The Effects of Science Teachers’ Perception of Learning Organization on Job Satisfaction Ahmet Cezmi Savas Zirve University, Gaziantep, Turkey * E-mail: cezmi.savas@zirve.edu.tr KEYWORDS Learning School. Learning Organizations. Job Satisfaction ABSTRACT Learning organizations not only contribute to the organization but also to the employee’s well- being. The approach of a learning organization’s benefits for the employees is as follows: people who work in the learning organizations are happier in their lives. In this research, it was aimed to determine at what levels are the effects of Science teachers’ working for Gaziantep National Education Administration, the perception of a learning organization paradigm on job satisfaction. It will be examined whether science teachers’ perception of learning organization affect their job satisfaction in a positive way. As the relationship between science teachers’ perception of a learning organization on job satisfaction was designated to be examined, the research design was determined to be causal-comparative. The population and sample: this study’s population is primary school science teachers working at primary schools within the Gaziantep city boundary in the 2012-2013 academic years. A randomly selected 99 science teachers from this population is the sample of this research. Two scales were used in order to gather the data for this research: Job satisfaction Scale (Short Form Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire- MSQ) and Learning Organization Scale (LOS). Data was analyzed by using the hierarchical multiple linear regression models. Findings of this study indicate that perception of general job satisfaction of teachers’ learning organizations predicts their job satisfaction strongly and positively. In the light of the findings, some recommendations were made. Address for correspondence: Dr. Ahmet Cezmi Savas Zirve University, Kizilhisar Kampusu, Gaziantep, Turkey Phone: +90 342 211 66 66, Fax: +90 342 211 66 77, E-mail: cezmi.savas@zirve.edu.tr INTRODUCTION It has become a necessity to improve quality in all fields and develop new management strat- egies in view of global competition. The con- cept of learning organizations as a new manage- ment model is adapted as learning organizations. It is crucial for the teachers and the administra- tors to accept this paradigm of learning organi- zations so as to improve the education quality at schools, and to raise happy individuals. All structures and organizations, if they want to take a step into the future, should never quit learning (Kocel 2003). Organizations should learn how to learn, and should give importance to team learn- ing. Those learning organizations which are not able to actualize learning will lose their power of competition. Individuals in the organizations ought to gather their individual expertise, open their mental structure to learning, and create syn- ergy. Learning Organizations According to Senge (2006), who first intro- duced the learning organization, “Learning Or- ganizations are the places where individuals im- prove their capacity steadily in order to get the truly desired results. New ways of thinking, push the emerging boundaries, human beings contin- uously learn how to learn cooperatively”. Ac- cording to Garvin (1999), learning organizations have the skill to create, attain, transfer knowl- edge, and reflect the behavior gained. Rosen (1998) stated that “it is the organization which encourages and nourishes the employee’s de- velopment, and regards learning as an invest- ment to improve the success and the capacity of the business, therefore, it provides opportunity for learning and improvement, and creates a learning environment. Senge (2006) expressed five disciplines of learning organizations; mental models, shared vision, team learning, systems thinking, and per- sonal mastery. Learning organizations’ five dis- ciplines are explained as follows: Personal mas- tery: it is one’s approach to his life as an artist does to his art, or to lace one’s life up meticu- lously like embroidery. Mental models: deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even © Kamla-Raj 2013 Anthropologist, 16(1-2): 395-404 (2013)