A Study on the Differences of the School Foodservice Cooks' Job Satisfactions between Dietitian and Cooks in Gyeonggi Province

Lee, Ok Soon; Lee, Young Mee; Oh, Yu Jin

Abstract

School foodservice employees are involved with every aspect of ensuring that high quality meals are prepared and they influence student satisfaction. The objective of this study was to identify whether job satisfaction of cooks is affected by their relationships with management. Survey forms that were developed for foodservice dietitians and employees were interviewed. Questionnaires to measure job satisfaction were distributed to 30 schools in the Gyeonggi province and completed by 30 dietitians and 323 cooks. Foodservice cooks' job satisfaction was evaluated by measuring attitudes towards aspects of their job using the modified Smith method(1969). All items in the scales were coded by 4 Likert scale(1: nerver satisfied, 4: very satisfied), then grouped by using factor analyses. Statistical methods used in this study were a x2-test, t-test with SPSS software(version 12.0). The study results were as follows; 1) The demographic data showed that 65.3% of respondents were in their 40s, 96% were married, 68.8% were high school graduates, and 93.5% were contracted employees. Regarding overall experience in their current workplace, 27.9% had been in their position over 5 years and 25.7% said less than 2 years. 2) Most of the school lunches was served in the classroom(73.3%). The cook working was rotated among the employees(90%). Most employees did not use a day's leave of absence per month because they were averse to burdening their coworkers. 3) There were no significant differences in job satisfaction between the cooks' self-evaluation scores(2.92) and those of the dietitians(2.92). Among the factors influencing job satisfaction, dietitians(2.10) perceived that cooks(1.99) were more satisfied with their salaries than was actually the case. The cooks(3.19) rated their level of work satisfaction higher than the dietitians(3.03) perceived it to be. Employees rated their relationship satisfaction as 3.50, but dietitians on the other hand rated it 3.37. Most of the cook respondents want a higher salary and a some kind of employment guarantee. This study provides foodservice managers information useful for design positions that will increase productivity. Future study is needed to determine the factors that will improve job satisfaction and satisfy the employees' needs, which in turn will improve school food service quality.