INP4004

9. JOB SATISFACTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Job attitudes: How people feel about their jobs

Job satisfaction: Like/dislike job and job facets

Organizational commitment: Attachment to the job

Measurement

Questionnaires

Interviews

ANTECEDENTS

Environmental

Job characteristics

Pay, justice not amount

Role variables

Role ambiguity and role conflict

Work-family conflict

Supervisory behavior

Personal

Demographics

Age

Country

Gender

Race

Personality

Locus of Control

Negative Affectivity

JOB DESIGN

"If only it weren't for the people, the damned people", said Finnerty "always getting tangled up in the machinery. If it weren't for them Earth would be an engineer's paradise." Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano

HISTORY

Simplification

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1850: Describes pin

making as taking 18 separate operations, each done by a

different worker

Frederick Taylor, Turn of the century, Simplification and

standarization of work.

Problems

Employee rebellion: Simple work boring

Absence, dissatisfaction, lateness, sabotage, strikes, turnover

Solutions

1940's to 1950's

Job enlargement: increased variety, job rotation

Job enrichment: increase control & responsibility

Herzberg 2 factor theory promoted the idea of worker seeks

growth

JOB CHARACTERISTICS THEORY

Hackman and Oldham

Core characteristics >> Psychological states >>Outcomes

Skill variety

Task identity

Task significance

Autonomy

Feedback

Experienced meaningfulness

Responsibility

Knowledge of results

Attendance

Job performance

Job satisfaction

Motivation

Growth Need Strength

Research mixed linking objective characteristics to outcomes

Research supports linking subjective perceptions to outcomes

Other characteristics have been linked to job satisfaction

Cycle time: How long it takes to complete an entire task

Passive monitoring: Watching someone or something and

waiting for an event, e.g., a dial to go into the danger zone.

(Melamed et al., 1995, Journal of Applied Psychology)

TRADITIONAL FACTORY

Assembler

Does single operation

Low skill

Quick acquisition

Standardization

Quality control inspector

Inspects output at end of line

May merely discard rejects

May fix rejects

Service

By phone, letter, or service calls

Maintenance

Fixes tools and equipment

Foreman

Supervises: System encourages directive style since single assembler failure stops production

Hires, fires, disciplines

Assigns tasks

Trains

Work schedules

Orders tools & equipment

WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT

Incompatible demands of work and family

Relates to job satisfaction for men and women

Relation stronger for women, especially professionals

(Kossek & Ozeki, 1998, Journal of Applied Psychology)

Effects on the family

Test of a model

Work-family conflict >> job dissatisfaction>>

parent behavior>>school performance

(Stewart & Barling, 1996, Journal of Organizational Behavior)

Solution

Family friendly work policies

Flexible work schedules

On site day care

Can reduce job dissatisfaction

DEMOGRAPHICS AND JOB SATISFACTION

Age

Job Satisfaction curvilinear with age, at first declining and then

increasing with a low at age 26 to 31

Adjustment to work

Modifying job situation

Country differences

Overall

Western countries tend to be highest

Asian countries tend to be lowest, esp. Japan

Facet differences

Americans very unhappy with rewards

Asians moderately positive on most things

Comparison of facets across five countries on the Job Satisfaction Survey

Facet	Dominican Republic	Hong Kong	Jamaica	Singapore	US
Pay	17.2	15.0	5.8	14.0	11.8
Promotion	16.4	14.2	9.4	13.4	11.8
Supervision	20.0	16.0	17.5	13.4	18.6
Benefits	16.8	14.4	6.1	14.2	14.3
Contingent rewards	17.8	14.9	9.3	17.3	13.5
Procedures	12.3	12.1	13.0	17.0	13.6
Coworkers	20.0	15.6	17.0	13.4	17.9
Work	22.2	14.9	18.3	17.1	18.9
Communication	18.1	14.9	13.4	14.9	14.2
Total	160.9	133.3	110.0	134.7	133.4
Sample size	148	136	143	182	24713

Note: Dominican data were from Marion-Landais, 1992; Hong Kong, Lammond, 1995; Jamaican, a doctoral dissertation by Zia Mian, 1997; Singapore, Spector & Wimalasiri, 1986; US norms for the JSS available on this website. The first three samples were limited, and are not good representations of their respective countries.

Gender

Usually no differences despite job differences

Paradox of the contented woman worker

Race

Usually no differences or very small

Difficult to find equivalent samples

POTENTIAL EFFECTS

Job Performance

Withdrawal

Absence

Turnover

Counterproductive behavior

Health and Well‑being – difficult link

See chapter 10

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Two perspectives

One commitment, three components – Mowday, Steers, Porter

Acceptance of organization goals

Intention to stay on the job

Willingness to work hard

Three commitments – Meyer and Allen

Affective: like the job

Continuance: need the job

Normative: feel obligated to stay on the job

Similar antecedents and effects as job satisfaction

HOFSTEDE’S DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE VALUES

Individualism: people focus on their own interests and needs vs. Collectivism which is a focus on other people.

Masculinity: extent to which organizations focus on achievement and job performance as opposed to health and well-being of employees.

Power distance: tolerance for power and status differences among levels of an organization.

Uncertainty avoidance: level of comfort in situations that are unpredictable. Rule and procedure orientation.

Collectivistic countries – more job satisfaction with social aspects

of the job such as coworkers or supervisors.

Hofstede’s Dimensions By Country

Dimension	Highest	Lowest	US
Individualism	US, Australia	Venezuela, Colombia	Highest
Masculinity	Japan, Austria	Sweden, Norway	Upper third
Power distance	Philippines, Mexico	Austrial, Israel	Lower third
Uncertainty avoidance	Greece, Portugal	Singapore, Denmark	Lower third

Source: Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Abridged Edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.