By studying the movement of employee dynamics and Covid-19’s effect on job satisfaction in different organizations, we intend to dissect some aspects of employee culture that have changed throughout the pandemic. The recent crisis has negatively influenced many businesses. Still, we will endeavor to find possible areas within organizational behavior where the pandemic may have revealed new ways to improve employee satisfaction and continue expanding to create even stronger organizations in the future.

Bakotić, Danica. “Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Organisational Performance.” Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja 29, no. 1 (January 1, 2016): 118–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2016.1163946 

Using data gathered empirically in a survey from 5806 employees throughout 40 separate companies this study aims to establish a relationship between organizational performance and job satisfaction. This relationship is concluded to be stronger in the direction of job satisfaction determining organizational performance rather than the other way around. The study determines overall employee morale to be an essential factor of job satisfaction. This directly relates to job satisfaction during and after the pandemic as employees cope with a potentially altered business culture.

Fayard, A.-L., Weeks, J., & Khan, M. (2021, March 17). Designing the Hybrid Office. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/03/designing-the-hybrid-office. 

This piece discusses the implications of the COVID pandemic on traditional office spaces and what the future of offices might look like as a place for teamwork and social interaction. It reviews details of how the global pandemic has permanently changed corporate structure. Over the last year, remote work done by millions of employees has shown that daily commutes to and from work are no longer necessary to maintain productivity, which has implications for employee job satisfaction. By making the future office a place where employees feel more comfortable relaxing, socializing, and brainstorming their ideas, companies can facilitate a creative space that reduces stress, improves work performance, and increases job satisfaction.

 

Lee, Yeunjae, Weiting Tao, Jo-Yun Queenie Li, and Ruoyu Sun. (2020) “Enhancing Employees’ Knowledge Sharing through Diversity-Oriented Leadership and Strategic Internal Communication during the COVID-19 Outbreak.” (December 8, 2020)  Journal of Knowledge Management ahead-of-print, no. ahead-of-print . https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-06-2020-0483.

 

A research study that uses an extensive base of OB and Management theory and research related to the positive effect of diversity focused management in businesses. It specifically focuses on the Covid-19 crisis, with the survey being administered mid-pandemic and referencing different factors of employee satisfaction and engagement in regards to leadership styles, communication, and accommodation provided in regards to crisis. =. It goes on to suggest methods of improvement, both in general, and specifically in regards to crisis situations – which generally are less planned for. In effect, more diverse workplaces and managers are much better equipped to handle crises due to better communication and understanding amongst employees. 

 

Sumlin, C., Hough, C., & Green, K. (2021). The Impact of Ethics Environment, Organizational Commitment, and Job Satisfaction on Organizational Performance. Journal of Business & Management, 27(1), 53–78. https://doi.org/10.6347/JBM.202103_27(1).0003

This study was intended to look at the connections between the ethics environment, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and how they affect a company’s organizational performance. The study shows that when employees felt the code of ethics in their organization to be suitable, they felt valued and satisfied. It concludes that the best way for an organization to enhance its organizational performance was by building a robust ethical environment. The authors believed that this could improve employees’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction, significantly impacting their organizational performance.

Vaziri, H., Casper, W. J., Wayne, J. H., & Matthews, R. A. (2020). Changes to the work-family interface during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining predictors and implications using latent transition analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(10), 1073–1087. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/10.1037/apl0000819 

 

This study investigates changes in the work-family interface forced upon primarily co-inhabited homes by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The study segmented 379 complete responses into three profiles of conflict and enrichment. Beneficial, categorized by low conflict with high enrichment. Active, categorized by medium conflict with enrichment. Passive, categorized by high conflict with enrichment. This study found positive transitions (active/ passive to beneficial) and negative transitions (beneficial to active/ passive) caused by the pandemic. A huge factor of negative changes happened to be less compassionate supervisors in this time. This factor leads to lower job satisfaction, suffering job performance, and turnover intent.

Management 311: Mixing Pot

  • Jared Dirks
  • Kevin Harris
  • Christian Serwold
  • Alex Brown
  • Freda Nkrumah