A study job satisfaction of highlands coffee s employees

ABSTRACT The research was carried out to determine the factors of job satisfaction of employees working in Highlands Coffee JSC., The Company is operating in the services, retails and ho

RESEARCH PROJECT

(BMBR5103)

A STUDY ON JOB SATISFACTION OF

Advisor’s signature

Nguyen The Khai (DBA)

Advisor’s assessment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all I would first like to thank my thesis advisor DBA Nguyen The Khai for

his whole-hearted guidance, his valued comments and quick responses throughout my dissertation He always opened to share his knowledge and advised me the best solution whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right the direction whenever he thought I needed it I am really happy and fortunate to carry out this study under his guidance and supervision

Having this research completed, I do appreciate great encouragement from Mr Le Thai Anh and his team throughout my learning and research time I have been helped during the survey from respondents I would like to extent my thanks to all of them who arranged their time to reply the questionnaire Without their passionate participation and input, the validation survey could not have been successfully conducted

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents and to my husband for providing me with unfailing support, continuous encouragement and best inspiration throughout my years of study, particularly thanks to my colleagues and my subordinates who take time to talk and discuss any relevant issues with me and support

me the time through the process of researching and writing this thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them Last but not least are my lovely thanks to my two children who give me the strength and determination to complete this research

Vo Thi Kim Hoa

Herzberg's Two-factor or Motivational-Hygiene Theory: 15 Process or expectancy theories of job satisfaction 16

Work-related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation:

FIGURE:

Figure 1:Mr David Thai Phi - Chairman, Founder & Group Chief Executive 2 Figure 2: Business Structure of Viet Thai International JSC 3

Figure 4: Organization chart of Viet Thai International JSC 4

TABLE

Table 4: Work-Related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation 34

Table 6: Milestone of the survey running and data collecting 36 Table 7: Cronbach's Alpha - Internal Consistency 37

Table 9: Cronbach's Alpha of Work - Related Expectancies 38

Table 10: Cronbach’s Alpha of Perceived Person - Organization Fit 38

Table 11: Cronbach’s Alpha of Performance Appraisal System Knowledge 38 Table 12: Cronbach's Alpha of Work-Related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation 39

ABSTRACT

The research was carried out to determine the factors of job satisfaction of employees working in Highlands Coffee JSC., The Company is operating in the services, retails and hospitalization

The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) questionnaire has been used in this research where

it consists of 27 statements from 06 facets of job satisfaction Questionnaire sheets distributed be mail and email to participants 256 respondents from employees were used for database of SPSS outcomes

The main purpose of this study is to study the satisfaction of Highlands Coffee’s employees to find out the satisfaction level and critical factors influencing job satisfaction toward their current job This will help the companies to adapt policies and strategies to address the realities of employees’ nature and needs By managing properly these steps, it will help the companies managing their resources efficiently which will make the companies improve business performance, productivity, turn over and cost efficiently

Key words in this research: Work - Related Expectancies, Perceived Person - Organization Fit, Performance Appraisal System Knowledge and to define whether any Work-Related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation

marked the first time as the private company as a joint stock company Highlands Coffee was born

out of this vision and in 2000 commenced business with premium roast & ground packaged coffee with “Highlands Coffee”

brands, to be sold through supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and cafés It was four years later, in 2002, that the first Highlands Coffee shop was established, across from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City With Highlands as the platform

of growth, VTI Company is now reaching more than 200 retail outlets across its portfolio of brands across Vietnam: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Vung Tau, Can Tho, Binh Duong, Quang Ninh, Dong Nai and Hue After past decades, VTI has been instrumental in shaping the country’s modern retail and branding environment This is through a portfolio of Company-owned brands and leading international brands

Scope of business:

VTI business is separated into 03 main business industries Super Food, Super Retails and Distribution Highlands Coffee JSC is one of the biggest business unit of Supper food line as follows:

Figure 2: Business Structure of Viet Thai International JSC

In order to have full picture of business growth and expansion of VTI, I summarized the business’ milestones of VTI as follows:

Figure 3: Milestones of Viet Thai International

Organization Structure:

Corporate Structure:

Figure 4: Organization chart of Viet Thai International JSC

Corporate level strategies:

The Board of Directors focus on operational and on immediate financial metrics rather

than the wider economic environment that is now starting to affect the company, they

think of using careful planning and forecasting to anticipate the challenges ahead

They made bargain acquisitions to build up the company core business by selling its

shares in Highlands Coffee to the Filipino investor after a short time they sold nearly

half of Pho 24 to this partner Particularly, Jollibee paid $25 million to buy 49 percent

of Viet Thai International’s business in Vietnam and 60 percent of business in Hong

Kong (China) Jollibee Group had also agreed to loan Viet Thai International $35

million with interest rate of only 5 percent to ―invest in the future‖

This approach is to deliver the Joint Venture strategies not only to survive but also to

succeed in a recession as besides continuing to develop this coffee chain in Vietnam,

Jollibee will add products of Highlands Coffee in the other systems of the Jollibee

restaurants in Asia This will be a significant added value for Highlands Coffee in

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international market Jollibee affirmed to add Highlands Coffee products in the other systems of Jollibee restaurants across Asia This was true, but apparently that’s not their greatest goal of this investor On the contrary, Jollibee seems to rely on Highlands brand to penetrate deep into the Vietnam market

In consideration of this affair, both Jollibee and VTI were benefit to strengthen their brand name in the market and maximize their capital resource to grow the business into international market in the near future Highlands Coffee has taken big steps in the Philippines recently by mixing Integration Strategy and Intensive Strategies After opening a new shop at Eton Emerald Lofts in Ortigas, more Highlands Coffee shops will soon be put into operation at Timog and Katipunan Avenues in Quezon City and Pioneer Road, Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong and expected to have 100 Highlands Coffee shops in the Philippines in three years Beside that, Highlands Coffee also build

up the franchise system with effective policies, such as low prices, free wi-fi service, diverse food, music and spaces and the most special thing being coffee beans from Vietnam In the Philippines, Highlands Coffee uses Vietnamese and confirmed to use Vietnamese coffee beans then it is considered a Vietnamese brand in international market

With these strategies, Viet Thai are successfully to bring Highlands Coffee brand name to the world and introduce their current products and service into new market, new geographic and grow better It is potential to Viet Thai to move up in new chapter

Highlands Coffee Business Unit Structure:

Figure 5: Organization Chart of Highlands Coffee

Vision, Mission and Core Values:

- Customer Focus: If we don’t take care our customer, someone else will

- Respect and Integrity: If people respect you respect them back, if they disrespect you respect them back They represent their ideology you represent yours

- Commitment: Motivation is what gets you started, Commitment is what keeps you going

- Proudly Vietnamese and Community: We proud to serve Vietnam by superior Vietnamese Coffee Quality in a modern and comfortable environment that reflects the appeal of modern Vietnamese life

- Teamwork and Collaboration: Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the

success

Legal Entity:

HIGHLANDS COFFEE JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Head office: 135/37/50 Nguyen Huu Canh Street, Ward 22, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City

Telephone : (84-8) 3512-7355 Fax: (84-8) 3512-7356

Website: www.highlandscoffee.com.vn

Brand Identity Standards:

Connect to land and nature

Connect to the streets and our neighborhoods

Define the “modern Vietnamese” café experience

Research problem statement

Highlands Coffee is 100% Vietnamese company however it has foreign capital ratio very high proportion in its capital structure since Highlands had the big support from Jollibee Highlands Coffee has changed into lot of human resource management strategy to improve the management level of their cash flow and working capital The two areas that the company took action were reduced staffing level and reduced overhead cost then improve the quality of service and product to lead by the Cost Leadership Strategies with the pick point Good value for money The company also took action in restructuring the organization to minimize labor resources Highlands Coffee implemented 3G café model – Self Serve café model then Highlands Coffee achieves cost savings in service employees, employees do not take much to run the table, not waiting for customer management, and increase the initiative to customers, enhance business efficiency and profitability for the business Parallel with Self –Serve model transformation, Highlands Coffee also apply Part-time labor ratio in Highlands Coffee system with 60:40 (Fulltime: Part-time ratio) This has enabled to Highlands Coffee to achieve cost efficiency and people productivity in a sustainable way Highlands Coffee invested in multi-task training to all staffs level to help them work in any station of Café process This make employees working their matters This also encourage the employees to see the impact that

they are creating, not just be a small piece in a big machine Each employees can

do multi-tasking to have freedom and creativity to try new ways of doing things, not just localize global procedures and follow already established processes, but rather work towards improving them and building new ones Employees required

to teamwork in a store to make the process of their store designed run well and they felt proud of where their work is valued

Based on what the meaningful job the management would bring to each of employee who is treated as valuable asset of the company Therefore, developing and retaining talents, improving job satisfaction of employees during transformation period are crucial for the company management’s consideration It would seem that if people feel good about their jobs, their happiness would be reflected in the quality of their work and may have a positive feedback from their customers and this will contribute to organizational success

The management team of Highlands Coffee is passionate to study on Job Satisfaction of employees to help the company operate more efficient, suitable and reasonable in the trend of changes In which, we need focusing on some factors such as Work - Related Expectancies, Perceived Person - Organization Fit, Work-Related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation and Performance Appraisal System Knowledge are the problems for human resource management at the moment

Research objectives:

The main purpose of this research is to identify the factors influencing employee’s Job Satisfaction in Highlands Coffee through conducting the research

to analyze the relationship among Job Satisfaction with Work - Related

Expectancies, Perceived Person - Organization Fit, Performance Appraisal System Knowledge and to define whether any Work-Related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation impact on Job satisfaction in Highlands Coffee This will be conducted as follows:

 Step 1: Studying related information and to identify the level of job satisfaction in Highlands Coffee

 Step 2: Proposing the research model and test related factors to analyze the influence of variables on job satisfaction

 Step 3: Discussing and providing recommendations to improve Job satisfaction of Highlands Coffee employees

Scope of Research:

The research identified the Job Satisfaction of Highlands Coffee employees, includes: Operations and Café Support full time staffs, management level from Shift Sup to Area Manager, Middle Manager, Operations Director who has passed probation This study does not include BU Head, Chairman, Board of Directors, Shareholders and employee who is under maternity leave

This survey is conducted online within territory of Vietnam through web link www.surveymonkey.com with separate account sent to employee’s email This has been sent to more than 500 email address of employees in Highlands Coffee The research’s content is only including factors impact to Job Satisfaction, it does not have intention of re-structuring, changing, laying off or replacing the employees

This survey has been conducted from 01 Feb 2017 to 28 Feb 2017

Significances of research

The research is also aim to help the management team of Highlands Coffee have further insight into understanding job satisfaction of Highlands Coffee employees then this can bring these their attention to issues of employee job satisfaction to support the organizations in prioritizing the company focuses and resource to improve these factors to achieve long term sustainable objectives in Human Resource management

PART TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature overall factors on job satisfaction In particular, the review concentrates on the factors concerning job satisfaction, with

the aim of providing a foundation for answering the research concerns of what is the relationship of Work - Related Expectancies, Perceived Person - Organization Fit, Performance Appraisal System Knowledge and Work-Related Depression, Anxiety and Irritation to the Job Satisfaction The literature review covers the factors of motivation leading to Job satisfaction such as pay, promotion, fringe benefits, rewards, operating procedure, supervision, co-worker, nature of job and communication These factors are suggested and addressed by Spector (1997) who carried out a Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) with a questionnaire used to evaluate nine dimensions of job satisfaction related to overall job satisfaction Although the primary aim of the JSS was for use in human service organizations, it can be applied to all organizations The norms provided on JSS include a wide range of organization types in all private, public and MNC sector

Definition of construct:

Job Satisfaction:

There exists a variety of definitions of job satisfaction According to Rinehart and Short (1993), job satisfaction is essentially any combination of psychological and environmental circumstances that cause a person to produce a statement, ―I am satisfied with my job‖ Job satisfaction can also be defined as the extent to which

a person derives pleasure from a job These pleasures are not only about salary but also can include factors such as how employees are treated and valued by management and their input is taken into account by the company

Social experts, scientists and managers are very interested in understanding clearly job satisfaction because they can realize and highly appreciate the significance of a job in an entire life of an employee However, Mitchell and Larson (1987) conducted over 3,000 studies on job satisfaction over the past 60 years and concluded that there is no universal definition of job satisfaction Job satisfaction has been found to be associated with organizational trust (Rich, 1997) and helps increase employee performance (Arnett et al., 2002) Job satisfaction

also serves as a significant predictor in organizational commitment and retention (Hartman and Yrle, 1996; Kim et al., 2004; LaLopa, 1997) It is the frame of job and positive attitudes of individuals towards working environment (Robbins, 1993) and can be measured as an overall or global concept or a specific or facet concept where the components that make up the individual's work experiences influence satisfaction levels (Rice et al, 1991; Locke, 1976)

According to Spector (1997, p.2) job satisfaction was ―simply how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs‖; In other words, job satisfaction is the way people feel satisfied or dissatisfied with their job Job satisfaction can be generally viewed as an overall feeling toward the job or as a collection of attitudes toward various aspects of the job Facets of a job that are frequently assessed include pay, co-workers, supervisors, promotion opportunities, the nature of the work, communication, the organization’s policies and procedures and the organization itself (Spector, 1997) In 1976, Locke put forward a generally accepted definition of job satisfaction as ―the pleasurable emotional state resulting from perception of one’s job as fulfilling or allowing of one’s important job values‖ (p.1342) Based on his review of empirical studies on job satisfaction, Locke concluded that there are seven work issues typically associated with job satisfaction They are: mentally challenging work, personal interest in the specific job, not too physically tiring work, perceived equitable rewards, appropriate working conditions, employee self-esteem, management assistance in managing the workplace by minimizing conflicts and ensuring that work is interesting and good pay/promotions are available

Generally speaking, job satisfaction can be defined as ―an effective response by

an employee concerning his or her particular job and results from the employee’s comparison of actual outcomes with those of which are expected, needed, wanted

or perceived to be fair or just‖ (Cranny, Smith & Stone, 1992; Spector, 1996)

Theories of job satisfaction

Motivation is considered as an important factor for both managers and their employees According to Campbell and Pritchard, motivation is defined as ―a psychological force that affects (a) the choice of initiate effort on a certain task (b) choice to extend a certain amount of effort and (c) propensity to persist in expending effort over a period of time‖ (1976:65)

The definition sets out the direction, amplitude and persistence of an individual’s work, behavior on a given task, while mentioning the effects of aptitude, skill, job knowledge and situational limitations in the working environment

The concept of motivation is closely connected with job satisfaction and theories

of motivation have often formed the grassroots foundation of models and measures of job satisfaction (Mullins 1996) Although job satisfaction is not totally similar with motivation, it could, for example, be understood in the way managers and employees enjoy the feeling of achievement Motivation is viewed

as a potential key to job satisfaction at the workplace It is advisable to study the core motivation through the way people feel and think about their work, working environment, achievement and assessment from higher positions This approach

is called cognitive process Different cognitive processes or theories of motivation are usually divided into two contrasting approaches: content theories and processes theories (Dunford 1992, Ivancevich and Matteson 1993, Vecchio et

al 1992)

Content theories of job satisfaction

Theories of job satisfaction mainly deal with motivation, workers’ demands, strength and expectation of work appreciation Major content theories are thorough and famous work and study by Maslow with hierarchy of needs, McGregor with Theory X and Theory Y, Alderfer with (ERG) modified need hierarchy model, Herzberg with two factor theory, and McCelland with achievement theory Content theory approaches to motivation work mainly on fundamental motives which affect behavior This approach has been under

criticism because it does not fully mention the process aspect of motivation That

is why the content models do not succeed in figuring out the core process of motivation and appropriate links between needs and behavior

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

According to Maslow’s content theory, people in general try to meet their basic physiological needs first before steer their behavior to attempt higher level needs Higher level needs are those that are satisfied internally, including social esteem and self - actualization needs Mullins (1996) conducted a series of studies to find that managers of higher command in companies put greater emphasis of self -actualization and autonomy than managers lower in the organization Regarding

to Maslow’s theory of hierarchical needs, a framework has been created to identify what people need and expect and what kinds of motivations might be applicable at different levels

However, Maslow’s theory has some disadvantages to explain job satisfaction First, the ultimate purpose of the theory is not for studies of job satisfaction, but many researchers have applied it to that purpose Second, researches following the model tests of Maslow's theory have produced mixed results In Betz (1982) studying of the need fulfillment in the female workers’ career advancement (1982), it is clearly noted that that the ambition of job promotion really burns within them only when their lower – level needs are basically satisfied Nevertheless, the findings by Williams and Page (1989) show that some people try to meet higher-level needs even when the lower ones in the hierarchy have not been satisfied "So the idea that needs arise and are satisfied in a particular order has not been confirmed" (Baron, 1998, p.387)

Figure 6: Maslow's (1954) Need Hierarchy Theory

Herzberg's Two-factor or Motivational-Hygiene Theory :

The theory of Herzberg et al (1959) is also a well-known theory on job satisfaction which intensively investigated job satisfaction affecting elements His theory worked on 2 main factors namely motivators and hygiene, which was so called Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory of Job Satisfaction explaining achievement, responsibility or even the work itself as the core source of satisfaction However,

in 1997, Oshagbemi suggested that other context – related factors such as pay security, working conditions could also lead to job satisfaction The motivation-hygiene theory proposes that work must be enriched to successfully utilize, or motivate, personnel Job enrichment provides the opportunity for growth Job enrichment must be vertical job loading and not horizontal job loading Horizontal loading consists of challenging the employee to increase production amounts or adding another meaningless task to the existing one Vertical job loading could be removing controls while keeping accountability and introducing new and more challenging tasks not previously handled Job enrichment needs to

be a continuous management function according to Herzberg Herzberg disputes the ideas shared by managers that money and benefits motivate employees Instead, Herzberg believes continuous job enrichment will motivate employees

He provides ten steps at the end of the article that managers should follow to implement his motivation-hygiene theory

Figure 7: Herzberg's (1957) hypothesis

Process or expectancy theories of job satisfaction

Process theories aim at the actual process of motivation These theories deal with relationships among the dynamic variables which create motivation and with the way in which behavior is formed, shaped and performed According to Vroom’s expectancy theory in 1964, both situational and personality variables played an important role in job satisfaction Expectancy theory argues that a tendency to behavior or an action depends on very much expected outcomes of that kind of behavior or action; in other words, the longing for final achievement will determine the cause of the action in the workplace Although Vroom’s theory reckons the complexity of work motivation, it is rather hard to understand and apply because people rarely sit down and list their expected outcomes for a contemplated behavior In short, the Vroom model seems perfectly theoretical in explaining the complexity of motivation, but it does not provide managers much practical assistance in solving their motivational problem according to Luthans’

study in 1981 The Vroom model (Figure 2.3) is founded on the concepts of valence, instrumentality, and expectancy, and is commonly called the VIE theory

Figure 8: A translation of Vroom's VIE theory

Variables influencing job satisfaction

There remain arguments between researchers over the causes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction A wide range of theories have been developed, presented and then supported or criticized by other researchers in the field It is because each case studied is unique and the findings thus obtained would lend support to a particular theoretical framework A grounded theory approach seems to be a great choice if improving an individual's job satisfaction serves a purpose of the research

A review of empirical studies by Savery in 1989 illuminated that there are seven working conditions or variables of job satisfaction for a majority of people These conditions include interesting and challenging work, a feeling of achievement, a relationship with intermediate supervisor and other professionals, opportunities for friendship, advancement, security of employment, and recognition Most of these conditions or variables have been considered as intrinsic motivators, and meeting these expectations is very important to achieve high levels of job satisfaction for an individual, or at least to prevent dissatisfaction In a study by

Mottaz in 1985, extrinsic organizational rewards could be an important determinant but only mattered in lower occupations He also argued that there is a strong relationship between job satisfaction and intrinsic reward (such as achievement, recognition advancement etc.) regardless of occupational levels The value of intrinsic motivators to job satisfaction is welcomed among organization researchers

After thorough study of above arguments regarding the connections between content theories of motivation and job satisfaction, and process theories of motivation and job satisfaction, it can be concluded that content theories are more commonly used in terms of job satisfaction than process theories In particular, Herzberg’s two factor theory is essentially a theory of job satisfaction and Herzberg has applied the content theory of motivation in his approach Herzberg’s belief is that job enrichment should give people the opportunity to well perform their talents and abilities, and to exercise more self- control over their job Self - knowledge and good chances of promotion should be coupled with the job performance This provides the direct link between motivation and job satisfaction The content theories of motivation also assume a direct relationship between job satisfactions and improve performance (Mullins 1996, p.520) In contrast, the process theories of motivation emphasizes the relationships among the variables For instance, expectancy theories of motivation recognize the complexity of work motivation and consider in more detail the relationship between motivation, satisfaction and performance Thus, the process theories provide a more indirect and weaker link to job satisfaction

Dimensions of job satisfaction:

Pay:

Money is generally viewed as the instrument of commerce and the measure of value According to Lazear (1998), money is not everything, but it is the best metric The true meaning of money is ―in the eye of the beholder‖ and can be perceived as their ―frame of reference‖ in which they examine their everyday

lives (Tang et al., 2000a, p.217) It has been recommended by researchers like Lawler (1973) that money is a motivator Meanwhile, Cameron and Pierce (1994) argue that money is not a motivator; it is just a hygiene factor According to Gupta and Shaw (1998), money does improve performance quantity and does not de-motivate intrinsic elements On the one hand, it is possible to simply pay higher wages and lower benefits to satisfy employees’ needs Equity theory admits that perceptions of equitable pay play an important role in forming attitudes and behaviors concerning employment because individuals attempt to equate their balance between outcome and inputs Johnson and Johnson (1991), after reviewing other previous studies, found that worker’ perceptions of equal pay were a primary motivation to their level of organizational commitment Some researchers like Deci and Ryan (2000) suggest that external reward may undermine intrinsic motivation on a task Money may motivate people to work harder to a certain extent Beyond that point, money may work as a hygiene factor As Chiu, Luk and Tang (2002), people do want to become the managers of money rather than the slaves of money

Promotion:

Previous studies suggest that both pay and promotion chances are key determinants of commitment For example, Mottaz (1988) has shown that both opportunities for advancement and pay have a positive effect on organizational commitment In Quarles’ study of commitment of internal auditors in 1994, the importance of promotion opportunities is identified as a significant determinant

of organizational commitment That how much strong the organizational commitment becomes is one of the principle determining factors of propensity to stay A series of studies have shown that external rewards such as pay and promotion opportunities and internal rewards in form of career development are closely related to the job satisfaction

Supervision:

The notion that the subordinates’ motivation might have mediating effects on the influence of managerial leadership styles on subordinate job satisfaction and job performance was first put forward by Kahn (1958) From a study of previous researches aiming to obtain evidence of a link between leadership style and job satisfaction, Filley et al (1970) collected data from 456 employees combining the Stogdill’s Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ), the Ohio State Job Description (JDQ) and a Job Expectation Questionnaire (JEQ) The conclusion was that job satisfaction was one of the final outcomes of leadership style that produces Yousef (2000) found out how much important leadership behavior was in influencing job satisfaction employees in different organizations

in the United Arab Emirates Moreover, Yousef signaled that mediating effects determine organizational commitment between leadership behavior and job satisfaction

Robbins in 2003 indicated the main function of leadership is to manage

employees’ behavior and explain and predict their productivity, resign rate and job satisfaction in an effort to reach their ultimate goals of aggressive job involvement and commitment to companies Robbins carried out an experiment with the subject of Fedex From the research, he drew a conclusion that managers taking up the transformational leadership management style not only create a much better work performance appreciated by companies but also make their superiors open more job promotion opportunities The resign rate of the subordinates under transformational leadership is much less than that of transactional leadership and of higher productivity and job satisfaction What Liu

et al found out in 2003 is transformational leadership is actively connected with the improvement of subordinates’ working environment, the satisfaction of demands and work performance From above discussions, we can deduce leadership has a significantly positive effect on job satisfaction of employees

Co-workers

It was highly expected that employees with strong relational self-aspects would value and seek out satisfactory workplace relationships with colleagues and their direct manager or supervisor Brewer and Gardner (1996) suggested that the relational self-aspect came from relationships with other employees or colleagues and became the motivation for all of them to work towards the common benefits Within a work context it could be argued that employees who have a good ability

to establish relationships with others would appreciate relational sources of satisfaction such as talking things over and asking for help In the same environment, it would be expected that employees with strong relational self-aspects would also value a manager who is emotionally supportive, cares for his

or her people and who trusts their staff Such a manager is likely to create an encouraging and supportive working environment in favor of social interaction identified as a vital element to get the job done That is the reason why relational self-aspects are always encouraged to work for the satisfaction of employees and their direct managers in the working context

Kram (1988) noted that satisfactory relationships with peers have been associated with providing comfort, security and a sense of belongingness on the job According to Heffner & Rentsch (2001), positive social relationships with immediate workmates have also been found to directly influence affective commitment When a person enjoys satisfactory relationships with both their direct manager or supervisor and their work colleagues, this should have a positive influence on how they devoted themselves to their organization A good communication channel between managing levels and bottom levels within an organization can improve the quality of commitments of employees Meyer et al (2002), has also observed the same positive consequences from the satisfactory relationships within a company Moreover, Kram (1998) suggested that peer relationships play a significant role in supporting a person within an organization They provide confirmation to each other through the sharing of perceptions,

values and beliefs, emotional support through periods of transition and stress, feedback on performance issues and friendship which often extend the boundaries of the relationship beyond work Kram (1998) also put that peer relationships could be informational, collegial or special Informational peer relationships are primarily based on the exchange of information about the work itself and the organization and tend to be more task -focused and consisting of infrequent contact Collegial peer relationships consist of more frequent information sharing that includes more self-disclosure about work and family Such relationships offer emotional support, feedback and confirmation Special peer relationships represent highly intimate peer relationships that are characterized by greater self-disclosure and freedom of expression Kram (1988) also suggested that the development of these relationships could be influenced by

a person’s needs and attitudes, his or her interpersonal skills and the characteristics of the organization itself Huang (2004) shared an idea that a positive relationship with coworkers who possess positive attitudes towards the organization was likely to enhance an employees’ organizational commitment In such situations employees are likely to be socialized by the group to act in a committed manner towards the organization

According to Salancik and Pfeffer (1978) the importance of situational or organizational context of the work in shaping job satisfaction, and downplays the importance of other factors, such as job characteristics and personal characteristics In particular, workers who have positive perceptions of the job environment, and related well with their co-workers and managers have been reported to display high levels of job satisfaction Kalleberg (1977), for instance, found that good work relations with co-workers could raise job satisfaction

Nature of Work

Job complexity, variety and job challenge have been found to predict job satisfaction and affective and continuance commitment Mathieu and Zajac (1990) suggested that individuals would completely devote themselves to an

organization if the organization is to offer chances for growth and achievement Mathieu and Zajac (1990) also observed positive correlations between job autonomy and job challenge and suggested that for employees with high personal growth needs; challenging jobs should produce higher levels of organizational commitment In general, Mathieu and Zajac (1990) suggested that more complex and challenging jobs would bring out higher commitment levels to the organization Allen and Meyer (1990) found that job challenge, role and goal clarity and goal difficulty produced moderately strong correlations with affective commitment, suggesting that a relationship may well exist between the degrees of job challenge a person experiences in their work and their level of emotional attachment they have towards their organization In a recent study involving call centre agents, Grebner et al (2003) found that job complexity and variety that allowed the utilization of a person’s skills, knowledge and ability and that promoted learning had a positive effect on well-being and job related attitudes Specifically they found that job complexity, variety and job control correlated positively and significantly with both job satisfaction and affective commitment Andolsek and Stebe (2004) found that in individualistic countries, job characteristics such as autonomy at work were important elements in calculating the loss associated with accessing alternatives on the labor market and were significant predictors of a person’s continuance commitment It is therefore anticipated that if a person is able to gain personal competency in the job through job autonomy, job enjoyment and personal accomplishment, challenging work, training opportunities to learn new skills and the opportunity for advancement to higher-level jobs, that this will increase their perceived costs associated with leaving their organization It was therefore expected that such perceived costs relating to a person’s job competence would contribute to their level of continuance commitment towards their organization

The environmental or task characteristics are the second type of contingency moderator variables that are also important to subordinates’ job satisfaction or to

their ability to perform well These variables include factors that are not within the control of the subordinates but any of them can affect the subordinates by motivating or constraining them Hackman and Oldham (1976) identified five core job characteristics namely, skill variety, task significance, task identity, feedback and autonomy, that they considered influenced individuals’ experience

of meaningfulness of work, knowledge of results and responsibility for outcomes (Loher et al., 1985; Hackman & Oldham, 1976) In effect, the job characteristics model helps explain the relationship between job attributes and the influence of these attributes on behavioral outcomes such as performance and job satisfaction (Pearson & Duffy, 1999; Lawler & Hall, 1970) The concept behind the job characteristics model is that meeting psychological needs through the job design mediates the employees’ relationship with their work environment and encourages increased employee motivation and work involvement (Brown, 1996b; Hackman & Oldham, 1980; Kanungo, 1979)

Wasti (2003) found that satisfaction with the work itself was the primary determinant of affective, normative and continuance commitment for those employees with strong individualist values Also consistent with expectations, he found that for those with a strong individual orientation, their emotional attachment to the organization (affective commitment) was influenced by their satisfaction with the work, pay and promotional opportunities However satisfaction with the job content was the sole predictor of continuance commitment for those with strong individual orientation What this suggested was that for these employees, the satisfaction gained in the job itself was a major determinant in assessing the perceived costs of quitting the organization He argued that although satisfactory relationships with coworkers are a desirable aspect of the work environment, they are less important for those with a collective self-orientation than the role a supervisor plays

Hackman and Oldham (1976) identified that the relationship between the individual and job was moderated by the individual’s perceptions, task

complexity, challenge and growth need Loher et al (1985) suggest workers can

be motivated by psychological states associated with their beliefs about work and the work situation This view can be extended to become more complex Employees’ attitudes toward jobs are based on perceptions of how well the job provides outcomes viewed as important, and also on beliefs about their perceptions of reality and expectations for the future (Locke, 1976) Individual work satisfaction is also moderated by life attitudes (Judge & Locke, 1993) Unlike dissatisfied workers, job satisfied employees are more likely to accept the organization’s goals and put in greater work effort to positively influence organizational outcomes (Ostroff, 1992) A longitudinal study of perception and satisfaction by Wong, Hui and Law (1998) found further support for reciprocal relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction and job perceptions While recognizing that satisfaction outcomes are influenced by individual perceptions (Judge & Locke, 1993; Staw et al, 1986), the situational context is also an influential factor, particularly in an environment where jobs are being restructured or lost (Blau, 1999)

Work – Related Expectancies

Employees believe that higher levels of job performance will be rewarded and employee expectancies about the relationship of better performance with increased pay, promotion, and job security It also assesses employee expectancies that better performance will lead to increased influence, supervisory approval, and recognition (Eisenberger, Fasolo, and Davis-LaMastro.,1990) There are two factors for work-related expectancies One dimension captures expectancies about pay and promotion rewards The other dimension describes expectancies about approval and recognition The two factors were consistent across samples of hourly workers and managers Expectancies for pay/promotion rewards and approval/ recognized support, job satisfaction, participation in decisions, and job involvement (Eisenberger et al.,1990; Smilth&Brannick, 1990)

In relation to opportunities for upgrading, Herzberg (1966) proposed that person needs for progress, accountability, appealing and challenging work, safety, vacation and currency are all connected to salary system preference Individuals high in the first three desires, referred to as ―motivator‖ desires, were establish to favor a pay for performance system more than individuals low in these needs (Bajpai & Srivastava, 2002)

Fair upgrading policies and practice provide chances for personal development, more tasks and increased social condition When a person get fair upgrading which is usually his true evaluation, he gets a type of acknowledgment and hence job satisfaction It amplifies worker perception to the excellence of their job and improves both their job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Luthans, 2005:212)

The workers who value opportunity for evolution display a high degree of job participation in the wishes of solicit such compensation Naturally, if workers do not perceive development chances materialized, this outcome will be lost Even though condemn for various causes, the hierarchical and insular kind of country civil service systems do give for transparent and expected inner progress (Manzoor et al., 2011)

Adequate salary structure is linked with job satisfaction (Bajpai & Srivastava, 2002; Marginson, 2003) The characteristic of education depends on the incentive for teaching performance determined by the academia, which, sequentially depends on the marginal dollars of university income produce from education excellence (Marginson, 2003)

Worker reward refers to all forms of pay or rewards available to workforce and arising from the service (Dessler, 2005:410; Fattah, 2010) Money or other monetary incentive in the classic performance exemplar is based broadly on the abstract propositions of reinforcement theory Reinforcement theory concentrates

on the affiliation between the target behavior (performance) and its consequences (pay) and is premised on the main beliefs and methods of organizational behavior