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Attaining Satisfaction and Avoiding Dissatisfaction
Summary: Students will role play being team managers and employees in order to learn to analyze whether employees are dissatisfied, disaffected, or satisfied in an effort to create total or near total job satisfaction.
Challenge: Attaining Satisfaction and Avoiding Dissatisfaction
Unit: Analyzing to create job satisfaction
Subject: Leadership
Description: Students will role play being team managers and employees in order to learn to analyze whether employees are dissatisfied, disaffected, or satisfied in an effort to create total or near total job satisfaction.
If a person is not dissatisfied with their job it does not necessarily signify they are satisfied. Phase I and Phase II are designed to aid students in learning to help employees overcome job dissatisfaction. Phase III and Phase IV aim to help students create job satisfaction among all employees. The first two phases have more to do with factors that annoy employees and the third and fourth phases deal with dramatically improving the enjoyment an employee has in their career.
Phase I: Overcoming Job Dissatisfaction by Trial and Error
- Students divide into two groups (1 team leader per 2-3 employees)
- Have employees choose a card from the category "possible scenarios causing dissatisfaction for employees"
- In groups students role play their parts and the team leader shall attempt to resolve the employees' concerns in hopes of overcoming job dissatisfaction.
- Once each employee has had their concern assessed and the team leaders has made a recommendation or has committed to a change, employees will make a quick assessment on a scale of 1-10 if they feel their concern was resolved and will lead to overcoming job dissatisfaction.
- Groups will convene with one other group and discuss if the team leader’s decision allowed them to feel that dissatisfaction was overcome. Including why or why not.
- These combined groups will then each create a quick list of solutions they think are fitting and feasible.
Phase II: Overcoming Job Dissatisfaction with an example of recommended solutions
- Team leaders switch roles and become an employee (one employee will become a team leader)
- One person from each group also switches groups
- Team leaders as a group will classify the cards from the category "possible solutions to overcome job dissatisfaction" and "possible scenarios causing job dissatisfaction employees" as to how they believe they fit in the seven categories
- Have employees pick from the pile of "possible scenarios causing job dissatisfaction" their team leader picked a solution from.
- In groups the team leader will attempt to resolve the employees' concerns with the solution cards they have chosen in hopes of overcoming job dissatisfaction.
- Once each employee has had their concern assessed and the team leader has made a recommendation or has committed to a change, employees will make a quick assessment on a scale of 1-10 if they feel their concern was resolved and will lead to overcoming job dissatisfaction.
- Each group will convene with one other group and discuss if the team leaders decision allowed them to overcome dissatisfaction in their job, including why or why not.
- These combined groups each create a quick list of solutions they think are fitting and feasible.
- Classroom convenes as a whole to compare the lists they made as the last step in Phase I with the solution cards to see if the solutions they came up with in the first phase fit into or match the seven categories
- Inform the students that it is not necessary for the solutions to match exactly with the solution or the category; however, they should be feasible and fitting. If an employee rated a 9 or 10 in either of the phases, have those students explain to the class why they felt the certain solution and category was fitting.
Phase III:
- Once again, team leaders switch roles and become an employee (one employee will become a team leader).
- One person from each group also switches groups.
- Have employees choose a card from the category "possible scenarios not allowing for satisfaction".
- Once each employee has had their concern assessed and the team leaders made a recommendation or committed to a change employees will make a quick assessment on a scale of 1-10 if they feel their concern was resolved and they will be satisfied in their job.
- Each group will convene with one other group and discuss if the team leaders decision allowed them to feel satisfaction in their job.
- Have these two groups create a quick list of solutions they think are fitting and feasible.
Phase IV:
- Team leaders switch roles and become an employee (one employee will become a team leader)
- One person from each group also switches groups
- Team leaders as a group will classify the cards from the categories "possible solutions leading to job satisfaction" and "possible scenarios not allowing for satisfaction" as to how they believe they fit in the six categories
- Have employees pick from the pile of "possible scenarios not allowing for satisfaction" their team leader picked a solution from.
- In groups the team leader will attempt to resolve the employees' concerns with the solution cards they have chosen in hopes of creating job satisfaction.
- Once each employee has had their concern assessed and the team leader has made a recommendation or has committed to a change, employees will make a quick assessment on a scale of 1-10 if they feel their concern was resolved and will lead to job satisfaction.
- Each group will convene with one other group and discuss if the team leaders decision allowed them to feel satisfaction in their job, including why or why not.
- Classroom convenes as a whole to compare the lists they made as the last step in phase three with the solution cards and to see if the solutions they came up with in phase three fit into or match with the six categories
- Inform the students that it is not necessary for the solutions to match exactly with the solution or the category; however, they should be feasible and fitting. If an employee rated anywhere from 0-5 in either of the phases have that student explain to the class why they felt the certain solution did not work for their concern
Restrictions/Repetition:
- Some of these concerns are unsolvable by one person as a team leader or manager of a business. Hope for these to be recognized & proposals to be brought forth by students to confront these through alternative modes.
Time Limit:This challenge will take approximately 2 hours to complete.
Competencies
Core Competencies
- Conflict Management: Recognizing conflict finding solutions
- Creative Problem Solving: thinking "outside the box" to address problems or meet goals
- Motivate: to achieve sustainability (ethical, environmental, economically, etc)
- Facilitate & engage effective discussion:
- Compromise: in a leadership setting when beneficial & necessary
- Maintain control: without micromanagement
- Identify shared goals
- Decision Making: how to make quick, wise decisions
- Delegation of Responsibility: classifying objects by themes from disparate groups
- Efficiency: time management, selecting the most rational direction as a leader
Content
Roles
- Employees: Will role play the scenario concerns & give feedback to how team managers solved concerns.
- Team manager: Will analyze each employee and for Phase I and III create their own solutions. For Phase II and Phase IV they will decide from the given solutions, which is best to apply for the end purpose of helping employees overcome dissatisfaction or achieving satisfaction.
Labels for cards – possible scenarios causing dissatisfaction for employees
- I have troubles falling asleep at work
- My tasks at work is trivial
- I am searching for another place to work or I am going to go home to take care of my parent because I do not feel I am helping my community
- I am not allowed to manage the balance of accounts myself
- Some of us have an issue with an individual who usurps much power
- I am not making enough money
- I feel like my status as an apprenticeship should be changed
- I won't have a job for long if Wal-Mart comes into town
- My co-worker continues to eat the food I bring to work and I asked him/her to stop
Labels for cards – possible solutions to overcome job dissatisfaction
- Solutions category
-Example of how to apply the solution
- Job security
-Provide more opportunities for training (security)
- Create more incentives
-Competitive wages to free products
-Commit to a pay raise for a certain period if the employee achieves a consistent increase in sales
- Repair policies
-Breaks can be at different times & combined upon requested
- Create distinct roles so all have meaningful work
-Titles such as company accountant for the employee with strong accounting skills & general laborer for those with introductory skills
- Make supervision effective
-State you as team manager will not micromanage & allow employees to express if they feel you are.
- Create an atmosphere of respect & dignity for all
-Investigate conflict through open dialogue
- Working environment (occupational safety)
-We will do our best to minimize exposure
Labels for cards – possible scenarios not allowing for satisfaction
- My job is simply job not anything spectacular
- I wish our company or I were able to achieve more than simply repairing & selling shoes
- I shovel the sand that gets washed out from behind the building every week while I have technical skills repairing vehicles.
- I have not been given the responsibility to handle & oversee all the accounting of the business because I feel the general manager is a controlling person.
- For two seasons now I have shown my ability to increase production though I am still doing the same tasks
- Who knows if this company will ever progress or give me opportunities to I am going back to school because another company is going to pay for me to do it.
- My child was born without fully developed appendages along with other children recently in town. We believe it is due to the chemicals and fertilizers we are exposed to from working in the greenhouse after they have been sprayed on.
Labels for character cards – possible solutions leading to job satisfaction
- Solutions category
-Examples of possible ways to create satisfaction
- Make achievement available & reward
-When a team goal is met set aside a half-day for the company to serve the community through a local NGO to restore a native environment
- Recognition of performance or contributions
-Hold a simple community service project for the company & dinner in recognition of employee contribution
- Match work to skills & abilities
-When you recognize or receive a request from an employee to work on a specific task make arrangements or expand your service/business if feasible to utilize their ability i.e. an employee who has technical ability to diagnose electrical systems on vehicles even though all you do is simple auto repairs.
- Providing real & specific responsibility
-Make sure there is a company accountant & not one manager trying to do it all.
- Advancement opportunities
-Display of knowledge in how to increase production and quality of papayas will lead to papaya orchard manager (therefore leading to obtaining management skills)
- Opportunities for education & training
-Paid veterinary classes according to grades
- If possible lists of 12 solution categories
- Board to record comprehensive list
SIX CATEGORIES
Factors for Satisfaction:
- Achievement
- Recognition
- The work itself
- Responsibility
- Advancement
- Growth
Factors for Dissatisfaction:
- Company Policies
- Supervision
- Relationship with Supervisor and Peers
- Work Conditions
- Salary
- Status
- Security
Open Educational Resources
Adapted from: Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory
One More Time: How do You Motivate Employees
& Mindtools
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_74.htm
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This work is licensed by Cody Zahler under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.
Last edited by Cody Zahler on Dec 5, 2008 5:31 pm US/Central.