The term ‘job satisfaction’ refers to the attitudes and feelings people have about their work. Positive and favourable attitudes towards the job indicate job satisfaction. Negative and unfavourable attitudes towards the job indicate job dissatisfaction.
Morale is often defined as being equivalent to job satisfaction. Thus Guion (1958) defines morale as ‘the extent to which an individual’s needs are satisfied and the extent to which the individual perceives that satisfaction as stemming from his (sic) total work situation’. Other definitions stress the group aspects of morale. Gilmer (1961) suggests that morale ‘is a feeling of being accepted by and belonging to a group of employees through adherence to common goals’. He distinguishes between morale as a group variable, related to the degree to which group members feel attracted to their group and desire to remain a member of it, and job attitude as an individual variable related to the feelings employees have about their job.
Morale is often defined as being equivalent to job satisfaction. Thus Guion (1958) defines morale as ‘the extent to which an individual’s needs are satisfied and the extent to which the individual perceives that satisfaction as stemming from his (sic) total work situation’. Other definitions stress the group aspects of morale. Gilmer (1961) suggests that morale ‘is a feeling of being accepted by and belonging to a group of employees through adherence to common goals’. He distinguishes between morale as a group variable, related to the degree to which group members feel attracted to their group and desire to remain a member of it, and job attitude as an individual variable related to the feelings employees have about their job.
Factors affecting job satisfaction
The level of job satisfaction is affected by intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors, the quality of supervision, social relationships with the work group and the degree to which individuals succeed or fail in their work. Purcellet al(2003) believe that discretionary behaviour which helps the firm to be successful is most likely to happen when employees are well motivated and feel committed to the organization and when the job gives them high levels of satisfaction. Their research found that the key factors affecting job satisfaction were career opportunities, job influence, teamwork and job challenge.
