The subject area for the study was that of job satisfaction in a chemical industry
production unit and the various dimensions by which it is constituted. The study will
focus on the dimensions which are found to have the biggest impact on the job
satisfaction of employees at the production unit.
As job satisfaction creates confidence in personnel which ultimately leads to
improved quality in the output of the employees, it is a crucial task of management to
instil job satisfaction within their employees (Tietjen & Myers, 1998:226). The
challenge lies therein as to how management should go about to realize the job
satisfaction of the staff, as it is “not the simple result of an incentive program” (Tietjen
& Myers, 1998:226).
Qualitative research by means of structured interviews was implemented in the
study. The sample consisted of 8 Production Foremen and 51 Production Process
personnel who were interviewed during four focus group sessions, and a former
Production Area Manager from the unit who was interviewed separately. Quotations
from transcribed tape recordings of the interviews were sorted or categorized
according to the themes (or dimensions) they represented before being analysed. As
a measure to ensure the validity of the research, the questions of the interviews were
structured in such a way that the data of some of the questions had to either
correspond, or not, to show the validity thereof.
Current research found that several studies have attempted to identify the
determinants for job satisfaction, but there is no agreed consensus as to the exact
dimensions (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2008:170; Vieira, 2005).
The findings of this research showed that job satisfaction is a conglomeration of
MANY dimensions, with no absolutes, which need to be present in the correct mix in
order for an employee to be happy or satisfied. Thus focusing on only one
dimension will provide little success. It is proposed that an integrated strategy with
the most common dimensions (in this instance: teamwork, leadership traits, and
working conditions) are followed to establish a working environment that is conducive to satisfied employees, not forgetting that one of the most important
dimensions is that of the employees themselves. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/12048 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Theron, Helgard Meyer |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
Page generated in 0.0025 seconds