RECOMMENDATION

__________________________________________________________________

This is the finding that you would need it to write the recommendation

Finding

Effect of a person’s natural character on their job attitude

  When we asked  our interviews whether a person’s disposition affected their  attitude toward their job we got both slightly similar and differing  responses, our first interviewee was the director of patient Access at providence, he has worked there  for three decades and in his present role for six years, he was of the opinion that the inherent nature of an individual did determines   on a large part how happy one was in a job, he also added that a person’s stage in life also influenced the attitude towards the job. Also he said that  it was important for a person to find a job that was a right fit for them.

The second interview a senior director of Human Resources who has been with providence for two decades and a half and at his present role for two years was of a similar opinion, that indeed a person’s disposition does influence their job attitude. He said that employees with positive attitudes are more motivated to work out their differences and come up with solutions to improve their job situation, while those that have a negative personality complain about what is wrong.  These two respondents being senior management at providence shows that their beliefs on the influence of an employee’s disposition on their attitude towards a job are indeed to some extent the beliefs of providence health care services.

The claim of  inherent nature having a direct effect on a person’s attitude towards their work is supported by many studies for example one of the seminal studies on a person’s character and how it relates  to job satisfaction was carried out by Staw & Ross(1985) in their study they demonstrated that indeed a job satisfaction become stable in time regardless of their changing jobs, this fact was supported by  subsequent study by Staw, & Clausen(1986) who found that childhood temperament was directly related to adult job satisfaction four decades later. Indeed, from evidence it has been found that job satisfaction of identical twins brought up apart is statistically the same (see Arvey, Bouchard, Segal, &Abraham, 1989). There have been criticism of this theory (e.g. Davis-Blake &Pfeffer,1989) However, increasingly, studies have been showing that job satisfaction  in many different employees relates in part to differences in their character or temperament( House, Shane & Herold,1996). Therefore it is right to assume that the employees at providence are placed in their different jobs by human resource management based on their inherent traits since the second respondent is a Senior Director of Human Resources with Providence and he believes there is a direct correlation between one's character and their attitude towards their job description.

Cultural influence on employee job attitude

From the two providence senior level interviewees they synonymously agreed that difference in culture do directly correlate with a person’s approach to their duties.

Work situation influence on job satisfaction

  From the interview the first respondent was of the opinion that the pay, station in life and mission of the organization really influence job satisfaction. He used employees at providence who have worked there for over three decades as a clear example.  Alternately, the second interviewee was of the mind that the nature of the job and supervisors and co-workers do influence job satisfaction greatly.

Relationship of job attitudes and job performance

  Both interviewees seemed to agree that there exists a strong link between having a positive attitude towards a job or a negative attitude towards job satisfaction and job performance. Even though the relationship of job satisfaction and performance have for a long time not been properly correlated in recent time studies have found that job satisfaction does infect predict performance and this relationship is even stronger for professional jobs( Judge,

Thorsten, Bono, and Patton, 2001).

Effect of age on job attitude and performance

  Both the interviewees were of the mind that the older generation was more loyal to their position and have more connection with it as compared to younger people who see their present positions as stepping stones to the next job.

Difference in job attitudes between part-time and full time workers

  For the first interviewee he was of the mind that part-time employees are just as dedicated to the time they at work as full-time employees. As for the second interviewee he said that part-time workers are also as dedicated as full time employees and even more than they are since they have limited time at the workplace and do not burn out as quickly as full-time employees. A meta -analysis carried out by Todd J. Thorsteinson (2010) found that there existed little difference between full-time and part-time(PT) workers on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intentions to leave and other bits relating to job satisfaction.

Methods for improving job attitudes

The first interviewee said that having open lines of communication and finding ways to allow peoples voices to be heard makes it possible to improve job attitudes.  The second interviewee said that recognizing one’s employees helps to improve job attitudes.

Individuals work relationships impact on attitude?

  The first respondent was of the mind that positive   work relationship can help to improve attitudes. However, forming cliques might lead to exclusion of some co-workers leading to negative outcomes such  as poor performance.

The second one said that work relationship Challenges influence job attitude significantly.

Relationship between job stress and employee performance

  The first interviewee said that there does exist a correlation between job stress and how an employee performs their duties. The second respondent  viewed stress as a tool for helping in solving particular problems with work related projects but also pointed out that stress can be a problem when  it leads to ignoring of some projects over others or when it distorts the work life balance.

Consequences for positive work attitudes

  The first respondent said that a positive work attitude can lead to improved work relations but it can lead to distraction when cliques form leading to drop in duty fulfillment. Similarly, the second interviewee said that a positive work attitude in an employee leads to them being very social and this might lead to distraction in the office space.

What Providence is doing to influence job satisfaction?

  From the benefits page of the organization's website and ratings by existing and former employees at the organization on indeed.com and glass door.com   it is clear that Providence has put in place some measures to ensure that its employees have job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Locke (1976) in defining  job satisfaction defined it as a "pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experience"(P. 1304) According to some employees  who work and have worked at Providence giving feedback mention support by management and existence of an equal work space that is both rewarding not just in pay but on other factors such as flexibility for part time workers who are  still in school, provision of health care and great pension plan and good interaction among employees even outside the workspace(indeed.com).

Benefits that help to influence job satisfaction

  When it comes to employee benefits that relate to employee motivation providence offers benefits depending on employee group and status but some of the major benefits in all benefits packages include dental coverage, group life insurance,  paid vacation and statutory Holidays., extended health care and long term disability.

Providence role in cultural assimilation at the organization

Regarding to their sensitivity to the culture of an individual, Providence have in place a relocation assistance program which  helps to welcome professional from different backgrounds into the organization.

Providence programs that help in dealing with work situation hence influencing job satisfaction

  The company in understanding the environment and conditions in which its employees work provide employees with employee and family assistant program which is a confidential voluntary, short-term counseling   for employees that helps in dealing with work place and personal concerns at no cost to employees. Employees on glass door have also spoken about manager emphasizing work-life balance. Even though employees still work nights, holidays and weekends. In relation to this point research studies  over the years has repeatedly shown that when employees are asked to choose different aspects of their job for example supervision, nature of work, pay, promotion opportunities and co-employees they have constantly chosen nature of work as a deciding factor for job satisfaction(Judge & Church,2000;Jurgensen,1978).  However, this is not to mean that this other factors such as pay do not have value, it’s just that they have been constantly out ranked by nature of the job.

Difference in job attitudes between part-time and full time workers

  One former admitting clerk at Providence on indeed.com Indeed an American worldwide employment optimized   search engine reported that apart from the organization being a great working place that part-time casual employees still got the benefits or statutory holidays off. Also the working hours are flexible and many and thus a good thing for students in school also everyone in the organization was helpful (2016).

Providence programs relating to Age and job performance

Providence on glass door.com a website where employees and former employees review a company anonymously is commended by an employee; in an effort to reward older employees and retain younger ones  he says that provides a 503 retirement plan and also a vesting period of three years. Again, the company matches upto 50% of an employee’s income between 3-6 percent depending on how long a person has worked there. Similarly, in an effort to improve job performance the company provides education opportunities to its employees at no extra cost to them (2017).

Individuals work relationships impact on attitude at Providence

Former employees at Providence have complained that some management was not very much liked because they formed cliques among their favorite employees. Again, another employee complained that the process on feedback on a work progress application was not so well defined.

Recommendation

From former employee comments on glass door it was mentioned that some management  were disliked because they formed cliques among their favorite employees, which is something mentioned by one of the managers interviewed for this project as one of the ways exclusion is fostered thus negatively impacting individual work relationships.  It would be my recommendation that it be made company policy that despite an employee’s status, age or race or creed that there be a standardized way in which all employees are treated in the organization.

Secondly, I would recommend that the job progression processes be well defined looking into the future so as to make sure that employees know their possibility for job progression thus making sure they remain motivated and have job satisfaction.

Describe what the organization is doing well and poorly

Regarding what Providence is doing well, it is my opinion from the feedback from the different employee rating sites and their benefit page that the organization is performing well when it comes to giving its employees benefits that bring about job satisfaction that go beyond pay.  These include comprehensive health care and paid vacation. Again, the organization being sensitive to cultural assimilation needs of its employees have put in place a relocation assistance program that I feel makes it much easier for foreigners to fit into the Providence way of life. Indeed, according, to a cross-cultural study on employee attitude by Hofstede (1980, 1985) he found that the data grouped into four dimensions and different nationalities systematically had differences based on this dimensions. The four cross-cultural dimensions he used were individualism-collectivism ;(2) Uncertainty avoidance versus risk taking; (3) power distance and (4) masculinity/femininity also known as achievement orientation. The United States one of the nations sampled was found to have high individualism but low on power distance, or the extent to which power is unequally distributed also they were found to be low on uncertainty avoidance (hence high on risk taking).Alternately, Mexico on its part was found to have high collectivism and high on uncertainty avoidance (thus low on risk taking). These four dimensions have provided a useful framework for comprehending of cross-cultural differences in employee attitudes and Providence management in implementing its own cultural assimilation programs can use Hofstede four dimensions to better integrate employees from different cultures because he showed that this differences do indeed exist.

Also, providence use of good retirement plan and having a short vesting period will surely bring about job satisfaction as it points to the company wanting to retain employees from across all age brackets thus ensuring that age does not have a negative effect on job performance.  Research carried out by K. Smola and C. Sutton(2002) comparing the Baby Boomer generation and generation X J. Twenge ( 1999,p.203) on generation Y, found that work stops being of value in itself for the generation that comes next and therefore its importance decreases. The interviewees pointed to younger workers not be as loyal as the older ones, but with such benefits given at Providence am sure that they would rethink leaving the employ of this organization.

References

Arvey, R. D., Bouchard, T. J., Segal, N. L., & Abraham, L. M. (1989). Job satisfaction: Environmental and genetic components. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 187–192.

  Davis-Blake, A., & Pfeffer, J. (1989). Just a mirage: The search for dispositional effects in organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 385–400.

  House, R. J., Shane, S. A., & Herold, D. M. (1996).Rumors of the death of dispositional research

are vastly exaggerated. Academy of Management Review, 21, 203–224.

  Judge, T. A., & Church, A. H. (2000). Job satisfaction: Research and practice. In C. L. Cooper & E. A. Locke (Eds.), Industrial and organizational psychology: Linking theory with practice (pp. 166–198). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127,

376–407.

Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 1297–1349). Chicago: Rand McNally.

Staw, B. M., & Ross, J. (1985). Stability in the midst of change: A dispositional approach to job attitudes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 469–480.

Staw, B. M., Bell, N. E., & Clausen, J. A. (1986). The dispositional approach to job attitudes: A

lifetime longitudinal test. Administrative Science

Quarterly, 31, 437–453

  Smola K. W. and Sutton C. D. (2002). Generational difference: revisiting generational

work values for the new millennium. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 363–382