Job Satisfaction within a Job Analysis

Which job satisfaction factors are significant when conducting a job analysis?

The most basic building block of human resource management functions is job analysis. A job analysis is used to determine job descriptions and specifications by measuring different job satisfaction factors, such as coworker interactions, working conditions and financial impacts. Job satisfaction is defined as a positive emotional state resulting from evaluating job experiences. This emotional state can determine if an employee is satisfied, and if this satisfaction makes the employee productive or not (Saari, L., & Judge, T). Job satisfaction factors can be measured in multiple different ways, including observation, interviewing, questionnaires, computerized systems, and combination methods.

A research study conducted from 320 employees of 7 telecommunications companies in Pakistan confirmed that certain job analysis factors were positively correlated with employee job satisfaction (Syed, N. Yan, L.). In order to execute this study, an employee questionnaire was created and completed by each employee. Distributing questionnaires to employees is just one of many ways to measure job satisfaction factors within a job analysis. The factors tested throughout this study were empowerment, job rotation, employee participation, merit-based promotions, performance-based pay and grievance handling procedures.

Empowerment

Empowering employees encompasses many different areas. After giving an employee responsibilities and opportunities for different tasks within the work environment, if completed successfully, this can lead to empowerment. Employers can empower their employees through this process by initially giving them tasks and opportunities, encouraging them throughout the task process, and by giving them recognition after completion. In this research study, empowerment was confirmed to have a positive effect in employee job satisfaction with a coefficient value of .511. 51.1% variance concludes that this model of empowerment is significant. ( p =.000).

Job Rotation

Providing employees with a job rotation within their careers has also been proven to have a positive effect in job satisfaction. Its coefficient value is .180, or 18% variance (p = .000). Rotation within a career can serve as an important factor for retaining employees. Sometimes doing the same tasks day to day can get boring, which may result in employees looking elsewhere for employment. However, if there is room for rotation within the department, company, or workplace, job satisfaction will increase as well as retention rates.

Employee Participation

Skills, knowledge and performance are linked to employee participation. This includes involvement in the decision making process, development of strategies and execution of solutions. The telecommunications company research concluded that employee participation is a significant and positively related factor to job satisfaction with a coefficient of .392 (or 39.2% variance. p = .000).

Merit Based Promotions and Performance Based Pay

The telecommunications research project concludes that merit-based promotions and performance based pay also have a positively correlated relationship with job satisfaction. Merit-based promotions are awards that are not given through compensation, but rather by the appreciation of quality work and achievements. Examples include employee of the month, recognition meetings, certificates and verbal congratulatory speech. Performance based pay is based on how well an employee does his or her job because of the pay following it. One example is commission; some employees in the sales industry maintain pay by being compensated for every item they sell. The higher number of items sold, the higher the employee’s pay will be. Merit based promotions and performance based pay were responsible for 35.2% of variance in the telecommunications study, concluding they have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.

Grievance Handling Performance

Confronting and dealing with employee concerns are vital factors within a company. The human resource department comes into major play here, especially when it comes to the legal issues within a company. Grievance handling procedures can be related to work based performance. However, these procedures did not have a positive relationship within job satisfaction and were insignificant, with a coefficient of .170, or 17% variance (with p = .002).

Conclusion

According to the telecommunications study, empowerment (51%), job rotation (18%), employee participation (39%), and merit-based promotions/performance-based pay (35%) all have a positive, direct influence when determining job satisfaction. The greater the variance, the greater the impact and significance the element has when determining job satisfaction. Grievance handling procedures (17%) was proven to be insignificant because of its differentiation in p value (p = .002, while all other independent variables were 0), not having an impact on job satisfaction. This study is just one example providing proof that there are many different factors that can be used, and proved significant, within job satisfaction.

References

Saari, L., & Judge, T. (2004). Employee Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Human Resource Management, Winter 2004, Vol. 43, No. 4, Pp. 395–407. Retrieved from: http://utm.edu/staff/mikem/documents/jobsatisfaction.pdf

     Syed, N., & Yan, L. X. (2012). Impact of high performance human resource management practices on employee job satisfaction: Empirical analysis. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 4(2), 318-342. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1033050877?accountid=12924