Job satisfaction on the factory shopfloor at MPACT Corrugated Pinetown.

Abstract

Job satisfaction is an important concept in organisations to ensure that human capital, which is one of the crucial assets of the business, is kept satisfied and engaged in their jobs. Empirical evidence shows that this phenomenon is crucial for all parties involved – the individual, organisations, and industries. Although there have been previous studies of job satisfaction both in South Africa and other countries, these have been limited to industries other than the packaging industry. This study presents an analysis of job satisfaction levels on the factory shop floor at Mpact Corrugated Pinetown. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 167 shop floor workers at Mpact Corrugated Pinetown using a pretested and self-administered manual questionnaire. Out of the 150 distributed questionnaires, 81 were duly returned. However, 75 of the 81 were fully completed. The data shows that the respondents were generally satisfied and engaged in their jobs. However, they indicated dissatisfaction with the lack of involvement in decisions that pertained to their work, lack of adequate communication of quality goals, low salaries, and inadequate working conditions. The study was able to answer the research question, namely that reduced productivity levels at Mpact Corrugated Pinetown cannot be attributed to job satisfaction. Therefore, further investigation into the causes of reduced productivity levels has to be conducted at Mpact Pinetown. The study also found a positive correlation between job satisfaction and employee engagement, and employee performance. However, areas where employees indicated job dissatisfaction are highlighted and discussed in this dissertation, and recommendations to address the gaps are made accordingly. These include, inter alia, introduction of works studies to identify job enhancement opportunities, standardisation of quality parameters for each customer product, and inexpensive performance incentives initiatives.