Prior to Armstrong, HRM can be described as a strategic, integrated and coherent approach to the employment, development and well being of the people working in organizations’. He maintains that the overall function of HRM is that we are able to achieve organizational success through our employees.
‘ HRM is the function performed in organizations that facilitates the most effective use of people (employees) to achieve organizational and individual goals’ (Randhawa 2007, p. 2).
2. 1 Definition of Job Satisfaction
Mathis and Jackson (2010, p. 158) point out ‘ in its most basic sense, job satisfaction is a positive emotional state resulting from evaluating one’s job experiences’.
Job satisfaction is an end state of feeling (Saiyadain 2009). He further clarifies that job satisfaction is a feeling which can be experienced only after the accomplishment of the task or job.
Miller (2007, p. 53) state that, ‘ job satisfaction is a complex and multi faceted concept, which can mean different things to different people’.
2. 2 Models of job satisfaction
There are different theories of job satisfaction.
2. 2 (a) Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976)
Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect theory (1976) is the most popular theory of job satisfaction. This theory determines job satisfaction through a difference which exist between what an employee wants from a job and what the employee is getting from the job. A miniature difference sets out job satisfaction as being high and a huge difference would mean the employee is less satisfied with the job. Furthermore, this theory also affirms that employees give priority to one facet of the job. This prioritization is different for every individual employee. For example, one employee may value good working conditions more than anything at work, for another employee challenging work might be more important compared to working conditions. The absence of the facet will lead to job dissatisfaction of the employee. Hence, to guarantee job satisfaction, we have to identify the most important facet of the job that an employee wants and ensure this facet is met suitably (Ray and Ranjan 2011).
2. 2 (b) Dispositional theory
According to Ray and Ranjan (2011, p. 8) the dispositional theory ‘ is a very general theory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause them to have tendencies toward a certain level of satisfaction regardless of one’s job’. According to Brown and lent (2012, chapter 8) ‘ the dispositional approach maintains that job satisfaction is due to general tendencies to experience positive or negative effect’. He further explains that some employees have dispositions that make them feel positive in their lives and as a result they feel positive about their jobs as well. Various research shown that there is a relationship between disposition and job satisfaction (Redmond 2012).
2. 2 (c) Opponent Process theory
The link between motivation and emotion is illustrated through this theory. (Bernstein et al 2007). We have two sets of emotional reactions under the opponent process theory namely, the primary reaction and the secondary reaction which are based on events. The primary reaction is the instant emotional response and afterwards the secondary one. If these two reactions creates an equilibrium, this would lead to job satisfaction. (Zaidi 2009).
2. 2 (d) Equity theory
According to Griffin (2012, p. 456), ‘ equity theory contends that people are motivated to seek social equity in the rewards they receive for performance’. He further affirms that if the ratio of inputs and outputs are equal, a feeling of equity will be there. Equity theory is one which has attracted the attention of HR professionals concerning equity in outcomes.
Inputs and Outcomes of equity theory
Inputs
Outcomes
Education, intelligence, experience, training,
Skills, seniority, age, sex, ethnic background,
Social status, job effort, personal appearance, health,
spouse’s characteristics
Pay, intrinsic rewards, satisfying supervision,
Seniority benefits, fringe benefits, job status,
Status symbols, job perquisites, poor working conditions,
monotony, fate, uncertainty
Table … what inputs and outcomes are expected.
2. 2 (e) Discrepancy theory
Prior to Zaidi (2009, p. 172), ‘ this theory suggests that a person’s job satisfaction comes from what they feel is important rather than the fulfillment or unfulfillment of their needs’. Under this theory, satisfaction is the relationship of what a person wants from his job situation and what he is actually receiving from it. If the satisfaction received in reality is less than expected satisfaction, it results in dissatisfaction.
2. 2 (f) Two factor theory
Under this theory two sets of factors are essential for job satisfaction, namely the hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors are associated with the work environment and include policies, supervision, pay, interpersonal; relations and working conditions. Motivators are linked with the job and includes achievement, responsibility, advancement, recognition and the work itself. Motivating factors arise a want to perform in people and lead to job satisfaction (Redmond 2012). Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to perform, and provide people with satisfaction. However, this theory does have certain limitations. It does not indicate how we can measure hygiene factors and motivators. It also ignored the fact that every employee is different and not everyone will react in the same way prior to hygiene factors and motivators (Ray and Ranjan 2011).
2. 2 (g)Job characteristics model
This theory was developed by Hackman and Oldham (1980). The underlying framework of this theory describes the impact of job characteristics on job outcomes and job satisfaction. There should be five main in all jobs namely, variety in skills, task identity, task significance, freedom and feedback. This theory also defines four personal and work outcomes: work motivation internally, growth satisfaction, general satisfaction and work effectiveness (Redmond 2012).
Table
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Critical Psychological States
Personal and Work Outcomes
Core Job Dimensions
cC
Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Experienced meaningfulness of the work
Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work
Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities
High internal work motivation
High quality work performance
High satisfaction with the work
Low absenteeism and turnover
Core job dimensions
Skill Variety: jobs that consist of diverse activities and skills needed to do the job. In an assembly line, variety would be absent. However, jobs which entail different kinds of problem solving or challenges have high variety.
Task identity: the extent to which an employee is recognized for completing a job as a whole. Those employees who work solely on an entire task have more task identity than those who work activities pertaining to that job.
Task significance: the level to which an employee perceives his job as a major contribution towards the company and its customers.
Autonomy: the degree to which an employee enjoys freedom in his job to plan and carry out different tasks.
Feedback: the extent to which an employee receives feedback concerning his performance through the end result of the task. Some jobs allow for immediate feedback through immediate results whereas some jobs’ results are time consuming.
According to the job characteristics model, the integration of these 5 core characteristics into the job will lead to an increased in job satisfaction.
Critical psychological states
The 5 core job dimensions are more fruitful when as a result employees experience three psychological states listed in the table. The first three core dimensions influence the psychological in a way that makes an employee feel that his job is meaningful. The autonomy dimension leads to a psychological state which influences a worker’s experienced responsibility. The feedback characteristics gives am employee knowledge about the actual outcome.
Personal and work outcomes
The 5 job characteristics results in employees experiencing different psychological states. This leads to high motivation, satisfaction and performance levels. It may also lead to reduced absenteeism and turnover as personal and work outcomes.
Employee Growth-Need Strength
This is the final component of the model. The effectiveness of this model depend on the needs of employees for growth and development. This model is applicable where an employee has high need for growth and development, thus improving the 5 core job dimensions.
Importance of HRM and job satisfaction in Hotels
According to Philips (2012, n. d) ‘ probably the most important overall HR performance measure to examine, monitor and analyse is job satisfaction’. The satisfaction and dissatisfaction of employees are determined by HR practices and policies.
It is pointed (Ogbonnikan 2012) that if an employee is not satisfied within a profession particularly related to customer service in a hotel, this will adversely impact on efficiency and quality of service.
