BUSS 2043 Case Study: Job Satisfaction in Wattle High School

This case study analyzes the job satisfaction issues within Wattle High School, focusing on the dissatisfaction of teachers due to factors like poor staffing, inappropriate job assignments, and a negative work culture. The assignment identifies key problems such as the mismatch between teacher specializations and their teaching assignments, leading to demotivation and a lack of skill utilization. The study applies the Job Characteristics Model by Hackman and Oldham to explain these issues, highlighting the importance of skill variety, task identity, task significance, and autonomy in job design. The student suggests solutions like improved staffing, aligning teachers' roles with their expertise, and better leadership to boost employee motivation and overall organizational productivity. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of job satisfaction for employee retention and organizational success.

Running head: Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Question1:....................................................................................................................................2
Question2:....................................................................................................................................2
Question3:....................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Question1:
The following case is based upon employees working in Wattle High School. According
to the case study, the employees working in Wattle high school are highly dissatisfied with their
job and probably have significant issues with their work culture and colleagues. Jessica Aston, a
teacher in Wattle shows her aggression towards her work and following her other employees puts
their views regarding the same. The various issues which can be identified in the case study are:
job dissatisfaction of the employees, poor work culture of the organization, poor management,
and incompetent employees, interpersonal conflicts and poor staffing. These are the moan issue
which is observed in Wattle High School.
Question2:
In order to identify the potential issue and why exactly the employees are not happy is
demonstrated and correlated with Job Characteristics Model opined by Hackman and Oldham.
The Job Characteristics Model is a theory which is based upon the idea and believe that the task
itself is the main source or key to the employee’s motivation. It is evident that a monotonous and
repetitive job leads to job dissatisfaction in the employees. On the other hand, when a job is
challenging and versatile in nature creates enthusiasm and positive effect on the employee’s
motivation.
The theory is typically based upon five job characteristics that are proposed to benefit the
individual’s result and psychological state. The five job characteristics can be related to job
satisfaction level of the employees in Wattle High School.

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Skill Variety: This characteristic refers to the degree of competence, skill or talent and different
activities used by the individual. It is obvious that repetitive and monotonous jobs bring
dissatisfaction in job. According to the case study the teachers are highly demotivated regarding
their job profile as they are unable to utilize their skill and knowledge in their job position. For
example: Jessica Aston who is specialized in Economics and Geography is teaching math and
science to students.
Task Identify: This defines the degree to which the job seeks complete product or process. The
job of the teachers does not have clear understanding as they are not teaching at what they are
specialized in.
Task Significance: It is the degree to which the job has significant impact on the lives of other
people within the organization. This creates a perception in the minds of the employees
regarding to the meaningfulness of their job. This creates motivation within the employees in
working. It is observed that Wendy DeVries, reflects her point onto this issue as the students are
getting less marks in their subjects and spontaneous complaints have been received from their
parents this creates job dissatisfaction.
Autonomy: This characteristic reflects the degree to which the employee works independently.
The teachers are not allowed to teach at what they are expertise.
Question3:
As per the following HR issues observed in the case study, the followings can be resolved
by proper execution of job design in the organization. Job design is basically a strategic tool used
to meet the need of the organization as well the needs of the employees. The various aspects of
the job design are job enlargement, job enrichment, job satisfaction. The main issue of the

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employees is poor staffing and poor work culture this leads to job dissatisfaction. The poor
staffing can be improvised by recruiting potential employees in the organization. It is observed
that the right people are at the wrong; job position such as Jessica teaching math and science as
she is expertise in economics and geography. Therefore the organization can recruit math and
science teacher and should allow Jessica to teach economics and science. According to the case
study the work culture lacks in leadership skill of Principle. Steve is a physics and math teacher
but also a union member, has taken the lead over others and barely does something valuable.
Therefore, the Principal must put ‘her focus on the things going around the organization and
whether the employees are taking undertaking their responsibilities effectively. Therefore, this
approaches would lead to job satisfaction of the employees working in Wattle High School.
Conclusion
It can be deferred from the above case study that, it is important to maintain job
satisfaction within the employees in order to retain potential employees and to increase the
productivity of the organization. The study highlights the Job Characteristics Model which
highlights the factors which leads to job satisfaction. The job design also helps the human
resource management team to design an effective strategic tool to attain job satisfaction in the
organization. The following approaches would ring job satisfaction in Wattle High school.

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Bibliography
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Oldham's Job Characteristics Model. Future of Medical Education Journal, 8(4).
Klein, L., 2018. The meaning of work: papers on work organization and the design of jobs.
Routledge.
Lee, G.R., Lee, S., Malatesta, D. and Fernandez, S., 2019. Outsourcing and Organizational
Performance: The Employee Perspective. The American Review of Public Administration,
p.0275074019855469.
Marques-Quinteiro, P., Vargas, R., Eifler, N. and Curral, L., 2019. Employee adaptive
performance and job satisfaction during organizational crisis: the role of self-
leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 28(1), pp.85-100.
Oldham, G.R. and Fried, Y., 2016. Job design research and theory: Past, present and
future. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, pp.20-35.
Taylor, G., 2015. Hackman and oldham's job characteristics model. Teaching Business &
Economics, 19(2), p.7.
Wegman, L.A., Hoffman, B.J., Carter, N.T., Twenge, J.M. and Guenole, N., 2018. Placing job
characteristics in context: Cross-temporal meta-analysis of changes in job characteristics since
1975. Journal of Management, 44(1), pp.352-386.