Three Signs of a Miserable Job Essay Example for Free

Three Signs of a Miserable Job Essay In his book entitled, â€Å"Three Signs of a Miserable Job,† Patrick Lencioni discusses job satisfaction by defining or rather, identifying the signs of a miserable job. According to the author there are stark differences between a job that is simply just â€Å"bad† from one that is â€Å"miserable.† The author uses many different examples throughout the book to stress his point and at the end is able to show that having a â€Å"miserable† job is not something that always has to be a problem. Patrick Lencioni addresses this issue by showing that there are many different methods of dealing with work related stress. In previous centuries the jobs available to a particular person were often predetermined by the occupation of that persons parent, in the recent years, however, more and more studies have come out showing the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. The reason behind this is that it has been shown in the Hawthorne Studies that individuals are willing to work for other benefits or factors besides pay or compensation. This led to more research as to what other factors may prompt an individual to perform work and thus led to the study of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. This, according to the author, is the main source of job dissatisfaction. The relevance of this lies in the effect that a miserable job has upon a person. According to Lencioni, a miserable job can not only demoralize a person but it can also lead to frustrations that are brought in out of work forums. This leads to disastrous results not only in the industry but to society as well. The main cause of the problem lies with most of the members of management. As shown in a survey that the author cites, the main cause for job dissatisfaction that worker turnover is the boss. The key in dealing with the problem is in identifying what the signs of job misery are and if they are present. According to Lencioni, anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurement are the typical signs that a person is miserable with his job. The presence of these factors shows that the employee is not only miserable but they also signify that an employee is more likely to leave his current job or exhibit more work disruptive attitudes. The first sign, anonymity, is essential because it has to do with the value of the employee. Every employee, according to Lencioni, who does not feel like he or she is making a valuable contribution to work often, feels miserable. As previously mentioned, the rewards at work are not only financial but otherwise. Job satisfaction depends not only on the payment but also the intangible rewards such as being recognized. When the employee feels that the manages does not have any interest in them, their productivity decreases and they feel miserable in work. Another sign is irrelevance. This means that the employee acts as if anything that he or she contributes is useless. This feeling of futility greatly demoralizes the employee and also leads to dissatisfaction at work. The negative effect is that it can spill over to the rest of the group and negatively impact workplace productivity. The last sign is immeasurement which is the lack of ability of workers to gauge their success at work. Most employees have the need to assess just how much they have accomplished. Without this, the employee feels as if they are stuck in the â€Å"twilight zone† with no hope in sight. It is important therefore for the employee to see the progress that he or she has accomplished. The remedy, according to the author, lies in establishing good communication between the employee and the manager. Oftentimes, this problem is caused by lack of or total absence of communication. Therefore, in order to prevent this problem, the employee must strive to communicate to the manager his or her concerns before it becomes a huge problem that can no longer be remedied.