Improving employees’ job satisfaction with transformational leadership and trust in supervisors

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Source: KoinWorks

The role of a leader in the organization towards employees is very important. A leader is one of the determinants of the path and goals of the organization and must be ready to respond to growth (Rohman et al., 2020). Leadership is an important role that can influence the success or failure of an organization. The need for good leadership is increasing, especially in the face of global competition. This study uses the aspect of a leader with a transformational leadership style.

According to Wardani & Eliyana, (2020) argues that the concept of transformational leadership, initiated by Bass in 2003, explains that transformational leadership is the practice of identifying the motivations, values and needs of superiors and subordinates with the aim of satisfying the entire group. Transformational leadership will motivate others to do more than they should and often more than they think. They set more challenging expectations and usually achieve higher performance. This type of leadership is believed to be one of the driving factors for employees to innovate or make changes better than before (Syabarrudin et al., 2020).

Transformational leadership tends to be open-minded and visionary, so that employees will be supported to be more innovative. Companies need to have transformational leadership that can motivate employees to work beyond expectations.

Basically, transformational leadership is based on the principles of development related to subordinates (Chan & Mak, 2016). Transformational leadership is known to be able to evaluate the ability and potential of each subordinate to carry out his / her job, while looking at the possibility of expanding the responsibility and authority of subordinates in the future. In the relationship process between leaders and employees, an element of confidence in employees is needed. When they feel confident in their leader, they do not hesitate to engage with their leader as long as it is in accordance with organizational policies.

Some people will feel afraid to generate opinions if they lack trust in their leader (Afsar & Masood, 2018). In this study, it was also stated that supervisors were a critical factor in influencing employee work behavior. Having trust to supervisors embedded in the norms of reciprocity and social exchange is known to enable employees to manage risk and uncertainty effectively (Connelly et al., 2012). So that through the effect of transformational leadership, employees are expected to be able to apply trust to supervisors.

Because a high level of trust will emerge when employees understand confidentiality, identify with the organization, and feel a safe environment where they can keep themselves comfortable (Khattak et al., 2020). So that employees will remain comfortable in the organizational environment, and create better results for their performance. It can also lead to an increase in employee job satisfaction.

An effective leader is a leader who recognizes the important strengths contained in the individual. Every individual has different needs and wants. By approaching individuals, leaders can apply all organizational rules and policies appropriately. Human resources or employees are by far the most important asset in any organization. Indeed, no organization can succeed without paying attention to its employees (Puni et al., 2018). One aspect of employee work that attracts the attention of management and organizational researchers is job satisfaction. Luthans, (2011) stated that “job satisfaction is a sense of comfort or a positive emotional state that results from job evaluation or work experience.”

Basically, job satisfaction is an individual thing because each individual will have a different level of satisfaction. Companies should first understand well that in order to have the right employees and be able to develop in a better direction, the company must first prioritize the job satisfaction of each employee (Setiawan et al., 2020). Employee job satisfaction is very important to enable an employee to bring out the maximum ability in his job. In particular, employees who are satisfied with their work will be considered to be able to increase customer satisfaction and further make the organization profitable and moreover make the organization sustainable in the long term.

Regional Drinking Water Company or what is often called PDAM is a regionally owned business unit, which is engaged in the business of distributing clean water for the general public. There are now PDAMs in every province, district, and municipality throughout Indonesia. PDAM is known to be a means of providing clean water which is supervised and monitored by the regional executive and legislative officials. The history of PDAM in general starts with the construction of drinking water in 106 districts / cities, which was followed by the formation of the BPAM (Drinking Water Management Agency) as well as becoming the embryo of the PDAM that manages drinking water facilities and facilities where the Central Government is also responsible for the construction of this local government-owned production unit. PDAM Surya Sembada Surabaya is based in Surabaya, East Java, as one of the most reliable and reputable regional drinking water companies in Indonesia. This company has been established since 1976 and is owned by the Surabaya City Government.

Currently the condition of the company PDAM Surya Sembada Surabaya has developed and is more advanced than a few years ago. PDAM Surya Sembada Kota Surabaya as a clean water service agency always tries to provide excellent service oriented to customer satisfaction. This is manifested in the commitment of PDAM Surya Sembada. Surabaya City to always prioritize fast, precise and satisfying service. Company strategies that will be carried out in the short, medium and long term, such as looking for better sources of raw water in terms of quality and quantity, improving services to customers, including quality, quantity (capacity building), continuity, rehabilitating building infrastructure The existing Drinking Water Supply System, suitable for customers and technological developments, builds Soft Skill capabilities in the construction of a Drinking Water Supply System (SPAM) which includes installation, transmission, distribution, quality laboratories, professional customer service, and making a professional and independent company management.

Thus, to realize the company’s goal of PDAM Surya Sembada Kota Surabaya in achieving a competitive advantage and making the company sustainable in the long term, the influence of a leader is needed. Through the right transformational leadership will create a trust to supervisors and job satisfaction with their employees. That way, they will still feel comfortable and feel that their psychological well-being is maintained, but at the same time they will be able to create better work results in achieving company goals. The author examines the effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction by mediating trust to supervisors for PDAM Surya Sembada employees who are in the Occupational Health Safety (K3) section.

Based on the analysis and hypothesis testing that has been carried out in this study, it is concluded that transformational leadership has a significant effect on job satisfaction of employees of PDAM Surya Sembada who is in the K3 section, that transformational leadership has a significant effect on trust to supervisors of PDAM Surya Sembada who is in the K3 section. , that trust to supervisor has a significant effect on job satisfaction of employees of PDAM Surya Sembada who is in the K3 division, and that trust to supervisors mediates the effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction of PDAM Surya Sembada who is in the K3 division.

Supported by a statement from Ariyabuddhiphongs & Kahn, (2017) which explains the mechanism of trust to supervisor influence will create the right relationship between transformational leadership and various effects, such as job satisfaction. So that the results of this study can realize the goals of the company PDAM Surya Sembada Surabaya City which is in the K3 section in achieving competitive advantage and making the company sustainable in the long term, because the influence of the leader has gone well. Through proper transformational leadership, this can create a trust to supervisors and job satisfaction with their employees. That way, they will still feel comfortable and feel that their psychological well-being is maintained, but simultaneously they will be able to create better work results in achieving company goals.

The results of this study can be used as recommendations by the management of the company regarding the effect of transformational leadership on employee job satisfaction through trust to supervisor mediation. This can affect the level of satisfaction in employees to produce creative ideas and solutions created by supervisors with a transformational leadership style and can maintain confidence and provide more hope for employees. In addition, seen through the average result on the job satisfaction variable, the lowest is 3.76 and this means that the employees of PDAM Surya Sembada Kota Surabaya who are in the K3 section stated that they are satisfied with jobs that have a supportive and promising career path. Even though it is still in the high category, these results show the smallest average. So, it is necessary that these employees are more satisfied with what they receive from their company. Because the satisfaction they feel can affect how well their job will provide things that are considered important.

Author: Anis Eliyana

Details of the research can be viewed here : http://www.sysrevpharm.org/index.php?fulltxt=17199&fulltxtj=196&fulltxtp=196-1603188795.pdf

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