Factors of Job Satisfaction in the Computer Industry - Coursework Example

FACTORS IMPACTING JOB SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYEES IN THE COMPUTER SOFTWARE INDUSTRY: CASE STUDY MICROSOFT CORPORATION By of the (Course) Professor (Tutor) Name of the School (University) City Date INTRODUCTION Job satisfactions refer to the degree to which employees are happy with their job. This enhances their positive attitude towards work Stone (2005:413). Many employees tend to leave their jobs due to dissatisfaction. Work related stress has also multiplied absenteeism because industry’s jobs are monotonous due to lack of rotation to enhance employee skills and performance. According to Ivancevich (2007:12), employees should have a feeling of the right job for workers to be productive. Workers spend a third of their day at work and should have conducive working environment and condition as well as cooperatives co-workers so as to be comfortable in the workplace (Stone, 2005:416).. Employees should be offered a goop remuneration, fringe benefits and medical aid to be motivated and satisfied so as to deliver good quality services. Job dissatisfaction poses adverse implications on employee performance in computer software industry as it reduces innovation (Ivancevich, 2007:12).. Job satisfaction increases performance level in any organization; it is very crucial for the development and growth of the organization. The topic was selected so as to identify factors that impact employee satisfaction so as to improve the level of employee satisfaction in order to achieve high-level organization and employee performance. The industry requires satisfied employees to ensure that they are highly innovative. Research Questions The research posed the following questions: i) What are the factors that impact job satisfaction level of employees in computer software industry? ii) How relevant is job satisfaction in employee management? iii) What are the ways to be used in improving the level of employee satisfaction and performance in the computers software industry? Research Objectives The main research objects of the study are: i) To ascertain factors that impact job satisfaction of workers within the computer software industry ii) To establish how relevant job satisfaction is in the employee management in the computer software industry. iii) To identify ways that improves employee performance and job satisfaction level the industry SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Past studies of employee satisfaction have given reasons why employees feel the way they do in workplace (Swanepoel et al., 2003:32). According to discrepancy theory, the job satisfaction of employees is determined by how they feel and not by fulfilling their needs. Therefore, when an employee gets less of what they expect, dissatisfaction arises. The most crucial theory of job satisfaction and employee motivation is Herzberg’s theory. According to Herzberg, employees are motivated by extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Extrinsic factors are security, status, company policy, remuneration, administration, interpersonal relations, and supervision, while intrinsic factors are recognition, advancement, achievement, and responsibility. Employees are often motivated by internal values and not external ones, but they have to be present to placard them (Fulford, 2005:75). Employee satisfaction is very vital in this highly innovative industry, and the management should ensure that dissatisfiers are removed for the job to be satisfying to employees. It has been noted that employees within the industry are motivated by working conditions, pay, and benefits. In the industry, the attitudes of employees influence their intentions and general behavior that may lead to employee turnover (Royle, 2004:61). Dissatisfied employees tend to leave the organization to look for better workplaces. This affects the innovativeness of the company s it costs more to acquire and train new employees (Fulford, 2005:74). Such an industry affects the work and life balances of an employee because they work over time to ensure the innovation succeeds. According to Stone, 2005:416 and Ivancevich, 2007, computer software industry workers are offered highly demanding jobs that increase their level of their stress that affects their motivation level. Therefore, some of the employees are not satisfied with the work environment and condition (Royle & Towers, 2002:44) which causes job dissatisfaction and poor performances. According to Harikripahai Organisation (2007), workers in the industry work for long hours to ensure that the innovations succeed. This lowers their motivation level and subsequently works performance and job satisfaction. SECTION 3: METHODOLOGY The research methods used were a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods because the research aims at determining how satisfied employees are and the reasons or factors for high satisfaction of employees within the industry. An aggregate of 750 questionnaires was conveyed to the 750 samples chosen, out of which 465 of them responded. The target population (selected sample) is covered from the senior level of employees to junior level of employees from computer software industry so as to enhance reliability of the information gathered. Convenience sampling is the most used sampling method for the research since it allows the collection of get some fundamental information efficiently and quickly. A pilot study was conducted before the floating of the questionnaires, and some few corrections were made on the questionnaires before their distribution. This enhanced validity and reliability of the instrument. Also, an open-ended, semi-structured interview was performed on a face-to-face basis with the target population regarding job satisfaction of employees. During data collection, a high ethical standard were maintained. DATA ANALYSIS This section analyses the responses of respondents relating to job satisfaction in the computer software industry. a) Are you satisfied with your pay rate? Frequency Percent Strongly agree 96 20.6 Agree 113 24.3 Disagree 165 35.5 Strongly disagree 91 19.6 Total 465 100 The question aimed at knowing if the workers were satisfied with their pay rate and the results were as followed, 20.6% strongly agreed, 24.3 agreed, 35.5% disagreed and 19.6% strongly disagreed. 2) What is the rate of personal growth in the workplace? Frequency Percent Highly satisfying 115 24.7 Satisfying 120 25.8 Neutral 96 20.6 Not very satisfying 80 17.2 Not satisfying at all 54 11.6 Total From a total of 465 respondents, 24.7% were highly satisfied, 25.8% were satisfied, 20.6% were neutral, 17.2 were not very satisfied and 11.6 were not satisfied at all. 3) Do you always experience stress at work) Frequency Percent Yes 348 74.8 No 117 25.2 Total 465 100 of the 465 respondents, 74.8% of them normally experience stress due to the demanding nature of the job and 25.2% do not experience stress. This indicates that most of the employees experience stress at work. 4) How satisfied is your with your physical work environment? Frequency Percent Highly satisfying 96 20.6 Satisfying 120 25.8 Neutral 115 24.7 Not very satisfying 80 17.2 Not satisfying at all 54 11.6 Total From a total of 465 respondents, 20.6% were highly satisfied, 25.8% were satisfied, 24.7% were neutral, 17.2% were not very satisfied and 11.6% were not satisfied at all. Seemingly many employees are not satisfied with the work environment. SECTION 4: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS This part discusses the findings from the data analysis and supports it with literatures. Pay From the data analysis, it seems most of the employees are not satisfied with the pay level considering the highly demanding job that they do. From part 1, 79.4% of the 465 respondents were not satisfied. This information was harmonized by follow-up interview as many employees maintained that the pay level is insufficient due to the demanding work they perform. The pay is insignificant in spite of long working hours. This justifies the findings of Harikripahai Organisation (2007) who realized that workers in the industry work for long hours to ensure that the innovations succeed. Working conditions are environment From the data analysis, it is clear that the employees work in a relatively unfavorable environment. Further, there is less flexible working time as sometimes the employees may be forced to work overtime to accomplish a given goal. This affects the employees’ family and leisure time. Some junior employees stated that they were not permitted to take part in decisions that affect them directly Royle & Towers, 2002:44). A total of 75.3% of the respondents, particularly, low-level employees, note that they were dissatisfied due to the low rate of personal growth in the workplace. This coincided with the literature review that some of the workers are not satisfied with work environment and condition (Royle & Towers, 2002:44). Unpleasant work condition and environment cause job dissatisfaction and poor performances. Satisfaction According to the findings, a good number of workers are not satisfied with their work due to less attractive work environment (Poulston, 2009: 49). Some employees are offered more challenging jobs that discourage them. Of the total 465 respondents, 79.4 percent of them are dissatisfied with their physical work environment. Employee job dissatisfaction leads to low motivation and unhappy workforce. Job characteristics Most of the respondents complained that their jobs were very demanding and challenging and some end up being discouraged (Poulston, 2009: 44). Employees, especially junior ones, are not accorded the required freedom to carry out their responsibility with their supervisor’s authorization. Literatures have acknowledged that computer software industry workers are offered highly demanding which increases the level of their stress (Stone, 2005:416; Ivancevich, 2007), which affects their motivation level. SECTION 5: CONCLUSION From the findings, is clear that there are several factors that impact employee job satisfaction. First, is the pay level, employees whose pay does not match the level of the work they do tend to be dissatisfied with their jobs in an organization. Such jobs are very demanding thus stressing the employees. An organization should endeavor to motivate employees by rewarding them through a financial and non-financial incentive-based compensation method, for instance distributing a given percentage of profit to them. In addition, the organization needs to set achievable objectives to enable the employees to be able to track their performance so as to measure company’s overall success. The second factor is work environment and condition. The data analysis shows that most of the employees, particularly junior ones work in a relatively unfavorable environment. They lack flexible working time since at times they work for long hours so as to accomplish a given objectives. This affects the employees’ family, and leisure time and increased work stress level. From the literatures, unpleasant work condition and environment cause job dissatisfaction and poor performances. The organization should aim at improving the working condition so as to empower and motivate employees to try put in their best to ensure organizational’ success. The final factor is employee development and growth. Employees should be given tasks and jobs that permit them some level of freedom to try new methods so as to enable them acquire new skills. They should be offered the opportunity to take part in decisions that affect them directly so as to empower them by acknowledging their contribution to the success of the organization. Lack of clear and understandable communication also reduces job satisfaction. The management of the organization should assign workers tasks that are less challenging and offer them some freedom to perform their tasks. This will motivate and increase their job satisfaction level. The skills of the employees should also be developed through coaching and feedback system. This will give them greater autonomy in their jobs thus giving them a sense of accomplishment. Finally, employees should be offered pay and benefits which are commensurate with their contributions to keep them motivated so as to enable them to give their best towards future endeavors of the organization. References Fulford, M. D. 2005. That’s Not Fair. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism. 4 (1), 73-84. Harikripahai Organization, 2007. The Fast Food Industry, McDonald`s Market Research. (Online) Available: http://www.echeat.com/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=harikripahai [20 March 2010]. Ivancevich, J.M. 2007. Human Resource Management. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Poulston, J.M. 2009. Working Conditions in Hospitality: Employees` Views of the Dissatisfactory Hygiene Factors`, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism. 10 (1), 23-43. Royle, T. and Towers, B. 2002. Labour relations in the global fast food industry. London: Routledge Publishers. Stone, R.J. 2005. Human Resource Management. 5th ed. Milton: John Wiley & Sons. Swanepoel, B.; Erasmus, B.; Van wyk, M. and Schenk, H. 2003. South African Human Resource Management: Theory & Practice. 3rd ed. Landsdowne: Juta. Read More