How Job Satisfaction Leads to Motivation - Case Study Example

Running header: Job satisfaction leads to motivation. Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: Job satisfaction leads to motivation Introduction Managing employees is a very important part of management process. This is because no organization can operate effectively without its workforce. Employees should therefore be looked at as the fundamental source of organizational improvement and hence profitability. There is need for strong and effective motivation at various organizational levels in order to make employees motivated and hence committed to their work. It has been argued that a satisfied worker is also a motivated worker. This implies that job satisfaction leads to motivation and hence more commitment that leads to overall firm improvement (Angle, and Perry, 2005). This paper aims at supporting the view that job satisfaction leads to motivation based on research studies from various sources. While some studies support this view, other studies are of the contrary view that job satisfaction leads to motivation. However, many scholars are of the view that job satisfaction leads to employee motivation. Job satisfaction leads to motivation. Motivation being a human psychological characteristic which contributes to an individual’s level of commitment includes factors that cause, channel and sustain an individual’s behavior to a given committed direction (Hellman, 2007). These factors may include conditions under which one works ability and resources. On the other hand, job satisfaction is a pleasurable emotional state that results from appraisal of individual’s job. It is an effective reaction towards a person’s job and a positive attitude towards one’s job. In other words, job satisfaction is only achievable if the employees view their jobs as being able to provide the things they view important with regard to the job. This implies that for organizations to ensure job satisfaction for their employees, they must improve their working conditions and provide the employees with the resources necessary for the performance of their jobs. It also implies that the organizations must constantly improve their employee’s ability to perform their work through training geared towards imparting skills on the employees (Gechman and Wiener, 2006). By providing these services (factors) to the employees, the organization will not only ensure job satisfaction but will also be motivating workers to improve their performance and be more committed to the organization. In other words, by ensuring employees job satisfaction, the organization will also be assured of a motivated workforce. This is because if employees expectations regarding their jobs are not met, they will not be motivated to perform better. Their commitment to the organization will also lower and hence the overall organizational performance will also be affected. One of the determinants of job satisfaction is whether the jobs outcomes meet or even exceed the employee’s expectations. For example, if an employee is of the opinion that he usually works harder than his fellow workers in the department who receive greater rewards, he/she will most likely not be satisfied with his/her job. Such an employee will also have a negative attitude towards his /her employer and core workers. On the other hand, if the employee is treated well and is paid equitably, he /she will most likely be satisfied with his job (Bluedorn, 2003). Such an employee will therefore have a positive attitude towards his employer and his job. Similarly, an employee who is not provided with the same working conditions as other workers doing similar jobs or one who is humiliated in front of other workers will most likely not be satisfied with his job. In other words, an employee’s motivation towards better performance in his job and the organization will result from the organization’s bid to ensure job satisfaction for the worker. Equitable and fair treatment for all workers which is aimed at ensuring job satisfaction for an organization’s work force therefore results in a motivated workforce and hence improved overall organizational performance. Job satisfaction is a representation of many related attitudes that are most important characteristics of a job about which individuals have effective response. These are the job itself, pay (remuneration), promotion opportunities, coworkers and supervision. In a bid to ensuring job satisfaction for their workforce, organizations usually strive to ensure that they better the above conditions. Coincidentally, by bettering the above conditions, the organization also motivates its workers to work harder and hence improve the overall organizational profitability. For example, job satisfaction for workers depends on economic, social and cultural conditions of the particular country of operation. Therefore, a worker who does not get sufficient salary is always faced with problems of maintaining his/her family and hence is always far from being satisfied with his job. His/her motivation and hence commitment towards his/her job also becomes wanting (Reiss, 2004). Low wages and status and social security in addition to lowering job satisfaction also lower employee motivation. This implies that the absence of job satisfaction affects workers motivation and leads to lethargy and decreased organizational commitment. Absence of job satisfaction is an indicator of quitting one’s job due to decreased worker motivation. For example, Lack of job satisfaction and hence motivation in the public sector has been blamed for the increased number of workers quitting the public sector to the private sector where they consider as greener pastures especially in countries with poor economic conditions which result to poor working conditions and late payment of salaries. In addition, improvement (provision) of conditions that result in job satisfaction also leads to employee motivation and hence increased commitment to the organization which leads to improved performance. Such conditions include provision of competitive wages, staff training, provision of monetary incentives and availability of information and clear communication channels (Cranny and Stone, 2002). This implies that job satisfaction leads to motivation. Some scholars are of the opinion that job satisfaction does not lead to employee motivation. According to them, motivation is intrinsic and does not result from external factors such as wage and pay rise which increase job satisfaction. It results from the employee’s enjoyment of the tasks assigned to him/her and exists within the employee (Adeyemo, 2000). Research has found that employee motivation is highly associated with the desire to achieve and task enjoyment by workers. Workers are likely to be highly motivated if they can attribute their excellent job performance to internal factors which they can control such as the amount of effort they put in their job. Workers are also motivated by their believe that they are the effective agents in achieving their set goals and hence their achievements are not determined by efforts by organization to ensure job satisfaction such as pay rise. This implies that workers motivation is inbuilt and job satisfaction efforts by the organization may not result in workers motivation as long as their attitude towards the job remains the same (Hackett and Hausadorf, 2004). Job satisfaction does not lead to motivation. The level of workers motivation will to a great extent depend on the level that a worker is in the hierarchy of needs. Once an employee has satisfied one need in the hierarchy, it will stop motivating him and he will now be motivated by the needs in the next level. This implies that an employee may still be motivated to work even though he might not have job satisfaction so that he can be able to meet the needs in the next hierarchy (Becker and Riegel, 2001). For example, it is common for one to continue working in poor working conditions so as to accumulate enough savings to start a business or buy a car. This implies that workers are motivated not by job satisfaction but the desire to reach clearly defined goals or end state. The achieving of these goals is a reward in itself. The achievement of such goals is affected by the proximity of the goals, difficulty and specificity. What this implies is that workers will be motivated to work as long as they have not achieved their goals. Therefore, an employer’s effort to improve job satisfaction for workers may not necessarily motivate workers to continue working especially when they have achieved their goals of working (Evans, 2005). For example, an entrepreneur who works with an aim of raising capital so that he/she can establish a business is most likely to quit work despite his employer’s effort to raise his salary and hence lead to his job satisfaction. This is because the worker has already achieved what motivated him to work. Conclusion This paper has examined the view that job satisfaction leads to motivation against the view that job satisfaction does not lead to motivation. However, evidence supporting the view that employee job satisfaction does not lead to motivation appears to be limited. This evidence includes evidence on the role of intrinsic factors in motivating workers and the role of goals setting in motivating workers towards being committed to their work. However, the empirical evidence supporting the view that job satisfaction leads to motivation is overwhelming. Evidence include the fact that improving the working conditions in an organization in a bid to improve job satisfaction also leads to motivated workforce, fair treatment of workers to improve job satisfaction levels also motivates workers. Other efforts to improve job satisfaction that also lead to motivated workforce include better and competitive pay, staff training, promotion and monetary incentives. Therefore, it can be concluded that job satisfaction leads to motivation. References: Angle, H. T. & Perry, J. D. (2005). An empirical assessment of organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26 (2), 1-14. Gechman, A.G. & Wiener, Y.N. (2006). Job involvement and satisfaction as related to mental health and personal time devoted to work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60 (3), 521- 523. Bluedorn, A, K. (2003). A unified model of turnover from organizations. Human Relations, 35(4), 135-153 Reiss, S, D. (2004). Multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation: the theory of 16 basic desires. Review of General Psychology, 8(3), 179-193. Cranny, S.H. & Stone, D. G. (2002). Deconstructing job satisfaction: separating evaluations, beliefs and affective experiences .Human Resource Management Review, 12(2), 173-194. Adeyemo, D.A. (2000). Job involvement, carreer commitment, organizational commitment and job satisfaction of the Nigerian police. 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