Job Satisfaction

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is an attitude that people have about their job. It is a set of favourable or unfavourable feelings and emotions with which employees view their work. Job satisfaction describes a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.

Definition

According to DuBrins

Job satisfaction is the amount of pleasure or contentment associated with a job. If you like your job intensely, you will experience high job satisfaction. If you dislike your job intensely you will experience job dissatisfaction.

Determinants of Job Satisfaction

There are several factors that may lead to job satisfaction. Let us see what these factors are :

A.  Individual Factors

Individual have certain expectations from their jobs. If these expectations are met from the jobs, they feel satisfied. These expectations are based on an individual’s level of education, age and other factors.

i. Level of Education

Level of education of an individual is a factor which determines the degree of job satisfaction. For example several studies have found negative correlation between the level of education, particularly higher level of education, and job satisfaction. The possible reason for this phenomenon may be that highly educated persons have very high expectations from their jobs which remain unsatisfied.

ii.  Age

Individual experience different degree of job satisfaction at different stages of their life. When individuals join  an organization, they may have some unrealistic assumptions about what they are going to derive from their work. These assumptions make them more satisfied. However when these assumptions fall short of reality, job satisfaction goes down. It starts rising again as the people start to assess the jobs in right perspective and correct their assumptions. At the last, particularly at the end of the career, job satisfaction goes down because of fear of retirement and future outcome.

iii. Other factors

There are other individual factors which affect job satisfaction. If an individual does not have favourable social and family life, he may not feel happy at the workplace. Similarly, other personal problems associated with him may affect his level of job satisfaction.

B. Nature of Job

Nature of job determine job satisfaction which is in the form of occupation level and job content.

i. Occupational level

Higher level jobs provide more satisfaction as compared to lower levels as higher level jobs carry prestige and status in the society.

ii. Job content

Job content refers to the intrinsic value of the job which depends on the requirement of skills for performing it, and the degree of responsibility and growth it offers. A higher content of these factors provides higher satisfaction.  For example a monotonous job provides lesser satisfaction, the degree of satisfaction progressively increases in job rotation, job enrichment and job enlargement.

C. Situational Variables

Situation variable related to job satisfaction lie in organizational context-formal or informal. Formal organization is created by the management and informal organization emerges out of the interaction of individuals in the organization. Some of these factors are:

i. Working Conditions

Conditions of workplace and associated facilities for performing the job determine job satisfaction. These provide means for job performance and provision of these conditions also affects the individual perception about the organization. If these factors are favourable individuals experience higher level of job satisfaction.

ii. Equitable Reward System

Sometimes people like to work at a particular job even if they are less paid, on the other hand, some people feel dissatisfied even when they are paid more. What satisfies a person more is the feeling that their pay, promotions are based on a fair basis. When promotions, salary etc. are seen as fairly based on job demands, individual skill level and community pay standards, satisfaction is likely to result.

iii. Supervision

Studies have indicated that satisfaction tends to be higher when employees believe their supervisors to be competent, have their best interest in mind, and treat them with dignity and respect. Supervisory style that influences job satisfaction is the degree to which the supervisor takes personal interest in the employees welfare, provides advice and communicates at a personal level.

iv. Opportunity for promotion

It is true that individuals seek satisfaction in their jobs in the context of job nature and work environment but they also attach importance to the opportunities for promotion that these jobs offer. If the present job offers opportunity of promotion in future, it provides more satisfaction.

v. Work Group

Individuals work in group either created formally or they develop on their own to seek emotional satisfaction at the workplace. To the extent, such groups are cohesive, the degree of satisfaction is high. In a cohesive group people drive satisfaction out of their interpersonal interaction and workplace becomes satisfying leading to job satisfaction.

vi. Work itself

The nature of work conditions contributes heavily to the feeling of satisfaction. Flexibility, freedom and discretion available in the performance of one’s job contribute heavily to job satisfaction.

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