A research study in Portugal has looked at the influence of the key characteristics of a worker’s job on how happy that worker is with the rewards they receive from employers.The study compared attitudes in a public sector organisation in similar surveys in 1996 and 2007. Feedback from superiors had the most positive impact on a worker’s satisfaction with the rewards received. The study’s authors suggested management should be trained on the best way to give feedback.
Background
The influence of key characteristics of a person’s job on their satisfaction with the rewards they receive was examined in a study (in Portuguese, 115Kb PDF) by the Centre for Research and Social Intervention (CIS) of the University Institute of Lisbon ISCTE-IUL). The rewards received can be direct, such as the obvious monetary payments, or indirect, such as benefits not associated with salary. The aims of the study were to examine whether:
- job characteristics contributed equally to job satisfaction;
- the pattern of influence of job characteristics on a worker’s satisfaction with their rewards was consistent over time.
The study was based on the Job Characteristics Model defined by Hackman and Oldham in 1980. This model puts forward the idea that workers are motivated by more interesting tasks and identifies five core characteristics of a job which make it satisfying for workers:
- variety (the perceived variety and complexity of skills and talents required to perform the job);
- task identity (the job seen as a whole – for instance whether a task is performed from the start until the end, with an identifiable outcome);
- significance (the extent to the job impacts on the well-being of others);
- autonomy (how far the job is perceived as allowing for personal freedom and independence);
- feedback (the extent to which the worker is provided with information about individual job performance).
The study used a quantitative methodology based on two questionnaires – the first in 1996 and the second in 2007. A total of 400 workers from a public service organisation took part in the study (258 in 1996 and 142 in 2007). Between 1996 and 2007 the organisation had undergone internal changes in its structure, work organisation and management practices.
The level of workers’ satisfaction with the rewards they received was evaluated through three aspects (the employee’s satisfaction with the promotion system, their basic wage and any additional financial rewards) ranked on a scale of five from one (not at all satisfied) to five (totally satisfied).
Key findings
In 1996, variety in the work and feedback from superiors had a statistically significant direct and positive effect on the level of job satisfaction. In contrast, the significance of the work had a negative effect on the level of workers’ satisfaction with the rewards received.
Some 10 years later in 2007, only the feedback from superiors had a statistically significant, direct and positive effect. The study found that the influence of feedback from superiors had increased significantly and that of the job’s significance had more than halved between 1996 and 2007, with the latter not showing a statistically significant effect in 2007.
According to the study’s authors, this evolution may be interpreted in the light of the organisational changes that were implemented, especially the leadership practices promoting the implementation of meritocratic values. Only feedback from superiors had a significant effect on the satisfaction with rewards in both periods. Hence, the findings suggest that leadership practices, through feedback from superiors, have an impact on workers’ satisfaction with the rewards they receive.
Commentary
In general, feedback from superiors and leadership practices have a clear impact on workers’ satisfaction with their rewards. As suggested by the study’s authors, alongside pay policies, plans should be drawn up to provide managers with training on feedback in order to increase effective communication between supervisors and workers. This may have relevant practical effects and help improve organisational performance. The authors suggest that future research should focus on the form and content of feedback from superiors, arguing that these may be a significant factor in relation to a worker’s satisfaction with the rewards received for the job done.
References
Hackman, J. R. and Oldham, G. R. (1980), Work redesign, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley.
Santos, S. C., Costa, F. A. Da, Passos, A., Ramalho, N. and Caetano, A. (2009), ‘A importância das características centrais do trabalho na satisfação com as recompensas [The importance of the key characteristics of work satisfaction with rewards], Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas, Vol. 61, pp. 85–99.
Heloísa Perista and Paula Carrilho, CESIS