4.7
JOB SATISFACTION: INVOLVING WORKGROUPS
IN DESIGNING JOBS
Inspired by Merrelyn Emery and Terry Golbeck.This tool will help you engage employees in assessing the challenge, opportunity, and mean-
ing they get from their work.
Employee job satisfaction is not an end in itself; however, it needs to be acknowledged that
individual performance is highly correlated with job satisfaction. Leaders can’t wave magic
wands and make everybody happy, but they can design jobs for maximum employee satisfac-
tion and productivity.
Job satisfaction can be operationally defined as meeting the employee needs listed in the
table. When these needs are met, people usually report more satisfaction with their organiza-
tions, their leaders, and their overall work experience, and, not surprisingly, better organiza-
tional results are usually achieved.
126 SECTION 4 TOOLS FORDESIGNINGPRODUCTIVEPROCESSES ANDORGANIZATIONS
✔ Leaders need to delegate so employees can make decisions that they can call their own.
✔ Leaders need to provide employees with a decision-making framework—too much
direction and they feel controlled, too little and they flounder.
[☛9.2 Situational Leadership]
✔ Leaders need to coach by giving timely feedback on work behavior and performance.
✔ Leaders need to establish challenging but achievable goals.
[☛13.1 Coaching]
✔ Leaders need to ensure that employees have a level of variety in their work, to help
employees maintain interest and to avoid boredom and fatigue.
[☛4.7 Job Satisfaction]
✔ Leaders must not pit employees against one another.
✔ Leaders must avoid setting up win−lose situations.
✔ Leaders need to provide whole jobs and involvement in the whole product (i.e., a sense
that employees are building homes, not just putting on the doorknobs).
✔ Leaders must remind employees of the purpose, the whyof the job, and regularly
demonstrate to employees that they value and appreciate their contributions.
[☛4.4 Employee Involvement]
✔ Leaders need to recognize that learning and improvement are basic human needs.
✔ A desirable future does not necessarily have to be a promotion or even a guarantee of
job security, but it must encourage skill improvement and personal growth.
[☛2.4 Visioning]- Opportunities for
decision making - Opportunities to
continuously learn
on-the-job - Opportunities for
variety in work - Support and respect
from coworkers - Meaningful work
- A job that leads to a
desirable future, rather
than to a dead end
Employee need: What it means: