Utility Scale Developing a Personalized

Utility Scale

Developing a personalized utility scale for job satisfaction

Key objectives in determining job satisfaction in a future occupation include both pragmatic and esoteric concerns, with different emphases for each individual. The pragmatic objectives are easier to determine and delineate; a job must provide adequate monetary compensation, benefits that ensure my ability to keep earning within the occupation or barring that the ability to provide for myself and any dependents, and the security of both occupation and earnings within the same or a related occupation. Esoteric concerns are somewhat less concrete and fixed, and therefore more difficult to list with any certainty. An occupation must provide engaging work while keeping non-enjoyable intrusions to a minimum -- for me, this of tends means a great deal of autonomy and time for solitary mental engagement. At the same time, my ideal occupation would be somewhat rewarding on a social scale, incorporating an understanding of the human side of the many figures and balance sheets I expect to be handling.

There are a variety of occupations in the business world that would satisfy these objectives. The five job types identified for the purposes of this paper and its attendant utility scale are commercial bank management, money management, investment banking analysis, corporate financial planning, and market research analysis. Each of these occupations meets the easily identifiable pragmatic criteria listed above, with median incomes of six figures and much higher potential (Careers in Business 2009). Determining the extent to which each of these occupational areas will satisfy the other objectives listed is somewhat more difficult, and it is in this area that a direct utility scale will be most beneficial. The easily quantifies areas of money and security will also be incorporated into the utility scale, providing an accurate reflection of all areas.

The utility scale will be simple and direct, using a five-point scale to rate each occupational area on a series of components and objectives related to overall job satisfaction. These components will include: potential for greater financial reward, job security in the given occupational field, social significance (if any) of the occupation, contribution to the community, involvement in engaging work, relative freedom from non-enjoyable work related tasks, level of autonomy and decision-making latitude, level of the average individual impact on a given company in the filed, and the opportunity for development/growth into related occupations (Kristensen & Westergaard-Nielsen 2006). This list of components is not exhaustive, but provides a strong foundation for the development of a more complete assessment of the utility derived from each specific occupational type applied to the utility scale.