Job Satisfaction of Employees

There are two types of data collection method use in my project report.

1. Primary data

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2. Secondary data.

In primary data the employees were approached directly to know their interest in the job and the satisfaction level being derived by them.

Secondary data collection method was used by referring to various websites, books, magazines, journals and daily newspapers for collecting information regarding project under study.

Introduction

Job satisfaction, a worker's sense of achievement and success, is generally perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal wellbeing. Job satisfaction implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well, and being suitably rewarded for one's efforts. Job satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one's work Job satisfaction; describes how content an individual is with his or her job. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Job satisfaction is not the same as motivation, although it is clearly linked. Job design aims to enhance job satisfaction and performance, methods include job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment.

Other influences on satisfaction include the management style and culture, employee involvement, empowerment and autonomous work groups. Job satisfaction is a very important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations. The most common way of measurement is the use of rating scales where employees report their reactions to their jobs.Questions relate to rate of pay, work responsibilities, variety of tasks, promotional opportunities the work itself and co-workers. 04 For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a work force that is motivated and committed to high quality performance. Increased productivity—the quantity and quality of output per hour worked—seems to be a byproduct of improved quality of working life. It is important to note that the literature on the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity is neither conclusive nor consistent.

However, studies dating back to Herzberg's (1957) have shown at least low correlation between high morale and high productivity, and it does seem logical that more satisfied workers will tend to add more value to an organization. Unhappy employees, who are motivated by fear of job loss, will not give 100 percent of their effort for very long. Though fear is a powerful motivator, it is also a temporary one, and as soon as the threat is lifted performance will decline. If job satisfaction is a worker benefit, surely the worker must be able to contribute to his or her own satisfaction and well-being on the job.

Companyprofile

Adidas is on the move and always has been: It has had an adventurous history since it first grew out of a family business in Herzogenaurach, Germany in the 1920s. With the hostile separation of two brothers’ interests in the 1940s, nearly going bust in the 1980s and then executing two rescue operations, first by sending production offshore to Asia and then by reinventing itself into a design and marketing company, Adidas has riden the waves of change in the sports goods sector both up and down.Alongside its own brands, it owned the Saloman ski and sportswear brand for nearly a decade and now includes the Reebok, Taylormade Golf and Rockport brands in its stable.

Things are now definitely on track and, if the current marketing slogan, “Impossible is Nothing", is anything to go by, the company is brimming with confidence. There are now over 1000 Adidas stores around the world and, in the run up to the Beijing Olympics the company opened an average of two stores a month in China. By 2010, the aim is to generate at least 30% of the group’s revenues through controlled space.To keep its brand in the public focus Adidas has also sponsored sportsmen and women for many years. In 2008, 295 footballers, 64 rugby players, 71 tennis players, 24 basketball players and 8 golfers all benefited from its three stripe logo. One of the first prominent endorsers of Adidas equipment was American running legend Jesse Owens, the gold medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics. As well as sponsoring the Beijing Olympics Adidas is also supporting the 2012 Olympic Games in London in a deal worth around $200 million.

Adidas Group sales grew robustly in all regions driven by the first-time inclusion of Reebok as well as strong revenue increases at both adidas and TaylorMade-adidas Golf. Group sales in Europe grew 32% on a currency-neutral basis. This represents an improvement of 31% in euro terms to € 4. 162 billion in 2006 from € 3. 166 billion in the prior year. Currency-neutral sales in Europe for the adidas Group excluding Reebok increased 8% due to adidas’ strongest growth in three years. In euro terms, this represents an increase of 7% to € 3.

90 billion in 2006 from € 3. 166 billion in the prior year. In North America, Group sales increased 107% on a currency-neutral basis. In euro terms, sales also grew 107% to € 3. 234 billion in 2006 from € 1. 561 billion in 2005. Currency-neutral sales in North America for the adidas Group excluding Reebok increased 14% driven by double-digit growth rates at both adidas and TaylorMade-adidas Golf.

In euro terms, revenues increased 13% to € 1. 768 billion in 2006 from € 1. 561 billion in the prior year.Sales for the adidas Group in Asia increased 35% on a currency-neutral basis. In euro terms, revenues in Asia grew 33% to € 2. 020 billion in 2006 from € 1. 523 billion in 2005.

Currency-neutral sales in Asia for the adidas Group excluding Reebok increased 20% during the period, primarily driven by strong growth at brand adidas. This marks the third consecutive year of double-digit underlying growth for our Group in the region. In euro terms, revenues grew 18% to € 1. 791 billion in 2006 from € 1. 23 billion in the prior year. In Latin America, currency-neutral sales increased 53%. In euro terms, sales grew 56% to € 499 million in 2006 from € 319 million in 2005.

Project Details

History One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne studies.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. Models of job satisfaction Affect Theory Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job satisfaction model.

The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job.Further, the theory states that how much one values a given facet of work (e. g. the degree of autonomy in a position) moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren’t met. When a person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively (when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one who doesn’t value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace and Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in a position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or no autonomy compared to Employee B.This theory also states that too much of a particular facet will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet.

Dispositional Theory

Another well-known job satisfaction theory is the Dispositional Theory[citation needed]. It is a very general theory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause them to have tendencies toward a certain level of satisfaction, regardless of one’s job. This approach became a notable explanation of job satisfaction in light of evidence that job satisfaction tends to be stable over time and across careers and jobs. Research also indicates that identical twins have similar levels of job satisfaction.A significant model that narrowed the scope of the Dispositional Theory was the Core Self-evaluations Model, proposed by Timothy A. Judge in 1998. Judge argued that there are four Core Self-evaluations that determine one’s disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control, and neuroticism.

This model states that higher levels of self-esteem (the value one places on his self) and general self-efficacy (the belief in one’s own competence) lead to higher work satisfaction. Having an internal locus of control (believing one has control over herhis own life, as opposed to outside forces having control) leads to higher job satisfaction. Finally, lower levels of neuroticism lead to higher job satisfaction.

Two-Factor Theory (Motivator-Hygiene Theory) Frederick Herzberg’s

Two factor theory (also known as Motivator Hygiene Theory) attempts to explain satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. This theory states that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are driven by different factors – motivation and hygiene factors, respectively. Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to perform, and provide people with satisfaction, for example achievement in work, recognition, promotion opportunities. These motivating factors are considered to be intrinsic to the job, or the work carried out.

Hygiene factors include aspects of the working environment such as pay, company policies, supervisory practices, and other working conditions. While Hertzberg's model has stimulated much research, researchers have been unable to reliably empirically prove the model, with Hackman ; Oldham suggesting that Hertzberg's original formulation of the model may have been a methodological artifact. Furthermore, the theory does not consider individual differences, conversely predicting all employees will react in an identical manner to changes in motivating/hygiene factors. Finally, the model has been criticised in that it does not specify how motivating/hygiene factors are to be measured. Job Characteristics ModelHackman & Oldham proposed the Job Characteristics Model, which is widely used as a framework to study how particular job characteristics impact on job outcomes, including job satisfaction. The model states that there are five core job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) which impact three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results), in turn influencing work outcomes (job satisfaction, absenteeism, work motivation, etc. ).

The five core job characteristics can be combined to form a motivating potential score (MPS) for a job, which can be used as an index of how likely a job is to affect an employee's attitudes and behaviors. A meta-analysis of studies that assess the framework of the model provides some support for the validity of the JCM. Measuring job satisfaction There are many methods for measuring job satisfaction. By far, the most common method for collecting data regarding job satisfaction is the Likert scale (named after Rensis Likert). Other less common methods of for gauging job satisfaction include: Yes/No questions, True/False questions, point systems, checklists, and forced choice answers. This data is typically collected using an Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) system. The Job Descriptive Index (JDI), created by Smith, Kendall; Hulin (1969), is a specific questionnaire of job satisfaction that has been widely used.

It measures one’s satisfaction in five facets: pay, promotions and promotion opportunities, coworkers, supervision, and the work itself. The scale is simple, participants answer either yes, no, or can’t decide (indicated by ‘? ’) in response to whether given statements accurately describe one’s job. The Job in General Index is an overall measurement of job satisfaction. It is an improvement to the Job Descriptive Index because the JDI focuses too much on individual facets and not enough on work satisfaction in general. Other job satisfaction questionnaires include: the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and the Faces Scale.The MSQ measures job satisfaction in 20 facets and has a long form with 100 questions (five items from each facet) and a short form with 20 questions (one item from each facet). The JSS is a 36 item questionnaire that measures nine facets of job satisfaction.

Finally, the Faces Scale of job satisfaction, one of the first scales used widely, measured overall job satisfaction with just one item which participants respond to by choosing a face. Job satisfaction and emotions Mood and emotions while working are the raw materials which cumulate to form the affective element of job satisfaction. (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). Moods tend to be longer lasting but often weaker states of uncertain origin, while emotions are often more intense, short-lived and have a clear object or cause.There is some evidence in the literature that state moods are related to overall job satisfaction. Positive and negative emotions were also found to be significantly related to overall job satisfaction Frequency of experiencing net positive emotion will be a better predictor of overall job satisfaction than will intensity of positive emotion when it is experienced Emotion regulation and emotion labor are also related to job satisfaction. Emotion work (or emotion management) refers to various efforts to manage emotional states and displays.

Emotion regulation includes all of the conscious and unconscious efforts to increase, maintain, or decrease one or more components of an emotion.Although early studies of the consequences of emotional labor emphasized its harmful effects on workers, studies of workers in a variety of occupations suggest that the consequences of emotional labor are not uniformly negative. It was found that suppression of unpleasant emotions decreases job satisfaction and the amplification of pleasant emotions increases job satisfaction. The understanding of how emotion regulation relates to job satisfaction concerns two models: 1. emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance is a state of discrepancy between public displays of emotions and internal experiences of emotions, that often follows the process of emotion regulation . Emotional dissonance is associated with high emotional exhaustion, low organizational commitment, and low job satisfaction.

Social interaction model

Taking the social interaction perspective, workers’ emotion regulation might beget responses from others during interpersonal encounters that subsequently impact their own job satisfaction. For example: The accumulation of favorable responses to displays of pleasant emotions might positively affect job satisfaction . performance of emotional labor that produces desired outcomes could increase job satisfaction. Relationships and practical implications Job Satisfaction can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and a predictor of work behaviours such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Further, job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and deviant work behaviors.

One common research finding is that job satisfaction is correlated with life satisfaction. This correlation is reciprocal, meaning people who are satisfied with life tend to be satisfied with their job and people who are satisfied with their job tend to be satisfied with life. However, some research has found that job satisfaction is not significantly related to life satisfaction when other variables such as nonwork satisfaction and core self-evaluations are taken into account. An important finding for organizations to note is that job satisfaction has a rather tenuous correlation to productivity on the job.This is a vital piece of information to researchers and businesses, as the idea that satisfaction and job performance are directly related to one another is often cited in the media and in some non-academic management literature. A recent meta-analysis found an average uncorrected correlation between job satisfaction and productivity; the average true correlation, corrected for research artifacts and unreliability.

Further, the meta-analysis found that the relationship between satisfaction and performance can be moderated by job complexity, such that for high-complexity jobs the correlation between satisfaction and performance is higherthan for jobs of low to moderate complexity. In short, the relationship of satisfaction to productivity is not necessarily straightforward and can be influenced by a number of other work-related constructs, and the notion that "a happy worker is a productive worker" should not be the foundation of organizational decision-making. With regard to job performance, employee personality may be more important than job satisfaction. The link between job satisfaction and performance is thought to be a spurious relationship; instead, both satisfaction and performance are the result of personality.

Importance to Worker and Organization Frequently, work underlies self-esteem and identity while unemployment lowers self-worth and produces anxiety.At the same time, monotonous jobs can erode a worker's initiative and enthusiasm and can lead to absenteeism and unnecessary turnover. Job satisfaction and occupational success are major factors in personal satisfaction, self-respect, self-esteem, and self-development. To the worker, job satisfaction brings a pleasurable emotional state that often leads to a positive work attitude. A satisfied worker is more likely to be creative, flexible, innovative, and loyal. For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a work force that is motivated and committed to high quality performance. Increased productivity—the quantity and quality of output per hour worked—seems to be a byproduct of improved quality of working life.

It is important to note that the literature on the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity is neither conclusive nor consistent. However, studies dating back to Herzberg's (1957) have shown at least low correlation between high morale and high productivity, and it does seem logical that more satisfied workers will tend to add more value to an organization. Unhappy employees, who are motivated by fear of job loss, will not give 100 percent of their effort for very long. Though fear is a powerful motivator, it is also a temporary one, and as soon as the threat is lifted performance will decline. Workers' Roles in Job SatisfactionIf job satisfaction is a worker benefit, surely the worker must be able to contribute to his or her own satisfaction and well-being on the job. The following suggestions can help a worker find personal job satisfaction:

• Seek opportunities to demonstrate skills and talents. This often leads to more challenging work and greater responsibilities, with attendant increases in pay and other recognition.
• Develop excellent communication skills. Employers value and reward excellent reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills.
• Know more. Acquire new job-related knowledge that helps you to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively. This will relieve boredom and often gets one noticed.
• Demonstrate creativity and initiative. Qualities like these are valued by most organizations and often result in recognition as well as in increased responsibilities and rewards.
• Develop teamwork and people skills. A large part of job success is the ability to work well with others to get the job done.
• Accept the diversity in people. Accept people with their differences and their imperfections and learn how to give and receive criticism constructively.
• See the value in your work. Appreciating the significance of what one does can lead to satisfaction with the work itself. This helps to give meaning to one's existence, thus playing a vital role in job satisfaction.
• Learn to de-stress. Plan to avoid burnout by developing healthy stress-management techniques. Assuring Job SatisfactionAssuring job satisfaction, over the longterm, requires careful planning and effort both by management and by workers.

Managers are encouraged to consider such theories as Herzberg's(1957) and Maslow's (1943) Creating a good blend of factors that contribute to a stimulating, challenging, supportive, and rewarding work environment is vital. Because of the relative prominence of pay in the reward system, it is very important that salaries be tied to job responsibilities and that pay increases be tied to performance rather than seniority. So, in essence, job satisfaction is a product of the events and conditions that people experience on their jobs.Brief (1998) wrote: "If a person's work is interesting, her pay is fair, her promotional opportunities are good, her supervisor is supportive, and her coworkers are friendly, then a situational approach leads one to predict she is satisfied with her job". Very simply put, if the pleasures associated with one's job outweigh the pains, there is some level of job satisfaction.

Interpetation

While doing my project and looking into the company profile of ADIDAS I came across certain facts and figures.

Competitors in market

ADIDAS is a manufacturer of sports wears and sports goods. The main competitor of ADIDAS is NIKE which also manufactures sports goods and sports products.Few years earlier REEBOK was also a competitor, but ADIDAS took over the company and became the worlds largest sports wear and sports goods Production Company. Other competitors of ADIDAS are AMER SPORTS and ROSSIGNOL AMER SPORTS is company that was established in 1950 in Finland portfolio of sports brands including Wilson, Atomic, Suunto, Precor and Salomon.

They manufacture athletic shoes, sports and fitness equipments. ROSSIGNOL is a company that produces equipments for snowboarding, ice-skating and other apparel products. They even manufacture ski boots, bindings, poles, hats, and gloves, as well as golf equipment via its Roger Cleveland Golf subsidiary. It even started giving sponsorship to various sports teams in all kinds of games all over the world.

The development of our employee numbers varied significantly from a brand perspective. The number of employees at the adidas brand increased 25 % to 18,678 at the end of 2007 (2006: 14,906), mainly driven by the brand’s strong expansion, especially in own retail and in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe (e. g. Russia), Asia and Latin America. Staff at Reebok declined 11 %, attributable to a shift in the workforce to the Group functions and adidas brand as well as the elimination of duplicative positions. Hence, the Reebok segment comprised 6,751 employees at year-end (2006: 7,545). At TaylorMade-adidas Golf, the number of employees increased by 2 % to 1,393 (2006: 1,368).

The number of employees working in our Group functions increased sharply by 77 % to 4,522 (2006: 2,552). The main reason for this development was the expansion of the Sports Licensed Division to a cross-brand corporate license department, including licensed products from brand adidas (e. g. NBA jerseys) and Reebok (e. g. NHL and NFL jerseys). Excluding this effect, employment within our Group functions increased 23 %.

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