02. THEORIES RELATED TO ONE SIGNIFACANT COMPONENT OF THE INDUSTRY - "JOB SATISFACTION"

 2.1 FINDINGS ON JOB SATISFACTION

 

Due to the popularity of job satisfaction within the field of occupational and organizational psychology, different authors, researchers give varies definitions of what the job satisfaction is. However the two most common definitions describe the job satisfaction as follows.

❖ “The pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values (Locke, E.A. , 1976)”

❖ “The extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs (Spector, P.E. , 1997)”

As well as;

❖ Job satisfaction is general attitude, which is the result of many specific attitudes in three areas namely,

Specific job factors. Individual characteristics.

Group relationship outside the job. (Blum and Naylor, 1968)

❖ Job satisfaction is defined, as it is result of varies attitudes the person hold towards the job, towards the related factors and towards the life in general.

(Glimmer, 1966)

In general most definitions covers the affective feeling employee has towards their job. This could be job in general or their attitudes towards the specific aspects of it, such as their colleges, pay or working condition. In Addition the extent which work outcomes meet or exceed expectations may determine the level of job satisfaction. (Luthans, F., 1992)

Not only that, according to Taber and Alliger; their study on job satisfaction demonstrates that the accumulating enjoyment of work tasks added up to overall job satisfaction. However the low relationship does suggest that other factors, besides enjoyment, contribute to how satisfied the employees feel at work. (Taber, T.D. & Alliger, G.M., 1995)

 According to the above description, its clear that job satisfaction is directly caused due to organizational motivation. Let's talk  bit about employee motivation.

2.2 THEORIES OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION & JOB SATISFACTION.

The most common and prominent theories in this area we can identified and describes as follows.

➢ Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory (1995).

Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory was one of the first theories to examine the important contributors to job satisfaction. It suggests that human need from five level hierarchies (Figure 2.1) consisting of; psychological needs, safety, belongings/love, esteem and self- actualization. Maslow’s Theory furthermore explains that there are essential need that need to be met fist (Psychological needs, safety) before more complex need can be met(Esteem).

Maslow’s hierarchy was developed to explain human motivation in general.

Figure 1 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

And it used to explain job satisfaction as well. Within an organization; 

Physiological needs – Financial compensation and health care.    

Safety needs – Employees feeling physically safe in the work environment, Job security, having suitable company structure and policies.

When this is satisfied the employees can focus on feelings as though they belong to the work place. This can come in form of positive relationship among colleagues, supervisors in the work place and whether or not feel as they part of the team or organization. Once satisfied, the employee will seek to feel to as though they valued and appreciated by the colleagues as well as the organization. And the final step is self-actualize, where they need to grow and developed everything in order to become everything they capable of becoming.

Therefore organizations looking to improve employee job satisfaction should attempt to meet the basic needs of employees before progressing to address higher order needs

➢ Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory (1959).

Generally known as Herzberg’s two factor theory (1959). Motivator-hygiene theory is an important theory that explains what satisfies or dissatisfies employee. “Motivating factors” like pay and benefits, recognition and achievement need to be met in order to be satisfied employee with work. And on the other hand “Hygiene factors” like working condition, company policies, job security quality of management and interaction of colleagues are related with job dissatisfaction.

Figure 2 Two Factor Theory

 

Hence both the motivational factors and hygiene factors are viewed as independent; it is possible that employees are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

 

 

Figure 3 Two factory Theory of Hertzberg

1. Hygiene Factors.

Hygiene factors are the most essential factors for an employee to be motivated within the workplace. If these factors are absent the employees are demotivated or lead to dissatisfaction.

Pay or salary is the first and foremost hygiene factor. Pay structure should be appropriate and reasonable. It must be equal and competitive to those in the same industry in the same domain. The company policies should not be too rigid. They should be fair and clear. It should include flexible working hours, dress code, breaks, vacation etc. The physical working conditions should be updated and well maintained.

 

2. Motivator Factors (Satisfiers).

Motivational factors include recognition, where they have to be praised and recognized for their accomplishments by the managers. Also there should be sense of achievement. There must be growth and development opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to enhance the performance. The work should be meaningful, interesting and challenging for the employee to perform and get motivated.

Job content factors are those factors for which the individual is responsible. Factors that are internally controlled such as achievements, responsibility and the quality of work are termed job content factors.

Job context factors are externally controlled. The organization is responsible for controlling those factors. Factors such as security, salary, benefits, promotions etc. are categorized under job context factors.

➢ Job Characteristic Model (JCM) (1975).

JCM (Hackman, J.R.,& Oldham, G.R., 1975) explains that job satisfaction occurs when the work environment encourages basically motivating characteristics. There are five key job characteristics; skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback influence three psychological states (Figure 2.3.3) and those psychological states lead to number of potential outcomes including job satisfaction. Thus improving five core job dimensions will lead to better work environment and increased job satisfaction from an organization point of view.

 

Figure 4 Job Characteristics Approach

 

Reference

Maslow, A., Motivation and Personality, New York, Harper, 1995.

Herzberg, F., Work and the Nature of Man. Cleveland, World Publishing Company, 1966.

Hackman, J.R., & Oldham, G.R., ‘Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 1975, pp. 161.

Becker, T.A. (2011), Maslow Enhanced. Retrieved 20 February 2013