The relationship between job satisfaction and organizational silence: A study on health workers

In the modern world, people spend most of their time at work. The quality of this time spent to sustain their lives is expressed by the concept of performance and rewarded with wages, which is also an important element for individuals. The satisfaction that individuals feel from their jobs in their working lives means the continuity of their performance and wages in a sense. The fact that individuals who have a life outside of work (home, family, social, etc.) as well as working life carry the satisfaction and dissatisfaction they feel in one area to another area is another challenge for them to manage (Karaman, 2018: 66). The concept of organizational silence, which refers to the indifference of human resources in organizations to the problems of the organization and the events that take place within the organization, is very important for people and organizations. This organizational silence behavior, which can occur for various reasons, brings along problems in many issues such as organizational productivity, profitability, continuity, organizational climate and organizational culture. This silence situation, which sometimes cannot be understood due to miscommunication and may arise for a small reason, gradually turns into a big problem that affects the organization (Akan, 2020: 5). The health sector is a sector that prioritizes people and human life. Individuals who carry out health services are well-equipped individuals and the work is very vital. It is essential for the individuals working in this sector and the existing organizations to operate on solid foundations, systematically and smoothly in terms of human life as an output. It is thought that health systems in which employees work with a sense of satisfaction and by producing solutions by not remaining silent to the problems experienced can be more efficient for the world (Adıgüzel & Keklik, 2015: 3). In the first part of this study, in which the relationship between the two concepts is examined on 303 health care workers working in Artvin province, the concept of job satisfaction, its importance, factors affecting job satisfaction, job satisfaction theories and the results of dissatisfaction are given. In the second part of the study; the concept and characteristics of organizational silence, historical process of organizational silence, theoretical foundations, types, classification and results of organizational silence, factors causing organizational silence and methods of coping with organizational silence are given. In the third part of the study, the methodology of the research is explained by introducing the measurement tools (Minessota Job Satisfaction Scale and Organizational Silence Scale created by Dyne, Ang and Botero). In the fourth section, the findings obtained by subjecting the data obtained to various analyzes are given with the help of tables. In the conclusion section, which is the last part of the study, the findings of the analysis are evaluated in comparison with the findings of other studies in the literature and the study is concluded. According to the findings, it was concluded that there was no significant difference in the job satisfaction averages of healthcare workers in terms of demographic variables such as gender, age, marital status, working time, occupational group, while there was a significant difference in job satisfaction averages in terms of education level. It has been observed that there is no significant difference in the organizational silence averages of healthcare workers in terms of gender, age, marital status, working period, occupational group and educational level variables. It was found that total job satisfaction (JTS-Total) and intrinsic job satisfaction (JTS-Intrinsic Satisfaction) variables had a significant relationship with protective organizational silence (SCO-Protective). It was found that the total job satisfaction (JTS-Total) variable had a significant positive effect on protective organizational silence (OOS-Protective). Key words: Job Satisfaction, Dimensions of Job Satisfaction, Organizational Silence, Dimensions of Organizational Silence, Health Sector.