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A comparative study on pharmacist job satisfaction in the private and public hospitals of the North–West Province / by Marine Vorster

Pharmacists experience high levels of stress at work, especially from factors intrinsic
to their jobs and management roles. In South Africa, the public sector is confronted
with situational difficulties such as a shortage of staff and poor working conditions
Accordingly, a comparative survey was conducted using a self–constructed
questionnaire to obtain individual responses from the pharmacists in the public, as
well as the private sector. The focus population was the pharmacists in the public,
as well as the private hospitals in the North–West Province. The public sector
consists of 30 hospitals and the private sector of 20. By using the convenient
sampling method, 100 samples were taken. The questionnaire measured six factors
of job satisfaction, namely: job design, salary/remuneration satisfaction, performance
management, working arrangements, organisational climate, and professional
development. The questionnaire was distributed to 100 pharmacists in total, and a
response rate of 66% was obtained.
The only medium practical significance shown in the results was between the
averages of the private sector (2.89) in contrast with the public sector (3.38). This
indicates that the public sector demonstrates less satisfaction with their performance
management than the private sector. The data also indicated that the public sector
pharmacists are less satisfied with job design, performance of management,
professional development, and their working arrangements. The private sector
showed only a small difference in the means, when compared to the public sector. It
is clear that both sectors illustrate a moderate level of job satisfaction.
Recommendations, therefore, included the revisiting of the job design by increasing
job rotation and task identity. The need for self–actualization has to be
acknowledged and the opportunity for promotion needs to be provided. The link
between the actual activity and the bonus, with regards to performance
management, has to be re–established, and there has to be transparency
throughout. Decision–making control is extremely important and seeing that 82% of
the pharmacists were female, the employer can consider accommodating family
responsibilities, compressed working weeks, flexible working hours, job sharing, and
part–time work. Professional development is also very important within any company
and it is vital that the employer deposits time, money and skill into the staff. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/4619
Date January 2010
CreatorsVorster, Martine
PublisherNorth-West University
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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