Increasing Job Satisfaction at the Workplace - Coursework Example

Heading: Increasing Job Satisfaction at workplace Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Introduction Most organizations are faced with increasing challenges related to gaining competitive advantage by optimizing the performance of its human resource. Consumers in the modern world are more demanding and discriminatory in terms of products and services selection. The increased information access as a result of advancement in communication technology allows these consumers access to information critical to their decisions making process. The way in which these customers are handled by the employees’ significantly determines if they will be loyal to the company or not. This paper seeks to explain fundamental factors that contribute to improved job satisfaction level and thus increased performance of the organization. Factors discussed in this paper includes; providing conducive environment, motivating employees, rewarding and recognition, increasing employee engagement development of skills and evaluating job satisfaction levels. Providing conducive working environment There are several ways of making a workplace more positive in order to increase job satisfaction. The most foundational way of achieving this is through provision of a positive environment that creates more convenience to the employees. Walt Disney World Company has achieved this through provision of an excellent job environment. The company has employee assistant centres which are strategically located within the premises of the company; it also has a number of essential services such as childcare information centres, bus passes, check cashing, money orders and discount services for employees among other services. Walt Disney World Company discovered that by addressing employees’ needs it encouraged them to be loyal to the company and also increase their potentials (Judg 2001). The other most essential consideration that a company ought to do in order to increase job performance is institute job security policies that will help in mitigating fears that employees have regarding their job security. A relaxed employee is more efficient and productive as compared to an employee with job security fears. This will therefore lead to increased job satisfaction and hence increased job performance. In some cases, a company can allow employees to manage their timetable while executing their projects in order to allow for flexibility and a sense of trust from the company. Such an employee is highly likely to perform better than an employee whose entire timetable is managed by the company. Some companies may also opt to involve employees in decision making process; such a step makes the employees feel a sense of belonging to the company (Motowidlo 1994). The other imperative consideration that is normally ignored by many companies is keeping company’s surroundings as free from hazards as possible. This is fundamental because it demonstrates the company’s duty of care towards its employees. All these factors will be of essence in achieving employees’ performance at a soaring level as a result of increased job satisfaction. Motivation and empowerment of employees Motivation is one of the basic factors that contribute to increased performance levels. An organization with less motivated workers cannot perform better than employees of a company with motivated workers. The attitudes, potentials and even work performance are impaired if the employee is not motivated to work. On the contrary an organization that ensures that its employees are constantly motivated achieves a soaring level of performance. Dell Company had been criticised over its attitudes towards employees and thus giving its competitor HP a competitive advantage (Spector 2006). Motivation of employees involves a number of factors; one of them is ensuring that they receive their salaries and bonuses early. A company should always appreciate its employees through rewards, training, appraisals and promotions. Making employees feel as part of the company is a critical factor in achieving higher motivation levels. Ways of handling organizational issues such as employee’s disputes like lay off affects the attitude and thus the motivational levels of the employees in the organization. If a company carries out lay off ineffectively, it generally attracts negative attitudes from other employees who will consequently feel insecure and thus reducing their level of job performance as a result increased fears. A company should thus ensure an effective system of motivation and acceptable lay off procedures and handling of conflicts in order to improve employees’ job performance. Rewarding and recognition of performing employees There are many ways of rewarding and recognising the performance of a company’s employees and varies with companies. Giving of advance bonuses is one way that most companies use to show its appreciation to hardworking employees. Others will give a surprise local or international trip if employees achieve their goals. Dell Corporation awarded its sales executives a trip to Las Vegas to watch the terminator when they exceeded their 16 % international sales target (Lapierre 2007). The effectiveness of the reward and recognition system of a company however achieves soaring level of job performance if done in a more creative ways as compared to the traditional award of bonuses. Some of the most essential reward and recognition strategies that a company can use include is good complement as a result of good performance. Personal recognition is a great tool in increasing the morale of an employee. A company can organize informal celebrations instead of keeping a traditional once in a year party for its employees. Such informal celebrations are more effective as compared to annual celebrations. Graham Weston, CEO and one of the founders of Rackspace Managed Hosting gave unimaginable gift to his best performing employee. He gave him the keys to his own car, a BMW M3 convertible for a period of one week. Such a gift is unforgettable and far more effective as compared to a bonus of $300. Recognition from a peer or a supervisor through a personal note also works wonders, a pat on the back as a sign of appreciation also magnifies recognition as compared to what money can do (Van scotter 2000). These small and creative strategies have proved more effective as compared to a planned traditional approaches and thus imperative in increasing employees’ performance as a result of increased job satisfaction. Increasing employee engagement Employee engagement is another effective tool of increasing performance in a company. People showing up in work does not necessary mean that they are engaged and productive. It is the responsibility of the company to ensure that it engages its employees in order to increase their level of performance. One way of achieving this is through encouragement of ideas contribution and suggestions about how to optimize their efficiency in workplace. Being involved in company’s crucial decision making process makes the employees proud and gives them a sense of pride and ownership. For instance, Sony Corporation encourages sharing of ideas in different departments through a sponsored annual exposition of ideas. Engineers and scientist get an opportunity to share their ideas through displaying their projects on progress in the exposition. According to Laffaldano (1985, p. 2,251) this fosters a healthy innovative climate as it engages all the participants. Without such exposure and chance to share ideas, employees will not be fully engaged in the company’s activities and thus not as creative as expected. Different working environment have challenges that may reduce the commitment of employees in their duties. It is hence essential to consider creating ways of making such challenging workplace interesting. Surprise breaks and invitation to lunch can work wonders in fostering engagement of employees in their duties. A visit by a CEO to give a word of encouragement is also an important aspect that the management can utilize in order to foster job engagement and hence increase job performance. A visit by a manager to a site where the employees are working has far reaching consequences as compared to sending a messenger to deliver his or her message. It is thus essential for the management to go beyond their boundaries in order to ensure that the engagement of employees’ is up to the expected level in order to increase their performance. Developing potentials and skills of the workforce Developing the employees’ potentials and skills through different strategies of career development is an indispensable measure of increasing their job performance. This is because educated and constantly trained employees are more innovative and productive in workplace. For instance, Federal Express gives its customer support team a mandatory six weeks training before they ever communicate to a customer via a telephone. The company also maintains the training for the rest of the employment tenure in order to ensure that its employees are as effective as possible while handling customers. In fact, the company conducts an online assessment every six months in order to show areas of improvement to every employee within a period of a day. The company points out areas of weaknesses and directs such employees to helpful resources in order to improve their weaknesses. This strategy has thus yielded positive results to the company and thus leading to increased motivational levels and low employee turnover (Colquitt 2011). In essence, employees who are well trained are in a position to handle their jobs with more integrity, control and ability as compared to employees who are not well trained. Such employees also demands less supervision and thus freeing the management to handle other tasks which translated to increased productivity within the company. Taking an example of Federal Express employees, their training enables them to effectively handle the company’s clientele and thus increasing their allegiance towards the company. It is also a noteworthy fact that well trained employees comprehend business and thus rarely complain but instead, they are motivated and satisfied with their duties. This thus translates to an improved relationship between the management and the employees of the company. In some situations, it is imperative to train employees how to adapt to change or use new systems that technological advancements demands. Such training will increase the efficiency of employees as well as reducing their reluctance to inevitable change as a result of market change. Evaluation and measurement of the level of job satisfaction Constant evaluation that never ceases is a primary factor to be considered in order to ensure sustainability. A company should thus ensure a continuous evaluation that focuses on the level of employee’s job satisfaction and engagement levels. Since the purpose of evaluation is to establish the progress of different factors that ensures employee job satisfaction, it should thus determine areas of the process that need improvement (Callaway 2007). A sustainable evaluation includes; level of morale, attitude measurements and level of motivation of the workforce. It therefore identifies areas of the process that need improvement and thereafter construct a framework for improvement of these areas. As evident, if an organization is to improve its level of performance to a soaring level, it needs to conduct a continuous survey of the level of job satisfaction in the organization. Failure to implement a control and measure strategy will thus lead to an assumption that the organization is performing to its best while a vast majority of the company’s employees are dissatisfied. More so, setting up a framework that increases job satisfaction levels such as motivation does not necessarily translate into increased company’s performance if it is not monitored for necessary improvement. In the modern world, businesses have researched vastly on ways of increasing organizational competitive advantage; some of these companies have adopted the use of smart machinery, robots and newest techniques of business. These solutions have only provided short term solutions for problems. It can thus be asserted that the most accurate way of ensuring increased level of production is working with motivated and satisfied employees working towards the goals of the organization. Conclusion This paper has considered factors that cumulatively result in increased performance in the workplace. Factors considered in this analysis includes; provision of sound environment to employees in order to increase their performance, motivation of employees, rewarding and recognition, increasing employee engagement development of skills and evaluating job satisfaction levels. As discussed, strategic implementation of these factors leads to increased job satisfaction which is the key to increasing performance. Some of the important points considered are providing other services like child care and transport increases employee satisfaction levels. Recognition of employees through unexpected reward as compared to traditional rewards also work wonders as such employees will never forget. Informal celebrations also motivated and makes the employees engaged in the company’s tasks. Training employees provides them with confidence and competencies of dealing with customers and thus reducing the management work. Organizing exhibitions and sharing of ideas also helps in encouraging employees’ engagement and thus leading to increased satisfaction levels. References Callaway, PL 2007, The Relationship of Organizational Trust and Job Satisfaction, Universal-Publishers, Michigan. Colquitt, JA, LePine, & Wesson, MJ 2011, Organizational behaviour: improving performance and commitment in the workplace, (2nd Ed.) {Chapter 2&4}. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, London. Judg, TA Thoresen, CJ, Bono, JE, & Patton, G. K 2001, The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: A qualitative review, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 127. no. 3. 376-40. Laffaldano, MT, & Muchinsky, PM 1985, Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 97, no. 2,251-273. 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