EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT ON JOB SATISFACTION

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
One of the valued concepts considered to be important to enable employees achieve high degree of teamwork spirit, self-confidence, innovation and independent thinking is through employee empowerment (Elnaga & Imran, 2014). Firms should be able to retain, compensate and find employees who are talented to enable the organization achieve its goals and objectives. According to Armstrong (2006) employee involvement in decision creation is the participation of the employees in the judgment making practice of a business. Empirical studies express that involvement of workers in decision making leads to superior organizational pledge, better performance, reduced employee turnover, reduced staff absenteeism and increased job satisfaction (Moorhead & Griffin, 2004; Luthans, 2005). In the last decades, employee empowerment has attracted a lot of attention from both practitioners and academics due to frequent change in employment relationship. In 1990s, policies and priorities like training and development, participative choice creation and independent work clusters were the essential theme in establishments leading to the growth of the idea of workers empowerment. Studies in employee empowerment support a significant relationship between employee empowerment and job satisfaction (Rana & Singh, 2016). According to Muindi (2011) job satisfaction is beneficial to both the employer and the employee because it is the key prerequisite for employee productivity. Job satisfaction enables an employee to have peace of mind and concentrate more on his job (Maher, 2008).
There are several theories which explain job satisfaction. These are fulfilment theory, discrepancy theory and motivator – hygiene theory. According to Herzberg’s (1979) fulfillment theory, workers are satisfied when their demands are fully fulfilled. This involves satisfying their demands and be able to get their wishes. Another theory is the discrepancy theory as it was propounded by (Locke, 1969). This theory states that satisfaction of individual will depend on the degree to which a person derives him in to the job and should agree to the results hunted at the job. For example, when a person becomes aware of his deficiency in his competence, he is motivated to achieve it, and the interest caused by the discrepancy between what he needs to know and what he knows drives him to put allot of effort to achieve his objectives. Another theory is the motivator- hygiene theory as it was propounded by Herzberg’s (1959). This theory states that, motivating factors like achievement and recognition, benefits and pay need to be met for an employee to be satisfied with his work. In addition, the hygiene factors like job security, quality of management, company policies, interaction with other employees, working condition and company policies are associated with job dissatisfaction. This theory states that, an employee is dissatisfied when hygiene factors are low and neutral but not necessarily satisfied when these factors are high. This indicate that whether an employee is satisfied or not depends on the motivating factors.
A healthy nation is beneficial to the economy in terms productivity and economic development. A good health helps improve labor productivity and also workers are less likely to be absent from work due to illness. Production losses caused due to workers illness is eradicated by maintenance of healthy workers in the organization. This leads to increased output of a worker hence increasing sales of the organization hence leading to economic development of the country. Both the ability to save and impetus to save is affected by a poor health (Bloom & Canning 2008). Infectious diseases decrease workers productivity and reduce investments because foreign savers tend to evade parts where disease is widespread and there is partial access to health attention. According to Finlay (2007) health play an important role in economic development. One of the basic human needs is provision of good health services which positively contribute towards maintaining the productive potential of the people hence leading to economic development of a country. In Nigeria health industry, there has been numerous strikes and industrial unrest. As a result, there have been several reports of death of patients and also patients seeking alternative means of treatment. Due to these reasons, the researcher was motivated to study in this sector to help in coming up with appropriate employee empowerment practices and programs that will enhance employee performance and job satisfaction in health sector firms in Nigeria. Since the research is touching on the health and wellbeing of the people, it will advance the aims of the vision 2030.
Statement of the Problem
Due to   limited   awareness   among   managers   about   their   supervisory   and administrative duties, that include concerns towards other employees in addition to their tasks and lack of awareness of such relationship may have negative impact of on intention to stay using organizational approach of job satisfaction and employees empowerment .Sometimes, they don't consider their subordinates’ feelings and views which eventually affect the organization. Therefore, competition of organizations creativities do not result in positive outcomes due to lack of empowerment and satisfaction which could contribute to the objectives and goals of the organization.
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to determine the effect of compensation management on employee performance. Specific objectives include;
i.  To evaluate the effect of employee empowerment on job satisfaction.
ii.  To determine employee empowerment on job satisfaction.
Research Questions
i.  What are the effect of employee empowerment on job satisfaction.
ii.  How can employee empowerment affect job satisfaction
Significance of the Study
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study. 
Scope of the Study
This study covers the effect of employee empowerment on job satisfaction.
Limitations of the study
The demanding schedule of respondents at work made it very difficult getting the respondents to participate in the survey. As a result, retrieving copies of questionnaire in timely fashion was very challenging. Also, the researcher is a student and therefore has limited time as well as resources in covering extensive literature available in conducting this research. Information provided by the researcher may not hold true for all businesses or organizations but is restricted to the selected organization used as a study in this research especially in the locality where this study is being conducted. Finally, the researcher is restricted only to the evidence provided by the participants in the research and therefore cannot determine the reliability and accuracy of the information provided.
Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work. 
Definition of Terms
Employee: This is a person employed for wages or salary, especially at non-executive level.
Empowerment: This is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority.
Job satisfaction: Employee satisfaction or work satisfaction is a measure of workers' contentedness with their job, whether they like the job or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work or supervision. Job satisfaction can be measured in cognitive, affective, and behavioral components.