Job satisfaction and quality of working life: A reassessment

Abstract

The usefulness of job satisfaction measures in assessing job characteristics and in improving quality of working life is problematic. Public opinion polls and organizational surveys have shown high and stable levels of job satisfaction for many years, while signs of employee frustration and alienation have been increasing. Closer examination of this paradoxical finding leads to the conclusion that, whatever rigorous job satisfaction surveys are measuring, it is not the information needed to modify jobs and work in order to reduce employee frustration. To overcome flaws in the measurement of satisfaction for this purpose employees themselves need to be more involved in the measurement process. Recent experience with employee participation in action research on quality of working life is noted, and the extension and furtherance of this model is proposed.