MEASURING JOB SATISFACTION AND COMMITMENT
Commonly Used Standard Inventories
● Measures of Job Satisfaction -
1. Faces Scale (Kunin) - first methods for measuring job satisfaction. Easy to use, it is no
longer commonly administered because it lacks sufficient detail, lacks construct validity
and because some employees believe it is so simple that it is demeaning
2. Job Descriptive Index/ JDI (Smith, Kendall and Hulin) – most commonly used scale
today. It consists of a series of job-related adjectives and statements that are rated by
employees. The scales yield scores on five dimensions of job satisfaction: supervision,
pay ,promotional opportunities, coworkers and the work itself
3. Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire/MSQ (Weiss, Dawis, England, and Lofquist) –
contains 100 items that yield scored on 20 scales
4. Job in General (JIG) Scale (Ironson, Smith, Brannick, Gibson and Paul) – useful when
organization wants to measure the overall level of job satisfaction rather than specific
aspects
Measures of Commitment -
1. Affective Commitment Affective commitment refers to an employee's perceived
emotional attachment to their organization. Affective commitment is found when
an employee feels like their personal values and priorities are in line with the
company's mission and feel at home in the organization.
2. Continuance Commitment - Continuance commitment refers to the situation
where an individual feels that they will lose more by leaving than they will gain.
3. Normative Commitment - a sense of responsibility employees feel for their job or
organization that holds them back from quitting. It is a perceived moral obligation
to stick with something through thick and thin.
CONSEQUENCES OF DISSATISFACTION AND OTHER NEGATIVE WORK ATTITUDES
● Absenteeism - when employees are dissatisfied or not committed to the organization,
they are more likely to miss work and leave their jobs than satisfied or committed
employees.
● Linking attendance to Consequences - The basis behind rewarding attendance and
punishing absenteeism is that employees make a decision each day as to whether they
will or will not attend work. Although the decision-making process is not clearly
understood, it probably includes weighing the consequences of going to work (or to
class) against the consequences of not going.
● Discipline for not attending - Absenteeism can be reduced by punishing or disciplining
employees who miss work. Discipline can range from giving a warning or a less popular
work assignment to firing an employee.
● Rewards of attending
1. Financial Incentives - incentive programs that uses money to reward employees
for achieving certain levels of attendance
2. Time off - Another approach is the paid time off program (PTO) or paid-leave
bank (PLB). With this style of program, vacation, personal, holiday, and sick days
are combined into one category—paid time off
3. Recognition Programs - through recognition and praise
● Clear policies and better record keeping - Another way to increase the negative
consequences of missing work is through policy and record keeping. Most organizations
measure absenteeism by counting the number of days missed, or frequency.
● Increasing Attendance by Reducing Employee Stress - Absenteeism can be reduced by
removing the negative factors employees associate with going to work. One of the most
important of these factors is stress. The greater the job stress, the lower the job
satisfaction and commitment, greater the probability that most people will want to skip
work.
● Counterproductive Behaviors - Employees who are unhappy with their jobs miss work,
are late to work, and quit their jobs at higher rates than employees who are satisfied with
their jobs and are committed to the organization. Dissatisfied employees, especially
those who are unable to change jobs, also engage in a variety of other
counterproductive behaviors in organizations. These counterproductive behaviors can
be separated into two types of behaviors: those aimed at individuals and those aimed at
the organization (Berry, Ones, & Sackett,).
1. Aimed at individuals - include gossip, playing negative politics, harassment,
incivility, workplace violence, and bullying
2. Aimed at the organization- include theft and sabotage
● Turnover
1. Cost of Turnover - Turnover is a problem because the cost of losing an employee
is estimated at 1.5 times the employee’s salary (Bliss, 2001). Cost of turnover are
usually separated into two types which are visible costs and hidden costs which
include advertising charges, employment agency fees, referral bonuses,
recruitment travel cost, salaries and benefits associated with the employee spent
processing applications and interviewing candidates the loss of productivity
associated with the employee leaving and other employees trying to do extra
work hence lowering productivity.
2. Reducing Turnover - The first step in reducing turnover is to find out why your
employees are leaving. This is usually done by administering attitude surveys to
current employees and conducting exit interviews with employees who are
leaving.
a. Conduct realistic job previews
b. Look for a good person
c. Meet employees needs
d. Mediate conflicts between employees and their peers and others.
e. Provide a good work environment
f. Provide a competitive pay and benefits package
g. Provide opportunities to advance and grow.
● Lack of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors - Employees who engage in organizational
citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are motivated to help the organization and their coworkers
by doing the “little things” that they are not required to do. Examples of OCBs include
staying late to get a project done, helping a coworker who is behind in her job, mentoring
a new employee, volunteering for committees, and flying in coach when the employee
might be entitled to first-class.
SUMMARY
Satisfaction is moderately related to turnover and absenteeism, slightly related to
performance, and very much related to organizational commitment. Job satisfaction can be
maximized by meeting employee needs, values, and expectations and ensuring that employees
are treated equitability. Job satisfaction is measured by such attitude surveys as the Faces
scale, the job descriptive index(JDI), the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire(MSQ), the Job in
general(JIG), and Nagy Satisfaction Inventory (NSI). Absenteeism is the result of such factors
as the conscious decision not to attend, adjustment to stress, illness and personal problems,
individual diff., and unique events.
