Problem 5 - What Works Best

Question 1

Job satisfaction

Answer 1

1. Global approach: single, overall feeling towards the job.
2. Facet approach: focuses on the different aspects of the job, bigger picture of job satisfaction, various levels for various facets.

Question 2

Cultural values

Answer 2

1. Individualsim vs collectivism (western vs Asia)
2. Masculinity: focus on achievement and not health/well being (japan vs scandinavia)
3. Power distance: tolerance for power (latin vs israel)
4. Uncertainty avoidance: level of comfort (portugal vs singapore)

Question 3

Assessing Job satisfaction: Job descriptive index (JDI)

Answer 3

• 5 facets: work, pay, supervision, coworkers, promotion opportunities.
• popular, good validity but only 5 sub-scales.

Question 4

Assessing Job satisfaction: Minnesota satisfaction question (MSQ)

Answer 4

• two forms: 100 item vs 20 items
• long: scores are performed
• short assesses global or intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction
• intrinsic = nature of the job tasks themselves
• extrinsic = other aspect of the work situation such as benefits and pay.

Question 5

Assessing Job satisfaction: job in general (JIG)

Answer 5

• global job satisfaction that does not reflect the various facets.
• 18 items that are adjectives or short phrases
• good reliability and correlates well with other scales.

Question 6

Antecedents of job satisfaction

Answer 6

1. Environent
2. Personality
3. Environment + personality

Question 7

Environmental antecedents of job satisfaction

Answer 7

1. Job characteristics: hackman/oldham’s influential theory (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback) = high score > high satisfaction
2. Salary: high pay compared to same level coworker = high satisfaction
3. Justice: distributive and procedural.

Question 8

Personal antecedents of job satisfaction

Answer 8

1. Personality: pre-disposition, personality traits, negative affectivity, locus of control
2. Gender: no differences
3. Age: older = more satisfied.
4. Culture/ethnic: understand the differences to increase job satisfaction

Question 9

Person-job fit

Answer 9

• interaction of both characteristics of the job and personality traits.
• the growth need strength: person’s desire for the satisfaction of higher-order needs, such as autonomy and achievement.

Question 10

Job satisfaction and job performance

Answer 10

1. Satisfaction > performance: work harder, perform better
2. Performance > satisfaction: perform better, rewards, satisfaction ^

Question 11

Job satisfaction and turnover

Answer 11

• quitting has been tied with job satisfaction
• dissatisfied = more likely to quit

Question 12

Job satisfaction and absence

Answer 12

• by product of dissatisfaction
• absence can be for many other reasons: sickness, family, mental health etc

Question 13

Job satisfaction and health/well-being

Answer 13

• dissatisfaction is an important factor in health/well-being
• more physical symptoms such as sleep, stomach ache etc.
• serious health problem evidence is hard to produce

Question 14

Job and life satisfaction

Answer 14

• life satisfaction = indicator for overall happiness or emotional well-being

Hypotheses:
1. Spillover: satisfaction in one area spills to others. (Supported)
2. Compensation: disatisfaction in one area will be compensated in another.
3. Segmentation: compatmentalise life into different sections so area of satisfaction has no relation to another.

Question 15

Organizational commitment: global perspective (Mowday, steers and porter 1979

Answer 15

Involves:
- acceptance of organization’s goals
- willingness to work hard for the organization
- desire to stay in the organization

Question 16

Organizational commitment: three component perspective (meyer, allen, smith 1993)

Answer 16

1. Affective: emotional attachment
2. Continuance: needing the benefits
3. Normative: values/beliefs that staying is right thing to do.

Question 17

Organizational commitment: three component perspective (meyer, allen, smith 1993) - continued

Answer 17

1. Job condition + met expectations = affective commitment
2. Benefits accrued + jobs available = continuance commitment
3. Personal values + felt obligations = normative commitment

Question 18

Productive behavior: task performance

Answer 18

• good performance = increase productivity = inreased goods and services = increase national and global economics
• organization practices and job conditions can enhance or constraint these personal characteristics (motivation and ability) and interfere with job performance.

Question 19

Ability and task performance

Answer 19

• identifying necessary abilities and skills for the job and finding right person for it
• worker-oriented job analysis = KSAO (knwoledge, skill, ability, other personal characteristics) for a job. After KSAO = selection methods
• abilities matches the job = more successful and satisfied

Question 20

Motivation and task performance

Answer 20

• individual characteristics: personality and environment
• assessed through motivational letters etc

Question 21

Personal characteristics and task performance

Answer 21

• the big 5: consciousness is the best predictor of job performance
• locus of control: internals = higher job motivation
• older worker = better performance, more ocb, less accidents, less absence etc

Question 22

Environmental conditions and task performance

Answer 22

• environment = positive/negative influence on motivation = increase/decrease in effort
• facilitates/constraints individuals

job chracteristics model (hackman/oldhams 1976,1980)
1. 3 psychological states
2. MPS = [(skill variety + task significance + task identity)/3 x autonomy x feedback]
- effect of growth/need/strength = fulfillment

Question 23

Incentive systems and performance

Answer 23

• reward for each unit of work
• motivation focused
• effective
• Incentive = perform better + wanting incentives + few constraints = high job performance

Question 24

Organizational constraints

Answer 24

• aspects that interferes with/prevent good task performance
• arises from physical environment, supervisory practices, lack of needed training, tools, equipment and time
• detrimental effects on task performance + employee satisfaction

Question 25

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)

Answer 25

• behavior that goes beyond the core task requirements of the job and is typically beneficial for the organization
• assessment through superiors
• altruism: helping another employee when not required.
• compliance: doing what needs to be done and following rules.
• high OCB does not mean high performance on other areas

Question 26

Counterproductive behavior: withdrawal

Answer 26

• not being at work when scheduled, temporarily or permanently.
• used to escape from unwanted/unpleasant situations

Question 27

CWB: absence

Answer 27

Factors: illness, motivation, family responsibilities, absence culture/policies
Absence culture: accepted social rules

Question 28

CWB: lateness

Answer 28

• produces costs for organizations (subsitutes) and can put an unfair burden on others
• causes: attitudes, commuting, work-family conflict, national culture etc

Question 29

CWB: turnover

Answer 29

• percentage that quits, leaves organization with inexperienced, untrained people = inefficiency and difficulty with goals
• reasons: pay, rewards, better other jobs, harassment, cost and time, satisfaction etc

Question 30

CWB: aggression, sabotage and theft

Answer 30

• harm to the organization
• physical or verbal
• constructive or destructive responses