2003 Employee Attitude Survey: Analysis of Employee Comments

Abstract

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) distributed 48,900 Employee Attitude Surveys to its employees in September 2003; of those, 22,720 completed surveys were returned. About 38% (8,606) of the returned surveys contained typed or hand-written comments. A 33% random sample of commented surveys (2,860 surveys) across FAA lines of business and major organizations was selected for transcription and content coding. Of the total codes assigned, 12,703 (91%) were considered negative in tone, and 1,193 (9%) were positive. Comment categories (i.e., combined topics) and topics were chosen for presentation by rank-ordering codes for positive and negative comment categories/topics. The top 50% of positive comments included four categories/topics: confidence in leadership, satisfaction with job overall, commitment/loyalty to the FAA, and confidence in nonsupervisory employees. The top 50% of negative comments included 20 categories/topics. Of these, the categories/topics representing the highest proportion of negative comments were: confidence in leadership; morale; privatization/future contracting; understaffing; FAA policies, practices, and programs; encouraging hard work; management concern for employees; promotion equity; comments about the survey; and trust. The high number of negative comments included in this report should not compel the reader to conclude that employees were extremely dissatisfied overall. In fact, the quantitative reports of response frequencies to the closed-ended items on the survey revealed a variety of areas where most employees were satisfied. For a balanced view of employee feedback, consider the results from the quantitative reports along with employee comments from the survey.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA460830

Entities

People

  • Carla A. Hackworth
  • Crystal E. Cruz
  • Dan G. Jack
  • S. J. King
  • Suzanne Thomas

Organizations

  • Federal Aviation Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Air Traffic
  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Cost Effectiveness
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Management Personnel
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Standards
  • Statistical Samples
  • Training
  • Workload

Readers

  • Organizational Psychology.