Job Satisfaction

The major causes of job satisfaction, how does job satisfaction impact productivity, absenteeism and turnover and how employee satisfaction is related to customer satisfaction in organizations.
Job satisfaction is described as a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristic (Essentials of Organizational Behavior 10 edition, Stephen Robbins/Timothy Judge). According to Locke and Lathan (1976) the definition of job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience. In my opinion I believe that job satisfaction is simply someone been content with their job or enjoy the work they do. The major causes of job satisfaction are the work itself, pay, advancement opportunities, supervision and coworkers. The most important component of job satisfaction is employees enjoying the work they do. When someone enjoys performing a specific task they tend to perform at the highest capacity, this is because they have an interest in that specific area. An example would be people who work in none profit organizations. Often employees in such organization share or have a passion for the work they do since their contribution to the organization results in a greater outcome which many times are for social needs of a particular country.
The second major component of job satisfaction is compensation or pay. This is seen mostly in undeveloped countries which have a limited job market as well as limited finances. Salary or compensation in undeveloped countries correlate with job satisfaction because human beings are generally happy or contented if their needs are been met. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs all human being have a hierarchy of needs starting with the lowest as physiological, safety, social, esteem, and the greatest as self- actualization. Salary will only be a component of job satisfaction as it would motivate employees as the five levels of Maslow’s theory are been met. However as an employee salary increases and the employee is at the point of living a comfortable life salary or pay seems to not be a correlating factor with job satisfaction. This is often seen in develop countries which have a wider job market and plenty of finances.
The third major component of job satisfaction is opportunities for employees to advance within the organization. In many job interviews one of the most common questions asked by applicants is if there is room for advancement within the organization? This is because they want to know that they will be able to move up or around in an organization instead of been in a stagnant position. It is human nature to want to excel in their endeavors, also people tend to prefer jobs that are more challenging than those that are routine. Job that are challenging allows employees to be creative and to gain or acquire knowledge in a specific area. Employees that do routine jobs often get bored which results in an employee leaving the organization in search of a more satisfying occupation.
The fourth major component of job satisfaction is supervision. Supervision is important to employees as employees performance depends on the leadership of the supervisor. Employees excelling in performance depends on the amount of leverage allow for them to do so by the supervisor. For example an employee working on a specific task sees an innovated way to achieve a specific task, but does not feel comfortable to share or present to the supervisor since such behavior is not encouraged in the organization. As supervisors it is important to develop a relationship with employees to allow them to feel comfortable to communicate, or to share their opinions. In organization where employees find it difficult to communicate often results in employees leaving the organization. This is so because they realize that they have the capacity to perform at a higher level and wants to exercise that desire. It is also important for supervisors to be knowledgeable in their field of work, since employees will depend on their guidance. Supports from supervisor results in reduce stress level in the workplace and will also result in employees being satisfy with their jobs in an organization.
The fifth component of job satisfaction is coworkers. Employees derive job satisfaction from coworkers when they work together as a team. Team work within an organization is an important factor since it results in success and the profitability of the organization. A successful organization is view as an analogy of a human body. The human body requires all its part to be able to function properly and orderly. Without a leg the body will not be able to walk as usual. Likewise in an organization all employees are required in order for the organization to operate successfully. Employees are satisfied with their jobs in organization where they are supported by coworkers in the same manner they want to be supported by their supervisors.
Productivity in an organization is affected by job satisfaction because employees who are more satisfied tend to be more effective in organizations. If an employee is happy at work they will be more willing to help and to provide better services to customers and even to “go the extra mile” or give more than is required of them.
According to one theoretical model employees who are not satisfied with their job will most likely respond by exiting, voice, loyalty and neglect. The exit response includes employees leaving a department as well as resigning from the organization. Researchers have recognized a relationship between job turnover rate and job satisfaction within organizations. As mentioned earlier employees will most likely leave an organization to acquire a job that is more satisfying or a job which will allow them to be creative or one that offers a challenge.
The voice response involves employees making suggestion to improve a particular situation, discussing problems with supervisors or management and even joining or creating unions to address a specific issue. Loyalty involves employees who are committed in such a way that they remain with the organization and will wait for conditions to improve. Neglect involves employees intentionally allowing conditions to worsen. Neglect also results in absenteeism, tardiness, minimal effort and increased error rate. Employees who are unhappy at work are likely to perform at minimal output, which can also lead to absenteeism. Absenteeism is correlated with job satisfaction at a weak to moderate level. It is not easy to tell since most organizations have a sick leave policy allowing employees to take sick leave while been compensated. Even employees who are satisfied with their jobs take a day off from work from time to time to do something out of the norm or to take a break from the day to day routines. It has also been proven that employees job satisfaction results in satisfied customers. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are happy, more creative, willing to learn or acquire knowledge in their field of work. Also satisfied employees are most likely to remain with an organization for a longer period of time than an unsatisfied employee. Customers are satisfied with employees who have a wide based of knowledge regarding a particular service or product. Customers also appreciate employees who are helpful and cheerful. Organizations also gain customer loyalty as customers prefer to conduct business with familiar faces rather than a new employee each time they visit the organization. According to Robbins and Judge in Essentials of Organizational Behavior, frontline or services employees who are satisfied increase customer satisfaction. However I believe that employees in general must be satisfied to result in customer satisfaction. This is so because frontline employees are supported or should be supported by the “behind the scenes” employees. If the “behind the scene” employees are not satisfied they will not provide the support required by the front line employees which will result in frontline or service employees to perform at an inefficient level. This will ultimately result in Customers dissatisfaction.

Works Cited
Robbins, Stephen P., Judge, Timothy A. Essential of Organizational Behavior, Tenth Edition, 2010. Print http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/job satisfaction. Web. Oct. 2010 http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/tella2.htm. Web

Cited: Robbins, Stephen P., Judge, Timothy A. Essential of Organizational Behavior, Tenth Edition, 2010. Print http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/job satisfaction. Web. Oct. 2010 http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/tella2.htm. Web