Organizational Dissent and Its Perceived Effect on the Job Satisfaction of the Rank-and-File Employees of the Philippine General Hospital

Abstract

Organizational Dissent represents a vent for expressing disagreement or contradictory opinions about organizational practices and policies. It evokes dissonance which can lead to conflict thus, managerial efforts are primarily geared towards discouraging employees to express organizational dissent. However, few foreign studies revealed that the freedom of expressing organizational dissent can in fact benefit the individual and in the long run affect the organization favorably. More so, if not few, no studies conducted in the Philippines deal with organizational dissent. This study, entitled “Organizational Dissent and its Perceived Effect on Job Satisfaction of the Rank-and-File Employees of the Philippine General Hospital”, is thus conducted to validate, in the context of work and organizations in the Philippine setting, the positive effect of organizational dissent. Specifically, this study aims to analyze the atypical concept of “organizational dissent” and apply it in the context of a medical institution which will focus on the rank-and-file employees. Further it seeks to ascertain the relationship between the freedom of expressing organizational dissent and the job satisfaction of the employees. In order to fulfill the objectives of this study, a descriptive research design was employed to assert the perceived effect of upward organizational dissent on the job satisfaction or the rank-and-file employees of the Philippine General Hospital. A cross-sectional survey method was implemented to 105 employees from the different departments which were chosen using the simple random sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics is used to analyze and summarize the data gathered from the research instrument. Tabulation was done to determine the frequency of the responses and a correlation analysis was performed to identify the relationship between organizational dissent and job satisfaction. The results of the survey reveal that upward organizational dissent is apparent in the rank-and-file employees of the Philippine General Hospital. However, their dissent strategies vary according to whom the issue is directly concerned with. These dissent strategies were grouped into three categories according to its influence on the employee to dissent namely individual, relational, and organizational. The results show that the relational factor greatly affects an employee to dissent. In the study, there are eight factors which were deemed to have an effect on the job satisfaction of the rank-and-file employees; salary, benefits, co-workers, supervisors, administration, freedom of expressing organizational dissent, union and workload respectively. All of these factors were ranked by the respondents which mean that each really contributes to an extent to their job satisfaction. Likewise, the same factors were used to identify the factors that influence the employees to remain affiliated in the company. Ail of these factors were also ranked by the respondents which mean that each really contributes to an extent to their willingness to stay in the company. Furthermore, the different dissent strategies used by the employees were also determined and the results display that articulated dissent is mostly used by the employees whether the issue concerns their supervisor or the administration. Based on the correlation analysis performed, it is apparent that, indeed, the freedom of expressing organizational dissent affects the job satisfaction of the rank-and-file employees. The strong correlation between the two variables is a proof to the strong connection between the job satisfaction and freedom of expressing organizational dissent. However, the general perception of the employees reveals that they do not consider the freedom of expressing organizational dissent as a major influence on their job satisfaction based on the low ranking of organizational dissent as a factor in job satisfaction. This perception does not negate the previous conclusion but rather strengthens the consistency of this research. It therefore, shows that even though the employees perceive that the freedom they exercise in expressing Organizational Dissent does not affect their job satisfaction, the results of the study proves otherwise. All these consistencies assert the importance of allowing employees to give feedbacks whether positive or negative and thus affect them positively or negatively. In this case, the freedom of expressing Organizational Dissent, to an extent, makes the employees satisfied. With this confirmation, the researcher recommends the following: (1)Other factors that might have a relationship with Organizational Dissent like job performance, organizational climate, willingness to stay in the company, etc. should be considered in explaining the importance of having freedom in expressing organizational dissent in the workplace. (2)The value of job satisfaction according to other aspects like salary, relationship with co-workers, workload, management, etc. should be studied as well in order to discover the impact of the freedom of expressing organizational dissent on the aforementioned factors. (3)The relationship between job satisfaction and the willingness to stay in the company can be a good topic for future researches.(4)The managements perception on Organizational Dissent and its implications on the job satisfaction of its employees should be considered to bring about a new and unbiased take on the importance of expressing Organizational Dissent. Furthermore, the researcher recommends the following to the PGH: (1)This research can be a good basis for the PGH Administration in developing better management and human relations strategies (2)The negative perception of the employees regarding the UNION should serve as a basis for the need to reassess the current status of the UNION in the PGH. And lastly to the future researcher: (1) the study can be repeated employing a qualitative research design so as to create an in depth analysis of the phenomenon. (2)The sample size should be increased for greater generalization of the data gathered. (3)An instrument specifically designed to measure Organizational Dissent should be developed in order to encompass other variables and issues of the said phenomenon. (4) A study involving a medical institution from the private sector can be a good subject for future researches on the importance of expressing organizational dissent among the employees.(5) A study involving a manufacturing industry can be a good subject for future researches since dissent is very explicit in this kind of institution. (6) More studies on the PGH as an organization should be conducted.(7) Continuous study regarding Organizational Dissent especially in the Philippine setting should be pursued in the context of Organizational Communication due to the limited sources on this research.