Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Introduction 


A social arrangement that is created in order to achieve a set of goals which are collectively acceptable through performance of individuals which are controlled could be defined as what an organization is (Stewart, 1973). The main reasons for organizations to so exist are of two folds. One is to maximize profit and the other is to maximize shareholder value (Huczynski and Buchanan, 1991).  



With the growth in technology, and individuals’ development in the need to be more informed many are now very much aware of the rights at their workplace (Dartey-Baah, 2010). Job satisfaction could be defined as the approach and attitude along with feelings, employees have regarding their work (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).


Armstrong and Taylor, (2014) further went on to distinguish and state that the main indicators of job satisfaction are a positive and favourable attitude by the employees towards their work. A similar view was shared by Daft (2003) which means and include that having a positive feeling towards a job by an individual could be defined as job satisfaction. On the contrary Armstrong and Taylor, (2014) further stated that job dissatisfaction would mean the negative and unfavourable attitudes of the employees. 

Armstrong and Taylor, (2014) have stated 3 factors that affect job satisfaction. Meaning to include that an employee’s level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction is based on the factors stated below:  


1. Intrinsic motivating factors:
This relates to the five factors identified by Hackman and Oldham (1975) to mean and include skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. 

2. Quality of Supervision:
Supervision is one of the most dominant and determinant factors that decide and influence attitudes of employees.


3. Success or failure:
The understanding of these terms are quite evident as, an employee who is successful will always be satisfied as they tend to accept that their full potential has been utilized as opposed to an employee who is not successful. 

Connecting job satisfaction and motivation leads to the common and accepted belief that job satisfaction and performance of an employee too is closely connected (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This belief was researched to give two levels of understanding.

a.      The Roethlisberger and Dixon (1939) research
Meeting the social needs of the employees and providing them with adequate, supportive and pleasing supervision productivity could be increased by making the employees satisfied.

b.     Katz et al (1950) and Katz et al (1951) research
      There was no significant difference between units in an organization with high and low productivity simply because the pay, status of the job or other fellow employees were variable. 


Application:

As a professional whose services are employed by a leading Blue-chip organization in the country, simply having a higher pay and job recognition alone would not derive satisfaction. The need to make maximum use of my skills and abilities, having the freedom to interact more with fellow employees professionally and socially, the ability to make a change in the system I am directly associated with for the benefit of the organization and the ability to be more engaged directly and indirectly would make me more satisfied and motivated as an employee.  


Reference:

Armstrong, M., and Taylor, S. (2014) Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice – 13th Ed. – UK – Ashford Colour Press

Daft, R.L. (2003) Management - 6th Ed -Thomson Learning

Dartey-Baah, S. K. (2010) Job Satisfaction and Motivation: Understanding Its Impact on Employee Commitment and Organizational Performance - Volume 8 Issue 4 Fall

Dartey-Baah, S. K. (2005) Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Y: Their Construct and Application in Non Profit Making Organizations (Evangelical Churches) in London.
Ph.D diss., Trinity College, Newburgh/Canterbury University, London.

Huczynski, A.A., and Buchanan, D.A., (1991) 'Organizational Behaviour'-An introductory text - 2nd Ed. Prentice Hall (UK) Ltd. Pp 436- 466

Katz, D., Maccoby, N., Gurin, G., and Floor, L G. (1951)  Productivity, Supervision and Morale in an Office Situation, Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan

Katz, D., Maccoby, N., and Morse, N C. (1950) Productivity, Supervision and Morale among Railway Workers, Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan

Roethlisberger, F., and Dickson, W. (1939) Management and the Worker, Cambridge, MA, - Harvard University Press

Stewart, R. (1973) In Huczynski, A. A., and Buchanan. D. A. (1991) Organizational Behaviour -An introductory text 2nd Ed. - Prentice Hall (UK) Ltd. pp 48





9 comments:

  1. I agree with you Natasha, Moreover, motivation is in-built in every human being and only needed to be activated or aroused. Second, motivation is temporal as a motivated person at one time can become de-motivated another time. Hence, individual motivation must be sustained and nourished after it has been effectively activated. Third, the essence of individual motivation in management or an organizational setting is to align employees’ behavior with that of the organization. That is, to direct the employees thinking and doing (performance) towards effective and efficient achievement of the organizational goals (Mawoli & Babandak 2011).

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  2. Thank you Gayani for your valuable comment. I can further agree to the above regarding the common characteristics of motivation. They are: it concerns with what activates human behavior. Second it involves the elements in which directs this behavior towards achieving a designated goal and finally motivation concerns how this behavior is sustained (Pandey, 2005).

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  3. Agreed with your views and job satisfaction is associated with the productivity and efficiency of employee absenteeism and staff mobility and depends on components such as the content of the work and the background in which work is carried out. Further, factors connected with job satisfaction are a decrease of errors in the organization and the purpose of employees leaving their jobs (Zournatzi et al., 2006).

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  4. Agree with your views on the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction. Further, the employer also should develop a tailored work environment consist with supportive work environment and rewards and fair process of job recognition done by the employees. When the job evaluation mechanism is in place with sufficient rewards schemes, employee motivation and job enrichment will be established in the organizations (Khanal et at., 2020).

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  5. Agreed on your views. Adding to that, in psychological science intrinsic motivators are the best. The meaning of intrinsic referred as “inner” which coming from inside of the soul. Furthermore, a person motivated by fun, challenge or happiness involved with the job task, not from outside results, pressure or reward. The intrinsic motivation is considered are more likely to be successful, committed, persistent and creative (Deci and Ryan, 2010).

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  6. Additionally, Furnham and Eracleous (2009) say, motivation is an internal state creating desire or urge to take action, on the other hand the job satisfaction is where people are satisfied with the work to be done, however, the job satisfaction of successful completion of work may act as a motivator to an individual.

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  7. Agreed with your views Nathasha. Further job satisfaction brings pleasant feelings that normally results in a positive work attitude and a greater level of performance. A satisfied employee seems to be more flexible, innovative, creative, and loyal (Wicker, 2011).

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  8. According to Faisal (2017) motivation is a key factor which brings employees satisfaction which can be implemented by keeping into mind and framing an incentive plan for the benefit of the employees.

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  9. Satisfaction refers to the overall positive feelings people have about an organization; It can be measured informally by listening to people talk or by asking them how they feel about the organization. It can also be measured through focus groups or by administering attitude surveys to employees, customers, and/or vendors. (Curtis.W.C. and Philip.L.H. 2001

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