Free Job Satisfaction Research Paper Sample

Introduction and Overview

Employee attrition and workforce turnover are major challenges that companies are facing in contemporary business environment. A large percentage of qualified, skilled and experienced workforce switch their jobs frequently, which resulted in financial and skills loss for the companies. Employee turnover is associated with the recruitment cost that involved in hiring replacement, training & development of new recruits, and productivity loss till new replacement becomes as productive as old worker. High employee turnover rate not only demotivate other employees but also adversely impacts the image of the company (Yucel, 2012). In competitive business environment, it is important for the companies to have a talented workforce all the time in order to tap business opportunities and gain competitive advantages. Organizations often analyze factors that positively impacts employees’ loyalty and retention. Researchers identified job satisfaction as a major factor that directly impacts employees’ performance and their retention in the organization.
Job satisfaction directly impacts employees’ attitude and their emotional reaction towards work. Researchers identified that employees leave their jobs because they find better opportunities and higher pay, poor management in present organization, no recognition, lacks of work challenges, unsafe environment and poor working conditions. However, all these factors ultimately impacts job satisfaction, and people leave their present job in they are not satisfied. The objective of this research paper is to analyze importance of job satisfaction in today’s organizations. The paper will analyze how companies are addressing job satisfaction in their working environment and various benefits associated with satisfied workforce.

Impact of Not Addressing Job Satisfaction in Today’s Organizations

Not all employees are happy with their work and there are variety of reasons for job dissatisfaction. The problem of job dissatisfaction is worldwide and all organizations across the globe are measuring impacts of job dissatisfaction. Dissatisfied employees often do not perform their work with full efficiency which ultimately impacts the overall productive of the organizations. Human resources are most important resources that help organizations in gaining new competitive advantages and in exploring opportunities available in the market place. Employees do not show there full commitment if they are dissatisfied with their work which impacts the growth of organization. For example organizations such as Apple and Google are capable to bring most innovative technologies to the consumers because of their skilled and talented employees. Apple and Google provide healthy and collaborative working environment that not only retain talent in the organization but also facilitate creative thinking. Organizations ensure that their employees are satisfied because an unsatisfied employee cannot generate new innovative ideas due to poor motivation and low commitment (Chiang and Hsieh, 2012).
Organizations that do not address job satisfaction face high employee turnover which resulted in loss of talent. Such organizations are required to invest huge amount in hiring new employees on frequent basis and in their training programs. Organizations can save huge cost if they address job satisfaction. Job satisfaction impacts growth of all type of organizations irrespective of their end products and services. For example in hospitality organizations job satisfaction will impact the quality of services rendered by the organization and customer satisfaction (Nadiri and Tanova, 2010). A happy employee will serve customers more efficiently as compare to an unhappy employee. In sales driven organizations or retail organizations, job satisfaction impacts the sales performance because only motivated sales staff can convince customers to make purchase. Therefore, job satisfaction directly impacts performance of employees, thus growth of organizations. Organizations that do not address job satisfaction adversely impacts their growth.

Analysis and Discussion

Aziri (2011) mentioned that job satisfaction get impacted by different environmental, psychological and physiological factors. The author mentioned that a worker feel satisfied when his desires and needs are fulfilled by the organization. Job satisfaction get reflected in the work performed by the worker. According to the author, companies should address job satisfaction by fulfilling different needs of their employees and making them happy employees. Job satisfaction also help companies in addressing other issues such as absenteeism, lack of employee loyalty, poor work performance, work accidents, grievances, strikes, tardiness, sabotage, and customer satisfaction (Aziri, 2011).
A research study conducted by Nadiri and Tanova (2010) suggests the impact of organizational justice on job satisfaction and employee turnover. The authors conducted their research study on 208 hotel employees located in North Cyprus. According to the research, fairness in organizational procedures and transparency in performance evaluation positively impacts job satisfaction and employee’s behavior at workplace. Companies involve in hospitality business such as Starbucks, McDonald, Five star hotels, and catering companies achieve job satisfaction by addressing different needs of employees. According to Aziri employees’ needs that drive job satisfaction are: management attention, clear job design and allocation of responsibilities, fair compensation, recognition, job security, fair organizational policies, healthy working conditions, career development opportunities, achievements, social relationship, and aspirations (Nadiri and Tanova, 2010; Aziri, 2011). Companies address some or all of these needs in order to keep their employees happy and satisfied.
Bellou (2010) in her study analyzed the impact of organizational culture on job satisfaction. The author mentioned about healthy relationship between employer and employee as a major job satisfaction factor. A healthy relationship can only be developed when employer address different needs of employees considering their age, gender and culture (Bellou, 2010). In contemporary business environment, all large international companies such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Ikea, Google, Nike, PepsiCo etc. focusing on developing diversified workforce and collaborative working environment. Diversified workforce help companies in understanding different cultures, target customers and international markets. However, management of diversified team is a major challenge in front of leaders. Leaders from one culture (high context or low context culture) sometimes fail to understand team members from other cultures, which resulted in losing talent.
Eslami and Gharakhani (2012) in their research study mentioned favorable working conditions, promotion and personal relationship as major factors that impacts job satisfaction. According to the study, job satisfaction is higher in organizations where leaders have close relationship with their team members and worked in flat structure. In centralize organizational structure low level employees often feel isolated because they cannot communicate directly with senior management. However, in decentralize structure all employees are free to share their ideas with senior management irrespective of their position. Innovative companies such as Google and Apple also work in decentralize manner (Eslami & Gharakhani, 2012).
Positive working environment and healthy culture created by leaders ensure growth of all employees which ultimately impacts job satisfaction (Bellou, 2010). Wood, Veldhoven, Croon, Menezes (2012) in their article mentioned the impact of enhanced job design on high performance and job satisfaction. High involvement of management not only facilitate the development of clear job design but also ensure well-being of their employees which positively impacts the job satisfaction. Therefore, it is important for the companies to fulfill different requirements in order to achieve high performance (Wood et al., 2012).

Recommendations

Research conducted on the subject revealed that there are various organizational factors that influence job satisfaction of the employees. However, it is important for the companies to consider these factors in order to increase employees’ loyalty and performance. Companies can achieve job satisfaction by addressing following factors:
Companies should ensure that they provide healthy and safe working environment to their employees. All equipment and machineries should be maintained properly and use of chemicals should be as per OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) and government guidelines.
Roles and responsibilities of all employees should be clearly defined and documented. Managers should also ensure that their team members are well informed about their role and two employees are not performing identical tasks.
Company should ensure that their employees are fairly paid as per industrial norms. Company can increase job satisfaction by offering loyalty bonus and other benefits such as healthcare insurance, education to one child etc.
Performance appraisal process should be very fair and all employees should be evaluated according to their performance. Companies should also have proper mechanism to address grievances of their employees. It is also important that all workers should be treated equally irrespective of their age, gender, race, culture and ethnicity. Managers and leaders should ensure that they have all basic information about different cultures in order to manage diversified team efficiently.
Senior management team should be accessible to all employees irrespective of their position in organization. A healthy communication reduce the chances of misrepresentation of information and facilitate healthy relationship between employees and employer. Healthy communication also encourage employees to bring innovative ideas forward and ensure the growth of organization.

References

Aziri, B. (2011). Job Satisfaction: A Literature Review. Management Research and Practice, 3(4), 77-86.
Bellou, V. (2010). Organizational culture as a predictor of job satisfaction: the role of gender and age. Career Development International, 15(1), 4-19.
Chiang, C., and Hsieh, T. (2012). The impacts of perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment on job performance: The mediating effects of organizational citizenship behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), 180–190.
Eslami, J., and Gharakhani, D. (2012). Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction. ARPN Journal of Science and Technology, 85-91.
Wood, S., Veldhoven, M V., Croon, M., and Menezes, L.M. (2012). Enriched job design, high involvement management and organizational performance: The mediating roles of job satisfaction and well-being. Human Relations, 65(4) , 419-445 .
Yucel, I. (2012). Examining the relationships among job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention: an empirical study. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(20), 44-58.