Assessing the affects of job satisfaction on production efficiency and contributing factors of the aerospace industry: A multinational cross-sectional industry evaluation.
by
Jonathan L. Ayala
A Research Project
Submitted to the Worldwide Campus
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of
Course ASCI 490, The Aerospace Science Capstone Course, for the Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics Degree
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
October 2020
Abstract
The research focuses on identifying contributing factors which affect worker job satisfaction, thus reducing industry production efficiency. The following paper uses a broad cross-sectional review across multiple nations, including the USA, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and China in various industries to identify similarities which correlated impacted production efficiency associated with job satisfaction. Examining through the diverse cross-sectional study will better support the presumptive paper’s hypothesis that the aerospace industry production efficiency is negatively impacted by a bevy of factors including work-family conflict and leadership’s inability to promote job satisfaction through chosen leadership style. Various study methods are provided such as multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) and job descriptive index (JDI), National Study of Changing Workforce, and other emphases on leadership assessment which contributes to worker satisfaction. The results from different industries and geographical locations are comparatively assessed to conclude that low job satisfaction positively correlates with poor production efficiency, effectively reducing industry profit, therefore, justifying the significance of job satisfaction in the workforce.
Keywords: servant leadership theory, work-family conflict, job satisfaction
Assessing the affects of job satisfaction on production efficiency and contributing factors of the aerospace industry: A multinational cross-sectional industry evaluation.
Introduction
Today’s world is changing rapidly, so are the business and manufacturing sectors. The management of companies is shifting their attention from exerting too much pressure on employees to deliver to establishing the underlying reasons for their underperformance. It then becomes easier to address those issues and achieve better employee performance. Manufacturing companies are getting more involved in motivating their employees so that they can be more creative to develop unique products that will give the entity a competitive advantage in the flooded market. Factors such as lack of job satisfaction are among the major causes of low production efficiency in different sectors of the economy.
A system that focuses on empowering human resources, and focusing a lot of time and resources in getting to understand, and relate well with employees is always deemed to flourish. Human resources are an essential part of any business, so if they feel that they are treated with the honour, then they will work harder and be more creative, to the advantage of the business entity.
The paper seeks to carry out a broad cross-sectional study and incorporate studies from various industries in different countries to establish the factors that affect employee job satisfaction and the corresponding effect in the efficiency of the companies. The findings will then be correlated to the aerospace industry because some of the workplace challenges that contribute to employees not being satisfied with their job are similar across different industries. An analysis of job satisfaction in different countries, occupations, and age groups is to be cross-examined with the aerospace workforce.
Project Statement
Defining job satisfaction and production efficiency
Aerospace manufacturing is a rigorous occupation with an average 14% employee turnover in younger aviation professional (Hedden & Sands, 2015), requires an always skilled workforce dedicated to producing high demand rates. Deciding to pursue a demanding occupation requires factorial consideration such as income, job control, benefits and other occupational flexibilities. One factor largely unconsidered is the sociological aspect of job satisfaction. Psychologists Eagly and Chaiken described job satisfaction attitude as a psychological inclination shown by assessing the degree of liking or disliking a particular entity (in Zhu, 2012).
This specific attitude can potentially influence a person’s interest in the occupation; either enhancing their want to produce equal to or above production demand or consequently reducing it—better referred to as production efficiency. Additionally, previous studies have also implied other internal/external factors such as leadership styles and work-family conflict directly influence worker job satisfaction. However, little is currently known about how such attitudes are distributed among different countries, genders, occupations and age groups (Cotti et al., 2013).
Job satisfaction has different meanings, and various scholars have come up with unique definitions. According to Judge and Weiss (2017), job satisfaction is a pleasurable feeling or a state of emotional calmness in an employee, that comes up as a result of being in a good working environment and having their overall needs taken care of. They also explain that to successfully conclude that an employee is satisfied with their job, they should be displaying a positive attitude towards the job, have a feeling of contentment and be proud of being part of the company’s human resources. Drabe and Hauff (2014) explain that job satisfaction is a set of favourable or unfavourable attitudes on how workers perceive their work and their general work environment. If an employee loves their job, he will be satisfied with the job, but if they do not love their job, they will be highly dissatisfied with their job.
Job satisfaction takes three essential dimensions. First, job satisfaction cannot be seen. Therefore, it is related to an employee’s inner feelings. It cannot be substantiated in any physical terms. It is often gauged by how outcomes meet or exceed employee expectations. Employees who have more work expect to be compensated through salary raise or different recognitions by the management. If the employees who seem to have more work, end up feeling that they are being paid lesser than their counterparts who work lesser, then those employees will be dissatisfied with their job. The third dimension is that job satisfaction, and job attitudes are used interchangeably. These two words can be used at any time and would mean the same thing. If an employee has a positive attitude towards his job, then it is apparent that he is satisfied with the job and work environments.
Production efficiency, on the other hand, refers to a peak level of manufacturing activity where a company uses the least amount of inputs to produce the highest amounts of output. To achieve that goal, manufacturing companies need to minimize wastages and empower their workforce to work harder. Efficiency in the production industry can be seen when the entity can produce surplus goods and services that meet the market demands and earns high revenues from that endeavour.
Manufacturing is dependent upon its workforce to maintain high production rates to meet deadlines, customer requirements, and any additional corporate agenda which have potential implications towards industry profit.
The main focus is to answer the more specific question: how does job dissatisfaction affect production efficiency in aerospace manufacturing? The hypothesis is that each occupation and industry analyzed reveals a reduction of production efficiency, contingent upon worker’s level of job satisfaction. The similarities suggest the psychological impact of job dissatisfaction on the workplace, consequently, affecting industries relatively equally, therefore reducing industry production efficiency, and theoretically, profit.
Purpose
This paper aims to show a strong correlation of worker dissatisfaction to industry, occupation, age, and country, on production efficiency. Although psychological elements vary from individual to individual, the objective is to show material elements such as income and company benefits in aviation are not as influential, nor as proportionally significant and consequential towards production efficiency as worker job satisfaction. Cross-examination of other industries and occupations, relative and non-relative to aerospace, are assessed to strengthen the relevance of job satisfaction.
Multinational Industry Review
Swedish medical operating room efficiency
The medical sector is majorly dependent on doctors, surgeons and other specialist’s cooperation for the eventual success of treating patients. Teamwork acts as an essential ingredient for any successful operation to emerge as victorious. For the various people to successfully work as a team, they need to have enough motivation and the necessary job satisfaction to enable them to withstand all the work-related challenges.
The various factors that were assessed in this industry which could affect job satisfaction of the employees include work-family conflict, servant leadership theory, the nature of work, job security, appreciations and work flexibility. These factors may affect job satisfaction because the employees’ attitude and general motivation may be affected positively or negatively.
Work-family conflict refers to a situation where an individual experiences a strain that is brought about by much demand between work activities and family roles. The individual becomes unable to strike a balance between those two spheres, and one side ends up suffering. The employee may end up feeling overburdened in life and their workplaces. There are three types of work-family conflicts; time-based, behaviour-based and strain-based. Time-based conflict arises when an employee has minimal time available to bond with his family because the work activities demand much time. The operating room staff spend most of their time in the hospital because they have to be ready to undertake emergency operations and save lives at any time of the day. Therefore, this conflict may arise during their career path and contribute to job dissatisfaction.
Behaviour-based conflict arises when an employee deliberately decides to give one aspect more time as compared to the other. Some employees may not be workaholics and would instead spend much time with their family, but because of being in the medical field, they are compelled to go to work. They may then attend to their duties while in a stressed condition. Strain-based conflict is brought about when the employee has so much work to do and cannot perform any family roles as a result of the strain. Because the Swedish operating room staff always have much work to do, this factor became a vital issue to consider and how it could lead to job dissatisfaction and lower production efficiency in the medical field.
The servant leadership theory is another important factor to consider in this industry. Medical operating room staff, sometimes handle risky surgeries that require precision and utmost teamwork to be successful. Therefore, good leadership is key in ensuring that the various employee can relate well with one another and successfully coordinate their activities. Servant leadership stresses on the importance of a leader being humble and accommodative to bring all the employees on board and achieve success in the set goals. The leader should also consider all the opinions of the subjects while at the same time ensuring that he maintains authority over all of them. If servant leadership is practiced, employees may feel part and parcel to the organization, and their job satisfaction may increase.
The nature of work forms an important component that may affect job satisfaction in this industry. Medical operating room staff have a lot of documentation to do and after-surgery patient care. They sometimes get overwhelmed by such demanding roles, and if the work becomes too much to appoint that they have to work for long hours, they may end up having a negative attitude towards the job.
Job security also influences job satisfaction. It refers to the state of having some form of permanency in the current job without having any fear of being dismissed. This feeling of job security crops up steadily when an employee gets consistency in job promotion and good comments from their supervisors. Being chosen to head important committees at the workplace also asserts some form of trust that the company has in your abilities and may boost the feeling of job security in an employee.
Human beings generally like being commended for any activity that they carry out successfully. Therefore, appreciation in this industry is another factor that may affect job satisfaction among the operating room staff. Employees love being appreciated for the little and great things that they do. It can be work-related or general life accomplishments. Appreciation by the company through ways such as incentive goes a long way in enhancing the satisfaction of employees in their jobs.
Work flexibility is the aspect of a job that enables the employee to perform various tasks in their job description. They can sometimes do oversight and other times get involved in the execution of tasks. Work flexibility is critical in reducing monotony and boredom that comes up as a result of doing the same work repeatedly. Staff in an operating room can be given the autonomy to do anesthesia work or sometimes be shifted to the documentation section.
Findings and results
Arakelian and Guinningberg (2008) researched the Swedish operating room staff by interviewing twenty-one staff, both supervisors and other employees. They aimed to establish whether or not they understood the meaning of efficiency in relation to the operating room activities and the factors affecting job performance in the health industry. The researchers sought to establish if work-family conflict, leadership styles used, feeling of job security, work flexibility, appreciation and nature of work were the main factors that would affect employee job satisfaction in this sector.
Majority of the employees who were interviewed seemed to have a relevant idea of what efficiency meant. Many of the ordinary staff defined efficiency as the individual knowledge which employees had, which enables them to work effectively and save the lives of patients. Their supervisors seemed to relate efficiency with the overall output that the theatre and operations department produced. That is in relation to the total number of successful operations that they would accomplish, having used the shortest time possible. The supervisors also explained that efficiency in their workplace could be seen when there is minimal wastage of the essential materials such as gloves and sterilized equipment during their activities.
The common staff pointed out that there were a number of factors that would affect their job satisfaction, which would then have an effect in their production efficiency. All the workers agreed that work-family conflict was a major issue that would affect their job satisfaction. Owing to their job description, operating room staff have to show up at their workplace on call. It does not matter what time of day when they are instructed to go to the work. Some of them said that they sometimes had to stay at their workplace for even three days without going at home. If emergencies and the number of operations to be done became more, they would sleep for very few hours or sometimes not even sleep at all. This issue made them more fatigued and dissatisfied with the job.
The leadership style used by the supervisors also stood out as a significant factor that would affect their job satisfaction. The common staff unanimously agreed that they preferred the servant leadership style. This is because the leader would be more friendly to them and could listen to their suggestions. Authority barriers that crop up between supervisors and the other employees would be broken in this leadership style. The use of servant leadership style among the operating room staff contributed to the efficiency of that department.
The employee stated that if one was not sure if they had attained job security, their job satisfaction would reduce. Some of the nurses and surgeons said that job security was an important issue that would contribute to motivation and job satisfaction among employees. Employees who felt like they had attained job security were more relaxed and could carry out their activities with the seriousness and professionalism. However, those who did not feel like they were job secure, had laxity and were demotivated. That contributed to absenteeism and poor work output from them. The efficiency of the operating room was then affected as a result since services would be slower and a lot of time would be wasted.
Many staff also said that work flexibility was key in enhancing job satisfaction. They said that getting assigned to do one particular task was monotonous and boring in the long run. Therefore, they preferred when they were assigned different roles and allowed to do things differently. They also preferred when they were allowed to use creativity to establish new ways of approaching work-related tasks.
The staff also stated that they loved being appreciated by their supervisors. The common staff said that appreciation by their supervisors played a big role in boosting their morale and consequent job satisfaction. They however, explained that it was not a major factor that would affect their job satisfaction. This is because they mostly did the tasks given to them perfectly, not to gain recognition from their supervisors, but to attain self-satisfaction and achieve service to humanity.
The nature of work was also an important factor that affected job satisfaction among the Swedish hospital operating room staff. Their work was highly demanding and would subject them to many work hours. As a result, many of them would feel compelled to go work unwillingly and fatigued. Those employees would underperform in their tasks by being slower and sometimes sleeping during work hours. The efficiency of the operating room would then decrease.
The factors affecting the healthcare staff in Swedish operating rooms seem relatable to the aerospace manufacturing sector. The nature of work in the aerospace industry is highly demanding and requires a lot of commitment from the employees. Employees in both fields love certain leadership styles and appreciation by their supervisors. Therefore, the findings from the Swedish operating rooms efficiency research on the various factors that affect job satisfaction seem to align well with the research.
Motor vehicle manufacturing industry efficiency in Germany.
The motor vehicle manufacturing industry in Germany is among the most important sectors in its economy. Germany is home to the most famous vehicle manufacturing companies that produce Audi, Porsche, Opel, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, BMW and Ford-Werke brands. Efficiency in production is an important factor in this industry since there is a high market demand for those vehicles around the world. The companies also seek to maximize profits while reducing wastages and expenditures.
Although the companies are majorly mechanized, the human resources employed there play the most important role in ensuring that the machines work efficiently, good designs are developed and better marketing strategies are developed. It is important to analyze the factors that may affect job satisfaction in this sector and the consequent effect on the production efficiency. Owning to the fact that this is a manufacturing sector, it is compatible with the aerospace manufacturing sector and the factors affecting employee job satisfaction can cut across the board. The work environments of employees are also almost similar.
The main factors affecting employee job satisfaction that were under investigation in this sector were workplace safety and security, creativity in the job, work-related challenges and fair policies and practices.
Manufacturing processes tend to be risky and since of the materials used are hazardous to human health. Workplace safety and security is an important factor that may influence employees’ job satisfaction in this industry. Various methods can be used to ensure that workplace safety is maintained. The management can stipulate certain rules such as compulsory wearing of industrial boots, helmets and other safety clothing when employees are doing their work. Fire management strategies such as installation of fire extinguishers and heat detectors in the industry’s buildings can be done to ensure that safety of the employees has been considered. The vehicles being manufactured are pricey, so the management has to consider the security of the industry. If this factor is considered, employees may feel at peace and they will be more satisfied with their job.
Creativity in the job is also a major factor that influences job satisfaction. The vehicle manufacturing and designing requires high creativity levels. Vehicles that have unique designs tend to attract many buyers. Once employees are allowed to exercise their creativity in designing vehicles in this industry without intimidation from the management, their levels of job-satisfaction increase.
The manufacturing industry may present various work-related challenges to the employees. Some employees love challenging tasks, while others seem to shy away when given hard tasks. Job satisfaction between different employees can be affected as a result of work-related challenges. Employees who love challenging tasks will develop a positive attitude towards the job if they are given such tasks, while those who do not love challenges will be dissatisfied if the job presents many challenges.
Employees also appreciate an organization that implements fair policies and practices among all employees. This is important in enabling all the employees to have a fair ground to achieve career growth. Favoritism in the workplace ends up demotivating employees. Dissatisfaction of employees leads to poor performance that reduces the efficiency in production.
Findings and results
From a research carried out to ascertain whether workplace safety and security, creativity in the job, work-related challenging tasks and fair policies and practices factors in German vehicle manufacturing companies could affect job satisfaction, established that there was a direct effect on employee job satisfaction.
Many employees claimed that they felt more secure if their workplace security was enhanced by the management. Their attitude towards the job was enhanced when they were provided with the necessary equipment to protect from injuries in the work environment. Those who worked in high-risk sections of the industry were insured so that if in case they suffered any injuries, they would be compensated by the company. Even if an employee would end up losing his life in the process, then the immediate family would be the beneficiaries to the compensation from the insurance. The workers said that their job satisfaction increased because they saw that the company had considered them and ensured that their safety was guaranteed. As a result, they would work harder in their jobs and avoid absenteeism, which would have a trickle-down effect in improving the efficiency of the production process.
All the employees agreed that creativity in the workplace was an important issue that affected job satisfaction. They said that by being allowed to exercise and show their creative skills in the work environment, they felt important in the organization. Creativity also enabled them to find good solutions to problems in the workplace. Creativity was key in enabling them to come up with good designs that would attract many customers. The companies would earn profits and they would get rewards or other incentives. Production efficiency was enhanced because the vehicle manufacturing companies allowed the employees to exercise their creativity.
Employees who loved challenging tasks claimed that it was a factor that would increase their job satisfaction. However, the employees who never loved challenging tasks said that if challenging tasks were presented to them, they would feel intimidated and demoralized by the work. They would develop a negative attitude towards the job.
The employees in the vehicle manufacturing companies also said that fairness in policies and practices was key in enhancing their job satisfaction. The employees added that supervisors who treated all the employees equally without any favoritism boosted the morale of employees. The company policies are also key and should ensure that employees are given a level playing field to showcase their skills and be given chances of job promotions.
The factors discussed above are key issues that may affect job satisfaction among employees. Challenging work-related tasks presents itself as an issue that may or may not increase job satisfaction and is dependent on the nature of the employee. The other factors wholly influence their job satisfaction and has effect in the production efficiency. The findings from the German vehicle manufacturing companies can be relevant even in the aerospace sector because it is also a manufacturing sector.
Aerospace industrial review
The aerospace industry is majorly concerned with development of spacecraft and aircraft. This industry requires lot of human resource input from engineers and designers in order to successfully develop the machines. The airline industry also depends on the aerospace industry to produce the aircrafts that they use. Efficiency in production in the aerospace industry is essential to guarantee fast manufacturing of high quality machines by the companies. Human resources play a big role for the successful operations in those industries, therefore, determining factors that affect their job satisfaction and its effects on production efficiency is an important focus point.
[Define job satisfaction and production efficiency, it’s relevance to the aviation industry and the significance of impact job satisfaction has on production, including brief financial implications]
Purpose
[Describe how the subjects will tie into one another, and the how it will be compared to identify similarities that support the impacts of low job satisfaction]
Multinational industry review
[Evaluate each industry, identify the factors which impact the specific field, correlate those factors that affect job satisfactions and production, and discuss the findings and results that can be comparatively used for assessing factors in aerospace]
Swedish medical operating room efficiency
Chinese medical workers: burnout syndrome
Assessing factors: work-family conflict, servant leadership theory
Findings & Results
Aerospace industrial review
Airline company assessment
Aerospace age diversity comparison affecting job satisfaction
Affects of transactional and transformational leadership
Assessing factors: income, benefits, stress, depression
Findings & Results
Figures.
SWOT Analysis.
Conclusion.
Possible APA level 5 heading.
References
Arakelian, E., Guinningberg, L., & Larsson, J. (2008). Job satisfaction or production? How staff and leadership understand operating room efficiency: a qualitative study. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 52(10). doi:10.1111/j.1399-6576.2008.01781.x
Catalano, P. (2002). The relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and job satisfaction in an aerospace environment (Order No. 3059410). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (305468440). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/305468440?accountid=27203
Cotti, C.D., Haley, M.R. and Miller, L.A. (2014). Workplace Flexibilities, Job Satisfaction and Union Membership in the US Workforce. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 52: 403-425. doi:10.1111/bjir.12025
Drabe, D., Hauff, S., & Richter, N.F. (2014). Job satisfaction in aging workforces: an analysis of the USA, Japan, and Germany. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(6), 783-805. doi:10.1080/09585192.2014.939101.
Johnson, L. R. (2008). An exploratory study of servant leadership, emotional intelligence, and job satisfaction among high-tech employees (Order No. 3371530). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (304329967). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/304329967?accountid=27203
Judge, T., Weiss, H., Kammeyer-Mueller, J., & Hulin, C. (2017). Job attitudes, job satisfaction, and job affect: A century of continuity and of change. Journal of Applied Psychology., 102(3), 356–374. doi:10.1037/apl0000181
Kurian, G., & Muzumdar, P. (2017). Antecedents to Job Satisfaction in the Airline Industry. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320704289_Antecedents_to_Job_Satisfaction_in_the_Airline_Industry
McCamey, R. (2011). Assessing the relationship between airlines’ maintenance outsourcing and aviation professionals’ job satisfaction (Order No. 3450998). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (861035375). Retrieved from http://ezproxy2.plibproxy.pr.erau.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy2.plibproxy.pr.erau.edu/docview/861035375?accountid=10734
Yang, S., Liu, D., Liu, H., Zhang, J., & Duan, Z. (2017). Relationship of work-family conflict, self-reported social support and job satisfaction to burnout syndrome among medical workers in southwest china: A cross-sectional study. PLoS One, 12(2). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171679