A Job Function and the Right Job Function - Term Paper Example

Business Psychology – Job Satisfaction Introduction: Human beings are known to be social animals, as we tend to live in groups. One aspect of this living in groups is related to the productive or work environment of human beings. Most human beings work in some kind of organizations and many in business organizations. Maximising the value of the prime asset of individuals that make an organization through individual behaviour within any organization has developed into a subject of study called business psychology. In the modern times the business environment has evolved into an extremely competitive one. As businesses try and become more competitive, the human asset behaviour within the business enterprise has become more and more relevant and hence a greater reliance on business psychology. Motivating and retaining this asset has always been a challenge to any business enterprise and this has called for an increased understanding of what causes individuals to be more effective at work. While efficient business organizations have looked at finding both the right person for a job function and the right job function for an individual, making them satisfied at work or providing job satisfaction is a factor that has increased in importance with the enhanced requirement for business organizations to become more competitive for survival in the modern era. Job Satisfaction: Providing a definition for job satisfaction is not an easy task as there are several factors or experiences and the responses to them that make up total job satisfaction and some of these include satisfaction of the remuneration received, career prospects, satisfactory supervision, satisfaction in the environment and satisfaction in the job functions and responsibilities. The definition provided by Balzar et al, 1997 gives an adequate definition for job satisfaction. As per Balzar et al, 1997 job satisfaction is “the feelings a worker has about his or her job experiences in relation to previous experiences, current expectations, or available alternatives”. There are three factors that have given prominence to the job satisfaction and the study of job satisfaction. These three factors are humanitarian concerns, economic concerns and theoretic concerns. The presence of humanitarian concerns comes from the ethical beliefs of many managers in the business environment that employees require an acceptable, agreeable and pleasant work environment. The economic aspects lie in the very reasons for the existence of the business organization and that is the increased performance that job satisfaction provides increases the value of the business organization and its products. Looked at from the perspective of theoretical concerns, job satisfaction has remained an important element of attitude of the individual towards the job function and responsibilities and understanding this attitude assists in predicting the behaviour of the individual (Stanton, et al, 2001). Positive behaviour can occur through job satisfaction by individuals responding through increased productivity or through increased social interaction in the workplace. Negative behaviour can result from job dissatisfaction and may be displayed through absenteeism and thefts. (Furnham, 2005). The Individual and Job Satisfaction: Individuals differ and therefore it is quite natural that there are major differences in the manner in which each individual perceives job satisfaction, feel and experience different levels of job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction, even when they do the same job functions. Again it is quite possible that individuals doing different job functions may experience the same levels of job satisfaction. So what is the question arises as to what are the influencing factors in the way individuals look at job satisfaction. We know that individuals think and act differently because of their individual personalities. This gives rise to the possibility that the personality of the individual is a major factor or an interacting factor with the job characteristics in the development of job satisfaction in an individual. However job satisfaction is much more complicated, as it is multidimensional in nature and reliance on the two characteristics of individual personality and job characteristics is attractive, it is not a satisfying solution (Organ & Paine, 2001). Furnham, 2005, provides us with a more exhaustive list of variables, rather than just the personality of the individual that have a varying level on the feeling of job satisfaction in an individual. He suggests nine personal characteristics, namely, age, gender, race, cognitive ability, job experience, use of skills, job congruence, personality and level of functionality. Enhanced job satisfaction is possible with increasing age, as increased age contributes to confidence, competence, self-esteem and responsibility. In the case of gender there is no consistency, but men appear to be enjoy greater satisfaction than women, which may be a result of the likelihood of more being paid more and greater chances of career advancement. In developed countries the dominant white race is found to enjoy more job satisfaction than the black race, which may be due to the combination blacks finding only lower level job opportunities, poorly paid jobs and few opportunities for promotion. There have been no consistent findings on the role of cognitive ability in job satisfaction. Such a situation may be the result of highly intelligent people finding themselves in job responsibilities that do not challenge their abilities and appear tedious to them, or in individuals with lesser abilities having to cope with job functions that demand intellectual capacities, which are beyond them. In the case of job experience there is a trend emerging that suggest that an individual fresh at work finds job satisfaction in challenge and opportunities, but this tapers off with time. A revival of this attitude is seen again during the middle age of the individual. Individuals tend to be happy when they can employ their skills and abilities and job satisfaction becomes visible when they are called upon to perform high-quality work. It is quite obvious that the better the fit between the temperament and abilities of the individual with the demands of the job function the greater is the satisfaction displayed by the individual in doing it. Greater job satisfaction is seen in individuals with the personality traits of stability, internal, locus of control and commitment. The final variable is the level at which the individual functions. It is commonly seen that the more senior position held, the greater is the job satisfaction displayed by the individual (Furnham, 2005). Causes of Job Satisfaction: In spite of there being several variables to job satisfaction, a through examination of these variables indicates that they can be classified into three distinct groups. The first group consists of those variables that are linked to the policies of the organization and procedures within the organization. These organizational policies and procedures include the reward system and the perception of individuals regarding the equity in the systems of pay and promotion; supervision and decision making within the organization; and the perceived quality of supervision. There is no denying the fact that each separately and together has an impact on an individual being satisfied in the work that assigned. The second group of variables are those that are linked to the specific aspects of the job itself. These aspects are those which have a significant aspect on the perception of job satisfaction in an individual and include workload, skills required, variety in job functions, autonomy in functioning, feedback and physical nature of the work environment. The third group are those variables that are linked to the personality of the individual. These variables that assist in determining job satisfaction on an individual include self-esteem, the stress tolerance ability and general life satisfaction. The question may arise as to what general life satisfaction has to do with satisfaction in the workplace. (McKenna, 2006) Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: Is there a link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction? Does life satisfaction enhance job satisfaction or is it the other way round? To answer these questions business psychology has provided three models namely the spill over model, the segmentation model and the compensation model. According to the spill over model experiences in the work place and life situations have an influence on one another, while in the segmentation model the two are distinct from each other and in the compensation model individuals attempt to compensate for an unhappy experience in one sphere by attempting to draw satisfaction from the other. The spill over model has an edge over the other models from results emerging from research. The reason for this is that work is a fundamental feature in the life of an individual and job satisfaction influences life satisfaction. In addition there are personality factors that predict satisfaction in work and life and these personality factors are related to one another. Such reasoning indicates that job satisfaction is not a simple product of the job function or the organizational characteristics, but a more multi-dimensional issue that are influenced by the more enduring individual differences in personality, affectivity, vales and preferences. This by no means indicates that organizations do not have to be bothered about job satisfaction and invest time, energy and resources in it. Rather on the contrary the suggestion is that organizations need to know each individual component of their human asset better and tailor the investment of time, energy and resources to these individual requirements towards job satisfaction. (Furnham, 2005). Theories on Job Satisfaction: There are several theories involve with job satisfaction, but the three most important among them are Maslow’s need hierarchy, Herzbergs two factor theory and the Social learning theory. According to Maslow “man is a wanting animal and rarely reaches a state of complete satisfaction except for a short time. As one desire is satisfied, another pops up to take its place”. (Mckenna, 2006, p.93). Such an observation caused Maslow to create a hierarchy of needs through which an individual travels ascending from the basic psychological needs to the next level of safety needs, and then on to the next level of affiliation needs, onto the next level of self-esteem and esteem from others and finally to self-actualisation needs. Thus an individual attains satisfaction for a brief period in this journey through the need hierarchy before the next level of need takes over. The Herzberg’s two factor theory is consistent with Maslow’s theory, but is based on the principle that individuals are motivated towards things that make then feel good and keep away from what makes them feel bad. Thus Hertzberg divided influencing factors into motivators, which are factors that make an individual feel good and hygiene factors are those that instil bad feelings in an individual in the work place (Table -1). Hygiene factors relate to the work environment rather than the work itself. The lack of hygiene factors can lead to dissatisfaction, but just its presence is insufficient to cause satisfaction. For this motivating factors are required (Table -2). (McKenna, 2006) Table – 1 Herzberg’s two factor theory Motivators Hygiene Factors Achievement Company policy and administration Recognition Supervision Work itself Salary Responsibility Interpersonal Relations Advancement Working Conditions Growth Status and Security (McKenna, 2006) Table – 2 Herzberg’s View of Contributory Factors Adequate (Satisfaction) ----------Motivators----------- Inadequate (No Satisfaction) Adequate (No Dissatisfaction) ----Hygiene Factors---- Inadequate (Dissatisfaction) (McKenna, 2006) The Social learning theory postulates that workers utilise other people as sources for information for the purpose of selection of appropriate attitudes and behaviours. Workers attitudes at least to a certain extent are the result of copying, reflecting or modelling of the attitudes of their worker colleagues. Thus according to this theory job satisfaction in a worker is determined externally and not internally (Furnham, 2005). Measuring Job Satisfaction: It is possible to measure job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is measured by using standard questionnaires, group or individual interviews, exit interviews and observing overt behaviours. There are also other means to ascertain job satisfaction and that is through the use of facet-specific measures, which try to evaluate satisfaction in workers through quite different features related to the job like satisfaction with remuneration, supervisory style, work environment and other such features (Furnham, 2005). Conclusion: Job satisfaction is a multi-dimensional aspect that portrays the well-being of individuals in an organization. Understanding the behaviour of individuals at the work-place is a complex issue, but vital to the well-being of the organization, as the individuals constitute a vital asset in the form of the human asset. Organizations that pay attention to job satisfaction within the human asset of the organization and make it a priority function of the organization find themselves more in a position to face the competition of present times. Literary References Balzer, W. K. et al. 1997. Users manual for the Job Descriptive Index (JDI: 1997 Revision) and the Job in General (JIG) Scales, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, p.10. Furnham, A. 2005. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR AT WORK: The individual in the Organization, Psychology Press, Hove, East Sussex. Mckenna, E. 2006. Business Psychology and Organizational Behaviour: A Student’s Handbook, Fourth Edition, Psychology Press, Hove, East Sussex. Organ, D.W. & Paine, J.B. 2001. ‘A NEW KIND OF PERFORMANCE FOR INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR’. In Organizational Psychology and Development” A Reader for Students and Practitioners, eds. Cary Cooper & Ivan Robertson. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Chichester, West Sussex, pp. 117-148. Stanton, J. M., et al. 2001. ‘DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPACT MEASURE OF JOB SATISFACTION: THE ABRIDGED JOB DESCRIPTIVE INDEX’, Educational and Psychological Measurement, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 1104-1122. Read More