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INTRODUCTION
The father of scientific management Taylor's (1911) approach to job satisfaction was based on a most pragmatic & essentially pessimistic philosophy that man is motivation by money alone. That the workers are essentially 'stupid & phlegmatic' & that they would be satisfied with work if they get higher economic benefit from it.
But with the passage of time Taylor's solely monetary approach has been changed to a more humanistic approach. It has come a long way from a simple explanation based on money to a more realistic but complex approach to job satisfaction. New dimensions of knowledge are added every day & with increasing understanding of new variables & their inter play, the field of job satisfaction has become difficult to comprehend.
The term job satisfaction was brought to limelight by Hoppock (1935). He reviewed 32 studies on job satisfaction conducted prior to 1933 & observed that job satisfaction is a combination of psychological, physiological & environmental circumstances that cause a person to say. 'I am satisfied with my job'. Locke defines job satisfaction as a "pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences". To the extent that a person's job fulfils his dominant need & is consistent with his expectations & values, the job will be satisfying.
HISTORY OF JOB SATISFACTION
The term job satisfaction was brought to lime light by hoppock (1935). He revived 35 studies on job satisfaction conducted prior to 1933 and observes that Job satisfaction is combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances. That causes a person to say. “I m satisfied with my job”. Such a description indicate the variety of variables that influence the satisfaction of the individual but tell us nothing about the nature of Job satisfaction.
Job satisfaction has been most aptly defined by pestonjee (1973) as a job, management, personal adjustment & social requirement. Morse (1953) considers Job satisfaction as dependent upon job content, identification with the co., financial & job status & priding group cohesiveness
One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne study. These studies (1924-1933), primarily credited to Elton Mayo of the Harvard Business School, sought to find the effects of various conditions (most notably illumination) on workers’ productivity.
These studies ultimately showed that novel changes in work conditions temporarily increase productivity (called the Hawthorne Effect). It was later found that this increase resulted, not from the new conditions, but from the knowledge of being observed.
This finding provided strong evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which paved the way for researchers to investigate other factors in job satisfaction.
Scientific management (aka Taylorism) also had a significant impact on the study of job satisfaction. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, argued that there was a single best way to perform any given work task. This book contributed to a change in industrial production philosophies, causing a shift
from skilled labor and piecework towards the more modern approach of assembly lines and hourly wages.
The initial use of scientific management by industries greatly increased productivity because workers were forced to work at a faster pace. However, workers became exhausted and dissatisfied, thus leaving researchers with new questions to answer regarding job satisfaction.
It should also be noted that the work of W.L. Bryan, Walter Dill Scott, and Hugo Munsterberg set the tone for Taylor’s work.
Some argue that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, a motivation theory, laid the foundation for job satisfaction theory. This theory explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs in life – physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization. This model served as a good basis from which early researchers could develop job satisfaction theories.