Organizations now days have a lot more problems and structures are become more complex as the world has become a global village. The cultural and ethnic diversity within companies and developed human behavior is sometimes hindering the organizational goals and vision. Younger individuals tend to produce more results than the elder ones – as elders depend on their stereotyped thinking and lack in learning new things. Where as younger people are always enthusiastic in completing their work and trying to achieve more.
All individuals have a number of basic needs which can be thought as outlets that channel and regulate the flow of potential energy from the reservoir. Most individuals have, within a given socio-cultural system, a similar set of motives or energy outlets; but differ greatly in the relative strength or readiness of various motives and actualization of motives depends on specific situations in which a person finds himself or herself.
Researchers have identified several factors leading to job satisfaction which are broadly divided into two categories, namely, Organizational Factors and Individual Determinants.
- Organizational Factors
- Reward System: The organizational reward system has been found to be related to job satisfaction. This pertains to how fairly pay benefits and promotions are distributed.
- Work: The nature of work contributes heavily. The factors such as flexibility, freedom and discretion available in the performance of one’s job bring a lot of job satisfaction.
- Supervisory Behavior: Satisfaction tends to be higher when employees believe that their supervisor is competent and considerate.
- Working Conditions: Overall working conditions in an organization have a direct bearing on the level of satisfaction. Comfort, salary, challenge and resource availability are main components of working conditions.
- Individual Factors
- Various individual and socio-economic variables are linked to job satisfaction. Researchers have found that younger people are more satisfied. Similarly men are more influenced than women if they are provided more autonomy in their work (Malini 2001).
- There is a direct link between job satisfaction and performance of an employee. A satisfied worker makes extra efforts leading to better performance in his or her work. There is higher outcome in an organization if employees are more satisfied. Similarly it leads to decrease in absenteeism if employees are more satisfied in their jobs. It also leads to creativity among employees and better mental health.
Some Tips for Effective Recognition
You need to establish criteria for what performance or contribution constitutes behavior or actions worthy of reward.
- All employees must be eligible for recognition.
- The recognition must supply the employer and employee with specific information about what behaviors or actions are being rewarded and recognized.
- Anyone who then performs at the level or standard stated in the criteria receives the reward.
- The recognition should occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible, so the recognition reinforces behavior the employer wants to encourage.
- You don’t want to design a process in which managers “select” people to receive recognition. This type of process will be viewed forever as “favoritism” or talked about as “it’s your turn to get recognized this month.” This is why processes that single out an individual, such as “Employee of the Month,” are rarely effective.