Analysis Of Giving Me Satisfaction Or Give Me Death

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Give Me Satisfaction, Or Give Me Death! The majority of people spend their adult life working. Maintaining a stable job is pivotal in providing life’s basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing. Often times, the success of a job holder is contingent upon the satisfaction he or she feels when doing the job. Satisfaction obtained from work is an important element of an individual’s success and overall well-being. What are the components of work satisfaction? The factors that contribute to work satisfaction depends on each worker’s conception of an ideal job; I believe that, aside from compensation, the major components of work satisfaction are 1) personal interest, 2) personal freedom, 3) complexity, and 4) variety.
Personal interest …show more content…

Opportunities to expand an individual’s responsibility often times will keep him or her engaged and potentially increase his or her value to the company or organization. In Working, Studs Terkel interviews Nora Watson, a twenty-eight-year-old staff writer for an institution that publishes health care literature. Watson claims that her father was a pastor who constantly bettered the community. She claims that he was always “healing” people in need, listening to others, and staying up all night reviewing sermons: “Being a preacher was so important to him he would call it the Call of the Lord” (Terkel 522). After watching her father show extreme dedication to his vocation for so many years, Watson became inspired and decided that she too wanted to find her “calling” (Terkel 522). However, when Watson enters the business world she is dismayed by her job’s low expectation of her. Watson claims that when she started working for the institution, she expected to put her energy, enthusiasm, and gifts she had to work (Terkel 523). Instead, she was expected to do nothing more than write samples and have them submitted by their set deadlines; the institution couldn’t care less about anything else. Due to the fact that she wasn’t being challenged in the workplace, Watson resented her job: “I’m being had. Somebody has bought the right to you for eight hours a day. The manner in …show more content…

Employees seek appreciation through recognition of their work by their employers because it is a confirmation that their efforts are valued. The lack of recognition for a job well done in the workplace can trigger extreme dissatisfaction. Watson also claims that she resents her job because her hard work is not recognized by her employer: “When I go for a job interview. . . I say, ‘Sure, I can bring you samples, but the ones I’m proud of are the ones the Institution never published’” (Terkel 523). As a result, Watson is extremely dissatisfied with her work because she does not feel as though she is mastering any new skills or being recognized for the seemingly insignificant efforts that she contributes to the

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