Introduction My research is an analysis of the key factors that influence the levels of motivation of employees within Kenya Medical Research Institute/Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KEMRI/CDC) Program. Changes in the business environment have made many organizations to respond by evaluating their employee motivational methods. This is in cognizance of the fact that employees differ in their involvement in task performance.It has thus been hypothesized that differences in performance among people doing the same kind of work reflect differences in their motivational levels and that at one time, people vary in the extent to which they are willing to direct their energies towards the attainment of organizational objectives.
Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organizations survive.Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as employees’ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987).
Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator Management can de-motivate with activities that include: Making employee feel unimportant, ineffective addressing employee concerns and questions, fostering a threatening environment, promoting a blaming culture, not acknowledging employee efforts and not following through on commitments 01. Background KEMRI/CDC Program is a collaborative research program between Kenyan Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the United States of American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).KEMRI was established in 1979 under the Science and Technology (Amendment) Act of 1979 while CDC is a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services in the USA. Scientists from the two organizations started collaborating in 1979. The mission of the Program is “To promote public health in Kenya and East Africa through Collaborative research, training, Control and Prevention”. The Program has four major research and program branches, namely; Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID), Global Aids Program (GAP), HIV Research (HIVR) and Malarial Research.There is a central Administrative ; Support unit and Demographic Surveillance Systems (DSS), which serves the projects.
The program has a work force of about 900 employees spread across Kenya. The Program’s administrative office is located at Kisian, 15 Kilometers West of Kisumu City. The program’s employees comprise of a wide range of professionals notably Human Health Scientists, Lab technologists, Data ; ICT experts, Administrative and Finance officers and Auxiliary staff. The program has five categories of staff. The first is the CDC Direct Hires.These are mostly American nationals employed by the US Government and are seconded to the program to provide technical and expertise assistance.
They are mostly the Branch Chiefs and run the projects undertaken by the program. The second category is the CDC Contractors. These are foreign experts who are hired by CDC to perform specific duties. The next Category is the Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs). These are Non Americans hired by the Regional American Embassy and are seconded to the Program; they are mostly technical advisors and departmental heads.The other Category is the KEMRI Seconded Staff. They are KEMRI’s permanent and pensionable employees seconded to the program. They are mostly senior scientists, Data ; ICT experts and Finance and administrative offices seconded to the program to provide technical and expertise assistance.
The last category is the KEMRI/CDC staff. These are Kenyans employed by the program on KEMRI contracts which are renewed annually based on the availability of funds and activities. They comprise about ninety five percent of the whole programs workforce. 1. 2Aim of the Research. The purpose of this study was to analyze the key factors that influence the levels of motivation of employees within KEMRI/CDC Program. 03.
Research Objectives i) To evaluate how Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is applicable to the KEMRI/CDC Program employees ii) To identify which Hygiene Factors (De-Motivating Factors) the program uses in Motivating employees. iii) To ascertain which Motivational Factors the program uses in Motivating employees. iv) To evaluate to what extent the Independent and dependent Variables are true. ) To assess the needs, drives, and expectations of the KEMRI/CDC Program employees and how the management aims at responding to them vi) A secondary objective of the study was to compare the results of this study with the study results from other populations. 1. 04Reasons for choosing this topic i)Relative ease of gathering information ii)As KEMRI/CDC staff comprises about ninety five percent of the total program’s work force, it’s important for the management to understand what motivates them in order to reduce the cost of doing business without compromising the quality of services offered to the public. ii)As the deputy Head of Finance at KEMRI/CDC Program, my major task is supervision of Finance staff, for me to be an effective supervisor; I need to know what motivates my staff. 1.
05Definition of Motivation: Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Budford, Bedeian, ; Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993).According to Mullins (2002), motivation is basically concerned with why people behave in a certain way. It is the direction and persistence of action.
It is concerned with why people choose a particular course of action in preference to others, and why they continue with a chosen action, often over a long period, and in the face of difficulties and problems. Stoner et al (2003) posit that the underlying concept of motivation is some driving force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfill some need or expectation.They aver that there are needs and expectations that result in a driving force to achieve some desired goals, which consequently will provide fulfillment. Thus, for these authors, people’s behavior is determined by what motivates them, their performance is a product of both ability and motivation. For this paper, motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.
CHAPTER TWO 2. Literature Review 2. 01Introduction to Motivation At one time, employees were considered just another input into the production of goods and services.What perhaps changed this way of thinking about employees was research, referred to as the Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 (Dickson, 1973). This study found employees are not motivated solely by money and employee behavior is linked to their attitudes (Dickson, 1973). The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs and motivation of employees become the primary focus of managers (Bedeian, 1993). The success of a business is largely dependent upon the ability of managers to motivate workers to achieve the highest results.However large or small an organization is, it is the employees at all levels that can make or break it.
This holds true not only for regular employees, but also for temporary and contracted workers. It is as important to research and study the needs, drives, and expectations of employees, and aim at responding to and satisfying those, as it is with regard to customers. In actual fact, considering the role each “employee” plays in a company’s success, analyzing and planning an adequate response to employees’ motivations deserves first place in the order of business. .
02Motivational Theories 2. 02. 01Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943): physiological, safety, social, ego, and self- actualizing. ? Physiological needs – Basic needs required to sustain life, such as: Air, Water, Food and Sleep If these fundamental needs are not satisfied then one will surely be motivated to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not recognized until one satisfies the needs basic to existence.
Safety needs – Once physiological needs are met, one’s attention turns to safety and security in order to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by: Living in a safe area, Medical insurance, Job security and financial reserves If a person feels threatened, needs further up the pyramid will not receive attention until that need has been resolved. Social needs – Once a person has met the lower level physiological and safety needs, higher level needs awaken. The first levels of higher level needs are social needs.Social needs are those related to interaction with others and may include: Friendship, Belonging to a group, Giving and receiving love Ego needs/Esteem Needs -Once a person feels a sense of “belonging”, the need to feel important arises. Esteem needs may be classified as internal or external.
Internal esteem needs are those related to self-esteem such as self respect and achievement. External esteem needs are those such as social status and recognition. Some esteem needs are: Self-respect, Achievement, Attention, Recognition ; ReputationSelf Actualization needs – Self-actualization is the summit of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is the quest of reaching one’s full potential as a person. Unlike lower level needs, this need is never fully satisfied; as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow.
Self-actualized people tend to have needs such as: Truth, Justice, Wisdom and Meaning Self-actualized persons have frequent occurrences of peak experiences, which are energized moments of profound happiness and harmony. [pic] 2. 02. 02Hertzberg’s two factor theoryHertzberg (1959) believed that people had higher and lower levels of needs, this is divided into two categories. ? Hygiene factors – “environmental factors” such as salary, inter-personal relationships, working conditions, style of leadership and types of supervision, security, type of work, working hours, status. Hygiene factors don’t motivate people to do their very best but they are needed to stop people becoming dissatisfied with their jobs. ? Motivating factors – factors within a job which allow for such things as achievement, responsibility, recognition, advancement, challenge.Hertzberg suggests that these factors are the ones which encourage people to strive to do well, in other words to motivate them to do their best.
2. 02. 03Vroom’s theory Vroom’s theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Rewards may be either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated.
2. 02. 04Adam’s Equity Theory Adams’ theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers.Equity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs (Adams, 1965). [pic] 2. 02.
04Skinner’s theory Skinner’s theory states that employee’s behaviors that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated and behaviors that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated (Skinner, 1953). CHAPTER THREE 3. 0STUDY METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 3.
01Research Design I employed survey method in this study, this enabled me to consider issues such as employee profession and age of the employee 3. 02Population and Sampling TechniquesThe target population for this study consisted of all the 900 KEMRI/CDC Program employees. The sample consisted of 200 employees distributed as 28 Administrative & Finance Offices, 49 Data & ICT Experts, 42 Lab Technologists, 13 Other Auxiliary Staff and 68 scientists. This represented about 22% of the population and the categories are also chosen according to the branches but biased to the length of time the employee has served. I employed stratified sampling, simple random sampling, purposive sampling and convenience sampling techniques to select the sample.I used Stratified Sampling to identify the population into job professions and the branches of the respondents to be included in the sample. Stratified sampling technique is a technique that identifies subgroups in the population and their proportions and selects from each subgroup to form a sample.
It groups the population into separate homogenous subsets that share similar characteristics so as to ensure equitable representation of the population in the sample. It aims at proportionate representation with a view of accounting for difference in sub-group characteristics.I was convinced that the target population was not uniform since the employees were working for different branches and having different professional backgrounds thus an Administrative officers working for BASE may have different characteristics with a Scientist working for GAP. As such the target and the accessible populations can not be regarded as homogenous. Stratified Random sampling technique was therefore used to ensure that the target population was divided in to different homogenous strata and that each subgroup (stratum) was represented in the sample in a proportion equivalent to it’s size in the accessible population.This ensured that each stratum characteristics are represented in the sample thus raised the external validity of the study. [pic] Table 1. Accessible Data (Source Author January 2009) 3.
03DATA COLLECTION Both primary and secondary data collection methods were employed in the study. The researcher used questionnaire, interviews and observation in primary data collection and document review books, magazines and internet Websites in secondary method 3. 03. 01Primary data; i.Close ended questionnaires were sent by E-mail to the respondents, this made it easy to reach many of the respondents and to collect the information within a short time. It was preferred as the population was large and personal interviews were not possible for all the respondents.
Other advantages includes, Economical, None time consuming, most respondents find answering questionnaires less imposing than interviews, thus may be encouraged to express their opinion. Answers to the questionnaires may also be used as a basis for subsequent interviews with some respondents.Disadvantages includes, Responses are not usually spontaneous, Clarification of answers is not possible, respondents may consult others and compare notes, this method is only restricted to those who can read and write. Response rate can also be low as not everyone who receives the questionnaire returns it. As the questionnaire was sent by Email, there was a risk that anonymity was lost and some may not have given honest responses. ii.
Interviews were conducted for the Project Managers, Human Resources Manager and some of the long serving employees.This made it easy to get historical information and also some information which were not covered on the questionnaire. This method was useful for collecting in-depth information, it also allowed for clarification of questions and answers by both the interviewer and the respondent; it has a higher response rate than written questionnaires and is suitable for both literate and illiterates, it’s time consuming and expensive, Reports on evens may be less complete than information gained through observation and the quality of data depends upon the quality of interaction.Disadvantages of interviews include, the presence of the interviewer can influence responses, iii.
As the researcher is also an employee of the organization, he got the opportunity to observe the employees over a given period of time. This method was preferred as it has an immediate feedback and enabled the researcher to perceive and understand the experiences of the employees. The disadvantage is that when the employee knows that he/she is under observation, he/she may act differently. 3. 03. 2Secondary Data; The Program’s documents relating to the topic under study were also analyzed, this enabled the researcher to obtain unobtrusive information and to save time in transcribing and the researcher was also able to obtain the language and words of the informants. Some of the information were also obtained in the organization Human Resources policy manuals, procedure manuals, Standard Operating Standards (SOP), books, magazines, newspapers and internet websites that have dealt with the related topics under the study.
This was generally for the literature review.This was preferred as information gathered through books are usually reliable and well researched; it’s also easy to get updated and reliable information from websites. The technique was found to be easier as the information was found quickly and cheaply. Disadvantages include, information gotten from books may be outdated and one is forced to get the latest edition, information available on the websites may be overwhelming and at times one cannot be assured of its reliability while some websites needs subscription. CHAPTER FOUR 4. 0ANALYSIS OF INFORMATIONIn this study, I used both quantitative and qualitative data analysis to expound on the descriptive data provided by the respondents. I administered questionnaires with various factors of motivation that the program’s administration purported to be employing to motivate the employees, the respondents were asked whether they agree that the factors were motivating them or not.
The range was from Highly Disagree, Disagree, Undecided, Agree and Highly agree. These were then given weights ranging from 1 for Highly Dissagree to 5 for Highly Agree.I used excell spreadsheet to calculate the averages of the weights for all the factors to establsh the extent to which each factor motivates the employees, this made ranking of the factors easy. Excell also help in graphical presentation. I then compared the results with Motivational theories and what the administration purported to be offering in order to find out the diviation. 4.
01Applying Motivation theories There are staff motivation opportunities by motivating each employee through management style, job design, company events, and compensation packages. Maslow, 1943) • Physiological Needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks, and wages that are sufficient to purchase the essentials of life. • Safety Needs: Provide a safe working environment, freedom from threats, and relative job security. • Social Needs: Create a feeling of acceptance, belonging, and community by reinforcing team dynamics. • Esteem Needs: Recognize achievements, assign important projects, and provide status to make employees feel appreciated and valued. • Self-Actualization: Provide challenging and meaningful work which enables innovation, creativity, and progress according to long-term goals.
However, not all people are driven by the same needs – at any time different employees may be motivated by entirely different factors. It is important to understand the needs being pursued by each employee. To motivate an employee, leadership must be able to recognize the needs level at which the employee is operating, and use those needs as levers of workplace motivation Hertzberg believed that Hygiene and Motivating factors levels of needs were equally important for job satisfaction however they worked in different ways. Hertzberg 1959) If the lower needs are inadequate, workers will quickly become dissatisfied, however, by just adding more hygiene factors such as wages or work hours is an inefficient and short term solution.
A better way would be to appeal to their higher level needs by giving them more responsibility or giving them greater scope for advancement. In this way the individual’s goals are satisfied as well as those of the organisation. Job enrichment programs are where jobs are redesigned to incorporate these motivating factors.The combination of hygiene and motivation factors can result in four conditions.
? High Hygiene / High Motivation: The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few complaints ? High Hygiene / Low Motivation: Employees have few complaints but are not highly motivated. “The job is a paycheck” situation. ? Low Hygiene / High Motivation: Employees are motivated but have a lot of complaints. A situation where the job is exciting and challenging but salaries and work conditions are inadequate. ? Low Hygiene / Low Motivation: The worst situation.Unmotivated employees with lots of complaints. According to (McGregor, 1960), organization can use these principles of scientific management to improve employee motivation: • Decentralization and Delegation – If firms decentralize control and reduce the number of levels of management; managers will have more subordinates and consequently will be forced to delegate some responsibility and decision making to them.
• Job Enlargement – Broadening the scope of an employee’s job adds variety and opportunities to satisfy ego needs. Participative Management – Consulting employees in the decision making process taps their creative capacity and provides them with some control over their work environment. • Performance Appraisals – Having the employee set objectives and participate in the process of evaluating how well they were met. If properly implemented, such an environment would result in a high level of workforce motivation as employees work to satisfy their higher level personal needs through their jobs.The Human Recourses department and the Project managers are required to provide an environment conducive to promote workers performance through their activities such as recruitment, selection, retention, performance measurement ; recognition, and training ; development.
The strategies that guides it to achieve it’s desired objectives are leadership styles, Authoritarian (autocratic), Participative (democratic) or Delegative (Free Reign), the culture of the organisation, social responsibility, the kind or type of the industry and technology in use. CHAPTER FIVE 5. PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS 5. 01Introduction The study was constrained by a number of factors; Time: The time set for the study was limited thus not all the areas of the study were fully explored. Non-returned questionnaires: Some of the questionnaires were not returned by the respondents. Due to limited time, I was not able to follow up all of them due to topological distance. Resources: as employees of the program are scattered all over Kenya, some of them could not be reached due to limited resources in terms of traveling expenses, telephone calls cost and time.Reluctance by the respondents: As I am a member of the program’s Administrative branch, some lower cadre employees felt intimidated and were reluctant to give information as they thought that it was a management way of getting information from them.
I had to assure them of their anonymity and that the information was for my academic purposes and have nothing to do with the programs administration. The analysis is divided into two major parts; analysis of personal information and the ranking of the motivational factors as per the questionnaire.I administered 200 questionnaires, only 184 were returned. This gave a response rate of 92%.
This was a good representative of the population researched. Of the employees who responded, 38% were aged between 21-30 years, 54% were aged between 31-40 years and 8% were aged between 41-50 years. [pic] During the interviews, I established that for most of the employees aged between 21-30 years, the program was their first employer. Most employees move to other competitors after acquiring enough experience.Analysis of exit interviews conducted by the Human Resources department indicates the reasons for separations to be; competitors offering more competitive packages and job boredom and decline in moral as one stays in a job for several years. I concluded that as age advances to above 40 years, employees decreases. In terms of profession, 15% of the respondents were Administrative and Finance officers, 6% were auxiliary staff, 25% were Data and ICT experts, Laboratory Technologists were 20% while 34% were scientists. [pic]Core business of KEMRI/CDC program being research, it’s normal that scientists are the majority followed by Data and ICT experts who are needed to analyse the research data.
Administartors and Finance officers also plays a pivot role in facilitating research by managing the program’s resources. 8% of the respondents had served the program for less than one year, 31% had served for 1-3 years, 35% had served for between 4-6 years, while those who have served for between 7-9 years were 15% and 11% had served for above 10 years. [pic]Analysis of Human resources data indicates that the program provides internship to fresh college graduates. Mostly of the trainees are then absorbed into the program’s workforce. This answers the question why 38% of the programs employees are aged between 21-30 years. As they mature in their proffession and acquires more experience, and due to beauracratic promotion procedure within the program, they lose morale and interests in their current jobs, they then move to other employers to seek more challenging roles and better packages.
This explains why fewer employees serves for more than six years.Interviews with employees reveal that promotion is not an easy task within the program, the Human resources manager associates this to the bureaucracy in the Kenyan Government Human resources policy used by the program. The program also trains most of it’s employees in variousdisciplines and various accademic levels, it’s alledged by the employees that the programis very poor in retaining those whohave been trained as it takes time topromote these employees. This de-motivates most employees consequently they look for greener pasture elsewhere.Another reason for fewer employess who have served for long, is that the program has been expanding over the years, few positions were available more than ten years ago. [pic] 5. 02Results and Discussion On analysis of the data, the following is the ranked order of motivating factors used by KEMRI/CDC Program as perceived by the program’s employees. The factors that scored above 3 are considered to be successful in motivating employees, these includes.
1) Challenging and meaningful work. This got an average weight of 3. 77 from the analysis of motivational factors.The core business of the program being medical research, the nature of work is always challenging and stimulating as the result is always unknown at the beginning of the study, it’s fast-paced with changing goals and challenges. From the interviews with the long serving employees, they attribute their long stay to stimulating work and challenges as one is always enthusiastic to get the research results. Most employees confessed that they enjoy their work as in a way; it makes them contribute back to the society as the research findings from the program has saved and changed lives globally. ) Acceptance ; belonging. This got a weight of 3.
40 from the analysis of motivational factors. The program has an annual staff retreat where all programs employees meet for teambuilding activities. This always bonds employees as it’s a day when all employees of different ranks meet and interact. From the interviews, most employees confessed that they enjoy the company of their colleagues and they spend of the time socially even outside work. They also claim that they derive major part of their identity from their jobs. 3) Recognition of achievements.
Annually, the rogram conducts an award ceremony where they spotlight individual’s or team’s achievements and outstanding contributions during the year, giving employees high-visibility recognition that tends to be warmly remembered years after the event. This award have symbolic significance and includes extra mile award and the director’s commendation among others, they also carry some financial gains as well. 4) Working environment. The program encourages participative management styles, consulting employees from time to time in the decision making process to tap their creative capacity and provides them with some control over their work environment.The programs administration also provides employees with the necessary tools they need to do their work. The program also has policies which regulate employee and supervisor relations like the sexual harassment and whistle blower policies among others. This makes it possible for the employee to report any case of harassment or abuse by the supervisor or any colleague to the management.
5) Performance Appraisals. Annually, supervisors are required to appraise all employees working under them, they work together to set sectional and personal objectives and again participate in evaluating how well they were met.This always results in an environment of high level of workforce motivation, as employees tends to own their jobs and work to satisfy their higher level personal needs through their jobs.
5) Training and development, this got an average of 3. 11. One of the key objectives of the program is training and capacity building of the local upcoming professionals. The program has a training program for it’s employees and Ministry of Health employees in Kenya. This has been a source of motivation to employees as this gives them a chance to build their careers and move up the career ladder.Human resources records show that most of the program’s senior scientists and data experts with doctorate degrees were recruited when they had diplomas or first degrees; they were then sponsored by the program to complete their education. This makes even lower ranking employees feels that they will also one day get the opportunity to train and climb the career ladder. 7) Helping with personal problems.
The program’s employees and their legal dependants are provided with medical insurance. This has become a big motivator as employees don’t have to worry about medical bills incase one or dependants are sick.The program also provides the employees with Group personal Accident and Group life insurance covers. This makes employees feel secured and increase productivity.
According to the Human resources Manager, the program’s has a culture of assisting employees out of their personal problems; this has been done by advancing employees soft loans which are usually recoverable within one year assisting employees with a coffin and transporting the bodies home whenever an employee is bereaved. All these have made employees feel that the management cares for them and in turn they also work hard to reciprocate the positive gesture. ) Broadening scope a job. The program’s administration encourages job rotation as a way of reducing boredom caused by repetitiveness. They enlarge the employee’s job by offering more responsibilities and enrich the jobs by letting the employees set their own objectives; this broadens the scope of an employee’s job and adds variety and opportunities to satisfy ones. The rest of the motivational factors scored bellow three points; thus, they were not a source of motivation to employees as the management purported.
The management needs to find out why the employees are not motivated by these factors as they are supposed to. They were as follows. 9) Decentralization of supervision. The branches are divided into smaller projects, and the administration is divided into sections like the Finance, Human Resources, Procurement ; Stores, ICT and Transport. This decentralizes control and decision making, but employees still believe that the project heads and sections heads are not empowered to make binding decisions, in most cases, their decisions are often overruled by the branch chiefs. 0) Performance based rewards.
Although the program has an award scheme, most of the employees believe that most of the awards are as a result of favoritism by the supervisors as employees are not given a chance to participate in the nominations. Most of the employees also feel that the government salary structure adopted by the program only takes into account ones educational and professional qualifications, but don’t take into account the actual work one does nor the experience. Employees therefore believe that the pay is based on ones education but not actual work.Data from the human resources indicate that most employees with the same educational qualification will be in the same job group, but different steps based on experience. 11) Wages and Salaries. As mentioned earlier, the program adopts Kenyan Government salary scheme with some supplemental allowances. Employees feel that the pay is not commensurate to the work done and in comparison to other agencies conducting the same programs as KEMRI/CDC Program.
This is evidence in the exit interviews, most employees move to better paying jobs offered by competitors. 2) Equitable treatment. Employees feel that at times, supervisors take advantage of the bureaucratic procedures within the program to favor their sycophants and friends and deny some deserving cases.
This was observed when employees doing the same tasks were earning different amounts, as employees like comparing themselves to their peers; this is killing the moral of hard working employees as they feel that they are not rewarded for their contribution. 5. 03Comparison of Research Findings to Research Objectives and Motivation Theories.A comparison of these results to Maslow’s Motivation theory provides some interesting insight into employee motivation.
The number one ranked motivator, challenging and meaningful work, is self-actualizing factor. The number two ranked motivator, acceptance ; belonging, is a social factor. The number three ranked motivator, recognition of achievements, is Esteem factor.
Therefore, according to Maslow (1943), for the program’s administration to address the most important motivational factor of the Programs’ employees, challenging and meaningful work, physiological, safety, social, and esteem factors must first be satisfied.For managers to address the second most important motivational factor of Programs ‘ employees, a feeling of acceptance, belonging, and community, the program has to reinforce team dynamics. Contrary to what Maslow’s theory suggests, the program uses ranges of motivational factors to motivate their staff. Maslow’s conclusions that lower level motivational factors must be met before ascending to the next level were not confirmed by this study.
Compared to Hertzberg’s two-factor theory, the highest ranked motivator, challenging and meaningful work, is a motivational factor.The second ranked motivator, acceptance & belonging is a hygiene factor. The third factor, Achievement recognition is a Motivational factor. Hertzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman (1959) stated that to the degree that motivators are present in a job, motivation will occur. The absence of motivators does not lead to dissatisfaction. Further, they stated that to the degree that hygienes are absent from a job, dissatisfaction will occur. When present, hygienes prevent dissatisfaction, but do not lead to satisfaction.
In our example, the lack of challenging and meaningful work (motivator) for the program’s employees would not lead to dissatisfaction. Non-feeling of acceptance ; belonging (hygiene) may lead to job dissatisfaction. Conversely, employees will be motivated when they are doing interesting work but will not necessarily be having a feeling of acceptance ; belonging. The number four ranked motivator, employee involved in setting objectives and participates in the process of evaluation, is McGregor’s participative Management.During the interviews with the long serving employees, I realized that some of the independent and dependent variables are true; most employees stated that they have stayed because of conducive work environment and interpersonal relations, although most of them believe that the pay has not been good. Employees were asked to recommend what can be done to improve their motivation; most employees stated that the program needs to pay above market rate salaries as they believe that the program rates high among other players in the region.
According to the human resources manager, the program’s review of salaries depends on the government reviews.He concurs with the employees that the program is rated higher above other players, thus the program introduced supplemental allowances to enhance the take home pay of the employees. The discussion above, about the ranked importance of motivational factors as related to motivational theory, is only part of the picture. The other part is how these rankings compare with related research.
A study of industrial employees, conducted by Kovach, (Kovach 1987), yielded the following ranked order of motivational factors: (a) interesting work, (b) full appreciation of work done, and (c) feeling of being in on things.Another study of employees, conducted by Harpaz, (Harpaz 1990), yielded the following ranked order of motivational factors: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, and (c) job security. The discrepancies in these research findings supports the idea that what motivates employees differs given the context in which the employee works. What is clear, however, is that employees rank interesting work as the most important motivational factor. 5. 04Relevance of the study The ranked order of motivating factors used by KEMRI/CDC Program as perceived by the program’s employees provides useful information to the programs administration and employees.Knowing how to use this information in motivating programs’ employees is complex. The strategy for motivating the program’s employees depends on which motivation theories are used as a reference point.
If Hertzberg’s theory is followed, management should begin by focusing on pay and job security (hygiene factors) before focusing on interesting work and full appreciation of work done (motivator factors). If Adams’ equity theory is followed, management should begin by focusing on areas where there may be perceived inequities (pay, awards and promotions) before focusing on interesting work and job security.If Vroom’s theory is followed, management should begin by focusing on rewarding (pay and interesting work) employee effort in achieving organizational goals and objectives. 5. 05Conclusions 1) The program uses ranges of motivational factors to motivate their staff. 2)The highest ranked motivator, is a motivational factor, the second is a hygiene factor and the third a motivational factor per Hertzberg’s two-factor theory.
The theory that the degree that motivators are present in a job, motivation will occur and the absence of motivators does not lead to dissatisfaction is true. The independent and dependent variables are true; most employees stated that they have stayed because of conducive work environment and interpersonal relations although the pay has not been good. 4) Pay appears to be another major motivator at the program. In exit interviews most employees site packages offered by competitors as the reason for the separation. 5) Interesting work and acceptance & belonging is the important links to higher motivation of programs’ employees but as they scored only 3. and 3. 4 respectively, the program employees are not highly motivated, according to Hertzberg; they are in a condition called High Hygiene/Low motivation. 5.
06Recommendations Options such as job enlargement, job enrichment, promotions, internal and external stipends, monetary, and non-monetary compensation should be considered. Job enlargement can be used (by the administration) to make work more interesting (for employees) by increasing the number and variety of activities performed.Job enrichment can used to make work more interesting and increase pay by adding higher level responsibilities to a job and providing monetary compensation (raise or allowances) to employees for accepting more responsibilities. These are just examples of an infinite number of methods to increase motivation of employees at the program. The key to motivating programs’ employees is to know what motivates them and design a motivation program based on those needs.
The effectiveness of the program is dependent upon the motivation of its employees (Chesney, 1992; Buford, 1990; Smith, 1990).Knowing what motivates employees and incorporating this knowledge into the reward system will help the program identify, recruit, employ, train, and retain a productive workforce. Motivating the program employees requires both the program administration and employees working together (Buford, 1993). The program employees must be willing to let the program administration know what motivates them, and the program administration must be willing to design reward systems that motivate employees. ———————– Self-Actualization Physiological Needs Safety Needs Esteem NeedsSocial Needs Scales ‘calibrated’ and measured against comparable references in the market place Inputs Outputs People become de-motivate, reduce input and/seek change/improvement whenever they feel their inputs are not being fairly rewarded. Fairness is based on perceived market norms.
What I put in to my job: time, effort, ability, loyalty, tolerance, flexibility, integrity, commitment, reliability, heart & soul, personal sacrifice, etc What I get from my job: pay, bonus, perks, benefits, security, recognition, interest, development, reputation, praise, responsibility, enjoyment, etc
