Unit 5 Job satisfaction Business brief

'Happiness is having one's passion for one's profession,' wrote the French novelist (and management thinker) Stendhal. The number of people in this fortunate position is limited, but there are all sorts of aspects of office and factory work that can make it enjoyable. Relations with colleagues can be satisfying and congenial. People may find great pleasure in working in a team, for example. Conversely, bad relations with colleagues can be extremely unpleasant, and lead to great dissatisfaction and distress.

Basic work on what motivates people in organisations was done by Frederick Herzberg in the 1960s. He found that things such as salary and working conditions were not in themselves enough to make employees satisfied with their work, but that they can cause dissatisfaction if they are not good enough. He called these things hygiene factors. Here is a complete list:

• Supervision

• Company policy

• Working conditions

• Salary

• Peer relationships

• Security

Some things can give positive satisfaction. These are the motivator factors:

• Achievement

• Recognition

• The work itself

• Responsibility

• Advancement

• Growth

Another classic writer in this area is Douglas McGregor, who talked about Theory X, the idea, still held by many managers, that people instinctively dislike work, and Theory V, the more enlightened view that everybody has the potential for development and for taking responsibility.

More recently has come the notion of empowerment, the idea that decision-making should be decentralised to employees who are as close as possible to the issues to be resolved: see Units 8 Team building and 12 Management styles.

But where some employees may like being given responsibility, for others it is a source of stress. People talk more about the need for work that gives them quality of life, the work-life balance and the avoidance of stress. Others argue that challenge involves a reasonable and inevitable degree of stress if people are to have the feeling of achievement, a necessary outcome of work if it is to give satisfaction. They complain that a stress industry is emerging, with its stress counsellors and stress therapists, when levels of stress are in reality no higher today than they were before.

PS: How to arrange a meeting see Unit 1 of this methodical manual.

Example of a set of guidelines:

Westpak Ltd Company Guidelines

Welcome to Westpak, the company that cares!

As a new employee you probably have many questions that you wish to ask about your new position. To help you settle in quickly, here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

1. How does the flexi-time system work?

All employees at Westpak are individuals with their own particular circumstances. We believe that it is your responsibility to work out with your supervisor a schedule that is fair to both you and the company. As long as your work is done as efficiently as possible, you can do it when you like. That is why our offices are staffed 24 hours a day.