Page 469 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Job Satisfaction

Kolberg, William H., and Smith, Foster C. (1992). Rebuilding uct of improved quality of workmanship. It is important
America’s Workforce. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin. to note, however, that the literature on the relationship
Madura, Jeff (2004). Introduction to Business. Belmont, CA: between job satisfaction and productivity is neither con-
Thomson/South-Western. clusive nor consistent. Studies dating back to Frederick
Nickels, William G., McHugh, James M., and McHugh, Susan Herzberg’s (1957) have shown surprisingly only a low cor-
M. (2005). Understanding Business (7th ed.). Boston: relation between high morale and high productivity. But
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
this is contrary to easily formed logic that satisfied work-
Pride, William M., Hughes, Robert J., and Kapoor, Jack R. ers tend to add more value to an organization.
(2002). Business (7th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Unhappy employees, motivated by fear of job loss,
Rosenbaum, Bernard L. (1982). How to Motivate Today’s Workers.
New York: McGraw-Hill. will give 100 percent of their effort for a while, but not for
very long. Though fear is a powerful motivator, it is also a
temporary one. As soon the threat is lifted, the perform-
Marcy Satterwhite ance declines.
Tangible ways in which job satisfaction benefits the
organization include reduction in complaints and griev-
ances, absenteeism, turnover, and termination, as well as
JOB SATISFACTION improved punctuality and worker morale. Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a worker’s sense of achievement and suc- also appears to be linked to a healthier workforce and has
cess on the job. It is generally perceived to be directly been found to be quite a good indicator of longevity.
linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being. Although only low correlation has been found between
Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it job satisfaction and productivity, some employers have
well, and being rewarded for one’s efforts. Job satisfaction found that satisfying or “delighting” employees is a pre-
further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one’s requisite to satisfying or delighting customers, thus pro-
work. Job satisfaction is the key ingredient that leads to tecting the “bottom line.” No wonder Andrew Carnegie is
recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of quoted as saying: “Take away my people and soon grass
other goals that lead to a feeling of fulfillment. will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories,
but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and bet-
WHAT WORKERS NEED IN JOB ter factory” (quoted in Brown, 1996, p. 123). Job satisfac-
SATISFACTION tion and occupational success can result not only in job
satisfaction but also in complete personal satisfaction.
Major specifics of what workers need in job satisfaction
include self-esteem and identity. A significant portion of
job satisfaction often comes just from the sheer fact of PROMOTING JOB SATISFACTION
being employed. If work creates positive features about Job satisfaction does not come automatically to business
being employed, unemployment almost invariably lowers organizations. In a broad sense, the job satisfaction pro-
self-worth. Genuine job satisfaction comes from a feeling gram needs to exist and should have activities carefully
of security whereby one’s performance is judged objec- designed to achieve the intended job satisfaction goals. It
tively by the quality of work performance rather than arti- must be an action program. And it should be carefully
ficial criteria such as being related to highly placed monitored to ensure that changes are periodically made as
executives or to relatives in the firm. Yet at the same time, needed.
monotonous jobs can almost shatter a worker’s initiative Most large organizations now include human
and enthusiasm. Employees have definite needs that they resource departments within their management structure.
feel are essential to activate as they spend their working At one time human resource departments were limited to
hours and years expending their efforts on behalf of their handling the acquisition of new workers. Today, however,
employers. many human resource programs take the worthwhile ini-
tiative of helping to develop complete programs of per-
IMPORTANCE TO BOTH WORKER sonnel practices, such as conducting research on current
AND ORGANIZATION wage structures.
For the organization, high levels of job satisfaction of its Most human resource departments learn about
workers strongly suggest a workforce that is motivated and employees through interviews, administration of insur-
committed to high-quality performance. Increased pro- ance policies, study of legislation that deals with workers,
ductivity—quantity and quality of output per hour and participation in decisions that affect employees’ jobs.
worked—would seem to be almost an automatic by-prod- These activities must be carefully designed to concentrate

446 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION