AN APPRAISAL OF THE CONCEPT AND SCOPE OF JOB SATISFACTION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The concept of job satisfaction has been developed in many ways by many different researchers and practitioners. One of the most widely used definitions in organizational research is that of Locke (1976), who defines job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (p. 1304).Others have defined it as simply how content an individual is with his or her job; whether he or she likes the job or not.It is assessed at both the global level (whether or not the individual is satisfied with the job overall), or at the
facet level (whether or not the individual is satisfied with different aspects of the job). Spector (1997) lists 14
common facets: Appreciation, Communication, Coworkers, Fringe benefits, Job conditions, Nature of the
work, Organization, Personal growth, Policies and procedures, Promotion opportunities, Recognition,
Security, and Supervision. A more recent definition of the concept of job satisfaction is from Hulin and
Judge (2003), who have noted that job satisfaction includes multidimensional psychological responses to an
individual’s job, and that these personal responses have cognitive (evaluative), affective (or emotional), and behavioral components. Job satisfaction scales vary in the extent to which they assess the affective feelings
about the job or the cognitive assessment of the job. Affective job satisfaction is a subjective construct
representing an emotional feeling individuals have about their job. Hence, affective job satisfaction for
individuals reflects the degree of pleasure or happiness their job in general induces. Cognitive job
satisfaction is a more objective and logical evaluation of various facets of a job. Cognitive job satisfaction
can be unidimensional if it comprises evaluation of just one facet of a job, such as pay or maternity leave, or multidimensional if two or more facets of a job are simultaneously evaluated. Cognitive job satisfaction does
not assess the degree of pleasure or happiness that arises from specific job facets, but rather gauges the extent to which those job facets are judged by the job holder to be satisfactory in comparison with objectives they themselves set or with other jobs. While cognitive job satisfaction might help to bring about affective
job satisfaction, the two constructs are distinct, not necessarily directly related, and have different
antecedents and consequences. Job satisfaction can also be seen within the broader context of the range of
issues which affect an individual’s experience of work, or their quality of working life. Job satisfaction can be
understood in terms of its relationships with other key factors, such as general well-being, stress at work,
control at work, home-work interface, and working conditions. A study title “Analysis of Factors Affecting
Job Satisfaction of the Employees in Public and Private Sector”, in India concluded that in India Employees
tend to love their job if they get what they believe is an important attribute of a good job. Weightage factor of
each such attribute based on exhaustive survey has been calculated. Region, sector and gender wise study
of job satisfaction has provided consistent picture with respect to distribution of data set analyzed showed
that most of the employees in Indian industry are not satisfied with their job except for a few like male in
commerce sector and female in education sector. Total job satisfaction level of males is found to be higher
than that of woman. Total job satisfaction level in manufacturing sector is found to be very low. Job
satisfaction is the level of contentment a person feels regarding his or her job. This feeling is mainly based
on an individual’s perception of satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be influenced by a person’s ability to
complete required tasks, the level of communication in an organization, and the way management treats
employees.Job satisfaction falls into two levels: affective job satisfaction and cognitive job satisfaction.
Affective job satisfaction is a person’s emotional feeling about the job as a whole. Cognitive job satisfaction
is how satisfied employees feel concerning some aspect of their job, such as pay, hours, or benefits.Many
organizations face challenges in accurately measuring job satisfaction, as the definition of satisfaction can
differ among various people within an organization. However, most organizations realize that workers’ level
of job satisfaction can impacttheir job performance, and thus determining metrics is crucial to creating
strongefficiency. Despite widespread belief to the contrary, studies have shown that high-performing
employees do not feel satisfied with their job simply as a result of to high-level titles or increased pay. This
lack of correlation is an significant concern for organizations, since studies also reveal that
the implementation of positive HR practices results in financial gain for the organizations. The cost of
employees is quite high, and creating satisfaction relevant to the return on this investment is paramount.
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Simply put: positive work environments and increased shareholder value are directly related. Some factors of
job satisfaction may rank as more important than others, depending on each worker’s needs and personal
and professional goals. To create a benchmark for measuring and ultimately creating job satisfaction,
managers in an organization can employ proven test methods such as the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) or the
Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). These assessments help management define job satisfaction
objectively. Typically, five factors can be used to measure and influence job satisfaction: Pay or
total compensation The work itself (i.e., job specifics such as projects, responsibilities) Promotion
opportunities (i.e., expanded responsibilities, more prestigious title)Relationship with supervisor Interaction
and work relationship with coworkers.In addition to these five factors, one of the most important aspects of
an individual’s work in a modern organization concerns communication demands that the employee
encounters on the job. Demands can be characterized as a communication load: “the rate and complexity of
communication inputs an individual must process in a particular time frame.” If an individual receives too
many messages simultaneously, does not receive enough input on the job, or is unsuccessful in processing
these inputs, the individual is more likely to become dissatisfied, aggravated, and unhappy with
work, leading to a low level of job satisfaction. Superior–subordinate communication, or the relationship
between supervisors and their direct report(s), is another important influence on job satisfaction in the
workplace. The way in which subordinates perceive a supervisor’s behavior can positively or negatively
influence job satisfaction. Communication behavior—such as facial expression, eye contact, vocal
expression, and body movement—is crucial to the superior–subordinate relationship The research therefore
seek to provide an appraisal of the concept and scope of job satisfaction with a case study of UAC PLC
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The complexity and inability of many firm to measure and determine the job satisfaction level of their
employee compounds the ability of the firm to motivate their employees effectively to achieve employee job
satisfaction. when employees are satisfied on their jobs they are highly motivated to perform maximally.
Many organizations face challenges in accurately measuring job satisfaction, as the definition of satisfaction
can differ among various people within an organization. However, most organizations realize that workers’
level of job satisfaction can impact their job performance, and thus determining metrics is crucial to creating
strong efficiency. Despite widespread belief to the contrary, studies have shown that high-performing
employees do not feel satisfied with their job simply as a result of to high-level titles or increased pay. This
lack of correlation is an significant concern for organizations, since studies also reveal that the implementation of positive HR practices results in financial gain for the organizations. The cost of employees is quite high, and creating satisfaction relevant to the return on this investment is paramount.
Simply put: positive work environments and increased shareholder value are directly related. Some factors of
job satisfaction may rank as more important than others, depending on each worker’s needs and personal
and professional goals. To create a benchmark for measuring and ultimately creating job satisfaction,
managers in an organization can employ proven test methods such as the Job Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). These assessments help management define job satisfaction objectively Therefore the problem confronting this research is to appraise the concept and scope of job satisfaction with a case study of UAC PLC.
AN APPRAISAL OF THE CONCEPT AND SCOPE OF JOB SATISFACTION