies by Elton Mayo who attempted to find the effects of various conditions on workers’ productivity. Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow in 1911 argued that there was a single best way to perform any given work task. Job satisfaction can be observed by an individual's experience of work, or their quality of working life and other key factors, such as general well-being, stress at work, control at work, and working conditions.

Therefore, to achieve job satisfaction, organizations must focus on enhancing factors such as employee motivation and commitment. These can ensure that job satisfaction is improved. Job Satisfaction is an important indicator of work behaviors such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. In addition, job satisfaction also partially mediates the relationship of personality variables and deviant work behaviors. One key research finding involves the correlation between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. This suggests that people who are satisfied with life tend to be satisfied with their job and people who are satisfied with their job tend to be satisfied with life. Also, the next main research finding is that job satisfaction is correlated to productivity on the job.

References

Cranny, Smith & Stone, 1992 cited in Weiss, H. M. (2002). “Deconstructing Job Satisfaction: Separating Evaluations, Beliefs And Affective Experiences”. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 173-194, p.174

Locke,  E.  (1976),  “The  nature  and  causes  of  job  satisfaction”,  in  Dunnette,  M.  (Ed.), Handbook ofIndustrial and Organizational Psychology, Rand McNally, Chicago, IL, pp. 1297-349.

Rainey,  H.G.  (1997),  Understanding  and  Managing  Public  Organizations,  2nd  ed., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco,CA.

Spector,  P.  (1997),  Satisfaction:  Application,  Assessment,  Causes  and  Consequences, Sage, London.