Are you genetically right for your job or do you need a proper work-environment to bring out the best in you? This is the subject that Dr. Richard D. Arvey, currently the head of the Department of Management and Organization at the National University of Singapore has researched for decades. His research has concluded with a finding that at least 40% of whether we are ‘happy with our jobs’ is because of the genes we possess.
Only a month back, Dr Arvey received the distinguished Scientific Contribution Award given by the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a Division of the American Psychological Association (AP). The award honors individuals who have made the most critical, empirical and/or theoretical scientific contributions to the field of industrial and organizational psychology.
PaGaLGuY met up with Dr Arvey to know more on whether ‘job satisfaction’ runs in the blood or whether office colleagues, boss and nature of the company makes any difference.
Dr Richard Arvey
How did you start you research?
I started by studying twins. Identical twins share 100 percent of their genes, and fraternal twins share about 50 percent. This allowed us to look at twins who were raised together and raised apart and the contribution of genetics compared to that of environmental factors. The environments make them different, while their genes make them similar. We checked on Minnesota Twin Registry-a University of Minnesota database which tracked 10,000 surviving pairs of twins born in Minnesota between 1936 and 1981.
How were the tests carried out?
To tease apart these contributions, participants were asked a series of questions centered on the desire to influence others, to be the center of attention, to persist when others give up, and to be with people. All the questions had a genetic component. Whoever answered the questions positively, were probably genetically better wired for leadership. Next, I took an inventory of the leadership roles they had held throughout their lives, including titles such as supervisor, director, vice-president, or president. A great deal of personality is genetic-based. If your personality is such that you aspire to and have held these positions, then these roles also suggest a genetic link. My study did not identify a specific gene, but looked at whether an individual gravitated to leadership positions.
One pair of identical twins Dan and Dean is often discussed in your research?
Identical twins Dan and Dean Oberpriller, 60-year-old Minneapolis-based entrepreneurs, have always held leadership positions and had strong leadership role models in their parents. They both graduated with majors in journalism from the University of Minnesota and spent several years in the upper ranks at various premier advertising agencies in Minnesota before starting out on their own.
The Oberprillers were not a part of the study, but genetics played a key factor in their desire to lead. Their father owned a bakery, and the twins assisted him since an early age. The father however, discouraged them from joining the bakery business. And their mother was very active in the community and a leader in getting people to vote and in arranging political causes. So genetics played a strong role in their desire to lead their own businesses.
Another interesting fact is that Dan and Dean worked together on and off over the years and decided early on in their lives that they would not compete. They decided to share the leadership tasks of whatever they undertook together, including their own advertising company, DBK & O. Although both of them believe that they were born to lead, they were able to temper their leadership desires, in order to cooperate in whatever environments they were in.
Are you saying that if a person is satisfied with his job, his son/daughter will also be satisfied?
You are correct. Because children share about half their genes with each parent, there will be a tendency to show similar satisfaction with their jobs. Note, however, that this will not be a particularly strong association/correlation.
Are you saying that the environment does not play any role in ‘job satisfaction.’
Not at all. The environment does play a role in producing job satisfaction. Our studies simply show that the environment is not the sole contributorthe genetic make-up of an individual plays a role as well. People are not as malleable as we think. While the environment influences 60-70 percent of our leadership behavior and the roles we obtain, our genes still exert a sizable influence over whether we will become leaders. Therefore, leadership is both inherited and acquired. And although 30-40 percent may not seem like a high number, statistically it is strong.
Is ‘job satisfaction’ different for women and men?
The research evidence shows that females are generally more satisfied with their jobs, even when the type of job and other factors are controlled. The explanation offered is that females have lower expectations than men and so, if the jobs present males and females with the same opportunities (e.g. challenges, demands, etc.) women will respond more favorably to their jobs. Men and women often have different expectations with regards to a job.
We normally hear of people being happy if they get along with their seniors and bosses ?
Do you mean happy “in general” or happy “with their job”? If you mean satisfied or happy with their job, it is true that having good relationships with their bosses is a major factor, but this is not the entire picture. Other things like co-workers, the resources available, the tasks involved in the job, etc. are also significant contributors.
Does job satisfaction have anything to do with rising in the ranks?
There is some evidence that individuals with more complex jobs are more satisfied. Theoretically, job satisfaction is largely a function of what people expect in a job and what they actually encounter. So as individuals rise in the ranks their expectations change as well. Thus, satisfaction levels for individuals in different ranks are pretty much the same.
Are some people such that they will never be satisfied with their jobs?
There is a tendency for individuals to be consistent in their job satisfaction even when they take on new and different jobs, but the correlation is not perfect. Thus, for some individuals who are dissatisfied with their job they can still find satisfaction under different conditions. One is not doomed to be either satisfied or dissatisfied.
Is job satisfaction an age related issue at all?
There is empirical evidence that older individuals are relatively more satisfied with their jobs than younger individuals, although again, the differences are small. This is possibly because older individuals through experience recognize that jobs are never perfect and have lower expectations.
Is job satisfaction culture based and society based. Do some cultures breed this trait?
There is evidence that some cultures are more satisfied than others. While it may be easy to attribute this to culture, it isnt quite that simple because of the kinds of conditions in organizations and the different types of job demands (e.g. hours worked, etc.) differ across cultures as well. Thus, any differences observed between cultures are confounded because of possible differences in the way work and jobs are constructed.
What are the answers you are still seeking?
This was the first step in looking at genetics in the workplace, there’s still much to be done. If 70 percent of leadership is environmentally-based, what are the various environmental influences that make a leader? How do genetics and the environment interact in creating a leader? What if gender is factored in? These are many of the questions waiting to be answered. It also doesn’t mean that if you are a leader, you are a good one. The study looked at who became leaders and why, and not at leadership effectiveness.
Dr Richard D. Arvey is an American psychology professor. After receiving a bachelor of arts degree in psychology in 1966 from Occidental College, he attended University of Minnesota to study industrial psychology, earning a master’s degree in 1968 and a doctorate in 1970. Dr Arvey has authored books on the issue (Fairness in Selecting Employees) and his work has been published in international journals. Besides consulting with NASA management to help devise a valid system for selecting astronauts for long duration space flight missions, Dr Arvey also serves as a witness in a variety of employee-related court cases.