Research indicates that about ___ percent of job satisfaction is genetically determined.

1. Psychological Tests. A psychological test is a systematic procedure for observing behavior in a standard situation and describing it on a number scale or a system of categories. I/O psychologists use standard IQ tests, personality tests, as well as integrity tests.
2. Selection Interviews. A selection interview is designed to determine an applicant�s suitability for a job. Structured interviews involve a prepared list of questions the interviewer asks in a particular order. Unstructured interviews are more spontaneous and variable. Research has consistently found structured interviews to be related to better hiring decisions than unstructured.
3. Assessment Centers. An assessment center is an extensive set of exercises designed to determine an individual�s suitability for a particular job. They are most often used to hire or promote managers, though they can be used for other positions. The in-basket task is a typical assessment center exercise for managers that involves working through an overflowing in-basket left by a �previous manager.� Performance is graded on a variety of dimensions.

1. Establishing Performance Criteria. Criteria define what is meant by good or bad performance in an organization. A theoretical criterion is a statement of what good or poor performance is, in theory. An actual criterion specifies what should be measured to tap whether the theoretical criterion has been met. The match between theoretical and actual criteria is imperfect, however, and often several actual criteria are needed.

1. Objective Measures. Objective measures of job performance include counting the frequency of particular behaviors, or the results of those behaviors. These are useful for some jobs, but not all, as some jobs do not have �countable� criteria.
2. Subjective Measures. Subjective measures involve supervisor judgments about employees� work. Graphic rating forms list several dimensions of job-performance and provide a space for a rating (e.g., on a scale from 1 to 10). Such judgments are prone to a variety of errors such as the leniency and halo errors. To minimize these errors, I/O psychologists recommend behavior-focused rating forms, which ask supervisors to rate specific behaviors rather than dimensions of performance.

1. Transfer of Training. Transfer of training involves teaching knowledge and skills that are generalizable, or transferable, to the workplace.
2. Feedback. Feedback involves a trainer or fellow trainees telling someone how they are doing with constructive suggestions following error or failure, and reinforcement following progress.
3. Training in General Principles. Training in general principles involves putting new information in broader context so that it fits into a bigger picture.
4. Overlearning. Overlearning allows trainees to practice using information and skills until they reach a high level of performance, often to the point of using the information/skills automatically.
5. Sequencing. Sequencing refers to the timing of the training. Massed training is cheaper, but less effective. Distributed training is more expensive and less disruptive to employee�s schedules, but less effective in the long run.

1. Evaluation Criteria. Training-level criteria includes data collected immediately after a training session about how much trainees liked or perceived value in the training. Trainee learning criteria involves information about what trainees actually learned from the program. Performance-level criteria evaluate the degree to which transfer-of-training occurred. Programs may have high ratings on one type of criteria, with low ratings on others.

1. Job Requirements. In general, people tend to be more satisfied with work that is more complex. However, individuals who lack the knowledge and skills to do complex work may not experience increased satisfaction with increased complexity.
2. Salary. Higher salaries alone do not increase job satisfaction. Knowing that salary decisions are made in a fair way may be more important than the salary itself. Knowing others are paid more for the same work leads to the experience of relative deprivation.
3. Work-Family Conflict. Needing to care for a sick child or attend a school play are examples of this conflict. Many organizations deal with this by developing family friendly work policies such as flextime.
4. Gender, Age, and Ethnicity. Gender has not been found to impact job satisfaction, but age has. Older workers tend to be more satisfied than younger, perhaps because older workers have the education and experience to be involved in more complex, highly paid jobs. Research on ethnicity and job satisfaction has produced mixed results.

Differences in job satisfaction reflect genetic predispositions toward liking or not liking a job.

What evidence is available to support the assertion?

Research has shown that genetically influenced personality traits are related to job satisfaction. Also, a study directly examined this assertion using the following method. Thirty-four pairs of identical twins who had been separated and raised in different environments completed a job satisfaction questionnaire. The results showed a strong positive correlation between the twins' responses.

Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?

Although the positive correlation is supportive of the assertion, it is merely a correlational study and factors other than genetic predisposition could have influenced job satisfaction. It may be that genes don't shape job satisfaction itself, but do shape the characteristics that influence people's access to satisfying work.

What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?

Information about the impact of job characteristics on the high correlation between twins' job satisfaction ratings would be helpful. Researchers did examine this, and found that the twins tended to hold very similar jobs in terms of complexity. A more complete assessment of the jobs and job environments would be helpful.

What conclusions are most reasonable?

There is no single reason why people differ in job satisfaction. The results suggest a strong genetic influence, but this influence could be indirect by affecting worker characteristics that in turn determine access to jobs that tend to be more satisfying.

1. Job Performance. Satisfied workers tend to be more motivated, work harder, and perform better than dissatisfied ones.
2. Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is a willingness to go beyond formal job requirements to help coworkers and the organization. High satisfaction increases the probability of an employee showing high OCB.
3. Turnover. High satisfaction is not always related to low job turnover. Employees tend not to leave one job until they have another, so dissatisfied workers tend not to leave until they have an alternative.
4. Absenteeism. The correlation between job satisfaction and absenteeism is weak. Other factors, such as work-family conflicts, however, are more predictive of absenteeism.
5. Aggression and Counterproductive Work Behavior. Job dissatisfaction is one cause of workplace aggression and other forms of counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Stress at work tends to lead to dissatisfaction and negative emotions, which in turn can result in CWB.

1. Rotating Shift Work. Employees� whose shifts change week to week experience disruption in their circadian rhythms that can cause fatigue, irritability, and reduced cognitive functioning.
2. Long Shifts and Long Weeks. Although employees often like long shifts because they result in greater blocks of time off, extended work days may create health and performance problems for some. Work weeks that last over 48 hours can be especially problematic and are associated with health problems such as heart disease.

1. What Makes a Good Leader? Intelligence and trustworthiness have been identified as important traits of good leaders. In some countries, a willingness to take risks is identified as a positive leader trait; in other countries that same trait is viewed negatively.
2. How Do Good Leaders Behave? Good leaders tend to be high on both consideration and on initiating structure. Consideration is concern for the welfare of employees. Initiating structure is the degree to which a leader coordinates employee efforts by assigning tasks and clarifying expectations.
3. Leader-Member Interactions. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory suggests that most leaders tend to adopt different styles with two kinds of subordinates. The most consideration and best treatment is given to the in-group, and the out-group employees are given less consideration. In-group members experience more job satisfaction and less occupational stress.