1.

3 Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction

In every work place, employees are looking to find job satisfaction. Mainly job
satisfaction exists when you feel fulfilled and accomplished, while doing your
job. Job satisfaction is not just about the money or other additional benefits,
but it s about how employees feel towards the work itself. Influences of job satis
faction can be either positive or negative. There are many factors that influenc
e job satisfaction such as: being recognized for a well-done job, the quality of
the work, having the ability to work well as a team, having socially satisfied
relations with co-workers, having the opportunity to be creative and learn, bein
g able to experience personal growth, having rewards and support from co-workers
, having the sense of satisfaction and pride with their career, and being indepe
ndent. Job satisfaction has internal and external factors. The internal factors
relate to having a sense to accomplishment, personal achievements, and good stat
us. On the other hand, the external factors relate to the salaries, benefits, re
sources, and working conditions.
According to Edwin A. Locke s theory job satisfaction is decided by knowing the di
fference between what a person wants in a job, and what he/she has (page 9). Whe
n an employee values one side of the job, like being independent in their work i
t shows how satisfied or dissatisfied the employee becomes when an expectation i
s or is not met. By valuing one side of the job, the employee s satisfaction is im
pacted positively and negatively. But if a person does not value a side, there w
ould be no negative or positive impact due to lack of job satisfaction. Another
theory suggests that people are born with a disposition that makes them have a c
ertain amount of satisfaction, aside from their job. Job satisfaction is likely
stable over time, across jobs and professions. Identical twins for example have
the same level of job satisfaction. Frederick Herzberg s theory states that satisfa
ction and dissatisfaction are driven by different factors motivation and hygiene f
actors (page 7). The motivation of an employee is somewhat related to job satisfa
ction, but at a lower rank. Meaning that motivation is an inner force that makes
an employee reach his/her organizational and personal goals. Motivation makes e
mployees want to do their jobs, and offer people satisfaction. For instance bein
g recognized, promoted, having opportunities, and achieving your work are all wh
at makes an employee motivated.
Hackman and Oldham created a job characteristics model, to know how certain job
characteristics influence job satisfaction. In the model there are five main jo
b characteristics, which are: task identity, independence, skill variety, task s
ignificance, and feedback. These characteristics impact three psychological stat
es including experienced responsibility for outcomes, experienced meaningfulness
, and knowledge of the actual results. These three psychological states influenc
e job satisfaction. When an employee is content in his/her job, the happier and
more satisfied he/she is in their job. But job satisfaction is not similar to mo
tivation, but it is linked to it. In order to measure job satisfaction, rating s
cales are used by employees to report their reactions to their jobs. Employees a
re asked about their work responsibilities, promotional opportunities, variety o
f tasks, the rate of pay, and their relationships among co-workers.