Job Satisfaction and Innovation - Literature review Example

Running Head: Job satisfaction and Innovation     Your name   Course name             Professors’ name Date Executive Summary Frederick Herzberg (1950) is considered in business sector to be a pioneer in motivation theory; in his theory Herzberg’s theory, “he managed to interview a group of workers to find out what made them to have satisfaction on their current jobs” (Herzberg 1968). For every employee in a company he asked them two set of questions: the first question he asked was, “think of a time when an employee felt good about his/her job and why did the employee felt that way, and the second question was, think about the time you felt bad about his/her job and what was the reason why you felt that way” (Everett 1995). From these questions that he had asked people he went ahead and developed his theory; in order for a person to be satisfied with his/her work there are two dimensions which is involved: motivation and “hygiene”. Herzberg said, hygiene cannot motivate workers in a company but it minimizes dissatisfaction in the company, if handle properly. “Hygiene includes company polices, supervision, salary and working conditions the employee finds himself or herself in, these are issues that touches on working environment of the employee in a company” (Herzberg 1968). “Motivation on the other hand creates satisfaction to an employee, by fulfilling person needs for meaning and personal growth, motivations entails: employee achievement, recognition, advancement and employee work itself. “Once hygiene in a company is addressed” (Brief 1998). Introduction Attempt to understand the meaning of job satisfaction, innovation and their effects on the general performance of an employee in a company. For a long time (100 years) psychologists have wrestle with this question of correlation between job satisfaction, innovation and employee performance. Many researches have spent a lot of time trying to demonstrate the relationship between job satisfaction and innovation with job performance. “A satisfied employee is a productive employee: although this statement is appealing. The results of this statement are inconclusive with respect to many hypotheses that say that the two are correlated” (Herzberg 1968). As a result of this doubt, the relationship between satisfaction and job performance continues to stimulate research and has led to re-examined previous attempts. “This report on job satisfaction and innovation strives to describe the relationship between employee satisfaction and the general performance of a company which an employee is working in” (Herzberg 1968). “The issue of job satisfaction is complex with different meaning to different people, job satisfaction is usually linked with motivation but relationship between the two is not clear; employee being satisfied is not the same as an employee being satisfied” (Freeman 1978). Job satisfaction in an employee is more of attitude in an employee, for example, you can associate it with persons feeling of achievement, either quantitative or qualitative. “In the past job satisfaction in an employee was associated with broader approaches to improved job design and work organization, and quality of working life movement that can be found in work place” (Herzberg 1968). It is believe that job satisfaction and employee success are the major factors that contribute to personal satisfaction, self respect, self esteem and self development. To employees jobs satisfaction brings a satisfying emotional state and this will lead make employees to have positive attitude towards work. For organization, satisfaction for its employees means a work force that is committed to a higher quality performance in the company and this will increase productivity in the company. According to Herzberg’s (1957) there is a connection between high morale and high production in employees who are satisfied with their work. Herzberg’s (1957) continues by saying, employees who are not satisfied with their work and at same time they are motivated by fear of losing their employment, will not give 100 per cent of their effort to the company which they are working for, but as soon as that threat is lifted performance ( fear) the performance will decline. “There are ways in which job satisfaction will benefits the organization and this include reduction in grievances, absenteeism, higher turnover experienced in the company” (Day 1998). Literature Review An employee being satisfied has been perceived to be connected to the productivity and personal wellbeing of that person. “Employee being satisfied with his/her work means doing the work you love, doing it well, and after that you are rewarded for one’s efforts” (Herzberg 1968). According to Harvard professional Group (1998), they consider job satisfaction as an important ingredient that will lead to recognition, for example recognition, income, promotion and employee achievement of other goals either personally or company goals. Authorities, who want to maintain job satisfaction in their companies, must be able to understand the needs of each employee in the company. For example, “when the company is creating a team within the company, they should make sure employees who have similar backgrounds and experiences should be group together or matching employee according to the type of work”(Daft 1997). Many of the research that touches on job satisfaction and innovations, in the past are asking supervisors to establish priorities on the problems that confront them, and good communication was ranked number one. These findings in this research are not surprising because good communication between employees and employers or employees and employees themselves, will make the company work efficiently. Communication in a company usually determines the direction the company will take and at same time the company motivates and brings understanding to its employees on the purpose and goals of the organization. Sometimes communication in companies is pervasive and often thought to be every employee responsibility. However, it is the duty of the authority in an organization to pinpoint problems that affects communication in the company. Although, “communication can be difficult management task, but it is effective to make employees be satisfied in their jobs and be innovative” (Clark 1996). “Job satisfaction with promotion opportunities are considered as an important aspect in an organization” (Maslow 1943). Job satisfaction with promotion opportunities in a company are directly and indirectly related to each other and are considered to be a critical factor to be considered in an organization. Employee promotion in a company usually will make a different in influencing an employee from being satisfied. Promotion for employees can be implemented in various forms and its rewards are diverse. For example there are those people who will get promotion for working in a company for a longer period of time, while there are those who will get promotion as a result of his/her achievement in the workplace. But all of this will make an employee to be satisfied with his/her work. Promotion and its reward in an organization may be under the direct control of a company but these two criteria have significant effects on job satisfaction. These two factors can be used as a tool to produce a beneficial outcome for an employee and the company which the employee is working for. It should be noted that good employees in a company do not at all the time make good supervisors. The role of appointing a supervisor in a company is a difficult one, because it requires a person to have leadership skills and be able to treat all the employees in the company fairly. “When a person is appointed to be a supervisor, he/she must be able to use positive feedbacks when responding to his/her fellow employees so that no one feels singled out or he/she dissatisfied with his/her job” (Cranny 1992). Self development: those companies who don’t want to improve its employee’s skills, they risk losing their talented employees to the competition. While those companies who maximize the creativity abilities and talents of its employees, will have an advantage than those companies which don’t. It has been noted in many companies that employees who are engaged in their work have a higher level of performance in the organization and are usually satisfied with their works. According to Dr. Edwards Deming said, “Companies should concentrate on making sure their employees they improve their skills”. Employees may report to work, but are they productive to the company, most employees will be committed and engaged when there is a platform for them to contribute their skills and ideas to the company; this usually gives them a sense of ownership and pride to their work. Another way in which a company can make their employees to be satisfied with their job is through training and education; this usual motivate employees and it make them to be more productive and innovative. For example, at Federal Express, all customer service personnel are given six weeks training before they handle any customer. Organization should realize that learning does not stop and testing for employees will continues throughout their employment tenure in the company. A well trained employee in a company is capable and willing to assume more control over his job and an employee who is well trained is complain less, is more satisfied with his/her job and is more motivated. Most employees will seek work in a different company for the long term rather than monetary compensation; they desire their contribution to be recognized in the company. To help them, the company should make sure employees in a company are placed in a position that utilizes their talents and are not bound to fail. Set goals and standard that can be easily achieved for each position in the company, “and make sure employees in the company know what each goal and standards entails. Employers should also give regular and timely feedback to every employee and they should not give employee challenges that are impossible to tackle in the company” (Locke 1976). Innovation; the need for Innovation arises from the fact that some employees are born with minimal or without intrinsic motivation and thus they must be motivated extrinsically in order to achieve the organizational objectives. In this regard, the organizational management must design the best Innovative strategies aimed at propelling employee performance to greater levels. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the Innovative strategies that affect the productivity of employees in an advertising department of a newspaper company, the efforts made by the company to improve the employees’ performances, how and why the employees do not exhibit resistance to increasing productivity, the management’s motivation philosophy towards its employees, the management’s motivation practices, the implications of applying motivational theories in the department and how the motivational theories would impact both management and employees. How innovation environment can be implemented in organization: Training and development is one of the efforts the management of the company uses to improve the performances of its employees. Through training and development, the skills and knowledge of the employees are updated and enhanced. This includes the skills and knowledge in modern graphics which makes advertisements more appealing to the audiences. Thus, the employees in the department are trained twice a month on the modern methods of advertisement. The other effort put by the management of the organization to improve the performance of the employees is the use of written procedures. Since, the advertising duties in the department are naturally involving the company has written procedures and polices from where the employees refer from instead of consulting the departmental manager from time to time. This makes the work of the employees simpler and it helps the workers to avoid common mistakes that could arise in the absence of the written policies and procedures. It also improves quality and ensures consistency of the employees’ performances. Conclusion Job satisfaction in employee is mostly influenced by management culture and employment involvement in the company. “When a company gives its employees the right opportunities, freedom and satisfied their needs, the workers will be satisfied and performance in the company will be good” (Arvey 1989). “To encourage job satisfaction in a company, some methods such as job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment should be employed in the company” (DeNeve 1998). Job rotation is when employee in a company move from one department to another one, this usually help the employee in that company to understand work better and this also kills boredom. Job enlargement is when employees in a company are given task, and job enrichment is giving more control to employees over planning and evaluation of work. In people there are different meaning of job satisfaction but for most employees in a company, job satisfaction leads to many benefits such as reducing work stress, higher salary, benefits, promotion and new thinking and innovation in the company. But all this is linked to motivation to employees, “for example if an employee told he/she will be promoted, he will work hard in the company, when the employee is promoted he will be satisfied because most promotion come with salary raise” (Ajzen 1977). When an employee aptitude is such that he/she enjoys the work and he/she has the skills to perform assigned task in the company, the chance of that employee being satisfied with his/her work is higher than that employee who doesn’t have skill in performing a given task. We cannot pinpoint the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance, but when a employee is doing a good job in a company it will improve his/her job satisfaction. “The best companies can do is to try understand that employees performance is a complex issue and cannot be measured monetarily” (Dreher 1980). The welfare of employees is central for the success of any company; this does not only involve financial satisfaction that the company will give to its employees, but the need for the organization to offer its employees’ satisfaction in their place of work and motivation. When the employees are motivated and are satisfied with their work, they create a good relationship and this usually makes the company to achieve its set up goals. This study is to determine the effect of employee innovation and job satisfaction in a company. Many years have passed since Herzberg theory was brought forward, but he attempted to teach both employees and employers the ethical management principles that many leader in companies or organization lack. Although Herzberg is well known for his famous concept “hygiene” and factors that motivate an employee in work place, he was generally concern with the well being of employees in the work place. He tried to bring humanity and caring into companies. Herzberg did not use his theory to be use in motivating as a motivational tool but he developed his theory to be used to improve organizational performance; should be soughted to manage people properly and for the good of all the employees in the world. “Many employees usually strive to achieve ‘hygiene’ needs because they will be unhappy without them in the work place, but when some employees are satisfied, the effect usually wears off- satisfied temporary” (Ernst 1998). Most poorly managed companies fail to understand that its employees cannot be motivated by addressing ‘hygiene’ needs of their employees. But employees will truly be motivated by giving them a platform to reach for factors that Herzberg indentified as real motivators such as achievement, advancement and employees’ development and this represent a deeper level of meaning and fulfillment in employee’s satisfaction. Social contacts between employees themselves or employees and management are very vital because it contribute in making employees be satisfied with their jobs. The company at all the times must allow reasonable time for its employees to socialize with each other- lunch time, tea break. Socialization usually develops a sense of teamwork in the office. In order for a company to promote interpersonal relationship in the office, it should crack down on rudeness and inappropriate behaviors and offensive comments that are found in some of employees in the office. “If an employee continue to disrupt interpersonal relations, the company should take charge be either dismissing the employee or discipline should be instituted” (Boswell 2001). Reference List Ajzen, I, 1977. Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 888-918. Arvey, R. 1989. Job satisfaction: Environmental and genetic components. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 187-192. Barrick, M, 1991. The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta- analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26. Boswell, W, 2001. Effects of personality on executive career success in the United States and Europe. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, 53-81. Brief, A. 1998. Attitudes in and around organizations. 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Job attitude organization: An exploratory study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19, 717-727. Read More