Motivation and its impact on the performance of the supply chain department at Scott Bader.

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study was conducted in an organisation within the chemical composite industry of South Africa. The nature of business, demands leaders to ensure their value chain is highly efficient and competitive. Core to the value chain is an organisation’s supply chain. Agility in supply chains has a direct influence on organisations competitive advantage position in the industry they operate in. Superior human capital that are motivated and high performers are required to execute company’s supply chain strategies flawlessly, as these companies operate in a global village surrounded by scarcity of raw material, increasing global competition and costs, while concurrently satisfying customers and stakeholders ever changing demands. The objective of the study was to identify factors of motivation and performance, and correlate their impacts between them within the supply chain department at Scott Bader. This was supported by the notion that the current supply chain strategies did not incorporate the employee motivational element into them. A qualitative research approach and purposive sampling was employed, which included respondents from the Supply Chain department of the company under study. Data was collected through eleven semi- structured interviews and thematic analysis was used for analysing the data. Key findings of the study identified factors of motivation and performance. The finding was able to significantly correlate motivation and its impact on performance. The findings also revealed that respondents were motivated and that certain factors of motivation identified lead to low motivation levels and hence affecting performance levels. Recommendations proposed were from gaps identified between research findings and empirical evidence as well as comments from respondents. Scott Bader’s leaders are more insightful on the phenomenon of motivation and performance. Leadership are now in a credent position to incorporate the proposed recommendations into all future supply chain’s strategies at Scott Bader.