Max Christian Hansen and I had the opportunity recently to ask quality professionals questions related to their organization’ culture of quality and how that influenced their job dis/satisfaction.
Some theories suggest satisfaction and dissatisfaction are merely opposite ends of a spectrum. In other words, the factors that create satisfaction, if absent, create dissatisfaction. Our finding, on the other hand, echoed Herzberg’s notion that job satisfaction isn’t dissatisfaction, but rather a lack of satisfaction—and vice versa.
Among the findings we discovered, key drivers of job satisfaction included engagement, pride, professional development, training, and inclusion in idea generation. Predictors of job dissatisfaction included the inhibition of upward voice (that is, feeling comfortable communicating up the chain about potential or actual quality problems) and the lack of enterprise-wide focus on quality. (Quality professionals believe so strongly in the value of quality that they want it infused into their organization’s culture—its norms, practices, etc.)
The short of it is that organizations that prioritize open communication, invest in their employees’ development and cultivate a genuine commitment to quality will boost satisfaction among their quality professionals.
Read more in the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) publication, Quality Progress November 2024 issue.
