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.

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