Are you a manager? Do you know about the negative impact of job dissatisfaction on the organization’s performance? Have you taken any unique action for your employees to prevent job dissatisfaction? Maybe there is a question in your mind, how can we find out the existence of job dissatisfaction in employees?
In this article, we try to describe essential topics such as job dissatisfaction examples and job dissatisfaction solutions. If you find this article useful, share its link with your friends and colleagues.
Definition of job dissatisfaction
Job dissatisfaction occurs when employees’ expectations from their jobs are inconsistent with what they see in the work environment.
This event causes their lack of motivation and commitment to their work, and the organization will face concerns such as decreased interest.
Job dissatisfaction hurts the performance of the organization. Job dissatisfaction includes many factors, including a harmful and inappropriate work environment, poor management and lack of recognition, low wages, etc.
Read more : Why am I never satisfied with life
job dissatisfaction theory
Industrial psychologists always discuss job satisfaction as one of the variables in workplace psychology.
Psychologists seek to improve various psychosocial issues such as leadership and topics such as job design. That is why it is vital to examine job dissatisfaction theory.
Job satisfaction theories are very similar to theories that deal with human motivation.
You must have been familiar with the most important theories in this field. They are:
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
- Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory
- Job characteristics model
- Tendency approach
Theory 1 of job dissatisfaction : Hierarchy of needs (Maslow)
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory examines the critical factors of job satisfaction.
According to this theory, there is a five-level hierarchy for human needs.
The first level is physiological needs, the second level is safety needs, the third level is belonging and love, the fourth level is respect, and the fifth level is self-actualization. (A. Maslow, 1967)
In this hierarchy, Maslow first points out the importance of basic needs. People realize the importance of more complex conditions such as belonging and respect. (A. H. Maslow, 1943b)
Theory 2: Motivation-hygiene theory
According to Herzberg’s health-motivation theory, job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not two opposite ends of a continuum.
For an employee to be satisfied with his work, the manager must create essential factors such as “motivation.” Social norms in the work environment define motivation as rights and benefits, recognition and success. (Kanfer et al., 2008)
“Health” factors also deal with working conditions, company policies and structure, job security, interaction with colleagues, and management quality.
Note that these factors will be highly associated with job dissatisfaction.
Theory 3: Dispositional approach
When we examine the dispositional approach, we find that according to this approach, job satisfaction is related to personality. Of course, there is evidence for this approach, and scientists have studied the importance of this approach in direct studies and indirect studies.
This approach states that a change in employer or job can significantly affect employees’ job satisfaction or lack of job satisfaction.
Evidence shows that self-esteem, self-efficacy, emotional stability, and internal control power are effective in job satisfaction.
Theory 4: Job characteristics model
When examining job dissatisfaction, it is essential to pay attention to theory 4.
According to this model, employees experience job satisfaction when the work environment has inherent motivational features which encourage employees.
Do you know about five key job characteristics? Skill diversity, task identity, task importance, independence, and feedback are a job’s most important key features and affect three psychological states.
These characteristics will lead to some potential outcomes, including job satisfaction.
So we can say that an organization should try to improve the five main job dimensions so that employees experience job satisfaction. In this way, a better work environment will increase job satisfaction and improve their performance.
job dissatisfaction examples
Paying attention to these job dissatisfaction examples in the work environment will help you create a better work environment for your employees. In the following, we review the signs and measures that indicate job dissatisfaction. Pay attention to these signs.
1. Working compulsively and without enthusiasm
When employees do their work without enough enthusiasm, you will encounter the first job dissatisfaction examples.
If you constantly see your employees doing other work activities, they are not interested in doing their duties.
It is better to solve this problem as soon as possible. Over time, the situation will worsen, and employees will experience job dissatisfaction.
2. Permanent postponement of duties
Are your employees procrastinating? Undoubtedly, they have experienced job dissatisfaction, and you as a manager should have a private meeting with your employee as soon as possible and ask the reason for the postponement of tasks.
3. Decreased productivity
A decline in interest does not always mean job dissatisfaction, but sometimes it may be due to job dissatisfaction. If your company’s employees are satisfied with their jobs, they can play an important role in reducing productivity by using creative solutions. But if your employees are apathetic and your company is associated with a decrease in zinc interest, it is better to quickly find a solution to this critical problem and find out the main reason for your employees’ lack of job satisfaction.
2 job dissatisfaction solutions
Now that you are familiar with different theories of job dissatisfaction, you might be interested to know about job dissatisfaction solutions. Remember the essential solutions we introduce below to make your employees feel more satisfied with their jobs.
1. Facilitate a job role = job dissatisfaction solutions
One of the reasons that may cause employees to be dissatisfied with their jobs is that the job role is too demanding.
Many professional employees work hard to achieve a challenging job role, but after a while, they will be dissatisfied with their challenging job role. The more your workload is, the more your stress level will increase. Thus, the higher your stress levels, the harder it will be for you to do your job.
2. Freedom from a job without challenges
Many people feel dissatisfied at their workplace because they know their job is without challenges. So, the existence of a challenge can give a special meaning to a job.
If your job is too repetitive for you, you need to tell your employer about this so that they can make your job role more challenging.
Read more : Types of workplace harassment
Job satisfaction in the workplace
If your organization has employees experiencing job dissatisfaction recently, it is because of the reasons we will explain below.
1. proper culture in the organization
When employees work in an organization that has an inappropriate culture, they can no longer have a friendly relationship with their colleagues.
The lack of common ground between employees and employers causes employee dissatisfaction in the organization.
If you, as an employer, are in charge of managing an organization, you should try to communicate with your employees and colleagues.
This way, your relationships will improve, and employees will be happier at work.
2. Placing various and appropriate rewards
Salary is not always the main reason for employee job satisfaction.
But the existence of incentives helps the employees have better encouragement towards their jobs and know that they can receive better and proportionate rewards in exchange for better performance.
3. Low stress at work
Looking for ways to increase job satisfaction in the workplace? So, try to reduce stress and constant pressure in the workplace for employees. Because if the employees endure constant stress, they will suffer from indifference and fatigue.
Headaches and other physical problems such as high blood pressure in employees indicate dissatisfaction with their jobs. Also, as a manager, don’t forget to appreciate your employees.
Some self-care techniques such as following a healthy diet, negative thinking, and finding solutions to conflicts help employees enjoy their jobs more.
Conclusion about job dissatisfaction reasons
In this article, we discussed one of the social norms along with an example. We hope reading this article will help your employees experience job satisfaction and enjoy working with you.
In your opinion, what measures are essential to prevent employee dissatisfaction? Please share your thoughts with us.
References:
- Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review
- Maslow, A. (1967). A Theory of Metamotivation: the Biological Rooting of the Value-Life. Journal of Humanistic Psychology
- Kanfer, R., Chen, G., & Pritchard, R. D.
This article was very practical for me. thanks a lot crystalthinker