The role of trade unions in enhancing work engagement, work commitment, job satisfaction and job performance in a national institution

Abstract

During the apartheid era, trade unions fought for the improvement of living and working conditions of workers and the demise of the apartheid regime. The dawn of democracy and the ever-changing world of labour relations require trade unions to consider their role at the workplace so as to stay relevant and attract new members. The main objective of this research was to determine the role of trade unions in enhancing work engagement, work commitment, job satisfaction and job performance in a Government Institution. A quantitative design was followed and the research was classified as cross-sectional. The questionnaires were distributed to participants randomly in the Government Institution over a period of one year, 2017. The adapted Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, Short form of Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Role-Based Performance Questionnaires were administered. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Statistical Analysis System. The reliability of the measuring instruments was determined by means of Cronbach Alpha Coefficients, and the validity was confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis through Structural Equation Modelling. The Kaiser Mayer Oklin was used as a prerequisite for conducting Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Factorability of the correlation matrix was checked using the Bartlett’s test of sphericity and Spearman’s rank correlation (r) was used to determine the relationship between variables. The results showed that trade unions were not enhancing work engagement at the Government Institution during 2017. The results also showed that 57.6% of the participants slightly disagreed that trade unions enhanced work commitment of employees at the Government Institution. The results showed that 53.6% of the participants were somewhat satisfied with the contribution of trade unions on job satisfaction at the Government Institution. In addition 22.5% of the respondents were satisfied that their trade unions were ensuring that they are satisfied at the Government Institution. The results showed that 54% of the respondents slightly disagreed that trade unions were contributing towards job performance at the Government Institution.

The results further showed that there were positive (r>0.5) correlations between work engagement, work commitment, job satisfaction and job performance. Furthermore the results showed that there were strong (r>0.5) positive correlations between work engagement, continuance commitment and normative commitment thus signifying that work engagement is positively related to all the dimensions of commitment contrary to what was found in literature. The final results showed that a model for the role of trade unions on work engagement, work commitment, job satisfaction, and job performance can be developed based on the relationship between the variables. The recommendations were that there should be meaningful consultation between trade unions and management on matters that affect employees such as organisational culture as this can have a positive longer-term impact on employee engagement. Trade unions should contribute to a labour relations environment that is conducive entailing lesser strikes and more constructive engagement as this may have a positive impact on commitment level of employees. In order to enhance job satisfaction trade unions should engage management to give employees opportunities to make use of their abilities so that they can develop. Trade unions and management should ensure that employees get along with each other as conflict is one of the greatest source of dissatisfaction at work. It was further recommended that Trade unions should monitor that employees who perform above expectation are recognised and awarded. Given the low response rate of shopstewards it was recommended that trade unions should ensure that shopstewards are elected at the Government Institution.