The influence of job design on job satisfaction of human resources practitioners at Eskom in KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

Job satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors such as physical environment, personal disposition, social environment, remuneration and benefits, co-workers, leadership, supervisors, work conditions, and job design. Job design is just one of those factors that can influence job satisfaction. This study creates an understanding of the intrinsic characteristics of the job that influence job satisfaction among Human Resource Practitioners at Eskom in KwaZulu-Natal. The study focused on job design as the antecedent factor to job satisfaction. The job characteristic model was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. The study was conducted through a mixed method design. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Study participants were the Human Resources’ staff at Eskom in KwaZulu-Natal. Analysis of the data was conducted separately using the SPSS 22, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the Shapiro-Wilk for the quantitative analysis, the NVIVO 10, and word trees and tag clouds for the qualitative analysis. The qualitative interpretation of the data was used to complement and expand on the quantitative analysis. The findings of the study show that there is a strong relationship between job design characteristics and job satisfaction; however there are other factors that have a significant impact on the level of satisfaction. The core characteristics of job design are shown to be present in the job of a Human Resource Practitioner and these lead to feelings of meaningfulness, a sense of responsibility, and the knowledge of results. Based on the findings, the study recommends the use of job design techniques based on the job characteristic model to enhance the quality of jobs towards improved job satisfaction. Job enrichment techniques such as job rotation should be used routinely to manage work teams. Employers should consider giving employees control over their work and more discretion over how it gets done towards improved job satisfaction and resultant better performance. The study finally concludes that the job design ignites job satisfaction in a challenging work environment such as the public sector while job satisfaction enhances performance towards helping the organization to achieve its strategic objectives.