The Review of Job Satisfaction Essay Example for Free

The Review of Job Satisfaction Essay Job satisfaction represents one of the most complex areas facing today’s managers when it comes to managing their employees. Many studies have demonstrated an unusually large impact on the job satisfaction on the motivation of workers, while the level of motivation has an impact on productivity, and hence also on performance of business organizations. Unfortunately, in our region, job satisfaction has not still received the proper attention from neither scholars nor managers of various business organizations. Key words: job satisfaction, Employees, performance Introduction: Research indicates that employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more likely to stay with their employers. According to this survey, 86% of employees indicated overall satisfaction with their current position, with 41% of employees reporting they were very satisfied. What’s more, majority of employees reported that the current economic climate has not made any difference in their level of satisfaction—and this is good news for employers, especially during the economically challenging time. It is not surprising that during the current economic downturn, which some have compared to the 1929 Great Depression, employees selected job security for the second consecutive year as the most important aspect of their job satisfaction. Benefits, compensation/pay, opportunities to use skills and abilities and feeling safe in the work environment rounded off employees’ top five very important job satisfaction contributors—nearly identical to the top five of 2008. Factors that were not strongly connected to employees’ overall job satisfaction were organization’s commitment to a ‘green’ workplace, networking, career development opportunities, paid training and tuition reimbursement programs, and organization’s commitment to professional development. Despite its vide usage in scientific research, as well as in everyday life, there is still no general agreement regarding what job satisfaction is. In fact there is no final definition on what job represents. Therefore before a definition on job satisfaction can be given , the nature and importance of work as a universal human activity must be considered. Different authors have different approaches towards defining job satisfaction. Some of the most commonly cited definitions on job satisfaction are analysed in the text that follows. Job satisfaction as any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully to say I am satisfied with my job. According to this approach although job satisfaction is under the influence of many external factors, it remains something internal that has to do with the way how the employee feels. That is job satisfaction presents a set of factors that cause a feeling of satisfaction. Vroom in his definition on job satisfaction focuses on the role of the employee in the workplace. Thus he defines job satisfaction as affective orientations on the part of individuals toward work roles which they are presently occupying (Vroom, 1964). One of the most often cited definitions on job satisfaction is the one given by Specter according to whom job satisfaction has to do with the way how people feel about their job and its various aspects. It has to do with the extent to which people like or dislike their job. That’s why job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction can appear in any given work situation. Job satisfaction represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work. Meanwhile, when a worker employed in a business organization, brings with it the needs, desires and experiences which determinates expectations that he has dismissed. Job satisfaction represents the extent to which expectations are and match the real awards. Job satisfaction is closely linked to that individuals behavior in the work place. Job satisfaction is a worker’s sense of achievement and success on the job. It is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being. Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well and being rewarded for one’s efforts. Job satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one’s work. Job satisfaction is the key ingredient that leads to recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of other goals that lead to a feeling of fulfillment. Job satisfaction can be defined also as the extent to which a worker is content with the rewards he or she gets out of his or her job, particularly in terms of intrinsic motivation. The term job satisfactions refer to the attitude and feelings people have about their work. Positive and favorable attitudes towards the job indicate job satisfaction. Negative and unfavorable attitudes towards the job indicate job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is the collection of feeling and beliefs that people have about their current job. People’s levels of degrees of job satisfaction can range from extreme satisfaction to extreme dissatisfaction. In addition to having attitudes about their jobs as a whole. People also can have attitudes about various aspects of their jobs such as the kind of work they do, their co-workers, supervisors or subordinates and their pay. Job satisfaction is a complex and multifaceted concept which can mean different things to different people. Job satisfaction is usually linked with motivation, but the nature of this relationship is not clear. Satisfaction is not the same as motivation. Job satisfaction is more of an attitude, an internal state. It could, for example, be associated with a personal feeling of achievement, either quantitative or qualitative. We consider that job satisfaction represents a feeling that appears as a result of the perception that the job enables the material and psychological needs . Job satisfaction can be considered as one of the main factors when it comes to efficiency and effectiveness of business organizations. In fact the new managerial paradigm which insists that employees should be treated and considered primarily as human beans that have their own wants, needs, personal desires is a very good indicator for the importance of job satisfaction in contemporary companies. When analyzing job satisfaction the logic that a satisfied employee is a happy employee and a happy employee is a successful employee. Job satisfaction is under the influence of a series of factors such as: The nature of work, Salary, Advancement opportunities, Management, Work groups and Work conditions. A somewhat different approach regarding the factors of job satisfaction is provided by Rue and Byars, Figure 4. When talking about factors of job satisfaction the fact that they can also job dissatisfaction must be kept in mind. Therefore the issue weather job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are two opposite and excludable phenomena? There is no consensus regarding this issue among authors. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is probably the most often cited point of view. In fact the main idea is that employees in their work environment are under the influence of factors that cause job satisfaction and factors that cause job dissatisfaction. Therefore al factors that have derived from a large empirical research and divided in factors that cause job satisfaction (motivators) and factors that cause job dissatisfaction (hygiene factors)