Increasing job satisfaction
The concept of job satisfaction is defined here as the balance between meeting the ‘needs of the individual’ and the ‘demands of role in the organisation’.
The needs of the individual includes being genuinely valued and respected, being able to make a valued contribution and receiving an appropriate reimbursement for effort, ability and skill in a safe and secure work environment. Individual needs apply to both paid and unpaid positions.
The demands of the role in the organisation should be expressed in the role description, and in workplace policies and procedures, work practices, performance measures and organisational objectives.
It is possible to enhance and increase each person’s job satisfaction in relation to:
- tasks, including procedures
- working relationships, including teamwork
- actual work environment, including the physical work location and work station.
Where the level of job satisfaction is increased or enhanced, the quality of contribution and level of confidence are also increased or enhanced. Where job satisfaction is reduced, morale and personal and professional credibility are also reduced. Job satisfaction can only be recognised and measured by the individual concerned, never by the organisation.
It is important to realise that another person’s behaviour that seems without any value to you may well be a behaviour that is highly valued by that person: therefore you are wise to understand that another person’s behaviour is simply demonstrating their own values and offering you a point of entry into their thinking.
Initially concentrating on organisational policies and procedures in her consultancies, I quickly realised that these can produce very few positive results unless human factors are taken into account. If an organisation is able to understand and anticipate human behaviours, they are much closer to increasing:
- individual job satisfaction at governance, management and operations levels of activity,
- organisational efficiency and productivity – which means that available or accessible resources are wisely invested in service design, delivery and conformance, and
- confidently capitalising on opportunities as they arise or are created.
I have found that identifying and respecting the reasons for particular actions and re-actions contributes to resolving many of the problems inherent in employing staff, building teams, allocating responsibilities and achieving desired results. It is most important to understand and predict human behaviour in a specific environment when creating effective business and workplace relationships, which means understanding:
- how and why people think, feel and act differently
- how to recognise and manage ‘people’ problems
- how to create opportunities for yourself and others
- how to build organisational success through Business Brainpower
- how to improve your business, workplace and personal relationship
By utilizing left and right-brain orientation in human resource management, an organisation will increase competencies relating to -
- effective communication
- effective delegation and negotiation
- winning greater commitment to ideas for improvement
- improving internal and external relationships
- rewarding people with ‘other than money’
- generating 110% effort from organisation’s people.
Utilising orientation as a tool in an organisation means that people of each orientation are able and encouraged to increase their:
- sense of self-worth
- acceptance of fellow workers, and
- levels of performance, effectiveness and job satisfaction.
- Relevant natural characteristics related to orientation can be identified, in particular the differences and relationships between them. You can then develop a frame of reference from which to draw a set of most and least likely values, attitudes, behaviours and consequences.
