Introduction
The article in question focuses on a comparative analysis of the levels of job satisfaction of professionals working in the private sector and those in the public sector. The article mainly compares the attitude and mentality of employees in the private sector and public sector in relation to the structural and management practices in the two settings. The attitude of employees in the private sector is said to be much more positive than that of public sector employees. This is attributed to the strict and effective measure taken by private employers to satisfy their employees. The size of the work force in the private sector is always lean and restructuring is often done to ensure the workload is manageable and that employees are satisfied at work.The difference in levels of burnout, efficient administration and response rates indicate that employees in private sectors have positive job attitudes and are more satisfied that their public sector counterparts. Other factors making the difference include response bias and gender balance.
Attitudes discussed
The article focuses of job satisfaction between employees in two the private and public sectors. However, it also touches on a few job attitudes such as perceived organizational support (POS) and job involvement. These attitudes are mentioned in the process of comparing the satisfaction levels of employees in public and private sectors.
The POS attitude is defined as the employees’ perception of whether their employer cares for them or not. The organizational involvement attitude is defined as the perception of employees on whether their employer gives them a chance to take organizational responsibilities.
Operationally, POS is defined as the steps private and public employers take in order to protect their employees and ensure they work under a positive environment. The involvement attitude is defined as the number of responsibilities a public or private employer gives to his employees in order to ensure smooth operations of the organization. It is simply the level of participation employees are given.
These attitudes are related to job behaviour in two ways. The POS relates to job behaviour in that when the employer cares about employees, they are likely to be motivated hence; positive job behaviour. If the employer does not give much attention to employee welfare, employees will be demoralized and less committed to the mission of the organization. Furthermore, involving employees in the management and operations of the organization makes employees feel appreciated, valued and wanted hence; there will be positive job behaviour.
Reliability and validity
In the article, validity and reliability issues are mentioned in the methodology. The article includes a study that will determine whether the findings are reliable and valid. To ensure validity and reliability, the article has included a section where the responses on job satisfaction and attitude are correlated. If the level of correlation is high, then the findings are reliable and valid.
Practical information
The article provides practical information on job attitudes by giving various reasons as to why employees can change their job attitude. Examples such as burnout, response rate of the employer, bias, gender differences and responsibilities can affect the mentality of employees.
Job attitude matrix
Job Attitudes covered
- Perceived Organizational Support
- Organizational Involvement
Related behaviours
- Positivity or resistance depending on whether the organization supports the employees.
- Motivation or demoralization depending on whether employees are involved in organizational issues.
- Supporting the organization’s mission.
Definitions of the attitude
- Perceived Organizational Support is defined as the level of support an organization offers employees to ensure their welfare is guaranteed.
- Organizational involvement is whether the employer involves employees in organizational management and operation.
Practical applications
- Providing employee welfare support to ensure they are safe and their working conditions are desirable.
- Giving out responsibilities to employees on various organizational management and operations.
Additional literature on job attitude
- Observing sectorial differences and how they affect employees.
- Carrying out a survey on the administration systems.
- Using job satisfaction to correlate with job attitude.
References
Barrows, D., & Wesson, T. (2009, November). A comparative analysis of job satisfaction among public and private sector professionals. Retrieved May 22, 2013, from Innovation Journal: http://www.innovation.cc/peer-reviewed/job-satisfaction2.htm
Latham, G. P. (2007). Work motivation: History, theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pinder, C. C. (1998). Work motivation in organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
