AFM 280 Organizational Behaviour

Chapter 4 Job Satisfaction

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at Zappos, creating and maintaining a fun culture helps keep employees satisfied
job satisfaction is an individual mechanism in the integrative model
job satisfaction: a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experiences; represents how a
person feels and thinks about their job
Canadians identified corporate culture, the opportunity to use skills, the opportunity to learn, and the ability to be creative as
the top drivers of job satisfaction
o financial rewards and benefits, flexible hours and stress were the least-cited
values: things that people un/consciously want to seek or attain
o value-percept theory: a theory that argues that job satisfaction depends on whether the employee perceives that their
jobs supplies those things that they value
Dissatisfaction = (Want Have) x (Importance)
pay, promotions, supervision, co-workers, and the work itself are the specific facets of a job that drive satisfaction
o pay satisfaction: employees feelings about the compensation for their jobs
o promotion satisfaction: employees feelings about how the company handles promotions

promotions are frequent, fair and based on ability

provide opportunities for personal growth, better wage and prestige

o supervision satisfaction: employees feelings about their boss, including their competency, communication and
personality

Can they help me attain the things that I value?

Are they generally likable?

o co-worker satisfaction: employees feelings about their co-workers, including their abilities and personalities

Can they help me do my job?

Do I enjoy being around them?

o satisfaction with the work itself: employees feelings about their actual work tasks

single strongest drive of overall job satisfaction

(note: relates to work satisfaction) research suggest that three critical psychological states make work more satisfying:
o meaningfulness of work: the degree to which work tasks are viewed as something that counts in the employees
system of philosophies and beliefs
o responsibility of outcomes: the degree to which employees feel they are key drivers of the quality of work output
o knowledge of results: the extent to which employees know how well (or how poorly) they are doing
job characteristics theory is the central characteristics of intrinsically satisfying jobs that create the 3 psychological states
mentioned above
o a theory that argues that 5 core characteristics combine to result in high levels of satisfaction with the work itself
(VISAF, variety, identity, significance, autonomy, feedback)
variety: the degree to which a job requires different activities and
skills

variety in life releases dopamine = pleasure

identity: the degree to which a job offers completion of a whole
identifiable piece of work
significance: the degree to which a job really matters, and impacts
society as a whole

if the job was taken away, society would be worse

autonomy: the degree to which a job allows individual freedom and
discretion regarding how the work is to be done
feedback: the degree to which a job itself provides information about
how well the job holder is doing

reflects feedback obtained directly from the job as

opposed to feedback from co-workers/bosses
Moderators are variables that influence the strength of the
relationships between VISAF elements.
knowledge and skill: the degree to which employees have
the aptitude and competence needed to succeed on the
their job
growth need strength: the degree to which employees
desire to develop themselves further