工作满意度的管理问题
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08-06, 2015
工作满意度只是表示个人对自己工作态度的评价,是否在愉悦的情绪状态下工作。它也暗示了富有成效的工作态度,这描述了有多少员工对他们的工作感到满意。员工对他们的工作越满意,工作效率就会提高。Weiss and Cropanzano(1996)声称,工作满意度就是一种态度,提醒研究人员需要区分认知评价对象,例如感情和信仰。
在当今时代,工作满意度在企业管理这方面有很大影响力,同时也为开发人力资源实施合适的策略。影响工作满意度的因素是多种多样的,主要分为四大组,包括公平的管理程序、组织特点、个人特征以及心理因素。私有部门和公有部门的特点有很大的不同,特别是工作环境以及工作性质。
Job satisfaction simply indicates the pleasant emotional state which arises from the evaluation of an individual's job. It also indicates a productive attitude towards the job. This describes how much employees are satisfied with their job. The more contented the employees are with their tasks, the more satisfied them are hence work productivity increases. Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) asserted that job satisfaction is always embedded in attitude although they also warn that researchers need to differentiate cognitive evaluation objects like affects and beliefs.
In the current age, job satisfaction has an important function in the management of an organization as well as the implementation of proper strategies for developing human resources. The factors which are responsible for job satisfaction are varied and are categorized into four major groups which include procedural justice, organizational characteristics, individual characteristics, as well as the psychological factors. The characteristics in the private sector and those in the public sector are quite different, especially those pertaining to work context along with the job characteristics.
The intrinsic reward preference over the extrinsic rewards separates the public sector workers from the private sector workers. Attaining the altruistic needs alone can not sufficiently satisfy the public sector workers, other elements are required to determine their job satisfaction. This work expects to identify factors which can be very helpful in enhancing the job satisfaction level among the workers in the public sector. It also critically considers and analyses the models of job satisfaction which have been developed following thorough review of relevant literature. This may prove to be greatly helpful in contributions to literature related to human resource management as well as employee ' employee relationship.
介绍—Introduction
Job satisfaction has been one of the most challenging, intriguing, and crucial factors in management issues both in private and public sector. Various management professionals have described it endlessly as an evaluation of an individual's work context and task, as indicated by Weiss & Cropanzano (1996). It has also been termed as the attitude about a particular job aspect, and the assessment of job features and emotional experiences of working together. Issues regarding job satisfaction have been tremendously challenging, thus they often tend to be ignored by various private and public sectors, a situation which has transformed into mass job dissatisfaction among several employees in these sectors. The impact of job dissatisfaction in the public sector has been severe, ranging from poor quality services, negligent behaviours among employees and stains on the reputation of the public sector to deteriorated performance and malpractices in the general public sector. According to Pollit and Bouckaert (1999), the previous decades have seen the Public sector in majority of the industrialized countries encountering significant turmoil due to job satisfaction related issues.
Since job satisfaction in the current age has a vital role in the management of the organization and also in the implementation of productive strategies of human resource development, its decline causes counter productivity in the public sector. The fact that the job dissatisfaction trend in the public sector has been continuously and rapidly growing has forced strings of researchers and managers to carry out investigations into various public sectors to determine the possible factors contributing to job dissatisfaction and the factors that could increase the level of job satisfaction among the public sector employees. The findings indicate that there are various factors that affect job dissatisfaction which through proper consideration, correction and implementation could translate into job satisfaction.
文献综述—Literature review
影响工作满意度的因素—Factors affecting job satisfaction
Desantis and Durst (1996) state that in order to understand and improve job satisfaction, there is value in determining which factors affect the satisfaction of employees with their job. In this perspective, a structured relevant literature review indicates numerous factors influencing job satisfaction among employees. These factors are described as follows:
公正的管理程序—Procedural justice
This is among the key determinants and entails two models whish are: - the model of group value and the model of self-interest. The model of self-interest affirms that employee contribution in the process creates a feeling in them of having some authority over the expected outcome, hence considering the process fair. Moreover, methods or processes completely laid down to improve accuracy are deemed as fair by employees since they aid employees in knowing that they will receive results that are well deserved. These are crucial in job satisfaction (Hackman & Oldham, 1995).
According to Linda et al (1996), the model of group value emphasizes on some procedures being considered as fair since they build feelings among the employees being included as complete members of a particular group having shared authority of making decisions. Since their presence in the process is also considered significant, the employees are able to share their opinions and feel both valued and recognized (Linda & Early, 1991). These forces are able to drive the employees towards group familiarization and maintenance, hence working to enhance the group's interest. As such, group value is vital in job satisfaction (Maureen & Thurston, 2006).
个人性格特征—Individual characteristics
The employee characteristics like age, education level, gender, rank, and marital status may also affect job satisfaction either positively or negatively. According to Jayaratne (1993), younger employees tend to be more dissatisfied when compared to the older ones, indicating that age affects job satisfaction. The top senior employees and the newly introduced employees both have job dissatisfaction, with the middle rank employees indicating satisfaction with their jobs. In addition, employees with little education indicate much job satisfaction in comparison to the more qualified ones, as indicated by Sargent and Hannum (2005).
The employees who are married also indicate more job satisfaction than the unmarried employees do. Shah and Jalees (2004) also assert that a progress in the employee rank increases the employee's job satisfaction level. Women on the other hand, have higher job satisfaction when regarding their job as their ideal profession. Higher rank employees generally have less job satisfaction compared to the lower rank employees (Sargent and Hannum, 2005).
Lu et al (2007), however, fails to see the relationship between an employee's level of education and their job satisfaction. Ellickson and Logsdon (2001) also illustrate that personal factors like gender and age have little significance in job satisfaction, with the municipal sector being cited as an example. Knights et al (2005) as well claim that job satisfaction is not influenced by factors such as age, tenure, job location, and educational level.
人口因素—Demographic factors
As indicated in Abu-Bader (2000), job satisfaction arises due to working with employees from same ethnicity or even being among the organisation's majority group. Contrary to the previous claim by Lu et al (2007), Sargent & Hannum (2005) who indicate that the employees with little education have more satisfaction. As well, Sui (2002) claims that job satisfaction is not related to the gender of employee or the employee's age.
社区或企业的特点—Community or organizational characteristics
Employees working in communities that are better off in terms of finances have less job satisfaction according to Sargent and Hannum (2005). In the workplaces, where alluring optional career paths can be accessed, the employees are quite likely to have less satisfaction compared to workplaces where such options are not available. Apart from this, there are also claims by Ting (1997) that employees in an organization that bears enhanced economic resources used for supporting employee welfare and for timely salary payment are satisfied with their jobs. Employees in remote villages were initially considered to be less satisfied. However, further research has shown that they are more satisfied hence they prefer to stick to their job. Employees were found to prefer workplaces with other similar educated employees since these settings decrease the chances of an employee being socially isolated.
The job satisfaction of employees is also influenced by the employees' satisfaction with assessment procedures as well as good relations between employees and supervisors, as claimed by Ellickson and Logsdon, 2001. Furthermore, organizational factors like presence of sufficient work equipment, adequate resources, and training opportunities affect employee satisfaction. Others factors include standard working conditions and equal promotion opportunities. Additionally, a positive attitude is evident in suitable working environments. Therefore, suitable working conditions, promotional opportunities, job security and stability, and proper discipline can greatly improve job satisfaction among the employees (Rad, 2004).
Role conflict as well as role ambiguity have also shown by Lu (2007) to have negative effects on the level of job satisfaction among employees. Also, while CHU et al (2003) claims that the work load along with role doubtfulness may lead to a decrease in the level of job satisfaction. Wright and Davis (2003) assert that clarity is vital since in its absence the feedback procedure. The same sentiment is shared by Javed et al (2004) and Shah and Jalees (2004), while being complemented by Bhatti and Qureshi (2007) who state that the participation of employees in the affairs of the organization can positively influence job satisfaction.
Metle (2002), on the other hand, states that the improvement of the working environment is but just one requirement, which alone cannot solve the whole environment problem; culture must be included to create job satisfaction. According to Best et al (2006), the nurses in the public health sector often value autonomy and salary as very vital. Alternatively, job satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors are similar according to Oshagbemi (1997), who also claims that job satisfaction requires concentration on the situational occurrences like tea breaks and the situational characteristics like working conditions and pay conditions to improve, contrary to emphasis on a single factor. Georgellies and Lange (2007) stress the value of continuous training while working. This is connected to job satisfaction and affects creativity, although it has received little attention from literatures that are related to job satisfaction studies.
Other determinants of job satisfaction are:
Esprit de corps,
Psychological Factors.
Work context
Esprit de corps
According to Karl& Sutton (1998), Esprit de corps in a particular department has a direct and positive link with job satisfaction. It relates to the value of employee social relationships in the work place. This reflects on employee social link value and its resultant job satisfaction impact. As such, job satisfaction is enabled through reduction of employee's discomfort towards the evaluation procedure and adopting policies contributing positively to the mutual trust among supervisors and the employees. Job satisfaction is also enhanced through the positive link between the environment and employees, as Hammer & Champy (1993) claim. Supervision and good relationships among colleagues and social supports, especially in challenging and difficult times, also enhances job satisfaction (Barrows & Wesson, 2000).
工作关系—Work context
Work context has been purported to be a major distinguisher when it comes to job satisfaction. Work context can be considered as the qualities of the general organizational setting, for instance goals of the organization or extent of formalization in which workers ought to undertake tasks to reach specified goals. The procedural constraints claimed by Kellough (1999) affect job satisfaction. Linda and Tayler (1998) state that work context reflects on organizational setting features such as the reward system, extent of formalization in which workers ought to undertake tasks, and the organizational goals.
心理因素—Psychological factors
Herzberg, (1996) claimed that occupational anxiety reduces the job satisfaction level. Chu et al (2003) emphasizes that individuals perceiving things positively are, by tendency, quite positive hence have higher job satisfaction levels. This is contrary to individuals with the inverse tendency who are likely to be more dissatisfied with their jobs (Farnham & Horton, 1996).
分析—Analysis
Even though job satisfaction has received a wider and more significant study, there is insufficient information concerning job related values and its perception among employees. Issues regarding job satisfaction have often been linked to job-related stress, career abandoning as well as burnouts. In as much as some employees in the public sector rate autonomy and relations as the most crucial factors, the general findings show that most employees have job dissatisfaction rising from various factors.
In the work place, there are quite a number of factors that greatly determine the level of employee satisfaction with their tasks. The same factors are also deemed as very influential in determining the level of success of the organization, as the human factor is the primary controller of other activities. There have been numerous models and assumptions that have been developed to explain the reasons for the growing job dissatisfaction trend among various employees. The growth in job dissatisfaction trend has progressed in both the public and private sectors. However, according to Reiner & Zhao (1999), it has been witnessed in the public sector more frequently than in the private sector. This has called for various researchers and managers to carry out a lot of research on the relationship between job satisfaction and various factors within and without the workplace, as well as in the characteristics of individual employees.
The outcome has been that various factors, which are grouped under psychological factors, procedural justice, individual characteristics and organizational characteristics, have proved to offer better explanations to the varying differences in the level of job satisfaction among the public sector employees. The same factors have been proven to have a significant effect on the level of job satisfaction. The factors related to the procedural justice have been known to contribute a lot in this direction as many public sector employees are motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic factors. The fact that this determines their feelings hence their attitude to fairness considered in the process of a given job highly raises the possibility of the employees considering the job's satisfaction.
The results arising from the proper and fair implementation of the processes through the involvement of the employees greatly enhances job satisfaction as the employees feel that their presence is valued and recognized in the organization. Apart from this, the employees end up feeling that their contribution is important since they partake in the decision-making process. Therefore, the employees are ready to receive the outcome of this decision as a collective one and without blame on the organization's procedures. This has been known to improve the employee relations and unity hence employees are likely to work together in harmony thus increasing work productivity within the organization. Group behaviour resulting from this has been shown to have a positive impact on the organization, as Linda and Early (1991) assert. As such, the value of procedural justice still ranks high among the public sector employees.
Moreover, the individual characteristics have been recognized by many researchers as contributing substantially to job satisfaction among the public sector employees. These individual characteristics, which entail age, sex, marital status, education level, as well as rank are deemed as having varying influence on the outcome of job satisfaction among the public sector employees. However, its impacts has been supported by some researchers and argued against by others. In as much as various research carried out has shown that there is some degree of relationship between these factors and the general job satisfaction, other researchers have pointed out some of these characteristics are least applicable or non applicable in the question of job satisfaction. For instance, many researchers have argued that age and level of education have some perceived influence on job satisfaction. However, knights et al (2005) claim\ that there is no direct connection between job satisfaction and factors like job location, age, and education level.
The contribution of organizational characteristics also come in to play where work places having attractive packages often have more satisfied employees as opposed to the places which don't offer these benefits to their employees. There is also a strong indication that the psychological factors have very great contributions to job satisfaction among the public sector as employees with positive attitudes are more satisfied with their jobs than employees with negative attitudes (Pfiffer, 1999).
Researchers have corrected the previous assumption that the factors affecting job satisfaction were somehow inaccurate using further studies which indicate that employees within the public sector still consider some conditions which were previously not considered. An instance of this is evidenced by the fact that public sector workers in the remote villages were previously considered as being less satisfied with their jobs. However, it was discovered that they were very in fact satisfied. This gives credit to why constant research is necessary while highlighting the importance of research. Therefore, in order to improve job satisfaction among the employees in the public sector, keen research has to be carried out and the factors affecting job satisfaction be clearly analyzed and implemented according to the requirements.
总结—Conclusion
Dedication and involvement of employees within the public sector has been proven to have a strong relationship with their job satisfaction. Having well motivated and committed employees is a crucial condition in the organization's success. In view of this, reports citing decline in job satisfaction among the employees in the public sector are a causing for concern. There is also the empirical question asking on what degree has the public sector reforms added to the decline. This decline, however, can be attributed to various factors.
Factors leading to job satisfaction are quite diverse and numerous, and fall under specific categories. There are four broad categories of factors that affect job satisfaction standards and which through keen consideration and proper execution may result in higher job satisfaction levels among employees. These have been indicated and included in the study. These factors comprise of the procedural justice, the organizational and community characteristics, the individual characteristics, and the psychological factors.
The work context as well as the work environment of the public sector is quite different from that of the private sector and therefore job satisfaction in the public sector may vary more compared to the job satisfaction in the private sector. In addition, while there is positive attitude in work, job dissatisfaction among public sector employees is mostly caused by poor organizational management. Attachment to service, extrinsic reward preference over the intrinsic rewards, and altruism are some of the qualities evident in public sector workers. These aspects are insufficient in determining job satisfaction among the employees in public sector. Relevant literature reviews as well as models founded on this basis emphasize the need to further carry out research for keen examination on the relationship between the given factors and job satisfaction among the employees in the public sector.
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