Various studies have attempted to answer several questions related to areas that may impact productivity. Three such areas of interest here would be the subjects of emotions impacting productivity, the importance of social interaction and perception, and highly regarded supervisors and their impact on productivity. Supervision and social interaction are included in Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory as being important factors in the development of job satisfaction. An employee’s emotional well-being may impact their perceptions and thus have an outcome on their job satisfaction.

Emotional Impact

Studies on the effects of emotions effects on productivity are not conclusive, but there have been studies done that seem to show some evidence to support the idea that positive emotions can improve productivity and negative emotions can decrease productivity. These studies do not necessarily account for an increase in job satisfaction, but in many ways an increase in happiness can be very similar to an increase in satisfaction.

“It seems, therefore, that positive emotion invigorates people. Yet the mechanism here, so far, is unclear. Does happiness have its effect through greater numbers answered or through greater accuracy of the average answer? This distinction is of interest and might be thought of as one between industry and talent –between the consequences of happiness for pure effort compared to effective skill.”

-Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi, p.14, 2008

Several experiments conducted by Oswald, Proto, and Sgroi (2008) at Warwick University in the United Kingdom found that when individual employees are made “happier” they have an increased productivity of around 12%.  This is not an insubstantial amount. In general terms (as opposed to the practical applications of actually reducing a workforce), approximately 9 people will now be able to do the work of 10; approximately 88 will be able to do the work of 100. The benefits could be in the form of a staff reduction or reduced time to complete tasks. This could prove to be quite a cost saver for employers and may offset costs associated with working to improve employee morale.

One of the studies done by Oswald, Proto, and Sgroi (2008) was conducted using well-established tasks that ask subjects to do a math test with varying levels of happiness. They worked to alter the moods of test subjects through the use of movie clips containing comedy. They were promised a base payment for showing up and another payment based on their performance on the test determined by correct answers. Through self-reporting, it was found that participants were made happier by the film and that those who reported being happier (compared to a control group that was not shown the film) had an improved performance on the test.  This indicates that one’s emotional state can have an impact on their productivity rate.

Data Figure 1: Happiness vs. number of correct answers on a test; Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi, 2008

Supervisor Impact

A study by Wright and Straw (1999) finds results that do not appear to support the idea that worker productivity increases with supervisors rated higher by those workers; the results were rather inconclusive. This is interesting because if productivity increases due to job satisfaction it would support Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory showing that an improved relationship with a supervisor does not make one satisfied with their job it just helps ensure they will not be dissatisfied with it. A good relationship with your supervisor is essential to job satisfaction but it will not make you satisfied with your job.

Perception and Social Circles

Social interactions can have a positive impact on job satisfaction when considering Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory. While this may be true to an extent, personal beliefs were indicated as having an impact larger than social interaction in a study conducted on the experiences of nurses (Ravari et al, 2012). This again highlights the potential difficulty of improving worker job satisfaction and the importance of perception and personality. The cited study did not rule out, and in fact indicated, that social interaction can have some impact on job satisfaction; the effect of this may be more rooted in the importance individuals place on social interaction.

A different study on social circles in the workplace sought to measure how sociability impacts performance (Verbeke & Wuyts, 2006).  What was found was that social circles can increase the performance of employees, although the relationship does not appear to be direct. It was indicated in the study that the social circles can work as an additional method of receiving information that may help in a person’s job and thus improve performance. What may be most alarming to employers is that members of a social circle often display alignment with the goals of the social circle, rather than the goals of the company they are working for. The increase in performance indicated and the group cohesion of the social circle may be partially responsible for an increase in job satisfaction.

In a study by Lin and Kwantes (2014), the researchers sought to determine the perceptions of people in regards to the social interactions of other people in the workplace. The results found that employees expected more sociable employees to receive better performance reviews, be more likely to receive coworker assistance, and they were perceived to have higher job competence. Employees expect a level of social interaction and tend to look more favorably on those that engage in high levels of social interactions. There is, however, no known link between higher social interaction and the actual level of job competence. It may be a matter of what people think someone knows, as opposed to what they actually know.

Job satisfaction and productivity complement each other. An employee that is more satisfied with their job is likely to be more productive. As indicated by these studies, job satisfaction and productivity will not be improved by a better relationship with a supervisor but could possibly be improved by coworker relationships to a certain extent, but there is the potential for the goals of a social group to not line up with the goals of the organization. Perception and personal beliefs may have a stronger influence than sociability on job satisfaction. The emotional state of the employee may also play a role in how satisfied employees are. Considering all of this information, low rates of job satisfaction should almost be expected.

Originally Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Administration Concentration in Information Resource Management on April 28, 2015

Read Full Document Here

The above is an excerpt from the scientific literature review section of my graduate project.

References

Carleton University. (2013). Big five personality factors. Retrieved April 4^th 2015 from http://http-server.carleton.ca/~tpychyl/011382000/BigFive.html.

Caumont, A. (2014). 6 key finding about going to college. Retrieved October 12^th, 2014 from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/11/6-key-findings-about-going-to-college/.

Germeijs, V. & Vershueren, K. (2011). Indecisiveness and Big Five personality factors: Relationship and specificity. Personality and Individual Differences. Vol. 50. Is. 7. May, 2011. Retrieved April 14^th 2015 from http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/science/article/pii/S0191886911000237.

Herzberg, F. (1987). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review September–October, 109–120. Retrieved January 14^th, 2015 from http://0-web.a.ebscohost.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=092efb8b-d356-4e43-8baa-5fcd94169387%40sessionmgr4005&hid=4204.

Husin, L.I, & Zaidi, N.A. (2011). The correlation effects between Big Five personality traits and job satisfaction among support staff in an organization. Retrieved April 14^th 2015 from http://0-ieeexplore.ieee.org.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6163863.

Kurian, G. T. (2013). AMA Dictionary of Business and Management. AMACOM, p.136. Retrieved October 14^th 2014 from https://app.knovel.com/web/view/swf/show.v/rcid:kpTAMADBM2/cid:kt00C96V41/viewerType:pdf/root_slug:ama-dictionary-business?cid=kt00C96V41&page=4&b-toc-cid=kpTAMADBM2&b-toc-root-slug=ama-dictionary-business&b-toc-url-slug=habitual-buying-behavior&b-toc-title=The%20AMA%20Dictionary%20of%20Business%20and%20Management.

Lambert, E. G., Hogan, N. L., & Barton, S. M. (2002).  Satisfied correctional staff: a review of the literature on the correlates of correctional staff job satisfaction. Criminal justice and behavior 29.2 (2002):115. Retrieved January 7^th, 2015 from http://0-cjb.sagepub.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/content/29/2/115.full.pdf+html.

Lin, I. & Kwantes, C.T. (2014). Potential job facilitation benefits of “water cooler” conversations: The importance of social interaction in the workplace. The Journal of Psychology.  Vol. 149. Iss. 3. Retrieved April 16^th 2015 from http://0-www.tandfonline.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/doi/full/10.1080/00223980.2013.874322#.

Mourshed, M., Farrell, D., & Barton, D. – McKinsey Center for Government,. (N.D.). Education to employment: Designing a system that works. Retrieved from mckinseyonsociety.com website: http://mckinseyonsociety.com/education-to-employment/report/.

Oswald, A.J., Proto, E., & Sgroi. D. – University of Warwick (2008). Happiness and Productivity. Jole 3^rd Version. 10 Feb, 2014. Retrieved October 14^th, 2014 from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/eproto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf.

Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. (2015). Job satisfaction. Retrieved January 16^th 2015 from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/job-satisfaction.

Ravari, A., Bazargan, M., Vanaki, Z. & Mirzai, T. (2012). Job satisfaction among Iranian hospital-based practicing nurses: Examining the influence of self-expectation, social interaction, and organizational situations. Journal of Nursing Management. Vol. 20. Iss. 4. Pp. 522-533. Retrieved April 16^th 2015 from http://0-onlinelibrary.wiley.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01188.x/abstract.

Reed, M.B., Bruch, M.A., & Haase, R.F. (2004). Five-factor model of personality and career exploration. Journal of Career Assessment, 12 (2004), pp. 223–238. Retrieved April 14^th 2015 from http://www.scopus.com/record/display.url?eid=2-s2.0-3242701403&origin=inward&txGid=85A6C2387AE650DD0842FCF9E493C3C6.y7ESLndDIsN8cE7qwvy6w%3a2.

Riggio, R.E. (2014). What is authentic leadership? Do you have it? Psychology Today. Retrieved April 15^th 2015 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201401/what-is-authentic-leadership-do-you-have-it.

Smerek, R. E., & Peterson, M. (2006) Examining Herzberg’s Theory: Improving Job Satisfaction among Non-academic Employees at a University. Research in higher education 48.2 (2006):229-250. Retrieved October 15^th 2014 from http://0-link.springer.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/article/10.1007/s11162-006-9042-3/fulltext.html.

Spagnolo, G. (1999). Social relations and cooperation in organizations. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. Vol. 38 Iss. 1. Retrieved April 16^th 2015 from http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/science/article/pii/S016726819800119X.

Sut I Wong , H. & Perry, C. (2011). Employee empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Retrieved April 16^th 2015 from http://0-search.proquest.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/docview/888255484?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:primo&accountid=10181.

Vedder, R., Denhart, C., Robe, J. (2013). Why are recent college graduates underemployed? Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Retrieved April 4^th 2015 from http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/Underemployed%20Report%202.pdf.

Wong, C.A. & Laschinger, K.S. (2012). Authentic leadership, performance, and job satisfaction: The mediating role of empowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Vol. 69, Iss. 4. pp.947-959. Retrieved April 14^th 2015 from http://0-onlinelibrary.wiley.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.06089.x/full.

Wright, T. A., & Straw, B.M. (1999). Affect and favorable work outcomes: two longitudinal tests of the happy-productive worker thesis. Journal of organizational behavior 20.1 ;1-23. Retrieved October 16^th, 2014 from http://0-search.proquest.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/docview/224884806?accountid=10181.

Wyatt, I. D., & Hecker, D. E. (2006). Occupational changes during the 20th century. Monthly Labor Review, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved February 9th, 2013, from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/03/art3full.pdf.

Verbeke, W. & Wuyts, S. (2006). Moving in social circles: Social circle membership and performance implications. Retrieved April 16^th 2015 from http://0-www.jstor.org.catalog.lib.cmich.edu/stable/30162564?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents.