There is relatively little research based on the Big Five personality dimensions and job satisfaction and the relationship thereof. Job satisfaction of employees is a good indication of organisational effectiveness and is influenced by organisational and dispositional factors. The fundamental nature of the dispositional approach is that individuals have stable traits that significantly influence their affective and behavioural reactions to organisational settings. Job satisfaction can be considered a general feeling of well-being experienced by any employee about the work he or she does or as a related collection of attitudes about various aspects of the job. Employees, who perform at higher levels, will most likely make a greater contribution in the organisation. These individual's are more likely to achieve greater status; thus the importance of having satisfied employees in any organisation. The general objective of this study was to determine the relationship between personality dimensions and job satisfaction of engineers in a petro-chemical organisation. A cross-sectional survey design was used in the empirical study. The sample consisted of 89 junior to middle level engineers within a petro-chemical organisation. The Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) and the Personality Characteristics Inventory (PCI) were administered. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Cronbach alpha coefficients, inter-item correlation coefficients and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationships between the variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine which personality dimensions were the best predictors of job satisfaction. The current research found that employees who are more stable and introverted tend to be more satisfied with achievement, independence as well as human and technical supervision at the work place. It was also established that extraverted and sociable individuals in the organization are less satisfied with human supervision. The findings of this research showed that some personality dimensions are related to aspects of job satisfaction However, overall personality dimensions explained relatively small percentages in the variance of job satisfaction. Because of this, the situational frame of reference, which is most common at present within the workplace, as well as the frame of reference that most supports this research, job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, is alleged to result from the nature of the job or h m the conditions at work. This basically epitomizes the effects of situational forces on workers' job attitudes. The results showed that subscales predicted job satisfaction to a greater extent than personality dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This study has investigated the problems experienced by female educators in relation with their job satisfaction by focussing on: The nature of job satisfaction; The problems and factors which cause job satisfaction/job dissatisfaction among female educators; To achieve these goals a literature study and an empirical study has been conducted. The literature study was undertaken by consulting primary and secondary sources. After the nature of job satisfaction and the problems causing satisfaction or dissatisfaction were established and discussed, a questionnaire was drafted. From a review of the literature, it appeared that the problems experienced by the female educators were intrinsic problems, within the classroom, outside the classroom, and within the community. A study population was used in which female educators who worked in secondary schools in the Potchefstroom District were involved. The empirical investigation indicated that the major problems experienced by the female educators were mostly outside the classroom. A minor problem for female educators appears to be that the learners are not under the obligation to tell if they are HIV/Aids infected. Also safety does not seem to be of influence on the job satisfaction of female educators in secondary schools / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

This research is about the factors that influence job satisfaction amongst female teachers in primary schools. Three goals have been set: 1. To determine the nature of job satisfaction from the literature. 2. To determine the factors that influence female teachers' job satisfaction from the literature. 3. To determine through empirical research to what extent female teachers experience job satisfaction and which factors influence her job satisfaction. After the nature of job satisfaction was determined from the literature as well as the factors that influence job satisfaction, a questionnaire has been developed. From the literature overview it appears that the factors that influence job satisfaction can be divided in four categories: factors within the person, factors within the classroom, factors within the work situation and factors within the community. The population consists of female teachers, working at primary schools in the Potchefstroom District. All women, working at post level 1, at schools with 500 or more learners have been asked to contribute to this research. The empirical part of the research showed that the factors within the work situation influence job satisfaction most, the factors outside of the classroom. The low payment is one of the factors that contribute to teachers' job dissatisfaction. The relationship to learners, parents and principals also influences the job satisfaction of the female teachers. Less important for female teachers at primary schools is the fact that the family would be a barrier for their promotion. Intimidation by learners in the school is not an influential factor either. Female teachers working at schools attended by predominantly black learners experience less job satisfaction than their colleagues working at schools attended by predominantly white learners / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

South Africa is experiencing a process of formidable and fundamental change. Public administrators as well as politicians are under tremendous pressure as heavy demands are being placed on them. These demands include coping with interventions such as Affirmative Action, Employment Equity, and the importance of managing diversity in the workplace. Despite improvements in race relations in the past twenty years, dysfunctional and ineffective behaviour still occur. This may be a reflection of the discomfort and anxiety experienced by employees in the work setting. In order to comply with legislation, organisations created opportunities for Black, Asian and Coloured males and females, White females and disabled people. This, in return, leads to perceptions of preferential hiring. The view that Affirmative Action involves preferential hiring and treatment based on group membership creates resistance to its implementation and original purpose. The reason for this resistance might be linked to the fact that people still perceive discrimination and injustice in the workplace. These perceptions seem true in public organisations even though public organisations have taken a positive stance with regard to implementing Equal Employment and Affirmative Action plans. A qualitative design with an availability sample (N = 20) of employees working in a public organisation was used. The qualitative research makes it possible to determine the subjective experience of employees in a public organisation. Semi-structured interviews based on the phenomenological method were conducted with employees working in different sections and different positions in a public organisation. Non-directive questions were asked during the interview. The tape-recording of the interview was transcribed verbatim in order to analyse the information. Content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the research data in a systematic, objective and quantitative way. A literature-control has been done to investigate relevant research in order to determine the comparativeness and uniqueness of the current research. Results indicated that Affirmative Action has been used as a tool in achieving its goal by focusing on preferential hiring. From the responses it was clear that the majority of the participants are of opinion that preferential hiring led to the appointment of incompetent candidates. It appears from the interviews that appointments are made without basing it on merit. This is against the basic principle of the public organisation of hiring and promoting employees by set standards. Due to the fact that previous disadvantaged groups are being placed in positions of which they have no experience or are not trained in, job related knowledge seems to present a problem. From the interviews it appeared that employees felt that poor customer service increased across the organisation due to the appointment of incompetent candidates. This also seems to have an effect on the workload being handled. It seems that predominantly white employees tend to be ambivalent towards Affirmative Action. Part of the reason for this ambivalence is the fear of change, especially when that change involves a radical re-thinking of past strategies. White employees, employed by the old apartheid system, feel alienated and/or marginalised in the new Affirmative Action process. White employees are also leaving organisations because they seem not to be part of the Affirmative Action process. This leads to loss of expertise occurring in organisations. Though organisations show a considerable amount of improvement on relationships between black and white, discrimination still seems to present itself through the implementation of Affirmative Action. Managing diversity is crucial for the effective management and development of people. It is important not to focus only on cultural differences but also concentrate on individual needs and perceptions. Unfortunately, it appears that South Africa is in the process of making the same mistakes as other countries in focusing on a power game and corruption. Black employees in particular, seem to be actively recruited, placed in senior positions and given the related finishing. In other words top management are using their 'power' to enforce Affirmative Action. There are also those who want to abuse the system or maybe understand the system incorrectly. Corruption coming from top management tends to make employees negative. In order to address these issues, a succession and career planning process needs to exist which is closely tied to the organisations' strategic plan. Employment Equity, as a strategic objective, is managed by the organisation, but needs the Human Resources function in a support and consultancy role. As such, it requires translation into practical objectives for departments, managers and employees. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

There is alleged to be a severe nursing shortage in Canada. While the shortage is attributed in large part to fiscal restraint in the hospital sector in the early 1990s, there are competing claims addressing why nursing employment levels changed over this period. Supply-side proponents argue that deteriorating working conditions and stagnant wages led nurses to voluntarily leave the profession, province, or country for better employment prospects. Demand-side proponents argue that hospitals reduced staff levels in response to a decline in inpatient utilization. There is also considerable disagreement on what impact, if any, reduced nursing employment levels had on access to hospital care. However, while there is no shortage of anecdotal evidence and plausible rhetoric, the debate is being carried out in a largely data-free environment. This thesis attempts partially to fill this void. Part I of this thesis examines trends in the nursing employment level in Canada over the hospital restructuring period. Results indicate that the number of nurses employed in hospitals decreased significantly during the cut-backs period and that the decrease was particularly severe among young nurses. The employment level is decomposed into three separate components for each age group: the change in the potential supply of nurses, the change in the employment rate of this group and the change in the likelihood that an individual will work in the nursing profession conditional on being employed. Results indicate that the third factor is most important. To determine whether the observed shift toward non-nursing employment was voluntary, an occupational sector choice model is developed and the pattern of nursing wages, non-nursing wages, and hospital expenditure (a proxy for demand) is examined. The evidence strongly suggests that the reduction in the nursing employment level in hospitals during the downsizing period was a result of a decrease in the demand for nursing labour and did not represent voluntary movement out of the nursing sector. That the decrease in demand primarily affected young nurses appears to reflect the influence of seniority in the highly unionized nursing sector.

Aim of the study: – investigate and compare the satisfaction of work of the personnel working in the Kaunas Centre of Public Health (KCPH) and its subsidiaries. Methods: - The personnel of KCPH and its subsidiaries took part in the inquiry. There were 193 questionnaires distributed, 150 of them were completed and returned. The response rate was 77.7%. The 7 – point Likert scale was used in the survey where 1 point stood for “totally disagree”, and 7 points for “totally agree”. The acquired inquiry results data were then processed and analyzed using SPSS version 9.0 Statistical software package. Hypothesis about the absence of interdependence between the two indicators were verified using the chi-square (χ2) criterion. Results differences at p < 0.05 level were considered as statistically significant. Means, standard deviations (SD) and confidence intervals (CI) were also calculated. The strength of relation among the rating variables was verified using Spirmen coefficient of correlation. Results: - In the KCPH subsidiaries 50% of the personnel are elder than 50 years of age. 49.1% of the KCPH subsidiaries employees have secondary education. General satisfaction with the work, independently of working place, is higher than average (4.98). The most satisfied with the work are the ones who have secondary education (5.33), elder than 50 years of age (5.31) and the ones who have 26 or more years of previous experience in the field (5.52). The motivation actions were identified... [to full text]

ABSTRACT THE QUEST TO RETAIN TEACHERS: ONE URBAN-SUBURBAN SCHOOL SYSTEM’S STORY OF TEACHER MOVEMENT by Karen Smits Recent data on teacher attrition indicate that approximately 15 percent of teachers either leave the profession or move from one school to another each year. The attrition rate is highest for teachers new to the profession with 30-50 percent leaving within five years. High rates of attrition are a contributing cause of various educational problems including reduced student achievement, teacher shortages, declining teacher morale, and organizational discontinuity. The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons why teachers choose to leave the profession or move to another school from one year to the next. A qualitative case study was conducted to explore the reasons teachers from one urban-suburban school system voluntarily resigned at the end of one school year and what changes could have been made to keep them from leaving. The study answers three questions: Why do teachers leave? Why do some move to other schools while other teachers leave the profession? What could keep teachers from leaving? Data were collected using exit questionnaires, exit interviews, and semi-structured interviews of teachers leaving after the 2006-2007 school year. Data were analyzed using both deductive and inductive methods. Teachers who participated in this study made the decisions to move or leave for two primary reasons: administrative support and new opportunities. Administrative support took many forms and was described in a variety of ways including the following: administrative visibility, communication, use of time, support with student behavior, workload, implementation of new initiatives, and school climate. Teachers who left for new prospects were seeking different teaching opportunities or a better chance of moving into administration. The greatest difference between the teachers who moved and those who left the profession was hope. Teachers who moved to another school system believed the situation would be better elsewhere. Teachers who left the profession saw the struggles they endured as likely to occur in any teaching situation. Teachers indicated that they may have considered staying if they had received more administrative support, experienced better working conditions, had more supportive mentors, or had a teacher advocate who could have intervened on their behalf.

SUMMARY Management of Public Health JOB SATISFACTION AMONG COMMUNITY NURSES Danutė Adomavičiūtė Supervisor Jurgita Vladičkienė, Dr.Sc., Department of Social medicine. Faculty of Public Health, Kaunas University of Medicine.- Kaunas, 2005.- P.71 Primary health care is a priority field of health care in Lithuania. Community nursing as a part of primary health care meets with development difficulties. First of all, is paid too few attention to community nurses, in primary health care institutions is a shortage of them, but customers wishes more of community nurses lent services. Aim of the study is to investigate job satisfaction level among community nurses in Kaunas primary health care institutions. Objectives are to evaluate general job satisfaction level among community nurses, to establish relationship between job satisfaction and work factors, and relationship between job satisfaction and nurse’s efforts better to work, to establish needs of community nurses. Methods. Object of study is community nurse’s job satisfaction. A sample of 174 nurses was questioned with the aid of anonymous questionnaire. Statistic data reliability was tested by Chi square test of independence, degrees of freedom quantity (df) and statistical significance (α=0,05). Results. There was established, that 60,3% nurses are content with their own job and 39,7% - unsatisfied. Calculated common average of job satisfaction grade was 2,63 (±0,770), by evaluating in scale from 1 to 4 (where 1 is... [to full text]

Šiuolaikinėje organizacijoje vis svarbesnę vertę turi darbuotojas ir asmeninės jo savybės, kadangi daugėja įrodymų, kad nuo darbuotojo asmeninių savybių priklauso pasitenkinimas darbu bei darbo kokybė. Teigiami charakterio bruožai žmogui padeda dirbti, didinti darbo našumą, gerinti jo kokybę. Pagrindinė mokslinių tyrimų, susijusių su teigiamais charakterio bruožais, idėja yra ta, kad harmoningai nugyventas gyvenimas pabrėžiant pagrindines charakterio stiprybes gali būti pilnavertis ir produktyvus tiek darbe, tiek visuomenėje. Svarbus veiksnys numatant darbuotojų pasitenkinimą darbu yra ir darbo charakteristikos, kurių pasireiškimas užtikrina darbuotojo veiklos efektyvumą. Šio darbo tikslas yra nustatyti ir pagrįsti šių prielaidų patikimumą, išsiaiškinant ryšius tarp teigiamų charakterio bruožų, darbo charakteristikų ir pasitenkinimo darbu. Tyrime dalyvavo 136 tiriamieji (iš kurių 51 vyras ir 85 moterys), dirbantys įvairiose paslaugas teikiančiose įmonėse Vilniuje. Pasitenkinimas darbu buvo matuotas P. E. Spector Pasitenkinimo darbu klausimynu, sudarytu 1994 m. Teigiami charakterio bruožai matuoti Stiprybių ir Dorybių klasifikacijos trumpąja forma, sukurta Peterson ir Seligman 2003 m. bei Subjektyvia laimės skale, sudaryta Lyubomirsky 1999 m. Darbo charakteristikos matuotos Darbo diagnostikos klausimynu, sudarytu Taber, Beehr ir Walsh 1985 m. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad bendras pasitenkinimas darbu statistiškai patikimai skyriasi lyties atžvilgiu. Skirtumų tarp moterų ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Employee and his individual characteristics become more and more important in the modern organizations. Growing evidence show that job performance and job satisfaction depend on personal resources. According to the scientific literature positive character traits help person to work and improve productivity in organizations. Positive psychology focuses on resources in human character strengths wich enable a good life if highly developed. Important factors as well as character traits in predicting employee’s job satisfaction are job characteristics. The aim of this study is to discover and to determine the validity of these proposings by finding out the correlations between positive character traits, job characteristics and job satisfaction. Survey with 136 (51 men and 85 women) customer service employees across various organizations in Vilnius were conducted. Job satisfactions was assessed by Job Satisfaction Survey developed by P. E. Spector in 1994. Positive character traits were assessed by the VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues, developed by Peterson and Seligman in 2003 and Subjective Happiness Scale developed by Lyubomirsky in 1999. Job Characteristics were assessed by Job Diagnostic Survey developed by Taber, Beehr and Walsh in 1985. The results showed statistical difference between job satisfaction and gender. There were no relation between job satisfaction with age, job lenght and marital status between men and women. Results also showed statistically... [to full text]

Tyrimo tikslas - išsiaiškinti priekabiavimo, patiriamo mokytojų darbe sąsajas su pasitenkinimu darbu bei emociniu išsekimu. Tyrime dalyvavo 8-ių Kauno mokyklų mokytojai. Bendras respondentų skaičius – 361 mokytojas (310 moterų, 31 vyras, 10 respondentų nenurodė lyties). Tiriamųjų amžiaus vidurkis 45,2 metai. Kolegų priekabiavimui darbe įvertinti buvo naudojama priekabiavimo darbe skalė (WHS) (Björkqvist, Österman, 1992). Klausimynas sudarytas iš 24 klausimų. Atlikus priekabiavimo darbe skalės atsakymų į klausimus faktorinę analizę, buvo išskirti penki faktoriai, keturi iš jų toliau naudoti tyrimo duomenų analizei (žeminimas, žlugdymas, atskyrimas, įžeidinėjimas). Buvo įtraukti trys papildomi klausimai, kolegų priekabiavimo aspektams atskleisti. Pasitenkinimui darbu nustatyti, naudotas Paul Spector - pasitenkinimu darbu klausimynas (JSS) (Spector, 1985), į kurį įeina devynios subskalės. Klausimynas leidžia įvertinti bendrąjį pasitenkinimo darbu lygį bei atskirus pasitenkinimo darbu aspektus. Emocinei savijautai įvertinti naudota emocinio išsekimo skalė, skirta mokytojams (The MBI-ES), sudarytoja - Christina Maslach. Į skalę įeina devyni klausimai. Emocinis išsekimas leidžia įvertinti emocinių resursų pereikvojimą ir išsekimą dėl darbo (Maslach, Jackson, Leiter, 1996). Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad didesnis kolegų priekabiavimas darbe susijęs su mažesniu pasitenkinimu darbu. Nustatyta, kad aukštesnis kolegų priekabiavimo mokytojų darbe lygis susijęs su aukštesniu emocinio... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The research purpose – to analyze relations among work harassment, job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion, perceived in teachers’ work. There were 361 teachers (310 – women, 31 – men, 10 respondents did not indicate their sex), who participated in the research. The respondents were from 8 Kaunas’ schools. The average age of the participants – 45,2 years. For the assessment of work harassment, Work Harassment Scale (WHS) was used, developed by K. Björkqvist and K. Österman, in 1992. Factor analysis was done, five factors were developed, four factors were used for the further data analysis. Factors were named as follows: disruption, humiliation, alienation, indignity. For the deeper assessment of work harassment, three additional questions were used. For the assesment of job satisfaction, Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) was used (Spector, 1985). The questionnaire consists of 9 scales. It allows to assess job satisfaction and it’s aspects. For the assessment of emotional exhaustion, Emotional Exhaustion scale was used. The scale was specifically developed for teachers by Christina Maslach (The MBI-ES). Emotional Exhaustion scale measures overextention of emotional resources and exhaustion from job (Maslach, Jackson, Leiter, 1996). The results showed that higher level of work harassment is related to lower job satisfaction. The results revealed that higher level of work harassment is related to higher level of emotional exhaustion. Teachers, who observed work harassment... [to full text]