Effects of Horizontal Multiskilling of Tradesmen on Employee Performance for the Zimbabwean Manufacturing companies in Harare ()
ABSTRACT
One of the key concerns in the manufacturing
industry is technical skill acquisition. The present incompetence and poor
performance among many tradesmen in their specialized work environment expose
them among other factors, the inadequacy in; diversity of knowledge, different
practical know-how, diverse skills and
approaches. This is against the backdrop that many factors have created
uncertain working environments due to rapid changes in technology, economics,
globalisation and internationalisation. Consequently, they created an unbalance
between staffing and staff skills as well as skills demand. It also
significantly increased both under and over staffing costs. However, the use of
polyvalent employees who initially had one skill minimizes such mismatches. The
purpose of this study was to examine the effect of multi-skilling on employee
performance for tradesmen in manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe. The study
adopted a survey research design. The target population was one thousand one
hundred and eighty-seven tradesmen from all large manufacturing Zimbabwean
companies based in Harare, from which a sample of four hundred was drawn through stratified
random sampling technique. Then two hundred
and ninety-nine questionnaires were dully filled, returned and analysed
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences to facilitate descriptive and
inferential analysis of the study variables. Linear regression results
indicated that multi-skilling of tradesmen significantly explained employee
versatility which intrinsically motivates them to enhancing their performance and consequently organisational
performance. Pearson correlation results showed strong positive
relationship between horizontal multi-skilling and employee
performance. The study concluded that multiskilling plays a significant role in
employee performance in the manufacturing sector. The study recommended
manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe to rigorously implement multiskilling
training programs for their technical maintenance staff.
Share and Cite:
Mathende, T. (2022) Effects of Horizontal Multiskilling of Tradesmen on Employee Performance for the Zimbabwean Manufacturing companies in Harare.
Open Journal of Leadership,
11, 194-209. doi:
10.4236/ojl.2022.112011.
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