Learning

By observation what we have learnt in our lives ,we can understand what learning is .Learning can be defined as the process of acquiring a permanent changes in behaviour.There are two important points to be taken into account:
1. Learning is a process.
2. It makes a permanent changes in behaviour.
Learning is process.There are several steps in the learning process and these are highly interrelated.Therefore, the learner has to pass several steps before arriving at a permanent change in behaviour.There are several theories , which explain this process , and each theory looks at learning in different ways.You will be familiar with these theories and their differences later in this session.
As mentioned earlier , the most important aspect of learning is a permanent change in behaviour.If changes is temporary , it will not be considered as an outcome of the learning process.Change in behaviour should be permanent at least till the condition under which the learner has learnt exist.To understand what is meant by "permanent change in behaviour " , assume you are working in an organization where smoking is prohibited and that you have been punished for smoking.If you will nor smoke again in this organization , it can be said that learning has taken place.Because it is a permanent change in your behaviour under the conditions , which you have to work. Now you think that you get a new job in another organization where smoking is not prohibited , and you start smoking again. Can we say that the former condition does not apply?certainly not. Because the above condition is not applicable to the new organization.If you continue smoking in the new organization , it can be said that new learning has taken place.

Identifying the reasons for dissatisfaction and taking action for dissatisfaction

There may be a variety of causes , such as

1.Poor supervision
2.Poor working conditions
3.Lack of job security
4.inequitable compensation
5.Lack of opportunity for advancement

Since if it is not always easy to discover causes of job dissatisfaction , managers can handle non directive counseling approach.Here the supervisor can try to understand the problems of employees by talking to them politely. He should encourage the employees to diagnose the problem and suggest some solutions . This may allow the employees to reduce tension by talking about problems and enhance self esteem by allowing the develop his or her own solutions.
The supervisor may need active plan about how to deal with the problem and should have training for handling certain kinds of psychological problems.



Taking Action for Dissatisfaction

Making changes in working conditions , supervision , compensation or job design depending on the job factor responsible for employees dissatisfaction.
Transfer employees to other jobs to archive a better match between employee characteristics and job characteristic.
An attempt to change the perception or executions of dissatisfied employees.
Precautionary actions-Whenever possible , precaution should be taken to avoid unnecessary job dissatisfaction without waiting till they surface calling for early action.

Consequences of job Dissatisfaction

Job dissatisfaction produces low morale among workers and low morale at work is highly undesirable.Accordingly , managers must be constantly watchful for any signs of low morale and job dissatisfaction and take corrective action as soon as possible.Some of the indicators of low morale are ,

Employee Unrest
Under this condition the employee may not attend to hi job properly.Sometimes ,he comes so frustrated that he may take to undesirable habits as excessive drinking.So it may affect the mental health and well being of the worker.If it affects a large number of workers they may resort is collective action such as go slow ,work stoppage strike and other allied group action.

Absenteeism

Less satisfied employees are more likely to be absent from work due to avoidable reasons.Management must be concerned with excessive absenteeism for it disrupts production and business operations.

Tardiness

This is also similar to absenteeism.But this is not due to some explainable reason such as getting children ready for school but only due to the fact that employees really do not care much for their work.This is indicated by excessive time spent in rest rooms , lingering in the parking lot before coming to work spending too much time on personal telephone calls.So ,they actually spend time at work but that there is not spent on useful and productive work.


Employee Turnover

The organizational units with the lowest average satisfaction levels tend to have the highest turnover rates. Turnover may be voluntary , which is initiated by the employees or it may be due to job dissatisfaction or other personal reason beyond control by the management.


Union Activity

The evidence for dissatisfaction is a major cause of unionization. In addition the employees feel that individually they are unable to influence changes that would result in the alimentation , of those factors that cause job dissatisfaction .Lower level of union activities is related to the level of job dissatisfaction and lower level of job dissatisfaction may result in grievances while higher level of job dissatisfaction may result in employee strikes.

Job Satisfaction and organizational effectiveness

Job attitudes affect organizational effectiveness to the extent that they influence turnover,absenteeism,strikes, grievances,sabotage,theft,and soon.Further more satisfied tend to live longer , exhibit better mental and physical health ,learn new tasks faster and face few accidents at work. Therefore job satisfaction is the most popular indicator for assessing organizational effectiveness.
When performance leads to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards , this in turn will lead to higher job satisfaction.
However , performance does not lead to intrinsic and extrinsic performance and job satisfaction cannot be correlated positively with each other.
Extrinsic rewards are usually less closely related to performance than intrinsic rewards because extrinsic rewards are administered by the organization and intrinsic rewards are "self administered."

Causes of job satisfaction

It is a specific subset of attitudes held bye members of the organization. It is an attitude they have towards their jobs or we can say their effective responses to their jobs. Job satisfaction can be defined as the extent of positive feelings or attitude that individuals have towards their jobs. When person say that he has high job satisfaction, it means that he really likes his job, feels good about it and values his job highly. Highly satisfied workers have better physical and mental well being. On the other hand serious job dissatisfaction results in stress and tension which are usually the causes of a variety of psychological disorders.

How job satisfaction can be derived

1.Work itself-Satisfaction

The aspects of the job content can affect an employee’s work satisfaction.
The more a job involves the use of skills and talents relevant to the employee’s self. Ensure that more employees can feel that they are performing meaningful work rather than simply.
Task identify and task significance also affect the experience and meaningfulness of the work.If an employee assembles the entire finished product or if he makes an important component of the finished product, he will experience a sense meaningful.
Autonomy - When an employee has no control over work procedures, the task is challenging and performance is available needs.

2.Organizational Factors
There are some organizational factors determining the job satisfaction.

Salaries and Wages-A manor cause of pay dissatisfaction is perceived inequity.

Promotion-This indicates an employee's worth to the organization and it is highly morale boosting.

Company Policies-Organizational polices usually govern employee behaviour, and depending upon how strict or liberal the policies ,are they can create positive or negative feelings about the organization.

Job Satisfaction

Its effects on “should be” perceptions are social comparisons with other employees, previous job characteristics and reference groups. Nobody wants to receive lower pay or less benefit than was received earlier in the same job or in a previous job. An employee will compare the beneficial outcomes received from the job with the outcomes received by other employees with similar jobs.
Third situational factor is reference group.An employee will be more satisfied if a job is endorsed by the reference group than if it is not. A good example of a reference group is the influence of a labour union on worker perception of a fair and reasonable increase in pay and benefits.In an organization one of the most important tasks for a manager is the ability to identify improper or unacceptable attitudes.Then only they can make the people realize their potentials and get them to effective participation.There are basically four step process.

1.Identify the improper attitudes
2.Determine what supports it
3.Weaken those supports
4.Tell a substitute

Attitudes

Individual behavior is very important to keep the organization climate healthy. Motivation is necessary to make the employee like and enjoy his job. If the employees are highly dissatisfied with their jobs morale would be very low and the condition would adversely affect their motivation.
A person’s attitude towards life in general would determine his attitude towards his or her job. Generally people with a pessimistic about life always complain about everything including the job. Accordingly in addition to providing a healthy work environment management must ensure that the employees is happy and has a positive outlook towards life.
Attitudes are beliefs and feelings people have about specific ideas,situations or other people.We can define attitude as the effective orientation toward a particular attitude object.
Attitudes shape the way people respond to events and other people.The attitude determine their feeling,thoughts and behaviour.