Job satisfaction – An overview

CHAPTER – III

JOB SATISFACTION - AN OVERVIEW

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Every human being has his own needs and desires of them, some are conscious and some

are unconscious. These needs become strong in the individual and create tension, which

stimulate a behavior towards fulfilling those needs. But all needs never completely or

permanently satisfied entertains extraordinary high hope and needs which are beyond his

capacity to fulfill. The job satisfaction depends upon the individual mind. A source, which

provides satisfaction to some employees, may not give satisfaction to others. But in general the

above-mentioned factors are having correlation with the job satisfaction. There are so many

definitions regarding job satisfaction1. It is also a fact that job satisfaction is nothing but the

favorable attitude or high industrial morale. But “job satisfaction” is an elaborate composite

concept including individual’s mental disposition, interpersonal relations that exists in the

industry.” It may be defined as “The satisfaction where in one derives from doing his which is

the composite product of favourable attitude, high level morale and the positive job related and

even social factors.” Job satisfaction is an important factor in industrial environment. The

satisfied workers produce more; if the industrial climate is relatively smooth and conductive. The

satisfied workers are creative and innovative.

Job Satisfaction can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and

a predictor of work behaviors such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism and turnover.

Further, job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and

deviant work behaviors. One common research finding is that job satisfaction is correlated with

f
Arnold, j. & Feldman, C. (1986). Organizational behavior. New York: McGraw Hill Book.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

life satisfaction. This correlation is reciprocal, meaning 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. However, some research has found that job satisfaction is not significantly related to life

satisfaction when other variables such as no work satisfaction and core self-evaluations are taken

into account an important finding for organizations to note is that job satisfaction has rather

tenuous correlation to productivity on the job2.

This is a vital piece of information to researchers and businesses, as the idea that

satisfaction and job performance are directly related to one another is often cited in the media

and in some non-academic management literature. In absence of introduction of appropriate

corrective measures the dissatisfied workers contribute to: High labour turn over, Indiscipline,

Low quality and quantity of production, Industrial conflicts and violence like strikes, lockouts

etc; Break down of communication system, Disrespect of superiors, No scope for good

interpersonal and industrial relations, So all the precautionary measures and care to be taken, in

case the study shows negative results.

To begin with, job satisfaction refers to “the pleasurable emotional state resulting from

the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values”

(Locke, 1969, p. 316). Similar with this, Brief (1998) defined job satisfaction as a personal state

that is demonstrated by effectively and cognitively evaluating an encountered job with some

extent of like or dislike(Whitman, Rooy, and Viswesvaran, 2010). Based on these definitions,

there are four key elements attached to job satisfaction, those are: it is a subjective circumstance

based on evaluation using subjective values over the objective job condition.3

2
Ellickson, M. C. & logsdon , K. (2002). Determinants of Job satisfaction of municipal government employees.
Public personnel management, 31(3), 343 – 358.
3
Heery, E. & Noon, M. (2001). A dictionary of human resource. Management: Oxford University Press Inc.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

In addition, the experienced job can be a positive, a negative or a neutral experience, or

mostly, the combination between those three types of experience. Take for example, when an

employee attended a workplace-related training, she will put this experience in to her mind and

will decide whether she is satisfied or disappointed with the given training, or alternatively, she

decide that the training didn’t have any impact to her satisfaction. This particular decision, along

with other events evaluation, is the basis to her overall job satisfaction. Since everyone has a

different set of values from others, the values use to evaluate workplace experience is a

subjective matter, while the job experience itself is a part of objective working condition.

Definition of Employee Job Satisfaction: Employee Job satisfaction is the terminology

used to describe whether employees are happy and contented and fulfilling their desires and

needs at work. Many measures purport that employee satisfaction is a factor in employee

motivation, employee goal achievement, and positive employee morale in the workplace.

Employee satisfaction, while generally a positive in your organization, can also be a downer if

mediocre employees stay because they are satisfied with your work environment.

Porter, Lawler and Hackman (1975) define job satisfaction as a feeling about a job that “is

determined by the difference between all those things a person feels he should receive from his

job and all those things he actually does received.” Basically, job satisfaction is about liking

your job and finding fulfillment in what you do. It combines an individuals feelings and

emotions about their and how their job affects their personal lives. But it is only psychological

expression. Our concern is job satisfaction from administrative, socio-economic and

organizational context.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

4
Paul Spectors (1985) define job satisfaction as a cluster of evaluative feelings about the job. He

identified 9 facets of job satisfaction.

1. Pay- amount and fairness or equity of salary.

2. Promotion-opportunities and fairness of promotion.

3. Supervision-fairness and competence at managerial tasks by ones supervisor

4. Benefits- insurance, vacation, and fringe benefits

5. Contingent procedures-sense of respect, recognition and appreciation.

6. Operating procedure-policies, procedures, rules, perceived red tape.

7. Coworkers- perceived competence and pleasantness of ones colleagues.

8. Nature of work- enjoyment of the actual tasks themselves.

9. Communication- sharing information within the organization (verbally or in writing)

According to the Oxford dictionary “Job satisfaction is an application of effort to a purpose,

forinaction, doing of something a task or materials to be operated on doings or experience of

specified kind, employment especially as a means of earning money, a thing done or made a

product or manifestation.

History: One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne

studies. These studies (1924-1933), primarily credited to Elton Mayo of the Harvard Business

School, sought to find the effects of various conditions (most notably illumination) on workers’

productivity. These studies ultimately showed that novel changes in work conditions temporarily

increase productivity (called the Hawthorne Effect). It was later found that this increase resulted,

not from the new conditions, but from the knowledge of being observed. This finding provided

4
Denga, D. I. (2005). Managerial psychology in business and educational administration: A book for student and
teacher of business management and educational administration, executives, school and business administrators.
Jos Nigeria: Clearlines Publications Ltd

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

strong evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which paved the way for

researchers to investigate other factors in job satisfaction. Scientific management (aka

Taylorism) also had a significant impact on the study of job satisfaction5.

Frederick Winslow Taylor’s 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, argued that

there was a single best way to perform any given work task. This book contributed to a change in

industrial production philosophies, causing a shift from skilled labour and piecework towards the

more modern approach of assembly lines and hourly wages. The initial use of scientific

management by industries greatly increased productivity because workers were forced to work at

a faster pace. However, workers became exhausted and dissatisfied, thus leaving researchers

with new questions to answer regarding job satisfaction. It should also be noted that the work of
6
W.L. Bryan, Walter Dill Scott, and Hugo Munsterberg set the tone for Taylor’s work. Some

argue that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, a motivation theory, laid the foundation for job

satisfaction theory. This theory explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs in life –

physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization. This

model served as a good basis from which early researchers could develop job satisfaction

theories.

5
McShane, L. S. & Von Glinow, M. A. (2005). Organizational Behaviour. New York, McGraw -Hill, Irwin.
6
Mullins, L. J. (2005). Management and organizational behavior (7th ed.), New jersey prentice Hall.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

3.2 MODELS OF JOB SATISFACTION:

1. Affect Theory: Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most

famous job satisfaction model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined

by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theory

states that how much one values a given facet of work (e.g. the degree of autonomy in a position)

moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren’t met. When a

person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively

(when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one

who doesn’t value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace and

Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in a

position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or no

autonomy compared to Employee B. This theory also states that too much of a particular facet

will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction among the worker.

2. Dispositional Theory: Another well-known job satisfaction theory is the Dispositional

Theory It is a very general theory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause

them to have tendencies toward a certain level of satisfaction, regardless of one’s job. This

approach became a notable explanation of job satisfaction in light of evidence that job

satisfaction tends to be stable over time and across careers and jobs. Research also indicates that

identical twins have similar levels of job satisfaction. A significant model that narrowed the

scope of the Dispositional Theory was the Core Self-evaluations Model, proposed by Timothy A.

Judge in 1998. Judge argued that there are four Core Self-evaluations that determine one’s

disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control, and

neuroticism. This model states that higher levels of self-esteem (the value one places on his/her

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

self) and general self-efficacy (the belief in one’s own competence) lead to higher work

satisfaction. Having an internal locus of control (believing one has control over her\his own life,

as opposed to outside forces having control) leads to higher job satisfaction. Finally, lower levels

of neuroticism lead to higher job satisfaction.

3. Two-Factor Theory (Motivator-Hygiene Theory): Frederick Herzberg’s Two factor theory

(also known as Motivator Hygiene Theory) attempts to explain satisfaction and motivation in the

workplace This theory states that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are driven by different factors –

motivation and hygiene factors, respectively. An employee’s motivation to work is continually

related to job satisfaction of a subordinate. Motivation can be seen as an inner force that drives

individuals to attain personal and organization goals (Hoskinson, Porter, & Wrench, p.133).

Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to perform, and provide

people with satisfaction, for example achievement in work, recognition, promotion opportunities.

These motivating factors are considered to be intrinsic to the job, or the work carried out.

Hygiene factors include aspects of the working environment such as pay, company policies,

supervisory practices, and other working conditions, While Hertzberg's model has stimulated

much research, researchers have been unable to reliably empirically prove the model, with

Hackman & Oldham suggesting that Hertzberg's original formulation of the model may have

been a methodological artifact. Furthermore, the theory does not consider individual differences,

conversely predicting all employees will react in an identical manner to change in

motivating/hygiene factors. Finally, the model has been criticized in that it does not specify how

motivating/hygiene factors are to be measured Motivators7.

7
Peretomode, V. F. (2006). Educational administration, Applied concepts and theoretical Perspective for student
and practitioners. Lagos, Joja Educational Research and Publishers Ltd.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

4. Job Characteristics Model: Hackman & Oldham proposed the Job Characteristics Model,

which is widely used as a framework to study how particular job characteristics impact on job

outcomes, including job satisfaction. The model states that there are five core job characteristics

(skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) which impact three

critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for

outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results), in turn influencing work outcomes (job

satisfaction, absenteeism, work motivation, etc.)

5. Communication Overload and Communication Under load: One of the most important

aspects of an individual’s work in a modern organization concerns the management of

communication demands that he or she encounters on the job (Krayer, K. J., & Westbrook, L., p.

85). Demands can be characterized as a communication load, which refers to “the rate and

complexity of communication inputs an individual must process in a particular time frame

(Faraca, Monge, & Russel, 1977).” Individuals in an organization can experience communication

over-load and communication under- load which can affect their level of job satisfaction.

Communication overload can occur when “an individual receives too many messages in a short

period of time which can result in unprocessed information or when an individual faces more

complex messages that are more difficult to process (Farace, Monge, & Russel, 1997).” Due to

this process, “given an individual’s style of work and motivation to complete a task, when more

inputs exist than outputs, the individual perceives a condition of overload (Krayer, K. J., &

Westbrook, L., p. 86) which can be positively or negatively related to job satisfaction. In

comparison, communication under load can occur when messages or inputs are sent below the

individual’s ability to process them (Farace, Monge, & Russel, 1997).” According to the ideas of

communication over-load and under-load, if an individual does not receive enough input on the

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

job or is unsuccessful in processing these inputs, the individual is more likely to become

dissatisfied, aggravated, and unhappy with their work which leads to a low level of job

satisfaction8.

3.3 THEORIES OF JOB SATISFACTION

 MASLOWS’ THEORY: According to this theory, there is hierarchy of five needs they

are. Physiological: Includes security and Protection from physical and emotional needs.

Safety: Includes security and Protection from physical and emotional harm.

Social: Includes affection, belongingness, acceptance and friendship.

Esteem: Includes internal esteem factors such as self-respect autonomy and achievement and

external factors such as status, recognition and attention.

Self-Actualisation: The drive to become hat one is capable of becoming includes growth,

achieving one’s potential and self-fulfillment9.

 HERZBERG’S TWO FACTOR THEORY

In 1950, Herzberg conducted a study with 200 engineers and accountants employed in a firm. He

asked people to describe, in detail, situations in which they felt exceptionally good or bad about

their jobs. This response were then tabulated and categorized. From the categorized responses,

Herzberg concluded a theory. In this theory, Herzberg divides the factor contributing to job

satisfaction in to two sets, one called intrinsic factors and other called as extrinsic factor.

Intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors are associated with job

dissatisfaction. Intrinsic factors such as the work itself, responsibility and the achievement seem

to be related to job satisfaction. Extrinsic factors such as supervision, pay, company policies and

8
9
Heery, E. & Noon, M. (2001). A dictionary of human resource. Management: Oxford University Press Inc.
Riggo, R. E. (2000). Introduction to industrial organizational psychology. New Jersey: prentice Hall.European
Scientific Journal August 2013 edition vol.9, No.23 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431 174

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

working conditions, seem to be related to job dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, the factors

leading to job satisfactions are separate and distinct from those that lead to job dissatisfaction. As

a result, conditions surrounding the job such as quality of supervision, pay, company policies,

physical working condition, relationship with others and job security were characterized by

Herzberg as “Hygiene Factors”10. When these factors are adequate, people will not be

dissatisfied. Those factors, which are contributing to job satisfaction, are also called as

“Motivation Factors”. Finally, Herzberg suggested that the opposite of “Satisfaction” is “No

satisfaction”, and opposite of “Dissatisfaction” is “No dissatisfaction”.

3.4 FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO THE HIGHER LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION

The factors that contribute to the positive morale and attitude also result in higher degree

of job satisfaction. The important factors contribute to the higher level of job satisfaction.

Challenging and responsible job, Numerous promotional opportunities, Impartial treatment by

the management, Creativity and innovative ideas of job security, Attractive salary and perks,

Freedom in work situation, Participative management, Welfare facilities like medical, uniform,

canteen etc, Spontaneous “TOP TO BOTTOM” and “BOTTOM TO TOP” Communication

pattern. There are three types of job factors which includes: Personal factors, Factors inherent in

the job, Factors controllable by management.11

10
Rose, M. (2001). Disparate measures in the workplace. Quantifying overall job satisfaction. Paper presented at
the 2001 BHPS research conference. Clochester, available at http://www.esri.ie/advsearch.cf.
11
Smucker, M. K, Whisenant,W.A & Pedersen, P.M.(2003). An investigation of job satisfaction and Female sports
journalist sex roles, 49 (7), 401-407.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

 Personal Factors

Age: There is some evidence indicating increases job satisfaction with increased employees

age. From the consensus of Indian studies, job satisfaction tends to increase with age but in some

job, the trend may be different. This relationship has been attributed to a combination of factors

including the termination of employment by dissatisfied older personnel and a kind of

conservation are resignation with advancing age to the realities of life and job.

Education: There is a great deal of conflicting evidence on the relationship between

education and job satisfaction. One study indicated that those who had not completed high

school were more satisfied. But the education and intelligence is connected with age in giving

satisfaction to workers. Indian studies have generally shown that there is only less job

satisfaction for a more educated worker.

 Factors Inherent in the Job:

Type of Work: The type of work is most important factor inherent in the job. Some studies

have shown that people will be more satisfied with the job involving changes than involving

routine monotonous work. Although the type of work must be consider as an important

determinant of job satisfaction, in Indian organization.

Skill: Skill is one or the major determinants of job satisfaction. As a determinant it cannot be

operated alone. It can be operated together with the kind of work, occupational status,

responsible, personal characteristics, and opportunities to use the skill.

Occupational Status: Occupational status is usually found to arrange themselves in

hierarchy according to their relative status, prestige or values to the particular society.

Occupational status and job satisfaction are related together but not identical with each other.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

Size of the Plant: Size of the organization does not independently affect the employees. It

affects their along with the management practices and various other factors. Thus, a small

organization cannot attain effectiveness by being small one12.

 Factors Controllable by Management:

Security: Security can be provided by the organization to the employee. It is the steadiness of

the employment. It is positive when the employee feels that he has reasonable chances of

working under the condition of company stability.

Security on job gives him opportunity to feel that he has satisfaction over his job.

Production Incentives: Incentive is to increase production and to serve the economic needs of

the employees. To get the incentives, the employee must be a skilled person. Higher the

productive skills, higher the incentives. Simply saying, an incentive is a difference between the

extra efforts they put in and extra benefit they get it.

Work Environment: The condition under which a person works is considered as the working

conditions. For an employee, the working condition must be safe and secure and pleasant.

Salary: Salary is defined as the wages given to the employees for their work. It is

common to all the people in the organization. People expect the salary for their work. Salary

plays an important role in job satisfaction.

Personnel Policy: Personnel policies refer to what the management wants to accomplish

in a management or personnel. A policy is predetermined and accepted course of thought and

action that is defined and established as a guide towards accepted goals and objectives.

12
Abdullah, M. M.; Uli, J. and Parasuraman, B. (2009). a survey of job satisfaction of secondary school teachers in
Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia. Jurnal Kemanusiaan, 13: 11-18.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

Communication: Communication is defined as the “the Transference and understanding

of meaning”. It is a tool to express the ideas, opinion, messages etc. It acts as a bridge between

the communicator and listener. The communication will be effective and perfect only if the

listener understood the message communicated by the speaker exactly. By using this bridge a

person can safely cross the river of misunderstanding that separates the peoples13.

Grievance Procedure: According to Prof.R.P.Calhoon, “A grievance is defined as

anything that an employee thinks or feels is wrong generally accompanied by a actively

disturbing feeling. It does not have to be justified’. Prof.M.J.Jucius defines that” a grievance can

be a discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not, whether valid or not arising out of

anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, beliefs or even feels as unfair,

unjust or in equalitable. Grievance can be caused due to difference of opinion; status of union,

working condition, doubts and fears etc., grievance procedure is the formal method of dealing

with grievance. There are two types of grievance procedure viz, open door type and stepladder

type. In an open door policy the management asserts that no employee is prevented from going

to it directly with his grievance, and even meets the head of the concern in an effort to have his

grievance properly attended to. Open door policy may be useful in the case of small units.

3.5 COMPONENTS OF JOB SATISFACTION

According to Abraham A. Korhan, there are two types of variables that determine the job

satisfaction of an individual. They are: Organizational Variables and Personal Variables

The individual variables are occupational level, job contents, considerate leadership, pay,

promotional opportunities. Interaction and work group. The personal variables are age,

educational level, sex, and family size and service with the company. The following are some of

13
Bishay A (1996) Teacher motivation and job satisfaction: a study employing the experience sampling method.
Journal of Undergraduate Sciences, 3, 147-154.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

the job factor that is taken into consideration in developing job satisfaction job satisfaction

scales. Job satisfaction is directly linked with some organizational phenomena, like hierarchy,

supervision. Workers preferred decentralized administration. Participation in decision making

can bring job satisfaction14.According to A. Abraham Korman, there are two types of variables

which determine the job satisfaction of an individual. They are as follows:

Organizational Variables:

a. Occupational Level: When the level of the job is higher then satisfaction of an

individual is greater Because higher level jobs carry greater prestige and self control. This

relates his between occupational level and job satisfaction stems from social reference

group theory and need fulfillment theory. Our society valued jobs are more satisfied than

people in non valued jobs. According to need fulfillment theory, people in higher level

jobs find most of their needs satisfied than when they are in lower level jobs.

b. Job Content: When the job is net of repetitive nature and when it is interesting and when

there is greater variation in job content, then the satisfaction of an individual will be

much more higher and vice versa.

c. Considerable Leadership: People like to work under a leader who understands and who

treats people with consideration. Hence, considerate leadership higher job satisfaction

than any other leadership styles.

d. Pay and promotional opportunities: When the pay is high, job satisfaction is also high.

Similarly, when promotional avenues are more, people works hard to go up higher in the

hierarchical ladder, hence satisfaction is more.

14
Churchill GA, Ford NM and Walker OC (1974) Measuring the job satisfaction of industrial salesmen. Journal of
Marketing Research, 11, 323-332.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

e. Interaction in the Work Group: Interaction is most satisfying when,

a. Other person’s attitudes are similar to one’s own.

b. It results in acceptance by others and

c. It facilitates the achievements of goals.

When interaction in the work group is satisfying then job satisfaction is more and vice

versa.

Personal Variables: Some people, irrespective of their organizational conditions involved, feel

dissatisfied with most of the jobs whereas for some other people, most of the jobs will be

satisfying. This difference is due to personal variables like age, education level, Gender etc.

a. Age: The relationship between age and job satisfaction, holding other factors like

occupational level constant, there is a positive relationship between the two variables

upto the pre retirement years and then, there is a sharp decrease in satisfaction. This is

because in later years of his life, people aspire for better and more prestigious jobs. If

they don’t find any advancement, his satisfaction declines.

b. Educational Level: The higher the education, the higher the reference group which the

individual looks guidance to evaluate his job that is, when the education level of

individual is higher, he prefers himself with that level reference group and if the job

rewards is not equivalent, he gets dissatisfied and vice versa.

c. Role Perception: It means the kind of activities an individual should perform and the

manner in which he should behave, in order to perform his job successfully. Different

individuals hold different perceptions about their role. The higher the accuracy of the

role perception of an individual, the greater is his satisfaction.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

d. Gender: There is as yet no consistent as to whether women are more satisfied with their

jobs than man assuming that other factors like occupational level are constant.

e. Time on the Job: Several investigations have indicated that job satisfaction is relatively

high at start, drop slowly in the fifth or eighth year, and then rises again with more time

on the job. The highest is reached after the twentieth year

f. Intelligence: There is positive relationship of intelligence to job satisfaction. The

satisfactions depend on the level and range of intelligence and the challenge of the job.

g. Number of Dependents: The more dependents one has, the less satisfaction he has with

job perhaps the stress of greater financial need brings about greater dissatisfaction with

one’s job. The difference in satisfaction among employees with different numbers of

dependents is, however small.

h. Skills Required: Skill in relation to job satisfaction has a bearing on other factors, kinds

of work such as occupational status, responsibility etc. skills required is the first source of

satisfaction to the workman. Satisfaction in condition of work or in wages becomes

predominant only where satisfaction in skill has materially decreased.

i. Geography: The place where a person lives has a slight bearing on whether he wants to

change job. Workers in large cities are less satisfied with their jobs than in small cities

and towns. Size of city is the most important factor to job satisfaction. The greater job

satisfaction in small towns in due, no doubt, to the difference is psychological

environment rather than to size as such. Everyone in a small town knows better what his

place is in the scheme of things.

j. Size of the plant: The people in a small plant were more satisfied as compared to a

bigger one.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

k. Security: Security is a positive factor which contributes to job satisfaction. The

importance of security differs with the material status and number of dependents. It is

logical that a person who has others depending on him for support would feel the need for

security more strongly than a single man. Security is less important to a better educated

person, because there is no much fear for him about the job. Security is a job attitude

factor, which slightly increases in an importance with an increase in age.

l. Fringe Benefits: Fringe benefits are those payments or benefits which a worker enjoys in

addition to the wages or salary he receives. Fringe benefits are holiday pay, medical

insurance etc. It also includes services that are workers’ medical examination, legal aid,

housing, transport, education etc. These benefits are considered as non-inflationary

means of improving the economic conditions of employees.

m. Working Condition: Working condition is the most important factor to job satisfaction.

Good atmosphere, pleasing surroundings, cleanliness etc are good working condition.

These facilities are used to improve the employee’s job satisfaction. Because most of the

man’s life is spent in the work place. So the employees want good working condition.

n. Employees Attitude: This is a social factor in job satisfaction. Every worker would like

to express his problems to be solved by the management. Understanding of employees

attitudes is an important factor in job satisfaction. This gives him a feeling that he is

being looked after by the organization and at least his interests are being looked after.

This gives him a feeling as if he is a member of that organization.

o. Responsibility: Responsibility is usually enmeshed with several other important

determinants of job satisfaction in a way that makes it difficult to determine the relative

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

contribution of each to job satisfaction. Responsibility usually goes with time on the job,

age, salary, type of work and participation and it may have some relation to interest.

3.6 THE EFFECT OF JOB SATISFACTION

Performance: The following are the effect of job satisfaction on employee performance.

They are- High Productivity, Turn Over, and Less Absenteeism

Satisfaction and Productivity: Historically, the concept of human relations assumed

that high job satisfaction leads to high productivity but later research indicated that it was an

incorrect perception. The question that has been often raised is whether job satisfaction leads to

performance or performance leads to job’ satisfaction.

Cornell: in his studies said,”A satisfied worker is a productive worker”. Out of this

study, he concludes that if the needs of the worker like pay, promotion etc, are satisfied in the

above said job, he will be a productive worker. He will be motivated to work out of his needs are

satisfied and production would be increased. Lawrence and Porter have developed a model

suggesting that “Productivity leads to job satisfaction”.

Satisfaction and Absenteeism and Turnover: The study conducted by C.Rost and

Alwin F.Aander explains that satisfied worker will stay in the same job for a long time. The

worker will satisfied when his needs are satisfied. Satisfying the needs of the worker can reduce

the labour turnover and absenteeism15.

15
Crossman, A. and Harris, P. (2006). Job Satisfaction of Secondary School Teachers. Educational Management
Administration & Leadership, 34(1) 29–46.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

3.7 MEASURING JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction can be measured through,1. Interviews - Closed interviews and Open

ended interviews 2. Discussions, seminars 3. Surveys with proper questionnaires 4. Data

collection through self appraisal 5. Expert approach 6. Industrial Spy etc; whenever the survey

and research are conducted on job satisfaction area, appropriate steps are to be taken to reinforce

the existing job satisfaction in certain areas. In such cases immediate corrective measures are to

be introduced after implementation of such measures for further reforms and modifications.

There are many methods for measuring job satisfaction. By far, the most common

method for collecting data regarding job satisfaction is the Likert scale (named after Rensis

Likert). Other less common methods of for gauging job satisfaction include: Yes/No questions,

True/False questions, point systems, checklists, and forced choice answers. This data is typically

collected using an Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) system.

Job Descriptive Index (JDI)16: created by Smith, Kendall, & Hulin (1969), is a specific

questionnaire of job satisfaction that has been widely used. It measures one’s satisfaction in five

facets: pay, promotions and promotion opportunities, co-workers, supervision, and the work

itself. The scale is simple, participants answer either yes, no, or can’t decide (indicated by ‘?’) in

response to whether given statements accurately describe one’s job.

Job in General Index17: is an overall measurement of job satisfaction. It is an

improvement to the Job Descriptive Index because the JDI focuses too much on individual facets

and not enough on work satisfaction in general. Other job satisfaction questionnaires include:

the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and the

16
Daily News, (2005) No discrepancy in secondary schools‘ pay structure. 4th August 2005 No. 146, p. 2.
17
Kinicki AJ, McKee-Ryan FM Shriesheim CA and Carson KP (2002) Assessing the construct validity of the Job
Descriptive Index: a review and meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 14 – 32.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

Faces Scale. The MSQ measures job satisfaction in 20 facets and has a long form with 100

questions (five items from each facet) and a short form with 20 questions (one item from each

facet).

Superior-Subordinate Communication18: Superior-subordinate communication is an

important influence on job satisfaction in the workplace. The way in which subordinate’s

perceive a supervisor’s behavior can positively or negatively influence job satisfaction.

Communication behavior such as facial expression, eye contact, vocal expression, and body

movement is crucial to the superior-subordinate relationship. Nonverbal messages play a central

role in interpersonal interactions with respect to impression formation, deception, attraction,

social influence, and emotional expression. Nonverbal immediacy from the supervisor helps to

increase interpersonal involvement with their subordinates impacting job satisfaction. The

manner in which supervisors communicate their subordinates may be more important than the

verbal content. Individuals who dislike and think negatively about their supervisor are less

willing to communicate or have motivation to work where as individuals who like and think

positively of their supervisor are more likely to communicate and are satisfied with their job and

work environment19.

The relationship of a subordinate with their supervisor is a very important aspect in the

workplace. Therefore, a supervisor who uses nonverbal immediacy, friendliness, and open

communication lines are more willing to receive positive feedback and high job satisfaction from

a subordinate where as a supervisor who is antisocial, unfriendly, and unwilling to communicate

18
Herzberg, F.I., Mausner, B., Peterson, R.O. and Capwell, D.R. (1957) Job Attitudes: Review of Research and
Opinion. Pittsburgh, PA: Psychological Service of Pittsburgh.
Author PP (2003) Teacher appraisal: an evaluation of practices in Botswana secondary schools. (Pretoria:
University of South Africa).
19
Locke EA (1976) The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In: Dunnette MC (ed.), Handbook of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology. (Chicago: Rand McNally).

52
 Job satisfaction – An overview

will naturally receive negative feedback and very low job satisfaction from their subordinate’s in

the workplace.. Motions == Mood and emotions while working are the raw materials which

cumulate to form the effective element of job satisfaction. (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996).Moods

tend to be long lasting but often weaker states of uncertain origin, while emotions are often more

intense, short-lived and have a clear object or cause. There is some evidence in the literature that

state moods are related to overall job satisfaction20.

Positive and negative emotions were also found to be significantly related to overall job

satisfaction. Frequency of experiencing net positive emotion will be a better predictor of overall

job satisfaction than will intensity of positive emotion when it is experienced. Emotion

regulation and emotion labour are also related to job satisfaction.

Emotion work (or emotion management) refers to various efforts to manage emotional states

and displays. Emotion regulation includes all of the conscious and unconscious efforts to

increase, maintain, or decrease one or more components of an emotion. Although early studies of

the consequences of emotional labor emphasized its harmful effects on workers, studies of

workers in a variety of occupations suggest that the consequences of emotional labor are not

uniformly negative. It was found that suppression of unpleasant emotions decreases job

satisfaction and the amplification of pleasant emotions increases job satisfaction. The

understanding of how emotion regulation relates to job satisfaction concerns two models: 21

20
Moorhead G and Griffin RW (2004) Organizational Behaviour: managing people and organizations. (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co.).
21
Oplatka I and Mimon R (2008) Women principals‘ conceptions of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction: an
alternative view? International Journal of Leadership in Education, 11(2): 135 – 153.

53
 Job satisfaction – An overview

Emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance is a state of discrepancy between public

displays of emotions and internal experiences of emotions that often follows the process of

emotion regulation. Emotional dissonance is associated with high emotional exhaustion, low

organizational commitment, and low job satisfaction.

1. Social interaction model. Taking the social interaction perspective, workers’ emotion

regulation might beget responses from others during interpersonal encounters that

subsequently impact their own job satisfaction. For example: The accumulation of favorable

responses to display of pleasant emotions might positively affect job satisfaction

performance of emotional labor that produces desired outcomes could increase job

satisfaction.

3.8 DIMENSIONS OF JOB SATISFACTION

Specific job Dimensions: The concept of job satisfaction is very complex. It has many

factors, such as the nature of the work, the supervisor, the company, pay or promotional

opportunities. The job itself rarely serves as a unitary attitude object. Some efforts have been

devoted to discovering the dimensions of job satisfaction. The best conclusion from these effort

is that although they are many very specific and diverse job dimension, there is a set of

dimension which are common. Job dimension generally depend upon the nature of the job and

purpose for which satisfaction is being investigated22.

Single or Multiple Job Dimension: If job satisfaction measures are used to diagnose

potential problem areas in the job setting, then separate dimensions, are more valuable than an

overall measures. The individual job factors can be considered in order to learn which ones seem

to be produced positive and which ones produce negative feelings on the part of employees. If on

22
Scott, C., Cox, S. and Dinham, S. (1999). The Occupational Motivation, Satisfaction and Health of English School
Teachers. Educational Psychology, 19, (3), 287-308.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

the other hand, the interest is in the relationship between general responses to the job such as

quitting a measure of overall job satisfaction may be more appropriate23.

Combining Dimension of Job Satisfaction: It seems intuitively obvious that all of a

job’s dimensions are not equally important to all people in determining overall satisfaction with

their jobs. Some people may consider their pay very important and working conditions less, for

others it may be the reverse. Therefore when combining measures of satisfaction with several

dimension of the job, it is tempting to weigh the dimension by their relative importance to the

individual. These job dimensions that have been found to apply to most jobs and then simply to

weigh each dimension score to calculate overall satisfaction24.

Other Dimensions: Smith, Kendall, and Hullin have suggested that there are five job

dimensions that represent the most important characteristics of a job about which people have

affective response.

1. The work itself: the extent to which the job provides the individual with interesting tasks,

opportunities for learning, and the chance to accept responsibility.

2. Pay: The amount of financial remuneration that is received and the degree to which this is

viewed as equitable vis-à-vis that of others in the organization.

3. Promotion opportunities: the chances for advancement in the hierarchy.

4. Supervision: the abilities of the supervisor to provide technical assistance and behaviour

support.

23
Newby JE (1999) Job satisfaction in Middleschool principals in Virginia. (Blackburn: State University).
24
Swanepoel B, Erasmus B van Wyk M and Schenk H (2005) South African Human Resource Management: theory
and practice. (Lansdowne: Juta).

55
 Job satisfaction – An overview

5. Co-workers: the degree to which fellow workers are technically proficient and socially

supportive.25

3.9 TEACHER’S JOB SATISFACTION

Evans identified the levels of job satisfaction which indicate some factors of job

satisfaction for teacher.

Level I: Policy and condition of service. Pay structure. A well pay structure brings more

satisfaction.

Level II: Leadership style. (Of head teachers or the senior teachers) Organizational climate. It

includes the pattern of management of the schools, method of accountability of the teachers,

level of local people interference, freedom of teachers etc.

Level III: This level suggested determinants of job satisfaction are, typically, individual needs

fulfillment, expectations fulfillment or values congruence. Individual’s attitude, norms, values,

personality and emotion reflects in this level. Job satisfaction differs from gender perspective.

There is clear distinction between the nature of male defining job satisfaction and female

define job satisfaction. The factors affecting the female job satisfaction is in working

environment, interpersonal relation, and supervision of boss (by the head teacher). For men

salary and security of the job is most important. Men more concerned with extrinsic rewards

(most notably pay) women focusing more on intrinsic rewards i.e. the satisfaction of teaching

children. A large number of female teachers come into this profession willingly. But men often

saw teaching as an alternative rather than as the main focus of their career aspiration. Job

25
Saari, L. M. and Judge, T. A. (2004). Employee Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Human Resource Management,
43(4): 395–407.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

satisfaction differs a lot on gender perspective because of social culture. In masculine culture

women are modest in nature and teach younger children26.

They are playing the role of ‘substitute mothers’ in school as a teacher. On the other hand

in masculine country male are assertive in nature and prefer the challenging job. Even they are

dominating symbol in management which affects on female job satisfaction. Everyone define job

satisfaction as their fulfillment of their expectation. It differs from person to person and

organization to organization even in context of male and female. So job satisfaction is such

phenomenon which comes from not only the job, but also from one’s personal, social

organizational, administrative and economical condition.

Independent Variables: This study has tried to determine female teachers’ job satisfaction. It is

dependent upon some factors those are termed as independent variables like, career prospects,

academic records payment/salary, supervision, environment and culture.

Career prospect: In very simple term career prospect means how far a job can ensure

ones career in job. It means whether the job is supporting the employee to be established or give

scope to develop ones career. Career has some phases. It starts with Recruitment and selection.

The other phases are: promotion, training and transfer as well as placement. All these phases

cover in the teaching in primary schools in Bangladesh. Their satisfaction and dissatisfaction

depends upon these factors through which a teacher can reach to the ultimate goals of the job.

Fairness of recruitment process and on time promotion to the higher position bring satisfaction to

the female teachers. So, the recruitment and promotion process of the female teachers cause

effect to their profession. If anyone gets positive support from their job it will create job

satisfaction. If there is no fairness of recruitment, training and promotion system overall limited

26
Mumford E (1991) Job satisfaction: a method of analysis. Personnel Review. 20,11-19.

57
 Job satisfaction – An overview

career prospect it will bring dissatisfaction to everyone. Thus career prospect of a job is highly

interlinked with job satisfaction27.

Academic qualification: Academic qualification is the standard of ones academic

background. Such qualification is asked for applying any job. Getting job as per one’s academic

qualification will satisfy him or her on the other hand if some one’s job is inferior to his or her

academic qualification brings dissatisfaction to him or her. Academic qualification is the prime

factor of being qualified to be recruited as teachers in government primary schools of

Bangladesh. Entry qualification for women is SSC and HSC for men. When candidate with

Master degree joined this profession, it’s very natural that they will dissatisfy. So there is a direct

relationship between job satisfaction and academic qualification.

Salary: One of the most important purposes to do a job is getting salary. If one gets a

handsome salary by which one can afford the living may cause job satisfaction. But if the salary

cannot bear ones expenditure one should not be satisfied with the salary.

The salary structure is poor to the primary school teachers in Bangladesh.. It is approximately 48

USD per month (as of data up to December 2004). Such low salary structure is not satisfactory at

all. This pay structure may make them unhappy as well as dissatisfied. Thus salary directly

impacts on job satisfaction28.

Supervision: Dogmatism of the head teacher (specially the male head teachers) or

harassment in the name of supervision by the senior teachers many time cause dissatisfaction to

the female subordinates. This is linked to environment and the culture of the organization. The

females in Bangladesh have had so many responsibilities in families like cooking, rearing and

27
Tierney, P., Bauer, T. N., and R. Potter. 2002. Extra-Role Behavior Among Mexican Employees: The Impact of
LMX, Group Acceptance and Job Attitudes. International Journal of Selection and Assessment (December) 10 (4).
28
Republic of Botswana (1997b) National Development Plan 8 1997/98 – 2002/03. (Gaborone: Government
Printers).

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

caring the kids, taking care as well as nursing their husbands and other members of the family.

All these activities of the female teachers are barrier to their professional sincerity, punctuality

and devotion. While they are supervised these are noted and they are humiliated. Its prolong ness

bring the female teachers dissatisfied to their profession.

Working Environment: There are two types of working environment which can affects

on job satisfaction. One is physical environment. Physical environment covers infrastructure of

the school building, class rooms, furniture and other interior, teachers room, toilets; specially,

female teachers toilets, play ground of the students, computer facilities, telephone, fax,

communication and location of the schools etc. Physical environment is directly linked with job

satisfaction. If one get’s favorable physical environment he or she may be satisfied with the job.

Opposite is true that unfavorable working environment creates dissatisfaction.

In most village schools the female teachers have hardly rest room, wash room and other

facilities. The location of the schools is not always within a convenient distance or there are no

transportation facilities available in that locality. Second type environment is social environment.

The social environment covers family support to the teachers (specially the female teachers),

teacher – student relationship, interpersonal relationship among the colleagues, head teacher –

assistant teachers’ relationship, and teachers’ - guardian relationship attitudes of the school

managing committee as well as the local elites. If such relation is good someone can be satisfied

with the job, but because of antagonistic relation one may be dissatisfied with their job. Thus

environment plays a vital role in context of job satisfaction.

Culture: Culture is mental software of the mind. It is learned, not innate. It derives from

one’s social environment rather than from one’s genes. Culture should be distinguished from

human nature on one side and from an individual’s personality on the other. There are two types

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

of culture which affects on job satisfaction. First one is organizational culture here it means

school culture. Organizational culture is the social glue that binds members of the organization

together (Kreitner 1995).

The relationship between superior and subordinate, decision making, delegation and

authority, types of leadership, and bureaucratic power are part of organizational culture. Job

satisfaction is related to these criteria. Like if decision making process is participative everyone

should be satisfied on the other hand under undemocratic decision making process creates

dissatisfaction. Second one is social culture. Hofstede (2005) identified these two cultural

dimensions in society. He defined “a society as masculine when emotional gender roles are

clearly distinct. Men are supposed to be assertive, tough and focused on material success,

whereas women are supposed to be more modest tender and concerned with the quality of life”

and “a society is feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are

supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with quality of life”.

3.10 IMPORTANCE OF JOB SATISFACTION

Investigated by several disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics and

management sciences, job satisfaction is a frequently studied subject in work and organisational

literature. This is mainly due to the fact that many experts believe that job satisfaction trends can

affect labour market behaviour and influence work productivity, work effort, employee

absenteeism and staff turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is considered a strong predictor of

overall individual well-being (Diaz-Serrano and Cabral Vieira, 2005), as well as a good predictor

of intentions or decisions of employees to leave a job (Gazioglu and Tansel, 2002). Beyond the

research literature and studies, job satisfaction is also important in everyday life. Organisations

have significant effects on the people who work for them and some of those effects are reflected

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

in how people feel about their work. This makes job satisfaction an issue of substantial

importance for both employers and employees. As many studies suggest, employers benefit from

satisfied employees as they are more likely to profit from lower staff turnover and higher

productivity if their employees experience a high level of job satisfaction. However, employees

should also ‘be happy in their work, given the amount of time they have to devote to it

throughout their working lives’ (Nguyen, Taylor and Bradley, 2003)29.

The following passage summarises the importance of job satisfaction for both employers

and their workers: Job satisfaction is important in its own right as a part of social welfare, and

this (simple) taxonomy [of a good job] allows a start to be made on such questions as ‘In what

respects are older workers’ jobs better than those of younger workers?’ (and vice versa), ‘Who

has the good jobs?’ and ‘Are good jobs being replaced by bad jobs?’. In addition, measures of

job quality seem to be useful predictors of future labour market behaviour. Workers’ decisions

about whether to work or not, what kind of job to accept or stay in, and how hard to work are all

likely to depend in part upon the worker’s subjective evaluation of their work, in other words on

their job satisfaction. (Clark, 1998)30

29
Vanqa TP (1998) The development of education in Botswana: the role of teachers‘ organisations. (Gaborone:
Lentswe la Lesedi).
30
Beer, J., and J. Beer. 1992. “Burnout and stress, depression andself-esteem of teachers.” Psychological Reports.
71: 1331-6.

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

3.11 CONCLUSION

Job satisfaction is one important aspect a company should look after for because it has a

significant correlation with job performance. Specifically, this relationship appears stronger on

collective basis, which has a greater effect to the units and organisational performance, including

productivity, work process efficiency, and most importantly, profit. Then, personality traits and

emotional states seem to have an important role in determining individual satisfaction.

Concurrently, work environment and organisation strategy are more likely determinant to

increase collective job satisfaction. Thus, company should consider implementing both personal

and organisational approach to ensure greater level of employees’ satisfaction is achieved.

Finally, this essay propose a few recommendations as follow: firstly, the importance of a well-

structured intervention to generate positive personality traits and emotion states of individuals in

the form of training and development, and facilitate employees with a positive workplace

interaction by providing a set of fair policies and procedures.31

Job satisfaction is the result of various attitudes proposed by an employer. In a narrow

sense, these attitudes are related to the job and are concerned with such specific factors as wages,

supervision, steadiness of employment, condition of work, social relation on the job, prompt

settlement of grievance, fair treatment by employer other personal factors such are employers

age, health, desires and level of aspiration, the employees family relationship, social status

recreational outlets have also contribute towards job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is dynamic, as

it can go as quickly as it comes32. It is a positive emotional state that he occurs when a person’s

job seems to fulfill important values, provided these values are compatible with one’s needs. Job

31
Jordan, D. 1986. A Correlational Analysis of School Leadershipand Organizational Climate with Students’
Classroom Achievement(Beaumont, TX: Lamar University Press).
32
Peck, R. F., R. B. Fox, and P. T. Morston. 1977. Teacher Effects onStudents’ Achievement and Self-Esteem
(Washington, DC: NationalInstitute of Education).

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 Job satisfaction – An overview

satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job

experience. The term job satisfaction is vogue in 1935 with the publishing of a book “Job

Satisfaction” by Hoppack. Since then, the number of investigators in this field has defined the

term job satisfaction.33 Hoppack was the first industrial psychologist to provide the concept of

job satisfaction. It is very difficult to define job satisfaction because it is an intangible unseen,

unabsorbed variable and a complex assemblage of emotional feelings such as behavioural

tendencies.

33
Schonfeld, I. S. 1990. “Psychological distress in a sample of teachers.”The Journal of Psychology. 124: 321-38.

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