JOB SATISFACTION AMONG

ACADEMICIANS

Dr.C.S.RANGARAJAN

The academic fraternity may be compared with

a deck of playing cards. Since the academics
are engaged in the shaping of 'men of
tomorrow today', they remain at the top of the
pack, the 'Aces'. There can never be a
perceptible difference in strategies employed
between selling of merchandise and imparting
of knowledge. Before the actual 'sale' of ideas
or knowledge, a teacher has to go through the
whole gamut of preparation or 'Spade' work so
as to ensure that the 'cognitive' domain is well
taken care of. In every approach, it should be
his constant endeavour to hit his students in
the 'Heart', which represents the 'affective'
domain. As the teacher starts realising that
each one of his students has a mind and a
mouth, he should allow them to use both. As
he starts giving importance to class room
'interaction' backed by frequent feedback, he
will come to realize that he is dealing in
'Diamonds' precious enough for the posterity.
The teacher tries to cushion his lectures with a
'Club', linking the unknown with the known.
Teaching is a human experience and since all
encounters within the class room centre
around the 'Joker', the teacher has to prepare
himself well in order to see that he has all the
'ingredients' to fit into any teacher-student
learning situation.
In the midst of such situations prevailing, for
academicians, productivity is a function of
their eagerness to increase their personal
status, and their intellectual pilgrimage, if we
may say so, is dictated by external conditions.
The credit goes to Mao Tse-tung (1967) who
said 'external causes are the conditions of
change and internal causes are the basis of
change. In a suitable temperature an egg
changes into a chicken, but no temperature
can change a stone into a chicken because
each has a different basis'. Achievement and
recognition are both considered as intrinsic.
However achievement is determined by
performance, while recognition may have
something to do with job satisfaction. It is to
be recognised that job satisfaction levels can
vary performance.

An examination of the problems of job

satisfaction is called for since it is a question
of the incumbent's satisfaction that is
considered as essential to checkmate the
diminishing returns of productivity. Merton
(1949) makes a distinction between ' locals'
and ' cosmopolitans' and sharing a parochial
nature of the 'locals' and ecumenical nature of
the 'cosmopolitans' , Gouldner (1957) goes on
to add that while the 'locals' loyalty to
employing organisation is ' high', they are 'low'
on commitment to specialised role skills and
are likely to use an inner reference group
orientation. The 'cosmopolitans' on the other
hand are those 'low' on loyalty to employing
organisation, 'high' on commitment to
specialised role skills and are likely to use
outer reference group orientation.
It needs to be seen whether academicians can
have access to rewards far beyond the levels
of job satisfaction. In other words,
independent of levels of satisfaction,
productivity is their life breath and without it
their survival will be in jeopardy. For them
‘contended mind is not a continual feast'.
Unless academicians who are comparable to
'cosmopolitans' have an 'urge' to be seen as
men of eminence, mere presence of 'high' level
of job satisfaction will be of no avail. Viewed
against the background of a condition in which
'high satisfaction' is prevalent with 'urge'
conspicuous by its absence, it is discernable
that there exists a 'paternalistic relationship'
between the academicians and the
management with their eyes not focused on
productivity. Increased productivity with an
'urge' for 'outer group reference' contributes to
the eminence of academicians.
The heads of the academicians, though small,
need to carry all the news in order to stay put
in their professional pursuits and thereby
make a mark. Such of those who lag behind
and fail to make a mark are sure to go 'unwept,
unhonoured and unsung to the vile dust
whence they sprung'.

Note: The idea to compare the academic fraternity with a deck of

playing cards is borrowed from the work ‘Sell Like an Ace and
Live Like a King’ by John Wolfe.