What Contributes to Job Satisfaction Among Faculty and Staff.

What Contributes to Job Satisfaction Among Faculty and Staff

New Directions for Institutional Research #105 Linda Serra Hagedorn, Editor ISBN: 0-7879-5438-1 Jossey-Bass <http://www.josseybass.com>

Job satisfaction is a primary concern of managers and leaders when they find themselves in a tight job market. As America moves toward some of the lowest unemployment numbers in memory, retaining and rewarding employees is a paramount concern. Education agencies are not exempt from this economic situation and therefore must consider what factors contribute to faculty and staff job satisfaction. Linda Serra Hagedorn edited the latest Jossey-Bass monograph in the New Directions for Institutional Research series dedicated to looking at the issue of job satisfaction among faculty and staff.

The initial chapter, written by Hagedorn, provides the reader with a challenge to look at job satisfaction through two constructs that are suggested to impact employee job satisfaction. Motivators and triggers are hypothesized to contribute to job satisfaction and are further broken down into researchable factors through the article. I found this chapter to be well researched and a solid blend of new and accepted research in the field. The conceptual framework and model is described in sufficient detail to provide the reader a working understanding of the predictive power for the model. The author supports the conceptual piece with data acquired through application of the model to an existing data base. From this pilot, significant findings were obtained and a foundation is established for further use of the model and additional validity studies. Few statistical findings are presented outside of boxplots. However these graphs suggest the factors tested are indeed important in examining job satisfaction. A promised research study which would more clearly express the predictive use of the model and further findings would certainly assist anyone concerned about faculty job satisfaction, and should be read to fully understand the factors built into the multivariate model suggested by this chapter. Completing the balance of the monograph are eight chapters which, through research and opinion, support the notion that job satisfaction is a concern through the ranks of faculty and staff. Two chapters discuss job satisfaction based on individual demographics, demographics you would expect to be examined. These chapters address the topic at hand from the perspective of faculty of color and women. Both chapters use an extensive review of literature to build the case for sensitivity and concern about job satisfaction among these groups of employees. Four of the remaining chapters take a novel look at job satisfaction through examination of factors unique to union membership, student affairs administrators, academic medicine faculty, untenurable faculty and classified employees. These chapters, while not using the Hagedorn model, still provide important data and information necessary to understand the complexity of satisfaction issues across this wide range of employment areas. The final chapter examines sabbatical leave and suggests possible impacts on job satisfaction through the faculty members development, and increased productivity through the sabbatical experience.

Overall this publication is appropriate and highly suggested for scholars in any academic field as well as managers/leaders of institutions who wish to more fully examine the factors impacting job satisfaction. The chapters can certainly stand on their own as individual research pieces as well as in concert with the overall job satisfaction model proposed in the first chapter. The literature reviewed throughout the nine chapters is a comprehensive treatment of the empirical and opinion evidence necessary to test or build future models of faculty job satisfaction. Hagedorn has built a strong case through this document that factors impacting job satisfaction can be examined and tested. Further this work suggests that there is much research needed to fully define and explore job satisfaction among various faculty and staff groups. Most importantly this work leaves the reader with a sense that job satisfaction can be increased and done through an understanding of the issues and factors impacting faculty and staff on their jobs.

Dr. Jerry McMurtry University of Idaho, ID