Employee satisfaction in an organization at IRCTC

Summer Training Project Report

Submitted to
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

Master of Business Administration

Prepared by:
Sushsmita Singh
MBA 3rd Semester
Roll Number: 1404070030
Enrollment No.

Training Supervisor:
Mr. Ajender Chaudhary
Dy. General Manager HRD
IRCTC

2014-15

Department of Business Administration

Technical Education & Research Institute
Post-Graduate College, Ghazipur 233001 (U.P.)

Certificate

This is to certify that Shushmita Singh, pursuing MBA 3rd

Semester from this institute, has prepared the summer training project
report entitled Employee satisfaction in an organization at IRCTC in
partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of
Business Administration from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical
University, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, for the session 2013-2014.
This report is based on summer training project undertaken by
Sushsmita Singh at IRCTC in Ghaziabad under the supervision of
Mr. Ajender Chaudhary during the period 6 week of Training and fulfills
the requirements of regulations relating to the nature and standard of
MBA course of U. P. Technical University.
I recommend that this project report may be sent for evaluation.

Rahul Anand Singh

Head, Dept. of Business Administration

Declaration

I, Sushmita Singh, hereby declare that this summer training

project report entitled Employee satisfaction in an organization at
IRCTC has been prepared by me on the basis of summer training done
at IRCTC in Delhi under the during the period 6 week of training under
the supervision of Mr. Ajender Chaudhary.
This project report is my bona fide work and has not been
submitted in any form to any University or Institute for the award of any
degree or diploma prior to the under mentioned date. I bear the entire
responsibility of submission of this project report.

30th August 2014

Sushmita Singh
MBA 3rd Semester
Department of Business Administration
Technical Education & Research Institute
P. G. College, Ghazipur

PREFACE
The first real insight of an organization for management student comes only during her
preparation of project work because student first interacts with real practical work. This is first
introduction to industry and its working. This project work synthesize the theoretical concept
learn in the class room and its practical orientation in organization.
In my project I have studied the Employee satisfaction in an organization at IRCTC.
The First chapter introductory stage of this research report is based on introduction of the
company founders, objectives, mission, strengths, technologies and services.
The Second chapter introductory stage of this research report is based on introduction of
Managements problem, objective, importance, scope, limitation and method taken in IRCTC.
The Third chapter deals with research methodology. The process of carrying out the whole
research problem is defined in it. It contains information about the objectives of the research,
methods of data collection, sampling and sample design.
The Forth chapter is data analysis and interpretation. This is the most important section of the
project work. This section contains the analysis of all the data collected so far and they are
interpreted to produce the final conclusion. It contains all the tables and charts which depicts the
result.
The Fifth chapter contains the finding and recommendation of the research. This is based on the
data analyzed and interpreted in the previous chapter. This is the most important section of the
research report for a report is evaluated on the validity ad correctness of findings.

The Sixth chapter depicted conclusion which concludes the whole report, that is, gives a brief
description of the process customer so far. And later chapters contain bibliography. Which
describes the list of sources from where the matter and information is collected? It contains the
list of books, authors, web sites use etc.
Shushmita Singh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A research project report is the sole product of the person whose name has appeared on the
cover. For a good project report one need proper time, energy, efforts, patience and knowledge.
But without any guidance it remains unsuccessful. I have done this research project with the
best of my ability and hope that it will serve its purpose.
I was really a great learning experience and I am really thankful to Mr. Rahul Anand Singh
(HOD), Master of Business Administration, who not only helped me in the successful
completion of this research project report but also spread his precious and valuable time in
expending on my knowledge base.
I am thankful to Dr. Neetu Singh, Assistant prof. Department of Business Administration for
her great support while completing my research project report. She not only guides me but also
helped me to perform this research in the efficient and effective way.
After completion of this research project report I feel myself as well aware person about the
research procedure and the complexities that can arose during the process. Also I get insight of
the training and development activities in an organization. Finally, I am also grate to all those
personalities who have helped me directly or indirectly in bringing up this research project
report.

Shushmita Singh
M.B.A 3rdsem
T.E.R.I.,P. G. College, Ghazipur

Chapter I
Introduction

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT IRCTC
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. has been set up by the Ministry of
Railways with the basic purpose of hiving off entire catering and tourism activity of the railways
to the new Corporation so as to professionalize and upgrade these services with public-private
participation. Rail based Tourism in India will be the specific vehicle for achieving high growth
in coordination with state agencies, tour operators, travel agents and the hospitality industry. A
dynamic marketing strategy in association with public and private agencies, tour operators,
transporters, hoteliers and local tour promoters is on the anvil. Indian Railways span global
volumes in hospitality and catering sectors with services provided to 13 million passengers
everyday.
Mission
"Enhance customer services and facilitation in railway catering, hospitality, travel and tourism
with best industry practices".
Objectives
(1) To be a customer friendly company through constant innovation, technology driven and
human resource development.
(2) Optimise resources, increase manpower productivity through quality product vending and
innovative marketing strategies.
(3) Upgrade and consolidate catering services in the organized sector.
(4) Expand areas of core competencies, enhance business opportunities through efficient public private partnerships to maximise generation of resources.
(5) Imbibe strong and ethical work culture through teamwork, build and reposition Indian
Railways in the emerging services sector.

(6) Evolve high standards of business ethics, quality management and effective cost control
measures.
(7) Concern for the environment and heritage
Tourism
Railway Tourism has seen excellent growth in India.Right from IRCTC's inception , we have
undertaken dynamic marketing strategy with major tour operators and State Tourism as our
partners for providing exclusive tour packages across the country. IRCTC arranges for full train
charters,coaches as well as reserved berth programmes through regular trains for tourism
purposes. During this short period we have been able to provide such facilities to over 50,000
persons.
Internet Rail Reservation
There has been a latent demand in the country for ticket availability at the door-step. IRCTC has
already developed this facility at Delhi, Chennai,Bangalore,Kolkata and Mumbai. Very soon the
facility will spread to Hyderabad,Pune and Ahmedabad. After consolidation at these centres,
further development in the major towns will take place. IRCTC web enabled reservation site is
www.irctc.co.in
Non Railway Segment
IRCTC is diversifying into Non Railway Segment which includes Budget Hotels, Food Kiosk,
Food Parks, Catering Service, Facility Management Service, Guest House and Hostel
management etc.

IRCTC is banking on newly started catering and facility management division through which it
provides a one window solution for catering, front office, housekeeping, security, laundry, ITES

and horticulture services to government organizations, corporate and educational institutions.

This segment also includes taking up of hospitality project on turnkey basis. Setting up of
IRCTC brand Food Kiosks at DMRC stations is also planned. Non Railway Segment has a
potential to contribute around 30% to its total revenue in coming years. IRCTC has commenced
65 units from 2010 to 2012 in Non Railway Segment across India.
Food Plazas
IRCTC has firmed up plans to set up over 50 multi-cuisine food plazas at major railway stations
throughout the country during the current year. The Food plazas will have contemporary decor ,
air conditioned ambience and round the clock operation to suit passenger convenience with
market driven competitive pricing.
Call Center

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY:

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, abbreviated to IRCTC, is a subsidiary of the
Indian Railways that handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the
railways. IRCTC is a Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways.

IRCTC was

incorporated on 27th September, 1999 as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to upgrade,
professionalize and manage the catering and hospitality services at stations, on trains and other
locations and to promote domestic and international tourism through development of budget
hotels, special tour packages, information & commercial publicity and global reservation
systems.
IRCTC is better known for changing the face of railway ticketing in India. It pioneered internetbased rail ticket booking through its website, as well as from the mobile phones via GPRS or
SMS. Ticket cancellations can also be done online. In addition to e-tickets, IRCTC also offers Itickets that are basically like regular tickets except that they are booked online and delivered by
post. There has been a latent demand in the country for ticket availability at the door-step.
IRCTC has already developed this facility at Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Very soon the facility will spread to Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.
IRCTC is banking on newly started catering and facility management division through which it
provides a one window solution for catering, front office, housekeeping, security, laundry, ITES
and horticulture services to government organizations, corporate and educational institutions.
This segment also includes taking up of hospitality project on turnkey basis. Setting up of
IRCTC brand Food Kiosks at DMRC stations is also planned. Non Railway Segment has a
potential to contribute around 30% to its total revenue in coming years. IRCTC has commenced
65 units from 2010 to 2012 in Non Railway Segment across India.

While discharging its mandate, the Company has made a significant mark in its passengerservices oriented business lines like setting up of Food Plazas on Railway premises, Railneer',
Rail Tour Packages and Internet Ticketing' bringing great deal of professionalism into the
operations. In addition to above, IRCTC is managing on Board Catering Services in
Rajdhani / Shatabdi / Duronto

and Mail / Express Trains and Static Catering Units such as

Refreshment Rooms, AVMs, Book Stalls, Milk Stalls, Ice Cream Stalls, Petha & Peda Stalls etc.
across the Indian Railway Network. The address for IRCTC Website is www.irctc.co.in
COMPANY MISSION STATEMENT: To be the leader for providing high quality catering,
tourism and travel related services on the Indian Railways primarily and also outside the
Railways in the country.
COMPANY OBJECTIVES:
To

be

significant

Railway and non-

player

in

the

hospitality

business

for

both

Indian

Indian Railway related services.

To promote railway tourism across the country for all the segments of Rail Passengers.

To provide single window solution to its customers including train travel, hotel
accommodation, road transfers, hospitality, catering etc.
To promote private sector participation and expertise to improve quality of products and
services for all segments of Railway Passengers across all price bands.
To imbibe strong customer friendly, professional and ethical work culture.

 To maintain leading position in internet ticketing, e-commerce and technology for

customers interface for railway passengers/ customers.
To develop budget hotels on Railway and non- Railway land.

To provide high quality package drinking water (Railneer).

To adopt strong Corporate Governance practices.

To work towards creation of additional infrastructure on Railway or non-railway

in their mandated line of business with a view to improve the Gross Block.

premises

Corporate Office of IRCTC is situated at New Delhi, which is headed by the Managing Director.
Managing Director is being assisted by three Directors, Director (Catering Services),
Director(Tourism & Marketing) and Director(Finance) and nine Group General Managers. For
smooth operations of the business across all over the country, five Zonal Offices are working at
Delhi , Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai & Secunderabad. South Zone Office is headed by Regional
Director and all other Zonal Offices are headed by Group General Managers. All Group General
Managers have vast experience of working in Indian Railways. These Zonal Offices are assisted
by ten Regional Offices at Lucknow ,Chandigarh , Jaipur, Bhubneshwar, Guwahati, Patna ,
Bhopal , Ahmadabad, Bangalore and Ernakulam, which are headed by Chief Regional
Managers / Regional Managers. Current chairman of IRCTC is Shri Rakesh Kumar Tandon.

PART 2: OUR OBJECTIVES FOR CHOOSING IRCTC

IRCTC, in recent times, has shown a potential in field of tremendous developing

information systems with its servers continuously dedicated for 23 hours (1 hour
everyday for maintenance activities). We wanted to find out the current scanerio at
IRCTC and also some information about the companys future prospects.

Generally there is a huge load on the website at 10 am, when booking of Tatkal tickets
opens. The booking of tickets varies from time to time based on festivals and vacations.
We wanted to explore the type of systems handling such a large number of users at a
particular time.

IRCTC is currently using 58 iridium servers and 10 more servers to be added to cater the
heavy traffic in peak hours. We wanted to explore the technology currently implemented
at IRCTC.

IRCTC has a huge span of functions which are accessible through its website such as
Plan your Travel, Booking Status, Cancellation option, Check your PNR, E-tickets
and many tourism options as well. We wanted to find out the different features offered by
IRCTC to its end-users.

And hence due to these reasons, we have chosen IRCTC as our company for the project.

PART 3: TECHNOLOGY AT IRCTC

Following is information about technology, currently implemented at IRCTC:
Website Background
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporations website (www.irctc.co.in) offers online rail
ticket booking, and checking of ticket reservation status. Includes train schedules, availability of
tickets and a travel planner.
Popularity rank
Country

Visitors Country Rank

India

98.9%

40

City

Visitors

City Rank

Delhi, IN

12.5%

43

Bombay, IN

12.5%

38

Hyderabad, IN

10%

41

Server-side Programming Languages

Microsoft's Active Server Pages technology on the .NET framework. Java is a general-purpose
language originally developed by Sun Microsystems.
Client-side Programming Language
JavaScript is a lightweight, object-oriented, cross-platform scripting language, mainly used
within web pages.

JavaScript Library
MooTools (My Object-Oriented Tools) is a modular, object-oriented JavaScript framework,
originally developed by Valerio Proietti.
MooTools 1.11
(1% of sites use a newer version)
Markup Language
Transitional version of HTML. (HTML Transitional 4.01)
Character Encoding
ISO-8859-1 (informally also called Latin-1) is an 8-bit character set for Western European
languages.
Image File Formats
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a lossy compression method suitable to store
photographic images.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a lossless compression image format, originally
introduced by CompuServe and suitable to store graphics, logos and simple animations.
Site Elements
External Cascading Style Sheets define style rules in a separate CSS file.
Inline Cascading Style Sheets define style rules directly within an (X)HTML element using the
style attribute.

Gzip (GNU zip) is a file compression algorithm.

A strong ETag is an HTTP header field for validation of cached web pages, that indicates a bytefor-byte identical page in the cache.
SSL Certificate Authority
GeoTrust is a SSL certificate authority owned by Symantec. This includes SSL certificates issues
by the certification branch of Equifax, which was acquired by GeoTrust.
Web Server
The Internet Information Services (IIS) are a set of Internet-based services for Windows,
developed by Microsoft.
Microsoft-IIS 7.5 (2% of sites use a newer version)
Operating System
Windows is a popular operating system produced by Microsoft.
Traffic Analysis Tool
Google Analytics is a free service to get detailed statistics about the visitors of a website,
provided by Google.
Advertising Network
Yahoo advertising offers a range of advertising solutions, including Right Media.
Top Level Domain
India. in
Content Language

English

Information Systems at IRCTC:

PASSENGER RESERVATION SYSTEM: IRCTC is better known for changing the face of
railway ticketing in India. It pioneered internet-based rail ticket booking through its website, as
well as from the mobile phones via GPRS or SMS. Ticket cancellations can also be done online.
In addition to e-tickets, IRCTC also offers I-tickets that are basically like regular tickets except
that they are booked online and delivered by post. The tickets PNR status is also made available.
Commuters on the Mumbai Suburban Railway can also book season tickets through the IRCTC
website. IRCTC has also launched a loyalty program called Shubh Yatra for frequent travellers.
Through this program, passengers can avail of discounts on all tickets booked round the year by
paying an upfront annual fee.
Seeking to make it easier to book e-tickets, IRCTC launched a scheme called Rolling Deposit
Scheme (RDS). RDS is a hassle-free e-ticket booking scheme allowing passengers to reserve
seats against advance money kept with the corporation. IRCTC has also added flights and hotels
booking facilities to their line of online reservation services. Generally there is a huge load on
the website at 10 am, when booking of Tatkal tickets opens. The booking of tickets varies from
time to time based on festivals and vacations. IRCTC is currently using 58 iridium servers and
10 more servers to be added to cater the heavy traffic in peak hours.
As of May 2013, the ticketing site of the IRCTC is able to handle about 1.2 lakh concurrent
connections on web servers and can book about 2000 tickets per minute. Indian Railways plans
to spend about 100 crore (US$16 million) to strengthen the website to enable it for booking

7200 tickets per minute. CRIS, the technical arm of railways, is involved in the upgrading of the
IRCTC website.
According to a senior Railway Ministry official, the average booking per day has been increased
from 3.67 lakh in 2012 to 4.15 lakh in May 2013. Approximately, 31 crore reserve tickets are
booked in a year out of which 55% of tickets are sold through windows, 37% of tickets are
booked online and 8% are booked by ticketing agents. IRCTC's highest ever single day booking
is 5.02 lakh e-tickets on 1 March 2013.

It is also introducing new features from September, this year, to reduce online ticket booking
woes.
The website will now segregate visitors into two categories those logging in to book tickets and
those seeking information. Only 30% people log on to IRCTC website daily to book tickets,
while the rest include people seeking information about trains and availability of reservation. The
website will lead to a separate plan your journey link. The users can navigate to separate link
for queries and information. The ticket booking will get faster as the number of hits will get
reduced on the ticket booking site.
IRCTC will also introduce online concessional tickets for differently abled passengers. Till now,
such passengers had to buy discounted tickets from the railway station as IRCTC was not selling
any concessional tickets. The Centre for Rail Information System (CRIS) is developing a
software for this and it will be ready by March next year.

In another passenger-friendly move, details of the retiring rooms all over the Indian Railways
will be made available on the IRCTC website. The data is being compiled. The passengers would
be able to book the retiring room at the time of booking the ticket. CRIS is also developing
software for this facility.

PASSENGER RESERVATION SYSTEM DATA WAREHOUSE: PRS Data Warehouse is

centrally hosted Data Warehouse providing the Decision Support System to Passenger
Reservation System.

REAL TIME TRAIN INFORMATION SYSTEM: A joint team of Indian railways and IITKanpur developed the real-time train running information system, a technology which will help a
mobile user to get the information about the exact location of a train. Under the new technology
the user will have to type the train number and SMS it to 09415139139 or 09664139139 for
getting the exact location of a train on real-time basis.
The satellite-based train tracking system was jointly developed by the Centre For Railway
Information Systems (CRIS), the IT arm of Indian railways and Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT), Kanpur to overcome the limitations of the existing Train Running Information System and
is currently also implemented at IRCTC for enquiry purposes.
At present the real-time train running information system service covers 36 pairs of premier
trains. Some of the trains which have been provided with the new technology include Mumbai
Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Sealdah Duronto and Shatabdi trains for
Bhopal, Kanpur and Amritsar. The Indian Railway has allocated 121 crore rupees for the project
and the service is likely to be extended to all major trains over the next 18 months. The Indian
Railways has received the permission from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to

operate the system through its satellite. The railways department, however, sought fresh order
from ISRO, to extend the facility to other major trains.
Technical specifications for the loco-equipment have been finalized and sent to IRPMU. Signing
of MoU is pending with IRPMU. Due to criticality of operations, the project has been designed
to utilize the alternate medium of transmission of data. In the entire geographic region of India
no any communication media is covering 100%, therefore utilization of satellite is found
necessary. Railway Board has requested ISRO to allocate sufficient frequencies on S-band. The
project shall be progressed as soon as the frequencies get allotted. However the new interface has
been launched on 6th September 2013.

BENEFITS:

Automatic capture of Train running Information &

Automatic plotting of Control Charts in COA
Stress free Work Conditions for Controllers
Optimum Utilization of Resources
Richer MIS for Management
Better co-ordination.
Improved Customer Services.

IR WEB PORTAL SYSTEM: IR web portal provides the single point access to all the relevant
information pertaining to Indian railways. It is running successfully since the year 2010 and
consists of the following online applications:
Web and SMS based complaint Management System. Complaint Management System deals
with online complain regarding any grievances pertaining to railways for quick redressal of
grievances.
Computerized booking of Retiring Room. 40 Locations of Retiring room is now computerized.

 Computerized booking of Cloak Room. 2 Location of Cloak Room is computerized.

All the zonal, Production Unit and Training institutes web sites are now centrally hosted and
maintained. 37 Railway web sites are online under IR web Portal, including IRCTC.
Web Site

Complaint Mgmt.

Retiring Room

Cloak Room

System
January 2010

Sanctioned
by Railway
Board

2006

October 2010

Study
and
preparati
on

October 2010

Project
started

2007-2008

2009

October 2010

First phase
of website
migration
completed

Complaint
management
system, cloak room
& retiring room app
online

2009

2010

37 web sites have been migrated in IR Web Portal with standardized look-n-feel and technology
Web and SMS Complaint Management System has given the Railways a avenue to receive
public grievances and address them quickly
Retiring Room application has enabled Network booking along with transparency
Rugged and secured Central Architecture.
State of the art technology implemented.
Well accepted by the users and web masters.

NEXT GENERATION E-TICKETING SYSTEM: A high performing, scalable and secure eticketing site to address performance and scalability issues faced by the IRCTC e-ticketing
application, at the time of reserved ticket booking during the peak load.
It is developed in-house on open standard based technologies and shall deliver all the
functionalities available on IRCTC e-ticketing site (irctc.co.in) in a user friendly manner. It shall
allow 1,20,000 concurrent user sessions with sufficient headroom to cater future growth for next
two years.
Timeline of events:
Sanctioned by Railway Board

Dec.,2011

Study and Preparation

Jan.,2012

Project Started

Jan.,2012

Testing of eTicketing application by IRCTC

Jul.,2012

Go Live

Jan., 2014

Benefits for passengers :

Accessibility to site during peak load

Stringent User Registration process bringing down cornering of tickets by fictitious

users.

User friendly options shall improve customer satisfaction.

Resume option to user to continue transaction from the point his session
closed/Aborted

Automatic booking if user has successfully done the payment.

Informing the users through SMS regarding the status of incomplete transaction.

Benefits to Railways/IRCTC :

IPR with Indian Railways

Improvement in System transparency

System build on latest technology

Vendor Independence

Increase in bookings means higher revenue

Business continuity

Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) Journey Planner: Integration of limited number of

servers of IRCTC e-ticketing site with NGeT site to deliver journey planning services via NGeT
site so as to free resources on IRCTC site to improve system performance. Developed in-house
on open standard based technologies with advanced features to improve customer experience
during journey planning shall share the journey planning load of IRCTC thus freeing the
resources on servers integrated with NGeT and improve the success rate of booking.
Timeline of events:
Idea generation

May,2013

Study and Preparation

June,2013

Project Started

June,2013

Testing of Integrated application by IRCTC

July,2013

Go Live

September,2013

Benefits for passengers : -

Improved chances of Accessibility to site during peak load.

User friendly Journey Planner shall improve customer satisfaction.
Benefits to Railways/IRCTC:

Interim Relief to passengers shall improve Railways credibility.

Resources Available to serve more users during peak load.

Increase in bookings on account of resource availability implying higher revenue.

Testing of Technology and application before full scale Roll out of NGeT.

PART 4: Problems at IRCTC and probable developments

Of late, IRCTCs e-ticketing service has been marred by bandwidth congestion, server errors and
transaction failures. To do away with these glitches, Railways has initiated steps to augment eticket handling capacity of its website. The new e-ticketing project will facilitate booking of
about 7 lakh tickets per day. It will be launched in March 2014. With this, at least 80% people
who log on to the website would be able to book tickets.
At present, passengers often face problems in booking online tickets due to technical glitches.
And, each time the website asks people not to push the back or refresh button, making one sit

glued to the computer. At times, the website shows the session as expired and asks visitors to
login again. IRCTC says these problems occur when too many users log in at the same time.
IRCTC and CRIS are jointly working to enhance the existing ticket booking capacity and address
online booking issues. The new project is under implementation at an estimated cost of about Rs
88 crore. Railway Board has said it will be implemented as per the specification provided by
CRIS.
Besides, Microsoft is developing a mobile application for IRCTCs e-ticketing which will work
on Windows 8 Operating System on mobile as well as personal computers. The application is
ready and will be launched soon.
OTHER MINOR PROBLEMS - Some minor problems are mentioned below:
Home Page
Primary purposes of website - Reservation and Train Inquiry are not visible
It's difficult to find the starting point especially for a novice user
Lots of advertisements on the home page
Lot of blinking / animated portions distract the user
Icons and featured text are not at proper places
The login portion itself has too many options
Layout doesnt look professional.

User Registration Page

Form does not fit into a single window, ideally it should
User name and password are asked at end, they should be at the beginning
Shipping address is not necessary on this page
Designation contains only 25 characters, should be 50 characters
Value Added Services are on the same page here, which can be avoided
The user has to login again after registration, this should be avoided
Sometimes, even after registration, logging in results in a message that the user is not registered.
Plan My Travel Page
Icons arent clear as to their purpose - Train Icons for From and To.
Selection date is today by default, but i-ticket (default option) requires minimum 3 days in future
It is difficult to understand the three different types of tickets, there is help icon, but it opens in
a popup window.
The list of trains after submission, comes below the fold. It's difficult to understand that
something happened after the submission.
There are many pop-ups availability, route, fare etc. This should be avoided.

 Ideally, an option to book the return ticket too should be provided. The request can be saved
and used later, if the booking for that date has not yet started.
There are also advertisements and other links on the Play My Travel page, they distract the
user from the main task.
Checking availability is a crucial part of the booking process, but the user has to click a button
and see a popup window for this.
Many a times, this even comes up with an Unable to retrieve due to communication failure
problem!
Payment Options
There are too many payment options, and difficult to understand which one is better. This also
comes up in a pop-up window. Ideally, this can be a preference that can be set in the user profile.
Many a times, the booking process fails on payment, despite a note that you can see this in the
failed payments page, it does not show up.

Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction describes how happy an individual is with his or her job. The happier
people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Employee satisfaction is the
individual employees general attitude towards the job. It is also an employees cognitive and
affective evaluation of his or her job. The term job satisfaction describes a positive feeling about
a job, resulting from evaluation of its characteristics. When people speak of employee
satisfaction they usually means job satisfaction. Job satisfaction refers to a persons feeling of
satisfaction on the job, which acts as a motivation to work. It is not the self satisfaction,
happiness or self contentment but the satisfaction on the job. The happier people are within their
job, the more satisfied they are said to be. The term relates to the total relationship between an
individual and the employer for which he is paid. Satisfaction does mean the simple feeling-state
accompanying the attainment of any goal; the end-state is feeling accompanying the attainment
by an impulse of its objectives. Job satisfaction does mean absence of motivation at work.
Research workers differently described the factors contributing to job satisfaction and job
dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is not the same as motivation, although it is clearly linked. Job
design aims to enhance job satisfaction and performance; methods include job rotation, job
enlargement and job enrichment. Other influences on satisfaction include the management style
and culture, employee involvement, empowerment and autonomous work groups.

Definition of Employee Satisfaction

Any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause

any person truthfully to say I am satisfied with my job.
- Hoppock

Importance of Employee Satisfaction

Basically employee satisfaction provides an employee with inner motivation and self
encouragement so that he or she can give the best to his organization. Normally an employee
who is satisfied with his work will facilitate in creating a positive working environment for
people around. It will help in boosting the morale of the other employees in the organization. Its
a fact that majority of us work for money but monetary benefits should not be the sole criteria
while selecting a job. It is always recommended that you select a job which provides you with
inner satisfaction and happiness. Life becomes happier and easier for an employee who is happy
with his or her job. Majority of the well reputed companies these days give lot of importance to
measure the level of employee satisfaction at the work place. Hence employers these days
emphasize a lot on a good HR system in the organization. Job satisfaction is absolutely necessary
and beneficial both for the organization as well as the career development of the employee.

History of Employee Satisfaction

One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne studies. These
studies (19241933), primarily credited to Elton Mayo of the Harvard Business School, sought
to find the effects of various conditions (most notably illumination) on workers productivity.
These studies ultimately showed that novel changes in work conditions temporarily increase
productivity (called the Hawthorne). It was later found that this increase resulted, not from the
new conditions, but from the knowledge of being observed. This finding provided strong

evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which paved the way for researchers to
investigate other factors in job satisfaction.
Scientific management also had a significant impact on the study of job satisfaction. Frederick
Winslow Taylors 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, argued that there was a single
best way to perform any given work task. This book contributed to a change in industrial
production philosophies, causing a shift from skilled labor and piecework towards the more
modern of assembly lines and hourly wages. The initial use of scientific management by
industries greatly increased productivity because workers were forced to work at a faster pace.
However, workers became exhausted and dissatisfied, thus leaving researchers with new
questions to answer regarding job satisfaction.
Some argue that Maslows hierarchy of needs theory, a motivation theory, laid the foundation for
job satisfaction theory. This theory explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs in life
physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization. This
model served as a good basis from which early researchers could develop job satisfaction
theories.
Job satisfaction can also be seen within the broader context of the range of issues which affect an
individual's experience of work, or their quality of working life. Job satisfaction can be
understood in terms of its relationships with other key factors, such as general well-being, stress
at work, control at work, home-work interface, and working conditions.

Theories of Employee Satisfaction

1. Affect theory
Edwin A. Lockes Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job satisfaction
model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy
between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theory states that how
much one values a given facet of work (e.g. the degree of autonomy in a position) moderates
how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/arent met. When a person values a
particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively (when
expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one who
doesnt value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace and
Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in a
position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or no
autonomy compared to Employee B. This theory also states that too much of a particular facet
will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet.
2. Dispositional theory
Another well-known job satisfaction theory is the Dispositional Theory. It is a very general
theory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause them to have tendencies
toward a certain level of satisfaction, regardless of ones job. This approach became a notable
explanation of job satisfaction in light of evidence that job satisfaction tends to be stable over
time and across careers and jobs. Research also indicates that identical twins have similar levels
of job satisfaction.

A significant model that narrowed the scope of the Dispositional Theory was the Core Selfevaluations Model, proposed by Timothy A. Judge, Edwin A. Locke, and Cathy C. Durham in
1997. Judge et al. argued that there are four Core Self-evaluations that determine ones
disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control,
and neuroticism. This model states that higher levels of self-esteem (the value one places on
his/her self) and general self-efficacy (the belief in ones own competence) lead to higher work
satisfaction. Having an internal locus of control (believing one has control over her\his own life,
as opposed to outside forces having control) leads to higher job satisfaction. Finally, lower levels
of neuroticism lead to higher job satisfaction.
3. Opponent process theory
According to opponent process theory, emotional events, such as criticisms or rewards, elicits
two sets of processes. Primary processes give way to emotions that are steady with the event in
question. Events that seem negative in manner will give rise to the feelings of stress or anxiety.
Events that are positive give rise to the feeling of content or relaxation. The other process is the
opponent process, which induces feelings that contradict the feelings in the primary processes.
Events that are negative give rise to feelings of relaxation while events that are positive give rise
to feelings of anxiety. A variety of explanations have been suggested to explain the uniformity of
mood or satisfaction. This theory shows that if you try to enhance the mood of individual it will
more likely fail in doing so. The opponent process theory was formulated to explain these
patterns of observations.

4. Equity theory
Equity Theory shows how a person views fairness in regard to social relationships. During a
social exchange, a person identifies the amount of input gained from a relationship compared to
the output, as well as how much effort another person puts forth. Equity Theory suggests that if
an individual thinks there is an inequality between two social groups or individuals, the person is
likely to be distressed because the ratio between the input and the output are not equal.
For example, consider two employees who work the same job and receive the same benefits. If
one individual gets a pay raise for doing the same or less work than the other, then the less
benefited individual will become distressed in his workplace. If, on the other hand, one
individual gets a pay raise and new responsibilities, then the feeling of inequality is reduced.
5. Discrepancy theory
The concept of self-discrepancy theory explains the ultimate source of anxiety and dejection. An
individual, who has not fulfilled his responsibility feels the sense of anxiety and regret for not
performing well, they will also feel dejection due to not being able to achieve their hopes and
aspirations. According to this theory, all individuals will learn what their obligations and
responsibilities for a particular function, over a time period, and if they fail to fulfill those
obligations then they are punished. Over time, these duties and obligations consolidate to form
an abstracted set of principles, designated as a self-guide. Agitation and anxiety are the main
responses when an individual fails to achieve the obligation or responsibility. This theory also
explains that if achievement of the obligations is obtained then the reward can be praise,
approval, or love. These achievements and aspirations also form an abstracted set of principles,

referred to as the ideal self guide. When the individual fails to obtain these rewards, they begin to
have feelings of dejection, disappointment, or even depression.
6. two-factor theory (motivator-hygiene theory)
Frederick Herzbergs Two-factor theory (also known as Motivator Hygiene Theory) attempts to
explain satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. This theory states that satisfaction and
dissatisfaction are driven by different factors motivation and hygiene factors, respectively. An
employees motivation to work is continually related to job satisfaction of a subordinate.
Motivation can be seen as an inner force that drives individuals to attain personal and
organizational goals. Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to
perform, and provide people with satisfaction, for example achievement in work, recognition,
promotion opportunities. These motivating factors are considered to be intrinsic to the job, or the
work carried out. Hygiene factors include aspects of the working environment such as pay,
company policies, supervisory practices, and other working conditions. The following table
presents the top six factors causing dissatisfaction and the top six factors causing satisfaction,
listed in the order of higher to lower importance.
Factors Affecting Job Attitudes

Leading to Dissatisfaction

Leading to Satisfaction

Company policy

Achievement

Supervision

Recognition

Relationship w/Boss

Work itself

elSAunzPsyafocEthgNimd

Work conditions

Responsibility

Salary

Advancement

Relationship w/Peers

Growth

7. Maslows need fulfillment theory

If motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for a manager

to understand which needs are the more important for individual employees. In this regard,
Abraham Maslow developed a model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological

requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment are
pursued. In this hierarchical model, when a need is mostly satisfied it no longer motivates and

the next higher need takes its place. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shown in the following
diagram.

If Maslow's theory holds, there are some important implications for management. There are

opportunities to motivate employees through management style, job design, company events, and
compensation packages, some examples of which follow:

Physiological needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks, and wages that are sufficient to
purchase the essentials of life.

Safety Needs: Provide a safe working environment, retirement benefits, and job security.

Social Needs: Create a sense of community via team-based projects and social events.

Esteem Needs: Recognize achievements to make employees feel appreciated and valued.
Offer job titles that convey the importance of the position.

Self-Actualization: Provide employees a challenge and the opportunity to reach their full
career potential.

However, not all people are driven by the same needs - at any time different people may be
motivated by entirely different factors. It is important to understand the needs being pursued by
each employee. To motivate an employee, the manager must be able to recognize the needs level
at which the employee is operating, and use those needs as levers of motivation.

2.6 Factors that influence employee satisfaction

Environmental factors
Communication overload and communication under load
One of the most important aspects of an individuals work in a modern organization
concerns the management of communication demands that he or she encounters on the job.
Demands can be characterized as a communication load, which refers to the rate and

complexity of communication inputs an individual must process in a particular time frame.

Individuals in an organization can experience communication over-load and communication
under- load which can affect their level of job satisfaction. Communication overload can occur
when an individual receives too many messages in a short period of time which can result in
unprocessed information or when an individual faces more complex messages that are more
difficult to process. Due to this process, given an individuals style of work and motivation to
complete a task, when more inputs exist than outputs, the individual perceives a condition of
overload which can be positively or negatively related to job satisfaction. In comparison,
communication under load can occur when messages or inputs are sent below the individuals
ability to process them. According to the ideas of communication over-load and under-load, if
an individual does not receive enough input on the job or is unsuccessful in processing these
inputs, the individual is more likely to become dissatisfied, aggravated, and unhappy with their
work which leads to a low level of job satisfaction.
Superior-subordinate communication
Superior-subordinate communication is an important influence on job satisfaction in the
workplace. The way in which subordinates perceive a supervisor's behavior can positively or
negatively influence job satisfaction. Communication behavior such as facial expression, eye
contact, vocal expression, and body movement is crucial to the superior-subordinate relationship.
Nonverbal messages play a central role in interpersonal interactions with respect to impression
formation, deception, attraction, social influence, and emotional. Nonverbal immediacy from the
supervisor helps to increase interpersonal involvement with their subordinates impacting job
satisfaction. The manner in which supervisors communicate with their subordinates non-verbally
may be more important than the verbal content. Individuals who dislike and think negatively

about their supervisor are less willing to communicate or have motivation to work whereas
individuals who like and think positively of their supervisor are more likely to communicate and
are satisfied with their job and work environment. A supervisor who uses nonverbal immediacy,
friendliness, and open communication lines is more likely to receive positive feedback and high
job satisfaction from a subordinate. Conversely, a supervisor who is antisocial, unfriendly, and
unwilling to communicate will naturally receive negative feedback and create low job
satisfaction in their subordinates in the workplace.
Individual factors
Emotion

Mood and emotions form the affective element of job satisfaction. Moods tend to be
longer lasting but often weaker states of uncertain origin, while emotions are often more intense,
short-lived and have a clear object or cause. Some research suggests moods are related to overall
job satisfaction. Positive and negative emotions were also found to be significantly related to
overall job satisfaction. Emotion management refers to various types of efforts to manage
emotional states and displays. Emotion management includes all of the conscious and
unconscious efforts to increase, maintain, or decrease one or more components of an emotion.
Although early studies of the consequences of emotional work emphasized its harmful effects on
workers, studies of workers in a variety of occupations suggest that the consequences of
emotional work are not uniformly negative.
Genetics
It has been well documented that genetics influence a variety of individual
differences. Some research suggests genetics also play a role in the intrinsic, direct experiences

of job satisfaction like challenge or achievement (as opposed to extrinsic, environmental factors
like working conditions). One experiment used sets of monozygotic twins, reared apart, to test
for the existence of genetic influence on job satisfaction. While the results indicate the majority
of the variance in job satisfaction was due to environmental factors (70%), genetic influence is
still a minor factor. Genetic heritability was also suggested for several of the job characteristics
measured in the experiment, such as complexity level, motor skill requirements, and physical
demands.
Personality
Some research suggests an association between personality and job satisfaction.
Specifically, this research describes the role of negative and positive affectivity. Negative
affectivity is related strongly to the personality trait of neuroticism. Individuals high in negative
affectivity are more prone to experience less job satisfaction. Positive affectivity is related
strongly to the personality trait of extraversion. Those high in positive affectivity are more prone
to be satisfied in most dimensions of their life, including their job. Differences in affectivity
likely impact how individuals will perceive objective job circumstances like pay and working
conditions, thus affecting their satisfaction in that job.
2.7 Determinants of Employee Satisfaction
According to Abraham A. Korman, there are two types of variables which determine the job
satisfaction of an individual. These are:

Organizational variables, and

Personal variables.

Organizational Variables

The organizational determinants of job satisfaction play a very important role. The employees
spend major part of their time in organization so there are number of organizational factors that
determine job satisfaction of the employees. The job satisfaction in the organizations can be
increased by organizing and managing the organizational factors. The organization determinants
of job satisfaction are as follows:

Wages: Wage can be described as the amount of reward that a worker expects from the
job. Wages are an instrument of fulfilling the needs as every worker expects to get an
appropriate reward. The wages are supposed to be fair, reasonable and equitable. A
feeling of job satisfaction is felt by attaining fair and equitable rewards.
Nature of Work: The nature of work has significant impact on the job satisfaction.
Job satisfaction is highly influenced by the nature of work. Employees are satisfied with
job that involves intelligence, skills, abilities, challenges and scope for greater freedom.
Job dissatisfaction arises with a feeling of boredom, poor variety of tasks, frustration and
failures.

Working Conditions: Employees are highly motivated with good working conditions as
they provide a feeling of safety, comfort and motivation. On contrary, poor working
conditions brings out a fear of bad health in employees.
Job Content: Factors like recognition, responsibility, advancement, achievement etc can
be referred to as job content. A job that involves variety of tasks and less monotonous
results delivers greater job satisfaction. A job that involves poor content produces job
dissatisfaction.

 Organizational Level: The jobs that are at higher levels are viewed as prestigious,
esteemed and opportunity for self-control. The employees that are working at higher
level jobs express greater job satisfaction than the ones working at lower level jobs.
Opportunities for Promotion: Promotion can be reciprocated as a significant
achievement in the life. It promises and delivers more pay, responsibility, authority,
independence and status. So, the opportunities for promotion determine the degree of
satisfaction

to

the

employees.

Work Group: There is a natural desire of human beings to interact with others and so
existence of groups in organizations is a common observable fact. This characteristic
results in formation of work groups at the work place. Isolated workers dislike their jobs.
The work groups make use of a remarkable influence on the satisfaction of employees.
The satisfaction of an individual is dependent on largely on the relationship with the
group members, group dynamics, group cohesiveness and his own need for affiliation.
Leadership Styles: The satisfaction level on the job can be determined by the leadership
styles. Job satisfaction is greatly enhanced by democratic style of leadership. It is
because democratic leaders promote friendship, respect and warmth relationships among
the employees. On contrary, employees working under authoritarian and dictatorial
leaders express low level of job satisfaction.

Personal Variables
The personal determinants also help a lot in maintaining the motivation and personal factors of
the employees to work effectively and efficiently. Job satisfaction can be related to psychological
factors and so numbers of personal factors determine the job satisfaction of the employees. They

are

as

follows:-

Personality: The personality of an individual can be determined by observing his

individual psychological conditions. The factors that determine the satisfaction of
individuals and his psychological conditions is perception, attitudes and learning.
Age: Age can be described as a noteworthy determinant of job satisfaction. It is because
younger age employees possessing higher energy levels are likely to be having more job
satisfaction. In older age, the aspiration levels in employees increase. They feel
completely dissatisfied in a state where they are unable to find their aspiration fulfilled.
Educational Levels: With occupational level held constant there is a negative
relationship between the educational level and job satisfaction. The higher the
educational, the higher the reference group which the individual looks to for guidance to
evaluate his job rewards. Education plays a significant determinant of job satisfaction as
it provides an opportunity for developing ones personality. The highly educated
employees can understand the situation and asses it positively as they possess persistence,
rationality and thinking power.
Gender Differences: The gender and race of the employees plays important determinants
of Job satisfaction. There is yet no confident evidence as to whether women are more
satisfied with that their job than men. However, Women, the fairer sex, are more likely to
be satisfied than their male counterpart even if they are employed in small jobs.

The job satisfaction can also be determined by other factors as follows:

General working conditions

Union-Management Relations
General Quality of supervisors
Type of work
Co-workers
Ease to communicating to work
Advancement opportunities
Security
Supervision
Company prestige
Working hours
Recognition
Autonomy
Fair evaluation of work done
Job status

It is important for managers to consider all these factors in assessing the satisfaction of the
employees and increasing their level of job satisfaction.

2.8 Measuring Employee satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a very important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations. A
persons job is more than just the obvious activities of shuffling papers, writing programmed
code, waiting on customers or driving on a truck. Job requires interacting with coworkers and
bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with
working conditions that are often less than ideal, and the like.
The two most widely used approaches are a single global rating and a summation score made up
of a no of job facets. The single global rating method is nothing more than a response to one
question, such as all things considered, how satisfied are you with your job? respondents circle
a no between 1 to 5 that corresponds to answers from highly satisfied to highly dissatisfied.

The other approach- a summation of job facets- is more sophisticated. It identifies key elements
in a job and asks for employees feeling about each. Typical elements here are nature of work,
supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, and relation with coworkers. Respondents rate
them on a standardized scale, and researchers add the ratings to create an overall job satisfaction
score. Summation of job facets helps managers zero in on where problem exists, making it easier
to deal with unhappy employees and solve problems faster and more accurately.
Smith Kendall and Hulin have suggested that there are five job dimensions that represent the
most important characteristics of a job about which people have affective responses, these are:

The work itself: The extent to which the job provides the individual with the interesting

task, opportunities for learning and the chance of accept responsibility.

Pay: The amount of financial remuneration that is received and the degree to which this

is viewed as equitable vis-a-vis that of others in the organization.

Promotion opportunities: The chance for advancement in the hierarchy.
Supervision: The ability is on the supervision to provide technical assistance and

behavioral support.
Co-workers: The degree to which follow workers are technically proficient and socially
supportive.

However, a comprehensive approach requires that may additional factors be included before a
complete understanding of job satisfaction can be obtained. Such factors as the employees are,
health, temperament, desires and levels of aspiration should be considered.
Further, his family relationship, social status, recreational or purely social-contribute ultimately
to job satisfaction.

2.9 The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied Employees on Workplace

Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee

Job satisfaction has a variety of effects. These effects may be seen in the context of:
Individuals physical and mental health
Productivity
Absenteeism,
Turnover.
Physical and Mental Health:
The degree of job satisfaction affects an individuals physical and mental health. Since job
satisfaction is a type of mental feeling, its favorableness or unfavourablesness affects the
individual psychologically which ultimately affects his physical health.
For example, Lawler has pointed out that drug abuse, alcoholism and mental and physical health
result from psychologically harmful jobs. Further, since a job is an important part of life, job
satisfaction influences general life satisfaction. The result is that there is spillover effect which
occurs in both directions between job and life satisfaction.
Productivity:
There are two views about the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity:
A happy worker is a productive worker,
A happy worker is not necessarily a productive worker.
The first view establishes a direct cause-effect relationship between job satisfaction and
productivity; when job satisfaction increases, productivity increases; when satisfaction
decreases, productivity decreases. The basic logic behind this is that a happy worker will
put more efforts for job performance.
However, this may not be true in all cases. For example, a worker having low
expectations from his jobs may feel satisfied but he may not put his efforts more
vigorously because of his low expectations from the job. Therefore, this view does not
explain fully the complex relationship between job satisfaction and productivity.
Another view: That is a satisfied worker is not necessarily a productive worker explains
the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity. Various research studies also
support this view. This relationship may be explained in terms of the operation of two
factors:

Effect of job performance on satisfaction and organizational expectations from

individuals for job performance.
Job performance leads to job satisfaction and not the other way round. The basic factor
for this phenomenon is the rewards (a source of satisfaction) attached with performance.
There are two types of rewards-intrinsic and extrinsic. The intrinsic reward stems from
the job itself which may be in the form of growth potential, challenging job, etc. The
satisfaction on such a type of reward may help to increase productivity. The extrinsic
reward is subject to control by management such as salary, bonus, etc. Any increase in
these factors does not help to increase productivity though these factors increase job
satisfaction.
A happy worker does not necessarily contribute to higher productivity because he has to
operate under certain technological constraints and, therefore, he cannot go beyond
certain output. Further, this constraint affects the managements expectations from the
individual in the form of lower output. Thus, the work situation is pegged to minimally
acceptable level of performance.
However, it does not mean that the job satisfaction has no impact on productivity. A
satisfied worker may not necessarily lead to increased productivity but a dissatisfied
worker leads to lower productivity.
Absenteeism:
Absenteeism refers to the frequency of absence of job holder from the workplace either
unexcused absence due to some avoidable reasons or long absence due to some
unavoidable reasons. It is the former type of absence which is a matter of concern. This
absence is due to lack of satisfaction from the job which produces a lack of will to work
and alienate a worker form work as for as possible. Thus, job satisfaction is related to
absenteeism.
Employee turnover:

Turnover of employees is the rate at which employees leave the organization within a
given period of time. When an individual feels dissatisfaction in the organization, he tries
to overcome this through the various ways of defense mechanism. If he is not able to do
so, he opts to leave the organization. Thus, in general case, employee turnover is related
to job satisfaction. However, job satisfaction is not the only cause of employee turnover,
the other cause being better opportunity elsewhere. For example, in the present context,
the rate of turnover of computer software professionals is very high in India. However,
these professionals leave their organizations not simply because they are not satisfied but
because of the opportunities offered from other sources particularly from foreign
companies located abroad. If employees are not satisfied with their job then they show
their dissatisfaction by adopting some actions .One theoretical model- the exit-voiceloyalty-neglect

framework

is

helpful

in

understanding

the

consequences

of

dissatisfaction. Following figure illustrates the frameworks four responses, which differ
from one another along two dimensions: constructive/destructive and active/passive.

The responses are defined as follows:

Exit: the exit response involves directing behavior towards leaving the organization,

including looking for new position as well as resigning.

Voice: the voice response involves actively and constructively attempting to improve
conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and

undertaking some form of union activity.

Loyalty: the loyalty response involves passively but optimistically waiting for conditions
to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism

and trusting the organization and its management to do the right thing.
Neglect: the neglect response involves passively allowing conditions to worsen,
including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate.

Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variables- productivity, absenteeism, and
turnover. But this model expands employee response to include voice and loyalty-constructive
behaviors that allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working
conditions. It helps us to understand situations, such as those sometimes found among unionized
workers, for who low job satisfaction is coupled with low turnover. Union members often
express dissatisfaction through the grievance procedure or through formal contract negotiations.
These voice mechanisms allow them to continue in their jobs while convincing themselves that
they are acting to improve the situation.
Job satisfaction and job performance:
Its hard to tell that happy workers are more likely to be productive workers because we dont
know which way the causality runs. Some researchers used to believe that relationship between
job satisfaction and job performance was a management myth. But a review of 300 studies

suggested that correlation is pretty strong. As we move from the individual level to that of the
organization, we also find support for the satisfaction-performance relationship. The results of
study conducted on 150 scientists revealed a significant positive relationship between
performance and job satisfaction, which signifies that a satisfied workforce is more productive.
When satisfaction and productivity data are gathered for the organization as a whole, we find that
organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with
fewer satisfied employees.
Job satisfaction and customer satisfaction
If your employees aren't happy, there's little chance they're going to make your customers
happy.
Employees in service jobs often interact with customers. Since the management of service
organizations should be concerned with pleasing those customers, it is reasonable to ask: is
employee satisfaction related to positive customer outcomes? For frontline employees who have
regular contact with customers, the answer is yes.
The evidence indicates that satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Why?
In service organizations, customer retention and defection are highly dependent on how frontline
employees deal with customers. Satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, and
responsive- which customers appreciate. And because satisfied employees are less prone to
turnover, customers are more likely to encounter familiar faces and receive experienced service.
These qualities build customer satisfaction and loyalty. The relationship also seems to apply in
reverse: dissatisfied customers can increase an employees dissatisfaction. Employees who have

regular contact with customers report that rude, thoughtless, or unreasonably demanding
customers adversely affect the employees job satisfaction.

Chapter-2

OBJECTIVES
SCOPE
LIMITATION

Objectives
1. To study about the IRCTC.
2. To study the various factors affecting employee satisfaction.
3. To analyse the current satisfaction level of the employees in the company.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Measure job satisfaction of the employees of IRCTC.

To assess the general attitude of the employees towards IRCTC.
To assess the level of commitment across process and facilities
To help the management of the company to know about the actions to be taken to
increase the level of satisfaction of the employees.

Scope
Most assume a positive relationship; the research to date indicates that there is no strong linkage
between satisfaction and performance. Conceptual, methodological, and empirical analyses have
questioned and argued against these results.
The best conclusion about satisfaction and performance is that there is, definitely a relationship.
The relationship may even be more complex than others in organization behaviour. For example,
there seem to be many possible-moderating variables, the most important of which is reward. If
people receive reward they feel are equitable, they will be satisfied, and is likely to result in
greater performance effort.

Chapter-3
Research Methodology

Research Methodology
Research is a common language refers to a search of knowledge. Research is scientific &
systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic, infect research is an art of
scientific investigation. Research Methodology is a scientific way to solve research problem. It
may be understood as a science of studying how research is dont scientifically. In it we study
various steps that are generally adopted by researchers in studying their research problem. It is
necessary for researchers to know not only know research method techniques but also
technology. The scope of Research Methodology is wider than that of research methods.
The research problem consists of series of closely related activities. At times, the first step
determines the native of the last step to be undertaken. Why a research has been defined, what
data has been collected and what a particular methods have been adopted and a host of similar

other questions are usually answered when we talk of research methodology concerning a
research problem or study. The project is a study where focus is on the following points:

Research Design:A research design is defined, as the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring the
Information needed. It is a plant or organizing framework for doing the study and collecting the
data. Designing a research plan requires decisions all the data sources, research approaches,
Research instruments, sampling plan and contact methods. The study was descriptive kind of
research.

Research design is mainly of following types:

1

Exploratory research.

Descriptive studies

Causal studies/Experimental studies

1. Exploratory research:The major purposes of exploratory studies are the identification of problems, the more precise
Formulation of problems and the formulations of new alternative courses of action. The design of
exploratory studies is characterized by a great amount of flexibility and ad-hoc veracity.

2. Descriptive research:Descriptive research in contrast to exploratory research is marked by the prior formulation of
specific research Questions. The investigator already knows a substantial amount about the

research problem. Perhaps as a Result of an exploratory study, before the project is initiated.
Descriptive research is also characterized by a Preplanned and structured design.

3. Causal studies/Experimental studies

A casual design investigates the cause and effect relationships between two or more variables.
The hypothesis is tested and the experiment is done. There are following types of casual designs
a

After only with control design

Before after with control design

Before after without control design

Consumer panel design

Ex-post facto design

Research Design has been classified into four subsections they are:
1

Sample selection and size;

Sampling procedure;

Data collection; and

Analytical tools

Sample Selection and size

The first step of research is sample selection, for which the respondents were employees in
Delhi. The total employees covered were 100. The same questionnaires were employees, but
only 100 fully-completed questionnaires were received. Results are based on the response of
these 100 respondents.

Sampling Procedure
There are basically two methods of sampling:-

Probability sampling
It is also known as random sampling. Under this sampling design every item of the universe has
an equal chance of inclusion in the sample. It is, so to say, a lottery method in which individual
units are picked from the whole group not deliberately but by some mechanical process. Here it
blind chance alone that determines whether one item or the other is selected. The results obtained
from probability sampling can be assured in terms of probability.

Non Probability sampling

Non Probability sampling is that sampling procedure which does not afford any basis for
estimating the probability that each item in the population has been included in the sample. In
this type of sampling, items for the sample selected deliberately by the researcher; his choice
concerning the items remains supreme.
For the study the consumers are selected by the convenience sampling method. The
selection of units from the population based on their easy availability and accessibility to the
researcher is known as convenience sampling

Data Collection method

Data Collection Method

Primary

Secondary

Published Sources
Direct personal Interview
Indirect personal Interview

Govt. publication

Unpublished
Sources

Information from correspondents

Report Committees

Mailed questionnaire & Commissions

Private Publication

Question filled by enumerators

Research Institute

The task data collection begins after research problem has been defined. There are two methods
for data collection.

Primary data
Primary data may be described as those data that have been observed and recorded by the
researcher for the first time to their knowledge.

Secondary data
Secondary data are those data which have been already collected and analyzed by some
earlier agency for its own use; and later the same data are used by a different agency.
For the present study, the survey method was used for collecting primary data. A
structured questionnaire was used for the purpose. The questionnaire included multiple choice
questions. The main source of secondary data has been the leafy journal of Consumer Behavior,
and Indian journal of Marketing. The study employs primary data collected by communicating

with the respondents with the help of structured questionnaire. The study mainly deals with the
behavior of individual towards Employee satisfaction in an organization at IRCTC in Delhi.

Analytical DataThe data thus collected, was tabulated, interpreted and analyzed with a view to make the study
meaningful. In the present study, hypothesis testing, percentage, frequency and cross tabulation
methods have been used for analysis.

CHAPTER 2
Data Analysis

And
Interpretation

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

5.1
The analysis and interpretation of the Questionnaire to the Participants (format is
as per Annexure I to this report) is enumerated in succeeding paragraphs.
Q-1 Are you clear about the results expected of you in your job?
The responses showed that majority of the employees were clear about their job. The
response was as under:-

Response

No.

Percentage

Yes

28

93.3

No

6.7

Cant say

Total

30

100

Yes
No
Can't say

Interpretation.
Employees of the company are aware of the managements expectations from
them.

Q-2 Are you clear about the overall goals of the company?
The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

27

90

No

10

Cant say

Total

30

100

Clarity of Company Goals ?

Yes
No
Can't say

Interpretation.
Employees of the company are quite clear of the goals of the organization

Q-3 Are you satisfied with your job assignment?

The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

19

63.33

No

16.67

Cant say

20

Total

30

100

Job Satisfaction

Yes
No
Can't say

Interpretation.
While a large proportion of the employees are happy and satisfied with their work
assignment, a fairly large proportion do not appear to be happy and satisfied.

Q-4 Does your job make use of your skills and abilities?
The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

21

70

No

10

Cant say

20

Total

30

100

Utilization of Skills

Yes
No
Can't say

Interpretation.
Skills and abilities of employees are being utilised by the company. However these
skills and abilities are not being optimally utilised.

Q-5 Do you get a sense of accomplishment from your work?

The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

17

56.67

No

16.67

Cant say

26.67

Total

30

100

Sense of Accomplishment

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Higher order needs of a large number of employees needs more attention. Majority
of employees appear to be getting a sense of accomplishment in their respective
jobs.

Q-6 Would you like to continue in your current area of work?

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

26

86.67

No

6.67

Cant say

6.67

Total

30

100

Attitude towards current job?

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Attitude of Employees towards their current job is reasonably satisfactory.

Q-7 Does your job, through variety and challenge, provide opportunities for learning
and growth?
The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

18

60

No

13.33

Cant say

26.67

Total

30

100

Growth Opportunities

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
More attention needs to be given to individual growth of employees of the
company. A fair proportion of the respondents seemed to be unsure of learning and
growth prospects in the company.

Q-8 Is the environment of your workplace safe clean, healthy and hygienic?
The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

28

93.33

No

Cant say

6.67

Total

30

100

Work Environment

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
The environment at the work place is neat, clean, tidy and hygienic.

Q-9 Does your job leave you with sufficient time for your personal/family and social
life?
The response was as under:-

Response

No

Percentage

Yes

29

97

No

Cant say

Total

30

100

Avail of Pers Time

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Majority of employees are satisfied with availability of personal time, however, a
fair proportion is not satisfied with the same.

Q-10 Are your superiors fair and equitable in their dealings with people?
Response was as under:-

Response

No

Percentage

Yes

27

90

No

6.66

Cant say

3.33

Total

30

100

Inter pers Relations

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Reveals, healthy inter personal relations between management and employees of
the company.

Q-11 Have your performance appraisals been fair?

The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Yes

20

66.67

No

16.67

Cant say

16.67

Total

30

100

Performance Appraisal Fair?

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Reveals, a fair proportion of employees are not satisfied with their appraisal.

Q-12 Are there clear criteria for giving rewards?

The response was as under:-

Response

No

Percentage

Yes

26

86.67

No

10

Cant say

3.33

Total

30

100

Fair Policy for Rewards?

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Reflects a healthy system of rewards in the company.

Q-13 Is credit for work well done given timely?

The response was as under:-

Response

No

Percentage

Yes

19

63.33

No

30

Cant say

6.67

Total

30

100

Credit for Work

Yes

No

Can't say

Interpretation.
Reveals the fact that while most of the time, good work is being appreciated, however
more emphasis is required to ensure that good work does not go unrecognised.

Q-14 How satisfied are you with your total remuneration package considering your
duties and responsibilities?
The response was as under:-

Response

No

Percentage

Extremely
satisfied
Satisfied

13

43.33

23.33

Neutral

13.33

Dissatisfied

13.33

Extremely
dissatisfied
Total

6.67

30

100

Satisfaction with Remuneration

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Extremely satisfied

Nos

Neutral

Extremely dissatisfied

Interpretation.
While compensation package of the company is by and large fair, there is room for
improvement.

Q-15 Roles and responsibilities of people in the workplace are clearly defined?
The response was as under:-

Response

Nos

Percentage

Strongly
agree
Agree

17

56.67

16.67

Neutral

3.33

Disagree

13.33

Strongly
Disagree

10

Clearly defined Roles

14
12
10
8
6

Nos

4
2
0

Interpretation.
Roles and responsibilities in the company are well defined in most of the cases. However
more needs to be done towards better division and definition of the same.

Q-16 Superiors in the company welcome free and frank communication from
employees?
The response was as under:-

Response

No

Percentage

Strongly
agree
Agree

14

46.67

20

Neutral

6.67

Disagree

13.33

Strongly
Disagree

13.33

Frank Communications
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Interpretation.
Free and frank opinions from employees are welcome in the company.

Nos

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS
AND
SUGGESTIONS

Findings

The findings consequent to the study are as enumerated in succeeding

paragraphs.
Majority (90%) of the employees were clear about their own role and the company goals.
Only 63 percent of the employees were satisfied with their job assignments.
Only 70 percent of the employees feel that the company is utilizing their skills and
abilities.
87 percent of the employees want to continue in their current area of work.
60 percent of respondents felt that their job provided opportunities for learning and
growth.
93 percent of respondents felt that environment of your workplace safe clean, healthy and
hygienic.
97 percent of respondents felt adequate private time for self and family was available.
90 percent of employees were of the opinion that their employees were fair and equitable
in their dealings with people.
Only 63 percent of employees thought that credit for work well done was given timely.
67 percent of employees were satisfied with their remuneration package considering their
job and responsibilities.
67 percent of employees were satisfied with freedom for free and frank communication
with superiors.

Suggestions
In general, level of employee satisfaction in the company is quite high. However as far as
satisfaction goes, sky is the limit and there is no end to expectations. Following suggestions
are made with the intention of further improvement: System of reward and recognition may be improved. Though there is no bias in rewards,
employees have a feeling that their good work is not given credit in time.
Remuneration to employees may be improved, if feasible.
Communication (free and frank exchange between employees and employers) may be
given more attention.
Opportunities for personal learning, growth and personal development of the employees
deserves due attention. Investment in employees is indirectly investment in the company.
Job assignment needs to be reviewed periodically in order to avoid monotony and
boredom.

CHAPTER 5
Conclusion

CONCLUSION
1. The project has given me an opportunity to interact with the Corporate Sector and to
actually see how academic teaching of the classrooms in Management is translated to
reality and practice. In fact it was very heartening to experience that all concepts and
theories mentioned in various books are actually implemented by the Company albeit
under a different name to suit its needs/style/culture.
2. Also, undertaking this project has helped me in learning to think of a topic/subject/issue
in a logical manner and examining the issue in its totality. This has also promoted
interaction with people from different walks of life, experiences and outlooks thus giving
me a broader perspective to the issue of training in particular and the business
environment in general.
3. Finally to conclude, I would like to submit that while pursuing this research, I learnt that
it is very important to learn the background/genesis of the topic/subject/issues first, so as
to understand the requirement/problem at hand and then consider its present status and
future prospects so as to arrive at a suggested set of
solutions/recommendations/suggestions so vital to the purpose of such studies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books/Magazines Referred: Kotler, Philip & Armstrong, Graw - Principle of Marketing,

Pearson Education, New Delhi 2007.Publisher- Dorling Kindersley
(India) Pvt. Ltd.
Kotler,

Philip-

Marketing

Management:

Analysis,

planning,

Implementations & control, Pearson Education, New Delhi 2003, 11 t h

Edition.
Kothari C. R. Research Methodology 2 n d revised edition 2004
published by New Age International Ltd.
Beri- Marketing Research (Tata Mc Graw-Hill), 1993 2 n d Edition.
Marketing Strategy and Management- Mr. Michael J. Baker.
Gupta CB-An Introduction to Statistical Method (Vikas), 1995, 9 t h
Edition.
Eveready In-house Newsletters.

BUSINESS MAGAZINE & NEWS PAPER:

The Times of India

The Economic Times

4Ps, Pitch, Business & Economy

Business Word& Business Standard

Business Today

Business

Internet:
www.google.com
www. scribd.com
www.avielectronic.com
www. worldpressinstitute.org
www. google.com.

a) Books

Encyclopedia, The world book, volume 14

Encyclopedia, Britannica, Napoleon Ozonolysis, volume 16
Gupta, s.p., Statistical methods, s.chand & sons, New Delhi
Kothari, C.R, Research methodology, methods and Techniques
Pillai & Bhagavathi R. S.N. Modern marketing New Delhi, RamNager, S.Chand &
company Ltd, 2001

QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire seeks data from respondents (employees of the company) chosen at random.
This data is for the purpose of this study alone and will not be used for any other purpose and is
purely academic in nature.
Shusmita Singh
MBA - III Sem.
Technical Education and research Center
Name...........................................................
Age...........................................................
Occupation.............................................................
Address............................................................
Phone number............................................................

Q-1 Are you clear about the results expected of you in your job?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-2 Are you clear about the overall goals of the company?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-3 Are you satisfied with your job assignment?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.

Q-4 Does your job make use of your skills and abilities?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-5 Do you get a sense of accomplishment from your work?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-6 Would you like to continue in your current area of work?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-7

Does your job, through variety and challenge, provide opportunities for learning and

growth?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-8 Is the environment of your workplace safe clean, healthy and hygienic?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.

Q-9 Does your job leave you with sufficient time for your personal/family and social life?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-10 Are your superiors fair and equitable in their dealings with people?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-11 Have your performance appraisals been fair?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-12 Are there clear criteria for giving rewards?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.
Q-13 Is credit for work well done given timely?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Cant say.

Q-14 How satisfied are you with your total remuneration package considering your duties and
responsibilities?
a. Extremely satisfied.
b. Satisfied.
c. Neutral.
d. Satisfied.
e. Extremely dissatisfied.
Q-15 Roles and responsibilities of people in the workplace are clearly defined?
a. Strongly agree.
b. Agree.
c. Neutral.
d. Disagree.
e. Strongly disagree.
Q-16 Superiors in the company welcome free and frank communication from employees?
a. Strongly agree.
b. Agree.
c. Neutral.
d. Disagree.
e. Strongly disagree.

Q-17 Do your superiors encourage you to think innovatively and challenge outmoded traditions
and practices?
a. Strongly agree.
b. Agree.
c. Neutral.
d. Disagree.
e. Strongly disagree.