The adapted Sacks Sentence Completion Test as a way to study the attitude to self-regulation and the sense of reliability among CNC machine operators

Abstract

The profession of a CNC machine operator entails a number of risks affecting an individual’s professional reliability. The latter can be approached from the point of view of both physical health and the impact on labor productivity. In terms of physical health, operators are at risk of a glass cut injury, up to a fatal outcome. As for labor productivity, they risk causing or missing a defect in a workpiece, or failing to produce the required number of products within the allotted time. Our pilot study sought to identify the current level of maturity among CNC machine operators from the point of view of selfregulation and the sense of reliability. The study involved 53 individuals operating various CNC machines. They were aged 18 to 50 and had an experience of up to 1 year, from 1 year to 4 years, or more than 5 years. The study used the adapted Sacks Sentence Completion Test with 20 questions divided into 5 groups, 4 questions each: attitude to self-regulation, attitude to oneself, fears and concerns, a sense of reliability, and guilt. The participants were provided with a hyperlink to a Google form to fill out a test from their phone or computer. A quantitative analysis revealed positive responses in terms of self-regulation and reliability in 90% and 88% operators respectively. A qualitative analysis showed that only 11% respondents were able to disclose the impact of reliability on labor productivity in their responses. Meanwhile, 100% operators were able to formulate effective self-regulation techniques. As a result, the pilot study made it possible to assess the current level of maturity in terms of self-regulation and the sense of reliability in CNC machine operators. It provided prerequisites for expanding the research sample and accumulating existing methods of self-regulation in the profession of CNC machine operators.