CHAPTER
ONE

INTRODUCTION

Attainment of a high level performance through productivity and efficiency
has always been an organizational goal of high priority. In order to do, that
highly satisfied workforce is an absolutely necessity for achieving a high
level of performance advancement of an organization. Satisfied workers lead to more
effort, better job performance, and then works harder and better. Thus every organization
tries to create a satisfied workforce to operate the well- being of the organization.
However, the total organizational performance depends on efficient and
effective performance of individual employees of the organization. Therefore,
every organization places a considerable reliance on their individual employee
performance to gain high productivity in the organization.

This work shall
attempt to discuss job satisfaction as it affects performance of the
organization in the Nigerian economy. Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil Plc. Eket shall be
x-rayed as the case study during field exercises.

Keywords: Job satisfaction, job performance, employee
performance, employee motivation and employee motivation, employee commitment
and loyalty, and labour turnover.

1.1     Background to the study

          Employee’s
level of job satisfaction has been of concern to many because of its potential
to influence the behaviour of the employee. 
Employees desire one form of satisfaction or the other from their
employment. If they cannot get it, dissatisfaction set in, and this may
influence their behaviours and performance. Job satisfaction is the extent
employee likes the job and will continue to perform under same condition. This
is usually seen the degree of responses employees respond to assigned tasks,
their preparedness to accept tasks and execute them to specifications.  A job-satisfied employee exhibits high degree
of motivation, commitment and loyalty, and thus performs above average (Manafi,
Gheshmi & Hojabri, 2012; Agburu, 2012).

Researchers in
employees’ behaviours have over the years paid attention to factors that
increase employee’s level of job satisfaction. In this, extrinsic factors
especially financial factors have raise serious controversy.  Recent studies favour the use of financial
factors over intrinsic factors to influence employee’s level of job
satisfaction (Dada, 2006; Sharma & Bajpai, 2011; Agburu, 2012).  This implies that in recent times, there has
been a shift in what employees’ desire as they accept any offer of
employment.  It further implies that
employees expect more of financial compensations over internally  derived satisfaction but as Christen, Iyler
and Soberman (2006) explain, this is only for a while as the employee’s basic
needs are satisfied, attention shift back to the intrinsic factors.  Thus, it pays an employer to have a proper
mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in place.

Companies that
have installed effective and efficient compensation system attract a lot of
prospective applicants, apparently because they perceive the level of job
satisfaction that exist there may be higher but do the worker feel the same
way?  Exxon Mobil as an international
firm may provide better rewards and compensation system than other local firms
even in the same industry but does this create the level of satisfaction that
can drive and sustain employee performance? 
This is the focus of this study.

1.2     Statement of the problem

Employee commitment and performance has
been intricately linked to the levels of motivation and job satisfaction the
employee derive from the job (Khalid & Khalid, 2012).  Whether this is the case with employees of
Exxon Mobil Plc., Eket is yet to be established.  Job satisfaction is an important indicator of
how productive the employees are and their contributions to organisational
performance.  A poorly satisfied employee
is likely to be less productive and contributes less to group performance.  For this reason, organisations do well to
keep their employees highly motivated by providing them with both intrinsic and
extrinsic factors.  Over the years, management
of Exxon Mobil has provide its employees with reasonable measure of these
factors but are the employees satisfied with the level of motivation provided? And
how has this translated to their productivity and the performance of the
organisation?

As one of the oil companies operating in
Nigeria, employees of Exxon Mobil are believed to enjoy lots of benefits
compare to similar jobs in federal, states, local governments and even other
private organisations, as a result, prospective employees scramble to secure
job positions with the company.  Whether
this contributes to the satisfaction level of existing employees is also yet to
be assessed.  Thus, the focus of the
study was the assessment of the satisfaction level of employees of Exxon Mobil
Plc., Eket and the contributions to the performance of the organisation.

1.3     Objectives
of the study

          The
main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between employee
job satisfaction and the performance of Exxon Mobil, Eket.  Specific objectives of the study were:

1.       
To examine the effect of  job satisfaction on employee productivity

2.       
To examine the effect of job
satisfaction on employee commitment and loyalty

3.       
To examine the effect of
job satisfaction on the employee turnover rate

4.       
To make useful
recommendations regarding employee job satisfaction and performance of Exxon
Mobil

1.4     Research questions

The ultimate
question of this study was to examine whether relationship exists between job
satisfaction and performance of Exxon Mobil, Eket.  The following were the specific research
questions:

1.    
Does employee job
satisfaction affect employee productivity of Exxon Mobil, Eket?

2.    
Does job satisfaction
affect employee commitment and loyalty?

3.    
Does job satisfaction
affect employee turnover rate in Exxon Mobil?

1.5     Research
hypotheses

The following
research hypotheses were designed to guide the study;

Ho1:   Job satisfaction does not have any significant effect on employee
productivity.

Ho2:   Job satisfaction does not have any significant effect on employee
motivation.

Ho3:   job satisfaction does not have any significant effect on employee
commitment and loyalty.

1.6     Scope and
limitation of the study

The study centres
on employee job satisfaction and organisational performance with particular
reference to Exxon Mobil, Eket. Employee job satisfaction is interplay of
various variables, the reason why this study covers employee motivation,
commitment and loyalty, and turnover rate, which actually show the level of
satisfaction employee gets from the job.

The anticipated
limitations of this study are costs and time allowed to conduct the
investigation, ability of the researcher to access the required information
suitable for this study, and other limitations as may be encountered in the
process of the study.

1.7     Significance
of the study

          Organisational
performance is made of the individual contributions of employees. The level of
employee performance is dependent on the level of the job satisfaction the
employees derive from the job.  Thus,
employee level of job satisfaction is an important indicator of organisational
performance, the reason why this study is significant. The study will also be
significant in assessing the level of motivation and commitment available at
Exxon Mobil and consequently the resultant job satisfaction employees get from
the job since the firm assumed to be among the top highly motivating firms in
Nigeria.  The findings of the study and
the recommendations made will go a long way to harmonise and narrow the gap if
any between the employees and the management of Exxon Mobil Plc. and by
generalisation, other organisations.  The
researcher will gain knowledge from the successful conduct of this study.

1.8     Historical
background of Exxon Mobil Plc. Eket

Exxon Mobil
Corporation (ExxonMobil) is the world’s premier petroleum and petrochemical
company, operating to the highest standards of financial and technical
excellence, business ethics, safety, health and environmental awareness.
ExxonMobil, through its affiliates, has a presence in some 200 countries and
territories.

The merger
between Exxon and Mobil Corporations in December 1999 brought together three
major companies in Nigeria: Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited
(EEPNL), Mobil Oil Nigeria plc (MON) and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited
(MPN). The three companies have notable history, proven experience and a strong
record of contributions to Nigeria’s development, which were pooled together
for improved performance. The three companies combined have over 2,000
employees, with over 90 percent being Nigerians.

Mobil
Producing Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in Nigeria. The Company
commenced operations in Nigeria in 1955 under the name Mobil Exploration
Nigeria Incorporated (MENI).  Mobil
Producing Nigeria operates a joint venture with the Federal Government of
Nigeria, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The
Federal Government has a 60 percent share, with the remaining 40 percent being
MPN.

Since 1961,
when the Company was granted Oil Prospecting License (OPL) offshore present
Akwa Ibom State, MPN has made visible contributions to the development of Nigeria’s
oil and gas industry. The company and its joint venture partner, NNPC, operate
over 90 offshore platforms comprising of about 300 producing wells at a
capacity of over 550 thousand barrels a day of crude, condensate and natural
gas liquids.

A series of
projects by the joint venture are targeted to increase the current average
production level to above one million barrel per day. The east area additional
oil recovery project represents a major investment in a mature operation to
extend field life, increase oil recovery and eliminate non-routine gas flaring
by injecting produced gas. The east area project’s 18,000-tonne gas compression
facilities platform was set in place at the end of 2005, and set a world record
when it was installed in open water using float-over technology. The natural
gas liquids (NLG II) project, which has capacity to contribute 45 KBD of
natural gas liquids to our total production, is an expansion of the NNPC/MPN
joint venture’s successful Oso-NGL project, and involved the engineering,
procurement, construction, start-up and commissioning of an offshore NGL
extraction platform, undersea pipeline infrastructure and expansion of the JV’s
existing onshore fractionation and storage facilities at Bonny river terminal.

Together with
the NNPC, MPN maintains a very active community relations programme. It has
made substantial contributions in the areas of health, education, sports, water
supply, electricity and roads, especially around its operational bases in Akwa
Ibom and Rivers States. Presently, the NNPC/MPN joint venture is focusing on
sustainable development projects aimed at promoting economic independence for
communities in our areas of operations. Through partnerships with reputable
NGOs and other organisations, the JV is involved in capacity building, micro
financing of small and medium enterprises, healthcare and agriculture. The
NNPC/MPN Joint Venture awards 500 scholarships to undergraduate students in
Nigerian Universities.

1.9     Definition
of terms

Organisational performance: This is a
measure of level of profitability, growth, production, sales or level of
employee turnover over a certain period.

Employee
performance: This is the measure of efficiency evaluated in output per input of
an employee over a specified period.

Employee motivation: A psychological
feature that arouses employee to act towards a desired goal and elicits control
and sustains certain goal directed behaviours

Employee job
satisfaction:  This is the extent an
employee likes the job and will continue to perform under same condition. 

Employee commitment: The willingness
of employee to work hard with positive attitudes towards the organisation.

Employee loyalty: A practical
disposition to persist in an intrinsically valued associational attachment that
involves a potentially costly commitment to secure or at least not to
jeopardise the interest or wellbeing of the employer.

Labour turnover: An indication of
employee’s intention to quit the employment.

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