The Effects of Communication between Superiors-Subordinates on Subordinates Job Satisfaction Cover Image

Üstler ve Astlar Arasındaki İletişimin Astların İş Tatmini Üzerindeki Etkisi
The Effects of Communication between Superiors-Subordinates on Subordinates Job Satisfaction

Author(s): Ferda Alper Ay, isamil ünalan, Özgün Ünal
Subject(s): Labor relations, Theory of Communication, Organizational Psychology, Human Resources in Economy
Published by: Sakarya üniversitesi
Keywords: Communication; Job Satisfaction; Superior-subordinate Communication;

Summary/Abstract: Aim: Communication is an important part of today's social life. The role of communication is uttermost important in work-life which is another significant part of the social life. In fact, the positive communication inside of the organization may affect the job satisfaction, (Yüksel, 2005:291), the performance of the employees, (Tanrıverdi et al., 2010:117), and the organizational loyalty (Saltık et al., 2015:57). In any organization or corporation, the organizational communication, which is the interaction that the employees of that organization formed with each other and with other members of the organization (Oskay,2001:148), is significant in terms of the success and the continuity of the organizations. Effective communication practices affect the job satisfaction of the employees positively (Ilozor vd, 2001:495). The communication with especially administrators might affect the job satisfaction significantly. A clear, reliable superiors-subordinates communication affects the job satisfaction positively, while it is inevitable that the exact opposite would cause dissatisfaction. The researches on employees who experience job dissatisfaction indicate that the cause of the dissatisfaction is lack of communication (Parsons and Broadbridge, 2006: 128). It is extremely hard for the organizations to reach their both short and long term objectives with employees having low motivation, performance and loyalty. The study aims to determine the effect of the superiors-subordinates communication on the job satisfaction of the employees working at Sivas City Health Administrative.Method: 250 people working at T.R. Sivas City Health Administrative compose the population of the study. The whole population was aimed to be reached without specifying a sample, however, 170 people were reached. Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale, developed by Weiss et al. (1967), and its translation into Turkish, its validity and reliability work carried out by Baycan (1985) as well as Communication Scale, developed by Huseman et al. (1980) and its translation into Turkish, its validity and reliability carried out by Yüksel (2005) were used as data collection tool in the study. The data were collected by face to face questionnaire technique. The data obtained were analyzed through SPSS 22 program. In addition to descriptive statistical methods, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis.Before performing the research, necessary permissions were taken from Sivas City Health Administrative where the survey would be carried out and approval of ethics was granted by the Cumhuriyet University Non-invasive Ethics Committee (21.06.2016 dated, article no: 2016-06-024).Because the Turkish validity analyses of the scales used in the study were done, validity analysis was not done again in this study but reliability analysis was done.Findings: When we look at the socio-demographic features of the people taking part in the study, it is seen that %37,6 of them is female, %62,4 is male and the majority of the participants is in the 31-40 years old interval (%41,8) and again the majority of the participants is either associate's degree(%30) or bachelor's degree (%38,8), graduate. %79,4 of the participants is married. When we look at the experiences of the employees in the job, %15,3 has 4 or fewer years, %24,7 has 5-9 years, %18,8 has 10-14 years, %12,9 has 15-19 years and %28,2 has 20 or more years of work experience. However, a big proportion of the employees as %60 works at the related organization for 4 or fewer years. The reliability of the study was found high because all of the Cronbach Alpha values of the scales and their sub-dimensions used in the study were above 0,70. According to the correlation analysis results, scales and all of their sub-dimensions have a strong, positive relationship with each other.According to results of the study, superiors-subordinates communication and feedback which is the sub-dimensions of superiors-subordinates communication have a positive effect on job satisfaction. Additionally; superiors-subordinates communication and feedback dimension have a positive and significant effect on internal satisfaction and external satisfaction.Results: Being similar with many studies in the literature (Kim,2002:235; Shadur et al., 1999:479; Yüksel, 2005:302; İlozor et al., 2001:495; Orpen, 1997:521; Karcıoğlu,2009:71), the results of the study imply that there is a relationship between communication and job satisfaction, furthermore communication affects job satisfaction positively. Additionally; one of the important results of the study is that which superiors-subordinates communication dimensions have a stronger relationship with job satisfaction and sub dimensions. Accordingly results of the study, feedback has the highest impact on both job satisfaction and sub-dimensions. Feedback received from superiors’ increases subordinates’ job satisfaction significantly. After the feedback dimension, the information dimension has high correlation with job satisfaction and sun dimensions. Accordingly, informing the subordinates about the work and informing the employees about what is going on in the institution are the factors that improve the job satisfaction of the employees. The target dimension of superiors-subordinates communication is the third dimension which has the highest correlation with job satisfaction and sub-dimensions of the subordinates’. According to this result, determining the target in the institution, taking the opinions of the employees while setting the target and providing detailed explanations about the targets are important factors in improving the job satisfaction of the employees.It has been stated in the literature that job satisfaction is related to attitudes such as being stressed, being absent, being intended to quit the job and being or not being loyal to the organization (Lambert et al., 2001: 233; Sagie, 1998:167; Gaertner, 1999: 480). In the light of these, because of the result that obtained in this study that superiors-subordinates communication affects the job satisfaction of the subordinate, it is likely to also affect other attitudes such as being stressed, being absent, not being loyal to the organization. Communication has a key role in the attitudes of the employees such as being loyal and having positive attitudes towards their organization which are extremely important factors for today’s organizations.As a result, communication can have a key role in the attitudes of the employees such as being loyal and having positive attitudes towards their organization which are extremely important factors for today's organizations. When the possible results of the inefficiency of the superiors-subordinates communication considered, it is clear that this is a subject to place importance on. For this reason, it could be suggested that all the administrators at administrative levels should create an environment suitable for communication among the employees, design their work processes in a way allowing positive communication, and encourage their employees to communicate with each other effectively and educate and improve their employees on the subject of communication.

  • Issue Year: 7/2019
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 575-593
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Turkish