Chapter 3: Orientation and proposed solutions to improve job satisfaction of employees at Joint Stock Company 207.
Part III: Conclusion and recommendations
PART II: RESEARCH CONTENT AND RESULTS
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS OF EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION
1.1. Theoretical basis
1.1.1. Employee satisfaction at work
Employee satisfaction at work has not yet had a unified concept among researchers. Depending on each perspective, different research fields give different concepts:
According to Hoppock (1935), job satisfaction is a combination of psychological, physiological and environmental satisfaction that makes a person feel truly satisfied with their job (Nguyen Trong Dieu, 2012). Vroom (1964) believes that job satisfaction is expressed in the degree to which employees have positive feelings and orientations towards work in the organization (Tran Kim Dung, 2005) . According to Weiss (19SS67), job satisfaction is an attitude towards work expressed through the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of employees. According to Smith (1983), job satisfaction is simply the feeling that employees feel about their jobs (Nguyen Trong Dieu, 2012). According to Smith PC Kendal & Hulin CL (1996), job satisfaction is the attitude that affects and records employees about different aspects of work (Nguyen Xuan Dat, 2013a). These perspectives have a way of measuring and approaching job satisfaction in the direction of general satisfaction with work.
Some other researchers believe that job satisfaction is satisfaction with the components of the job. Smith et al (1993) considers job satisfaction as the attitude and recognition of employees towards different aspects of their jobs (nature of work, training and promotion, leadership, colleagues and salary) (Tran Kim Dung, 2005b). Viewing satisfaction under different aspects of work is also recognized by many different researchers (Doan Tien Song, 2015) .
Thus, although there are many different views on job satisfaction, in general, job satisfaction is simply defined as the employee
how they like their job and aspects of their job
(Doan Tien Song, 2015b).
1.1.2. Theories of employee job satisfaction
1.1.2.1. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory
Abraham Maslow's (1943) theory of needs is the theory that has reached the pinnacle in identifying the natural needs of humans in general. He developed one of the theories of basic human needs whose influence has been recognized and widely used in many different fields. He arranged human needs systematically, in order from low to high, including 5 levels:
Diagram 1. 2. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943)
Biological needs: These are the most essential and minimal needs to ensure human survival. These needs are also known as body needs or physiological needs, including basic human needs such as: eating, drinking, sleeping, fresh air, needs to make people feel comfortable... These are the most basic and strongest human needs. In the pyramid, we see that these needs are arranged at the lowest level.
Maslow argues that higher level needs will not arise unless these basic needs are satisfied and that these basic needs will dominate and motivate a person to act when these basic needs are not met.
Safety needs: When people have met their basic needs, that is, these needs no longer control their thoughts and actions, they will
have higher needs. These are the needs for safety, freedom from threats to property, work, life, and family.
This need for safety and security is expressed both physically and mentally. People want to have protection for their lives from dangers. This need will become a driving force in emergency situations, life-threatening situations such as war, natural disasters, etc.
Social needs: These are the needs for love, acceptance, and the desire to join an organization or group. Because humans are members of society, they need to be accepted by others. Humans always have the need to be loved and attached. This level of need shows that humans have the need to communicate in order to develop.
Esteem needs: According to Maslow, when people begin to satisfy their need to be accepted as members of society, they tend to have self-respect and want to be respected by everyone around them. This type of esteem need leads to satisfaction such as: power, prestige, status, and self-confidence.
This is the desire of people to receive attention, care and respect from those around them and to be an indispensable link in the system of social division of labor. The fact that they are respected shows that each individual wants to become a useful person. Therefore, people often have the desire to have a high status to be respected and admired by many people.
Need for self-expression: These are the needs for truth, goodness, beauty, autonomy, creativity, the desire for comprehensive development in both physical and intellectual aspects...
In which, physiological needs are the lowest level of need and self-actualization needs are the highest level of need and the most difficult to satisfy in the hierarchy of needs. Maslow also believes that each person has a dominant need that governs and determines his or her behavior, the order of satisfying those needs goes from the lowest need to the highest need, when a need is satisfied, the motivational nature is no longer there and the higher level of need will appear. Therefore, according to Maslow, to create motivation for employees, managers need to know which level of need their employees are at in order to have appropriate impact to satisfy and motivate them to the next higher level.
Complementing Maslow's theory of needs, Clayton Alderfer rearranged the hierarchy of needs. He also argued that human actions stem from needs, but according to ERG theory, humans simultaneously pursue the satisfaction of three basic needs:
Existence needs: Including the most essential material requirements for human existence, this group of needs has the same content as Maslow's physiological needs and safety needs.
Relatedness needs: Are the demands for relationships and interactions between individuals. Relatedness needs include social needs and partly the need for respect, that is, the need for self-esteem that is satisfied from the outside (respect).
Growth needs: Are the internal demands of each person for personal development, including the need for self-expression and part of the need for respect, that is, the part of the need for self-esteem that is satisfied from within (self-respect and respect for others).
The difference in this theory is that Professor Clayton Alderfer believes that people pursue the satisfaction of all needs at the same time, not just one primary need as Maslow's view. Furthermore, this theory also believes that when a need is hindered and not satisfied, people tend to focus their efforts on satisfying other needs.
Table 1.2: Relating Maslow's theory to human resource management
Type of demand
Area of influence of management | |
Express yourself | Challenges at work Opportunity for advancement Opportunity for creativity Higher performance engine Public recognition of good performance |
Respect | Important job activity Respected job title Responsibility |
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Social interaction opportunities | |
Society | Group stability Encouraging cooperation Safe working conditions |
Safe | Job security Types of allowances Decent salary |
Physiologic | Convenient working conditions Temperature, light, space, ... |
(Source: Donnelly HJ,2000)
1.1.2.2. Herzberg's two-factor theory
This theory was proposed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg (1959), based on the view that motivation is the result of the impact of many factors, including factors that create satisfaction and factors that create dissatisfaction. The two-factor theory is also known as the maintenance-motivational theory. For motivational factors, if resolved well, they will create satisfaction and thereby motivate workers to work more actively and diligently, but if not resolved well, they will create a state of dissatisfaction, not necessarily dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, for maintenance factors, if not resolved well, they will create dissatisfaction, but if resolved well, they will create a state of dissatisfaction, not necessarily satisfaction.
Motivating factors: Achievement, growth, advancement, recognition, responsibility and job function.
Group of maintenance factors: Working environment, policies and regulations of the enterprise, salary, relationship with superiors, relationship with colleagues, personal life.
Factors that satisfy employees are different from those that create dissatisfaction. Therefore, employee satisfaction cannot be expected by simply removing the causes of dissatisfaction. Motivating factors will bring satisfaction to employees and if not done well, hygiene factors will bring dissatisfaction to employees.
1.1.2.3. John Stacey Adams's Theory of Equity (1963)
Adams's equity theory (1963) suggests implicit and variable factors that influence employees' perceptions and evaluations of the company and their work. This theory belongs to the group of work motivation theories that aim to determine: the input factors that employees contribute to their work (skills, working hours, etc.) and the output factors that employees receive (salary, benefits, etc.). Then, employees' own input and output factors are compared with the input and output factors of their colleagues in the business. If:
The result of comparing input and output factors is greater than peers.
That worker will contribute more effort to the job he is doing.
As a result of comparing input and output factors to be equal to colleagues, the employee will continue to maintain the job he is doing.
As a result of comparing input and output factors lower than colleagues, the employee will reduce effort in the job he is doing or even quit.
Adams' equity theory is applied in meeting employee satisfaction and shows that the factor received from the labor results must be greater than the factor spent in the job (Nguyen Xuan Dat, 2013).
1.1.2.4. Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory
Victor Vroom's expectancy theory suggests that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on expectations that the action will lead to a given outcome and based on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. The theory consists of three variables or relationships:
Expectancy or effort-performance relationship: Is the likelihood that an employee perceives that exerting a certain level of effort will result in a certain level of performance.
Instrumentality or performance-reward relationship: The degree to which an individual believes that performing a particular level of performance will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.
Catalyst or reward attractiveness: Is the level of importance
that employees place on the potential results or rewards they can achieve.
in work. The catalyst here means the appeal of both the goal and the needs of the worker.
The combination of these three factors creates employee motivation only when their perception of all three factors is positive.
Victor Vroom's expectancy theory suggests that there is no general rule that explains what motivates individual employees, so managers must understand why employees find a certain outcome attractive or unattractive. Ultimately, managers want to reward employees with things they perceive as positive.
1.1.2.5. Job Descriptive Index (JDI) model
The job description index (JDI) model established by Smith et al (1969) includes the following 5 factors:
Nature of work: It is understood that a job will bring general satisfaction to employees and create good work efficiency if it satisfies the following characteristics: Opportunity to use personal abilities, work suitable for the employee's personal abilities, employees understand the work process...
Training and advancement opportunities: Training is the process of learning the skills needed to perform a specific job. Advancement is the movement to a higher position in the employee's work hierarchy. The purpose of employee training is not only to improve their own qualifications but also to advance in the employee's work hierarchy, and they are closely related.
Leadership: As the direct superior of the employee, the leader brings satisfaction to the employee through communication with the employee, the concern and support of the superior, demonstrating the leadership capacity to perform administrative functions in the organization. In addition, satisfaction with the leader is also through fair treatment, recognizing the contributions of the employee in the work.
Colleagues: Are people who work in the same position or have the same job content. Satisfaction with colleagues through factors: mutual trust, dedication to work, friendliness, always helping each other in work.