MEASURING EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION IN REAL ESTATE BUSINESS: A STUDY ON SOME SELECTED COMPANIES IN BANGLADESH Mohammad Jonaed Kabir Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh. mjk_iiuc@yahoo.com Abstract Job satisfaction is one of the important requirements for employees motivation. If employees satisfied on their job then they will be encouraged to render their better services, they will be committed to the job and to the organization. When the employees are committed then their efforts will be contributed to the achievement of organizational objectives and both individual employee and the organization will be benefited. But we know there are different types of organizations and different types of peoples working in different locations. Job satisfaction depends in different ways in different peoples in different organizations. Real estate business is a flourishing industry in Bangladesh. Within a very short span of time real estate has become one of the most lucrative businesses of the country. With the growing economy, the demand for residential along with commercial construction have radically augmented. Over the last decade this sector has become extremely competitive. Today, numerous registered real estate buildings are continuously working towards changing the urban landscape of Bangladesh. A number of real estate companies are working under one umbrella association named ' Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh' (REHAB). About a 1000 companies are at present affiliated with association, while several other companies are working independently. This study focuses on measuring employee s job satisfaction in real estate business and questionnaire analysis, which include regular assign activities, relationship with others, flexible team spirit, contribution, compensation matches with responsibilities, overall job satisfaction, salary structure, work environment, performance bonus etc. Key Words: Job Satisfaction, Real Estate Business Objectives of the study The main objective of this study is "Measuring job satisfaction in real estate business ". The specific objectives are: To analyze the factors influences in employee job satisfaction. To evaluate employees job satisfaction. To find out problems and provide recommendations to overcome these problems. Literature Review Job satisfaction is important for employees as well as organizational achievements. It has a great impact on employees 18
productivity. Job satisfaction has been defined in several different ways and a definitive designation for the term is unlikely to materialize. A simple or general way to define it therefore is as an attitudinal variable: Job satisfaction is simply how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs. It is the extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs (Spector, 1997). There is a relationship between job satisfaction and motivation. However, the two concepts can also be viewed as separate concepts. Motivation can be defined as a persistent effort directed towards a goal (Wealleans, 2003). Job satisfaction, on the other hand, refers to a collection of attitudes that workers have towards their jobs (Johns, 1992; Robbins, Odendaal & Roodt, 2003). There are various definitions of job satisfaction. George and Jones (1996:70) define it as the collection of feelings and beliefs that people have about their current jobs. According to Johns (1992), job satisfaction is a collection of attitudes that workers have about their jobs. Job satisfaction may be defined in terms of the way people react to their work environment. Gannon (1979:186), for example, sees job satisfaction as the difference between the amount of some valued outcome a person receives and the amount of that outcome. Francis and Melbourne (1980) attempt to summaries the various definitions of job satisfaction as follows: Generally, job satisfaction is the result of the individual s perception of what is needed and what is received from different facets of the work situation. The closer the expectation is to what is actually received, the greater the job satisfaction. According to these authors job satisfaction sometimes refers to an overall feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the situation-as-a-whole (global satisfaction). At other times, job satisfaction refers to a person s feelings toward specific dimensions of the work environment (facet satisfaction). As indicated by the above definitions, job satisfaction can be defined as an attitude that individuals have about their jobs and it results from their perception of their jobs and the degree to which there is a good fit between the individual or the needs of an individual and the organization. It is the general understanding that job satisfaction is an attitude towards job. In other words job satisfaction is an affective or emotional response toward various facets of one s job. A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitudes towards his or her job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative attitudes about the job. Job satisfaction is a result of employees perception of how well their job provides those things which are viewed as important. Job satisfaction is also defined as reintegration of affect produced by individual s perception of fulfillment of his needs in relation to his work and the surrounding it (Saiyaden, 1993). Organ and Hammer (1991) pointed out that job satisfaction represents a complex assemblage of cognition, emotion and tendencies. It had also defined as psychological reward that is experienced directly by an employee (Stoner and Freeman, 1992). There is ea negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover. Pierce, Hazel, and Mion (1996) examine the effect of a professional practice model (PPM) on nurses job satisfaction and turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction is generally believed a higher job satisfaction is associated with increased productivity, lower absenteeism, and lower employee turnover (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). Amah (2009) stressed that job satisfaction 19
was found to have a direct negative relationship with turnover intention. As mentioned by Khilji and Wang (2007) reported that the impacts of labor turnover on a hotel s bottom line could be classified into direct costs and indirect costs. From the above literature study it is observed that job satisfaction is employees positive attitude about their job, considering all aspects of a job. Analysis and Findings: Data has been collected from 200 employees from 10 separate real estate business. Both primary and secondary data are used for this study. The analyses of the findings are as follows: 1. Supervisor and subordinate relationship is very well. Strongly 40 Blue 56 Red Neither agree or nor 24 12% Green 48 24% Purple 32 16% Aqua 16% Strongly 24% 12% 20
Analysis: Among the 200 employees 40 says that strongly, 64 employees says, 16 says neither agree or nor, agree and strongly agree said by 48 & 32 employees respectively. That means the relationship between supervisor and subordinate is not so good. 2. Strong team spirit among the employees. Strongly 48 24% Blue 32 16% Red Neither agree or nor 56 Green 40 Purple 24 12% Aqua 12% 24% Strongly 16% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 48 says that strongly, 32employees says, 56 says neither agree or nor, agree and said by 40 & 24 employees respectively. The study shows that the team spirit among the employees is not satisfactory. 21
3. Appropriate recognitions received for employees contribution. Strongly 56 Blue 32 16% Red Neither agree or nor 40 Green 40 Purple 32 16% Aqua 16% Strongly 16% Analysis: Among the 25 employees 56 says that strongly, 32 employees says, 40 says neither agree or nor, agree and said by 40 &324 employees respectively. 4. My compensation matches to my responsibilities. Strongly 56 Blue 24 12% Red Neither agree or nor 48 24% Green 32 16% Purple 22
40 Aqua Strongly 16% 24% 12% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 56 says that strongly, 24 employees says, 48 says neither agree or nor, agree and strongly agree said by 32 & 40 employees respectively. The study indicates that the compensation is not satisfactory. 5. Level of satisfaction with the overall job security. Strongly 16 8% Blue 24 12% Red Neither agree or nor 40 Green 64 32% Purple 56 Aqua 23
8% 12% Strongly 32% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 16 says that strongly, 24 employees says, 40 says neither agree or nor, agree and strongly agree said by 64 & 56 employees respectively. The job security of the organizations is appreciable. 6. Employees received informal praise and appreciation from my supervisor. Strongly 32 16% Blue 40 Red Neither agree or nor 24 12% Green 48 24% Purple 56 Aqua 24
16% Strongly 12% 24% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 32 says that strongly, 40 employees says, 24 says neither agree or nor, agree and strongly agree said by 48 & 56 employees respectively. Supervisors praise and appreciate employees all times. 8. Level of satisfaction with the company as a place to work. Strongly 24 12% Blue 32 16% Red Neither agree or nor 16 8% Green 72 36% Purple 56 Aqua 25
12% 8% 16% Strongly 36% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 24 says that strongly, 32 employees says, 16 says neither agree or nor, agree and strongly agree said by 72 & 56 employees respectively. As work place the organization is very suitable to most of the respondents. 9. Positive with the work environment (office set up, working condition etc.) Strongly 32 16% Blue 40 Red Neither agree or nor 24 12% Green 64 32% Purple 40 Aqua 26
16% Strongly 32% 12% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 32 says that strongly, 40 employees says, 24 says neither agree or nor, agree and said by 64 & 40 employees respectively. The study shows that the work environment is good and free from hazards. 10. Supervisor always encourages by giving suggestion for improvement. Strongly 24 12% Blue 40 Red Neither agree or nor 16 8% Green 72 36% Purple 48 24% Aqua \ 27
12% 24% 8% Strongly 36% Analysis: Among the 200 employees 24 says that strongly, 40 employees says, 16 says neither agree or nor, agree and strongly agree said by 72 & 48 employees respectively. The supervisors are very much employee oriented. Policy Recommendations According to analysis of the findings, the real estate business in Bangladesh needs to follow some recommendations or suggestions for the benefits of both individual employee as well as organizations, which are listed below: 1. Job description is one of the important requirements for better performance. The companies should clearly clarify regular assign activities to employees for better performance. 2. As the world is jobless world, job security motivates employee. If jobs are secured, then employees will be committed to the job and organizations. So the companies should take steps to maintain adequate job security. 3. For the development of employees career supervisor can play important role. By giving accurate and timely feedback, supervisors can identify employee s strength and weaknesses that helps to improve their performance. Companies supervisors must continue encourage for their improvement. 4. Compensation is one of the most important sources of motivation for employees in a third world country like Bangladesh. So, salary structure of the companies should be time to time revise in relation to present job market. 5. Every organization must maintain the legal obligations under compliance management to create a safety and healthy environment to reduce the probability of accident. There must be maintaining good working environment in everywhere. 6. All the employees are very much conscious about their career. After joining in 28
any organization, they want to develop their career. But if there is no scope for career development, they will be frustrated and will not be dedicated to the job. So, the companies should give promotion according to employee s contribution. 7. Supervisor s must behave well with the employees and give good acknowledgement of good work. In that case the supervisors can play important role to find out best levels of services from the employees. 8. Good behavior and humanitarian relationship should always be maintained at office and work place. This will create a cooperative entity within the organization. 9. Traditional organization was individual oriented but modern organization is very much team oriented. So flexible team spirit in work environment should be maintained. Conclusion: Employee job satisfaction can improve service quality and increase employee satisfaction. In this circumstance, policy makers and managers have turned their attention to provide different kinds of facilities to their employees. Based on the standardized values, we are able to see that work conditions, fairness, promotion, and pay are key factors affecting real estate company s employees job satisfaction. We can increase the employee salary and compensation to motivate the employee. The factor of work conditions is also proven to have significant influence over the real estate companies. The physical design of the place does have certain impacts on job satisfaction. Because the work conditions in the real estate companies include the employee relationships and work environment, all these factors relate to employee job satisfaction. A good work environment and good work conditions can increase employee job satisfaction and the employees will try to give their best which can increase the employee work performance. Therefore, in the questionnaires several elements have been defined such as working condition, job security, salary structure and relationship with the employee and other benefits. These elements are the determinant of whether it affects employee s satisfaction. In real estate companies, the employees hope they all receive equal treatment with respect to pay or compensation. References 1. Spector, P.E. (1997). Job satisfaction: application, assessment, cause, and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 2. Wealleans, F. (2003). Psychology at work. New York: Columbia University Press. 3. Johns, G. (1992). Organisational behaviour: Understanding life at work. (3 rd ed.). New York: Harper Collins. 4. George, W. & Jones, I. (1976). Work performance. New Delhi: McGraw-Hill. 5. Gannon, W. (1979). Personnel management. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. 6. Francis, J.G. & Melbourne, G. (1980). Human behaviour in the work environment: A managerial perspective. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear. 29
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