Satisfação e insatisfação no ambiente de trabalho e sua forma de expressão: o caso dos servidores técnico-administrativos da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

This study was meant to investigate the discrepancy observed among the theories of the organizational behavior which search for better work for the individuals as well as what happens, in practice, with the employees that carry out technical-administrative activities at the Federal University of Ceará. The investigation, tried to identify the factors which influence the work’s satisfaction and dissatisfaction, focusing on the variables which explain this process and the way it has been expressed by the worker. In a second moment, it tried to identify the factors of organizational commitment, aiming to confirm the identified results in the first part of the research. Two hundred and twenty three employees were investigated and stratified according to the structure of their positions (supporting, intermediate and superior levels), distributed in nine extracts constituted initially from the work areas, heaped in the same knowledge area, having as reference the organic structure of the university. The objective of that stratification was to identify the different and the common behaviors about the objective of the study. The technical approach used was the survey and the method to select the employees was a random stratified sample. The number of employees used in the sample selection was proportional to the total number of employees in the extract and the analysis of the results was of quantitative predominant nature complemented by the qualitative analysis. The instrument used was a questionnaire outlined in three parts. Initially the research used 64 affirmatives related to the matters of working satisfaction adapted from the instrument of Meliá & Peiró (1998) and from indicators construct from a theoretical review made. The second part allowed the study of the human behavior in relation to the organizational commitment. A reduced instrument was used with 28 compromising indicators, adapted from the model of Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993), and from the model of O’Reilly and Chatman. The gathering of data allowed an evaluation of the satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors of the employee about the following variables: organization; management and supervision; culture and values; remuneration and safety and finally benefits and rewards; and also the identification of the affective, affiliation, instrumental, normative and reward components of the organizational commitment, each one of these variables contains a set of affirmatives. Seeking a larger reliability of the results, these were analyzed firstly considering each item of the affirmatives being followed by a block of affirmatives, and yet according to the employee level. Results show variations, according to the employee’s level in the post’s structure and they allow relevant conclusions when it was match some items. However, the results demonstrate a significant behavior of apathy and indifference; greater satisfaction in the variable of work environment and greater dissatisfaction in the variables remuneration and safety; rewards and benefits and higher level commitment of the affective affiliation components. The relevance of this work is justified in the sense of contributing with the administration of the IES in the search of an improvement of the organizational policies and of the level of satisfaction of the employees.