Job performance is often perceived to be related to job satisfaction but the evidence shows there is not a high correlation, actually a fairly low one. So how many leaders out there are assuming the high job performance and measuring their employees job satisfaction?
The link is to a study showing the lack of relationship:
http://panglossinc.com/JS-JP%20published.pdf
So what are your thoughts as leaders?
Here’s mine.
I believe people have the tendency to relate job satisfaction and performance because there are relationships between them, but not causation one way or the other. There are too many other variables that relate to both as separate identities that there isn’t enough support to say they are connected. It was mentioned in the article through several of the different studies that self-esteem seems to be directly related to both of them and may be a major factor in the way we connect job satisfaction and performance because they may correlate with self-esteem (Judge, Bono, & Patton, 2001). We see a connection because those who usually have higher self-esteem may take pride in their work performance. There are different levels of job satisfaction which can make it difficult to pinpoint how it relates to their job performance due to a worker’s overall satisfaction of the job versus the breakdown of factors that make up the job such as pay, other worker, tasks (Penn State University, n.d.). The other variables of the job all contribute to both job satisfaction and performance but not as a joint identity but as two separate which make them not related.
Job satisfaction can bring a lot of benefits for a company. When a worker is satisfied they tend to do more than expect in the work like organizational citizenship behaviors, going above their assigned duties. When a worker feels satisfaction it usually comes from an intrinsic feeling which is one’s self-identity which this feeling could lead to increased performance (Judge, Bono, Patton, 2001). Job satisfaction is usually related to a positive feeling about the company and the work which can be a contagious feeling that could lead to others increasing their satisfaction and performance. When you have an environment that is overall happy it “implies that employees will be more satisfied if their co-workers are satisfied” (Penn State University, n.d.).
I have seen both sides of the job satisfaction play out in my work. We had a manager who lacked connection with our department and this caused a majority of workers to lose their job satisfaction. This lead to employees doing the minimum, calling out, turn over and overall losing their enthusiasm to put any effort into their work (The word about this actually spread to other dealerships which deemed hiring good people difficult). This dissatisfaction spread through to other departments as these workers complained and the evidence of their unhappiness was an underperformed month. After the manager was let go a new one came in who was well received. He brought connection to a lot of members who had lost and brought back individual job satisfaction by listening to their needs and wants and working with them to achieve them. In return the job environment because a more pleasant one and the positive attitude slowly spreading through the workplace. Performance went up, less call outs and overall it seemed job satisfaction was increased throughout the department. There were so many variables of how job satisfaction was affected but you definitely saw the difference and a big part was in performance.
Judge, T. A., Thorensen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376-407.
Penn State University, (n.d.) Introduction to Behavior, Motivation, and Attitudes at Work. Retrieved January 28th 2016 from Psychological Foundations of Behavior, Motivation, and Attitudes at Work PSY 539 https://elearning.la.psu.edu/psy/539/lesson-6
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