Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.5 Structure of the thesis
The thesis layout includes the following specific contents:
- Chapter 1: Introduction of the research topic - Chapter 2: Literature overview - Rationale - Chapter 3: Research methodology
- Chapter 4: Analysis of research results
- Chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations...
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will present an overview of Thu Duc Power Company, the theory of self-assessment, job satisfaction, the relationship between self-assessment and job satisfaction at work.
2.1 Overview of Thu Duc Power Company
Thu Duc Power Company is a dependent accounting unit under Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation. Its headquarters is located at No.647, Provincial Highway No.43, Tam Binh Ward, Thu Duc District.
2.1.1. Formation and development
Before 1975, Thu Duc Power Company was a part of Bien Hoa Thu Duc under the management of Bien Hoa Water Power Company, it was responsible to repair electrical grid in the area of Thu Duc District (including 03 districts: Thu Duc District, District 2 and District 9).
In 1976 Thu Duc Part was renamed Thu Duc Power Branch under the Department of Power Management and Distribution of Power Company No.2; it was in charge of managing, distributing, running business, improving and developing electrical grid in the old Thu Duc District.
At the end of 1977, Thu Duc Power Branch was under the Department of Power Management and Distribution of Ho Chi Minh City. On December 21, 1977 the Ministry of Power moved exploiting areas into power branches and economic accounting is done internally in each department, each can use its own seal.
On May 09, 1981 the Ministry of Power renamed units under the Ministry of Power: Southern Power Company was renamed Power Company No. 2 and the Department of Power Management and Distribution of Ho Chi Minh City was renamed Ho Chi Minh City Department of Power and Thu Duc Power Branch is responsible to manage, distribute, run business, improve and develop electrical grid in the old Thu Duc District.
On July 08, 1995 the Ministry of Energy decided to establish Ho Chi Minh City Power Company under Vietnam Power Corporation. Thu Duc Power Branch became Thu Duc Power with its own organization charter and activities.
In 1999, Thu Duc Power was under Ho Chi Minh City Power Company according to the Decision No. 29/ĐVN/HCM of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Power Corporation dated January 01, 1999 on re-establishing Thu Duc Power under Ho Chi Minh City Power Company. Scope of activities: Thu Duc District; District 2;
District 9 - Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2003, because of the increase in the number of customers using power, Thu Duc Power was separated into 02: Thu Thiem Power (manage electrical grid in District 2 and District 9); Thu Duc Power (manage electrical grid in Thu Duc District).
In 2011, Thu Duc Power renamed Thu Duc Power Company under Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation with organization regulation and activities under the Decision No. 414/QDYEVNHCMC dated January 14, 2011 of Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation. Scope of activities: Thu Duc District - Ho Chi Minh City.
Since then, under the social-economic development towards industrialization and modernization, Thu Duc Power Company has been continuously developing based on abundant human resources with professional qualifications and larger, more modern and standardized activities.
2.1.2. Functions, tasks and organization structure 2.1.2.1. Functions and tasks
Thu Duc Power Company is a state-owned enterprise under Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation; it takes charge of managing and distributing electricity in the area of Thu Duc District - Ho Chi Minh City, whose natural area is 47,46km2 and has a population of about 320,000 people. The company’s main task is to manufacture and trade in power, manage and distribute power to voltage of 35kV and provide other services related to the electricity sector such as: consult, survey, design, construct, install electricity works, manage and operate information technology systems ... and some other tasks as directed by Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation. Thu Duc Power Company’s main activities are as follows:
- Produce and trade in energy and repair electrical equipment.
- Produce, trade in, import and export materials, electrical equipment, and other services related to the electricity sector.
- Consult, survey, design, construct, supervise and construct lines and electrical substations to 35 kV voltage level.
- Advise and manage investment projects, construct power works to 35 kV voltages.
- Consult and monitor construction quality.
- Trade in, export and import materials and information technology equipment.
- Consult, invest, and construct information technology projects.
- Manage and operate information technology systems.
- Train and develop human resources to manage, operate, repair the electrical grid and information technology.
- Auction property.
2.1.2.2. Organization structure
Regarding organization structure, Thu Duc Power Company includes:
- A Director
- Three Deputy Directors: Sales Director, Technology Director and Construction and Investment Director
- Seven departments: Office Department; Department of Organization - Human Resources, Department of Finance and Accounting; Sales Department; Department of Technique- Safety; Department of Material and Planning, Department of Investment Management.
- Five teams:
Electricity Grid Management Team; Customer Management Team 1 + 2 + 3, Cashier Team
- One Board: Project Management Board The organization chart is presented as below:
Picture 2.1: The Organization structure of the PC Thu Duc (Source : Organization and Personnel Office Y PC Thu Duc)
2.1.2.3. Personnel structure
The total number of employees as of June 30, 2014 is 318, structured as follow:
- Structure by level
+ Post graduate: 08 people (2.51%).
+ Colleges or universities: 78 people (24.53%)
+ High school, intermediate level: 232 people (72.96%) - Structure by job title
+ Manager: 26 people (8.18 %) + Office staff: 112 people (36.22 %) + Direct worker: 180 people (56.60 %) - Structure by gender
+ Male: 265 people (83.33%). Male labor force mainly concentrates on direct block.
+ Female: 53 people (16.67%), usually concentrate on indirect block, work at office, directly support direct block
- Structure by age
+ Under 30: 11 people (3.5%) + From 30 to 45: 140 people (44%) + Over 45: 167 people (52.5%)
The percentage of employees under 45 is very high, they account for 82.62%;
this is the young, experienced, energetic and creative labor force and is a key resource for the development of the company.
2.2 Basis for self-assessment study
2.2.1 Definition of self-assessment A. Definition of assessment
Assessment is the process of gathering information and evidence of objects to evaluate and make judgments about the level of achievement under the criteria given or learning outcomes and job performance. Assessment may be quantitative based on numbers or qualitative based on opinions and values. Assessment is the judgment based on measurement which is always associated with the test. When making assessment, in addition to objective measurement based on test, it also bases on comments, remarks, subjective criticism to make judgments.
In ancient times, Greeks viewed "oikeiosis" as self-esteem or self-love; it is the final important goal and the idea of self-awareness was a way to learn about God. In the 16th century, in Oxford English Dictionary, the term "esteem" meant self-assessment.
Under normal circumstances in Vietnam, "assessment is clearly aware of the value of a person, a thing or an animal." With such content and meaning, assessment focuses on clarifying the value of a person, a thing or an animal. From psychological perspective, assessment contains "opinions, conclusions drawn from the evidence and speculated criticism about people and events."
There are many types of assessment such as employee assessment, result assessment, performance assessment, job assessment, difference assessment, program assessment, program assessment, its impact, self-assessment..., so self-assessment is a form of assessment.
In summary, from above points of view, assessment is to assess the value of a person, a phenomenon, or a certain thing.
B. Definition of self-assessment
In psychology, there are three main points of view defining self-assessment.
William James (1890) is a psychologist and a pioneering American philosophy. He is a leader in self-assessment such as capability.
Morris Rosenberg (1965) is a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland. He is a pioneer in viewing self-assessment as a value.
Nathaniel Branden (1969) is considered the father of self-assessment, including capabilities and values. In his point of view, self-assessment has two interrelated elements: a sense of self-implementation and a sense of personal value.
Because of different purposes and areas of research, different concepts are introduced by researchers to cater for their field of study. We'll learn more about the concept of self-assessment which researchers introduced.
According to Dang Hoang Minh, self-assessment is the process which individuals make judgment and evaluation about their performance, capabilities and personality."
Definition of Psychologist V.P. Levcovich (1973): "Self-assessment is an advanced stage of self-consciousness; it includes not only self-awareness but also right assessment of one’s effort and your ability, including the critical attitude towards them".
I.A. Polosova considered "self-assessment is a symbol of man about himself which has been formed in a sustainable way. It is a self-assessment process in which the symbol of one’s personality is born". Polosova stressed: "The symbol of one’s personality as the product of self-assessment is a process creating the conditions for another while forming unity".
In Vu Dung’s psychology dictionary: "Self-assessment is the value, the meaning that individuals identify themselves generally as well as individual aspects in personality, operation, behavior.”
Within the scope of the research, we apply the definition of self-assessment as follows: Self-assessment is one individual’s views and attitudes towards his capacity, ability, personality qualities and critical attitude towards himself.
2.2.2 Theories of self-assessment
When people are born, they are not aware of themselves as a separate individual and therefore there is no self-assessment. Gradually, when they grow up, they interact with people around and begin being aware of their existence. Then they make their self-assessment: appearance, learning tasks, work, sport activities, relationships...
Though self-assessment is not much researched, researchers have great interest.
Based on different views, researchers have pointed out various features of self-assessment.
A. Self-assessment has relevance:
Some researchers suggest that elements within each individual are the basis for their self-assessment. Shower (1992) said that the merger between positive thought and negative thought is the factor that affects self-assessment. Laurence Steinberg (1993) suggests that, for women, when they enter puberty, their body’s changes affect their self-assessment. Self-assessment reflects an actual image of the object assessed and is considered appropriate if that statement is accurate and close to the reality assessed. When making assessment, it is necessary to mention the accuracy or appropriateness of the level of assessment. Therefore, the criterion to decide the appropriateness of self-assessment is the objective reality.
Several researchers say that external assessment can be considered the criteria to examine self-assessment. However, external assessment must reflect objective reality. Because the characteristics of reflection activities are that result of the reflection process cannot be entirely true, wide and diverse as objective reality.
Charles Horton Cooley in 1902 (McIntyre 2006) said that a man grows up from the interaction between his and others’ awareness in the society. He said that each person's self-assessment of their own value is based on what other people think of them.
Margaret Mead (1934) said that people acquire ideas, attitude of those they think important to form their own self-assessment.
However, we cannot get an absolute result but just a result that is close to objective reality. Correct and accurate self-assessment has an important role for the development of personality. Assessment in generally is a difficult task, accurate self-assessment is increasingly more difficult.
People often face many difficulties when self-assessing themselves accurately for many different reasons. In the view of S.Franz: self-assessment depends on the cognitive development of each person. Different people have different cognition process; therefore, their awareness of things and phenomena is also different. Criteria used to assess are the most important issue of self-assessment but they are also very difficult to define unanimously. Each person’s criteria for assessment depend on the society’s assessment criteria through each person’s subjective perception. In a group, people with different role also have different criteria. And for different groups, criteria are also different. S. Franz emphasized, both external assessment and self-assessment must ensure two conditions:
- The first is assessment must be based on the society’s assessment criteria.
- The second is assessment speeches, in terms of content, must be based on the circumstances or the phenomenon assessed.
B. Self-assessment with discrimination and generalization
If a person unwarrantedly changes assessment from one scope to another scope of reflection, the self-assessment itself is not grounded.
If in different reflecting ranges, individuals see the differences corresponding to each expression level of their virtue through these activities, then the self-assessment can be considered discriminatory. When comparing different individuals’ self-assessment based on different activities and performance results, if self-self-assessment reflects their psychological phenomena or attitudes differently respectively, then the self-assessment is discriminatory.
Self-assessment is considered generalized when, based on observations from separate results within specific activities, individuals get an overview about themselves.
C. Sustainability of self-assessment
The sustainability of self-assessment may change depending on age, it can be identified in relation to different requirements in certain periods of time, and it can have relation with a number of different psychological characteristics. Leary at el (1995) suggest that self-assessment is related to their relationship with another person.
Robins, Trzesniewski, Tracy, Gosling, and Potter (2001) think that self-assessment might be formed when one is young, but it continues to change and evolve throughout
the life of a human being. Brown and Mankowski (1993) suggest that a temporary change of mentality will cause equivalent transient changes in self-assessment. Kernis (1993) sees that self-assessment fluctuates up and down around a sustainably stable path.
D. Height of self-assessment
Chris Mruk (2006) set up a self-assessment chart and divided self-assessment into different categories: low self-assessment; high self-assessment; self-assessment based on value and self-assessment based on capacity.
2.2.3 Measure self-assessment
Self-assessment is measured and evaluated based on multiple and different views and ways of measurement. Previously, indirect methods were used to measure self-assessment; these required personal characteristics to perform assessment.
However, a direct assessment method of self-assessment has been developed and proven to be very reliable and valuable called a measure of self-assessment index.
Although some researchers still use individual characteristics to measure self-assessment, the use of the direct method is still growing in popularity today.
There are many ways to measure self-assessment introduced by researchers:
measure of self-assessment index (CSES) by Judge, Erez, Bono, and Thoresen (2003);
self-assessment scale containing 12 items (JH CSE) by Judge and Hurst (2007).
Study the measure of self-assessment index (CSEs) by Judge, Erez, Bono, and Thoresen (2003) to measure self-assessment, use Likert Scale from 1 "Entirely disagree", 2 "Disagree", 3 "Accept ", 4 "Agree" to 5 "Completely agree". There are totally 12 questions as follows (negative statements are reversely scored):
1. I believe I will achieve success in life.
2. I sometimes feel depressed.
3. When I try, I often succeed.
4. When I fail, I often feel worthless.
5. I complete the task successfully.
6. I sometimes feel I cannot control the work.
7. In general, I feel satisfied with myself.
8. I doubt of my abilities.
9. I can decide what will happen in my life.
10. I feel I cannot get the control to be successful in my career.
11. I am capable of dealing with most of my problems.
12. Sometimes things look pretty bleak and hopeless to me.
2.3 Job satisfaction
2.3.1 Definition of job satisfaction
There are many definitions of job satisfaction. In Oxford English Dictionary, the term "satisfaction" is to meet a need or a desire. So, we can say that job satisfaction is that employees feel satisfied with their work.
According to conventional view in Vietnam, "Job satisfaction is the feeling that workers feel when their needs and desires are met when they are working".
Vroom (1964) said that, job satisfaction is a state in which employees have a clear effective direction for work in the organization.
Weiss (1967) defines that job satisfaction is the attitude towards the work which is represented through employees’ feelings, beliefs and behaviors.
Smith, Kendal and Hulin (1969) see that, job satisfaction is the satisfaction with components or aspects of the job, is the attitude and record of staff on various aspects of work (nature of work, training and appointment opportunities, leadership, co-workers, wages).
Locke (1976) thinks that, job satisfaction happens when workers feel really excited about their work.
According to Quinn and Staines (1979), job satisfaction is the positive response to the work.
According to Kotler (2001) says that, the state of a person’s feeling stems from the comparison between results obtained and their expectations.
Dormann and Zapf (2001) see that, job satisfaction is the interest in leaders and leadership teams.
Kinicki and Kreitner (2006) think that, job satisfaction, if defined in a simple way, primarily reflects how a person loves his work.
Schemerhon (1993) (Luddy, 2005) defines that job satisfaction is an emotional reaction towards different aspects of employees’ work. The author points out factors leading to job satisfaction: job position, supervision from senior, relationships with
colleagues, work content, incentives and rewards, including promotion, material conditions of the working environment and organization structure.
In general, there are many definitions of job satisfaction; different angles give many definitions of job satisfaction. In this study we used the definition that says job satisfaction is employee’s assessment on their attitudes towards work. This reflects two aspects:
- In term of emotion: job satisfaction reflects the degree of pleasure or happiness on the job.
- In term of awareness: job satisfaction includes assessing material benefits, the extent to which individual’s needs and desires are met and knowing about other employees’ assessment.
2.3.2 Theories of job satisfaction
Researching job satisfaction, researchers often apply theories of encouragement and satisfaction at work. The following is a summary of theories of job satisfaction A. Hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow (1943)
According to Maslow (1943), he suggested that human needs contain two main groups: basic needs and high-level needs.
Basic needs are factors related to human physiology such as food, water, sleep ... These needs are indispensable for humans, without them, people cannot survive, so they will struggle to survive in life.
Higher needs than basic needs is known as high-level needs, including a variety of mental factors such as the demand for justice, peace of mind, fun, social status, respect, self-implementation, self-improvement ... Basic needs are often prioritized compared to high-level needs. With someone, if they lack food or water... they will not care about the needs for beauty or respect...
In his opinion, the two groups of human needs are classified into five levels according to a certain order from low to high, as follows:
Figure 2.2 Maslow's hierarchy of need
According to the model, low or basic needs will be met, satisfied before higher needs. When these needs are met, they will become less important and people will look forward to higher needs.
From this theory, managers need to know where their workers are to encourage them by meeting this demand.
B. Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory (1959)
This theory is also known as satisfaction-dissatisfaction factor theory; it explains factors leading to job satisfaction, and factors leading to job dissatisfaction among employees. This theory is divided into two factors: maintaining factor and motivating factor. Maintaining factor includes supervision from senior, company
This theory is also known as satisfaction-dissatisfaction factor theory; it explains factors leading to job satisfaction, and factors leading to job dissatisfaction among employees. This theory is divided into two factors: maintaining factor and motivating factor. Maintaining factor includes supervision from senior, company