An educational experiment in human resource development: Its relationship to job satisfaction

Abstract

This investigation sought to determine levels of job satisfaction amongst certain categories of employees, and to assess some of the outcomes of an educational programme that constituted part of the human resource development thrust in a large Jamaican organization. Its main component included exposure of a sample of 95 employees to a range of learning experiences in an attempt to address specified performance and developmental needs. This was followed by a comparative analysis of participants' responses to the various courses and the development of a survey instrument to determine job satisfaction levels amongst these employees, as compared to the responses of their untrained counterparts. The main findings were as follows: 1) the evaluation responses of trained employees supported their verbal reports that they had experienced attitudinal changes which they attributed to the training received; 2) the existence of pre-experiment indicators of job dissatisfaction, which had been gleaned in less formal contact with employee groups, was generally confirmed, but the research findings did not validate the existence of the widespread disaffection which had been anticipated; and 3) consistent differences were detected between survey responses of untrained and trained employees, which invited the conclusion that training programmes of the type included could assist in bringing about changes in perceptions, feelings, and dispositions, which have become established indices of the job satisfaction construct