The collaborative work experience of robotics and human workers in the automobile industry in South Africa

Abstract

Through the lens of the evolutionary economic theory, this study aimed to investigate what drives the implementation of technologies in the South African automobile industry and to understand the experiences employees have had with the introduction of technologies to the sector with regard to work collaboration, safety, and job satisfaction. Using a qualitative methodology, data were collected through a semi-structured in-depth interview, which induced its information from three automotive companies with a total of 30 participants that were purposively chosen as the sample size. Findings revealed that robots and human employees work efficiently together in the automobile sector. In an attempt to minimize product imperfection due to human inconsistencies and to increase productivity, the automobile industry will adopt more technologies to meet the needs of its customers. Findings further revealed that the human-robot collaborative work experiences are negatively impacting on the job satisfaction and confidence of autoworkers and resulting in underutilized skills of the autoworkers. The recommendation is that it will be best to pair robots with human employees in ways that autoworkers’ job satisfaction and job security are not constrained. This research contributes to the ongoing study of human-machine collaborative work in the global manufacturing industry and, for the most part, to the study of labour processes and technical advances in the automotive industry worldwide.

Keywords:

• human-robot collaboration
• job satisfaction
• productivity
• repetitive tasks
• the fourth industrial revolution

Acknowledgement

This article is based on Bianca Chigbu's PhD. thesis: “Technological domination and the future of workers in the labour market in the face of automation: A study of the automobile sector in South Africa.” Prof. Fhulu Nekhwevha supervised the thesis. The dissertation is yet to be published, and we have the approval from the university to publish from the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), in collaboration with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NIHSS or CODESRIA.