Investigating the relationship between employee motivation and product quality in a manufacturing plant

Abstract

The research study aims to generate a deeper understanding of employees’ perceptions of motivation and product quality within a select manufacturing organisation. Manufacturing organisations are placing product quality at the centre of their manufacturing strategies and have identified product quality as a distinct competitive advantage in the market. Behind product quality is the human capital asset called employees, defined as the “life-blood” of organisations. Employees have the potential to either make or break organisations by influencing the quality of products they produce. Manufacturing organisations have realised and understood that poor product quality results in high financial losses. Despite measures implemented by these organisations to enhance product quality, poor product quality still occurs. Employees’ motivation has been identified as a possible cause. A qualitative research approach was selected to achieve the primary objective of this study, which is to generate a deeper understanding of employees’ perceptions of motivation and product quality. As part of a qualitative research study, semi-structured interviews were conducted via zoom meetings platform with participants from the selected manufacturing organisation to collect data. Data from 15 participants were collected and analysed. The streamlined codes-to-theory model for qualitative data analysis was applied using the Atlas.ti software. Using the streamlined codes-to-theory model for qualitative data analysis, themes were created from the participants’ responses which brought forth the role of management as central to influencing the motivation of employees, which in turn impact product quality. Management support, management style and effective communication as management attributes featured the most in the participants’ responses, thereby highlighting the impact management has on employees feeling motivated or demotivated to perform their jobs favourably to the manufacturing organisation.