Students’ satisfaction is a very important indicator of the caliber of online courses, a learning modality which has escalated in the last decade. Satisfaction, however, is a complex construct and most related studies assume that satisfaction is the opposite of dissatisfaction. An alternative view from the area of organizational psychology was offered by Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman (1959) who theorized that the factors that lead to workers’ satisfaction are different from those that lead to their dissatisfaction. Therefore, eliminating the dissatisfiers may result in no dissatisfaction but not necessarily lead to satisfaction. This study used Herzberg et al. (1959) theory as a lens to investigate students’ satisfying and dissatisfying experiences in online courses. A total of 624 students were surveyed at a large system-wide Midwestern university regarding their satisfying and dissatisfy experiences in online courses. Data analyses included content analysis, descriptive statistics, and independent samples t-tests. Although some of the online course experiences that students described were associated with both satisfying and dissatisfying categories, some experiences were reported more often as satisfying than as dissatisfying. More specifically, the analyses revealed that recognition, achievement, course flexibility/convenience, asynchronous communication, and synchronous communication may be deemed as satisfiers (motivators), because they were more likely to increase online students’ satisfaction than to decrease their satisfaction. In contrast, online modality, assessment, instructor facilitation skills, instructor directions/expectations, and course technology were deemed as dissatisfiers (hygiene factors), because they were associated with students’ dissatisfying experiences more frequently than they were with satisfying experiences. Based on the study results, the recommendations included addressing not only the hygiene factors but also the motivators. The rationale is that if online course practitioners address only the hygiene factors (such as course technology), this approach could lead students to having only a neutral position in the course, that is, they would be neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Therefore, online course practitioners should also implement strategies (motivators) associated with experiences that students reported more often as satisfiers (such as recognition for their work and opportunities for achievement in the course).

nÃo hà / This study was meant to investigate the discrepancy observed among the theories of the organizational behavior which search for better work for the individuals as well as what happens, in practice, with the employees that carry out technical-administrative activities at the Federal University of CearÃ. The investigation, tried to identify the factors which influence the workâs satisfaction and dissatisfaction, focusing on the variables which explain this process and the way it has been expressed by the worker. In a second moment, it tried to identify the factors of organizational commitment, aiming to confirm the identified results in the first part of the research. Two hundred and twenty three employees were investigated and stratified according to the structure of their positions (supporting, intermediate and superior levels), distributed in nine extracts constituted initially from the work areas, heaped in the same knowledge area, having as reference the organic structure of the university. The objective of that stratification was to identify the different and the common behaviors about the objective of the study. The technical approach used was the survey and the method to select the employees was a random stratified sample. The number of employees used in the sample selection was proportional to the total number of employees in the extract and the analysis of the results was of quantitative predominant nature complemented by the qualitative analysis. The instrument used was a questionnaire outlined in three parts. Initially the research used 64 affirmatives related to the matters of working satisfaction adapted from the instrument of Melià & Peirà (1998) and from indicators construct from a theoretical review made. The second part allowed the study of the human behavior in relation to the organizational commitment. A reduced instrument was used with 28 compromising indicators, adapted from the model of Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993), and from the model of OâReilly and Chatman. The gathering of data allowed an evaluation of the satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors of the employee about the following variables: organization; management and supervision; culture and values; remuneration and safety and finally benefits and rewards; and also the identification of the affective, affiliation, instrumental, normative and reward components of the organizational commitment, each one of these variables contains a set of affirmatives. Seeking a larger reliability of the results, these were analyzed firstly considering each item of the affirmatives being followed by a block of affirmatives, and yet according to the employee level. Results show variations, according to the employeeâs level in the postâs structure and they allow relevant conclusions when it was match some items. However, the results demonstrate a significant behavior of apathy and indifference; greater satisfaction in the variable of work environment and greater dissatisfaction in the variables remuneration and safety; rewards and benefits and higher level commitment of the affective affiliation components. The relevance of this work is justified in the sense of contributing with the administration of the IES in the search of an improvement of the organizational policies and of the level of satisfaction of the employees. / Este trabalho concentra-se em investigar o comportamento do servidor tÃcnico-administrativo da Universidade Federal Cearà e a sua relaÃÃo com a administraÃÃo universitÃria no que se refere à atividade-meio. Tendo como objetivo investigar no comportamento dos servidores os fatores que influenciam na satisfaÃÃo e insatisfaÃÃo e a sua forma de expressÃo, estabelecendo-se, a partir daÃ, uma relaÃÃo com os fatores de comprometimento do servidor com a instituiÃÃo. Para tanto, realizou-se pesquisa bibliogrÃfica referente ao fator humano nas organizaÃÃes que incluiu revisÃo sobre os seguintes tÃpicos: traÃos da cultura organizacional que influenciam o desempenho organizacional, aspectos do comportamento humano relacionados aos fatores de satisfaÃÃo e insatisfaÃÃo e, por fim, o comprometimento organizacional. Foram investigados 223 servidores, estratificados conforme a estrutura de cargos (nÃvel de apoio, intermediÃrio e superior), distribuÃdos em nove estratos constituÃdos a partir das Ãreas de trabalho, aglomeradas dentro de uma mesma Ãrea de conhecimento, tendo como referÃncia a estrutura orgÃnica da universidade. A estratificaÃÃo permite identificar comportamentos diferenciados ou comuns sobre o objetivo do estudo. Com relaÃÃo aos procedimentos metodolÃgicos, trata-se de um estudo descritivo e exploratÃrio; a abordagem tÃcnica utilizada foi o levantamento survey; e o mÃtodo para selecionar os servidores foi a amostra aleatÃria estratificada. O nÃmero de servidores para selecionar a amostra foi proporcional ao nÃmero total de servidores no estrato, e a anÃlise dos resultados foi predominantemente de natureza quantitativa, complementada pela anÃlise qualitativa. O instrumento utilizado foi um formulÃrio elaborado de forma estruturada, delineado em trÃs partes. Inicialmente a pesquisa utilizou 64 afirmativas sobre questÃes de satisfaÃÃo laboral, adaptadas do instrumento de Melià e Peirà (1998) e de indicadores construÃdos a partir da revisÃo teÃrica realizada. A segunda parte permitiu o estudo do comportamento humano em relaÃÃo ao comprometimento organizacional. Nesta pesquisa foi utilizado um instrumento reduzido com 28 indicadores de comprometimento, adaptado do modelo de Meyer, Allen e Smith (1993) e do modelo de OâReilly e Chatman (1986). O levantamento de dados permitiu uma avaliaÃÃo dos nÃveis de satisfaÃÃo e insatisfaÃÃo dos servidores, relativos aos fatores intrÃnsecos e extrÃnsecos do trabalho nas seguintes Ãreas: organizaÃÃo, gestÃo e supervisÃo, cultura e valores, remuneraÃÃo e seguranÃa e benefÃcios e recompensas e, ainda, a identificaÃÃo dos componentes afetivo, afiliaÃÃo, instrumental, normativo e recompensa do comprometimento organiza-cional, em que cada uma destas Ãreas contÃm um bloco de afirmativas. Visando uma maior confiabilidade dos resultados, esses foram analisados primeiramente levando em consideraÃÃo cada item de afirmativas, em seguida, por bloco de afirmativas e, ainda, de acordo com o nÃvel do servidor. Os resultados revelam variaÃÃes de acordo com o nÃvel do servidor na estrutura de cargos e permitem conclusÃes relevantes quando do cruzamento de alguns itens. No entanto, os resultados demonstram um comportamento de apatia e indiferenÃa significativa; maior satisfaÃÃo na variÃvel ambiente de trabalho e maior insatisfaÃÃo nas variÃveis remuneraÃÃo e seguranÃa, recompensas e benefÃcios e maior envolvimento do servidor na organizaÃÃo, com relaÃÃo aos componentes do comprometimento afetivo e normativo.