Some interpretations of satisfaction
According to Csepeli (2003), the basis of an individual’s ability to identify with an organisation is job satisfaction, which should be underpinned by ethical elements mainly. Csepeli mentions the following consequences of the existence of such satisfaction: increased levels of general satisfaction, identification with the organisation and commitment. Being dissatisfied, on the other hand, may lead to the occurrences of absenteeism, inaccuracy, high staff turnover, and deviant behaviour. Klein (2007) believes that job satisfaction is such a general attitude that is the root of specific attitudes originating from three distinct areas (specific work factors, personal characteristics and group relationships outside of work).
Locke (1979) defined job satisfaction as a joyful emotional state that derives from the fact that employees believe that their responsibilities at their workplace are characterised by those work values which they find really important, and these values are the same as the needs of individuals (see Kiss B., 2003).
Early studies by Taylor (1911) established that the higher salaries employees receive, the harder they will be willing to work; however, he did not pay any attention to the significance of other factors present at the workplace (such as working conditions, etc.). Later Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Studies (conducted from 1924 to 1933) proved that employees are able to perform better if they are asked about questions concerning their lives, or if superiors are interested in their opinions. Researches claimed that the reasons for employees’ satisfaction could lie in their own life stories and their relationships with their colleagues. According to the Hoppock Study (1935), those workers are happier who are higher on the career ladder (which has also been confirmed by many so far) (Kiss B., 2003). Furthermore, Schaffer (1953), who studied the internal factors affecting job satisfaction instead of external ones, argued that if certain needs of individuals are not met, tension arises within them, which hinders the emergence of satisfaction.
That is why many believe that the characteristics of motivation and the way certain needs appear and are satisfied speak volumes about how satisfied individuals are. There are two main types of motivation: drives and incentives. Drives (such as hunger or thirst) stem from the inner need-states of the human body. An incentive (such as a reward) is also related to need-states, but it is an external goal affecting individuals’ performance. Although work motivational theories differ in several aspects, they agree about one point: they do not approach work as sheer drudgery but rather as an activity containing positive incentives too (Kovács, 1996).
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory that is widely used in psychology as well as well-known by the general public. According to Maslow (1954, 1970), motivation derives from various needs. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy with the physiological needs at the bottom, which are followed by the so-called safety ones. These are called basic needs. The third level of needs is known as social needs, which are followed by the needs for esteem (self-esteem), and the much-debated need for self-actualisation can be found at the top of Maslow’s “pyramid”. These are categorised as higher levels needs by the psychologist, who made the following three significant statements concerning the needs described in this section:
- Needs that are not met affect how individuals behave.
- Individuals systematically satisfy their needs; when basic needs are satisfied, higher ones take precedence.
- The satisfaction of basic needs always come before the satisfaction of higher ones.
This theory has been modified to be applicable to the study of employment a number of times so far. Provided that an employee receives low pay and feels insecure at his workplace, that individual will only focus on the fulfilment of his basic needs and will not be able to perform his tasks as required. However, if these conditions improve, the importance of relationships with one’s colleagues and leaders grows significantly. Finally, an employee might reach a state in which he is able to focus on his performance or his own actualisation. Through the satisfaction of needs, job satisfaction can also improve (Kovács, 1996).
Addressing the deficiencies of Maslow’s model, Alderfer (1969, 1972) later established the so-called ERG motivation theory and condensed the five human needs into the following three categories: existence needs (all the material and physiological desires to survive), relatedness needs (all the relationships of individuals), and growth needs (all the desires related to the self-actualisation and the development of one’s skills). Unlike the hierarchical arrangement of needs in Maslow’s model, these needs are arranged along a continuum. Consequently, any type of need can take priority over the others. According Maslow, the less our needs, for example, one’s social needs, are satisfied, the more we long for their fulfilment. Alderfer claimed that the less an individual’s needs, for instance, relatedness needs, are fulfilled, the more such a person wishes to have his existence needs satisfied.
While work motivation only indirectly encourages people to carry out their tasks, achievement motivation directly improves the results of one’s work in terms of quantity and quality (Klein, 2007). “McClelland and his associates proposed that achievement motivation improves one’s performance in activities in which the individual is likely to succeed or fail, or it enables the person to perform much better in such situations” (Klein, 2007:299).
According to Deci’s self-determination theory (1975) (Kovács, 1996), an individual’s motivation to make an effort when carrying out certain activities stems from distinct intrinsic and extrinsic motives. People are extrinsically motivated when being rewarded for the accomplishment of tasks (e.g. receiving a sum). And individuals are intrinsically motivated if they do an activity that they enjoy at the same time. Deci held the accomplishment of tasks that is intrinsically motivated to be really successful, and employees are more willing to perform their tasks in this way. The researcher also claimed that intrinsic motivation declines as soon as one’s achievement is rewarded externally (Kovács, 1996).
These results can also be detected in the case of young athletes starting their careers. As long as players are young and pursue sports for pure enjoyment (for instance, they like playing football), they do not mind doing what is required from them. However, as soon as they receive any external feedback or reward (such as money) for doing well or scoring a goal, they will not necessary play sports for its beauty, but they will be motivated to make more money. After a while, it may also become questionable in such cases whether these athletes still like the sport they are doing or consider this activity as a source of income only.
Herzberg (1959) was the first to further develop Maslow’s theory to study job satisfaction and constructed a two-dimensional paradigm of factors affecting the same. This is one of the most well-known models today, but there has been much debate on the theory at the same time. It is a two-factor theory proposing that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum (which means that they are not direct opposites of one another) but exist on separate scales.
Therefore, we can talk about a satisfaction scale with the two end points: satisfaction and lack of satisfaction, while the other scale is about dissatisfaction, the end points of which are dissatisfaction and lack of dissatisfaction. Satisfaction is based on the presence of the so-called motivators, which are similar to Maslow’s human-specific needs (e.g. promotion, recognition, fame, etc.). And dissatisfaction results from the absence of the so-called hygiene factors, which are similar to the non-human-specific needs (e.g. pay, physical working conditions, social environment, employer-employee relationship, etc.) on the basis of the Maslowian typology. If motivators are present, individuals are satisfied with their jobs. However, if motivators are missing, satisfaction will be missing too. Job satisfaction depends on the presence of hygiene factors; positive ones lead to lack of dissatisfaction but do not generate satisfaction. Motivators, on the other hand, improve employees’ performance, while hygiene factors can only eliminate dissatisfaction without creating satisfaction or any improvement in the way one works, see Figure 23.
Figure 23: Herzberg’s two-factor theory
Source: http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/7?e=collins-ch07_s03
Both need and motivation theories build on the assumption that human beings are encouraged to act by intrinsic motives, the satisfaction of their own needs, or the sheer enjoyment of what they are doing.
The Goal Setting Theory, established by Locke (1986), approaches the same issue from a different aspect. This theory argues that the harder it is to accomplish a task, the better performance may become. “Locke believed that the degree of commitment towards a goal is proportionate to the difficulty of the accomplishment, that is to say tasks that are not easy to fulfil require higher levels of commitment” (Kovács, 1996:105). On the basis of this theory, individuals are not motivated by the satisfaction of their needs or the gaining of enjoyment, but human beings are rather motivated by setting realistic goals and making an effort to reach them (Kovács, 1996).