Kemahiran generik dan komitmen kerja bagi pekerja di industri kecil sederhana

Abstract

Employability is a topic of discussion for new graduates. Graduates are experiencing difficulties in getting employed due to them being choosy of finding a suitable job, workplace, salary and promotion opportunities. However, the root cause of graduates failing to obtain placements in the industry should be assessed by taking into account the views of the industry itself. The study identified expectations of the industry with regards to generic skills and work commitments of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Quantitative method was used as a method to obtain the data. 124 employers and 179 technicians from 150 small and medium enterprises in the state of Johor participated as the sample respondents. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19, from which data frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations and T-test were computed. Elements of generic skills required by the SMEs in this study were communication skills and professional skills. Besides the criteria of generic skills, work commitment comprising job responsibilities, job satisfaction and workplace environment were three important categories in SMEs. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the expectations of industries for generic skills (p=0.97) and work commitment (p=0.24). Furthermore, it was also reported that there was no significant difference between the expectations of industry for job performance (p=0.93). In conclusion, this study has shown that SMEs have similar expectations of generic skills and work commitments. Based on the findings, a pyramid for generic skills and work commitments was developed and can be used as a guide for new graduates to seek employment.