the level of the job satisfaction of teachers in botswana pedzani ...

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European Journal of Educational Studies 4(2), 2012 General saisfaction levels of all categories of teachers according to the five dimensions of the JDI The six dimensions of the JDI are: Opportunities for Promotion, Supervision, Work on Present Job, Pay, People on Your Present Job. Opportunities for Promotion Much as teachers at all levels are generally satisfied with their job, two hundred and seventy eight (79%) are of the view that there are no good opprtunities for promotion. Three hundred and twenty three (92%) believe that there are limited opportunities for promotion. One hundred and forty six (41.7%) of the respondents were not decided on whether their job was a dead-end one whilst one hundred and thirty two (37.7%) of the respondents believed it was a dead-end job. One hundred and ninety three (57.5%) of the respondents were categorical that there were no good chances for promotion in their job whilst ninety nine (28%) were not decided. While one hundred and thirty eight (39%) said that there were fairly good chances for promotion, one hundred and sixty eight (48%) were of the opinion that there were no chances. On whether there were regular promotions, two hundred and twenty four (64%) of the respondents said there were no such promotions. Responsibility is one of the motivating factors according to Herzberg‘s Two-Factor Theory, but according to this study‘s findings, teachers are not satisfied with all the facets with regards promotion. This therefore means that teachers in Botswana schools are not satisfied with the availability of promotions, regularity of promotions, and believe that their jobs are dead-end therefore no chances of being ellevated beyond the schools. Abdullah, Uli and Parasuraman (2009) have argued that failure to obtain promotion is a blow to a man‘s self respect from which it will arouse and cause dissatisfaction and also frustration in work. This study reveals that teachers in general dissatisfied that there are no opportunities for promotion in teaching. In the 1990‘s, the Government of Botswana tried to improve the opportunities for employment in the teaching force by implementing a career ladder model called parallel progression, which failed and led to more dissatisfaction as there was no transparency in the promotional process. There was no clear assessment model used to measure performance. The other problem was that those who were in the field during the implementation of the model filled all the available posts and therefore limiting the protion chances as the attrition rate was very low. Supervision On whether supervisors praise subordinates for good work done, two hundred and ten (60%) of the respondents said their supervisors do praise them for good work. However, 81.8% of the Heads of Department, 71% of teachers, 57.7% of Deputy Headteachers and 52% of Headteachers all said that they are praised when they do a good job by their supervisors. Only 48% of the senior teachers supported the view that they are praised for good work. On how tactful supervisors are in their job, one hundred and twenty (34%) said yes, one hundred and twenty nine (36.8%) said no while one hundred and one were undecided. Supervisors should be influential on their jobs and from this study, one hundred and forty nine (42%) of the respondents believe their supervisors are influencial while a substantial one hundred and eight (30.8%) said they are not. In order to do their job adequately, supervisors should be up to date on the requirements of their jobs. From this sudy, one hundred and thirty five (38.5%) of the respondents are of the view that their supervisors are up to date while one hundred and twenty four (35%) said they were not. Among these, 56% of the teachers‘ and 57.7% of the deputy headteachers‘ categories believe they got up to date supervision. One hundred and ninety two (54.8%) of the respondents believe the supervision they get is not annoying while 92 (26%) said it was annoying and the same number was undecided. Furthermore, supervisors should know their job well. In this study, one hundred and fifty one (43%) of the respondents say supervisors know their jobs well while one hundred and seventeen (33%) were undecided. Among these, 56% of teachers, 82% of senior teachers and 54.5% of heads of department all believe supervisors know their jobs well. Leadership styles can determine the level of motivation subordinates get as they are related to teacher satisfaction. It has been pointed out that the quality of leadership and supervision affects a range of factors in the school environment, including the overall organizational climate of the school (Bogler, 2001). Tierney, Bauer, and Potter (2002), assert that a high quality relationship between employees and supervisors lead to high levels of job satisfaction. It has been found that employees are extremely productive when they feel accepted by their supervisors 226
European Journal of Educational Studies 4(2), 2012 and the organizational environment is open to diversity of ideas and work ethos, which in turn leads to innovation and creativity. Abdullah, Uli and Parasuraman (2009) say that supervisors who establish a supportive personal relationship with their subordinates and take a personal interest in them contribute to their employees‘ satisfaction. Generally, teachers in this study are satisfied with the supervision they get in their job. Work on Present Job This section deals with issues related to the work in the job of a teacher. It presents and discusses whether the work is intresting, satisfying, good, exciting, rewarding, and unitresting. On whether the work is fascinationg or not, one hundred and ninety four (55.4%) of the respondents found it not; and this was also the case with 88% of the headteachers and 70.9% of heads of department. One hundred and seventy six (50%) found it satisfying while one hundred and forty six did not find it that way. On whether the job was good or not, two hundred and nine (59.7%) said that it was good while one hundred and one (28.8%) of the respondents said it was not satisfying at all. One hundred and ninety three (55%) did not find the job exciting but one hundred and fourteen found it exciting. Another two hundred and thwenty three (63.7%) did not believe that the job is rewarding; and of these, 83% of the senior teachers did not find it rewarding. One hundred and sixty (45.7%) found their job intresting while one hundred and eighteen (33.7%) said it was not intresting. Literature shows that the nature of the work itself generally emerges as the most important job facet (Saari & Judge, 2004; Judge & Church, 2000; Jurgensen, 1978); and employers can influence job satisfaction by ensuring work is as interesting and challenging as possible. It has been pointed out that satisfaction with the nature of the work itself— which includes job challenge, autonomy, variety, and scope—best predicts overall job satisfaction, as well as other important outcomes like employee retention (Fried & Ferris, 1987; Saari & Judge, 2004). The importance of the work as a motivating factor has also been identified in the Herzberg Two-Factor Theory. From this study, the results on the different facets of the work show a balanced outcome. Pay Here, the presentation looks at whether the respondent was satisfied with the income from the pay for the job, whether the pay was good, whether they were well paid, underpaid, comfortable or the pay was enough to live on. One hundred and ninety four (55.4%) of the respondents said that they barely live on the pay. On whether the pay was bad or not, one hundred and fifty five (44%) said it was not bad while one hundred and thirty five (38.5%) found it bad. However, 88% of the deputy headteachers and 68% of the headteachers found the pay not bad at all. Two hundred and seventy eight (79.4%) of the respondents are of the opinion that they are not well paid; and among these, 100% of the headteachers and 97% of the senior teachers also believe that they are not well paid. One hundred and ninety three (55%) say that they are underpaid. On whether they are comfortable or not, two hundred and eight (59.4%) of the respondents are not; while among them, 80% of the headteachers were not and 73% of the deputy headteachers were comfortable. Two hundred and twelve (60.5%) are of the view that their pay was not enough. Globally, low salaries and a truncated salary scales have been cited as the main reasons are among the main reasons that the most academically able leave or do not join teaching. Good pay is a hygiene factor. Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman (1959) stated that to the degree that motivators are present in a job, motivation will occur. Herzberg argues that good hygiene will only lead to average performance preventing dissatisfaction. The absence of motivators does not lead to dissatisfaction. Further, they stated that to the degree that hygienes are absent from a job, dissatisfaction will occur. When present, hygienes prevent dissatisfaction, but do not lead to satisfaction. Paying lower wages (hygiene) than what employees believe to be fair may lead to job dissatisfaction. Conversely, employees will be motivated when they are doing work in a safe area and but will not necessarily be motivated by higher pay. Smith (1992) believes that job satisfaction and salary can lead to cost reduction by reducing absences, task errors, and turnover.The findings from this study reflect a workforce that is dissatisfied with its pay. However, those in senior management, headteachers and their deputies believe that their pay was not that bad. 227
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