The Impact of Alienation, Meaninglessness, and Meritocracy on Supervisor and Subordinate Satisfaction

Abstract

Dividing alienation into dimensions of reification and powerlessness, this paper attempts to examine the relationship between these dimensions and the satisfaction of department heads and subordinates in 44 administrative bureaucracies. Four dimensions of satisfaction were examined: satisfaction with work, with superiors, with co-workers and with salary. Beyond alienation, the relationships between meaninglessness and worker satisfaction and between meritocracy and worker satisfaction were also examined. The quality of social life has emerged as one of the major integrative themes of twentieth century social thought. In the work sector we are haunted by images of the assembly line worker aimlessly caught up in the daily humdrum of his work or the bureaucrat in his grey flannel suit routinely pushing pencils and papers. It was Dostoyevski who best expressed the plight of the public bureaucrat when he cast him as sick man, a bitter man, an unattractive man. From sneers at the welfare department to the impersonality of departments of public health the government bureaucrat has come to replace the automobile worker as the stereotype of the embittered man in our advanced, white collar, service economy. Bureaucrats are often cast as dissatisfied with their work because their work process is alienative and because their specific work activity lacks meaning. On the other hand public sector bureaucrats are generally expected to be satisfied with their work situation because it is governed by a meritocratic system of *The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Hugo van Hassel and Roger Depre, Vervolmakingscentrum Voor Bedrijfsleiding en Administratie, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in the design and execution of this study. Computer funds were provided by the Western Societies Program of the Center for International Studies, Cornell University. We want to express our appreciation to John Anderson, Lee Dyer, Lawrence French, Edward J. Lawler, Samuel Norich, Jonathan Reader, Howard Schwartz, and Yoav Vardi for comments on earlier versions. Finally, we want to thank Pam Kline for typing this manuscript.