Job Satisfaction

I was appalled when I saw the first set of graphs conducted on the 600 employees, ND that the balance between life and work was so low on the list. Honestly, now that I have a child at home, I chose that as one of my top 5, but If you would have asked me two years ago I probably wouldn’t have put that as an important aspect. I obviously chose Job security because no matter what, I want to know that I am Important to the company and that they need me to be there in order for everything to run smoothly, which In turn will almost guarantee that I will always have an available position within that company.

The second most important Job aspect to me is the availability for career advancement. I am the type of person that always wants to better herself and to climb right up that corporate ladder. I don’t ever want to settle with a position when I know that there is one higher and within my reach and ability if I were to try hard enough, and to complete the tasks necessary to gain that position. So if a company does not have the opportunity for advancement, then it is not the right place for me, and I probably wouldn’t even consider working there.

Pay is obviously important because it is what make after working hard all day long for the company. It Is also what helps to support my family. As we’ve all heard “money makes the world go ’round”. I want to be rewarded for my accomplishments and to know that I am Important by the amount of money I make. The way I see It, the better I am at my job and the harder I work, the more money I make the company, so, why shouldn’t I be rewarded for that? The fourth most important aspect to me is benefits.

This also would not have been Important before I had a family. As a high school or even young college student, you don’t think “l want to get great benefits when I graduate”. I honestly didn’t even know what the word meant until I moved out of my parents house and got a Job on my own. Now that I have a family though, the benefits are most definitely an Important aspect of any Job. After reviewing the chart by the SHIRR my results are much more Like theirs than on the website. My numbers 1, 3, 4, and 5 are all located within the top 5 on their chart.

My number 2, Career Advancement was not located anywhere on the top of can’t, out actually second to last. I Nils contuses me, Decease tenet under two Is compensation and pay, but in order to make more money, you must advance your career. The farther up the corporate ladder you are, the more money you are likely to make. I guess when taking part in the survey people were not thinking about advancing their careers to make more money, but maybe were happy with where they were within their business. It is most definitely possible to get a raise in pay without changing positions and advancing.

Everyone has different ways of thinking and maybe other people are not like me. Maybe they do not like change and want to be within the same position for as long as that position is available to them. There is no wrong or right when it comes to people’s opinions. I was glad to see that more people polled for Flexibility to balance life and work issues as I believe this is important to anyone who has a family or wishes to have one. I would say that between all three charts Compensation and Benefits have topped them, which proves the saying “Money Talks”.

The focus of this study is to analyze the general behavior of insurance agents towards job satisfaction, which may build higher levels of organizational commitment. This study is done based on Herzberg’s two- factor theory and more specifically, on Motivators factor. The findings of this project will help agency manager to understand the current level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of agents towards their agency. Besides that, suggestions also will be given based on the result of the findings.

If the satisfaction level and organizational commitment of insurance agents is low and then many suggestion will be given to solve the problem. If it is otherwise, suggestion will be to maintain or improve further the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of the agents. By this, the agency manager gets suggestions to solve job satisfaction and organizational commitment problem if any or to improve them further. Methodology Numerous of methods are to be used to identify the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of the agents. The method are as followed: Survey

A survey was done with insurance agents from Devaraj Agency.

The purpose of this survey is to find out the current level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of the insurance agents. The survey would had 56 questions related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Interviews

An Interview has been held with agency manager and few insurance agents. The purpose of interviewing agency manager is to get information about the human resource strategy, annual turnover rate and his perception on agent’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

External sources

The external sources were used in this research. The external sources were Internet and printed materials. These materials were very useful in doing literature review about job satisfaction, organizational commitment and the relationship of them. Introduction Devaraj Agency is one of the oldest Indian insurance agencies in ING Company. The main role of this agency is to sell the insurance as well as investment products of ING Bhd through direct selling techniques. Up to now, 100 over people working as insurance agents in this agency.

However, there was no attempt has been taken to measure the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of the agents in this agency. Job satisfaction means ‘a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. (Locke, 1976). According to Porter (1968), organizational Commitment is a willingness of employees to exert high levels of effort on behalf of the organization, a strong desire to remain in the organization, and an acceptance of the organization’s major goals and values.

It is important for Devaraj Agency to learn about job satisfaction and organizational commitment of its insurance agents because if agents satisfied with their job, they will have high commitment on their agency and that translate into high job performance and low absenteeism. Literature review Job satisfaction and organizational commitment receive considerable attention from industrial and organizational psychologists, management scientists, and sociologists. Three thousand studies had been done on job satisfaction alone by the time Locke prepared his study nearly 20 years ago (Locke, 1976).

The interest of analyzing job satisfaction and organizational commitment stems from the concern of the behavioral consequences that hypothesized result in job satisfaction and/or organizational commitment. Among other topics, job satisfaction and/or organizational commitment have been shown or argued to be related to productivity, attendance at work, turnover, retirement, participation, labor militancy, sympathy for unions, and psychological withdrawal from work. Job Satisfaction According to Locke (1976, p. 300), job satisfaction is ‘a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. There are many researchers found that Herzberg’s Two-factor motivation Theory is related with employees’ job satisfaction when apply intrinsic motivators (Cesare and Sadri, 2003;Hellriegel and Slocum, 1998; Slocum and Helliegel, 2009). The intrinsic or motivator factors consist of responsibility, recognition, advancement, achievement, and work itself (Slocum and Helliegel, 2009; Furnham et al. , 2009).

Intrinsic motivator factor is one of the variables that use to find out the positive relationship with job satisfaction (Bhuian and Mengue, 2002). Shaffer et al. (2000) suggested that the satisfaction of work itself relate with job satisfaction while see job satisfactions itself as an individual enjoys on their job which is very much related on the classification of nature of work itself (Pool and Pool, 2006; Couger, 1988 cited in Thatcher, et al. , 2002). Besides this, Herzberg stated in his two factors theory that there are two categorizes of motives for the employees known as satisfiers and dissatisfiers.

He related intrinsic factors with job satisfaction and extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction (Gagne, 200; Sarmad, 2007). Organizational Commitment Organizational commitment has been defined more pragmatically by Porter (1968), who holds that it consists of a willingness of employees to exert high levels of effort on behalf of the organization, a strong desire to remain in the organization, and an acceptance of the organization’s major goals and values. Organizational commitment of the employees has been measured in several different ways and it has been related with many job related variables.

Allen & Meyer (1990) developed a measure of organizational commitment with three major components: Affective component of organizational commitment refers to employees’ emotional attachment, identification and involvement in the organization; the Continuance component refers to commitment based on the costs that employees associate with leaving the organization; and Normative commitment reflects an employee’s feeling of obligation to remain with the organization. Link between job satisfaction and organizational Commitment Job satisfaction has been associated with organizational commitment (Boles, et al. 2007; Pool and Pool, 2007; Brown and Peterson, 1993), which is broadly defined as the “psychological bond between people and organizations” (Buchanan 1974; Tett and Meyer, 1993). The study of Klaus, et al. , (2003) found that there is an effect of work challenging (intrinsic motivation) as a work nature, which can impact on affective organizational commitment. According to Steinhaus & Perry (1996) committed and satisfied employees are unlikely to indicate low performance and are normally highly productive who identify with organizational goals and organizational values (Churchill et al. , (1993).

Similarly, if employees are highly satisfied with their work, promotion chances and that derive high level of overall job satisfaction with their jobs they are more likely to be committed to the organization than if they are not satisfied. The focus on this concept was not overstated because job satisfaction and commitment are primary determinants of employee turnover, performance, and productivity (Opkara, 2004). Beside that, Balfour and Wechsler (1996) pointed out that overall organizational commitment is an appropriate and significant aspect to focus on for organizational productivity and performance.

Ayeni and Phopoola (2007) also have found that there is a strong relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. According to them Job satisfaction is mostly determined how well the organization meets employees expectations. According to Cote & Heslin (2003).

Findings

The job satisfaction and organizational commitment survey has been done with the insurance agents in two weekly meetings held in ING Damansara office and ING Klang office. All insurance agents attended the meeting participated in this survey.

The fifth statement in the organizational commitment questionnaire “I really feel as if this agency’s problems are my own, 79 percent of respondent said they agree they do feel the agency’s problem as their problem while 21 percent of respondents said they do not feel so. Thus, the number of respondent agree to the statement is higher than the respondents who disagree. Similar to the previous statement, most respondents “agree moderately” and “agree very much” to this statement. The next statement was “Right now, staying with my agency is a matter of necessity as much as desire”. For this statement also the majority of respondents said that they agree that staying with this agency is a matter of necessity as much as desire.

The percentage of respondent who said agree and disagree was 95 percent of respondents said agree while only 5 percent of respondents said disagree. Of 95 percent of respondents, the largest number of respondents said that they agree moderately and that followed by “agree very much” and then “agree slightly”. For the statement “I do not feel a strong sense of “belonging” to my agency, the number of respondents who disagree is higher than the respondents who agree. 39 percent of respondents and 61 percent of respondents said agree and disagree respectively to the statement. The number of respondents “disagree very much” to the statement. The last statement was “I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this agency”.

According to the findings, the job satisfaction of the insurance agents in Devaraj Agency is high. The proof is the result of motivator factor questions in the job satisfaction questionnaire. There was 13 motivator factor related questions in the questionnaire. Out of the 13 questions, for 11 questions the insurance agents responded positively while only for 1 question they responded negatively. Positive response means the insurance agents agree to the positive statement about job satisfaction and disagree to negative statement. Example of positive statement in this job satisfaction questionnaire is “I am satisfied with my chances for promotion. ” The overall response of respondents to this positive statement was positive means they gree to the statement. Negative response means the insurance agents disagree to positive statement and agree to negative statement. Example of negative statement in job satisfaction questionnaire that received positive response from respondents was “I have too much paperwork”. It means the respondent agree to the negative statement. Overall, positive response to the questionnaire is higher than the negative response. It means that insurance agents were highly satisfied with their job. As the respondents responded positively to the job satisfaction questionnaire, the same way they responded positively to organizational commitment questionnaire.

In the organizational commitment questionnaire, there were 8 statement related to affective commitment. Out of the 8 statements, the respondents responded positively to all the statements. An example of positive statement and positive response was “It would be very hard for me to leave my agency right now, even if I wanted to” is the positive statement and the positive response is 85. 7% of respondents said agree to the statement. Similarly, the example of negative statement and negative response is I do not feel any obligation to remain with my current employer was the negative statement and negative response was 78. 6% of respondents said disagree to the statement.

The negative statement and negative response shows positive response toward organizational commitment. Based on job satisfaction and organizational commitment questionnaire result, it is proven that there is a strong relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. So, if job satisfaction of an employee is high, the organizational commitment also high. It is what happened in Devaraj agency; the job satisfaction of the insurance agents was high so the organizational commitment also high. Due to the higher organization commitment, the average job performance of the insurance agents was as high as 69% and average agency performance was as high as 87% and turnover rate was as low as 6% low annually.

So, the high organizational commitment of an insurance agent will result in higher job performance, higher overall agency performance and lower turnover rate. Limitation There were two limitations in my research. The first limitation was that not all insurance agents in Devaraj Agency have taken the job satisfaction and organizational commitment survey. The survey only have been done with the agents attended the meeting. So the result of the survey could not be guaranteed, as 100% accurate as the views of the insurance agents who did not attend meeting were not taken. The second limitation in my research was that the connection of job satisfaction leads to organizational commitment could not be proven through the help of job satisfaction and organizational commitment questionnaire.

But the relationship of job satisfaction and organizational commitment has been proved in a way that if job satisfaction of an employee is high, the organizational commitment is also high and it is otherwise if the job satisfaction is low. Recommendation Recommendations were done based on the problem identified through job satisfaction and organizational commitment questionnaire. 1) Hiring more clerical staff Based on the job satisfaction questionnaire, most insurance agents responded that they have to do too much paperwork. It may affect the agents’ job satisfaction. So Devaraj Agency should hire more clerical staff to help the insurance agents to do the paperwork. 2) Revise current code of procedure

Many respondents said through the questionnaire that they are not happy with their current rules and procedures because they make their job difficult. So, the agency manager should bring this issue to ING management and find ways to solve this problem. Revising current rules and procedure would be ideal solution. 3) Introduce more monetary benefits Many insurance agents expressed their concern that there are benefits they do not have which they should have. The benefits such as petro allowance and toll allowance is given to sales people from other company but ING Bhd do not give such benefits to its insurance agents. So Devaraj Agency should bring this issue to ING management. Conclusion

References

1. Noor Harun, A. K. & Noor Hasrul N. M. N. (2007). Evaluating the psychometric properties of allen and meyer’s organizational commitment scale: A cross culture application among Malaysian academic librarians. Malaysian Journal of Library & information science, 11(1), Retrieved from http://myjurnal. um. edu. my/filebank/published_article/2034/360. pdf.
2. Price, James L & Mueller, C. W. (1997, October). Measures of job satisfaction Retrieved 7 October 2011 from http://home. ubalt. edu/tmitch/641/jsscales. htm )
3. Shrivastava. A and Purang. P. (2009). Employee Perceptions of job satisfaction: Comparative study on Indian banks. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 14(2), Retrieved from http://web. usm. my/aamj/14. 2. 2009/AAMJ_14. 2. 4. pdf.
4. Shrivastava. A and Purang. P. (2009). Employee Perceptions of job satisfaction: Comparative study on Indian banks. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 14(2), Retrieved from http://web. usm. my/aamj/14. 2. 2009/AAMJ_14. 2. 4. pdf.
5. Sangroengrob. T. Techachaicherdchoo. The impact of employee’s satisfaction, organization commitment and work commitment to turnover intention: A case study of IT outsourcing company in Thailand.

In any work environment, we frequently communicate, coordinate, collaborate, and correspond with other professionals. No job is truly isolated. Even if a particular position does not clearly fall under a distinct team, it will always require interacting with coworkers, managers, and subordinates in order to accomplish the job responsibilities.

So whether explicitly or implicitly fashioned, and every organization consisting of more than one person. It is perhaps for that reason that many HR managers and recruiters pay close attention to teamwork and communication skills before hiring someone. Without effective and efficient teams, many businesses would fail to deliver the simplest of projects.

Workplaces in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are no different from other markets in this regard; is extraordinarily valuable for accomplishing the day-to-day tasks, as well as placing the business on the right path. But simply building teams will not get the job done.

Team dynamics can be rather finicky and are often influenced by various factors, including their size, leadership, communication style, work division, and many other elements. In order to truly harness the power of teams, there are a few indicators of successful teamwork that every manager should know about.

In an effort to comprehend the characteristics and the underlying forces of successful teams in our region, the Bayt.com Teams in the MENA Workplace poll, October 2016, took a close look at teamwork in the MENA. The poll revealed many positive results in terms of team effectiveness and productivity in the region.

The far majority of the surveyed teams are successfully accomplishing their tasks, delivering results on time, resolving their conflicts, and maintaining effective performance levels. These results are truly noteworthy as they pinpoint many traits and , which are summarized in this article.

1. Manageable size

The first thing to note about team size is that there is no perfect size. The number of team members will largely depend on the company size, nature of project, and the required workforce. One of the good qualities of larger teams is their tendency to have more ideas, diverse perspectives, and overall more human capital. However, it is important to know that smaller teams maintain a leg up in this equation.

Smaller teams tend to be more cohesive and are often easier to manage. Arranging for meetings, distributing tasks, and can also be logistically smoother as an advantage of having smaller teams. Most teams in the MENA are in fact small, consisting of two to five members each. By creating sub-groups based on assigned tasks or area of expertise, large teams can also benefit from the smoother and swifter dynamics, otherwise reserved for small teams.

2. Equitable work division

There is nothing more effective in starting a conflict and impeding the workflow of a team than a biased distribution of duties and responsibilities. Dividing work and responsibilities between team members can be tricky and contentious. Nonetheless, it ought to be done in the most equitable manner. Doing so helps in in higher contribution and optimized use of all the resources on hand. In a team where everyone is considered equal and valuable, participation and efficiency are likely to increase.

For professionals in the MENA, more than eight in 10 of them agree that work in their teams is spread equally and fairly. What equitable work division also promotes is a unanimous ownership over the outcome: everyone receives credit when the team succeeds and everyone takes responsibility when the team fails. As predicted, this sense of collective responsibility, or accountability, is evident in more than half of surveyed professionals in the MENA.

3. Balanced leadership

A team without a decisive, skilled, and hardworking leader is deficient. A team leader gives direction and , coordinates between different members, updates and corresponds to management, and generally ensures that the team is on the desired track. Team leaders are also vital because they have the ability to influence other dynamics in the team such as work division and communication.

A team leader who is able to make decisions but also negotiate, take responsibility but also delegate, speak up but also listen, work hard but also help others reach their potential, is the ideal type for every team. Nearly two-thirds (65.8%) of professionals in the MENA think of their team leaders as hardworking. Indeed, when the team leader is dedicated and serious about his or her responsibilities, the rest of the team will be motivated to perform their best and keep up with what is expected of them.

4. Open communication

Communication is a keystone for teamwork; without it, teams will be stuck and have no momentum. In order to accomplish their tasks, teams rely on brainstorming, sharing ideas, providing feedback, and continuously following up with one another. There are various channels and modes of communication that can be adopted among teams. But the most important communication style for teams to have is that of openness, transparency, and active participation.

encourages all team members to engage and share their input without being shunned or subjectively criticized. Encouraging more participation means having more ideas and material to work with. The Bayt.com infographic showed that teams in the MENA have excelled in this aspect, where two-thirds of them (66.3%) are always communicating openly and honestly, and growing together as one unit.

5. Quick conflict resolution

It would be unrealistic to suggest that have no conflict. The truth is, any team is prone to disagreements and disputes. Conflict can help teams consider new points of view, conduct more thorough analysis of their practices and decisions, and sometimes can bring the team together in a stronger fashion. What really matters, though, is the team’s ability to move past their differences and resolve their conflicts in a healthy and productive manner.

Conflict should never be a reason to obstruct the work progress and should be dealt with as a quick learning experience. Sometimes, when conflict occurs as a result of interpersonal or non-job related matters, teams are in need of a reminder of the business goals at hands in order to move away from any irrelevant topics. In this regard, teams in the MENA showed a very healthy approach, as 88.6% of them said that they resolve conflicts honestly, quickly, and effectively.

6. Efficient use of resources

Being an efficient team means having the capability to create the highest value out of the given resources and limitations. Teams are always faced with limited budgets and time, which can sometimes create a feeling of frustration. However, successful teams are capable of overcoming such obstacles using their creative side and optimizing what is available to them.

With regard to time, for instance, more than half of professionals in the MENA are able to fully utilize their team meetings to Time, being one of the most valuable assets of today’s workplace, is certainly not to be taken for granted. An efficient use of time and similar limited resources, leads to a more impressive success story.

7. Ability to deliver

In addition to , delivering the required outcome within the given resources, budget, and time frame is one of the most irrefutable indicators of team success. In the MENA, the far majority of teams (93.3%) are able to meet their deadlines all or most of the time. It is certainly desirable if the team communicates well, resolves conflict, assigns tasks fairly, and encourages everyone to participate.

But these dynamics on their own are not sufficient for the company; the team must not fail to complete their projects in a timely manner and show measurable results. The ability to deliver the envisioned outcomes can also depend on the skills and expertise of the team members as well as the ability of the team to work united as effectively as possible. Nearly eight in 10 professionals in the MENA agree that their teams work together effectively in furtherance of the intended business results.

8. Team satisfaction

At the end of the day, a team that is working together successfully is more likely to have satisfied and productive members. A good way to measure team success and healthy team dynamics is by gauging the team satisfaction level. Around two-thirds (62.8%) of professionals in the MENA are happy with their teams at work.

Not only does impact the work progress and the accomplishments within the team, but it can also have an effect on the individual’s job satisfaction and performance at work. In fact, 90% of professionals report that teams are a very important part of their satisfaction at work. Happier and more productive teams translate to happier and more productive individuals, and consequently longer strides for the business on the path towards success.

Managing diversity ought to be a top priority for managers in all organizations, large and small, public and private, for profit and not for profit. Organizations need to ensure that managers and all levels of employees appreciate the value that diversity brings to an organization and have the ability to interact and work effectively with men and women who are physically challenged or who differ in age, race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, or sexual orientation. An objective of today’s manager is to build a team of heterogeneous employees that function at least as productively as homogeneous employees.

Ideally, today’s managers must be able to tap into the reservoir of a multitalented, diverse workforce that will make the organization more resourceful, more productive, more responsive to customers, and a more interesting place to work. Managers across the United States are confronted almost daily with the increasing diversity of the workforce. Workforce diversity refers to the wider variety of today’s employees, who vary with respect to gender, age, culture, and ethnic background, and who may have physical and/or mental disabilities.

Whereas, globalization focuses on differences between people from different countries, workforce diversity addresses differences among people within a given country. The empowerment of the workforce and the increased use of self-managing teams in the workplace continue to blur the distinctions between managers and employees. Now employees often assume such responsibilities as planning staffing and rewarding other employees that used to be typically entrusted solely to managers.

Managers have become more adept at using technology, often assuming word processing, analysis, and communication roles formerly delegated to staff employees. Managers have moved from a directive to a facilitative role and now coach and counsel employees. They create teams of workers, who often differ from the manager in gender, race, language, values, and lifestyle. Managers must then manage this diverse workforce in an uncertain and changing environment Status is the social ranking or social worth accorded an individual because of the position he or she occupies in a group.

Status and position are so similar that the terms are often interchangeable. The status assigned to a particular position is typically a consequence of certain characteristics that differentiate one position from other positions. In some cases, a person is assigned status because of such factors as job seniority, age, or ability. For example, the oldest worker may be perceived as being more technically proficient and is, therefore, attributed status by a group of technicians. Thus, assigned status may have nothing to do with the formal status hierarchy.

Organizational cultures define rules for power, rules for social stratification, and the ways in which social status is determined. Some accord social status and power to people of high achievement. Others base status and power on seniority. Power and status may shift to those who know, understand, and can use the new technology. Such shifts undermine the position of those who had power and status in the culture before the new technology arrived. All those factors can lead to conflict, inefficiency, and possible sabotage of the new technology.

Cultures produce different ways of looking at the world and interpreting language and events. People from different subcultures may distrust those from other subcultures because of their different worldviews. Conflict can erupt between people from different subcultures, especially when they passionately hold to different views. Diversity means differences among people due to age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and capabilities/disabilities.

Diversity raises important issues of ethics and social responsibility for managers and organizations. If not handled well, diversity challenges bring an organization to its knees, especially in our increasingly global environment. There are several reasons why diversity is valued, both in the popular press and by managers and their organizations. First, there is a strong ethical imperative that diverse people receive equal opportunities and be treated fairly and justly. In some countries, unfair treatment is also illegal.

Second, when managers effectively manage diversity, they can improve organizational effectiveness. They not only improve morale by encouraging other managers to treat diverse members of an organization fairly, but also use diversity as an important resource that can give the organization a competitive advantage. Organizations are able to influence the development of employee engagement and commitment through their capacity for structuring developmental experiences and supporting high-quality relationships.

To the extent that the nature of experiences and relationships available to an individual are congruent with an important aspect of the person’s sense of self (either current, desired, or ideal), he or she will experience positive emotions and become behaviorally committed to maintaining the attachment to the organization since it provides verification of the person’s identity. Further, it is important that there is consistent feedback available to the person and that the feedback be meaningful and developmental.

The individual job typically requires little or no collaborative behavior although the employee may interact with others to some degree. Individuals are recruited as single entities and proceed through a selection process designed to discover how well the individual’s knowledge, skills, and abilities reflect the requirements of the job’s tasks. Rarely are teamwork skills and ability or desire to work with others assessed. The orientation and socialization of a new employee are also individual in nature, and typically focus on acquainting new hires with their new duties.

Traditionally, training emphasizes the development of task work, and not team work, skills. The performance appraisal system is also consistent with the individual nature of jobs. In keeping with the solitary performance of job tasks, teamwork and collaborative skills are seldom assessed. To support teamwork, HR can offer training not only on technical skills, but on key teamwork skills. Teamwork skills training are important both to remedy individual deficiencies and to emphasize that such skills are an important part of meeting organizational goals. As stated previously, there are general teamwork skills.

These skills are adaptability, closed-loop communication, team leadership, back-up behavior, interpersonal relations, and conflict resolution skills. While team training can be offered, some organizations have taken a more indirect approach. For example, one of our interviewees indicated that individual teamwork skills training courses were not offered, because the organization believed that integrating teamwork content into every other type of training, for example, technical and process training, sent employees a clearer message about the value of teamwork to the organizations.

For teams that need their members to support or back-up each other during busy times members can be prepared through cross-training on other team members’ job duties. The literature has identified other instructional strategies that can be implemented when appropriated and needed. These strategies have yet to see their way to corporate America. Team building remains the strategy of choice. However, a recent meta-analysis showed that team building helps only in clarifying roles and does not have effect on performance.

Corporate America and HR practitioners could benefit from the work conducted in aviation and the military. In fact, the aviation and military communities have been the biggest users of team training approaches, and have had some successes. Organizations must hire people who fit with their values, core competencies, and strategic goals. Organizations must continuously train employees to do their jobs and offer them opportunities to grow and develop.

Organizations must develop and adhere to a specific organizational mission, with strategies, goals and values that employees can understand, support and believe in.

References

Money, R. B. and Graham, J. L. (1999) Salesperson performance, pay, and job satisfaction: Tests of a model using data collected from the United States and Japan. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(1), 149-172. Moorman, R. H. and Blakely, G. L. (1995) Individualism-collectivism as an individual difference predictor of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(2), 127-142.

To what extend do you accept the view that conflict is an inevitable feature of management and organizational behaviour? Suggest how management can attempt to avoid the harmful effects of conflict. Introduction All organizations, by their very nature, have built in conflicts Conflict is seen as an inherent feature of organisations and induced, in part, by the very structure of the organisation. The causes might stem from individual characteristics, interpersonal factors, communications, behavior, structure and previous interactions. Conflict, per se, is not necessarily good or bad but an inevitable feature of organisational life and should be judged in terms of its effects on performance. Even if organisations have taken great care to try to avoid conflict it will still occur. Conflict will continue to emerge despite attempts by management to suppress it. ” J Mullins Pge 490. A more recent view of conflict is the interactionist perspective, which believes that conflict is a positive force and necessary for effective performance.

This approach encourages a minimum level of conflict within the group in order to encourage self-criticism, change and innovation, and to help prevent apathy or too great a tolerance for harmony and the status quo. Conflict Defined Conflict is defined as an incompatibility of goals or values between two or more parties in any relationship, combined with attempts to control each other and antagonistic feelings toward each other (Fisher, 1990). The incompatibility or difference may exist in reality or may only be perceived by the parties involved.

Nonetheless, the opposing actions and the hostile emotions are very real hallmarks of human conflict. Main Causes Of Conflict In Organisations Differences in Goals: In an organisation, functional departments or sub units become specialised or differentiated as they develop different goals, tasks and personnel. Although the overall organisational goal is agreed upon, such specialisation or differentiation leads to conflicts of interest or priorities.

For example in a firm involved in manufacturing certain products, the sales and marketing department might want low prices to attract more customers or to gain a bigger market whilst the production department might want higher prices on those products to meet the production cost. Limited resources: Competition for limited resources is also a factor for conflict. The classic example here is the normal budgetary requirements that usually exceed available funds. This is probably the most prevalent and familiar source of conflict at the TRB.

Departments request more than what the budget can sustain. For example, replacement of obsolete laboratory equipment by the analytical services Division against the refurbishment of the tobacco curing barns by the Field Services Division. Departments fight to get preference as Heads of Departments attempt to present their problems as the most pressing and urgent. Communication barriers: This arises when two individuals or groups are unable to express themselves, verbalize their needs, state their case adequately, provide logical and structured argument, or listen effectively.

Miscommunication and misunderstanding can create conflict even where there are no basic incompatibilities. Lack of communication skills often results in confusion, hurt and anger, all of which simply feed into the conflict process. Language barriers and socio-cultural backgrounds can inhibit the intended meaning of a particular message. Perception differences or differences in the value system: Parties may have different perceptions as to what are the facts in a situation, and until they share information and clarify their perceptions, resolution is impossible.

Self-centeredness, selective perception, emotional bias, prejudices, etc. , are all forces that lead people to perceive situations very differently from the other party. Because of this perception variation, people tend to value reality differently. As perceptions become a person’s reality, value judgements can be a potential source of conflict. Ambiguity – the ambiguous purposes and objectives, the imprecision in establishing tasks, authority and responsibility of some jobs and compartments, lack of clarity in transmitting decisions or the deformed presentation of reality are causes of conflict at TRB.

Management sets unclear policies. These can cause much argument, confusion and wasted resources. When rules and standards are also inequitably applied e. g. one set for management and another for the workers, the credibility of management regarding its value system can be significantly undermined. At TRB, the policy states that work starts at 0700hrs. Some managers adhere to this policy together with the bulk of the employees, but others do not. The earliest that they are seen at work is at 0745hrs. No action is taken against them, but if lower level would dare to do the same, they will suffer the consequences.

Interdependent work activities: Wherever the input to one process is dependent on the output from another before the finished product is complete, the potential for conflict is high. The Accounts Department at TRB depends on the stock take figures that the Business Development Department among other departments submit at the end of each month. How, BD personnel have their own priorities that occupy them. The BD team may not particularly be aware of Accounts’ deadlines and as such the moment Accounts tries to hasten their stock take process, and a conflict arises.

Unclear job boundaries: These result in employee confusion and criticism of one another, as well as management, and are extremely counterproductive. Responsibility for tasks is abrogated and it becomes virtually impossible to determine accountability. There is Business development as a department and on the other hand there is a interdepartmental committee called the PR and Marketing Committee. The leaders of these two groups, the AGM Business Development and the PR and Marketing Chairperson (a Head of the Plant Health services Division) are always in conflict as they sometimes duplicate tasks often, using different methodologies.

Some tasks are left undone or imperfect because of the diffusion of responsibility. These causes show that management might be to blame for some of the conflicts emanating mainly from communications and structure but has nothing to do with the individual characteristics and previous interactions. There is affective conflict i. e. one which refers to inconsistencies in interpersonal relationships, which occurs where organizational members become aware that their feelings and emotions regarding some of the issues are incompatible. Members would end up focusing on reducing threats and increasing their power to the neglect of work productivity.

This has a negative effect on both organizational members and the organization itself. Members become resentful, negative, irritable and suspicious. Group performance and group loyalty are also impeded as the members are antagonistic to each other and have high levels of stress and anxiety (Rahim 2002). There is also substantive conflict i. e. where people disagree on their task or content issues. This occurs when there are disagreements among group members about the content of the tasks being performed, including differences in viewpoints, ideas and opinions (Jehn 1995).

This has a positive effect on group performance if it is moderate as it stimulates discussions and debates which usually lead to more efficient ways of performing the tasks. Such debates lead to a better understanding of the issues resulting in more informed decisions. It has been found to be more effective among groups that are involved in non-routine tasks than in those carrying out standardized activities. However, like affective conflicts, they usually diminish group loyalty, job satisfaction, and workgroup commitment (Jehn 1995).

The challenge for management is to maintain a level of substantive conflict so as to increase group performance but reduce affective conflicts avoid job dissatisfaction. Negative Effects of Conflict The negative effects of conflict are that communication breaks down, individual needs are not heard or met, creativity is stagnated and relationships with others usually deteriorate. Therefore, organizations which don’t encourage the effective resolution of conflict will usually have lower staff morale, strained relationships, higher levels of fear and tension among staff and lower productivity. This has a negative effect on both organizational members and the organization itself. Members become resentful, negative, irritable and suspicious. Group performance and group loyalty are also impeded as the members are antagonistic to each other and have high levels of stress and anxiety (Rahim 2002). Management can attempt to resolve these harmful effects of conflict through the following methods and approaches. Effective Resolution of Conflict According to J. A. F. Stoner and R. E. Freeman, the three most frequently used conflict resolution methods are dominance or suppression, compromise and integrative problem solving.

The methods differ in the extent to which they yield effective creative solutions to conflict. There are various methods and approaches to conflict resolution but this paper shall evaluate the effectiveness of the above three methods under different approaches. Dominance and Suppression Method The dominance and suppression methods usually suppress conflict rather than settle it, by forcing it underground and they create a win-lose situation in which the loser usually gives up and ends up in a disappointed and hostile state.

Dominance and suppression can occur in the following ways; Forcing / Coercing: this is a tendency to punish or reward the other party to agree with one’s position. This is a power orientated, assertive and often uncooperative approach where the interests of one individual or group are put ahead of other individuals’ or groups’ interests. This approach is most suited when quick decisions are to be made, say in an emergency, or as a last resort to resolving a long standing conflict.

Smoothing; smoothing is a common tendency to emphasize common interests while minimizing or suppressing perceived differences. It is a more diplomatic way of suppressing conflict. The approach can help protect more important matters by giving up on less important matters and this gives an opportunity to assess the situation at a later stage from a different angle and in a different environment. The disadvantage is it can be abused by some employees taking advantage of the accommodating nature of the other employees.

Avoidance; is the tendency to withdraw from conflict situations or remain neutral. This approach defers, sidesteps or simply does not address the conflict at hand. Another form is refusal to deal with the conflict by stalling and repeatedly postponing action. This can be applied where the potential costs of resolving the conflict outweigh the benefits of its resolution or when it is not the right time to address the conflict. Compromise; through compromise, managers try to resolve conflict by convincing each party in the dispute to sacrifice some objectives in order to gain others.

It is suitable when goals are moderately important and decisions need to be made quickly. This approach is common in organizations, particularly in resolving employee-employer conflicts, for example, wage negotiations where employees may require a 20% increment and the employer offers 10%, the parties may eventually agree to compromise and settle for 15%. Integrative problem solving This method involves creating a shared goal that cannot be attained without the cooperation of each of the conflicting parties. Intergroup conflict is converted into a joint problem solving technique.

Together, parties to the conflict try to solve the problem that has arisen between them. Instead of trying to find a compromise or suppressing the conflict, the parties openly try to find a solution they can all accept. There are three different methods of integrative conflict resolution methods namely consensus, confrontation and use of sub-ordinate goals. The major drawback is that this strategy is time consuming and requires an environment where parties can build mutual trust. Conclusion Conflicts are inevitable in any organization. A modest level of conflict can e useful in generating better ideas and methods, inspiring concern and ingenuity, and stimulating the emergence of long-suppressed problems. Thus I strongly agree and support the view that conflict is an inevitable feature of management and organizational behavior. Conflict management strategies should aim at keeping conflict at a level at which different ideas and viewpoints are fully voiced but unproductive conflicts are deterred. If conflicts are not managed properly, they can be damaging, as they waste a lot of energy and time, and invoke tension, which reduces the productivity and creativity of those involved.

A manager should be able to see emerging conflicts and take appropriate pre-emptive action. The manager should understand the causes creating conflict, the outcome of conflict, and various methods by which conflict can be managed in the organization. In this context, the manager should evolve an approach for resolving conflicts before their disruptive repercussions have an impact on productivity and creativity. Therefore, a manager should possess special skills to react to conflict situations, and should create an open climate for communication between conflicting parties.

REFERENCE De Bono, E. 1985. Conflicts: A Better Way to Resolve Them. London: Harrap. Eggert, M. A. and Falzon W. , 2003, The Resolving Conflict Pocketbook, Management Pocketbooks Filley, A. C. 1975. Interpersonal Conflict Resolution. Glenview IL: Scott, Foresman Mullins,L. J. (1999) Management and Organisational Behaviour. Pitman Publishing Putnam, L. L. ; Poole , M. S. , 1987. Conflict and negotiation, in Jablin, F , Putnam, L. , http://www. nmmu. ac. za/documents/theses/LourensAS. pdf

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE AS A FUNCTION OF JOB SATISFACTION Introduction There is confusion and debate among practitioners on the topic of employee attitudes and job satisfaction even at a time when employees are increasingly important for organizational success and competitiveness. “Happy employees are productive employees. ”“Happy employees are not productive employees. ” We hear these conflicting statements made by HR professionals and managers in organizations.

This research aims at establishing job satisfaction as a basis for employee attitude; whether good or bad and we will do this by answering three questions: “What are the causes of employee attitudes? ”, “What are the results of positive and negative job reaction? ”and “How can we measure and influence employee attitudes? ” Before we begin a description of what we mean by employee attitudes and job satisfaction will suffice. What is job satisfaction? Job satisfaction is how content an individual is with his/her job.

In other words, a contentment (or lack of it arising out of interplay of the employees positive or negative feelings towards his/her job. However, there is a distinction between affective job satisfaction and cognitive job satisfaction. Affective job satisfaction is the extent of pleasurable emotional feelings an individual has about his job overall while the cognitive job satisfaction has to do with the extent to which the individual is satisfied with particular facets o his job. The most-used research definition of job satisfaction is by Locke (1976), who defined it as “. . a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (p. 1304). Implicit in Locke’s definition is the importance of both affect, or feeling, and cognition, or thinking. When we think, we have feelings about what we think. Conversely, when we have feelings, we think about what we feel. Cognition and affect are thus inextricably linked, in our psychology and even in our biology. Thus, when evaluating our jobs, as when we assess most anything important to us, both thinking and feeling are involved.

What is employee attitude? In other to have a panoramic understanding of this terminology, a conceptual clarification would suffice. What is an attitude? An attitude can be described as an expression of favor or disfavor towards a person, place, thing or event which is as a result of either a negative or positive evaluation of the object of affect. Employees have viewpoints about many aspect of their job, career, Organization. The above explanation gives us the idea that attitude can either be positive or negative.

Thus employee attitude can be described as an employee’s expression either positive or negative towards his/her job, career or organization. How then do we make a distinction between positive and negative employee attitudes? Generally, It is in their promotion of organizational goals. Therefore, positive employee attitudes can be said to be in agreement with organizational goals thereby promoting it while negative employees can be said to be against organizational goals thereby suppressing organizational goals. This explains why employee attitude is easily cited as the number one performance related issue of companies.

From the perspective of research and practice, the most focal employee attitude is job satisfaction. Thus, we often refer to employee attitudes broadly in this article, although much of our specific focus will concern job satisfaction. In the midst of all this, one little question crosses the mind; what are the causes of employee attitudes? What are the causes of employee attitudes? In general, HR Practitioners understand the importance of work situation as a cause of work attitude and it is an area that HR can help influence through organizational programs and management practices.

However, in the past decades there has been gainful research in understanding dispositional and cultural influences on job satisfaction which is not yet well understood by HR practitioners. In addition, the work itself is also an area that influences job satisfaction and this is often overlooked by HR practitioners when addressing job satisfaction. Dispositional influences Several innovative studies have shown the influence of a person’s disposition on job satisfaction. Disposition can be described as a tendency to act in a specified way.

There are some factors that affect our disposition and they are called dispositional variables. These variables are often viewed as part of the individual’s makeup, character or personality. Personality is defined as a combination of characteristic patterns of thought, feelings and behaviors peculiar to a person. It is said to be both physiological and psychological. On the other hand, character is a combination of mental and ethical traits marking a person. Dispositional variables are relatively stable across time and difficult to change.

They are often used to explain consistency in individual behaviors across time and situations. The theory of dispositional influences is a very general theory that innate dispositions cause people to have tendencies towards a certain level of satisfaction regardless of the job. In 1997, Timothy A. Judge, Edwin A. locke and Cathy C. Durham argued that there are four core self-evaluations that determines ones disposition towards job satisfaction; self esteem, general self efficacy, locus of control and neuroticism.

[pic] Working overtime and Job satisfaction in Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao Name: Yujie Hou Relation No. 74759 Mentor: Sandy Loup Internship in Front Desk & Executive Lounge, Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao, China Stenden University Leeuwarden The Netherlands Bachelor of International Hospitality Management September, 2012 Table of content Declaration of own work3 Introduction4 Chapter 1. Company Description5 Chapter 2. Project Exploration8 Chapter 3. Literature Review9 3. 1 Working overtime9 3. People who work overtime12 3. 3 The reasons of working long hours12 3. 4 Job satisfaction and working overtime13 3. 5 Conceptual model. 15 3. 6 Problem definition16 Chapter 4. Methodology16 4. 1 Research design16 4. 2 Instrument design17 4. 3 Limitations of Research Methods17 4. 4 Data Analyze18 Bibliography19 Appendix 1. 21 Appendix 2. 22 Declaration of own work 1. This work is composed by me. 2. This work has not been accepted in any previous application for a degree or diploma, by me or anyone else. 3. The work of which this is a record is done well and truly by me. 4.

All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks and the sources of my information have been specifically acknowledged. Date: September 01, 2012 Name: Yujie Hou Signature: Introduction In 1993-1994, 23% of females and 27% of males claimed to have worked unpaid overtime (Bell and Hart, 1999). The Beijing Bureau of Statistics said employed people in China’s capital worked for 5. 9 days, or 47. 2 hours, a week on average (Xinhua News Agency, 2006). An online survey of 15,000 people from a well-known Chinese job-hunting website shows a shocking figure that over 40% of the respondents worked vertime without paid. An incredible reality from Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions reported that more than 50% of Hong Kong women who have full-time jobs work overtime at least two hours every day. Why do Chinese people work overtime become an ordinary phenomenon? How do they feel about working overtime? How do Chinese feel about having to work overtime? Do they feel happy? Can the company get more benefits from employee working overtime? The relationship between overtime working and job satisfaction and how working overtime involves in job satisfaction could be discovered.

On behalf of understanding, measuring and improving job satisfaction is an advantage competitive in hotel management team. Therefore, this project mainly focuses on figuring out how working overtime impacts on job satisfaction, and in order to help managers in Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao to get a better method of measuring working overtime and improving employee satisfaction. First of all, a company description is given in the report. In this chapter, not only the general knowledge of the company itself will be introduced, but also the figures of staff turn over, salary of employees and a SWOT analysis are given.

The following chapter Project Exploration high lighting the purpose of this management project, furthermore, the litterateurs are reviewed in the following chapter, a conceptual map is drawed into detail points, problem statement and research questions are mentioned as well. Last but not least, the chapter of Methodology decribes a method of research method, instrument design, data collecting, data measuring and analysing. Chapter 1. Company Description The full name of the company is Shanghai Hongqiao Yuanyi Hilton, which is a joint venture business with Yuanyi Group and Hilton Worldwide.

Yuanyi Group is the owner of hardware facilities and real estate, Hilton hotels ; resorts is a managerial role in the property. The company is a sub-brand of Hilton worldwide, which is Hilton hotels ;amp; resorts. It is a full service five star hotel which opened in October of 2010. The facilities of the hotel are complete, plush and luxury. The company is located in Hongqiao Economic and Technical Development Zone, is just 15 minutes from Hongqiao Airport (Terminal I) and 13km from People’s Square in the heart of Shanghai.

Apart from the above events, there is a buffet restaurant Essence indulging in fine Pan Asian and Mediterranean cuisine at the all-day and sample authentic Cantonese dishes at Yue Xuan which is an a la cart restaurant. Additionally, Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao provides a business center, lobby lounge Pulse, Delicatessen, Vine Bar, fitness center and a stay connected Executive Lounge to satisfy the diverse needs of the guests The company places marketing emphasis on both business travelers and leisure travelers, and also Japanese guests which is a main market for the company itself.

There are over 500 work members in this company, which including foreigners, locals and also staffs from other cities in China. Most of the head office managers and directors are foreigners. Full-time contract employee accounts for 72. 8%, and the part-time contract employee takes up12. 4 percentage in this company mostly in banqueting and Essence restaurant and the trainees occupy 14. 8 percentages. The company is a newly opened hotel, and the executive building was just partly open in April, 2012.

The biggest problem of the Human Resource Department is the talent gap. In order to attract more new interviewees, every Wednesday is the company Open day and people can go to the Human Resource department to hand in their CVs without an appointment. Through the monthly employee party, it can be seen that there are always new staffs join in the Hilton family. As the information shared from the HR assistant manager, the staff turn over of year 2011 was 13. 1%, it is higher than the average hotel staff turn over rate which is 10% in Shanghai (Fang Xu, 2010).

The turn over of head office employees in this company is also very high, during the period of the author’s internship, the General Manager, Director of Finance, Director of the operation, Director of business development, F;B manager, Front Office Manager, three Duty managers played job-hopping to another company. There are 11 levels accounted in Hilton, such as GM is the highest level which is 11 and trainee is level one. The salary of the trainee is 1,000RMB, around 120 per month. The biggest employee amount is level three, the average salary is 2,800RMB (=€346) per month, supervisors are at level 5 which can own 3,400RMB (=€419. ) per month. As an example gave within duty managers, the salary of foreigner’ is three times than the Chinese employee in the same level position. A following SWOT analysis table shows an overall idea of the company’s both internal and external conditions. The internal part includes Strengths and Weaknesses. The Strengths are more focuses on the company facilities and around the environment. For instance, the golf court is a big strong point of Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao, which is just in a walking distance. The weaknesses are mostly from the guest complains.

For example, the 80RMB of parking fee is a big guest complains in this company and it happens almost everyday. Three separated buildings are a weak point because it is very complicated for the guests to find the direction. The service quality is a frequent criticism object from customers. The external part is focused on the financial environment and competitors. Shanghai attracts 215 million domestic tourists and 8. 5 million foreign tourists in 2010. In addition, tourism revenue of Shanghai in 2010 is 305. 3 billion RMB (Shanghai tourist development report, 2012).

There are 44 five-star hotels and 64 four-star hotels in Shanghai and 11 five-star and 7 boutique hotels are building up. Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao won the ‘Top Seller’ in September 2012 in Asia Pacific area. The company has a lot of opportunities and it is a great time, but also it is facing with various challenges. Table 1. Chapter 2. Project Exploration During a period of 10 months, it turned out that it apparently it was difficult for employees to finish their tasks within the required time resulting in having to work over time.

In hotel operation departments, there are three shifts, in general, morning shift staffs working from 7am till 3pm, the afternoon shift from 3pm till 11pm, and the rest hours are evening shift. However, most of the employees in Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao will spend quite long time in the shift turnover period, and it leads directly to work overtime in everyday and in every department. Furthermore, these over hours will not be counted into paid overtime working. Front office is not the only department, but it apparently most frequently in the company.

Moreover, as it was written in the previous chapter, the turnover rate in Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao is higher than the average rate. Especially in front desk department, since 2011 November till 2012 September there were 5 employees quitted their job who had worked there over one year and 9 trainees had not worked over 6 months which means they quit before they became a formal staff. It be seen through the first two sentences written in the introductory chapter that working overtime is very normal in China and the reality shows it is a truth in Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao.

This project is trying to identify the relationship between working overtime and job satisfaction, and enhance to give the managers of Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao a further consideration of monitoring overtime working and improving employee satisfaction. Meanwhile, job satisfaction is a source of long-term competitive advantage in the hospitality industry, by the core values of Hilton Worldwide which is described as Hospitality, Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Ownership and Now, each values have a strong connection with job satisfaction.

For the Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao, this management project could be a helpful way to get more involved into employee satisfaction and measuring overtime working as well. Chapter 3. Literature Review This chapter concentrates in working overtime and job satisfaction. Figure has an intuitive feeling to compare the different hours of working overtime in different places, so the first paragraph research figures to give an overview of working overtime in selected places and according to law and compare with China’s situation.

The following two paragraphs are in an attempt to find out who works overtime, and the reasons of people work overtime. Furthermore, the job satisfaction of different genders, the importance of job satisfaction and the relationship between job satisfaction and overtime working will be reviewed in the last paragraph. Last but not least a conceptual model covers the main point which includes the literature review. 3. 1 Working overtime In this part, the definition of working overtime is given, and some figures of overtime hours in different countries and a table of standard and maximum working hours for comparison.

Working overtime is normally approved in advance by the Head of Department and is agreed in order to complete work for a deadline or to meet additional demands. However, the initial periods of less than half an hour are not classified as work overtime. Additional hours or overtime will not qualify for payments until the member of staff has worked to their number of basic contractual weekly hours (Working additional hours and overtime, 2011). Pascal and Damien (2000) found that about 20% of European employees work 45 or more hours a week, and about 13% of the full-time employee’s weekly work over 50 hours.

Long work hours are also a common phenomenon in the United States: more than 1/4 of US men and 11% of women work more than 50 hours a week (Jacobs ; Gerson, 2004). In addition, extreme overtime work is pervasive in Korea and Japan where many employees work more than 60 hours a week (Amagasa, Nakayama, ; Takahashi, 2005). A reach showed that there are only 13. 7 percent worked for no more than eight hours a day in China, 40. 3% worked eight to nine hours, 23. 48 percent put in nine to 10 hours a day and 22. 0 percent worked more than 10 hours (Xinhua News Agency, 2006). In generally overtime work is a common phenomenon in both Asian and Western countries. Working overtime also occurs in developed countries both in Asia and Western. Moreover, China has the most numbers of populations who work over 8 hours everyday which accounts at 86. 3%. The following figure gives a clear picture of the standard working hours in selected places, and the maximum overtime hours allowed in the law and also the overtime pay rate. |Table 2. | | | |Selected places |Standard working |Maximum overtime hours allowed |Overtime pay rate | | |Hours | | | |Finland |8 hours/day |Up to 138 hours within a period of 4 months |1. 5 times of the regular rate of pay for the first two hours | | |40 hours/Week |Up to 250 hours during a calendar year. |2 times for any extra hours. | | |The yearly maximum can be exceeded at 80 hours on a local agreement. | | |France |35 hours /week |Up to 220 hours per year. |Each hour of overtime is payable at 10% to 50% higher than the | | | |This limit may be exceeded with a collective agreement between the employer |regular hourly rate, depending on the cumulative total overtime | | | |and employee. |hours worked. |Ireland |48 hours /week |No specification of legal maximum overtime hours The actual working hours |No statutory obligation on employers to pay employees higher rates | | | |may fluctuate considerably as long as the average working hour per week is |for overtime works. | | | |not more than 48 hours over 4, 6 or 12 months (depending on circumstances) | | |Japan |8 hours /day |Up to 2 hours per day for jobs this may cause harm to health. No lower than the rate stipulated by Cabinet Order within the range| | |40 hours/week | |of no less than 25% and no more than 50% over the normal wage per | | | | |hour or per day. | |Malaysia |8 hours /day |Up to 4 hours per day except under special occasions. |1. 5 times of the regular rate of pay. | | |48 hours /week | | | |Singapore |8 hours /day |Up to 72 hours per month |1. 5 times of the regular rate of pay. | |44 hours/week | | | |South Korea |8 hours /day |Up to 4 hours per day |1. 5 times of the regular rate of pay. | | |40 hours /week |Up to 12 hours per week. | | |Taiwan |8 hours /day |Up to 4 hours per day and 46 hours per month. |; 2 hours, at least an additional 1/3 of the regular hourly rate. | | |84 hours two week | |2