Communication Ability as a Predictor of Job Satisfaction in Managerial and Nonmanagerial Positions

This paper examines the connection between communication ability and job satisfaction. The Social Skills Inventory and the Job Descriptive Index were administered to sixty-eight participants. The mean age of participants was 26.5 (SD=8.84) and mean duration of current employment was 3.89 years (SD=5.67). The results showed a significant correlation between overall social skills and overall job satisfaction. This study also examined how managers and nonmanagers differ when examining the connection between social skills and job satisfaction. The results showed a significant correlation between nonmanager’s ability to interpret verbal and nonverbal messages and their overall job satisfaction. Introduction and Literature Review Job satisfaction was once viewed as an unnecessary luxury. During the Industrial Revelation in Northern Europe and the United States, factory workers were satisfied to come home from work without major injury. Most workers felt lucky to survive a working career without losing any fingers or limbs. In today’s service oriented workplace, there is less danger of getting maimed while on the job. At the same time, work productivity can no longer be measured by counting the number of products that are manufactured during the day. Modern theories of organizational behavior are beginning to recognize that satisfied employees work harder and improve the company’s bottom line (Farrant, 1990; Mork, 1989; Ostroff 1992). Obviously, many factors determine the degree to which employees are satisfied or dissatisfied with their work environment. It is not surprising that a stressful environment can be destructive to employee satisfaction (Chiu & Kosinski, 1999). In a study of professional engineers, industrial accountants, and chartered accountants, occupational stress was found to be significantly related to employee job satisfaction (Burke, 1976). Specifically, Burke (1976) found that as overall stress increases, overall job satisfaction decreases. Rogers (1977) attempted to break down the components of job stress. In a study of upper-middle managers, research showed that four major factors of job stress are work load, organizational structure and design, management responsibility, and communication and interpersonal interaction (Rogers, 1977). Kluger, Townend, and Laidlaw (2003) found that communication problems can increase stress levels at the workplace. Current research supports the inverse relationship between job stress and job satisfaction. There is also support for the relationship between communication deficiencies and job stress.