Abstract

This study attempts to contribute to the discourse on the influence of human resources to organisational performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that influence employees’ job satisfaction in the Tole Tea Estate and the Buea Council. A four-section survey questionnaire was used to collect data from a total of 100 employees randomly selected from the Tole Tea Estate and the Buea Council. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the  determinants of job satisfaction. The findings indicate for Tole Tea Estate that company policies, career advancement, interesting work, sense of achievement, and recognition were successively the main job satisfiers.

The job satisfiers for Buea Council were recognition, career advancement, sense of achievement, and company policies. The study concluded that the level of employees’ job satisfaction in the Buea Council and the Tole Tea Estate was similar with a mean score on 5 of 2.7 for the Buea Council and 2.6 for the Tole Tea Estate. Also, Buea Council had 55.3percent for the level of enthusiasm and moral towards their job and organisation, while the Tole Tea Estate had 54.8 percent. The key dis-satisfiers for both the Buea Council and Tole Tea Estate were the lack of motivation, no fringe benefits and poor remuneration. Accordingly, it was recommended for Buea Council that employees should be praised and acknowledged as individuals or teams to any work done to achieve organisational goals and values. Career path- goals should be clearly defined and vigorously pursued.

Management should organise seminars, conferences and workshops for the employees to enhance their expertise. For Tole Tea since poor working condition was a key challenge, it was recommended that employees in the field department should be provided with shelters in the various fields where they can take refuge during very harsh weather conditions such as rain. Also, protective clothing such as; boots, quality rain coats and hand gloves should be provided, employees in the factory department should be provided nosepieces; helmets, overalls and good quality shoes. These will improve the working conditions of the employees.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

This study focuses on job satisfaction as a very important component in Human Resource Management (HRM) which is a system of activities and strategies that focus on successful management of employees at all levels of an organisation to achieve organisational goals. It is a comparative study of factors that influence employees’ job satisfaction in theTole Tea Estate and the Buea Council. Job satisfaction is a psychological concept that has an effect on the morale of employees.

There is broad acceptance that job satisfaction can enhance the performance of workers. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences (www.coursehero.com/file/p5e8egg/). Implicit in this definition is the importance of both affect, or feeling and cognition or thinking. Cognition and affect are thus inextricably linked in the employee’s psychology and biology. That is, it difficult to separate how an employee thinks from the way he feels. Thus, when evaluating employee jobs, both thinking and feeling are involved (Locke, 1976).

Many organizations face challenges in accurately measuring job satisfaction, as the definition of satisfaction can differ among various people within an organization. The assessment of job satisfaction through anonymous employee surveys became commonplace in the 1930s. Before that time, only a handful of studies were published on job satisfaction. Uhrbrock (1934) was one of the first psychologists to use the newly developed attitude measurement techniques to assess factory worker attitudes. In 1935,Hoppock conducted a study that focused explicitly on job satisfaction that is affected by both the nature of the job and relationships with co-workers and supervisors (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_enrichment ).

There are many aspects of job satisfaction, depending on what each employee feels is important. In many ways, the word “reward” alone can mean different things to different employees. In this study, however, the researcher’s goal is to investigate and understand the factors influencing job satisfaction in the work environment.

It is worth noting that motivation has a major part to play in the behaviours or attitudes of employees, as job satisfaction is derived from motivation. Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is a psychological force that determines the direction of a person’s behaviour as a result of challenging or interesting work (www.sagepublishers.org). For example, giving autonomy to work, designed scope to develop skills, abilities, opportunities to develop and grow, etc. can provide intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is also a psychological force that determines behavioural change as a result of tangible and intangible benefits such as salary, fringe benefits and special rewards (Gareth, Jones.Rand Jennifer M.George, 2003).

 

Identifying the needs of employees to (or “intending to” meeting them will help the organization earn the commitment of its employees (Chughtai, 2008). A well-motivated workforce promotes organizational effectiveness that allows the individuals to focus on the development of their work, regarding behaviour, skills and knowledge, ethics and effectiveness. It has been noted that motivation tends to energize the work force which can result in their expected job performance (Byham and Moyer, 2005)

Abraham Maslow (1943) the father of motivation, holds the view that unsatisfied needs serve as a motivation for individuals or groups of people. He identified five hierarchies of needs which are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self -actualization. When a need is satisfied, he says it does not serve as motivation again. It is the next need that matters.

The first aspect that comes to mind when we think of the causes of job satisfaction is the rewards employees get while doing their jobs. Reward can take a monetary form or be an intangible reward, such as, the feeling a person might get while doing a job that helps others (a nurse for example). A reward can also be seen as the prestige an employee gets for actually doing a job (as a judge or other politicians). Rewards, therefore, depend on the perception of employees and are different from one employee to another. This is why motivating an employee with rewards means applying the correct reward to the employee who is receiving it.

In some cases, rewards can take the form of an opportunity to move up in the organization. Employees working hard and wanting to get ahead in the organization might feel rewarded if they are promoted. The promotion and the recognition that comes with it is a means of

 

recognizing the hard work of the employees which makes them feel better about their jobs and the organization, thus, enhancing their overall job satisfaction (http://study.com/academy/lesson).

One aspect of job satisfaction that is not really reward-related is job security. Some workers obtain job satisfaction from knowing that the organization they are in is stable. There are individuals, who feel this is the most important aspect of the job, and having a stable organization makes them feel secure and helps promote job satisfaction.

Tole Tea Estate and the Buea Council were selected for this study because; these organisations belong to different sectors of organisations in Cameroon. The Tole Tea Estate is a private sector and an agro-production company or organisation while the Buea Council is a public sector and a service organisation (that is, it provides services for the public but does not produce tangible goods). This work is a comparative study and as such, the researcher would like to investigate factors that influence employees’ job satisfaction in the public and private organisations rendering different services. Therefore, the Tole Tea Estate and the Buea Council were suitable.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The relationship between how satisfied employees are with their jobs and their actual job performance is debatable. There are two basic views of job satisfaction and performance. One holds that job satisfaction leads to performance while the other holds that performance leads to satisfaction. In effect, it is noted that if employees are happy with their jobs, they will perform better, but to be satisfied, they have to perform their jobs to get that satisfaction.

 

With this, it appears difficult to determine whether satisfaction drives performance or performance drives satisfaction. Regardless of how it is seen, it does not take a lot of thought to realize that if someone has a high level of job satisfaction, he will probably have a high level of performance. On the other hand, if someone is not satisfied with his job, he probably will not have a high level of performance. However, it is possible to have a situation where an employee is happy with the job and gets satisfaction from doing it, but does not perform as the organization desires (https://www.boundless.com).

Despite widespread belief to the contrary, studies have shown that high-performing employees do not feel satisfied with their jobs simply as a result of high-level titles or increased pay. This lack of correlation is a significant concern for organizations, since studies also reveal that the implementation of positive human resource practices results in financial gain for the organizations. The cost of employees is quite high, and creating satisfaction relevant to the return on this investment is paramount. Simply put: positive work environments and increased shareholder value are directly related (https://www.boundless.com).

Some factors of job satisfaction may rank as more important than others, depending on each worker’s needs and personal and professional goals (https://www.boundless.com). It is in this light that the researcher seeks to investigate the factors that influence employees’ job satisfaction in the Buea Council and the Tole Tea Estate.

1.3. Objective of the Study

1.3.1 Main Objective

The main objective of this study was to investigate the factors that influence employees’ job satisfaction in the Tole Tea Estate and the Buea Council.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives were:

1. To identify the factors influencing employee job satisfaction in Tole Tea Estate and Buea Council.
2. To identify the level of employee job satisfaction in Tole Tea Estate and Buea Council.
3. To determine the key factors of dissatisfaction to the employees’ in the Tole Tea Estate and the Buea Council
4. To make appropriate recommendations in respect of job satisfaction to the management of Tole Tea Estate and Buea Council.

Check Out: Human Resource Management Project Materials