Verified Document

Human Resources And Psychology Is Job Satisfaction. Essay

¶ … human resources and psychology is job satisfaction. Not surprisingly, people have noted that higher levels of job satisfaction are linked to improved job performance. Hackman and Oldham were some of the first researchers to really highlight the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction. "Their Job Characteristics Model (JCM) argued that, essentially, enriched or complex jobs are associated with increased job satisfaction, motivation, and work performance. More specifically, they assumed that five core job characteristics…influence three critical psychological states…which in turn affect work outcomes (Fried & Ferris, 1987). The five core job characteristics include skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from job (Fried & Ferris, 1987). The three critical psychological states include the experienced meaningfulness of the work, the experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work, and knowledge of the actual results of the work activities (Fried & Ferris, 1987). The work outcomes that are impacted by the job characteristics and psychological states include internal work motivation, growth satisfaction, overall job satisfaction, work effectiveness, and absenteeism (Fried & Ferris, 1987). While other researchers have developed models to measure job satisfaction and motivation, there has been surprisingly little research in the area. The reality is that few of the job satisfaction models make a strong link between job characteristics and job satisfaction. Furthermore, "only the job characteristic model of Hackman and Oldham explicitly describes five work factors relevant to job satisfaction: variety in skills; task identification; task meaningfulness; autonomy; and feedback" (van Saane et al., 2003).

JCM

The JCM asks a series of 23 questions, aimed at determining the characteristics of various jobs. It measures five different job characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback (Cengage, 2010). Many of the questions focused on my perceptions about the responsibility I had for the job, whether I was involved in the completion...

Questions were asked in different manner, wish me selecting an answer from 1 (very nondescriptive) to 5 (very descriptive).
My score on the JCM

For this inventory, I answered the questions based upon my job as a customer service representative at a large charitable organization. My score for skill variety was 12/5, my score for task identity was 5, my score for task significance was 5, my score for autonomy was 6/4 and my score for feedback was 26/6. Looking at those results, one can see that I did not find my job to have a significant amount of variety, nor did I feel as if I could use all of my skills to do the job. However, my high scores for task identity and task significance showed that I felt that the job was both important to the company and important to the consumers that I was serving. One of the best features of my job, which I have noticed differs from other customer-service positions, is that all of the customer-service representatives in the call center had full authority to settle a call, without having to resort to finding a manager. However, the job description was not very flexible, and, while feedback was continuous, it did not actually give an employee a means of moving upward in the company.

My total motivating potential score (MPS) was obtained by combining the skill variety, take identity, and task significance scores, then dividing those by 3 (in other words, finding the average of them), then multiplying that number by the autonomy and feedback scores (Cengage, 2010). The total motivating potential score was 26.86 in a range from 1 to 150. Obviously, this appears to be at the low end of the possible score range, though, upon comparing that number with the results obtained by some classmates, it does seem to be characteristic of the type of low-end, entry-level positions that are typically filled by high-school or college-aged students.

I did feel that the JCM gave a realistic view of my job's motivating potential.…

Sources used in this document:
References

Cengage (2010). Skills application 4.2: Job diagnostic survey. Retrieved January 18, 2012 from:

http://www.swlearning.com/management/leonard/leonard_9e/skills_app_4_2.pdf

Fried, Y. & Ferris, G. (1987). The validity of the job characteristics model: A review and meta-

-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 40, 287-322.
Markman, A. (2009). People, situations, attributions, and the Hollywood movie. Retrieved January 18, 2012 from Psychology Today website: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/200901/people-situations-attributions-and-the-hollywood-movie
Sommers, S. (2008). The elusive power of daily situations. Retrieved January 18, 2012 from Psychology Today website: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/science-small-talk/200807/the-elusive-power-daily-situations van Saane, N., Sluiter, J.K., Verbeek, J.H.A.M., Frings-Dresen, M.H.W. (2003). Reliability and validity of instruments measuring job satisfaction- a systematic review. Occupational Medicine, 53, 191-200. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqg038
from http://www.yourcoach.be/en/employee-motivation-theories/hackman-oldham-job-characteristics-model.php
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Human Resource Management
Words: 1674 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Human Resource Management Job analysis Job Design and considerations Job design is the arrangement of work in organizations. The arrangement assist employees as well as the organization meet objectives. An effective job design satisfies employees in organizations since it prevents dissatisfaction arising from repetitive work. It also assists organizations by preventing employees from alienation. Additionally, job designs improve on the productivity of an organization. Job designs, however, need to consider the following aspects in

Job Motivation and Job Satisfaction
Words: 5232 Length: 17 Document Type: Term Paper

At the level of the individual worker, motivation and job satisfaction among other things, generate a sense of security and confidence. Moreover, it offers them the opportunity for flexibility where they are able to apply varied approaches in meeting work requirements (Adeyinka et al., 2007, pp. 3-15). This makes the work environment interesting thus providing the employees with the pleasure and urge to facing their day-to-day lives at the workplace.

Job Satisfaction According to Hulin & Judge,
Words: 1409 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Job Satisfaction According to (Hulin & Judge, 2003), job satisfaction is viewed a multidimensional psychological response one has towards a their job. The responses are affective, cognitive behavioral (Hulin & Judge, 2003). There is however no clear agreement of what job satisfaction stands for given the wide usage of the term. Vroom in his definition focuses on employee's role in the work place defining job satisfaction as the effective orientation of

Job Satisfaction Has Become an
Words: 3125 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

The time frame was from one month February 1st to February 29th. Single-item questions were used while basing the question in terms of "how satisfied are you with your job?" Three response scales were used: normal, very satisfied, not at all satisfied. The framed question was to measure the independent variables, job satisfaction, based on level of job satisfaction from the time they have spent in their work place, (Scott

Job Satisfaction
Words: 746 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Job Satisfaction My current level of job satisfaction is modest. There is a reason I am going to school and getting a better job is a big part of that! There are things that I like about the job, but as far as compensation and opportunity are concerned it is definitely lacking in those respects. Landy and Conte (2013) note that there are several factors from the worker's perspective that can affect

Human Resources Management - Maintaining a Competitive
Words: 15260 Length: 55 Document Type: Term Paper

Human Resources Management - Maintaining a Competitive Edge in the Corporate Marketplace Change continues to reshape the workplace. Today's HR professional is called upon to help the organization retain its competitive edge in the marketplace. Along with representing the best interests of employees, HR professionals assume the role of strategic partner, administrative expert, and change agent. HR assumes a critical role in promoting the vision and shaping the focus of the

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now