Employee satisfaction and hygiene factors in the workplace

¶ … Employee Satisfaction

Hygiene Factors and Dissatisfaction at Work

Productivity and Employee Satisfaction

Employee Satisfaction

Work Environment

The key thing that obstructs workers from attaining results for the customers

Employee Compensation and reward

Business Knowledge

Client Relations

The Power of Satisfaction

How employee satisfaction is achieved

Advantages of Employee Satisfaction Survey

Conducting an effective employee engagement and satisfaction survey

The organizational climate

Employeeship

Theoretical Framework

Benefits of job satisfaction

Different Types of Employee Satisfaction Survey Programs

Deciding on appropriate employee satisfaction method

Salaries

Money

Training of staff

Availability of information and Communication:

The process of establishing an employee satisfaction model

Importance of employees to an organization

Effects of employee satisfaction

The link between employee turnover and employee satisfaction

Human resource and job satisfaction

Employee Empowerment

Conclusion

Abstract

In this paper we analyze how employee satisfaction survey can be made worthwhile through an extensive review of literature on the context of employee satisfaction survey. The importance of employee satisfaction is discussed. Ways of improving employee satisfaction presented. The factors that affect employee satisfaction are also discussed. The correlation of employee satisfaction with customer satisfaction is also discussed. Also discussed are ways of conducting an effective employee engagement and satisfaction survey. The different types of employee satisfaction survey programs are also presented.The process of establishing an employee satisfaction model are also discussed. This paper also presents extensive literature on the link between employee turnover and employee satisfaction. A conclusion is then made on the ways of improving the credibility of employee satisfaction survey on the basis of the evidence presented earlier on in the text.

Introduction

In a seminal review of a literature concerning job satisfaction, it was noted that that scholarly articles exceeding 3300 have been published regarding job satisfaction. A study that was conducted by Harter, Schmidt, and Hayes' (2002) also stated that about 7,855 articles concerning the topic have been published since the year 1976 to 2000. A number of researches that examine the connection between satisfaction of the employees and the performance of the organizations have been carried. A good number of them have indicated a positive connection between a person's work attitudes and also their performance at the workplace (Iaffaldano & Muchinsky, 1985). Furthermore, current meta-analysis establishes a very substantive connection between personal job satisfaction and personal performance (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001).

Emery & Trist, (1960) argues that the performance of organizations relies on the congruence that occurs between both the social and technical structures of an organization. Based on this idea, the perspective of Human Relations is positing that workers who are satisfied are very productive (Likert, 1961). Therefore, the productivity of organizations as well as efficiency is attained via worker satisfaction and also when the management of the organizations pays great attention to the socio-emotional and physical needs of the workers. Researches of Human relations are further arguing that worker satisfaction can best be attained through the maintenance of positive organizational surroundings, like the provision of autonomy, making the employees to participate in the affair of the organization as well as mutual trust (Likert, 1961). From this logic, satisfaction of employees is capable of influencing the growth of regular interaction patterns in organizations.

The best means through which employers are capable of retaining their employees is to provide them by ensuring that they are satisfied with their jobs. The employers should also ensure that the employees are provided with the opportunity to advance in their professions. Eskildsen & Nussler (2000) are suggesting that a number of workers fight so as to get employees who are talented so that they may be capable of maintaining successful businesses. Hammer (2000) and other numerous authors and researchers are agreeing with this. Parrott (2000) tends to believe that a very straight line exists between customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. He also tends to believe that the employees of today are posing new sets of challenges. It is usually very hard to get and also to retain workers. Job satisfaction has become a thing that the people who are working are seeking and besides, it is a very critical element that is capable of retaining employees in their organizations.

As stated above, a number of studies are indicating that the workers who are more satisfied with the jobs are also very productive, creative, productive, and besides, they are highly capable of being retained by companies for which they are working (Eskildsen & Dahlgaard, 2000; Kim 2000; Kirby,2000; Lee,2000; Wagner, 2000). A number of studies have also illustrated that a number of environmental factors are capable of being developed and maintained in order to make sure that the workers are satisfied with their jobs. Good pay and great benefits, effective and efficient communication (Brewer, 2000; Wagner,2000), justice, motivation, (Kirby 2000; Tristram 2000) and leisure (Rabbit,2000; Wilson,2000) are playing a very significant part in employee satisfaction.

It is a great fact that employees are capable of making or breaking an organization. Employees who are good are capable of producing results that are extraordinary. On the same note, marginal workers are capable of dragging and keeping the business down. Until now, a number of employers are still underrating the importance of workers (Deal, 2005). Davidson (2004) states that workers are very valuable assets to corporations. Indeed employees are catalysts of the organizations.The prosperity of organizations are directly connected to employee satisfaction. Retaining talented workers is very vital for any organization to succeed. It is an accepted fact that regardless of the economic situation, the most talented performers in the organizations are always having employment options (Freeman, n.d)

Significant correlations exist between worker satisfaction and other categories of business like the productivity of the employees, satisfaction of the customers, as well as the market share of the concerned organization (Hoisington & Huang, 1999).

Employees are playing an important work in the outcomes of the company's product

The Importance of Employee Satisfaction

Workers are assets having feet. There are a number of effects of employee satisfaction on an organization's business are numerous. The most profitable advantages of employee satisfaction are provided below. A number of studies are indicating that businesses excelling in issues concerning worker satisfaction minimizes their turnover by approximately 50%, have improved client satisfaction, have minimized cost of labor by approximately 12% and again, employee satisfaction is capable of lifting the margins of pretax by approximately 4% (Carpitella, 2003). In short, employee satisfaction is capable of improving employee turnover, client satisfaction, costs of labor, and again, pretax margins are also improved. Similarly, employee satisfaction positively affects the products of the companies, the customers, and the organization itself. To add to all these, growth and Profit are directly stimulated by the loyalty of the customers.

Loyalty of the customers is a very direct result of the satisfaction of the customer. Satisfaction of the Customer is highly affected by the perceptions of customers concerning the quality of services that they get. Value is as a result of employees who are loyal, satisfied, as well as productive employees.

Workers feeling some sense of common purpose, teamwork as well as a very strong dedication to communication, and administrative empowerment are always very able and ready, to provide the results that are expected by the customers.

A number of scholars are stating that satisfaction of the employees, satisfaction of the customers as well as cash flow is the most important things in any organization.

Ryan, Schmitt, and Johnson (1996) also conducted an investigation concerning the relationship that exists between collective worker attitudes, productivity of organizations, and the satisfaction of customers. Their results showed that the morale of employees is linked to consequent business performance, client satisfaction as well as turnover ratios. The researchers tried to find out the causal relationship among these variables. Interestingly, they established evidence that suggested that customer satisfaction influences employee morale

In a study that was carried out by Harter et al. (2002), they carried out a meta-analysis of the research that previously done by Gallup Organization. The research critically looked at the responses from the customers regarding job satisfaction as well as employee engagement. There are very substantive and positive connections between worker satisfaction and profit, productivity, worker turnover and worker accidents.

How to improve employee satisfaction

Because practically significant connection exists between employee satisfaction and the performance of the organizations, it is of great importance to identify the various factors that are capable of contributing to employee satisfaction. Majority of studies are pointing out that situational contexts (like supervisory support) are the main cause of employee satisfaction. The studies also argued that extremely high-performance job practices and therefore positive work conditions are capable of fostering worker satisfaction (Bowen, & Ostroff, 2004; Wright, Dunford, & Snell, 2001; Wright, Gardner, Moynihan, & Allen, 2005).Peterson and Luthans (2006) applied a group design, finding out that both kinds of incentives are having an important effect on organizational profit, client service, and worker turnover. At first, financial incentives had very great impacts. However, with time non-financial and financial incentives showed equally important effects on the outcomes.Motivation of workers is posing very big challenges to organizations. Herzberg ensures that an organization rewards its employees depending on the behaviors that the management would like to encourage.One of the widely known writers on motivation of workers is Frederick Herzberg. He is widely known for the two-factor theory that he came up with. The two factor theory is widely referred to as the hygiene motivation theory. As stated above, motivation of employees is a challenge. Nobody has brought evidence refuting the theories of Herzberg. Therefore, the ideas that are put forward by him may still be looked at.

Hygiene Factors and Dissatisfaction at Work

The hygiene factor in job satisfaction can best be explained using Herzberg's (1966) two factor theory (Motivation-Hygiene Theory).The hygiene factors refer to the factors that are majorly concerned with the work conditions. The factors are contextual features of conditions of work. They are however not essential to the job itself. They are also not concerned by how workers perform their work. Examples of hygiene factors include safety, room temperature, levels of noise and lighting. The factors also entail wages and salaries. However, the pay isn't based on the real performance. It can either be monthly or hourly. Worker conditions or benefits in the place of work, leadership style and culture of the organization are viewed as hygiene factors. Dissatisfaction takes place when these factors are removed. That is the main point regarding these factors. Again, the provision of these factors is not capable of motivating the workers to work very hard more than in the past. The provision and improvement of hygiene factors may sometimes fail to offer motivation to the employees. This is because the factors are not dependent on employees' hard work (Herzberg,1966).

Productivity and Employee Satisfaction

The satisfaction of workers as well as productivity is of great significance for organizations to achieve their goals and objectives. In order to comprehend the reliance of value to productivity and worker satisfaction, it is very vital to realize the things that are capable of making workers to be satisfied, productive as well as to comprehend the reciprocal association that workers have with the clients. There is a positive correlation between employee satisfaction and productivity (McGregor, 1960)

Employee Satisfaction

A number of factors affect worker satisfaction. Every factor connects with one another. Jointly, every factor is significant to worker satisfaction.

Work Environment

The quality of internal work surrounding is one of the most significant factors that contribute to worker satisfaction. The internal surroundings may be got by the feelings of the workers towards their work, workmates as well as their employers. The employees usually require dignity and respect from their workmate, employers as well as their clients. Workers usually need to be part and parcel of the organizational team. A number of them want their work to be recognized and considered to be vital for the operation of the organization. Workers want to be mutually respected by not only their colleagues but also their employers. Greater responsibility makes the workers to feel that they are worth. Similarly, responsibility is capable of making the employees to feel that they are valued and trusted by those who employ them. Workers who provide services the public members are fulfilled when they meet the needs of the customers. On the other hand, workers are dissatisfied and frustrated if they fail to meet the needs of the customers.

The key thing that obstructs workers from attaining results for the customers

In a number of situations, it is the bosses that prevent the workers from meeting the expectations of the customers. Workers are always not trained adequately to take the responsibility of decision making which is very vital for them to attain results that are desirable for the customers. Despite the fact that they could be adequately trained, a number of workers are prevented from decisions making by workers who do not trust them. Workers are always forced to perform their work within the boundaries of extremely rigid practice policies and guidelines.

To facilitate the workers to attain results for the customers and also to experience the linked satisfaction. Employers should train their workers besides empowering so that they may have freedom to come up with wise decisions for the customers and the clients. Similarly, it is apparent that workers are not capable of assuming unending responsibilities.

Employee Compensation and reward

Despite the fact that it is employees wish to get competitive and fair monetary compensation for the hard work they do to the organizations, compensation past this level cannot motivate like the factors that are connected to the work environment within the organizations as well as the relationship that they have with customers.

When employees are recognized by the work mates, employers, and clients when they diligently perform their work they will be inspired. Similarly, when they feel respected and are mutually trusted, they are also motivated.

Business Knowledge

Usually, workers on many occasions are not interested by the business' finances. On the contrary, they do want to know how the business works. This knowledge leads to employee satisfaction by enabling employees to better assist clients. Employee satisfaction is heightened by their ability to take on more responsibility and to perform their tasks more efficiently. Employees who are knowledgeable about the operation of the business become high performers, providing excellent customer service and performing their responsibilities efficiently, while functioning in a team where they know how and why their role is important.

Advantages of Employee Satisfaction Survey

Employee Satisfaction Surveys help the employer to identify the problems of the employees. This in turn mitigates the effects of these problems on the firm. Surveys also help in the identification of problems in the working environment that can lead to injuries to personnel. Remuneration and benefits that are always close to the heart of many employees can be measured and monitored to gauge how satisfied the employees are with the rates through the satisfaction surveys. In many organizations the moral and the mood of the employees always have effect on the overall performance of the organization. These can be easily and effectively monitored through employee satisfaction surveys. The traditions, processes and procedures of many organizations are always loyally held in high esteem by the line managers without consulting the personnel on the effects. It is a fact that as business evolve so do their traditions and processes which have direct bearing on their procedures and daily operations which are run by the personnel hence the need for employee satisfaction survey. The goals, objectives mission and vision of all organizations are always the guidelines the steer the organizations to achieve the desired output (Ellis, 2002). Through Surveys the firms can ascertain monitor and measure the extent to which the personnel are aligned with them. It is through training that employees can acquire skills to help the organization soar to greater heights. Through the surveys the organization can have skills inventory that will enable the management to facilitate training for the personnel. Communication is integral to an organization's success as it enhances free flow of ideas from top to bottom and vice versa. Through surveys the organizations can get to know the communication needs of the personnel and the preferred channels.

West (2008) insists that all Employee Satisfaction surveys should have the backing of top management because will ensure that implementation process will be easy. He also believes that the right questions should be asked to avoid offending the employees and these surveys should be conducted at intervals and not randomly. West (2008) postulates that the surveys should be used as incentives in themselves to encourage willing participation from all employs. Anonymity should be encouraged at all times to ensure candidness while at the same time discouraging wild accusations. Andy West Insists that the employees are the backbone of any organization and anything that affects their morale will have direct impact on the success of the business or organization. To avoid this all organizations are to ensure that their employees understand their jobs well and if need arises are trained and equipped with new skills that will ensure optimum output with minimum supervision which will in turn result to high turnover for the organization.

Haskett et al. In the book The Service of Profit Chain, tries to explain why many business are better in what they do than their peers year in year out. In their research thy found out that relationships are stronger between loyalty of customer and profits; loyalty of both the employee and the customer and finally the satisfaction of both the employee and the customer (Haskett et al., 1997).They also found out that these relationships are always mutually reinforcing in the sense that when customers are satisfied, employees are satisfied too and the reverse is true too. They also show how service industry can measure the relationship between the operating units and the profit chains; share the information on the results of self appraisal; develop a score card that measures performance; Develop a system that rewards and recognizes merit on acceptable standards; Share information on the performance of the company with all employees; Encourage internal information exchange within the organization; and improve the overall performance of the profit service chain.

Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline, he argues that all of us create our own realities as such we need a fifth discipline, System Thinking, to guide us in all our endeavors (Senge, 1990).He postulates that within any given system there are leverage points that ensure that any small effort in any business should make big differences which are all held together by The Fifth Discipline, System Thinking. He also emphasizes on the importance of learning organizations where people continually increase their capacity to influence results towards the desired goal and consequently their individual futures.Senge argues that these kinds of organizations help to nurture maiden thinking patterns that are also explorative. The aspect of different perspective is always taken for granted but in many cases it is through this that we find what we have been looking for. Through this collaborative organization of learning, people explore and exchange ideas to achieve the desired goal while at the same time having new experiences.

Senge has feeling that in the present and future, the organization that will experience success, are only those that have or will have discovered how to get employees commitment and capacity to have explorative thinking patterns in an organization. He believes that for employees to have buy-ins of an organizations vision bullying in should be replaced with Enrollment and commitment which will enhance increase in belief levels amongst employees within an organization. He proceeds to state that that often, systems in place are the major causes of problems and not forces from outside or mistakes made by individuals as many believe. He gives the example of the Beer Game that shows how individuals who are rational are part of a system that acts in isolation and eventually get trapped in undesired situations of their own making. Structures according to Senge produce behavior and changing any of it will lead change of behavior.In conclusion Senge has the feeling that learning organization must have a shared vision or one that everyone is included or committed to achieving and that vision should not be short-lived just to outsmart the opposition. He adds that the system thinking is about long-term. It entails examining actions of the new expanded consequences. This is what the Fifth Discipline is about.

Robert Kaplan and David Norton in their book "The Balanced Scorecard" shows top management can use the balanced Scorecard to rally an organization's employees in meeting objectives and goals of the organization (Kaplan & Norton, 1996). He argues that the Balanced Scorecard is a system of management that help converge abilities, information and energies held by different people in the organization towards the achievement of the organization's goal. He continues to say that the Balanced Scorecard can be used by service industries like banking, oil and insurance to structure present performance while at the same time focusing on future performance. The four categories that can be measured include internal processes in the business; financial performance; Knowledge of the customers and an individual's learning and growth. These will help in the aligning of individual, departmental and organizational initiatives while at the same time pointing out new process that will aid in meeting the objectives of both the customers and the shareholders. Kaplan & Norton (1996) also argues that the Balanced Scorecard can also be used to as a learning system in testing, receiving feedback on and fine tuning an organization's work plan. The Balanced Scorecard is also argued to provide systems of management for organizations to make long-term investments in customers, personnel and in the development of new products. He concludes by saying that;

"As running a corporate or government or not-for-profit enterprise becomes increasingly complicated, more sophisticated approaches are needed to implement strategy and measure performance. Purely financial evaluations of performance, for example, no longer suffice in a world where intangible assets relationships and capabilities increasingly determine the prospects for success"(Kaplan & Norton,1996).

The success of an organization is not only measured through its profitability but also by the degree of employee's satisfaction. By considering employees as inside stakeholders, a company inspires innovations and productivity. It is clear that a company which invests in employees and recognizes their contribution to the success reduces employee turnover and increases profitability.

This success, in any organization, depends on the active force: people. That is to say, employees are the most important assets of the organization and all other resources are just but tools. Organizations can only learn through individuals who learn. Therefore organizations must rethink their corporate strategies to ensure that they fully utilize this vastly untapped resource.

(Senge, 1990)

Job satisfaction is considered to be the extent to which employees exhibits a positive orientation towards his or her job in the organization (Smith, 1969). Employee satisfaction can also be viewed as the degree to which an individual is content with his or her job or employer. In prior literatures, employee satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state which results from the appraisal of individuals' job or a positive attitude towards one's job and affective reaction to an employee's job (Brief, 1998). Although job satisfaction is an attitude, it is important to take into account the objects of cognitive evaluation which affects beliefs and behaviors of people in the organization (Weiss, 2002).

The main way to establish employee satisfaction is through the use of employee satisfaction survey. Employee satisfaction survey is a method which is used to know whether the employees feel their efforts are appreciated, whether they are considered as part and parcel of the organization. In other words, the main objective of employee satisfaction survey is to know whether employees as happy with their jobs (Cardy, 2001).

Employee satisfaction survey is helpful when conducted periodically to measure employee's level of satisfaction in certain critical matters of human recourse management. Many organizations today use employee satisfaction survey to get ideas on how to develop a cordial work relationship between employers and employees. Some matters of key importance to employee satisfaction include: job security, job involvement, remuneration, freedom to use skills and abilities and supportive and safe work environment. These factors are mainly divided into two; the job content factors and the job context factors. Individuals are not just content with the satisfaction of low degree needs at work, for instance those associated with remuneration and safe working conditions but are more interested in the higher order psychological needs having to deal with recognition, achievement, responsibility and the nature of work itself. The two factor model theory is based on the assumption that the presence of a given set of factors increase job satisfaction while another different set leads to job dissatisfaction. Therefore satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum, with one rising and the other falling, but are rather independent phenomenon. As such, administrators should consider both set of factors differently and not try to assume that an increase in satisfaction leads to a decrease in dissatisfaction. (Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman, 1959)

The success of any organization depends on the active force: people. That is to say employees are the most important assets of the organization and all other resources are just but tools. Organizations can only learn through individuals who learn. Therefore organizations must rethink their corporate strategies to ensure that they fully utilize this vastly untapped resource (Senge, 1990)

How employee satisfaction is achieved

Struder (2004) pointed out strategies for improving employee satisfaction. He said that, first, workers always desire that the organizations with which they are working are having right purpose. The purpose is represented by the senior leaders in the organizations. If workers are not feeling good regarding these senior leaders, they will not feel good concerning the company. Secondly, workers always want their jobs to be worthwhile. All employees usually want believe that the things that they do for the organizations are important. When the organizations help the workers to attain their performance expectations, the workers will have the feeling that they are given more power to diligently perform their duties to the customers, co-workers as well as for the organizations for which they are working. The management of organizations ought to take time to inform the workers how they are fitting into the organizations. They should also explain to the employees the importance of their jobs. Thirdly, workers usually desire to make differences in the organizations they are working for. When the workers see the outcomes of their hard work, the passion that they have for the job will increase. Their success will breed more success for the organizations. When the employees attain results, they will be motivated to persist and to continuously strive to get improved results. Leaders who are focused in making their organizations to achieve excellence should apply several strategies which are capable of creating both productive and happy workplace. Indeed there are several ways through which this can be done. There are however no exact ways of creating an environment like that due to the complexity of people. However, specific and well defined procedures have been recommended.

How to shun the failures of worker-satisfaction surveys

A number of worker-satisfaction surveys do not meet the expectations of the people who sponsor them. Some of them make the organizations to achieve no benefit at all or very little benefit if any. When a worker-satisfaction survey is handled properly, it will act as a source of significant information to the management. The information provided by it is capable of driving several change initiatives that are capable of improving efficiency, customer satisfaction and corporate performance. For commercial firms and companies, this is capable of leading to higher profit and enhanced market share. Non-profit organizations are capable of delivering improved services. The following strategies are capable of enabling an organization to shun the pitfalls of worker-satisfaction surveys (Lusty,2007)

Chief Executive's commitment is important for employee satisfaction

Without the Chief Executive's commitment (as well as any relevant management body) to implement the changes that are indicated by the results of the surveys, the survey process may just be a waste of time.If the process begins without the Chief Executive's whole support, number of negative consequences may follow. Therefore to avoid the pitfalls that may result from the employee satisfaction surveys, it is important to have the chief executive officer involved in the process. Only then will positive results be achieved by the organizations. Since the chief executive is the overall head, his involvement is of great importance. It is only them who are capable of implementing the results (Lusty,2007).

Effective and efficient Communication

The survey should not just come from nowhere. It ought to be publicized in advance so as to make the members of the organization to expect the arrival of the questionnaire as well as the changes that will be brought by the survey (Lusty,2007).

The questionnaire should be given the investment it deserves

The survey's value improves every time it is repeated. This is because it indicates the areas that the organization is capable of improving; besides, the trend is capable of showing the improvements that have already been achieved by the organization. The wording of the questions greatly influences the significance of the results of the survey. The questions should recognize the strengths of the organizations. They should also diagnose the problems that might exist in the organization. However, upon the identification of a problem, the results should also give an indication of the changes that need to be made in the organizations (Lusty,2007).

Questions to collect the data which are necessary for the classification of responses should be provided

Lusty (2007) points out that when very few modifications are done to the questionnaire between conservative surveys, the trend obtained from the data that is gathered will be more reliable. The major values that might be got from the survey will originate from relationship of outcomes between given groups of individuals or between dissimilar times (individuals become happier than the previous times). In order for comparisons to be made between given groups, there is need for the inclusion of questions will place individuals into diverse groups. There is need for individuals to be classified through their location, type of job, age, and grade, length of service, gender and age group. Other applicable means of classifying workers should also be developed.

The people should be convinced that they are capable of replying and still remaining anonymous

When the outcomes are to be significant, the questionnaire has to invite individuals to criticize the manner they are being presently treated by the firms for which they are working and also by their managers. Individuals won't respond frankly when they think that what they have said is capable of being identified leading to their confrontation by their managers. The most effective way of eliminating fears is through the establishment of an external and independent body for individuals to convey their response. People should also be promised that their personal replies won't be reported. Despite all these, a number of individuals may still be worried; however, a number of them are reassured (Lusty,2007).

Do not try to handle it internally

As a supplier of survey consultancy and support services, you would expect me to urge you not to try to handle your survey internally. But I do not say it only out of self-interest. You will get a better questionnaire. Employees will be more reassured about their anonymity, so you will get more honest feedback and a better response rate, which means more convincing results. Results will be delivered more quickly, better presented and easier to interpret, forming a better basis for the change for the better, which is the object of the exercise. And although you will have a consultant's bill to pay, we do not all charge the earth, so the fee might be less than you imagine. It may actually cost your organization more to distract some of your own people from the work they are employed for, to tackle the tasks an employee-satisfaction survey requires - tasks for which they are probably ill-equipped by their experience, skills and training (Lusty,2007).

It is worth remembering that;

Satisfied employees are happy to go that extra mile. Happy customers return when helped by happy employees.There are three employee satisfaction building blocks: 1) employees want to believe that their organization has the right purpose; 2) they want to know that their job is worthwhile; 3) and employees want to make a difference. Leaders must do walk around management rounding for outcomes relentlessly. Rounding is the heart and soul of building an emotional bank account. Bank on emotional capital today because you may need to make withdrawals tomorrow (Struder,2011).Survey your employees to determine their level of satisfaction. Address and fix issues, concerns and needs whenever possible and do it quickly. While the data is important, the key is sharing the data with leaders who know how to communicate to employees that actions are being been taken based on their feedback. Establish credibility by going for "quick wins" A quick win is one that shows employees that leaders are listening and responding and are committed to meeting their needs. High performing employees want to work with other high performers. Deal with low performers by moving them up in their performance or moving them out, even as difficult as it is. Analyze how your best performers are doing their jobs and meeting their goals. Take that information and replicate it with your other leaders. Recognize what people are doing right and expand it across the organization. This will build goodwill. Provide employees the tools to do their jobs. It is the jobs of leaders to find out what they need and respond accordingly.Leaders must always be open and honest with employees and deliver all information to them no matter how difficult. Don't let your employees read about it in the newspaper or hear it from the rumor mill. You must build and maintain trust (Studer,2011)

Conducting an effective employee engagement and satisfaction survey

The past few years have seen a tremendous growth in the employee survey techniques. With the development of web-based technology it has become easier and cost effective to collect and manage employee's data. Un like in the past, where any employee driven initiative was viewed as tactical and of no real value to the organization as a whole, many organizations now see employee surveys as a powerful business management tool.

The organizational climate

Organizational climate can be defined from an objective or phenomenological approach. In the first case, climate is defined by characteristic behaviors and attitudes. Climate can however be studied and analyzed in various ways: it is an attribute of the organization regardless of how it is perceived by the employees. On the other hand, the phenomenological approach studies climate from the perceptual and cognitive structuring of the organization situation.

As the employees experience routine actions and processes, they develop cognitive maps and interpret them in the way they understand them in an attempt to understand the organization climate. These cognitive maps are modified in their interaction with one another (Ekvall, 1987)

Climate can be defined as the recurring patterns of behavior attitudes and feelings that define life in the organization. The organization climate is developed in the meeting between the individual and organization situation. Rules procedures, strategies and the physical environment are all factors to which employees react. The people as well have to regard as the organization situation (Ekvall 1985)

It is important to understand what makes up the organization climate in order to clearly understand the concept of employees satisfaction. There are two main facets in the organizational climate: employeeship and leadership. Effective leadership in organizations occurs when leaders and followers develop mutually symbiotic relationships (Uhl-Bien, 2006).Leadership has further been identified to be a key player in organizational climate and success (Ekvall,1996;Ekvall, Frankenhaeuser and Parr,1995). Therefore leadership has to be taken as an important organization function even though an expanded leader-follower perspective is cultivated in employeeship. Leadership scholars have attempted to establish whether successful leadership is as a result of certain attributes possessed by the leader or situational features or both or a combination of both (Haslam, 2001)

Leadership theories suggests that leaders are distinguished from follower by intellectual and certain specific social characteristic like, emotional stability, intelligence, interpersonal stability and cognitive skills (Bray, Campbell and Grant, 1974). Charismatic leadership, which is strongly supported by this theory, is a situation in which the leader has the ability to lead by example and be able to develop congruent models and encourage followers to contribute to the common goal. (Conger and Kanungo, 1998)

Another perspective of viewing leadership is the identification of leaders based on their behavior instead of their character. Based on this approach, leadership is defined in terms of task oriented behavior and relationship oriented behavior (Katz and Kahn, 1952)

Task oriented behavior is exhibited when leaders concentrate on work tasks such as coordination and planning, where as relationship oriented leadership is shown when leaders are more concerned with supporting their followers, for instance being very tolerant, trust worthy and open.

In situational leadership, effective leadership is in most cases determined by personal and situational factors. This in away distinguishes situational leadership from approaches defining leadership based on traits, behavior or charisma. The leadership process is a function of the leader, the followers and situational factors. Thus the attempt to define leadership from a single perspective is un founded and misplaced (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993).They further developed a theory referred to as situational leadership theory (SLT) SLT is based on task and relationship oriented behavior. The level of readiness among the followers sets the right combination of task and relationship for the leader. They have effectively come up with four levels of readiness applicable in leadership. Leaders should use task oriented behavior, called leadership style telling, when followers are unready; i.e. when they still lack the expected abilities and confidence as regards the task at hand. This they say is readiness level one. In readiness level two and three, which is a moderate improvement from the first level, a leader is more direct in defining roles, clarifying procedures and monitoring the progress of work objectives. At this level, they believe that the leader should act more relationship wise provide support where necessary, create more room for consultation and recognize contribution and superior performance. The highest echelon of readiness is the readiness level four, where the leader should delegate the duties as the followers have acquired the necessary confidence capabilities (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993).

Employeeship

There is an emerging trend among researchers trying to look for new dimensions to study the follower, the leader and the fellow worker the situation and how they interact.

However, there seems to be a problem in finding a model that can handle such a multiple perspective. Employeeship and employer leader relationship provide a new approach to the study of mutual relationships in a working environment, thus integrating the variables to bridge the gap to this study that has since taken an isolated approach to the relevant variables (Avolio, Walumbwa and Weber, 2009).Employeeship is an area that has been deeply researched by a number of scholars because of it's perceive d importance to understanding the leader follower relationship.Relationship and cooperation are key to understanding employeeship. Basically, employeeship is how employees manage their relationship with the employer and the job. It concerns parity of authority and responsibility, loyalty, commitment, trust, participation, social and technical competence, communication, self and shared leadership, autonomous employee and the separation of the job and the private life.

Theoretical Framework

Leadership has sometimes been considered as being part of employeeship and for this matter need to be studied in line with each other. Employeeship is based on two main pillars; psycho relational competence and technical competence. These are called social and task abilities. Therefore, employeeship has been defined as the behavior that constitutes the dynamic process of mutual work relationship between two or more employees based on task and social abilities

(Argyris, 1999)

The employeeship leadership model identifies a leadership theory to help in understanding the special attention that leadership needs. The most important requirement for choosing a leadership theory is to a greater extent its ability to be compared with the expected behavior of followers and contextualization of behavior (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993) ELR model is much more developed from the situational leadership trait. Where as in SLT followers are provided with assumed readiness which views them as passive players and recipients of leadership support, ELR lays emphasis on measured tasks and social capabilities then consider them as active players and not just helpless onlookers.

It is possible to study the peer follower behavior and determine whether it is in harmony or not. It is unfortunate that traditional leadership does not study the leader follower behavior, a factor that restricts the understanding of work relationship and leadership. It is believed that formal leaders may have a greater need to understand their subordinates strengths and weaknesses and make necessary adjustments, it is a misconstrued idea that the work place is made up of dynamic leaders and passive subordinates (Hollander, 1992).

In employeeship, integrated behaviors' of leaders and followers is significant for the output of a given situation. The harmony between the leader and follower behavior and successful leadership and peer behavior improves with joint awareness. That is knowledge about each other's skills experiences and personal attributes. This is an experience-based learning that takes place in a participative process and is called situated learning (Schulz, 2005).

Organizational changeIn much the same manner that organizations require a marketing strategy or information strategy faced with a rapidly changing environment, organizations are increasingly being faced with the need to develop approaches to manage people. In much the same way that the business require a marketing strategy or an information strategy it also require human resource or people strategy

Leader organization and the learning organization

Change is a predominant force of our age that we just can't wish away. As a matter of fact, no one can prevent change we can only learn to deal with it. The five key discipline areas of interest here are systems thinking, achieving personal mastery, shifting mental models, building shared vision and team learning. These five discipline convergence creates new wave of experimentation and advancement and at best learning organizations in which people continually expand their horizons to create the results they truly desire (Senge, 1994)

There is need to challenge the mental model by cultivating an agency environment that engage systems thinking that fosters forward oriented and dynamic energy and encourages synergy and at the same time strengthening the human capital which is actually the engine that drives every organizations long-term vision and success. This involves empowering more employees with decision making power and responsibility, encouraging a wider input and ownership and focusing on common goals and shared meaning. This in effect calls for a management that works round the clock to clear the barriers that stand in the way for the realization of the desired outcomes.

Organizations need to become more flexible and forget rigidity. Rigid structures are most likely to break under stress but living systems just like living organisms flow around obstacles.The issue with models is that, more often than not, the very things that catapulted you to success in the past are the very things that blind you from the requirements of the future success. The structure in today's profitable and robust organizations are mostly horizontal and not vertical and organic and not mechanistic. Which makes them adaptable to change, fosters creativity and innovation and are leader full (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994)

Such organizations have been described as electric, since they can select and use the best processes, practices, elements and resources from the existing sources. Like the Japanese kaizen, they favor continuous improvement. Everybody is accountable in the leader full visionary, functional learning organizations. Accountability as Peter puts it is to carry the welfare of the firm in your hands, no matter who you are and where you are in the organization. Secondly, every one owns the enterprise and change. We are here today because our forebears were receptive and mastered the art of change.Every organization has the capacity to learn and move on. And it is desirable that we do on regular basis and strive as much as possible to learn as a group. It is important that it is the people in the organization who learn and not the organization. For an organization to remain viable and competitive in today's diverse and complex business environment, organizations must learn.

Senge (1994) says that real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through the learning process we recreate and rediscover ourselves, that is to say we become able to do something we were never able to do. For effective learning to take place we must first overcome the inherent learning disabilities. It argues that we must look beyond individual mistakes in order to understand important problems. In other words we must look beyond personalities and events. We need to look at the underlying structures which shape individual action and create the conditions where the types of events become most likely.

Employee satisfaction survey is one principle way in which we can identify the need for change and on the other hand helping in the successful implementation of change. These surveys in the first place will make the employee feel valued and thus imparting a sense of ownership.

This process therefore serves to eliminate resistance to change as everybody is responsible and accountable for the organization- leader full organization.

Benefits of job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a frequently studied discipline in work and organizational set up. This has been attributed to the fact that it is believed to influence the labor market behavior and work productivity, work effort and employee absenteeism and staff turnover. It is also an indicator of the overall individual well being (Serrano and Vieira, 2005) as well as a good indicator of intentions of employees to leave their current jobs (Diaz-Serrano and Cabral Vieira, 2005)

Job satisfaction is important in everyday life .organizations affects people who work for them and some of these are reflected in the manner in which people behave in the organization (Spector, 1997)

This matter concerns both the employer and must be treated with the care and the seriousness it deserves. Satisfied employees don't leave the organizations they work for and on the other hand are more productive. Employees should be happy given the amount of time they devote to the work through their throughout their useful lives (Nguyen, Taylor and Bradley, 2003).

Measures of job quality seem to be valuable predictors of future human resource market behavior. Employees decision on whether to work or not, the kind of job to accept or reject, whether to stay or leave, and the level of effort to put, is likely to depend upon the employee's subjective analysis of the work (Clark, 1998).

Different Types of Employee Satisfaction Survey Programs

In order for accompany to make their employ satisfaction survey to be beneficial, it is very important for the management to either seek advice of the experts on what type of survey to use. In general, Employee satisfaction survey and nnnual climate surveys are known to be the most popular types of employee survey activity. But it is also important for the management to note that there are several types of survey programs which are currently being used in the field. These include; combination of customers and employee satisfaction studies, evaluation of organizations procedures and policies, regular evaluation of internal communications, evaluation of customer services, alignment employees behind new products developed in the company and regular evaluation of different employee benefits schemes.

Setting Objectives and Goal of employee satisfaction Survey

Setting objectives and goals before undertaking Employee satisfaction survey is very important if the survey are to be made constructive. Objectives are important in that it helps guide the process hence the process is not likely to go astray. A goal oriented employee satisfaction survey play an important role in that it raises enthusiasm for the process among the employees and the key decision makers in the company. It is important for the management to ensure that employee satisfaction survey should be perceived by all involved as an initiative which driven by managers and employees from entire company. The process should not be seen to be an initiative of the human resource development. When setting up a survey goal and objectives, it important that the objectives be business related, this will help in portraying the customer service and giving a clear indication of the company's performance (Brief, 1998).

Deciding on appropriate employee satisfaction method

Once clear objectives and goal have been set for employee satisfactory survey, the outline will then determines the methodology to be used in undertaking survey process. However, the management should consider the following factors before deciding on which method to use; first, should all the employees be involved in the survey process, second, if changes and improvements are proposed, will the changes affect the entire company or it will only affect specific departments, thirdly, how will the managers and employees be involved in the improvement process and how the progress of the improvements will be reviewed. Based on the above facts, the management can decide to choose in either quantitative or qualitative methods of research (Holloway, 1997). Both of these methods are very effective in conducting Employee satisfaction surveys. The choice of any method depends on the above factors; it is therefore vey paramount that the correct methodology is used in order to make the survey more credible and applicable to the employees. Qualitative research can be described as a form of social inquiry which focuses on the people's interpretation and sense of their experience and the world where they live. There are different approaches with wider framework of this type of research, but the aim which is shared a long is the understanding of the social reality of individuals, community and culture. This type of research is mainly used to explore the behaviors, experiences and perspectives of the people involved in the study. Qualitative research has its basis on the interpretive approach to the social reality (Holloway, 1997, p.2)

On the other hand, quantitative research is a method of data collection where the data collected is mainly concerned with the description of the meaning rather than the drawing statistical inferences. Thus quantitative research provides a more in depth and rich description to a situation. It is important to note that the two methods of survey go hand in hand with each other. Employee satisfaction surveys are therefore the most commonly used form of quantitative research. In some occasions, both methodologies have proved to be more efficient when combined together. Qualitative research has proved to be more effective when: there is a small group of people involved, the subject is to be pursued in detail, the relation between issues is being sought, and research is being conducted on complex issues. One-on-one individual interviews and focus groups are the most popular types of qualitative methods employed when conducting employee research. On the other hand quantitative research is most useful when: a greater multitude of people is involved, subjects to be covered are in large numbers, and a correlation with other research data and when advanced statistical analysis is required Morgan (1996). The most popular type of quantitative research is the employee satisfaction surveys. In these occasions both methods can be effectively combined. For instance, in an employee satisfaction survey, one may opt to begin with focus groups before designing the survey so as to determine the content of the survey and/or design questionnaire. They may also opt to use qualitative research after the survey data has been gathered for better understanding of the meaning behind the quantitative results. Alternatively, focus groups are used hand in hand with other research methods such as surveys and individual interviews. Analysis of the content of Sociological abstracts showed that most of the survey articles published using the focus groups combined them with other methods (Morgan, 1996). From Morgan's point-of-view, individual interviews or surveys method is more forthright since both are qualitative methods.

A key point in the surveys is the connection between employee satisfaction and organizational learning. It is a fact that, for survival in the worldwide competition, sufficient

Knowledge of intensive activities is necessary. Coming up with the methodologies to raise the knowledge in organizations will enhance the worker satisfaction (Singh & Sharma,2008).

Depending on the capacity of knowledge, self-confidence is enhanced, and this is connected to employee satisfaction. Knowledge is becoming a key aspect of organizations today and with knowledge comes organizational success. Success motivates the workers (Meyer,

2008). According to Meyer, satisfaction, which is brought about by organizational success is greatly affected by increase in knowledge.

On the other hand, according to Alegre and Chiva's study, on the employee satisfaction, dialogue results to better communications and motivation between workmates in the places of work .With that, we can make an assumption that employer satisfaction is an indication of the knowledge capacity in the organizations and organizational knowledge capacity is an indication of employee satisfaction and this strengthens the organization.

How to motivate workers

To achieve outstanding success, an organization should have be able to define values good enough to cater for the inconvenience inflicted upon resources contributed (Bernard as cited in Stoner et al., 1995).Bernard mainly focuses on employees, librarians in particular, sacrificing time and efforts for individual, economic, and non-economic satisfaction.

In this era of the internet, individuals who employ librarians should ensure they come to terms with their needs. Otherwise, they are likely to lose these creative, talented and technology-savvy individuals to other institutions which are willing to meet their demands and satisfy their needs. The basic principle of Total Quality Management asserts that employers accomplish great success by comprehending and fulfilling workers' needs as specified by the Kano model of customer satisfaction

Salaries

For managers to use salaries efficiently as a worker motivator, they must put into consideration four main elements of salary structures. These include: the payment, which raises the spirits of workers or groups by means of rewards as per their performance in a specific field; special allowances, often relating to factors such as specialization in certain skills or specific categories of information personnel or librarians with a long duration in service; job rate, which is connected to the importance the institution assigns to each job; and special benefits such as pensions, holidays with pay, and so on. There should be some direct relation between employer performance and reward, whether it involves recognition or it is naturally enjoyable work, to encourage employees to put more effort in their work and to improve their job satisfaction. This was stated by Fredrick Herzberg.According to Akintoye (2000), money is the most important motivational strategy.Back in 1911, Frederick Taylor asserted that money is the most significant factor and plays a major role in motivation of the laborers to attain higher level of productivity. Taylor campaigned for the formation of incentive wage systems as a way of encouraging workers to improved performance, responsibility, and finally satisfaction. Money has great motivation power and also secures other goals such as security, power, luxury, and an impression of achievement and success.Money has motivation power as demonstrated through the process of job choice by Katz, as cited in Sinclair, et al. (2005). Katz argues that money attraction power, the power to retain, and encourage workers to achieve greater performance. For instance, if a worker has a similar job offer with identical job specifications as his current job, but offers greater pay, they will definitely be attracted to the new job offer.

A majority of managers use money to reward or punish employees. This is mainly reflected as well-performing workers are rewarded and when the managers instill fear of loss of job (e.g. premature retirement due to low productivity). It is the yearning of be promotion which comes hand in hand with enhanced pay that also encourages workers as pointed out by Banjoko (1996)

Training of staff

The high productivity associated with an organization greatly depends on the amount of motivation the workers receive and their efficiency regardless of how automated an institution is training is an essential strategy when it comes to worker motivation. A good training programme will equip the personnel with skills for self-improvement and professional growth to meet the essentials of new apparatus.

Availability of information and Communication:

Another technique managers can employ to enhance worker motivation is

to provide them with essential information on the results of their deeds on others as pointed out by Olajide, (2000). According to Olajide, advancement in the manner departments in every organization communicate, cooperate, and relate with one another should exist. Availability of Information develops a powerful peer pressure, and by sharing of information, there is healthy competition among workers.

In the internet era, employees must add value by their knowledge and by the information they can give. Evaluating, managing, and exploiting the of every worker's knowledge have become crucial to the accomplishment of information age organizations. This is according to Robert Kaplan in The Balanced Scorecard: translating strategy into action.

Studies revolving around worker motivation show that it enhances workers' productivity and satisfaction. A number of motivational factors affect worker satisfaction. Colvin (1998) pointed out that financial enticements will encourage individuals to boost their performance.

Worker satisfaction normally depends on the social, economic and cultural conditions in a particular country (Ebru, 1995). A worker who earns insufficient salary will have difficulty in providing for his or her family's life. In such circumstances the worker cannot be contented. Meager wages and lack of social status and social security have implication on worker motivation.

Job satisfaction of the worker who has an important position in the information society will influence the quality of the service he offers. In The Service Profit Chain, Heskett Sasser Schlesinger points out that employee loyalty results into better productivity, and employee satisfaction enhances integrity and internal quality improves employee satisfaction.

The absence of job satisfaction leads to lassitude and degraded organizational commitment.This shows its importance in the organization.

Due to some reasons, workers may move from public to the private sector and vice versa. Sometimes it could be movement from one profession to the other which offers better income and that perceived as greener pasture. Such is common in countries facing harsh economical situations such as poor working conditions and late salary payment (Nwagwu, 1997). Workers tend to shift to better and well paying jobs (Fafunwa, 1971).

The importance of employee satisfaction surveys

The purpose of engaging employee satisfaction survey not limited just to the discovery of the level of employee satisfaction but to find a way of determining the level of improvements through results that are obtained. The employee satisfaction surveys usually employ questionnaires as well as complaint analyses. The complain analysis is however regarded as a passive methods (Chen et al.,2006). This is because a complaint analysis can never be used to fully determine the satisfaction level of the employees. Most firms have however adopted the use of questionnaire surveys as indicated by Yang (2003).Certain other businesses employ customer survey models in the process of making effective employee satisfaction surveys (Lam et al.,2001). The best-known model used for service quality measurement is the SERVQUAL model. The model is used for measuring the gap that exists between the perceptions of the customers and their expectations of the service quality in the determination of the perceived service quality. The work of Comm and Mathaiael (2000) employed SERVQUAL in devising the employee satisfaction surveys. They also defined the concept of employee satisfaction as the gap that exists between the perceptions that are work-related and the employee expectations. Some of the studies employ the SERVQUAL method in the execution of employee satisfaction surveys. These replaces the expectation values with the ones called importance values. The work of Comm and Mathaiael (2000) cited the theory advanced by McDougall and Levesque (1992).The work of certain authors indicate that in customer satisfaction surveys, the expectation values and the importance values are never equivalent. This suggests strongly that the expectation values must never be replaced with the importance values. The work of Yang (2003b) indicated that both the expectation values and the importance values are never synonymous. SERVQUAL is often used as an investigative tool. It is however not easy to apply it to business. The work of Yang (2003b) shown that the design of the SERVQUAL questionnaire has serious flaws and limitations. The main ones are the difficulty of employees and customers to answer the SERVQUAL questionnaire and this is notable in the "expectations" part. The other model of gauging employee satisfaction is the importance satisfaction survey (I-S) model.

The Importance-satisfaction model (I-S model)

This is a model that Chen et al. (2006) pointed out as an alternative to the SERVQUAL as a result of its limitations. The improvement plan's design should never consider only the low-quality attributes of the plan. The employee should measure the quality of products on the basis of various attributed (Deming, 1986). The employee then evaluates the products as well as the services through a consideration of various quality attributes. The organization then takes certain important actions aimed at improving the attributes that they deem are important to customers but having a low level of satisfaction.

Fig 1:A sample analytical outcome of an I-S model Source: Yang (2003a).

The outcome of each and every quality attribute is effectively placed in the model and then the strategies of improvement considered on the basis of the position of the items.

The process of establishing an employee satisfaction model

The most widely used method of carrying out an importance-satisfaction survey is to closely examine the thoughts as well as the satisfaction levels of the subjects by means of questionnaires (Saari & Judge,2004). The explanation of the determinants is carried out using the dimensions of the questionnaires. The dimensions of the determinants used in the employee satisfaction are not constant. They vary from one organization bearing differences that are not obvious.

Importance-satisfaction model (I-S model)