How Satisfied are Your Golf Club Employees and Managers?

As golf has grown as an industry, new golf courses both private and public have experienced a time of growth. According to the United States Golf Course Database, there are currently 16,237 golf courses on record. (Course Database, 2007). The purpose of this study is to determine if job satisfaction rates of golf club employees and their supervisors are influenced by the perception of justice and commitment currently existing in the organization. The levels of satisfaction among line level employees, as well as the levels of satisfaction, commitment, justice, and intentions to quit among club managers and their supervisors will be assessed. For the purposes of this study we will look at all golfing staff from greens keepers to the club pros and the food and beverage staff.Four instruments (JIG, JDI, TI, & OCQ) will be employed to help appraise the situation. Job satisfaction, organizational justice climate, and organizational commitment will be evaluated to determine if a relationship exists between the three constructs, and to observe if there are distinguishable differences between public and private courses. An alternate portion of the survey will be used to assess employees? intentions to leave the organization. The questionnaire was distributed to seven public and private golf clubs located throughout Texas and Illinois. The surveys were distributed to the outside staff, greens keepers, pro shop staff, and food and beverage staff for a total of 45 manager questionnaires and 134 employee surveys.Results of a descriptive analysis indicated that the golf club employees experienced satisfaction with their overall employment, supervision, work, and co-workers and neutral satisfaction with pay and promotion. The only statistically significant relationship was between the perceptions of justice in an organization and the level of job satisfaction. The study found that there was a positive relationship between organizational justice and job satisfaction. Also, job satisfaction was negatively related to the employees? intention to quit. The results also provide information that showed male employees are more likely to quit their jobs than female employees. Both the size of a club?s membership and the size of their staff had no relevant relationship to the level of satisfaction displayed by the employees.

Autorentext

Graduated Texas Tech University August 2007 and took a position at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, where I have just completed my first year. I teach mainly in private club management, but I also have history teaching both food and hotel classes. I have worked in hotels, restaurants, luxury skyboxes, hospitals, and golf communities.