Employee job satisfaction at syrena vietnam investment and development joint stock compnay

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL EMBA ~~~~~~o0o~~~~~~ RESEARCH PROPOSAL “EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION AT SYRENA VIETNAM INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT JOINT STOCK COMPNAY” SUPERVISOR PhD Dao Tha[.]

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

BUSINESS SCHOOL- EMBA

~~~~~~o0o~~~~~~

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

“EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION AT SYRENA VIETNAM INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT JOINT STOCK COMPNAY”

SUPERVISO

R

:

PhD Dao Thanh Tung

HANOI - 2015

1 Rationale

Along with the development of Vietnam's economy in recent years, the demand for human resources is also increasing Enterprises and organizations are increasingly focusing on building human resources, especially recruiting competent employees for their enterprises and organizations However, it is not enough, even though enterprises

or organizations recruited the right ones In fact, they should also know how to keep the well – skilled employees who are the core staffs and play a key role in the enterprises With the shortage of "capable" human resources as at present, to keep talented employees becomes a problem that is interested in by business owners

The stability of the staff will help an enterprise save time and costs (recruitment, training, etc.), reduce errors (caused by new staffs that are unfamiliar with the new job), create trust and solidarity within enterprises (Armstrong, 2006) Since then the staff will consider the enterprise as an ideal place for them to promote their capabilities

as well as work for it in a long time Finally, most importantly, this stability will help the enterprise operate more efficiently and create customers’ trust in the quality of products and services

What is more, how can an enterprise build a stable staff? Many researches were conducted in Vietnam and foreign show that it is necessary to create job satisfaction for employees Once having the job satisfaction, employees will be motivated to work harder; thereby it leads to more effective performance in job (Spector, 1997) This is exact thing that business owners desire to achieve from their staff According to Luddy (2005), employees without satisfaction will work inefficiently, even will not complete their tasks, affecting both physical and mental In contrast, the ones with job satisfaction will not change their job or the company

Syrena Vietnam Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (Syrena Vietnam) is one subsidiary of BIM Group which is among leading companies in many industry fields such as agriculture, real estate investment and development

and commercial services With the success achieved in operations of previous projects, particularly Halong Plaza Hotel, Fraser Suites Serviced Apartment and Syrena Shopping Center, Syrena Vietnam was officially established in 2008 with the expectation of contributing to the Vietnamese real estate industry In some recent years, Syrena Vietnam has seen a jump in development and results in operational efficiency However, to compete with other strong competitors in the real estate market which has not recovered entirely because of the impact of the global economic downturn these days, Syrena Vietnam needs to have more interests in employees’ desire and demand in order to prevent them from being attracted by rivals To do this employee job satisfaction is absolutely important In fact, there has been a rather high leaving rate among employees in Syrena Vietnam recently According to the record of the company, in January 2015 there were four marketing executives in a total of seven ones of Marketing Department quitted the job at the same time This caused a threat to competitive advantage of the company

Being aware of this, the author would like to choose the topic: “Employee job satisfaction at Syrena Vietnam Investment and Development Joint Stock Company” where the author is working to study in the thesis with an expectation to

understand the current state of the job satisfaction of office staffs in Syrena Vietnam, and find out the factors affecting this satisfaction With data obtained secondary source and primary source including interview and survey, this study is hoped to provide the business owners with better insight about the factors that can bring job satisfaction for current employees Thereby, it will help them give appropriate orientations and policies

to employees in order to keep talented ones who are desired to stay a long time with the company

2 Research objectives

The main purpose of this research is to understand job satisfaction of the office staff

at Hanoi office in Syrena Vietnam with following basic objectives:

- Synthesize the theoretical framework relating to job satisfaction;

- Analyze the current situation of job satisfaction at Syrena Vietnam;

- Propose solutions to enhance employee job satisfaction at Syrena Vietnam

3 Research questions

1 What is the current level of employee job satisfaction at Syrena Vietnam?

2 What are reasons for employee job satisfaction and dissatisfaction at Syrena Vietnam?

3 What are solutions to improve employee job satisfaction Syrena Vietnam?

4 Literature review and proposed theoretical framework

4.1 Definition of job satisfaction

According to Blum and Naylor (1995), job satisfaction is the general attitude of the workers constituted by their approach towards wages, working conditions, control, promotion related to the job, social relations in the workplace, recognition of talent and some similar variables, personal characteristics and group relations apart from their work life

Job satisfaction represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work Meanwhile, when a worker employed in a business organization, brings with it the needs, desires and experiences which determinates expectations that he has dismissed Job satisfaction represents the extent to which expectations are and match the real awards Job satisfaction is closely linked to that individual's behaviour in the work place (Davis et al., 1985)

Kreitner, Kinicki and Buelens (1999:197) describe job satisfaction as an affective

or emotional response towards various facets of one’s job

Kaya (1995) claims that job satisfaction is one of the criteria of establishing a healthy organisational structure in an organisation; Rothman and Coetzer (2002:29)

argue that job satisfaction among employees is an indicator of organisational effectiveness, and that it is influenced by organizational and dispositional factors Job satisfaction is the collection of feeling and beliefs that people have about their current job People’ levels of degrees of job satisfaction can range from extreme satisfaction to extreme dissatisfaction In addition, have attitudes about their jobs as a whole People also can have attitudes about various aspects of their jobs such as the kind of work they do, their coworkers, supervisors or subordinates and their pay (George et al., 2008)

Job satisfaction is a worker’s sense of achievement and success on the job It is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well and being rewarded for one’s efforts Job satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one’s work Job satisfaction is the key ingredient that leads to recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of other goals that lead to a feeling of fulfillment (Kaliski, 2007)

Though there are many different definitions about job satisfaction, it can be drawn that if an employee has a satisfaction with his/her work, he/she will feel comfortable, pleasant to his/her work Relating to any factor affecting on job satisfaction, each researcher had their vision, explanation through their researches

4.2 Role of job satisfaction

In fiercely competitive economy these days, human resource is considered as the most resource important of the company Most of companies consider their employees, especially talented ones as the greatest asset because their knowledge, skills and work bring value to companies They also make a contribution to determine the success or failure or competitive position of the company in the market Therefore, it is necessary for business owners of companies to have more interests in keeping employees satisfy with their careers

Job satisfaction has become one of the most widely focused areas of interest in organisational research due to the growing awareness of its relationship with employee behaviours such as absenteeism, intention to quit, and motivation According to Ludy (2005), employees without satisfaction will work inefficiently, even will not complete their tasks, affecting both physical and mental The worst result is they will leave the company for a new job in other companies that can satisfy their careers The absenteeism and quit the job of employees occur frequently will affect job security, company's reputation, trust of customers and business performance

Employees dissatisfy with their job with any reason, the company has to recruit new ones It leads a waste of time and money Therefore, business owners are getting more and more interests in finding out and satisfying employees’ desires and demands

in order to keep them stay a long time with the company (Armstrong, 2006)

Once companies know clearly about the important role of job satisfaction, they will enhance the level of employee job satisfaction It helps companies achieve following things:

- Increase labour productivity, competitiveness and high creation;

- Create trust and loyalty with the company;

- Save costs for recruitment, training and reduce errors caused by new staffs that are unfamiliar with the new job;

- Create interest in working and satisfaction with the company

4.3 Factors impact on employee job satisfaction

In the late 1950s, Frederick Herzberg (1959), considered by many to be a pioneer in motivation theory, interviewed 203 American accountants and engineers in Pittsburgh, chosen because of their professions' growing importance in the business world The subjects were asked to relate times when they felt exceptionally good or bad about their present job or any previous job, and to provide reasons, and a description of the sequence of events giving rise to that positive or negative feeling group of employees

to find out what made them satisfied and dissatisfied on the job He asked the employees essentially two sets of questions:

1 Think of a time when you felt especially good about your job Why did you feel that way?

2 Think of a time when you felt especially bad about your job Why did you feel that way?

From these interviews Herzberg (1959) went on to develop his theory that there are two dimensions to job satisfaction: motivation and “hygiene” Hygiene issues, according to Herzberg, cannot motivate employees but can minimize dissatisfaction, if handled properly In other words, they can only dissatisfy if they are absent or mishandled Hygiene topics include company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions They are issues related to the employee's environment Motivators, on the other hand, create satisfaction by fulfilling individuals' needs for meaning and personal growth They are issues such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility and advancement Once the hygiene areas are addressed, said Herzberg, the motivators will promote job satisfaction and encourage production Herzberg listed factors as follows:

Hygiene issues (dissatisfiers) Motivators (satisfiers)

Company and administrative policies Work itself

Interpersonal relations Responsibility

Working condition Advancement

Essentially, motivation factors are needed to motivate an employee to higher performance Hygiene factors are needed to ensure an employee is not dissatisfied

These above motivation and hygiene factors have following meanings:

- Company and administrative policies: relate rules, regulations, practices promulgated and used in internal of an organization such as working hour, uniform, and communication style in the workplace The policies should fair and apply equally

to all employees

- Supervision: relate the relationship between employees and their direct supervisors, support from the supervisors, leadership style and leadership abilities execute administrative functions in the enterprise

- Salary: mention a number of money that employees are paid fairly (inside and outside) for their work monthly in wage payment Salary is not a motivator for employees, but they do want to be paid fairly If individuals believe they are not compensated well, they will be unhappy working for the organization

- Interpersonal relations: a part of the satisfaction of being employed is the social contact it brings, so allow employees a reasonable amount of time for socialization (e.g., over lunch, during breaks, between patients) This will help them develop a sense

of camaraderie and teamwork

- Working conditions: expresses the situation the environment in which employees work It includes elements influencing heath, convenience when working comprising suitable working time (Skalli and his colleagues, 2007), comfort and safety at work (Durst, 1997), equipped necessary equipment for the job (Bellingham, 2004) and travel time from home to company (Isacsson, 2008)

- Work itself: relate challenges in job, opportunities to use personal capacities and have an interest in to do job Perhaps most important to employee motivation is helping individuals believe that the work they are doing is important and that their tasks are meaningful

- Achievement: One premise inherent in Herzberg's theory is that most employees sincerely want to do a good job To help them, make sure you've placed them in positions that use their talents and are not set up for failure Set clear, achievable goals and standards for each position, and make sure employees know what those goals and standards are

- Recognition: Employees at all levels of the organization want to be recognized for their achievements on the job

- Responsibility: Employees will be more motivated to do their jobs well if they have ownership of their work This requires giving employees enough freedom and power to carry out their tasks so that they feel they “own” the result

- Advancement: Reward loyalty and performance of employees with advancement

4.4 Measures for employee job satisfaction

It is absolutely difficult to measure job satisfaction because of an abstract personal cognition existing in an individual’s mind Job satisfaction is usually measured by using general scientific research methods such as the questionnaire and interview The most commonly used techniques for measuring job satisfaction are Job description index (JDI) and Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire (MSQ)

4.4.1 Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire was one of the outputs from the “Work Adjustment Project” at the University of Minnesota; the underlying theory is based on the assumption that work fit is dependent on the correspondence between the individual skills and the reinforcements that exist in the work environment (Weiss et al., 1967) This is a self-reporting measure, suitable for individuals of all school levels that can be administrated separately or individually

The 20 MSQ-short version items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale: “Very dissatisfied”, “Dissatisfied”, “Neither (satisfied nor dissatisfied)”, “Satisfied” and

“Very satisfied” Item responses are summed or averaged to create a total score – the lower the score, the lower the level of job satisfaction

The long – form MSQ consists of 100 questions that make up 20 subscales assessing satisfaction; twenty of these items make up a frequently used measure of general job satisfaction and are referred to as the short version of the MSQ (Fields, 2002)

The long – form MSQ includes 20 subscales: co-workers, achievement, activity, advancement, authority, company policies, compensation, moral values, creativity, independence, security, social service, social status, recognition, responsibility, supervision - human relations, supervision-technical and working conditions

4.4.2 The Job Descriptive Index (JDI)

The Job Descriptive Index (JDI) was officially introduced in 1969 by Smith, Kendall, and Hulin and has since become the “gold standard” of job satisfaction scales (Landy, Shankster, & Kohler, 1994, p 271) The JDI has remained one of the most widely used measures of job satisfaction (see Bowling, Hendricks, & Wagner, 2008; Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005) due to the strong emphasis on psychometric rigor and its frequent updates over the years

Since the original introduction of the JDI, the measure has undergone two major updates: the first in 1985 (Smith et al., 1987) and the second in 1997 (Kihm, Smith, & Irwin, 1997) In 2008, the JDI research group initiated a third major update to the JDI family of scales The process of updating the scales involved two steps: collecting new normative data and refining the scale based on the newly acquired normative data The Job Description Index is one of the most widely used techniques for measuring job satisfaction It is a simple and easily applicable method The measurement of strength and weakness within each factor are a sign as in which field improvement and changes are necessary