ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the level of job satisfaction evident among early labor force participants in the public and private employment sectors in the late 1980s. Since the advent of the human relations school of management, the concept of job satisfaction has been the subject of great attention and much research by scholars from several disciplines. Even though research findings on connections between job satisfaction, quality of work life, and worker productivity have been quite mixed, the concept of job satisfaction has remained a highly salient research topic. The postindustrial workforce values quality of worklife, sense of purpose in one's work, and participation in decision making more heavily than the material rewards of work. The problem arises when such postindustrial people find employment in organizations which require uniformity of thought, strict rules and fixed procedures, and a stark hierarchy—such as exists in the great majority of public sector settings.
