Customer Relationship Management and Success for Any Organization - Research Paper Example

? Management Task Job Satisfaction Job Satisfaction is usually described as an affirmative emotion with reference to one’s job. It is primarily the degree of contentment that people obtain from the tasks that they perform in their job. Those people who possess high degree of job satisfaction seem not only to be at ease with their work but happy too. On the other hand, people who are dissatisfied with respect to their job not just find their work uncomfortable but associate negative feelings with it as well (Robbins, 2009). However, a person’s job involves much more than performing the routine technical tasks such as accounting, marketing, researching, manufacturing, engineering, driving or sweeping. Along with doing the primary tasks related to their jobs, employees are also expected to adhere to the code of conduct of the organization, coordinate with colleagues, manage relationships with superiors and fine-tune themselves in compliance with the organizational environment. Consequently, the measurement of job satisfaction is quite an intricate summation of several components involved in a person’s professional life. Nevertheless, after years of experiments, the two most generally accepted measurement techniques are: Single Global Rating and Summation of Job Facets. In the Single Global Rating method, employees are asked to choose on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 representing highly satisfied and 5 representing highly dissatisfied. While in Summation of Job Facets method, employees are required to express their sentiments with regard to their job in words. The two methods have their advantages as well as disadvantages and are believed to be helpful in their respective domains (Robbins, 2009). Over the years, different theories have been developed by management researchers to expound the concept of job satisfaction. The first model is the Affect Theory which states that satisfaction is established by the divergence between what one possess in the job and what one desires to possess. In other words, the degree to which one values a particular aspect of work determines how much contented or discontented one becomes when the hopes are met or not met. For example, there are two employees, Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Smith. Mr. Ambrose values variety in his job while Mr. Smith is indifferent about variety in job; then Mr. Ambrose will be more satisfied in a job which offers greater amount of variety and less satisfied in a job which is monotonous, in contrast to Mr. Smith. Another important theory related to Job Satisfaction is Dispositional Theory. It suggests that irrespective of their jobs, people hold certain in-born dispositions that result in them developing a certain type of job satisfaction. Research even suggests that identical twins who have not been brought up together exhibit analogous levels of job satisfaction. Consequently, attempts were made to discover the psychological mechanisms that bring about dispositional roots of job satisfaction. The outcomes have shown that people who have positive core self evaluations – who place confidence in their ability, have much higher levels of job satisfaction in contrast to those who have negative core self valuations (Martinko, 2004). Two Factor Theory (Motivator-Hygiene Theory) groups all the pertinent job facets under two broad factors - Motivators and Hygiene Factors. Motivators include facets such as appreciation, recognition, interesting work, etc. They yield positive feelings related to the job resulting in high job satisfaction. Alternatively, Hygiene factors comprise of job security, pay, work settings, etc. They do not yield affirmative satisfaction, however dissatisfaction emerges from their nonexistence. For example, an employee Ms. Laren would be motivated by challenging work and recognition of performance, resulting in high satisfaction; emanating from the intrinsic nature of the job, which stimulates personal development. While on another occasion, uncertainty hovering over her job security or hostile working environment; might result in high dissatisfaction, being caused by the extrinsic nature of the job that triggers frustration and ambiguity (Mullins, 2010). There exists a widespread concept that salary is the most vital determinant of job satisfaction. A survey conducted by the UCLA and the American Council on Education suggests that the top most priority of freshmen coming into college was achieving a financially secured position in life. Despite this research, the correlation between pay and job satisfaction is an interesting one. People who lie around the poverty line indeed relate pay with job satisfaction. However, on acquiring a certain level of contented livelihood, the relationship ceases to exist. In fact, those whose salary reaches higher proportions, their average job satisfaction tends to be not much different from those whose pay is significantly low in comparison (Robbins, 2009) Job Satisfaction is found to be positively related to Job Performance. Satisfied employees tend to be more productive and effective when it comes to work. In fact, organizations which attempt at creating satisfying environment for their employees have been more successful in general in comparison to their counterparts. Job Satisfaction is also a chief component of Organization Citizenship Behavior (OCB) (Mullins, 2010). It is not difficult to comprehend that satisfied employees go a step ahead of the formal requirements of their job. They actively participate in team work, help their coworkers and represent the company in a positive manner, thus demonstrating Organizational Citizenship Behavior. In the modern era, Customer Relationship Management has become a vital tool of success for any organization. Customers will be treated in a gracious and pleasant manner only by employees who themselves are satisfied with their job. However, dissatisfied employees who are impolite and bad-tempered can severely annoy the customers, thereby the organization (Callaway, 2007). Job Satisfaction is found to be negatively correlated to employee turnover and avoidable absentism (Robbins, 2009). For example, consider a person Mr. Foster who has been highly satisfied over the years with his job due to the pay, recognition and working atmosphere of the organization in which he works. In this manner, he has developed a strong bond with the organization, committing himself to it and persevering for its success. Consequently, even if he is offered a job with higher pay, he will remain loyal to his current organization due to the intrinsic factors. If the organization has several employees like Mr. Foster, then this would automatically result in low turnover and low avoidable absentism. Task 2 Today, Globalization and the advent of modern technology have brought people with different cultures close together working in collaboration with each other. In fact, workforce diversity has become a prominent feature of the businesses of the contemporary era. People from different countries, backgrounds, races and ethnicities are serving as employees under the umbrella of several large multinational organizations. While this has increased communication and coordination among these diverse people; it will only be fair to say that there exist several cultural differences among people of different countries and regions. These differences or nuances of cultural dimensions are established forces which need to be understood in order to interact appropriately with people from diverse backgrounds. Hofstede is credited to come up with one of the most original works with regard to cultural values on the basis of statistical data. Hofstede conducted a research which comprised of 116,000 employees of IBM in 40 countries. Upon analysis of data, he recognized four different dimensions which serve as a basis of distinguishing one culture from the other. Afterwards, he inserted a fifth dimension as well. The five dimensions of national culture are: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Feminity and Short Term/Long Term Orientation (Baumueller, 2007).. Explanation of each individual dimension is as follows: Power Distance – This dimension fundamentally refers to the degree of inequality that exists among people with power and without power. High power distance implies that people do not resist to inequality in power, in fact conform to it. In a high power Distance society, everyone is aware of his or her position in the structure as people accept unequal power distribution. Lower power distance means that people anticipate and strive for equality with respect to power. Power is equally allocated in a society and the people of the society consider themselves as fundamentally equal (Geert Hofstede, n.d.). Examples - The organizations of high power distance countries such as Malaysia have larger hierarchies, strict authority, centralized decision making and command and control system. For instance, in Malaysia, managerial reports are forwarded only to the upper management. On the other hand, organizations of low power distance countries such as Denmark have flatter organizations, elastic hierarchies, flexibility and delegation of decision making (Samovar et al. 2010) Uncertainty Avoidance – Uncertainty Avoidance states the extent to which people feel uncomfortable when confronted with indecisive and ambiguous situations. High uncertainty avoidance implies that individuals in the society are wary of precarious and curious happenings. Consequently, they favor established norms, rules and regulations, attempting to avoid uncertainties as much possible. On the other hand, Low Uncertainty Avoidance suggests that people are prepared to experience unsure and unpredictable situations. They exhibit high level of forbearance towards the unstructured and unexpected happenings. In other words, they do not believe in conventional rules; and encourage innovative and creative thoughts and actions. Examples - The organizations of high uncertainty avoidance countries such as Greece are known for the formal business structure along with explicitly defined policies, rules and procedures. Everything is expected to be conducted in a straightforward and clear manner as there is no room for bizarre ideas. The plans need to be explained in a detailed way with prime focus on tactical features of the task (Tian, 2004). Individualism/Collectivism – The higher side of the dimension which is Individualism expresses the inclination for a loosely knit social framework in which individuals lead a rather secluded life, looking after themselves and their close ones. Conversely, Collectivism side of the dimension refers to the preference for a tightly knit social framework in which individuals take care of each other and hence can generally rely on each other’s loyalty. Examples - The organizations of countries with individualistic nature such as United States place high value on the respect and privacy of the individuals, attaching paramount importance to individual perseverance and success. Seeking personal information is not considered to be appropriate in such cultures. On the contrary, organizations of countries with collectivistic nature such as China focus on team work to build relationships and synchronization throughout the organization. People work to achieve intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic ones. Traditions and customs are revered highly with respect for elders and superiors (Tian, 2004). Masculinity/Feminity – Masculinity side of this dimension expresses fondness for male-oriented values such as assertiveness, valor, accomplishments, decision making power and material triumphs. Such a society’s most apparent feature is competitiveness. In contrast, Feminity side of the dimension includes female-oriented values of collaboration, humility, relationships, group decision making and life quality. This results in the society being more value-oriented (Geert Hofstede, n.d). Examples - The organizations of countries with Masculinity features such as Germany call for a very spirited approach on the part of the employees, who are expected to put in their best efforts as it will not only assist them in acquiring individual success but will also prove to be useful for the organization. This results in a typical aggressive organizational culture where everyone strives for personal success. Whereas, organizations of countries with Feminity feature such as Sweden place greater emphasis on values of cooperation and team-work, thereby fostering a value centric culture where strong bonds link the organizational people. This automatically results in an improved environment in the organization where people care for each other (Samovar et al.2010). Short Term/Long Term Orientation – Long Term Orientation side of the dimension holds future in high importance. The ability to work hard and diligently in addition to being economical constitute the primary aspects of a long term oriented society. On the other hand, Short Term Orientation side of the dimension tends to be normative in approach, with greater value attached to the past, present as well as conventional and traditional practices. Examples: Organizations in countries with long term orientation such as China place a great deal of significance in the skills of patience which enable saving and investing, as the focus is not on immediate results; while organizations of countries with short term orientation such as Russia aim at obtaining instantaneous results, suggesting eagerness to achieve quick success (Samovar et al. 2010) References BAUMU?LLER, M. (2007). Managing cultural diversity: an empirical examination of cultural networks and organizational structures as governance mechanisms in multinational corporations. Bern, P. Lang. CALLAWAY, P. L. (2007). The relationship between organizational trust and job satisfaction: an analysis in the U.S. federal work force. Boca Raton GEERT HOFSTEDE. (n.d.). Dimensions. [online] Available from: http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html [Accessed 14 March 2012]. FLORIDA STATE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ATTRIBUTION THEORY, & MARTINKO, M. J. (2004). Attribution theory in the organizational sciences: theoretical and empirical contributions. Greenwich, CT, IAP-Information Age Pub. MULLINS, L. J. (2010). Management and organisational behaviour. Harlow, Financial Times Prentice Hall. ROBBINS, S. P. (2009). Organisational behaviour : global and Southern African perspectives. Cape Town, Pearson Education South Africa SAMOVAR, L. A., PORTER, R. E., & MCDANIEL, E. R. (2010). Communication between cultures. Boston [etc.], Wadsworth Cengage Learning. TIAN, Q. (2004). A transcultural study of ethical perceptions and judgements between Chinese and German businessmen. Mu?nchen, M Press. Read More