Job Design And Employee Job Satisfaction A Case Study Of Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos State
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the study
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of job design on employee job satisfaction in Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state. The specific objectives are to:
- assess the impact of job design on employee job satisfaction in Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state.
- determine the effect of improper job design on employee performance in Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The chapter deals with literature review on the concept of job design and employee job satisfaction: a case study of Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state. This involves various definitions of job design, job satisfaction, objectives of job design, factors affecting job design, overview of Nestle Food Company, the review of empirical studies, theoretical review, theoretical framework and summary of literature review.
Conceptual Review
In this section, the basic relevant concepts were reviewed. These include job satisfaction, job design, among others.
Job Design
Armstrong (2009) posited that job design specifies the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements for productivity, efficiency and quality, meet the personal needs of the job holder and thus increase levels of employee engagement. Parker (2014) defines work design as the content and organization of one’s work tasks, activities, relationships, and responsibilities. Job design is a core function of human resource management and it is related to the specification of contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder or the employee (Rush, 1971). Its principles are geared towards how the nature of a person’s job affects their attitudes and behavior at work, particularly relating to characteristics such as skill variety and autonomy (Wall and Parker, 2001). Opatha (2002) considers job design to include the functions of arranging tasks, duties and responsibilities into an organizational unit of work. Al-Badarin and Al-Azzam (2017) added that job design leads to job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibilities and giving the sense of freedom, autonomy and opportunity for employees to decide what and how the job is to be performed and accomplished.
The techniques of job design include:
- Job rotation: Job rotation is a job design process by which employee roles are rotated in order to promote flexibility and tenure in the working environment; when an individual experiences different posts and responsibilities in an organization, the ability to evaluate his or her capabilities in the organization increases (Asensio-Cuesta; Diego-Mas; Crenades-Oliver and Gonzalez-Cruz, 2012). Job rotation is intended to enhance motivation, develop workers’ outlook, increase productivity, improve the organization’s performance on various levels by its multi-skilled workers, and provides new opportunities to improve the attitude, thought, capabilities and skills of workers (Casad, 2012)
- Job enlargement: Hulin and Blood (1968) define Job enlargement as the process of allowing individual workers to determine their own pace (within limits), to serve as their own inspectors by giving them responsibility for quality control, to repair their own mistakes, to be responsible for their own machine set-up and repair, and to attain choice of method. By working in a larger scope, as Hulin and Blood state, workers are pushed to adapting new tactics, techniques, and methodologies on their own. Herzberg (1968) referred to the addition of interrelated tasks as ‘horizontal job loading,’ or, widening the breadth of an employee’s responsibilities as job enlargement.
- Job enrichment: Job enrichment increases the employees’ autonomy over the planning and execution of their own work, leading to self-assigned responsibility. Herzberg (1968) viewed job enrichment as ‘vertical job loading’ because it also includes tasks formerly performed by someone at a higher level where planning and control are involved.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction or employee satisfaction is a measure of workers’ contentedness with their job, whether or not they like the job or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work or supervision (Spector, 1997). Job satisfaction can be measured in cognitive, affective, and behavioral components (Hulin and Judge, 2003). Researchers have also noted that job satisfaction measures vary in the extent to which they measure feelings about the job (affective job satisfaction) (Thompson and Phua, 2012) or cognitions about the job (cognitive job satisfaction) (Moorman, 1993).
Locke (1976) defines job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (Locke, 1976). Spector (1997) lists 14 common facets: Appreciation, Communication, Coworkers, Fringe benefits, Job conditions, Nature of the work, Organization, Personal growth, Policies and procedures, Promotion opportunities, Recognition, Security, and Supervision.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter covers the methodology of this study. Key issues discussed includes; data collection, sampling technique, instrument for data collection, method of data analysis among others.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher tends to deal with the analysis and presentation of data collected in the course of this project. A total of 338 copies of questionnaire were administered in the area under study and 338 copies were retrieved from the respondents. This represents 100% return rate.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
This chapter deals with the summary of this study, conclusions from the findings and recommendations which can be used for policy making.
Summary
This study assesses job design and employee job satisfaction: a case study of Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state. The study is in five chapters. In the first chapter, a general background of the study was undertaken. In view of the background, the problems of study were identified and stated, the research questions, the objective, scope and significant of the study were outline and discussed. Finally in the first chapter is the definition of key concepts used in the study.
Chapter two contains the review of various literatures on the concept of of job design and employee job satisfaction: a case study of Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state. This involves various definitions of job design, job satisfaction, objectives of job design, factors affecting job design, overview of Nestle Food Company. Also in the second chapter is the empirical and theoretical reviews, theory use as a basis for this study (Human Relations Theory) was found best for this study.
In the third chapter of this work, the research design, population of study, sample size, sampling techniques, instrument for data collection, method of data collection, validity/reliability of instrument and method of data analysis were all discussed.
In the fourth chapter, data collected (primary) were presented and analysed to answer the research questions. Based on the various findings, the two questions were answered. After the analysis, the findings are as follows:
- Job design had significant impact on employee job satisfaction in Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state.
- Improper job design affect employee performance in Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state.
Conclusion
This study has underscored job design and employee job satisfaction: a case study of Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state. Findings from this research uncovered that proper job design is an effective tool for employee’s higher productivity in the manufacturing sector. Hence, manufacturing staffs can only work effectively if given a proper job design that guarantees job satisfaction. This study is in consistent with the findings of Moeed Abid, Ambreen Sarwar, Kashif Imran, Abdul Jabbar and Abdul Hannan which revealed that there is a strong positive correlation between Job Design and Employee Satisfaction and both of these variables move in the same direction. This was further reiterated the findings of Malkanthi and Hussain Ali which corroborate a positive relationship between Job Design and Employees’ Performance in Peoples’ Banks of Ampara district. Thus, in the light of the foregoing, this study reliably concludes that job design has a positive impact on employee’s satisfaction in the manufacturing sector. Employees will discharge their designated responsibilities effectively if they get satisfied with the job.
The findings of this study have clearly shown that job design is a work activity that can make a very significant contribution to the overall effectiveness and profitability of an organization. The effectiveness and success of an organization therefore lies on the people who form and work within the organization. Thus, for any organization to succeed, it should consider the satisfaction of its workers.
Recommendations
On the strength of the observations and findings made in this study the following recommendations have been made.
- Proper Job design should be ensured in an organization.
- Improper job design affect employee performance therefore management should ensure that employees get job satisfaction.
Limitations to the Study
The study faced some constraints. They include insufficient literature material, financial constraint, time constraint, location of the case study organization (Nestle Nigeria PLC). However, findings made is valuable for policy implementation.
Suggestions for Further Studies
This study has researched on job design and employee job satisfaction: a case study of Nestle Food Company Limited Lagos state. Further research can be done on the following:
- Influence of job design on organizational productivity.
- Effect of job satisfaction on employee’s productivity.
REFERENCES
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- Rush, Harold F. M. (1971). Job Design for Motivation. New York: The Conference Board Amana, D. (2018). MAC 202; Introduction to research methodology. Unpublished lecture note.
- Spector, P.E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
- Hulin, C. L., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Job attitUdes. In W. C. Borman, D. R. ligen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 255-276). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
