Research about job satisfaction at thanh cong textile garment group

LIST OF FIGURE LIST OF TABLE Table 7: Cronbach’s Alpha Internal Consistency 30 Table 8: Cronbach’s Alpha Job Satisfaction 30 Table 9: Cronbach’s Alpha of Supervisory Support 30 Table

Advisor’s assessment

Advisor’s signature

DBA NGUYEN THE KHAI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would first like to thank my thesis advisor Dr Nguyen The Khai The door to Dr

Khai office was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question

about my research or writing He consistently allowed this paper to be my own

work, but steered me in the right the direction whenever he thought I needed it

I would also like to thank the management and HR team in Thanh Cong

Textile/Garment Group who were involved in the validation survey for this research

project Without their passionate participation and input, the validation survey could

not have been successfully conducted

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family for providing me

with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study

and through the process of researching and writing this thesis This accomplishment

would not have been possible without them

Thank you

Tran Van Loc

Contents

ABSTRACT 1

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 2

Introduction of Thanh Cong Group 2

History 2

Company profile 4

Vision, Mission and Core Values 5

Organization Structure 6

Research Problem Statement 7

Research Objectives 8

Research Scope 8

Significances of research 9

Limitation of research 9

Structure of the research 10

PART TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 11

Definition of constructs 11

Job Satisfaction 11

Supervisory Support 12

Developmental Experiences 12

Goal and Process Clarity 13

Job Role Discretion 13

Discussing relationship of the constructs 14

Hypotheses (H) 17

Research Model 18

PART THREE: RESEARCH METHODS 19

Data collection 19

Design survey template for data collection 19

Data collection progress 28

Data analysis 28

PART FOUR: RESULT 29

Cronbach’s Alpha 29

Cronbach’s Alpha standard applied 29

Cronbach’s Alpha of constructs 30

Descriptive Statistic 32

Correlation Coefficient 33

Hypotheses Testing 35

Testing result 36

PART FIVE: CONCLUSION 38

Contribution 38

Practical implications 39

Limitation and suggestion for further research 39

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIX 43

Appendix 1: Survey 43

Appendix 2: Presentation 53

LIST OF FIGURE

LIST OF TABLE

Table 7: Cronbach’s Alpha Internal Consistency 30

Table 8: Cronbach’s Alpha Job Satisfaction 30

Table 9: Cronbach’s Alpha of Supervisory Support 30

Table 10: Cronbach’s Alpha of Developmental Experiences 31

Table 11: Cronbach’s Alpha of Goal and Process Clarity 31

Table 12: Cronbach’s Alpha of Job Role Discretion 31

ABSTRACT

Having invested time and resources in selecting, training and appraising employees, the employer naturally wants its employees to stay with the firm Unfortunately, keeping good employees can be challenging for the organization and managers Through various empirical studies, it is found that Job satisfaction (JS) is one of the

organization This study aims to explore the impact of Supervisory Support, Development Experiences, Goal and Process Clarity and Job Role Discretion on Job Satisfaction at Thanh Cong Textile & Garment Group

In order to answer the research questions, an exploratory qualitative method was employed with source data was collected from offline surveys with 500 employees

at Thanh Cong Group to collect their ideas and feedbacks about Job Satisfaction To reach the purpose of the research and support the Company HR strategies, interviewees are all staffs from junior, middle and senior level and have certain experiences in their own professions The collected data were statistically analyzed

by software SSPS version 22 to give us an overview of relationship and impact of four factors: Supervisory Support, Development Experiences, Goal and Process Clarity and Job Role Discretion on Job Satisfaction

HR systems and procedures, employees' competency, motivation and performance

Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Supervisory Support, Development Experiences, Goal

and Process Clarity, Job Role Discretion

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

Introduction of Thanh Cong Group

History

Thanh Cong Group is a typical enterprise with long history in Vietnam textile

industry The group has gone through ups and downs with both failures and

achievements:

1967 – 1975 Foundation

 Started as a small private textile workshop with 500 employees which was named “Tai Thanh Ky Nghe Det” with knitting and dyeing

 Main products: Oxford, Poly Soir, Sanderep…consumed mainly in the south

Vietnam and Cambodia

1976 – 1985 Endeavour to survive

 Was taken over by the Government and turned into a state-owned enterprise

 First textile enterprise proposed and successfully implemented “ Triangle Export” model in 1985

1986 – 2005 Invest to develop

 Developed to Thanh Cong Textile Company

 Invested 55 million USD to increase productivity and improve the quality

From selling products in domestic market only, Thanh Cong then exported to

many countries in the world

 Carried out comprehensive reform in human resources, working style, sales

and marketing as well as costing controlling

2006 – 2012 Reform to Integrate and Grow

 2006 – 2009: Was important period, Thanh Cong was equitized and changed

Stock Company It was listed on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange coded TCM

 2010 – 2012: Implemented modern management tools such as Lean System

in production, ERP & BSC in administration, focused on people

development for future growth through internship program

2013 – 2017 Stabilize and Flying Growth

 Build the new knitting factory to expand capacity

 Get investment certificate and establish real estate business division

 Second CSR Award by Vietnamese and Korean Government

 Top 5 “ Typical VN Textile garment enterprise” selected by VITAS

 Certificate of excellent performance awarded by Ministry of Industrial and

Trade

 Build Thanh Cong Vinh Long factory

 Certificate of Top 10 Best Annual Report in Vietnam stock market

 Award of the Best 50 listed companies in Vietnam elected by Forbes VN

 Award of Ho Chi Minh Typical Enterprise

Company profile

Thanh Cong is recognized as one of most dynamic domestic firm in textile industry

Throughout our history company has strived to maintain core visions and values to

achieve mutually successful partnerships drive the business forward and offer the

highest levels of quality and value

Partners that share the firm’s vision of quality, integrity and a desire to succeed will

find that Thanh Cong delivers on every level

In 2015, the group started launching unrelated diversification strategy by investing

on new business fields: Real Estate, Construction and Managing Project, Touring &

Golf Service and Medical Service

Thanh Cong Group at A Glance

Minh City, Vietnam

 Main Business Scope 1 Textile and Garment: Manufacturing and trading products of

spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing and garment

2 Fashion retail

3 Trademarks: TCM

(Table 1: Thanh Cong Group at a Glance)

Vision, Mission and Core Values

The influence upon the society through our different way of day-to-day

working while our people and business grow up with the integrity and

knowledge

Customers: Who are benefited by our product and service

Investors: Who trust in our integrity and knowledge for their financial gain Employees: Who become more confident in their lives through the

meaningful contribution

Suppliers: who are satisfied with our fair and transparent deal

Profitability: To Need to maintain the sustainable profit for all the

stakeholders as well as the enhance of the company

Integrity: To try to be integrated in the course of the business

Learning: To consider that our working place is the learning place in terms

of finding talents and cultivating knowledge & character

Serving: To serve our customers as a king and social minorities as a family

with our sincerity & passion

Organization Structure

(Figure 1: Company Organization Structure)

Research Problem Statement

Textile/Garment is one of important industry in Vietnam Under current situation, Vietnam has signed off Free Trade Agreement with US, EU and Asian Countries which have brought a lot of opportunities for business However, there are number of challenges as many of local textile enterprises have not prepared well enough for global competitiveness

To catch up opportunities from Free Trade Agreement, Textile and Garment

companies from different countries began to expanding their production in Vietnam

Above context has created high competition in textile labor market Many of

employees in domestic enterprises resign to seek for better job in FDI companies

The management of Thanh Cong Group has realized that the company needs to

implement right employee retention strategy in order to avoid high turnover in a

very near future

The management determined Job Satisfaction is important in increasing employee

retention, especially talent retention

Therefore, this study aims to synthetize and analyze factors that how these factors

impact Job Satisfaction of employees in company: Supervisory Support,

Development Experiences, Goal and Process Clarity and Job Role Discretion

The study contributes to Human Resource Management activities in implementing

employee retention strategies Learning about job satisfactions also gives company

an opportunity to increase organizational commitment of qualified staffs

Research Objectives

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of factors as

Supervisory Support, Developmental Experiences, Goal and Process Clarity and

Job Role Discretion on the Job Satisfaction of employees in Thanh Cong group

Therefore, two research questions need to be answered:

1 How do four factors impact on Job Satisfaction?

2 How do the findings of this research contribute to the organization?

In order to solve these questions and reach the study purpose, two objectives are set

The first objective is to explain the concept of Job satisfaction, and then four

factors impact on Job satisfaction

The second objective is through literature review, to explore the relationship of

these factors with job satisfaction

Then discussing and proposing recommendation for the human resource

management at Thanh Cong Group to develop and implement employee retention

strategy Also this study will provide knowledge to the managers in company to

manage staff most effectively

Research Scope

This research is conducted for all employees at Thanh Cong Group, includes:

General Director, Division Directors, Business Unit Managers, Supervisors, and all

staff levels are working in the group It does not include: Chairman, Board of

Directors, Shareholder, Supervisory Board, and employees are under probation

period or in maturity leave

The research scope is only for employees in Vietnam, which includes 500 staffs of

Thanh Cong Group

The feedback of employees will be collected to support the research and

improvement in future There is no intention of reorganizing, restructuring or

replacing any position

November 2016

Significances of research

The research helps the management team in Thanh Cong Group has more

understanding the importance of Job Satisfaction

High job satisfaction may lead to improved productivity, decreased turnover, and

improved attendance, reduced accidents, less job stress and less unionization

Besides, we hope the study would contribute to Human Resource Management

activities in implementing employee retention strategies Learning about job

satisfactions also gives company an opportunity to increase organizational

commitment of qualified staffs

Limitation of research

The research will have some limitations because it was conducted in related data within Thanh Cong Group The findings of research are not able to be generalized for textile industry in Vietnam

Timing is another limitation as the research was conduct in a short period Besides,

the survey respondents are more qualified and different perceptions about Job

Satisfaction as well as the contents of survey shall be more grammatical errors

because of English - Vietnamese translation progress, it may cause confusion for the

reader when they answer

Structure of the research

This section will explain briefly how this thesis is structured

The part 1 is the overall introduction of the organization and the thesis in which

arguments of why doing this research is discussed, followed by identifying research

objectives and research questions, the scope of the study and structure of the

research

In part 2, the concept of job satisfaction and four factors are explained, then

discussing the relationship of job satisfaction and four factors

Research method is introduced in part 3 This part deals with methodological

approaches, research design, how to collect and analyze data, and finally discusses

validity and reliability of the research In part 4 is for statistical data analyzed result

Part 5 contains the conclusion of the thesis It summarizes the main content of the

research and findings After that, theoretical contribution and implications of the

study are given Lastly, limitations of the research and recommendations for further

studies are presented

PART TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

Definition of constructs

Job Satisfaction

This measure was originally developed by Quinn and Shepard (1974) and

subsequently modified by Pond and Geyer (1991) and Rice et al (1991) It uses six

items to measure an employee’s general affective reaction to his or her job without

reference to any specific facets

Job satisfaction of employees is familiar topic and has been discussed in over 5000

articles (Shakeel & But 2015: 33) Various theories contributed to develop the

definition of job satisfaction Those theories are based on classical approach and

modern approach In classical approach, job satisfaction is divided into two group

“theories of needs” and “theories of value” “Theories of needs” is related to the needs of a person, while “theories of value” is associated with the expectation of an individual Modern approach is based on “Theory of individual differences” in

the degree of the job environment to satisfy the individual” (Altinoz et al 2012:

323) Alderfer (1972) in his research about job satisfaction, three groups of needs

were identified including the need for existence, relatedness and growth The needs

for existence are related to basic material requirements for a human life

Relatedness needs include social, security and esteem needs The needs of growth

are concerns with the desire for personal development All those groups of needs

are quite similar to Maslow’s hierarchy (Westlund & Hannon 2008: 4)

Discussion about job satisfaction from those theories helps to acquire in-depth

understandings of human-being from aspects of needs and desires While many

authors discussed job satisfaction based on different theories, other authors defined

job satisfaction relating to personal emotions or psychology towards the job

Supervisory Support

This measure was developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman and Wormley (1990) to

assess employee perceptions of the extent to which they receive supervisory support

in their job It includes eights items

well done, and help employees develop job-relevant skills and competencies A

supervisor like this can make all the difference in employees’ everyday work

experiences

Strong supervisor support improves the quality of employment and is associated

with increased job satisfaction, perceptions of a better fit between the employee and

the organization, and reduced employee turnover

Developmental Experiences

This measure was developed by Wayne, Shore and Liden (1997) It describes the

formal and informal developmental experience a job affords employees The

measure focuses on the extent to which an organization makes discretionary

investments in formal and informal training and development of an employee It has

four items

Developmental Experiences is considered as an important factor which has strong

correlation with employee retention, especially talent retention as it plays an

important role for career development of employee

Goal and Process Clarity

It was developed and tested by Sawyer (1992) It describes two dimension thought

to make up role ambiguity One dimension describes clarity about a job’s outcome

goals and objectives The other dimension describes clarity or certainty about the

job process or how it should be performed This construct has seven items

Goal clarity can be simply described as leader’s ability to set a clear and specific

objective that all affected parties understand and can work towards achieving The

important part of this definition is the word “specific.” A very broad or general

goal won't help drive leader or anyone else to succeed Goal clarity was directed

related to job satisfaction

Process Clarity in any team is very important to enable the smooth running of the task Process clarity was indirectly related to job satisfaction through goal clarity

Job Role Discretion

This measure, developed by Gregersen and Black (1992), assesses the extent to which employees believe their job role gives them discretion to make choices about how and when things are done

The greater an individual’s discretion as to what work gets done, how it gets done,

and by whom, the greater the empowering sense of responsibility the individual

would feel for those decisions Thus, regardless of the job, role discretion is likely

to increase felt responsibility Role discretion may be particularly relevant to

internationally assigned employees who are in autonomous roles away from a

parent company’s headquarters (Gregersen & Black, 1992).This constructs has six items

Discussing relationship of the constructs

To discuss about through the relationship of Job Satisfaction and four factors: Supervisory Support, Developmental Experiences, Goal and Process Clarity and Job Role Discretion, we should understand that Job Satisfaction is a host of factors, not a single factor Each of above factor has direct or indirect relation to Job Satisfaction

In another word, each of above factor has an impact on related factor of Job Satisfaction

Taking Developmental Experiences as an example, this construct is correlated positively with number of promotion and employee has received Promotion is one

of important factor of Job Satisfaction

Supervisory Support and Job Satisfaction

Refer to research article of Dr Jevon Powell (2011), Supervisor support is defined

as the extent to which leaders value their employees’ contributions and care about

their well-being A leader with high supervisor support is one that makes

employees feel heard, valued, and cared about In specific terms, organizational

research has identified a myriad of positive outcomes association between

supervisory support and related factors of Job Satisfaction, including:

There was research conducted by McGilton KS, Hall LM, Wodchis WP and Petroz

U (J Nurs Adm 2007) about the effects of perceived supervisory support provided

by registered nursing staff on job stress and job satisfaction among nurse aides

(NAs) working in long-term care The results suggest that supervisory support for

NAs is an important determinant of NAs' job satisfaction

Developmental Experiences and Job Satisfaction

of taking on demanding assignments that offer opportunity for learning and

leadership The extent to which an assignment brings DE can depend on how the

particular employee views the opportunity in his or her own mind Developmental

assignments usually share some common features: unfamiliar responsibilities,

opportunity to create change, high levels of responsibility, working across

boundaries, and managing diversity

Developmental experiences were correlated positively with number of promotion

and employee has received, career development…These factors have strong

positive relationship with Jobs Satisfaction

Goal – Process Clarity and Job Satisfaction

Goal Clarity describes clarity about job’s outcome goal and objective For

employee, goal is very important to their performance of work The clearer goal

setting, the easier employee can achieve

performed Process Clarity has direct relation to Goal Clarity Employee is unable

to achieve goal of job if the process of job is uncertain

Learning from concept of Goal and Process Clarity, we see a positive relationship

of with Job Satisfaction Goals and goal setting strategies are important

determinates of performance and performance related outcomes such as job

satisfaction

Goal clarity was directly related to Job Satisfaction, and Process Clarity was

indirectly related to Job Satisfaction through Goal Clarity

Job Role Discretion and Job Satisfaction

The notion of discretion occurs when someone has the freedom and authority to

take action and is aware of this freedom (Finkelstein et al., 2009, p 26; Hackman &

Oldham, 1975) A definition on discretion in the English Dictionary for Advanced

Learners (2001, p 435) is: “if someone in a position of authority uses their

discretion or has the discretion to do something in a particular situation, they have

the freedom and authority to decide what to do”

According to above concepts, Job Role Discretion is about discretion given to

employee to make choices and decision to get their job done In another word, Job

Role Discretion will help employees to get their job done successfully because the

discretion of the job will bring contribution to their decision in jobs: Responsibility,

Flexibility and Creation

Job Role Discretion has positive correlation with factors which have direct

relationship with Job Satisfaction: Organizational commitment, Job autonomy, and

Research Model

(Figure 2: Research Model)

PART THREE: RESEARCH METHODS

items to measure an employee’s general affective reaction to his or her job without

reference to any specific facets Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale

Likert-type Scale

1

If you had to decide all over again

whether to take the job you now have,

what would you decide?

If a (good) friend asked if he/she

should apply for a job like yours with

your employer, what would you

3

How does this job compare with

your ideal job (job you would most

(In general) how does your job measure

up to the sort of job you wanted when

All (in all) things considered, how

satisfied are you with your current

Supervisory Support

This measure was developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990) to

assess employee perceptions of the extent to which they receive supervisory support

scale

No Questionnaires Responses are obtained on 5-point

Likert-type Scale

1

My supervisor takes the time to learn

about my career goals and aspirations

My supervisor care s about whether or

not I achieve my goals

My supervisor makes sure I get the

something substantial on the job

My supervisor gives me helpful

performance when I need it

My supervisor supports my attempts to

acquire additional training on education

My supervisor provides assignments that

give me the opportunity to develop and

My supervisor assigns me special

projects that increase my visibility in the

(Table 3: Supervisory Support Scale)

Developmental Experiences

This measure, developed by Wayne, Shore, and Liden (1997), describes the formal

and informal developmental experiences a job affords employees The measure

focuses on the extent to which an organization makes discretionary investments in

formal and informal training and development of an employee It uses 4 items and

No Questionnaires Responses are obtained on 5-point

Likert-type Scale

1

In the positions that I have held at Thanh

Cong Group, I have often been given

additional challenging assignments

In the positions that I have held at Thanh

Cong Group, I have often been assigned

projects that have enabled me to develop

and strengthen new skills

Besides formal training and development

opportunities, to what extent have your

managers helped to develop your skills

by providing you with challenging job

4

Regardless of Thanh Cong Group’s

policy on training and development, to

what extent have your managers made a

substantial investment in you by

providing formal training and

(Table 4: Development Experiences Scale)

Goal and Process Clarity

This measure was developed and tested by Sawyer (1992) It describes dimensions

outcome goals and objectives The other dimension describes clarity or certainty

about a job’s process or how it should performed

The measure uses seven items Responses are obtained on 5-point Likert-type scale

No Questionnaires Responses are obtained on 5-point

1 2 3 4 5

3

How my work relates to the overall

objectives of my work unit

Considering all your work tasks, how

certain are you that you know the

best ways to do these tasks

How to determine the appropriate

procedures for each work task