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46 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define job satisfaction
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An individual's emotional, affective response to work.
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What 2 reasons are given for researching job satisfaction?
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Cultural: job satisfaction is widely researched because we want people to be happy at work since work takes up so much of our lives.
Functional : links bw job satisfaction and production/turnover. Researchers therefore want to manipulate job satisfaction to increase turnover. |
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What are two types of job satisfaction that are commonly studied?
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Global satisfaction: an overall sense of being satisfied.
Facet satisfaction – different components of the job. So overall, you might be satisfied with your job but there might be something about supervision that you don’t like. But you like the pay and you like your coworkers. |
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What are 3 theories that attempt to explain job satisfaction?
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Met expectations – when people’s expectations are met (they go in with realistic expectations), they tend to be more satisfied.
Social information processing – based on social psychology, the idea that we use other people to help us interpret things. Disposition: people’s personality impacts job satisfaction and this personality type is linked with affect |
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Why was Arvey et al's (1989) study of identical twins reared apart significant for I/O psychology?
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Arvey et al’s study showed that pairs of twins were matched in terms of affect – either positive or negative – and this had an impact on job satisfaction. Thus, there is a high genetic component (30% of variance in job satisfaction due to genetics). The issue from this study for i/o psychologists is that we might have less control over job satisfaction than we thought.
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What is the Job Descriptive Index and what are its 5 components?
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The JDI (Smith, Kendall & Hulin 1969), breaks down job satisfaction into 5 components each with its own scale.
WSPPC Work itself (W) Supervision (S) Pay (P) Promotion Opportunity (P) Coworkers (C) |
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What is the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)?
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It is another scale for measuring job satisfaction which has 20 facets. One question might be “How satisfied are you with the level of creativity in your job?”
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Why can't you compare across the JDI or the MSQ job satisfaction scales?
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It can be difficult to compare across these two scales. For example, the JDI measures satisfaction with promotion whereas MSQ measures satisfaction with advancement. You would think those 2 items would be highly correlated but they’re not.
Another issue is how many facets should we measure? Is 5 enough? Is 20 too many? |
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What is the Faces Scale (Kunin)?
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Faces Scale is a single item scale and there are smiley faces and you put an X in the one that best describes how you feel about certain items. It is used in situations such as with children, non-reading populations.
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Job satisfaction is negatively correlated with _______ but not correlated with ____________?
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Job satisfaction is negatively correlated with absenteeism. Job satisfaction is not correlated with performance.
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Research suggests negative correlation between job satisfaction and which two things?
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Absenteeism
Turnover But other variables might be involved (economic conditions, etc) |
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What did Carsten and Spector 1987 find in their meta-analysis of studies examining job satisfaction and turnover?
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They found economic conditions influenced how readily people left unsatisfying jobs. They found a negative correlation b/w job satisfaction and turnover. When jobs were plentiful they found a stronger r/ship between job satisfaction and turnover (i.e. people were more likely to leave unsatisfying jobs). When there were fewer jobs, there was less strong r/ship. In other words, when people need money they say it doesn’t matter whether they are happy or not; just need to pay the bills.
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Why do you think there is little correlation b/w job satisfaction and performance?
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One explanation could be that many things impact performance, not just job satisfaction. KSAs, equipment, work procedures etc affect work performance.
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Describe Frederick Taylor's theory of job design and how it relates to job satisfaction.
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Frederick Taylor in the 1800s found that if you broke a job into parts and had an employee perform each part, you had high productivity and greater efficiency and this is the basis for most jobs in the US. But the human cost is boredom, alienation, poor quality, waste etc.
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What 3 ways have researchers used to reduce boredom and alienation at work?
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Job rotation – the work is still very specialized but you’re rotating along the specialized jobs, e.g. if working in a factory you might have the job of putting the plastic sleeve over the shampoo on Monday but on Tues fit ball bearing to the bottle pump.
Job enlargement – completing a whole unit of work. An example: going to a restaurant and having the server take your order, seat you, serve you, take your money, complete the order so it’s a whole sense of completeness of the job or making a complete car on an assembly line instead of just one single component. Job enrichment: making jobs more meaningful, giving people more decision making power, more freedom |
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Job Characteristics Model developed by Hackman and Oldham is often used as the basis for enriching jobs. It suggests that there are 5 characteristics that a job should have. What are they?
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Skill variety – not just using one skill, but a variety on the job
Task identity – a sense of completeness or wholeness Task significance – the sense that there is some meaning to the job, to what extent does the task impact other people’s lives Autonomy – sense of freedom, being able to make your own decisions with regard to work Feedback – feedback from the work itself about how you are performing on the job |
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Hackman and Oldham said that if you have 5 job characteristics, you will achieve 3 psychological outcomes. What are they?
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Meaningfulness
Sense of Responsibility Sense of knowledge of results |
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Hackman and Oldham said that if you have 5 job characteristics, you will achieve 3 psychological states and if all these occur, you would have 4 outcomes. What are they and what are they moderated by?
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High internal motivation
High quality work High satisfaction Low absenteeism But these outcomes were moderated by Growth Need Strength. |
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What are some criticisms of Hackman and Oldham's model?
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It focuses on job itself but ignores context (salary, type of supervision, coworkers, opportunities for advancement).
How objective are the job characteristics? e.g. 2 people doing the exact same job but differ in terms of their perception of job satisfaction, autonomy, etc. The person’s personality may impact with the job characteristics. |
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What is 'job involvement'?
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Job involvement is the extent to which people identify psychologically with the work, how important is it to their self-image.
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What is job involvement correlated with?
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job satisfaction
It is highly correlated with a personality dimension related to conscientiousness which is sometimes called prudence (organized, punctual, self-disciplined). People who have these characteristics tend to be job involved. |
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What is job involvement NOT correlated with?
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job performance (.09)
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What are the 3 components of organizational commitment?
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Affective commitment – how emotionally attached are you to your workplace.
Continuance commitment – this is based on the costs incurred if you left the organization. If you are being paid a high salary in one organization you might feel the need to stay in that organization because if you leave you won’t get a high salary (same as pension plans, etc). Normative – feelings of obligation to remain with the organization (e.g. if the company have just paid for your MBA) |
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Morrow (1993) described 3 ways you could be committed to work. What are they?
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Occupational commitment - You could be committed to your occupation, e.g. I/O psychologists as an occupation.
Organizational commitment – loyalty to particular employer Job involvement – to one’s own job |
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What is organizational justice?
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The degree to which employers feel they are being treated fairly.
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What are the two categories of organizational justice?
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Distributive: the extent to which people feel outcomes are fair, e.g. at the end of the course and you get a grade, to what extent do you feel grade is fair. Or if you get a merit raise, to what extent do you feel it is fair.
Procedural justice: fairness of the means used to achieve the outcomes, e.g. in a particular year there is not much money for raises so some people don’t get raises in certain years. People are OK with this as long as they feel the procedures are fair. So distributively people might not be getting a pay increase but procedurally, people feel it’s fair. |
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With distributive justice, decisions are based on three rules. What are they?
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Equity – people should receive rewards consistent with their contributions (productivity, ability, experience, GPA), e.g. a university has scholarship money and it will be distributed based on SAT or GPA. Equity distribution is based on looking at what people bring. This is very common in our society.
Equality – you don’t see this so much in the US but this is where all people have an equal chance of receiving awards regardless of differentiating characteristics such as ability. It would be like distributing scholarship money equally & not taking account of people’s ability. Example people starting a company (e.g. 4 people) you would split the money 4 ways to start. Non-profits may might use this method but unusual in US workplaces. Need : resources should be distributed based on need. Scholarship example: giving out money based on economic need. People on lowest incomes get the most money. Merit pay based on people’s household income. Wouldn’t go down well in the US! |
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What are the components of procedural justice?
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– the individual’s voice in the process, e.g. performance evaluation: to what extent does the person have an opportunity to discuss his/her performance or to evaluate his/her performance.
- structural components of the process, e.g. consistency, bias-free, accurately, correctable, representative of all concerned, based on prevailing ethical standards. For example, if someone has a performance evaluation, to what extent do they feel they were treated with respect or that correct information was used? |
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Researchers are particularly interested in procedural justice because it seems to be linked to some important outcomes. Give some examples.
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Performance appraisal instrument appropriate and job-related
Rater unbiased and motivated Ratee informed of performance appraisal outcome Discussed in sensitive, courteous manner |
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Researchers Katz and Kahn talked about 3 different dimensions of work performance. What are they?
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People need to show up and stay with the organization
People have to meet or exceed defined perf standards. We all have job descriptions that indicates what your tasks and duties are. Those are what you are going to evaluated on. We have an agreement of what the job is and we are evaluated to what extent we complete these tasks in a particular manner. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors are behaviors that the employee does spontaneously, that aren’t listed in the job description. They go beyond formal job requirements. OCBs are not formally rewarded in the pure sense. |
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What are Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB)?
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The contributions that employees make to the overall welfare of the organization that go beyond the required duties of their job.
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What are the features of OCBs?
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Discretionary (voluntary, nobody forces or asks you)
Not directly rewarded If the OCBs are put together they promote the efficient and effective functioning of the organization |
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There are 5 dimensions of OCBs. What are they?
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Altruism: when helping behaviors are directed at a specific person. Helping people in a training situation. If a classmate misses class and you give them your notes, it’s altruism (directed at a specific person)
Generalized compliance: more impersonal, directed at the organization as a whole, e.g. a suggestion that will save the company money like turning off the lights when you leave the room. Civic virtue: participating in appropriate governance, optional committees. E.g. on campus there is a faculty governance – you don’t get any reward but you just do it. Sportsmanship: putting up with minor things without making a big deal. ‘Withstanding less than ideal circumstances without complaining.’ not making everything a big deal. Courtesy: behavior that is aimed at preventing work problems. If you need to change the time of a meeting, you would consult the members to make sure it was convenient. |
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What is a psychological contract?
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The implied exchange relationship between an employee and the organization based on mutual contributions. The psychological contract is the employee's perception of the organization's obligations to them as well as their obligations to the organization.
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What is an asymmetrical r/ship b/w employer and employee in terms of psychological contract?
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With any r/ship b/w employer and employee it’s asymmetrical. The employer has much more power in terms of establishing salary, termination etc. You are more likely to be harmed than the employer.
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Define employment-at-will.
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It is an understanding which means that employees without a written employment contract can be fired for good, bad or no cause apart from a few legal exceptions. It also works the other way; employees can leave for any bad, good or no reason. If you wanted to fire somebody because you don’t like the new suit they bought. Employment-at-will is not as powerful as it used to be, however. Over 70% of the time, employees win a settlement.
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If you were fired for a reason you deemed inappropriate, what 2 things could an employee do?
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Sue the employer for wrongful discharge on the basis that there was an implied contract which was violated;
Sue the employer for violation of public policy (e.g. if employer wanted you to dump toxic waste into a river and you refused) |
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Researchers say there is a continuum in psychological contracts. What are the two ends of the continuum?
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Transactional: contracts that have a short timeframe, there are specific obligations bw employer and employee, financial resources are exchanged. For example, using a job to pay for college. You’re likely to be viewing the job on a short term timeframe, very specific things you want exchanged.
Relational psychological contracts: someone may have worked for someone for 20 or 40 years and the obligations are diffuse. They are not clear-cut, they are constantly evolving. For example, one of the obligations/expectations for your employer is that you expect to keep your skills up to date. It’s a bit more ambiguous. |
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Reaction to psychological contracts depends on......?
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Type of contract (transactional or relational)
Magnitude of violation: for example if your employer promised you lifetime employment and then you’re terminated. Accountability of employer: to what extent could the employer have been responsible for this contract violation? To what extent did they have control over it? |
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What are the 3 main types of workplace violence?
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Domestic violence could spill over into the workplace – husband enters the workplace and attacks wife
Robberies: taxi drivers and people who work in 24 hour convenience are among the most dangerous occupations Coworkers: what we typically think of (coworker shoots another) |
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What are some measures employers can take to reduce the chance of workplace violence?
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Performance appraisals: supervisors trained to give feedback so as not to push people over the edge
Training & development: with workplace violence, people get upset when they feel their skills are getting out of date Grievance procedures: what steps can employees take if they feel they’ve been wronged EAPs (employee assistance programs) – providing resources for troubled employees stress, substance abuse etc Disciplinary policies and procedures: get people performing in a productive way Reward and incentive systems: it’s important for people to feel that the system is fair Crisis management team: have a team ready to be activated in times of crisis, e.g. CEO, medical professionals, PR who can be mobilized |
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Describe the profile of a workplace murderer.
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Middle aged Caucasian male
guarded, loners paranoid & angry veiled threats fascination with exotic weapons suicidal history of violent behavior and substance abuse |
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What is Growth Need Strength and how does it relate to Hackman and Oldham's job characteristics model ?
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GNS is a desire to be psychologically challenged by work.
Hackman and Oldham felt that people with needs for personal growth and development should respond more positively to jobs high on the 3 core job dimensions (meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for work outcomes and knowledge of results). |
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Define organizational commitment.
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The extent to which an employee feels a sense of allegiance to his or her employer.
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Brown's 1996 meta-analysis showed correlations bw organization commitment and other variables. Give some examples.
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Overall job satisfaction (r=0.53)
Performance (r=.11) Turnover (r = -.28) Construct similar to conscientiousness (r=.67) Job involvement (r=.50) |
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Give 6 examples of violations of the psychological contract.
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Lack of training/development
Compensation Promotion Job security Feedback People |
