Explain what job withdrawal is and discuss the four types of conditions that lead up to it.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Job withdrawal is a set of behaviors that dissatisfied individuals enact to avoid a work situation. Job withdrawal results when circumstances such as the nature of the job, supervisors and co-workers, pay levels, or the employee's own disposition cause the employee to become dissatisfied with the job. This job dissatisfaction produces job withdrawal. Job withdrawal may take the form of behavior change, physical job withdrawal, or psychological withdrawal.

The four general conditions that may cause job dissatisfaction, and thus job withdrawal, include personal dispositions, tasks and roles, supervisors and co-workers, and pay and benefits.

1) Personal dispositions: Several personal qualities have been found to be associated with job dissatisfaction, including negative affectivity and negative core self-evaluation. Negative affectivity means pervasive low levels of satisfaction with all aspects of life. Core self-evaluations are bottom-line opinions individuals have of themselves, either positive or negative. Individuals with negative affectivity and negative self-evaluations generally experience high job dissatisfaction, even after changing employers and occupations.

2) Tasks and roles: As a predictor of job dissatisfaction, nothing surpasses the nature of the task itself. While many aspects of a task have a link to dissatisfaction, of particular significance are the complexity of the task, the degree of physical strain and exertion required, and the value the employee places on the task. In addition, a person's role-the set of behaviors that people expect of a person in a job-may not be well defined or may be contradictory in nature. Role ambiguity (uncertainty about what the organization expects from the employee in terms of what to do or how to do it), role conflict (recognition that demands of the job are incompatible or contradictory and that a person cannot meet all the demands), and role overload (a state in which too many expectations or demands are placed on a person) may result in employee dissatisfaction and job withdrawal.

3) Supervisors and co-workers: Negative behavior, particularly on the part of supervisors, can produce tremendous dissatisfaction. Employees want supervisors to see them as individuals and help create the conditions in which they can succeed-for example, giving assignments suitable for their skills and providing access to the necessary resources. Employees want some evidence that the company's leaders care about them, so they are more likely to be dissatisfied if management is distant and unresponsive.

4) Pay and benefits: Employees also care about their earnings. For most, a job is their primary source of income. In addition, pay may also be an indicator of status within the organization and in society at large, so it contributes to some people's self-worth.