Evaluation of motivation and satisfaction of guatemalan firms under the implementation of quality systems: the case of Cleaner Production, ISO 14000 and ISO 9000

Abstract

The implementation of ISO standards in Guatemalan agribusiness is a recent phenomenon, the number of companies which are adopting this quality assurance system is rapidly growing. Besides the very popular ISO standard, several firms have adopted a concept driven by the United Nation, the so-called “Cleaner Production” (CP). This phenomenon is mainly due to two reasons: a) the companies have felt the necessity to implement the quality systems in order to be competitive; b) though there are discussions about the importance of the quality systems due to the overwhelming bureaucracy that its implementation involves, they have proved to be an important tool to improve the efficiency of the enterprises. However the employees’ attitude may have a great influence in the effectiveness of these systems. The study was carried out in Guatemala, in order to assess the Motivation and Satisfaction of employees in Agribusiness firms. It aimed at gaining insight into the subjective evaluation of the implementation of ISO 9.000, ISO14.000 and CP. A survey was conducted by means of a written questionnaire and the respondents were asked to state their attitude towards the quality system implemented within their firm. The sample consisted of more than 500 workers, managers and supervisors from 19 firms within the food, manufacture and service sectors of Guatemala. The firms were classified into small, medium, medium-big and big scale. The data was analyzed using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), from which different factors were obtained and consequently used to carry out a regression analysis. With this approach it was possible to determine which factors have the largest influence on the Motivation and Satisfaction of employees. Additionally, ANOVA was performed in order to compare the differences in attitude. The results show that the majority of the respondents are satisfied and motivated regarding the implementation of the respective quality system within their company. The promotional opportunities and working condition components are the most relevant factors to raise Motivation and Satisfaction in the case of the worker’s model. Of further relevance is that the use of a coercive management style will have a negative impact. The useful and involvement and Process Efficiency factors are the most relevant in increasing the Motivation and Satisfaction in the manager’s and supervisor’s model. In the case where Investment Efficiency can not be achieved, a negative impact could be observed in their Motivation and Satisfaction level. In addition, the level of Motivation and Satisfaction differs between the three quality systems considered in this study. Surprisingly, Satisfaction and Motivation among implementers of CP is lower than among the ISO adopters. Furthermore, the employees of small-size companies have less Satisfaction and Motivation with CP than employees from big ones. This indicates the need for strategic actions of all stakeholders involved in CP, which is articularly suitable for small-scale firms because they do not afford an expensive ISO certificate. Additionally,the lack of Motivation and Satisfaction could affect the effective adoption of the quality system.