Master of Business Administration

Posted by Winnie Melda on May 3rd, 2019

1. Introduction

Labor force performance is one of the most important factors that affect organizations' abilities to achieve their goals and objectives successfully. Therefore, organizations rely on human resources (HR) managers to optimize the performance of their employees so as to achieve long-term efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Monitoring satisfaction has become an essential and integral part of HR manager’s task that aims to uncover the opportunities of improving the HR management processes.

Several authors have cited the effect of employees’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction on job performance. According to (Clark, 1996), a satisfied employee has more success potential and more efficiently performs his/her work achieving the organization’s goals and contribute to its effectiveness. Moreover, studies have shown that higher satisfaction contributes to a stronger commitment to the organization (Brunetto & Farr-Wharton, 2003) and less absenteeism and inconsistency in performance (Gary Howard, Howard Donofrio, & Boles, 2004).

On the other hand, (Robbins, 1991) reports that employee dissatisfaction results in passive loyalty (taking no action to improve the situation), negligence (absenteeism, making mistakes and carelessness) as well as contributing to greater employees’ turnover rate. Dissatisfaction can inflict harmful effects to the employees’ mental and physical health as well as low morale (Camp & Lambert, 2006). Based on these facts, it is essential for HR managers to understand and implement methods for analysis and management of employee satisfaction in their work to contribute to the welfare of the enterprise and the whole society as well.

As with most other public sectors in Kuwait, administrative departments within the ministry of interior face difficulties in attracting and retaining skilled labor force as most of them prefer working in the private sector leaving a relative scarcity of skilled workers in the public sector (Looney, 1991). This is true even though financial compensation is approximately the same in both sectors (National Bank of Kuwait, 2016). It is imperative to find factors that tilted the preference of skilled workers toward the private sector in Kuwait to identify possible opportunities to improve the environment within the public sector and make it more attractive to the workforce. We hypothesize that this can be explained, at least partially, by factors that contribute to employee satisfaction/dissatisfaction and propose a method to assess these factors. The general directorate of training in the Kuwaiti ministry of interior will be used as a case study to represent the situation in the public sector as a whole.

 2. Motivation for the study

The main stimulus of this work is to find factors that will enable the public sector in Kuwait to attract and retain skilled workers and keep them working under motivation to maximize their performance. The overall aim is to contribute to the long-term effectiveness and efficiency of organizations within the public sector in achieving their goals. Through this research, I intend to contribute to the development and welfare of this country and its people by enhancing their understanding on how the skilled labor can be retained and motivated for high performance.

2.1 Thesis Scope

The general directory of training will be used as an example to demonstrate the general situation in the public sector in Kuwait, and specifically in the Kuwaiti ministry of interior.

3. Problem Statement

There is a considerable economic growth in the volume of investment and business activities driven by the private sector in Kuwait. That leads to increased competition between the public and private sectors to attract the relatively scarce human resources. Many factors contribute to the preference of labor toward either the public or private sectors. Some of these factors include job stability, financial compensation, promotion schedule and many others.

However, even with the adequate provision of the factors mentioned above, labor preferences still seem to be tilted more favorably to the private sector rather than to the public sector. Thus, there is a need to investigate some of the factors that influence employee satisfaction in the public sector and mostly with concern to the Ministry of Interior. The main issue of concern is the degree of job satisfaction enjoyed by employees. The ministry of interior is facing challenges in attracting and also retaining skilled workforce; therefore, examining the factors influencing employee satisfaction in this sector will help to determine the appropriate changes necessary for the ministry so as to help increase satisfaction. Human resource normally plays a significant role in the public sector; thus, it is vital to ensure employees satisfaction so as to increase performance in the ministry.

4. Research Objectives

The major objective of the research is to:

• Determine the leading causes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction for employees of the general directorate of training in the ministry of interior, Kuwait. There are multiple factors that contribute to job dissatisfaction including un-conducive work environment, low salary schemes, work overload, lack of privacy, and many others. Therefore, while determining the cause of job dissatisfaction in the public sector, it will be vital to assess how these factors associate with job satisfaction and how to improve on the issues.

Minor objectives are:

• To ascertain the level of satisfaction experienced among employees at the ministry of interior.
• To determine how the level of satisfaction correlates with the performance of the employee.
• To identify the things that can motivate and demotivate the employees so that they remain focused on the targeted performance
• To find out how job satisfaction or dissatisfaction is related to long term commitment to one’s job.

5. Research Questions

There is a major research question to be addressed in this study. That is:

• What are the leading causes of employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the general directorate of training in the Ministry of Interior?

The major research question is to be answered through answering four minor questions. These questions are:

• What factors influence job satisfaction in the public sector?
• Does motivation influence the employee satisfaction in the workplace?
• Does job satisfaction influence an individual’s commitment in their job?
• Is there a relationship between job satisfaction and employee performance in the public sector?
• Is employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction associated with high or low performance in General Directorate of Training within the Ministry of Interior in Kuwait?

6. Conceptual Framework

Employee satisfaction is commonly defined as “a pleasurable or positive sentimental state coming about because of the view of work, origination and evaluation of the workplace, work understanding and the impression of all components of the work and working environment” (Verhaest and Omey, 2009). Another definition proposed by (Weiss, 2002) defines job satisfaction as a state of mind toward one's occupation coming about because of the net effect of the person's certain and adverse feelings experienced at work.

Several studies have explored employee satisfaction with varying dimensionality. Studies that investigate the overall employee satisfaction usually measured overall satisfaction through one or two questions only (Davey, Obst, & Sheehan, 2001; Garland, 2002; MacKain, Myers, Ostapiej, & Newman, 2010). These studies aim to identify the effect of different demographic, job-related or organization related to overall employee satisfaction. On the other hand, some studies primarily focus on facets of employee satisfaction, narrower areas such as the work itself, financial compensation, leadership opportunities, promotion potential, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, etc. (Boothby & Clements, 2002; Johnson, 2012; Verhaest & Omey, 2009).

In this study, I will employ a job satisfaction model by (Koelbel, Fuller, & Misener, 1991) which is an extension of Herzberg’s dual-factor theory of job satisfaction (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959). Figure (1) represents the conceptual model of job satisfaction that will be employed in this study. I will use this model to develop a validated questionnaire that assesses the degree of and factors related to job satisfaction in the general directorate of training in the Kuwaiti ministry of interior.

7. Methodology

To determine the interaction of the three components of the conceptual model depicted in figure 1, I will first develop a three-part questionnaire for use in collecting data from participants in this study. The questionnaire will consist of three parts. Part 1, for gathering information about participants' demographics, personal details, work backgrounds and employee work performance appraisal received from the HR department. Part 2 will be concerned with the measurement of the level of employee satisfaction. Part 3 will focus on measurement of the degree of satisfaction with the extrinsic and intrinsic aspects of their jobs. The questionnaire will be theoretically validated against the model mentioned above using two independent senior researchers. Additionally, information collected through the surveys will be validated through comparison with findings of personal interviews with at least ten employees and top and middle-level managers.

7.2 Participants

The general directorate of training in the Kuwaiti ministry of interior comprises about 150 employees all of whom will be invited to participate in the study.

7.3 Data Analysis

Collected data will be entered into Excel^® sheets and the imported to SPSS^® for statistical analysis. Summary statistics will be reported for the surveyed demographic and socioeconomic variables as well as measures of satisfaction. Mean ± Standard Deviation will be used in describing continuous data, while Median (range) will describe ordinal categorical data, whereas nominal data will be summarized as proportions and ranges. So as to characterize the impact of various participant factors on different parameters measuring of satisfaction, univariate analysis will be used. In this analysis, the independent t-test will be utilized the comparison of two groups regarding a continuous variable, Mann-Whitney test for ordinal variables and χ² or Fischer exact test for comparison of nominal variables. If more than two groups to be compared, ANOVA will be used for continuous variables, Kruskal-Wallis for ordinal variables and again χ² or Fischer exact test for comparison of nominal variables.

Finally, a multivariate analysis technique, linear regression analysis, will be used to deduce an equation that can predict overall satisfaction level based on variables that determined through univariate analysis to have a significant effect on satisfaction level. Confidence level of 95% (α-value = 0.05) will be set for inferential tests. Finally, Pearson test will be used for assessment of the correlation in parametric situations will Spearman correlation coefficient will be used for non-parametric data.

8. Interested Parties in the Research

The outcome of this study will be a significant addition to the scientific literature that will be valuable to all administrators and HR managers in all public sectors in Kuwait who wish to increase the number and caliber of workers they hire for their services. It would go a long way in helping them determine what employee welfare packages to launch and which processes they need to cut down on to keep employees motivated, satisfied and performing at the top of their game. It will also help private sector individuals to know what policies they should keep up with to keep the best hands at their enterprises.

Furthermore, this work would be necessary to students and researchers, who might use the developed questionnaire for measuring employee satisfaction at different jobs.

9. Assumptions and Limitations

This proposed research is based on the following assumptions:

• The studied population will be of sufficient size to answer the questions of this research accurately without bias or error.
• Results obtained from participant employees of the general directorate of training within the ministry of interior in Kuwait are generalizable across other administrative units within the public sector.

On the other hand, some limitations that may arise during the study including:

• This study is proposed to be carried out in the general directorate of training in the ministry of interior. To ensure conclusive results, the sample should be expanded to cover awider range of public sector constraints. However, this is not feasible here due to financial and time constraints. Even though, the study will provide significant insights about the answers to the proposed research questions.

10. Ethical Considerations

Some principles must be taken into consideration while conducting this research. Some of such principles include; respecting human dignity, commitment to confidentiality, practicing justice and getting informed consent from respondents (Halai, 2006). These principles are critical in helping both the researcher and his respondents know which lines must not be crossed all through the research period. Moreover, the study protocol will be authorized through senior management in the general directorate of training before study conductance.

References

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• Brunetto, Y., & Farr-Wharton, R. (2003). The commitment and satisfaction of lower-ranked police officers: Lessons for management. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 26(1), 43-63.
• Camp, S. D., & Lambert, E. G. (2006). The Influence of Organizational Incentives on Absenteeism. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 17(2), 144-172. doi:10.1177/0887403405280361
• Clark, A. E. (1996). Job satisfaction in Britain. British journal of industrial relations, 34(2), 189-217.
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• Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York, [etc.]: John Wiley & Sons.
• Johnson, R. R. (2012). Police officer job satisfaction: A multidimensional analysis. Police Quarterly, 15(2), 157-176.
• Koelbel, P. W., Fuller, S. G., & Misener, T. R. (1991). An explanatory model of nurse practitioner job satisfaction. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 3(1), 17-24.
• National Bank of Kuwait. (2016). Kuwait Economic Brief.   Retrieved from http://nbk.com/dam/jcr:cbe60c2a-cad9-4c62-90e8-066269f03502/NBKKuwaitEconomicBriefDecember2016.pdf
• Looney, R. E. (1991). Manpower Dilemmas in a Retainer State: Kuwait, 1970-85. Crossroads(31-34), 63.
• MacKain, S. J., Myers, B., Ostapiej, L., & Newman, R. A. (2010). Job satisfaction among psychologists working in state prisons: The relative impact of facets assessing economics, management, relationships, and perceived organizational support. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 37(3), 306-318.
• Robbins, S. (1991). Organizational Behaviour Fifth Editions. Englewwod Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice Hall International.
• Weiss, H. (2002), “Deconstructing job satisfaction: separating evaluations, beliefs, and affective experiences,” Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 173-194.
• Verhaest, D., & Omey, E. (2009). Objective over-education and worker well-being: A shadow price approach. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30(3), 469-481.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in best research paper writing services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from non plagiarized research papers.