Correlates of Job Satisfaction in Medical Officers

Background: A study was carried out to assess the job satisfaction of medical officers of the Armed Forces.

Methods: Medical officers having a minimum of five years service, stationed in a large cantonment having a tertiary care service hospital were administered anonymously the scale developed by Brayfield and Rothe to assess job satisfaction. A total of 64 medical officers (22 administrative cadre, 26 specialists and 16 superspecialists), participated in the study.

Results: Overall there was a low level of job satisfaction among the medical officers. There was no significant difference in the level of job satisfaction in the three groups. Only 3 each of administrative cadre and specialist officers were in the higher satisfied group. The most common factor stated (91.5% of the respondents), as contributing towards job satisfaction was an opportunity for self-development. Others in decreasing frequency were job security (51.6%), prestige of organization (38.5%), nature of work (28.8%) and opportunity for promotion (21.6%). Factors for dissatisfaction were poor utilization of skills (80.8%), poor promotional prospects (78.4%), inadequate redressal of grievances (72.7%), organizational policy (68.7%) and inadequate pay and allowances (48.7%).

Conclusion: It was concluded that job satisfaction is a multi-dimensional phenomenon where it is not easy to assign one factor as the sole determinant of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the job.