Job Satisfaction of Teachers in Government Degree Colleges: A Study in Agartala City of Tripura

Dr. Kingshuk Adhikari Assistant Professor Department of Commerce Assam University, Silchar Link Road, Lane No.03, House No. 63, P.O. Silchar – 788006 Cachar, Assam, India Contact No.- 9957286260 Email: adhikari.au@gmail.com

Mr. Surajit Paul Research Scholar Department of Commerce Assam University, Silchar Contact No.- 9597990829 Email: kathavarayan.raman007@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Job satisfaction is the composite feelings of an employee towards different facets of job. It is the result of employees’ perception of how well their job provides those things which are viewed as important . Job satisfaction is very important because most of the people spend a major portion of their life at their work place. From the organisational point of view, research on job satisfaction of employees is essential because it is already recognised that high job satisfaction may lead to improved performance. Like other employees, the satisfaction of college teachers is also vital not only for the teachers but also for the students as well as the other stakeholders of higher education. Job satisfaction of college teachers increases productivity and classroom performance in the college. The present study makes an attempt to analyse the level of satisfaction of college teachers’ on each of the factors of job satisfaction in the Government degree colleges of Agartala city of Tripura. In order to assess the level of job satisfaction, responses of the college teachers has been analyzed over five factors of job satisfaction, namely, pay and allowances, welfare facilities, co-operation and support from colleagues, physical facilities for teachers and promotion matters using mean, SD and one sample t-test. The study concludes that the college teachers’ are significantly dissatisfied with all the factors except ‘co-operation and support from colleagues’.

Keywords: Pay, Promotion, Physical facilities, Co-operation.

Introduction

Job satisfaction can be defined as the extent of positive feelings and attitudes that individuals have towards their jobs. Job satisfaction is the result of employees’ perception of how well their job provides those things which are viewed as important . Over the years, researchers have conducted thousands of studies dealing with job satisfaction. Many of these have identified factors that affect the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of employees.

Job satisfaction of teacher refers to a collection of positive or negative feelings that an individual holds toward his or her job. It is the amount of pleasure or contentment associated with a job. Job satisfaction is one of the most popular and widely researched topics in the field of organizational psychology (Spector, 1997). People are interested to work in the institutions where they feel satisfied. Job dissatisfaction leads to reduced level of performance (Bretz & Thomas, 1992). Quality in teaching and learning can only enhanced if the faculty members are satisfied (Chen et. al., 2006), and the efficiency and condition of an educational institution depends upon the job satisfaction of teachers (Wood, 1976). When teachers are satisfied with their job they can perform their responsibilities with more concentration and devotion. The importance of higher education for the development of the society can hardly be over-emphasised. The teachers’ role in the institutions of higher learning is extremely important for guiding the students in right direction. Thus, the degree of satisfaction of teachers towards their job cannot be undermined rather over the years it has become one of the important areas of research.

Job satisfaction is a multidimensional concept and it implies the attitude of a person towards various facets of his/her job. It combines an individual’s feelings and emotion about their job and how the job affects their personal life (Spector, 1997). Hoppock (1935) defined job satisfaction as any combination of psychological, physiological, and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully to say that he/she has been satisfied with the job. Positive attitudes towards the job are conceptually equivalent to job satisfaction and negative attitudes to the job are equivalent to job dissatisfaction (Vroom, 1964). Job satisfaction is a pleasurable positive emotion state, resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. It results from the perception that one’s job fulfils or allows the fulfilment of one’s important job values, providing and to the degree that these values are congruent with one’s needs (Locke, 1976). Job satisfaction has been defined as the extent to which an employee has favourable or positive feelings about work or the work environment while job dissatisfaction refers to unhappy or negative feelings about work or the work environment. (De Nobile, 2003).

Review of Literature

Job satisfaction is a multidimensional phenomenon and the nature and extent of which are contingent upon a host of factors. The review of various related literature generally forms the basis for identification and selection of factors as well as their components in conducting a study. The literature reviewed in order to conduct the present study may be depicted in a summarised form as follows:

Rao (1997) stated that it is very difficult to define job satisfaction precisely as it is intangible, unseen, unobserved variable and a complex collection of beliefs and emotional feeling. Malik (2010) studied suggested that level of job satisfaction among the male was much lesser as compared to female faculty, he further asserted that work itself and advancement were highly correlated with job satisfaction. Gupta and Gehlawat (2013)revealed that there are no significant difference between the job satisfaction and work motivation of male and female teachers of secondary school teachers. Katoch (2012) found that salaries, physical environment, job security, desired profession, job matching with academic qualification, vacations and fringe benefits etc. affect the job satisfaction among the college teachers. Deshwal (2011) revealed that most of the engineering faculty members have been satisfied with work variety, creativity, compensation, responsibility, job security, achievement and students’ interactions. Shetty & Gujarathi (2012) observed that faculty members have been somewhat satisfied with teaching climate and they have not been much satisfied with participation in decision making and freedom to choose subjects to be taught. Trabue (1993) suggested that profound satisfaction is the actual return of a teacher and if a teacher is satisfied in all dimensions he/she can turn up to the public expectations. When the teachers will be satisfied with the job they can perform better. They can deliver their lectures more effectively and enhance the capabilities of students with more devotion.

All the above mentioned studies highlighted different factors that affect the level of job satisfaction of teachers in one way or the other. Further such studies also tried to analyse the factor wise degree of job satisfaction of teachers working in colleges, universities and other institutes of higher learning.

Objectives of the Study

1) To analyze the degree of job satisfaction of College teachers of Agartala city on the basis of selected organisational factors.

2) To analyze the degree of job satisfaction of College teachers of Agartala city on the basis of various components under each of the selected organisational factors.

Data Source and Methodology

The study is based on primary data. The target population of this study consists of assistant professors and associate professors working in Government degree colleges of Agartala city, the state capital of Tripura. The sample size is forty five (45) which was randomly selected from 176 teachers’ working in four Government degree colleges of Agartala. The names of these four Government degree colleges are as follows:

(1) Maharaja Bir Bikram College

(2) Women’s College, Agartala

(3) Ramthakur College and

(4) Bir Bikram Memorial College

Teachers working in four different Government degree colleges of Agartala city of Tripura have been contacted by undertaking personal visits to respective colleges. They have been served a structured questionnaire for obtaining responses about their degree of satisfaction /dissatisfaction on various aspects relating to the job. The five factors and their components capable of influencing job satisfaction of college teachers were included in the questionnaire to assess the degree of satisfaction / dissatisfaction over such factors as well as components of such factors. A five point scale ranging from ‘Highly Satisfied = 5’ to ‘Highly Dissatisfied =1’ has been used to assess the level of satisfaction /dissatisfaction of college teachers. To analyse the responses of teachers, mean and standard deviation (SD) have been used. In addition to these, one sample t-test [Test value =3] has been employed to test whether the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the teachers over various aspects of their job is significant or not. Such exercises have been carried out to arrive at the findings of the study.

Scope and Limitations of the study

The present study is limited to teachers working in only four Government degree colleges of Agartala city, the state capital of Tripura. Each area has its own geographic, demographic and cultural specificities. Hence, the findings of the study will have to be interpreted with great caution for making any kind of generalization as it will by and large reflect the situation specific to the chosen study area. The chances of biasness in selecting sample for the proposed study cannot be completely eliminated.

Analysis and Interpretation

Table 1 shows the profile of the respondents. The total numbers of respondents have been classified on the basis of gender, education qualification and teaching experience.

Table 1: Profile of the Respondents

Source : Field Survey

Table 1 shows that out of 45 respondents, 62.2% are male teachers and 37.8% are female teachers. Among the total number of respondents, only 42.2% have Ph.D. degree while the remaining 57.8% are yet to acquire the Ph.D. degree. As far as teaching experience is concerned, there are 28 teachers who have already served for more than 15 years while the remaining 17 teachers are have teaching experience of less than equal to 15 years in colleges.

The mean and standard deviation have been computed based on the responses obtained through questionnaire from the college teachers of Government degree colleges of Agartala city on five select factors capable of influencing of' job satisfaction and the same has been presented in table 2.

Table 2: Factor wise Satisfaction of College Teachers

Source : Field Survey

Table 2 portrays the mean and standard deviation based on the responses of college teachers’ satisfaction on all five select factors, namely, pay and allowance, welfare facilities, co-operation and support from colleagues, promotion matters and physical facilities for Teachers as well as teachers’ overall job satisfaction. College teachers’ have been dissatisfied at a 5 per cent level of significance with the factors Pay and Allowance, Physical Facilities for Teachers, co-operation from colleagues and Welfare Facilities. College teachers’ have expressed their highest degree of dissatisfaction of the factor ‘Physical Facilities for Teachers’ out of five factors considered in the study. Physical facilities like, infrastructure, availability of purified water, hygienic condition of washroom, internet facility etc. are not available as per their expectation level and in some colleges some of these facilities are totally unavailable for them.

As far as the values of standard Deviation (SD) is concerned, least variation in the satisfaction of college teachers’ has been found with the factor ‘Pay and Allowance’, while highest variation has been observed with the factor “Promotion Matters”.

Table 3: Component wise Degree of Satisfaction of College Teachers’ with the Factor “Pay and Allowances”

Source : Field Survey

Table 3shows the component wise level of satisfaction of teachers working in Government degree colleges in Agartala City of Tripura over the factor ‘Pay and Allowances’. College teachers’ have been satisfied at a 5 per cent level of significance with respect to the components of ‘Pay scale (4.18)’. College teachers’ have been dissatisfied at a 5 per cent level of significance with respect to the other two components. The highest degree of dissatisfaction has been observed with the component ‘Dearness allowance (1.87)’. The rate of dearness allowance in Tripura is exceptionally low as compared to other neighbouring states and thus it is quite convincing that the teachers working in Government degree colleges of Agartala city could not manage their expenditure with the existing rate of Dearness Allowance offered by the Government of Tripura.

However, the values of standard Deviation (SD) indicate that there exists least variation in the satisfaction of college teachers’ with respect to ‘Pay Scale’ component. But highest variation has been observed on ‘House rent Allowance’ component because a good number of teachers working in Government degree colleges reside in their own or ancestral house.

Table 4: Component wise Degree of Satisfaction of College Teachers’ with the Factor “Welfare Facilities”

Source : Field Survey

Table 4portrays the component wise level of college teachers’ satisfaction over the factor ‘Welfare Facilities’. College teachers’ have been dissatisfied at a 5 per cent level of significance with respect to all the three components of ‘Welfare Facilities’. The highest degree of dissatisfaction has been observed with the component ‘Medical reimbursement facility (2.27)’, followed by ‘L.T.C facility (2.36)’ of the factor “Welfare Facilities”. However, college teachers’ have expressed their level of satisfaction at 5 per cent level of significance with the component ‘Retirement benefits’. College teachers’ could not avail the absolute medical reimbursement facilities which are available for them and the policy of medical reimbursement facility was not updated for a long period of time. It is also not easily accessible for them because the entire procedure of granting and sanctioning of medical reimbursement facilities is cumbersome for college teachers.

The variation in the satisfaction of college teachers’ has been least with respect to ‘Retirement benefits’ because all the teachers surveyed are under the old pension scheme and as a result the expected retirement benefits is by and large clear to them. But highest variation has been observed with respect to ‘Medical reimbursement facility’ and it may be due to the fact that some of the teachers are yet to submit their case for medical reimbursement and some teachers have already enjoyed the medical reimbursement benefits. It is also revealed during discussion with the respondents that availing the medical reimbursement facilities is a titanic task for them.

Table 5: Component wise Degree of Satisfaction of College Teachers’ with the Factor “Co-operation and Support from Colleagues”

Source : Field Survey

Table 5 shows the component wise level of college teachers’ satisfaction on the factors ‘Co-operation and Support from Colleagues’. College teachers have been satisfied at a 5 per cent level of significance with respect to all the three components of this factor. The highest degree of satisfaction has been observed with the component ‘Support from principal (4.49)’, followed by ‘Co-operation from fellow teachers (4.38)’ and ‘Support from non-teaching staffs (3.98)’. All college teachers could get the maximum support from principal in both academic and administrative matters. The principal is head of all academic and administrative bodies and he/she has the power to regulate all academic and administrative activities. It is obvious that majority of the college teachers would give positive response with respect to queries regarding principal of the college. It is to be noted that teachers are not getting the desired level of support from the non-teaching staff which is a matter of great concern in almost all the colleges.

As far as the values of standard Deviation (SD) are concerned, least variation in the satisfaction of college teachers’ has been found with ‘Support from principal’ component. But the highest variation has been observed with ‘Support from non-teaching staffs’ component because junior and senior teachers do not get the same degree of co-operation and support from non-teaching staffs.

Table 6: Component wise Degree of Satisfaction of College Teachers’ with the Factor “Physical Facilities for Teachers”

Source : Field Survey

Table 6 shows the component wise level of college teachers’ satisfaction on the factor “Physical Facilities for Teachers”. College teachers have been dissatisfied with respect to the components of ‘Hygienic condition of washroom (2.51)’, and ‘Internet facilities for teachers (1.96)’ at a 5 per cent level of significance. Internet is a great source of resources and it is highly used in all institutions of higher learning. But internet facilities are inadequate in all the colleges under the study. Moreover, there is hardly any separate arrangement for providing internet facilities to the teachers in Government degree colleges in Agartala city. College teachers have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the ‘Availability of purified water’ component but the same is not significant.

The values of standard Deviation (SD) indicate that there exists least variation in the satisfaction of college teachers’ about ‘Internet facilities for teachers’ component. It implies that college teachers are by and large unanimous about the status of internet facilities in the colleges. But highest variation in the responses of college teachers with ‘Availability of purified water’ component has been observed. This is to be mentioned here that out of four colleges included in the study, only two colleges have installed modern appliances for providing purified water to the teachers.

Table 7portrays the component wise level of college teachers’ satisfaction over the factor ‘Promotion Matters’. College teachers have been dissatisfied at a 5 per cent level of significance with the component of ‘Processing time of promotion matters’. The highest degree of satisfaction has been observed with the component ‘Qualifying criteria regarding API score (3.22)’ which is followed by ‘Mechanisms for performance evaluation for promotion (3.04)’.

Table 7: Component wise Degree of Satisfaction of College Teachers’ with the Factor “Promotion Matters”

Source : Field Survey

The dissatisfaction of college teachers with respect to processing time of promotion clearly implies that the promotion cases are not settled in time due to negligence on the part of college administration or office of the Director of Higher Education.

The value of standard deviation indicates that there exists least variation in the responses of college teachers with respect to processing time of promotion matters. Majority of the college teachers are by and large at a consensus about the delay in the matter of processing of promotion cases. But the highest variation has been observed with the component ‘Mechanisms for performance evaluation for promotion’ meaning thereby all the teachers are not equally affected by the existing mechanism for performance evaluation for the purpose of promotion.

Conclusion

Employee’s opinions and beliefs play a vital role in explaining job satisfaction as it depends on one’s appraisal of his/her job. The teachers working in government general degree colleges in Agartala, the state capital of Tripura are by and large dissatisfied with four (4) factors out of five (5) select factors considered in the study. Teachers are dissatisfied at 5 per cent level of significance with the factors pay and allowance, welfare facilities and physical facilities for Teachers. They also showed their level of dissatisfaction with the factor “Promotion Matters”. However, college teachers are significantly very much satisfied with the factor “Co-operation and support from colleagues. Highest degree of dissatisfaction has been found on ‘Physical Facilities for Teachers’ factor. However, least variation has been observed regarding ‘Pay and Allowance’ factor while highest variation has been noticed with respect to ‘Promotion Matters’.

The study reveals that college teachers are significantly dissatisfied with dearness allowance, house rent allowance, L.T.C facility, medical reimbursement facility, internet facilities for teachers and processing time of promotion matters. Thus, there is still ample scope and opportunities to formulate necessary plans and adopt suitable strategies for improving the status of job satisfaction of college teachers’ working in the government general degree colleges of Agartala city of Tripura.

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