- Describe the factors that contribute to job satisfaction
- Describe key theories about management
- Describe leadership styles
- Explain why organizational culture is important
Organizational psychology is the second major branch of study and practice within the discipline of industrial and organizational psychology. The organizational half of I-O Psychology is broadly concerned with the social and psychological context of the workplace. Organizational psychology focuses on many different levels of workplace phenomena, including micro, within-person experiences, like attitudes and emotions; meso, small group dynamics like teamwork and interpersonal discrimination; and macro, organization-wide factors, such as leadership and organizational culture. Overall, organizational psychology helps us understand the experience and consequences of working life in modern organizations. Major areas of study within organizational psychology include employee attitudes, worker health and safety, motivation, and teamwork and leadership.
Employee Attitudes
Some people love their jobs, some people tolerate their jobs, and some people cannot stand their jobs.
job satisfaction
Job satisfaction describes the degree to which individuals enjoy their job. It was described by Edwin Locke (1976) as the state of feeling resulting from appraising one’s job experiences. While job satisfaction results from both how we think about our work (our cognition) and how we feel about our work (our affect) (Saari & Judge, 2004), it is described in terms of affect. Job satisfaction is impacted by the work itself, our personality, and the culture we come from and live in (Saari & Judge, 2004).
Job satisfaction is typically measured after a change in an organization, such as a shift in the management model, to assess how the change affects employees. It may also be routinely measured by an organization to assess one of many factors expected to affect the organization’s performance. In addition, polling companies like Gallup regularly measure job satisfaction on a national scale to gather broad information on the state of the economy and the workforce (Saad, 2012).
Job satisfaction is measured using questionnaires that employees complete. Sometimes a single question might be asked in a very straightforward way to which employees respond using a rating scale, such as a Likert scale, which was discussed in the module on personality. A Likert scale (typically) provides five possible answers to a statement or question that allows respondents to indicate their positive-to-negative strength of agreement or strength of feeling regarding the question or statement. Thus the possible responses to a question such as “How satisfied are you with your job today?” might be “Very satisfied,” “Somewhat satisfied,” “Neither satisfied, nor dissatisfied,” “Somewhat dissatisfied,” and “Very dissatisfied.” More commonly the survey will ask a number of questions about the employee’s satisfaction to determine more precisely why he is satisfied or dissatisfied. Sometimes these surveys are created for specific jobs; at other times, they are designed to apply to any job. Job satisfaction can be measured at a global level, meaning how satisfied in general the employee is with work, or at the level of specific factors intended to measure which aspects of the job lead to satisfaction (Table 1).
| Factor | Description |
|---|---|
| Autonomy | Individual responsibility, control over decisions |
| Work content | Variety, challenge, role clarity |
| Communication | Feedback |
| Financial rewards | Salary and benefits |
| Growth and development | Personal growth, training, education |
| Promotion | Career advancement opportunity |
| Coworkers | Professional relations or adequacy |
| Supervision and feedback | Support, recognition, fairness |
| Workload | Time pressure, tedium |
| Work demands | Extra work requirements, insecurity of position |
Research has suggested that the work-content factor, which includes variety, difficulty level, and role clarity of the job, is the most strongly predictive factor of overall job satisfaction (Saari & Judge, 2004). In contrast, there is only a weak correlation between pay level and job satisfaction (Judge, Piccolo, Podsakoff, Shaw, & Rich, 2010). Judge et al. (2010) suggest that individuals adjust or adapt to higher pay levels: Higher pay no longer provides the satisfaction the individual may have initially felt when her salary increased.
Why should we care about job satisfaction? Or more specifically, why should an employer care about job satisfaction? Measures of job satisfaction are somewhat correlated with job performance; in particular, they appear to relate to organizational citizenship or discretionary behaviors on the part of an employee that further the goals of the organization (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). Job satisfaction is related to general life satisfaction, although there has been limited research on how the two influence each other or whether personality and cultural factors affect both job and general life satisfaction. One carefully controlled study suggested that the relationship is reciprocal: job satisfaction affects life satisfaction positively, and vice versa (Judge & Watanabe, 1993).
Of course, organizations cannot control life satisfaction’s influence on job satisfaction. Job satisfaction, specifically low job satisfaction, is also related to withdrawal behaviors, such as leaving a job or absenteeism (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). The relationship with turnover itself, however, is weak (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). Finally, it appears that job satisfaction is related to organizational performance, which suggests that implementing organizational changes to improve employee job satisfaction will improve organizational performance (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012).
Job Satisfaction in Federal Government Agencies
The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, has conducted research on federal employee job satisfaction since 2003. Its primary goal is to improve the federal government’s management. However, the results also provide information to those interested in obtaining employment with the federal government.
Among large agencies in 2022, the highest job satisfaction ranking went to NASA, followed by the Department of Health and Human Services and the intelligence community. The lowest scores went to the Social Security Administration.
The data used to derive the job satisfaction score come from three questions on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. The questions are:
- I recommend my organization as a good place to work.
- Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your job?
- Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your organization?
The questions have a range of six possible answers, spanning a range of strong agreement or satisfaction to strong disagreement or dissatisfaction. How would you answer these questions with regard to your own job? Would these questions adequately assess your job satisfaction?
You can explore the Best Places To Work In The Federal Government study at their website. The Office of Personnel Management also produces a report based on their survey.
Job stress affects job satisfaction.
job stress
Job stress, or job strain, is caused by specific stressors in an occupation. Stress is the perception and response of an individual to events judged as overwhelming or threatening to the individual’s well-being (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2005); the events themselves are the stressors.
Stress is a result of an employee’s perception that the demands placed on them exceed their ability to meet them (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2005), such as having to fill multiple roles in a job or life in general, workplace role ambiguity, lack of career progress, lack of job security, lack of control over work outcomes, isolation, work overload, discrimination, harrassment, and bullying (Colligan & Higgins, 2005). The stressors are different for women than men and these differences are a significant area of research (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2005). Job stress leads to poor employee health, job performance, and family life (Colligan & Higgins, 2005).
job insecurity
job insecurity contributes significantly to job stress. Two increasing threats to job security are downsizing events and corporate mergers. Businesses typically involve I-O psychologists in planning for, implementing, and managing these types of organizational change.
Common changes in the workplace that lead to job insecurity
Downsizing is an increasingly common response to a business’s pronounced failure to achieve profit goals, and it involves laying off a significant percentage of the company’s employees. Industrial-organizational psychologists may be involved in all aspects of downsizing: how the news is delivered to employees (both those being let go and those staying), how laid-off employees are supported (e.g., separation packages), and how retained employees are supported. The latter is important for the organization because downsizing events affect the retained employee’s intent to quit, organizational commitment, and job insecurity (Ugboro, 2006).
In addition to downsizing as a way of responding to outside strains on a business, corporations often grow larger by combining with other businesses. This can be accomplished through a merger (i.e., the joining of two organizations of equal power and status) or an acquisition (i.e., one organization purchases the other). In an acquisition, the purchasing organization is usually the more powerful or dominant partner. In both cases, there is usually a duplication of services between the two companies, such as two accounting departments and two sales forces. Both departments must be merged, which commonly involves a reduction of staff (Figure 1). This leads to organizational processes and stresses similar to those that occur in downsizing events. Mergers require determining how the organizational culture will change, to which employees also must adjust (van Knippenberg, van Knippenberg, Monden, & de Lima, 2002). There can be additional stress on workers as they lose their connection to the old organization and try to make connections with the new combined group (Amiot, Terry, Jimmieson, & Callan, 2006). Research in this area focuses on understanding employee reactions and making practical recommendations for managing these organizational changes.
Work-Life-Balance
Many people juggle the demands of work life with the demands of their home life, whether it be caring for children or taking care of an elderly parent; this is known as work-life balance or work-family balance. We might commonly think about work interfering with family, but it is also the case that family responsibilities may conflict with work obligations (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000).
work-family conflicts
Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) first identified three sources of work-family conflicts:
- time devoted to work makes it difficult to fulfill the requirements of the family, or vice versa,
- strain from participation in work makes it difficult to fulfill the requirements of the family, or vice versa, and
- specific behaviors required by work make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of the family, or vice versa.
Women continue to shoulder a significant portion of family responsibilities, such as household chores, childcare, and eldercare though men are increasingly taking on more domestic roles. Despite this shift, recent studies indicate that women still experience higher levels of stress due to work-family conflict.
Various strategies can help mitigate work-family conflict and enhance job satisfaction. Support at home can be emotional, such as empathetic listening, or practical, like assistance with household tasks. In the workplace, supportive measures can range from empathetic supervisors to flexible work arrangements, paid leave, and remote work options. Flexible work schedules often require employees to be present during core business hours, allowing them to adjust their start and end times to better accommodate family needs.
Remote work has evolved as a popular alternative to traditional office settings, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This arrangement allows employees to work from various locations, offering them the flexibility to manage family responsibilities alongside work commitments. However, it’s worth noting that some studies have found remote work can exacerbate work-family conflict, possibly because the boundaries between work and home life become blurred. Companies are also offering additional perks like onsite childcare, fitness centers, and health clinics to help employees balance work and family life. Research has shown that practical support from home and supervisor support at work are particularly effective in reducing work-family conflict. However, flexible work hours alone may not be sufficient, and remote work can sometimes make the conflict more pronounced.
Companies are increasingly implementing policies aimed at reducing work-family conflict. For instance, IBM offers up to three years of job-protected leave following the birth of a child. Lucent Technologies provides one year of childbirth leave at half pay, and SC Johnson offers concierge services to assist employees with daytime errands.