Factors affecting overall job satisfaction in meinhardt viet nam LTD

The company provides services of construction consultancy such as project management, project supervision, project bidding etc.. This study examines factors affecting the employee’s over

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

BUSINESS RESEARCH

FACTORS AFFECTING OVERALL JOB SATISFACTON

IN MEINHARDT VIET NAM LTD.

STUDENT’S FULL NAME

FACTORS AFFECTING OVERALL JOB SATISFACTON

MEINHARDT VIET NAM LTD

: CGS000016265

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

FACTORS AFFECTING OVERALL JOB SATISFACTON

K14C

DR KHAI NGUYEN

Advisor’s Assessment

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Advisor’s signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr Khai Nguyen for his dedicated teaching and advising during this wonderful study time at Hutech University, and the library staffs of Hutech for providing the support and information I needed

I would like to thank all employees and my partners at Meinhardt VN Ltd for providing me with all the attention and information I needed for this study

I would also like to thank my classmates who studied along with me and helped me in one way

or the other

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT 6

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 7

1 1 Company Description 7

1.2 Organization structure 7

1.3 Company Services 8

1.4 Business Sector 10

1.5 Company problem 14

1.6 Purpose of study 15

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 16

2.1 Goal and Process clarity and overall job satisfaction 16

2.2 Procedural Fairness 18

2.3 Fairness in skill-based pay 20

2.4 Perceived Person-Organization Fit 21

2.5 Overall Job Satisfaction 23

CHAPTER III HYPOTHESIS MODEL & RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 26

3.1 Hypothesis model 26

3.2 Research Methodology 28

3.2.1 Data collection 28

3.2.2 Measurement of constructs 29

CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING RESULT 34

4.1 Reliability Test 34

4.2 Descriptive statistic 35

4.3 Correlation statistic 35

4.4 Overall Hypothesis Testing Result 37

4.4.1 Hypothesis 1 result 38

4.4.2 Hypothesis 2 result 38

4.4.3 Hypothesis 3 result 38

4.4.4 Hypothesis 4 result 38

CHAPTER V DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION 39

5.1 Discussion 39

5.2 Limitation 40

REFERENCES 42

APPENDIX: RESEARCH QUESTIONAIRES 47

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig 1 Meinhardt VN’s organization chart 8

Fig 2 Hypothesis model 26

LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Measure of goal and process clarity 30

Table 2 Measure of procedural fairness 31

Table 3 Measure of fairness in skill-based pay 31

Table 4 Measure of perceived person-organization fit 32

Table 5 Measure of overall job satisfaction 33

Table 6 Cronbach’s alpha testing values 35

Table 7 Descriptive statistic results 35

Table 8 Correlation statistic 36

Table 9 Model Summary 37

Table 10 ANOVA results 37

Table 11 Coefficients results 37

ABSTRACT

Real estate industry in Viet Nam is growing back after falling down due to the economic crisis Construction companies are also growing back following the industry In Viet Nam, we have several famous international companies participating in construction service, and Meinhardt VN Ltd is one of those The company provides services of construction consultancy such as project management, project supervision, project bidding etc The company business was very successful from 2000 to 2010, but has been slowing down lately even though the real estate is growing back

This study examines factors affecting the employee’s overall job satisfaction at Meinhardt VN and its relationship with overall job satisfaction Four factors affecting are goal and process clarity, procedural fairness, fairness in skill- based pay and perceive person – organization fit Through this study, it is tested and resulted that there is a positive relationship between goal and process clarity, procedural fairness, fairness in skill- based pay and perceive person – organization fit and overall job satisfaction in Meinhardt Viet Nam Ltd

Key words: Goal and process clarity, procedural fairness, fairness in skill-based pay, perceive person-organization fit, overall job satisfaction

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1 1 Company Description

Meinhardt Group commenced operation in Australia in 1955, in Asia in 1973 and now employs

in excess of 3,500 permanent staff The Group currently operates in 30 countries worldwide and maintains permanent offices in USA, UK, UAE, India and Pakistan and throughout the Asia Pacific regions Ranked among the largest independent engineering consulting firms globally by revenue, Meinhardt Group, with over 42 offices worldwide

In Viet Nam, Meinhardt Viet Nam Ltd (Meinhardt VN) was established in Ho Chi Minh City in

1995 The company has been granted a full license of engineering consultancy under 100% Foreign Owned Company status and has been admitted as a member of Vietnam Engineering Consultant Association (VECAS) Representative offices are established in Hanoi and Da Nang

to execute projects in the north of the country

Through its close links with the other offices of the Group, the firm is able to obtain external support and particular specialist expertise when required, so as to combine the Group global presence and knowledge base with local experience

1.2 Organization structure

The company has currently over 300 full time employees with a variety of expertise and a strong combination of international staff, Vietnamese with overseas qualifications and experience, and well qualified Vietnamese nationals This allows the company to provide engineering services that meet either Vietnamese or International Standards

Although the company is part of Meinhardt Group, however, the general director can decide all the decisions by himself, meaning the general director has full power to ma

company structure consists of departments with its own directors

directed by a specific deputy general director of the company

Fig 1 Meinhardt VN’s organization chart

directed by a specific deputy general director of the company

Fig 1 Meinhardt VN’s organization chart

Meinhardt VN Ltd is fully licensed with variety ranges of consultancy services Some main

- Concept Design: Sketches/ drawings with different options for the building layout and general perspectives

- Basic Design: Provide general detail after completion of concept design

- Detail Design and Documentation: Complete set of architectural

Although the company is part of Meinhardt Group, however, the general director can decide all

ke decisions The Department directors are

Meinhardt VN Ltd is fully licensed with variety ranges of consultancy services Some main

Concept Design: Sketches/ drawings with different options for the

Design: Provide general detail after completion of concept

Detail Design and Documentation: Complete set of architectural

drawings and specifications suitable for construction

 Civil & Structural design - Concept Design: Concept on structural components, design parameters

and design standard report

- Detail Design: Develop detail civil, structural and foundation design, calculations, drawings and specifications

 Mechanical & Electrical

design

- Water supply & storage and distribution system

- Power supply & distribution and lighting system

- Telecommunication system

- Ventilation and air conditioning system

- Fire fighting and protection system

 Project Management - Co-ordinate designers

- Arrange Government approvals and liaise with government authorities

- Construction management and site supervision

 Construction Supervision - Examine and supervise quality of construction materials and

equipment used for the project

- Check construction methods of construction contractor

- Regularly and systematically supervise construction procedures of the contractor on the site

- Organize the acceptance of the project

- Holding meetings, cooperate with other relating parties to settle all misgivings, matters arising during the construction of the project

 Cost Management (QS) - Preliminary cost estimates

- Development budgeting

- Detailed construction cost estimates

- Quantity surveying services prior to and during construction

a Infrastructure sector

Provision of infrastructure is a core activity in development The provision of proper utility services in water, sanitation, waste disposal, electricity, gas and others, together with transportation is a long-term The company has been responsible for some recent key developments in local infrastructure in Vietnam such as:

Ben Thanh Central Station (Contract Package 1-A) under Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Construction Project Line 1: The Ben Thanh Station is a fully integrated public transport interchange linking 4 lines of MRT, which are line 1, 2, 3a and 4 and an underground bus station Meinhardt VN Ltd signs the sub-contract with the Association

to provide M&E design service for the project

Client: Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway PMU

Completion year: 2015

Saigon International Terminal Project: Provide design services and construction audit for

a container port including a wharf of 730m long and a container yard with an area of 33,700m2 together with all ancillary buildings

Project Cost: USD95 million

Year of completion: 2010

Phu My Bridge Extension Road Project: Provide project management and construction supervision for three traffic projects invested under the form of BT contract (Building – Transfer Contract) linking Districts 9, 2 and 7: The Eastern ring road stretching from Phu

My Bridge to Rach Chiec Bridge with length of 8.7km and width of 67m, the road linking Phu My Bridge to traffic intersection South Saigon A with length of 1,655m including an elevated road with length of 1,587m and width of 23.7m,and the South Saigon A traffic intersection

Client: Phu My Bridge B.O.T Joint Stock Company

b Building sector

Critical to Meinhardt VN ’s approach and development in Viet Nam.The company provides the full range of design services for buildings of all types and for all engineering disciplines Typical projects are:

Kumho Asiana Plaza, HCM: Provided preparation of tender documentation, tender processing services and construction supervision for Kumho Asiana Plaza project located

at 39 Le Duan Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City The project constructed on an area of 13,632m2 consists of a 21-storey hotel tower, a 32-storey apartment tower, a 21-storey office tower and a 2-storey shopping center with underground car-park

Client: Kumho Asiana Plaza Saigon Co Ltd

Construction cost: US$200M

Completion year: 11/2009

“Saigon Paragon” Complex Building: provided project management – preconstruction, cost estimation and tender documentation, review the design of M&E aspect and project management and construction supervision for the USD 15M project

Client: Kim Cuong Joint Stock Company

Completion year: 2008

EverRich Residential and Commercial Centre: Provided project management, construction supervision, preparation of tender documents and contract for Everrich Residential and Commercial Centre Project which comprises 2 towers with 20-storey in height of each (excluding 2 basements and 5 podiums) The project is located at 940B Ba Thang Hai Street, Ward 15, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City

Client: Phat Dat Company

Completion year: 11/2009

c Leisure and recreation sector

Including resorts and hotels across Viet Nam such as:

MGM Grand Ho Tram Tourist Complex Project: Provided general and detailed study and design for this project The Ho Tram Tourist Complex covers an area of 169 ha in Xuyen Moc Commune of Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province Construction of the Project 1 (phase 1 and 2) – including the two five-star hotels, Vietnam’s first Las Vegas-style casinos and the specially designed Greg Norman golf completed by 2011 The entire 169 hectares of the Ho Tram Strip, featuring five Las Vegas-style integrated resorts, is scheduled to be completely developed and operational within ten years The total investment capital of the project is worth of US$ 4.2 billions, the biggest FDI project of its kind in Vietnam Meinhardt VN

Client: Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd (ACDL)

d Sport sector

Meinhardt VN won the First Prize in the contest of Planning, Descriptive Design and Tender Document Preparation consultancy services for the Olympic Village in Jaber AL-Ahmed Housing City, Kuwait selected by the Public Authority for Housing Welfare, State of Kuwait in

2012

Olympic Village Project-Kuwait: The project site covers 23.6ha and has a mix of sporting, residential and international facilities to enable the holding of International sporting competitions over 27 sports The main buildings with Gross Floor Area of approximately 250,000 sqm and external landscaped and civil works of 117,000 sqm Meinhardt VN is appointed to provide Project Design Management as well as complete Architectural and Engineering Design Consultancy Services

Client: Public Authority for Housing Welfare

Construction cost: approx USD 1 billion

Award: 1st prize in the Design contest selected by the State of Kuwait, Public Authority for Housing Welfare

Year of completion: 2014

1.5 Company problem

Employees of Meinhardt VN have recently had a tendency to drop out of the company, and the quality of current employees is also reduced, i.e coming late, not fulfill duty… Before this, the employees had suffered salary deduction and late in monthly payment due to real estate crisis, however, not much employees left the company during that time When asked the reasons why they left the company, the reasons are varied from aspects of salary, work environment, careers

etc especially, they mentioned how dissatisfaction about their current job/position within the company

As human resources is the main power of the company, keep losing employees and workers harm significantly to the company business Therefore there is a need to change this situation

poor-1.6 Purpose of study

To resolve the above problem, the aim of this study is to examine factors affecting the employee’s overall job satisfaction at Meinhardt VN, thus finding a way to increase their overall job satisfaction This study will focus on four factors and its relationship with the overall job satisfaction in Meinhardt VN These factors are:

- Goal and Process Clarity

- Procedural Fairness

- Fairness in Skill-based Pay

- Perceived Person-Organization Fit

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Goal and Process clarity and overall job satisfaction

Inspired by Sawyer (1992), this factor is belong to the role ambiguity such as clarity about a job’s outcome goals and objectives, and certainty about a job’s process or how it should performed respectively In 1957, Smith conducted an experimental study with 140 college students systematically varied the amount of role ambiguity and measured the effects on problem solving The study showed that when groups were asked to solve problems without clarification

of the role each member was to perform, their efficiency was significantly less than when the

roles were made clear; secondly, role ambiguity markedly reduced group satisfaction with the

experience; and thirdly, the hostility level was significantly higher for groups under conditions of role ambiguity as compared to control groups

Kahn et al (1964) expressed that to have an adequately perform employee’s role, they must know what the expectations of the role set are (such as rights, duties, and responsibilities), what activities will fulfill the role responsibilities, and what the consequences of role performance are

to themselves, others, and the organization Conflict or uncertainty may occur when the three types of information do not exist or when they are inadequately communicated He suggested that role ambiguity where lack of the adequately information available to a given job position will result in coping behavior by the role incumbent, which may take the form of attempts to solve the problem to avoid the stress, or to use defense mechanisms which change the reality of the situation; thus, unclearly goal and process clarity could increase the probability that a person will be dissatisfied with his role, will experience anxiety, will distort reality, and will thus perform less effectively A study showed that high degrees of role ambiguity resulted in

increased tension, anxiety, fear and hostility, decreased job satisfaction, and loss of confidence, often with lower productivity (Kahn et al, 1964)

self-Later on, Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) extended the definition of role ambiguity in terms

of the expected outcome or responses to one’s behavior and the existence or clarity of behavioral requirements These items reflect certainty about duties, authority, allocation of time, and relationships with others Another study of goal clarity by Gladstein (1984) demonstrated that the clarity of team goals and individual members’ roles they communicate more effectively with each other, which in turn serves to integrate each team member’s tasks with those performed by others on the team This mutual understanding facilitates the emergence of a shared vision of their subgoals, team goals, and the processes needed for accomplishing tasks Locke & Latham (1990) also provided a goal-setting theory suggesting that clear goals will lead to improvement

of team performance due to their role in directing team members’ attention and encouraging members to be persistent

Lately, Stewart (2006) showed that a high level of goal clarity indicates that members as a whole clearly understand their goals and the connection between their work and the objectives As well

as a high level of process clarity implies that members clearly understand the procedures that must be followed in order to achieve goals Thus previous survey and experimental evidence suggests that uncertainty of goal and process clarity would have undesirable impact for both members and for organizational performance

2.2 Procedural Fairness

This factor is to assess employee perceptions about the fairness of the procedure used for making pay-related decisions including pay determination, pay communication, performance appraisal and appealing (Scarpello and Jones, 1996) In considering pay issues, there are commonly two types of fairness that are distributive justice and procedural justice While distributive justice refers to the degree to which employees perceive their pay amount as fair, procedural justice is concerned with the perceived fairness of the means or methods used to determine the amount of pay Greenberg & Folger (1983) defined distributive justice is concerned with the fairness of the amount of resources distributed, procedural justice focuses on the fairness of the rules and processes governing how such decisions are made Folger and Konovsky (1992) defined that distributive justice refers to the perceived fairness of the amounts of compensation employees receive while procedural justice refers to the perceived fairness of the means used to determine those amounts

In the field of procedural justice, the most generally accepted and best-documented finding is that allowing people an opportunity to voice their opinion about a decision enhances their judgments of the fairness of the decision-making procedure Hom and Griffeth’s (1995) study showed that both perceived fairness of pay procedures and perceived fairness of pay amounts were proposed as predictors of satisfaction with pay Welbourne (1998) also concluded that both distributive and procedural fairness affected satisfaction Other research also supports a relationship between procedural fairness and pay satisfaction

A theory called fairness heuristic made a number of novel predictions about the psychology of procedural justice and distributive justice Fairness heuristic theory stated that in several

situations fairness is a significant issue More specifically, the theory demonstrated that people especially need fairness judgments when they are concerned about potential problems associated with social interdependence and socially based identity processes An experimental example developed by Lind, Kanfer and Early (1990) was that participants are requested to complete tasks Furthermore, it is communicated to subjects that the experimenter will decide on the number of tasks they will have to complete After a practice trial, the procedure that subjects receive is manipulated: they are either allowed or not allowed an opportunity to voice their opinion about the number of tasks to be completed Findings of Lind, Kanfer and Early (1990) showed a voice effect: subjects judged the procedure to be more fair when they were allowed voice than when they were not allowed voice Furthermore, the experimental manipulations affected subjects’ task performance: subjects who were allowed voice completed more tasks than subjects who were not allowed voice

In terms of outcome favorability, high procedural fairness also increase the effect of outcome

favorability, relative to when procedural fairness is low (Gilliland, 1994; Ployhart, Ryan, & Bennett, 1999; Schroth & Shah, 2000) There is more likely to be a positive relationship between procedural fairness and self-esteem when outcomes are favorable rather than unfavorable Schroth & Shah (2000) proved that in the face of unfavorable outcomes, procedural fairness may actually be negatively related to self-evaluations Generally, many researchs (Folger, 1977; Folger, Rosenfield, Grove, & Corkran, 1979; Walker, La- Tbur, Lind, & Thibaut, 1974) has discovered that there is a positive relationship between procedural fairness and how people react

to the outcomes and satisfaction they may receive

2.3 Fairness in skill-based pay

This factor can be link to be a part of procedural fairness, that is involved in pay issues Again, one of the strongest determinants of employee attitudes, motivation and behaviors is compensation (Gerhart & Milkovich, 1992) Fairness in skill-based pay reflects the fairness in a skill-based pay program Skill-based pay system employees for the range, depth, and types of skills applied on jobs Employee perceptions of the skill-based pay program are likely to be influence by their perceptions that certification procedures are objective and cc tent across people, times, and skills; include opportunities for employee ask questions about the decisions made; and incorporate the use of accurate information (Lee, Law, and Bobko, 1998) By paying for attributes (knowledge, skills, and abilities) of individuals, organizations hope to direct the attention of their employees to developmental opportunities and to encourage skill-seeking behavior

Lawler, Mohrman, and Ledford (1992) reported that about 51 percent of large companies were using skill- or knowledge-based pay programs in at least small portions of their organizations Most empirical evidence regarding the effects of skill-based pay comes from exploratory surveys administered to human resource managers or personnel directors at facilities that use these pay plans (Gupta, Jenkins, & Curington, 1986; Gupta, Jenkins, Curington, Clements, Doty, Schweizer, & Teutsch, 1986; Jenkins, Ledford, Gupta, & Doty, 1992; Vaughn, Fottler, Bamberg,

& Blayney, 1991) They suggested some support for the declaration of increased workforce flexibility, decreased labor cost, increased product quality, and increased productivity A skill-based pay plan requires a fundamental departure from traditional job-based pay to a person-based approach that rewards employees for acquiring new skills (Gupta, Jenkins, & Curington, 1986; Jenkins, Ledford, Gupta, & Doty, 1992) Different from traditional job-based pay plans,

skill-based pay are almost involved in a strategic plan for the organization (Lawler & Jenkins, 1992), implying greater returns on investment and greater accountability

Gerald and Herbert (2011) suggested there are different forms that skill-based pay can take One form is the type of skills, knowledge or competencies that the system can compensate such as depth (gaining greater expertise in existing skills); breadth (increasing one's range of skills); and self-management (gaining skills that might previously have been reserved for higher levels in the organizations, such as planning, training, budgeting, etc.) The second form focuses on whether the reward offered is a bonus or base pay increase Other different types of skill-based pay have different configurations associated with different traditions, and goals and implementation processes Gerald and Herbert (2011) suggested that to decide whether skill-based pay is right for one person or not, the system would requires careful analysis for any specific organization They also suggested that for employees to accept the pay system, they need to understand how they can make more money under the system, and need a realistic idea of how long it will take to

advance Not all employees will prefer any pay system design Each pay system has winners and

losers, and losers tend to voice about pay The key is making sure that the employees who are happy with the system represent the ones that best fit SBP—that is, those with the skills and orientation the organization needs to succeed—and that those who are unhappy are less valuable

to the organization

2.4 Perceived Person-Organization Fit

Perceived person-organization (P-O) fit reflects the perception of employees over their fit with

an organization Kristof (1996) defined P-O fit as “the compatibility between people and organizations that occurs when at least one entity provides what the other needs, or they share

similar fundamental characteristics or both” People usually select environments that fulfill their needs, a process resulting in person–environment fit (Diener, Larson, & Emmons, 1984; Pervin, 1989) Hence, the fit includes job seekers, employees and employers as well For job seeker, Tom (1971) expected that job seekers would prefer organizations that have the same

“personality” as they do Cable & Judge (1994), Chatman (1989) study also showed that job seekers prefer organizations where their personal characteristics are aligned with organizational attribute In fact, the proposition that individuals make job choice decisions based on person-organization fit Empirical evidence supports the proposition that job seekers are affected by congruence between their personalities and organizations’ attributes (Bretz, Ash, & Dreher, 1989; Burke & Deszca, 1982; Cable & Judge, 1994; Judge & Bretz, 1992; Turban & Keon, 1993) A theory by Schneider’s (1987) is attraction-selection-attrition (A-S-A) theory that individuals are attracted to organizations that match their values and interests Organizations, in turn, tend to select candidates who are most similar to the organization After entry into the organization, individuals whose values are unequal with the organization tend to leave, either willingly or unwillingly With the attrition of these “different” individuals, those retained tend to

be similar to one another, which thus increases the homogeneity of the organization (Schneider, 2001) Theoretically, the relation between fit and attitudes is predicated on the reasoning that when there is fit, the environment affords individuals the opportunity to fulfill their needs (Pervin, 1992; Rounds, Dawis, & Lofquist, 1987; Schneider, Kristof-Brown, Goldstein, & Smith, 1997) Need fulfillment results in favorable attitudes, such as job satisfaction and orga-nizational commitment In addition, social-psychological theories about similarity in attitudes (e.g., Byrne, 1971; Newcomb, 1961) can also be used to explain why fit is posited to be related

to favorable attitudes That is, people find it more desirable to interact with others who have

similar psychological characteristics because the interaction verifies and reinforces their own beliefs, expressed behaviors, and affect (Swann, 1987; Swann, Stein-Seroussi, & Giesler, 1992) Thus, high levels of fit provide individuals opportunities to interact with similar others, and this,

in turn, results in favorable attitudes, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment

For employers, personal-organization fit affect in the process of personnel selection (e.g., Adams, Elacqua, & Collarelli, 1994; Bowen, Ledford, & Nathan, 1991; cf Rynes, Brown, & Colbert, 2002) and the unique issues that surround the use of personal-organization fit in employment decision making The use of P-O fit for selection purposes appears to be on the increase (Rynes et al., 2002) Adams et al (1994) suggested that the focus on employment interviews should shift from the prediction of performance approach to a focus that stresses the interview’s usefulness for assessing P-O fit In a similar vein, Judge, Higgins, and Cable (2000) reviewed recent developments in the employment interview research that focus on the use of the interview as a means of assessing P-O fit

For employees in term of job satisfaction, there are many researches about relationship between person-organization fit and job satisfaction, and mostly confirmed there is positive relationship between these factors Increase person-organization (P-O) fit to increase job satisfaction Kristof-Brown et al., 2005; Verquer et al., 2003) It is also true in the other hand when poor P-O fit may lead to decreased job satisfaction (Wheeler et at (2005)

2.5 Overall Job Satisfaction

Numerous studies related to the overall job satisfaction Job satisfaction can be described in many terms such as degree of employee satisfaction with the work, co-workers, supervision,

promotional opportunities, pay, progress, and the organization It is a most frequently studied variable in organizational behavior research, and also a central variable in both research and theory of organizational phenomena ranging from job design to supervision (Spector, 1997)

The work of Maslow(1954) is seminal and suggested that human needs form a five-level hierarchy ranging from physiological needs, safety, belongingness and love, esteem to self-actualization Based on Maslow’s theory, job satisfaction has been approached by some researchers from the perspective of need fulfillment (Kuhlen, 1963; Worf, 1970; Conrad et al., 1985) However, this approach has become less popular with increasing emphasis on cognitive processes rather than on underlying needs so that the attitudinal perspective has become predominant in the study of job satisfaction (Spector, 1997)

In contrast to the traditional view, Herzberg and Mausner (1959) formulated the two-factor theory of job satisfaction and postulated that satisfaction and dissatisfaction were two separate and sometimes even unrelated phenomena Fundamental factors which they called ‘motivators’ like nature and experience of doing work were found to be job ‘satisfiers’, including achievement, recognition, work itself and responsibility Extrinsic factors which they called

‘hygiene’ factors were found to be job ‘dissatisfiers’ which including company policy, administration, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions Herzberg and Mausner’s Motivation-Hygiene theory has dominated the study of the nature of job satisfaction, and formed a basis for the development of job satisfaction assessment So the causes of job satisfaction are varied An interesting experiment by Staw, Bell, and Clausen (1986) even discovered a link between childhood personality and job satisfaction later in life, there has been considerable interest in the relationship between individual nature and job satisfaction There is

even evidence that the job satisfaction levels of identical twins reared apart are similar, which suggests a possible genetic basis for job satisfaction (Arvey, Bouchard, Segal, & Abraham, 1989) Brief (1998) and Motowidlo (1996) have recently offered theoretical models in an attempt

to illuminate the relationship between characteristics and job satisfaction

In short, Kuhlen (1962) defined job satisfaction as the individual matching of personal needs to the perceived potential of the occupation for satisfying those needs Later on, Worf (1970) defined it as a need fulfillment, that is, whether or not the job met the employee’s physical and psychological needs for the things within the work situation Conrad et al., (1985) stated as a match between what individuals perceive they need and what rewards they perceive they receive from their jobs Spector (1997) summarized the following facets of job satisfaction: appreciation, communication, co-workers, fringe benefits, job conditions, nature of the work itself, the nature of the organization itself, an organization’s policies and procedures, pay, personal growth, promotion opportunities, recognition, security and supervision