Literature review
Discuss about the Organizational Behavior for Indian Streams Research Journal.
Job satisfaction is one of the major factors that determines the effectiveness and performance of the employees in their workplace. This refers to the extent to which employees are happy and satisfied with their job role in the workplace. Thus, the more will be the job satisfaction of the employees, the more will be the organizational performance and effectiveness. However, it is also important for the upper level management to consider different factors in order to enhance the job satisfaction of the employees in their workplace. Moreover, it is also to be noted that definition of job Satisfaction is changing with time and there is generational differences in defining job satisfaction.
This essay will discuss about the different factors in determining the job satisfaction of the employees along with critically analyzing the generational differences in defining the concept of job satisfaction.
According to Swarnalatha and Vasantham (2014), one of the major factors for determining the job satisfaction is financial benefits and rewards. However, the authors have also stated there is difference between financial benefit and rewards, though both can be provided as financial assistance for the employees. Thus, the more will be the financial benefits for the employees in their workplace, the more will be the level of satisfaction of the employees to work for their organization. According to the authors, the employees will only be satisfied with their job role when they will get proper and suitable value.
On the other hand, offering rewards also helps the upper level managers to enhance the level of satisfaction of the employees. According to the authors, rewards are offered to the employees when they performance exceeds the desired level. This motivates the employees to perform better. In addition, the offering rewards also enable the employees to have the impression that their contribution is given valued by the organization. This will increase their level of satisfaction in their workplace. In this case, generational differences play an important role in determining the level of satisfaction of the employees from financial benefits. According to Lu and Gursoy (2016), providing reward and financial benefits will have different impacts on different generations of the employees. This is due to the reason that, younger set of employees tend to get motivated with having the concept of pay for performance. This is due to the reason that younger employees are more inclined towards performing more and earn more with having pay for performance concept. On the other hand, the authors have also stated that older employees will prefer more stable salary structure in their workplace and they will less inclined towards pay for performance. Thus, in this case, the generational differences are evident in defining the approach of job satisfaction.
Financial benefits
According to Raziq, Abdul and Raheela Maulabakhsh (2015), another major factor that should also be considered in enhancing the job satisfaction is working environment. Having favorable and positive working environment helps the employees to get satisfied with their job role. Thus, as per the authors, it is important for the upper level managers to maintain positive and effective working environment for their employees. However, on the other hand, it is also being stated that working environment will have different implications on different employees. This is due to the fact that different employees are having different set of expectations from their workplace. In this case, generational differences are evident.
According to Chi, Maier and Gursoy (2013), perceptions of the younger and older employees are different in relation to the job satisfaction. This is due to the reason that younger employees will expect more challenging working environment along with having more dynamism in the workplace. According to the authors, younger employees will majorly feel satisfied with their job role when they will be given challenging task and the working environment is more vibrant. However, on the other hand, older employees will have more preferences for stable working environment where they will be less challenged. Thus, according to the authors, it is difficult for the managers to identify the generational differences of the employees in view to the job satisfaction. Moreover, current business organizations are having blend of both younger and older set of employees and thus it is more difficult for them to meet all the expectations regarding working environment.
Internal communication also determines the level of job satisfaction for the employees. According to Nikolic, Vukonjanski, Nedeljkovic, Hadzic and Terek (2013), effective internal communication helps in enhancing the level of job satisfaction due to the reason that effective internal communication helps in having positive relationship between the upper and lower level stakeholders. The authors have also stated that positive relationship between the internal stakeholders will lead to effective resolution of the organizational issues. Thus, employees will get satisfied in their workplace if their issues and grievances are met effectively.
In this case, the generational differences will also have implications on the perceptions of the employees in view to the internal communication. According to Festing and Schafer (2014), the perception of the younger and older set of employees is different regarding internal communication. This is due to the fact that younger set of employees will expect more interactive and participative style of internal communication in the workplace. Moreover, they will also get satisfied with their job when they will be able to participate in the communication process in the organization. On the other hand, the authors have also stated that older employees tend to resist to interactive style of internal communication. They will prefer more one way approach of communication in the organization. Thus, according to the authors, it is important for the upper level managers to initiate the approach of internal communication based on the demography of the workforce and their respective perceptions.
Working environment
There are number of factors that are important to be considered by the upper level managers in order to enhance the level of satisfaction of the employees. Some of the factors are critically analyzed in the earlier section. However, all the articles concluded that generational differences will be evident in determining the factors of job satisfaction of the employees. This is due to the reason that the perception and values of the employees from different generation will be different. Thus, the effectiveness of the job satisfaction will be different for different generation of the employees (Becton, Walker & Jones-Farmer, 2014). Employees from older and younger generation may be satisfied and dissatisfied with their job role by having similar approach of job satisfaction strategies. However, there are some limitations also being identified from the discussion of the articles in the above section.
One of the major limitations being identified is the concentration of the authors in a particular factor of job satisfaction. Factors of job satisfaction such as internal communication and working environment are discussed as the only way to enhance the level of job satisfaction among the employees. However, in the current business scenario, there are number of complex environmental factors being faced by the contemporary business organizations. Thus, the only factors discussed in the articles may not have real world effectiveness. Another major limitation identified is the lack of concentration on the generational differences on the effectiveness of job satisfaction. The authors discussed about the factors of job satisfaction have not concentrated on the impact of the generational differences. Thus, these articles have overlooked the determining factors of the job satisfaction of the employees.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that employees are having different generational differences in view to the job satisfaction. This essay discussed about the different factors in determining the level of job satisfaction of the employees. In addition, the impact of the generational differences in the determining factors of the job satisfaction is also being critically analyzed in this essay. It is identified in this essay that generational differences determine the effectiveness of the satisfaction of the employees to the large extent. On the other hand, this essay also identified some of the major limitations of the articles discussed. It concludes that upper level managers should identify the generational differences in enhancing the job satisfaction of the employees.
Reference
Becton, J. B., Walker, H. J., & Jones?Farmer, A. (2014). Generational differences in workplace behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44(3), 175-189.
Chi, C. G., Maier, T. A., & Gursoy, D. (2013). Employees’ perceptions of younger and older managers by generation and job category. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 42-50.
Festing, M., & Schäfer, L. (2014). Generational challenges to talent management: A framework for talent retention based on the psychological-contract perspective. Journal of World Business, 49(2), 262-271.
Lu, A. C. C., & Gursoy, D. (2016). Impact of job burnout on satisfaction and turnover intention: Do generational differences matter?. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 40(2), 210-235.
Nikoli?, M., Vukonjanski, J., Nedeljkovi?, M., Hadži?, O., & Terek, E. (2013). The impact of internal communication satisfaction dimensions on job satisfaction dimensions and the moderating role of LMX. Public Relations Review, 39(5), 563-565.
Raziq, A., & Maulabakhsh, R. (2015). Impact of working environment on job satisfaction. Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 717-725.
Swarnalatha, C., & Vasantham, S. T. (2014). Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction. Indian Streams Research Journal, 4(5), 1-3.