Running head: Job dissatisfaction – bmal 501 1
Job Dissatisfaction
Literature Review – BMAL 501
Liberty University
Job dissatisfaction – bmal 501 2
Abstract
Many people experience job dissatisfaction at one point or another. There are several reasons one
may experience job dissatisfaction, including but not limited to: change, affect and job related
stress. The impact of a dissatisfied employee negatively effects the workplace. The correlation
between job satisfaction and performance at work is strong. Thus, leading to the saying “a happy
employee is a “productive employee”. Job dissatisfaction can lead to negative employee actions
such as substance abuse, theft and undue socialization.
Job dissatisfaction can be attributed to several different root causes: learning theories that are
seldom if ever applied by upper management, leadership that lacks inspiration, change, negative
team dynamics, emotional stress and narcissism are all variables that can ultimately lead to job
dissatisfaction.
Job dissatisfaction not only effects the worker, but the negativity effects the team and the
company as a whole. Job dissatisfaction impacts a company negatively due to low production,
high turnover and employee absenteeism.
Keywords: job dissatisfaction, narcissism, change, leadership, affect, stressors
Job dissatisfaction – bmal 501 3
Job Dissatisfaction
Literature Review – BMAL 501
Job dissatisfaction is not productive. The dissatisfaction for one’s job leads to misery,
health concerns and poor performance. Ultimately, job dissatisfaction will lead to turnover.
However job dissatisfaction can lead to other things such as deviance and absenteeism.
Job Dissatisfaction
Many factors play into job dissatisfaction. Some managers and leaders just don’t get it as they are
out of touch with the way others perceive them. Sometimes managers and leaders are only concerned with
themselves and how they look on paper and in person, rather than how they are as a person in a leadership
position. Sometimes the manager or leader will sense a negative vibe concerning them, but will pass it off
as someone else’s problem. They are absolutely unaware that they are the problem and the subordinates
cannot tell their leader that they are the problem. The root cause of the problem is never exposed, thus
never fixed. After an experiencing poor leadership, the work team quits producing at optimum level
which hurts the department’s goals. Self-managing teams, will experience a weakened spirit and a
lessened work productivity. Work tends to became more dull and manufactured instead of shiny and
original. Success is based upon the norms of the team, the make-up of the team, the type of tasks, and the
reward structure” (Fischer, 2009, p. 6). Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall”.
Narcissism
Narcissists possess a sense of superiority that put them in a “class” above everyone
else’s. They possess an inflated ego, inflated sense of entitlement, inflated sense of importance
and an inflated need to be center of attention. They have to have the best of the best. Narcissism
is best described as, “The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance,
require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 142).
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Narcissists tend to be lazy and egocentric, absolutely not a team players. “Teams cannot have
illusions of grandeur or ease in the process. In other words, teams need to be wary of their own
collective laziness and pride” (Fischer, 2009, p. 12). More often than not, employees with
narcissistic co-workers or management often experience the selfishness of the narcissist first-
hand. “Narcissists also tend to be selfish and exploitive and believe others exist for their benefit”
(Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 142).
Narcissists are consumed by the way they look in person and on paper. Sometimes they
will request that subordinates “dress to impress” to make themselves look better. 1Timothy 2:9
states, “Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty
and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire”. Sometimes narcissists
clearly have a lack of regard for worker’s body, emotion or finances.
“Fashion distorted the natural body through subordinating practices like high-
heels, corsets and objectifying fashions that reduced women to objects of a
sexualizing gaze, rendering them unable to act effectively in the world” (TWIGG,
2007, p. 287).
When a narcissist criticizes their workers for not “looking the part”, it can leave them
feeling ashamed, ugly and embarrassed. Employees may think that they look professional, but if
one is tagging along with a narcissistic boss, often they need the employee to “look good” in
order for them to think they are being perceived as looking well. Some employees will begin to I
focus on what they are wearing and how it looks more than the work they are delivering. “These
perceptions diverted women’s energies into trivial questions of appearance; and reinforced
negative stereotypes of women as ever-changing, inconstant and narcissistic” (TWIGG, 2007, p.
287).
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Change
Many things cause businesses to change the way they do business. If an organization
wants to succeed and grow, it needs to change in order to keep up with new demands and
competition. “No company today is in a particularly stable environment. Even those with
dominant market share must change, sometimes radically” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 590).
In order for a business to not grow stagnant, businesses have to change the way they do
business in order to keep up with their competitors. Change is particularly hard on older
employees as they are used to doing things the way they had been done. “Change is absolutely
unavoidable so, resistance is futile. Successful professionals have to be willing to embrace
change, even when the outcome is still unknown” (Forbes, 2011, p. 1).
The Bible calls for us to change as well. Mathew 18:3 says, "Truly I say to you, unless
you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” If we
do not accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal savior, we are doomed souls and we won’t
inherit the kingdom of Heaven. Change is a good thing – especially for our souls, it’s a great
thing!
After many research findings and focus groups, businesses will usually come up with a
plan. Change agents in an operation at this stage are crucial. “Change agents in an organization
are persons who act as catalysts and assume the responsibility for managing change activities”
(Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 593).
Businesses will have to construct a strategic plan for the implementation of a new product
or service. This will include training of all employees, more testing and possibly more focus
groups. Some employees, more specifically older employees will fall through the cracks, resign
or at the worst, be terminated. It is true that some older (and younger) employees are set in their
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ways, but many employees are mismanaged. By the time a change is implemented, employees
are usually tired. The workers that have been dissatisfied for other reasons, or for a longer
amount of time are more than likely to start deviant behavior or absenteeism.
Because there may be people that have been associated with the business or organization
for decades, changes may be met with resistance. Mainly from older persons and people that
were already experiencing job dissatisfaction. The reluctant few employees that refuse to give in
to change will usually be given two options; roll with it or leave. Some will choose to leave,
others will choose to put on a happy face despite their hesitation to the change.
“Change is indeed a combination of chaos and opportunity. Those who are
resistant, I think, are only looking at one side of the equation. They’re forgetting
about the opportunity and focusing only on the chaos” (Forbes, 2011, p. 1).
Mostly, positive changes to a business or organization is met with positive acceptance. In
order to stay competitive, a business must change with the times. Changing an aspect, service or
product of a business relies on all employees and leadership to run smoothly.
“Leaders should build on employee strengths. Covenantal building requires a
sense of teamwork and mutual accountability. Learning to access and draw on
employee’s strengths through empowerment, participative decision-making, and
the practice of “quality workmanship” are great ways to do so” (Fischer, 2009, p.
7).
Change is a great thing for a business or an organization. Action research will prove if the
new product or service is well received by the patrons and change (the right change) should give
a company the edge over their competition. “Action research is a change process based on the
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systematic collection of data and selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data
indicate” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 597).
Leadership
The different theories of leadership may all be present, but if they are not applied in the
correct manner, it is as if they were never applied at all. Bad leadership can also result in job
dissatisfaction, if leaders are demonstrating behaviors that imply non-leadership. Sometimes
leaders often have a different style from the work group as a whole. Upper management
sometimes changes direction on a project without warning or explanation. However, some
leaders won’t “get their hands dirty” when it comes to the projects they assigned to their workers.
When employees ask for help or guidance and don’t receive any feedback from a leader, it is
discouraging as a workgroup and as an individual employee.
Lastly, bad leaders never inspire their followers. They are unsure, sporadic and seemingly
uneducated about a certain task they will assign a group. As a group, workers will not have any
confidence in upper-management. This is detrimental to the workgroup as there is no clear vision
to a specific destination. Employees are left guessing throughout the duration of projects.
“Behavioral theories of leadership are theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate
leaders from non-leaders” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 380). With a bad leader or manager,
structure is rarely if ever defined or implemented and they have no trust with employees.
Leadership styles vary from person to person in regards to upper-management. Consistency is
sometimes a problem. A leader can be likeable, but not effective. After they fail to be more
effective than the previous leader, their following quickly starts to drop off.
As a group, workers will have no confidence, respect or trust in their new leader, if the
leader proves themselves ineffective. Managers may think workers are acting out of respect
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regarding their position of authority, but in reality, it is out of fear of retaliation. This will lead to
job dissatisfaction for the workgroup as a whole.
Charismatic leaders can help deflect job dissatisfaction. “These leaders represent
revolutionary social forces, and they are responsible for significant societal transformations”
(Conger & Kanungo, 1987, p. 637). However, non-charismatic leaders contribute to job
dissatisfaction. Non-charismatic leaders aren’t reassuring, stable or accountable. Being a strong,
charismatic leader is one of the most important aspects of successful leadership. Knowing what
to do is important as well. Being a strong leader is important for employees. They need to feel
secure and settled with a leader as an uncertain, unappealing leader will cause a sense of un-rest
and insecurity among employees, ultimately leading to job dissatisfaction, absenteeism or
deviance.
“Effective communication is an essential quality in any leadership style. In that
regard, charismatic leadership is no different, but charismatic leaders act
differently than non-charismatic leaders. For the charismatic leader, effective
communication requires more than merely the dissemination of information. To
be effective, charismatics often include emotional appeals within their rhetoric”
(Bell & Regent University School of Business & Leadership, 2013, p. 67).
Non-charismatic leaders appear to be cold and at times, stoic – almost robotic. They set
poor examples for workers to follow and never encourage the workgroup to move toward a
unified vision. “The charismatic leader engages in emotion-inducing and often unconventional
behavior to demonstrate courage and conviction about the vision” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p.
389).
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Affect
Once an employee experiences job dissatisfaction, their attitude will change. Once fear
and paranoia set in, they became worrisome, defensive and stressed. The fear and paranoia will
become more pronounced the longer the job dissatisfaction sets in. Negative experiences can
leave employees with an affect, covering a range of emotions and moods. “Our emotions inform
how we interact with others and how we react to life situations” (“Individual behavior within an
organizational context", n.d., p. 7). An employee with total job dissatisfaction will find
themselves emotionally drained. They feel anger, sadness, fury and confusion. The emotions one
will face when faced with job dissatisfaction will lead to moods of depression and anxiety.
Stressors
If the affect is too much emotional stress on an employee with job dissatisfaction, they
may find themselves ailing from physical stress. Migraine headaches, ulcers, insomnia, high
blood pressure, anxiety disorders and depression are a few illnesses related to stress an employee
may find themselves with. It is important that an employee realize when job dissatisfaction is a
permanent problem without a solution. It is vital for an employee to resign their position if their
mental and/or physical health is compromised. “The relationship between job satisfaction and
turnover is stronger than between satisfaction and absenteeism” (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p. 86).
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References
Fischer, K. (2009). Group Behavior and Work Terms.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2011). Organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, N.J:
Prentice Hall.
TWIGG, J. (2007). Clothing, age and the body: a critical review. Ageing & Society, 27, 285.
doi:10.1017/S0144686X06005794
References
Fischer, K. (2009). Structure and Culture.
Forbes (2011, July 18). Learning to Love Change in the Workplace - Forbes. Retrieved April 17,
2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/07/18/learning-to-love-
change-in-the-workplace/
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2011). Leadership. In Organizational behavior (14th ed., pp. 589-
628). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
References
Bell, R. M., & Regent University School of Business & Leadership (2013). Charismatic
leadership case study with Ronald Reagan as exemplar. Emerging Leadership Journeys,
6(1), 66-74. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.regent.edu%2Facad%2Fglobal%2Fpublications%2Felj
%2Fvol6iss1%2F4elj_vol6iss1_bell.pdf&ei=5PpPU4XQMOL58AGT04DICw&usg=AFQj
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Conger, J., & Kanungo, R. (1987). Toward a theory of charismatic leadership in organizational
settings. Academy of Management, 12(4), 637-647.
Job dissatisfaction – bmal 501 11
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2011). Leadership. In Organizational behavior (14th ed., pp. 375-
416). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
References
Individual behavior within an organizational context. (n.d.).
Monte, P. A. (2012). Job dissatisfaction and labour turnover: evidence from Brazil.
International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(8), 1-20.
doi:10.1080/09585192.2011.605071
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2011). Organizational behavior (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
N.J: Prentice Hall.
