Lesson 10: Employee Satisfaction and Commitment

Job Satisfaction

The attitude employees have toward their jobs.

Organizational commitment

The extent to which an employee identifies with and is involved with an organization.

Highly Correlated

Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are ____.

A meta-analyses indicate that satisfied employees tend to be committed to an organization, and employees who are satisfied and committed are more likely to attend work, stay with an organization, arrive at work on time, perform well, engage in behaviors helpful to the organization, not behave in counterproductive ways, and engage in ethical behavior than are employees who are not satisfied or committed.

Affective commitment

The extent to which an employee wants to remain with an organization and cares about the organization.

Continuance commitment

The extent to which employees believe they must remain with an organization due to the time, expense, and effort they have already put into the organization.

Normative commitment

The extent to which employees feel an obligation to remain with an organization.

Genetic Disposition

Inherited personality traits such as negative affectivity (the tendency to have negative emotions such as fear, hostility, and anger) are related to our tendency to be satisfied with jobs (Ilies & Judge, 2003).

Core Self-Evaluation

Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997) have hypothesized that four personality variables are related to people’s predisposition to be satisfied with their life and jobs: emotional stability, self-esteem, self efficacy (perceived ability to master their environment), and internal locus of control (perceived ability to control their environment).

People prone to be satisfied with their jobs and with life in general have high self-esteem and a feeling of being competent, are emotionally stable, and believe they have control over their lives, especially their work lives.

Culture

Workers in different countries have different levels of job satisfaction.

Intelligence

A study by Ganzach (1998) suggests that bright people have slightly lower job satisfaction than do less intelligent employees in jobs that are not complex. In complex jobs, the relationship between intelligence and satisfaction is negligible.

A meta-analysis of seven studies by Griffeth, Hom, and Gaertner (2000) found that intelligence and turnover were not significantly related.

Other Aspects of Life

People who are satisfied with their jobs tend to be satisfied with life; people who are satisfied with life tend to be satisfied with their jobs.

Satisfaction with one’s job “spills over” into otheraspects of life, and satisfaction with other aspects of life spills over into satisfaction with one’s job.

Job Expectation

• Psychological contracts (promises and

  obligations)

When such psychological contract breaches occur, job satisfaction and organizational commitment go down and employee intentions to leave the organization increase.

Good Fit

When employees consider how well they “fit” with a job or an organization, they consider the extent to which their values, interests, personality, lifestyle, and skills match those of their vocation (e.g., a career such as nursing, law enforcement, or psychology), job (its particular tasks), organization, coworkers, and supervisor (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005).

Needs/supplies fit

is the extent to which the rewards, salary, and benefits received by employees are perceived to be consistent with their efforts and performance.

Another “fit” factor that has been shown to be related to job satisfaction and commitment is the extent to which employees’ desire for a particular work schedule (e.g., shift, number of hours) matches their actual schedule.

Branham

_____ (2012) believes that there are certain signs to which an organization should pay attention that indicate a job/person mismatch. Some of these signs are that the employee

• does not seem excited when first hired or assigned to a job;

• starts asking for some tasks to be given to other employees;

• applies for other jobs in the organization;

• begins to ask for new projects;

• and appears bored or unchallenged.

SHRM 2014

The _____ Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement survey found that 51% of employees indicated that the nature of the work itself was a very important factor in their level of job satisfaction.

Working with Others

Research indicates that people who enjoy working with their supervisors and coworkers will be more satisfied with their jobs (Mossholder, Settoon, & Henagan, 2005; Repetti & Cosmas, 1991).

Bishop and Scott (1997) found that satisfaction with supervisors and coworkers was related to organizational and team commitment, which in turn resulted in higher productivity, lower intent to leave the organization, and a greater willingness to help.

Social information processing theory / Social learning theory

States that employees model their levels of satisfaction and motivation from other employees.

Research on _____ supports the idea that the social environment does have an effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviors (Pollock, Whitbred, & Contractor, 2000; Robinson & O’Leary-Kelly, 1998).

Distributive justice

The perceived fairness of the decisions made in an organization.

Procedural justice

The perceived fairness of the methods used by an organization to make decisions.

Interactional justice

The perceived fairness of the interpersonal treatment that employees receive in an organization.

Job rotation

A system in which employees are given the opportunity to perform several different jobs in an organization.

Job enlargement

A system in which employees are given more tasks to perform at the same time.

Job enrichment

A system in which employees are given more responsibility over the tasks and decisions related to their job.

Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS)

A measure of the extent to which a job provides opportunities for growth, autonomy, and meaning. (Hackman and Oldham)

Quality circles

Employee groups that meet to propose changes that will improve productivity and the quality of work life

Faces Scale

A measure of job satisfaction in which raters place a mark under a facial expression that is most similar to the way they feel about their jobs.

Job Descriptive Index (JDI)

A measure of job satisfaction that yields scores on five dimensions: supervision, pay, promotional opportunities, coworkers, and the work itself.

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)

A measure of job satisfaction that yields scores on 20 dimensions.

Job in General (JIG) Scale

The ____ is useful when an organization wants to measure the overall level of job satisfaction rather than specific aspects.

Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ)

15-item questionnaire developed by Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979) to measure three commitment factors: acceptance of the organization’s values and goals, willingness to work to help the organization, and a desire to remain with the organization. Although the questions tap three factors, most people using the scale combine the factors to yield one overall commitment score (Kacmar, Carlson, & Brymer, 1999).

Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS):

A nine-item survey developed by Balfour and Wechsler (1996) that measures three aspects of commitment: identification, exchange, and affiliation. Sample questions include, “I felt like a part of the family at this organization” and “What this organization stands for is important to me.”

Custom Designed Inventories

The advantage to _____ is that an organization can ask employees questions specific to their organization

Absenteeism, Turnover, Counterproductive Behavior, Lack of Organizational citizenship behavior

Consequences of Dissatisfied and Other Negative Attitudes

Activities in HRM

Planning: Establishing goals and standards; developing rules and procedures; developing plans and forecasts

Organizing: Giving each subordinate a specific task; establishing departments; delegating authority to subordinates; establishing channels of authority and communication; coordinating the work of subordinates

Staffing: Determining what type of people should be hired; ­ recruiting prospective employees; selecting employees; setting performance standards; compensating employees; evaluating performance; counseling employees; training and developing employees

Leading: Getting others to get the job done; maintaining morale; motivating subordinates

Controlling: Setting standards such as sales quotas, quality standards, or production levels; checking to see how actual performance compares with these standards; taking corrective action as needed

Human Resource Management

Primary Focus: Managing employees

Orientation: Administrative

Time frame: Short-mid term

Responsibilities: Hiring, compensation, policies, employee relations

Goal: Efficiency, compliance, workforce stability

Scope: Broader; includes HRD

Approach: Reactive (solves immediate issues)

Human Resource Development

Primary Focus: Developing employees

Orientation: Developmental

Time frame: Long term

Responsibilities: Training, career development, OD, leadership

Goal: Growth, innovation, human capacity-building

Scope: subset of HRM

Approach: Proactive (prepares for the future)