A meta-analysis of nine studies involving 1,739 workers found a significant positive relationship between motivation and job satisfaction. A happy worker isn’t always a productive worker (see above), but the knowledge worker who has low job satisfaction finds it difficult to be productive.
Many factors go into job satisfaction, but a major issue is the quality of supervision provided. It is not common for a person to experience high job satisfaction if the relationship with his or her supervisor is not a satisfying one.
A major reason cited for high turnover is the quality of supervisors — and we know that turnover is costly and adversely affects productivity.
On the other side of the ledger, it is harder to calculate the organizational costs of unmotivated people who stick around just for a paycheck and perform at a level of minimum competence and concern. But clearly, those costs are significant throughout the economy.
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