Job Satisfaction

• Author: G. Maxwell
• Pages: 446-447

Page 446

Job satisfaction is a worker's sense of achievement and success on the job. It is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being. Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well, and being rewarded for one's efforts. Job satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one's work. Job satisfaction is the key ingredient that leads to recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of other goals that lead to a feeling of fulfillment.

WHAT WORKERS NEED IN JOB SATISFACTION

Major specifics of what workers need in job satisfaction include self-esteem and identity. A significant portion of job satisfaction often comes just from the sheer fact of being employed. If work creates positive features about being employed, unemployment almost invariably lowers self-worth. Genuine job satisfaction comes from a feeling of security whereby one's performance is judged objectively by the quality of work performance rather than artificial criteria such as being related to highly placed executives or to relatives in the firm. Yet at the same time, monotonous jobs can almost shatter a worker's initiative and enthusiasm. Employees have definite needs that they feel are essential to activate as they spend their working hours and years expending their efforts on behalf of their employers.

IMPORTANCE TO BOTH WORKER AND ORGANIZATION

For the organization, high levels of job satisfaction of its workers strongly suggest a workforce that is motivated and committed to high-quality performance. Increased productivity—quantity and quality of output per hour worked—would seem to be almost an automatic by-product of improved quality of workmanship. It is important to note, however, that the literature on the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity is neither conclusive nor consistent. Studies dating back to Frederick Herzberg's (1957) have shown surprisingly only a low correlation between high morale and high productivity. But this is contrary to easily formed logic that satisfied workers tend to add more value to an organization.

Unhappy employees, motivated by fear of job loss, will give 100 percent of their effort for a...