Since the success of every organization depends upon the collective performance of its employees, organizations endeavor to maximize

employee performance. Are happy employees willing to perform harder? Does job satisfaction among employees lead to high performance? The aim of the essay is to answers the question: does job satisfaction leads to job performance? The essay achieves so by defining and differentiating each of the two variables, their individual importance, and other implications. It provides techniques through which organizations can maximize job satisfaction and the factors that affect it. Further on, it states and discusses the possible relations between the two and underlines the most prominent principles, giving explanations and support from literature. The essay then draws conclusion and narrows down on the most important relation between the two variables. Job satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or ones experiences by Lock (1976). It is the outcome of what the employee perceives of his job as he analyzes the effort he puts in and its effect. Having a high job satisfaction helps an organization as employees are happy with work and are willing to produce to their best capabilities. It is a must for organizations to keep a count on the levels of satisfaction among employees. There have been numerous ways devised to measure job satisfaction, such as job description Index, the job satisfaction scales and the occupational stress Indicator. (Arnold, et al., 2005) The measures question employees on their perception of the job in terms of pay, rewards, career developments and working environment. While organizations spend on maximizing employee satisfaction, there are numerous benefits they receive. Job satisfaction leaves employees feeling happier and thus more committed to the organization. This helps the organization reduce employee turnover and check absenteeism. They are most likely to take initiative in the activities and develop a positive environment in the organization. Also, a satisfied employee helps motivate another. Research proves that there are various to develop job satisfaction. The most common method is by motivating an employee. Maslows hierarchy is a common theory used to do so. With this organizations can help employees satisfy their needs in a hierarchal order, they can assist in doing so by firstly, fulfilling physiological needs which include things such as food, water, shelter and clothing, all of which can be satisfied with a reliable income. (Chron, 2009) Thereafter, by providing broad benefit offers to the staff in order to satisfy their security needs. The third stage to fulfill a sense of belonging can be accomplished by creating a sociable company ambiance relying on shared respect to satisfy staffs wants for belonging. Esteem needs, the fourth stage can be satisfied by praising employees in public. The best way of satisfying the last need, that is, self actualization is by placing employees at high posts for leadership, dependability and answerability. Motivation can be divided into two- intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic satisfaction is the satisfaction an employee derives from within the job. It can be the joy or the feeling of accomplishment after effectively finishing a task or appraisal by superiors. On the other hand, extrinsic satisfaction is derived from factors other than the job itself, such as pay and rewards. Employees lacking motivation are considered to be a liability to a firm. Prior research has demonstrated that he outcomes likely to arise of low motivation are reduced job satisfaction, reduced organizational trust, increased turnover, decreased feelings of obligation to one's employer, reduced willingness to participate in organizational citizenship behaviors, and decreased work performance. Solutions to the above problem, are many, but each situation needs to be analyzed critically to know what precisely, is the employee looking for? Is the employee in need of extrinsic satisfaction or is he more dependent on intrinsic satisfaction? If extrinsic motivation appears to be a better solution, the firm may consider increasing pay or providing compensation likewise, if

intrinsic motivation plays a greater part, job enrichment, enlargement or job rotation are some of the techniques that can be put into practice. Job performance is the result of a dedicated task an employee produces towards his organization, which is compared against predetermined standards of time, resources and precision. There are several pointers of worker performance, such as: quantity produced quality, initiative, cost-effectiveness, timeliness, creativity, absenteeism and interaction with managers and peers. (HRworld, 2008) Job performance can be divided into two types- task performance and contextual performance. Task performance is when an employee accomplishes all responsibilities involving the job only, efficiently and effectively. Such as a factory worker, expected to manufacture 10 units in a day, produces the same within the given resources. The worker has then, successfully performed his task. On the other hand, contextual performance is the additional actions an employee undertakes, initiatively, to improve his surroundings. For example, when the same worker, after finishing the 10 units, without expecting anything in return helps a weaker co-worker to accomplish the task. Contextual performance not only motivates the other employees, but boosts organizational performance and mainly develops a healthy and happy atmosphere in the organization. A particular proverb A happy worker is a productive worker, has been questioned by a numerous researchers. Do satisfied workers exhibit a high performance level? The answer to the question has always been diverse. While researchers like Iaffaldano and Muchinsky based on their studies believed in a trivial relation between the two factors, (as cited in Arnold, et al., 2005, p.261) other examiners like Judge and Hulin (1993) believed that job satisfaction and job performance are strongly linked to each other. As stated by Organ (Rehman and Waleed, 2011, p.169) the major reason for the diverse results of the relation between job satisfaction and job performance is because of the variance in understanding of the term job performance. Judge et al. (as cited in Arnold, et al., 2005, p.262-263) identified six possible reasons why job performance and job satisfaction might be related. The six possible reasons are discussed in detail below: The first possibility states that job satisfaction leads to job performance. This approach believes that people are enthusiastic about their current jobs and are willing to work harder. As mentioned in the social exchange theory, employees try to equate what they acquire and what they give, in terms of social interactions. Contextual behaviors are assumed to be a way for employee to return to the organization, therefore if a worker is more satisfied with the task, he is most likely to respond by helping others, finishing assigned tasks by taking initiative and developing a happier work environment. The second approach believes that job performance causes job satisfaction. In other words, employees are in all likelihood going to be fond of their jobs since they are doing well with it. This belief has been strongly supported by Lawler and Porter (as cited by Petty, M. et al. 1984) who believed that satisfaction was dependent on performance. Their studies showed that the relation was low but consistent. They further explained this, by stating that the reason why satisfaction is depended on performance is because performance may lead to rewards- both intrinsic and extrinsic which may lead to job satisfaction. Despite Lawler and Porters studies, there have been objections claiming, the cycle formed by this approach, often puts organizations in a tough fit, because after a few rounds, the expectations of employees increase greatly The third idea proposes the Job satisfaction and job performance are equally dependent and cause each other. This creates a permanent circle, where better satisfaction leads to improved performance, then forth, the increased performance leads to better rewards (either intrinsic or

extrinsic) and then, higher satisfaction. The cycle helps improve the organizational performance as it sets new and higher bench marks each time. The forth ideology states that there is relation between job satisfaction and job performance but it is only due to another variable. An external factor known as a moderator is the cause of the relation. Examples of moderators would include performance pressure or precision in necessities of the job. This has been studied and supported by Triandis (as cited by Petty, M. et al. 1984) The fifth principle deems that the two variables, are linked casually but its potential depends and is affected by the moderator. A moderator such as reward or personality of employee may heavily affect the relation. Quite a few other moderators have been examined such as, occupational groups by Doll & Gunderson and extent of job fit by Carlson (as cited by Petty, M. et al. 1984) The last approach believes the two variables are particular examples of more general constructs such as mutual agreements or positive thoughts, and these have an informal connotation over each other. Among all the probable relations between the two variables of Job satisfaction and Job performance have been discussed, it should be noted that the most widely supported and studied principle, is that job satisfaction and job performance are correlated, with job satisfaction leading to job performance, however there always is a third mediator which affects them. As Nathan Bowling explained the presence of the mediator, he said that considering certain days when there is more ice cream sold and the crime rate is higher than usual, does not lead to the conclusion that the crimes are in relation to the ice cream sales, however the climate or the weather on those days could be the possible link. Likewise, employee performance and satisfaction associated because of employee personality. "On days when ice cream sales are high, the number of crimes committed will also tend to be high, but this doesn't mean that ice cream sales caused the crime," he said. "Rather, ice cream sales and crime are related because each is the result of the outdoor temperature. Similarly, satisfaction and performance are related because each is the result of employee personality." (Seattlepi, 2007) Employee personality can be described by means of traits. Traits are defined as characteristics that describe an individuals behavior. Different traits combined together create different personality types, each of which are best suitable for specific jobs. The OCEAN framework developed by Deary and Matthews (as cited in Armstrong, 2006) clusters the traits into five super-traits namely, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Studies reveal that personalities with high neuroticism are least likely to be satisfied with any job they take up, chances of performance are very low; however individuals with high extraversion have a higher chance of being satisfied and content with their jobs and performing better. (George and Jones 2002) This urges managers to consequently make their judgments, by evaluating personality of employees during the selection process. The approach also points towards the thesis that job satisfaction leads to increases job performance. As supported by George and Briefs studies that job performance is caused by a positive employee attitude, this can be compared to previous findings of job satisfaction, being the positive approach an employee takes up towards his/her job. It is now easier to conclude that job satisfaction pilots towards job performance. (Skibba 2002) On the other hand, if job satisfaction is missing, or employees are dissatisfied, they are bound to fail at tasks and indulge in unacceptable practices such as absenteeism, turnover etc.

Thus the essay, draws towards a conclusion that job satisfaction and job performance are two very important factors of an organization. They heavily affect employee and managerial duties. Job satisfaction can be derived via intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, either of which suitable to the firm and the employee. The major advantage of having satisfied employees at work, is that they will be willing to put in the best of their efforts. The total outcome of the effort of an employee was referred to job performance. Job performance can be easily measured by comparing the outcome to pre-set expectations. Although early research showed that job satisfaction and performance were very discreetly or not at all related, the essay with the help of modern literature and studies proves the two variable are interlinked in six different types of relations, with the most prominent being job satisfaction leading to job performance.

References
Armstrong, M. (2006) Human Resource Management Practice,10th ed. Britain: Cambridge University press, p.242. Arnold, J. et al. (2005) Work Psychology Understanding Behavior in the Workplace,4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, p.258-263. Chron (2009) How to Satisfy Employee Needs, [online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/satisfy-employee-needs-11458.html [Accessed: 06th January 2012]. George, J. and Jones, G. (2002) Understanding and Managing Organizational Behaviour,4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Incorporated, p.47-48. HRworld (2008) 16 Ways to Measure Employee Performance, [online] Available at: http://www.hrworld.com/features/16-ways-measure-performance-021908/ [Accessed: 06th January 2012]. Judge, T.A. and Hulin, C.L. (1993) Job satisfaction as a reflection of deposition: A multiple source casual analysis, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol.56, pp. 388-421 Petty, M. et al. (1984) A Meta-Analysis of the Relationships Between Individual Job Satisfaction and Individual Performance, Academy of Management Review, 9(4). Rehman, M. and Waheed, A. (2011) An Empirical Study of Impact of Job Satisfaction on job Performance in the Public Sector Organizations, INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS, 2(9), p.169. Seattlepi (2007) Job satisfaction doesn't guarantee performance Personality of an employee is better indicator, [online] Available at: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Job-satisfactiondoesn-t-guarantee-performance-1237217.php#ixzz1iWW74SHe [Accessed: 06th January 2012]. Skibba, J. (2002) PERSONALITY AND JOB SATISFACTION: AN INVESTIGATION OF CENTRAL WISCONSIN FIREFIGHTERS , University of Wisconsin-Stout , 1(1).