Factors Influencing Employee＇s Satisfaction

Introduction：This paper aims at dig out the factors which influence employee's satisfaction towards work. There are two more factors that are internal and external ones， except for except for organizational leadership and workplace relationship①， including individual behaviors and rewards and penalties policy. Leadership， workplace relationship and rewards and penalty policy are the external factors which decide the work performance in whether these can provide employees a comfortable environment and they can not be changed through employees' efforts and employees can only adapt to it without any ability to change. These factors are objective one which is decided by the management part， while the individual behaviors are subjective factor which largely depends on employee's self-attitude to work and it is can be changed through employee's effort.

Key words： work satisfaction; individual behaviors; rewards and penalties policy.

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIORS

Individual behaviors refer to MARS including employee motivation， ability， role perception， situational factors.② Employee motivation refers to whether the employee himself or herself has a set goal which he or she wants to achieve regardless of any problems. A right employee’s self-motivation can give employees positive attitudes to their work， so that employees can feel satisfied and content through working. And so do the remaining three factors. What’s more， individual behaviors also include individual values and personalities and etc. An employee with positive value and personality such as self-esteem， or self-improvement can facilitate his work with high efficiency. On the contrary， people with low self-motivation would be lack of enthusiasm to everything. It is the most important factor in influencing employee’s job satisfaction.

REWARDS PENALTIES POLICY

Rewards and penalties are the essential external factor. There are several theories concerning to motivation， and on the basis of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs③， which includes five level of needs. They are physiological needs including excretion， water， nutrition etc， and safety needs， love and belonging， esteem and self-actualization. We can see from the hierarchy of the needs， the bottom is the physiological needs then the top is the mental needs， that means people firstly notice whether their ordinary life can be supported or not， and people’s essential and basic needs are material needs， so employees will first consider if their gains can afford their livings or if their gains can equal to their pays. So in general， this factor often comes to the first when considering a certain job. Only if people are satisfied with their material lives can they pursue a higher quality of living and goal. So a job’s satisfaction to an employees are largely decided by the materially rewards and it is the most essential one.

APPLICATION

I’ve asked advice from my friends who are working and also do some research work. I found that they as new-comers in society felt disappointed and frustrated about their salaries， they always complained about their no rewards after additional works， felt tired and unsatisfied， so that these led to poor performance in job. What they gained were more punishments and more works. This is a negative example of rewards penalties. And as per to my own experience， when I was in junior high school， I transferred to a better school， students here were ever excellent in studies. So at that time I feel depressed， filled with pressure， doubtful to myself and negative without motivation. Then when I gradually adapted to the new environment， I re-grasp my motivation and felt satisfied in study. From then on， I know how important attitude and individual behaviors are in working and studying.

Conclusion

In addition to four factors mentioned above， there are many other factors can affect employees’ job satisfaction such as workplace environment， opportunities to improvement， interest， etc. As we mention before these factors do not take effect undependably， most of the time the external factors and the internal factors are combined to influence employee’s job performance. And there are some suggestions， what we can do to improve our satisfaction to study or work is to develop our interests with high passions. Then always pursue a better performance， and then evaluate what you can gain or what you have sacrificed through this work， at last decide whether you continue this job.

References：

[1] Dan O’Hair Gustav W·Friedrich Lynda Dee Dixon. (2005). Strategic Communication in Business and the Professions(5th ed.). Boston :Houghton Mufflin Company.

[2] Steven L. Mcshane Mary Ann Von Glinow.， (2007). Organizational Behavior. New York， NY: McGraw-Hill Company.

[3] Abraham H. Maslow. (1987). Motivation and personality. HarperCollins Publisher.