CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background

Employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity that a

company's workers bring to their jobs. Whether the economy is growing or shrinking,
finding ways to motivate employees is always a management concern. Competing
theories stress either incentives or employee involvement (empowerment). Employee
motivation can sometimes be particularly problematic for small businesses. The
owner has often spent years building a company hands-on and therefore finds it
difficult to delegate meaningful responsibilities to others. But entrepreneurs should be
mindful of such pitfalls: the effects of low employee motivation on small businesses
can be harmful. Such problems include complacency, disinterest, even widespread
discouragement. Such attitudes can cumulate into crises. But the small business can
also provide an ideal atmosphere for employee motivation: employees see the results
of their contributions directly; feedback is swift and visible. A smoothly working and
motivated work force also frees the owner from day-to-day chores for thinking of
long-term development. Furthermore, tangible and emotional reward can mean
retention of desirable employees. People thrive in creative work environments and
want to make a difference. Ideally the work result itself will give them a feeling of
accomplishment—but well-structured reward and recognition programs can underline
this consequence (Pete, 2005).

One approach to employee motivation has been to view "add-ins" to an

individual's job as the primary factors in improving performance. Endless mixes of
employee benefits-such as health care, life insurance, profit sharing, employee stock
ownership plans, exercise facilities, subsidized meal plans, child care availability,
company cars, and more-have been used by companies in their efforts to maintain
happy employees in the belief that happy employees are motivated employees. Many
modern theorists, however, propose that the motivation an employee feels toward his
or her job has less to do with material rewards than with the design of the job itself.
Studies as far back as 1950 have shown that highly segmented and simplified jobs
resulted in lower employee morale and output. Other consequences of low employee

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motivation include absenteeism and high turnover, both of which are very costly for
any company. As a result, "job enlargement" initiatives began to crop up in major
companies in the 1950s (Martha, 2001).

While terminology changes, the tenets of employee motivation remain

relatively unchanged from findings over half a century ago. Today's buzzwords
include "empowerment," "quality circles," and "teamwork." Empowerment gives
autonomy and allows an employee to have ownership of ideas and accomplishments,
whether acting alone or in teams. Quality circles and the increasing occurrence of
teams in today's work environments give employees opportunities to reinforce the
importance of the work accomplished by members as well as receive feedback on the
efficacy of that work.

In small businesses, which may lack the resources to enact formal employee
motivation programs, managers can nonetheless accomplish the same basic principles.
In order to help employees feel that their jobs are meaningful and that their
contributions are valuable to the company, the small business owner needs to
communicate the company's purpose to employees. This communication should take
the form of words as well as actions. In addition, the small business owner should set
high standards for employees, but also remain supportive of their efforts when goals
cannot be reached. It may also be helpful to allow employees as much autonomy and
flexibility as possible in how their jobs are performed. Creativity will be encouraged
if honest mistakes are corrected but not punished. Finally, the small business owner
should take steps to incorporate the vision of employees for the company with his or
her own vision. This will motivate employees to contribute to the small business's
goals, as well as help prevent stagnation in its direction and purpose (Hohman, 2006).

There are as many different methods of motivating employees today as there are
companies operating in the global business environment. Still, some strategies are
prevalent across all organizations striving to improve employee motivation. The best
employee motivation efforts will focus on what the employees deem to be important.
It may be that employees within the same department of the same organization will
have different motivators. Many organizations today find that flexibility in job design
and reward systems has resulted in employees' increased longevity with the company,
improved productivity, and better morale (Owen, 2001).

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Empowerment

Giving employees more responsibility and decision-making authority

increases their realm of control over the tasks for which they are held responsible and
better equips them to carry out those tasks. As a result, feelings of frustration arising
from being held accountable for something one does not have the resources to carry
out are diminished. Energy is diverted from self-preservation to improved task
accomplishment.

Creativity and Innovation

At many companies, employees with creative ideas do not express them to

management for fear that their input will be ignored or ridiculed. Company approval
and toeing the company line have become so ingrained in some working
environments that both the employee and the organization suffer. When the power to
create in the organization is pushed down from the top to line personnel, employees
who know a job, product, or service best are given the opportunity to use their ideas to
improve it. The power to create motivates employees and benefits the organization in
having a more flexible work force, using more wisely the experience of its employees,
and increasing the exchange of ideas and information among employees and
departments. These improvements also create an openness to change that can give a
company the ability to respond quickly to market changes and sustain a first mover
advantage in the marketplace.

Learning

If employees are given the tools and the opportunities to accomplish more,
most will take on the challenge. Companies can motivate employees to achieve more
by committing to perpetual enhancement of employee skills. Accreditation and
licensing programs for employees are an increasingly popular and effective way to
bring about growth in employee knowledge and motivation. Often, these programs
improve employees' attitudes toward the client and the company, while bolstering
self-confidence. Supporting this assertion, an analysis of factors which influence
motivation-to-learn found that it is directly related to the extent to which training
participants believe that such participation will affect their job or career utility. In
other words, if the body of knowledge gained can be applied to the work to be

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accomplished, then the acquisition of that knowledge will be a worthwhile event for
the employee and employer.

Quality of Life

The number of hours worked each week by American workers is on the rise,
and many families have two adults working those increased hours. Under these
circumstances, many workers are left wondering how to meet the demands of their
lives beyond the workplace. Often, this concern occurs while at work and may reduce
an employee's productivity and morale. Companies that have instituted flexible
employee arrangements have gained motivated employees whose productivity has
increased. Programs incorporating flex-time, condensed workweeks, or job sharing,
for example, have been successful in focusing overwhelmed employees toward the
work to be done and away from the demands of their private lives.

Monetary Incentive

For all the championing of alternative motivators, money still occupies a

major place in the mix of motivators. The sharing of a company's profits gives
incentive to employees to produce a quality product, perform a quality service, or
improve the quality of a process within the company. What benefits the company
directly benefits the employee. Monetary and other rewards are being given to
employees for generating cost-savings or process-improving ideas, to boost
productivity and reduce absenteeism. Money is effective when it is directly tied to an
employee's ideas or accomplishments. Nevertheless, if not coupled with other, non-
monetary motivators, its motivating effects are short-lived. Further, monetary
incentives can prove counterproductive if not made available to all members of the
organization.

Other Incentives

Study after study has found that the most effective motivators of workers are
non-monetary. Monetary systems are insufficient motivators, in part because
expectations often exceed results and because disparity between salaried individuals
may divide rather than unite employees. Proven non-monetary positive motivators
foster team spirit and include recognition, responsibility, and advancement. Managers
who recognize the "small wins" of employees, promote participatory environments,
and treat employees with fairness and respect will find their employees to be more

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highly motivated. One company's managers brainstormed to come up with 30
powerful rewards that cost little or nothing to implement. The most effective rewards,
such as letters of commendation and time off from work, enhanced personal
fulfillment and self-respect. Over the longer term, sincere praise and personal gestures
are far more effective and more economical than awards of money alone. In the end, a
program that combines monetary reward systems and satisfies intrinsic, self-
actualizing needs may be the most potent employee motivator.

When a person comes to work, brings with him his total personality, his
attitudes, likes and dislikes, his personal characteristics and these, in turn, influence
the satisfaction he derives from his work. As work is one of the necessary aspects of
the total life experience of an individual, it becomes important to examine how his
personal characteristics influence his job. Personal characteristics here refer to such
bio-social variables as age, marital status, education, length of service, and income,
etc (Chimanikire et al., 2007: 166-175).

Organizations strongly desire job satisfaction from their employees. Due to

important role of human resource on organization performance, they try to keep
employees satisfied. Satisfied employees would produce superior performance in
optimal time which leads to increase profits. When employees are satisfied with their
work, would be more creative and innovative and offer advances that allow company
to evolve positively over time with changes in market conditions. On the other hand, a
lack of job satisfaction results in a low level of employee commitment that, in turn,
affect performance and the achievement of organizational goals. High employee
satisfaction will reduce the happening of the absenteeism, accident, and employee
stress, improve employee satisfaction with life and thus increases productivity and
profits (Ajayi, 1998: 22).

Organizations face several challenges due to the dynamic nature of the

working environment. One of the many challenges for a business is to satisfy its
employees in order to cope up with the ever changing and evolving environment and
to achieve success and remain in competition. In order to increase efficiency,
effectiveness, productivity and job commitment of employees, the business must
satisfy the needs of its employees by providing good working conditions. A positive
relationship between working environment and employee job satisfaction is very
essential (Raziq and Maulabakhsh, 2014).

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 Different payments and rewards such as salary, bonuses and benefits have
impact on the employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction is a positive emotional
feeling and it comes from by the comparison of expectation from his job and what he
actually gets from it. Employee satisfaction may also come from the perception
towards employee’s job and working environment of the organization.

Early means of communicating over a distance included visual signals, such as

beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs.
Other examples of pre-modern long-distance communication included audio messages
such as coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles. 20th and 21st century
technologies for long-distance communication usually involve electrical and
electromagnetic technologies, such as telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter, networks,
radio, microwave transmission, fiber optics, and communications satellites (Dilhac,
2004).

A revolution in wireless communication began in the first decade of the 20 th

century with the pioneering developments in radio communications by Guglielmo
Marconi, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909, and other notable pioneering
inventors and developers in the field of electrical and electronic telecommunications.
These included Charles Wheatstone and Samuel Morse (inventors of the telegraph),
Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), Edwin Armstrong and Lee de
Forest (inventors of radio), as well as Vladimir K. Zworykin, John Logie Baird and
Philo Farnsworth (some of the inventors of television) (Wendell, 1977).

Communication sector, broadly defined, the business of conveying

information. Although communication by means of symbols and gestures dates to the
beginning of human history, the term generally refers to mass communications. As
such, it covers television and radio broadcasting, telegraphs, publishing, advertising,
telecommunications, motion pictures, home videos, public relations, computer
databases, and other information industries. Communication sector, as a progressive,
customer spirited and consumer responsive entity, is committed to provide nation-
wide reliable communication services to serve as an impetus to the social, political
and economic development of the country. The vision of communication is to remain
a market leader in information and technology sector in the country while also
extending reliable and cost effective services to all. The goal of communication is to

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provide cost effective communication services to every nook and corner of the
country.

There are several reasons why employee motivation is important. Mainly

because it allows management to meet the company’s goals. Without a motivated
workplace, companies could be placed in a very risky position. Motivated employees
can lead to increased productivity and allow an organization to achieve higher levels
of output. Imagine having an employee who is not motivated at work. They will
probably use the time at their desk surfing the internet for personal pleasure or even
looking for another job.

1.2 Justification of the Study

The important factors that have an impact on employee motivation are

working environment, pay and promotion, job security, relationship with co-workers,
leaves, relationship with the boss and the level of fairness. Data for this study have
been collected from employees of different communication sector in Surkhet. In any
organization, it is important to identify the employee motivation, especially given the
concern for improving the quality of employment in the organization. If work
satisfaction affects non-work attitudes, then programs such as job redesign that
attempt to enhance job satisfaction will improve not only the quality of work life but
also the overall quality of life of workers in general. On the other hand, if work
activities, experience, and satisfaction influence employee motivation, then attempts
at improving quality of motivation through job redesign or other work innovations
will be less meaningful. This also may suggest that employee motivation can be an
important determinant of work withdrawal responses such as absenteeism and
turnover. The rationale behind this study is to determine level of employees’
motivation at communication sector. The study has determined the most important
factors that affect the employee motivation working in communication sector and to
investigate to what extent the employees are motivated. In this study, employee
motivation factors have been investigated. This study would be beneficial for all those
who wish to conduct such studies. This study would also be helpful to know the
factors that are most important to motivate employees at any company or
organization.

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1.3 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are as follows:

1. To find out the relationship between working environment and the employee
motivation.

2. To analyze the relationship between pay and promotion and employee

motivation.

3. To assess the relationship between job security and the employee motivation.

4. To identify the relationship with co-workers and employee motivation.

5. To analyze the relationship between the boss and the employee motivation.

6. To find out the impacts of level of fairness on the employee motivation.

1.4 Research Questions of the Study

1. What is the relationship between working environment and the employee

motivation?

2. How does pay and promotion affect employee motivation?

3. What is the relationship between job security and the employee motivation?

4. How does the relationship with co-workers affect employee motivation?

5. What is the relationship between the boss and the employee motivation?

6. How does the level of fairness affect employee motivation?

1.5 Conceptual Framework

Based on the objectives of the study, a conceptual framework is developed on

impacts of brand on employee motivation in communication sector. The working
environment, pay and promotion, relationship with co-workers, leave and relationship
with the boss and level of fairness are taken as independent variables and employee
satisfaction has been taken as the dependent variable. The conceptual framework is as
follows:

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 Independent Variables
- Working environment
- Pay and promotion
- Relationship with co-workers
- Leaves Dependent Variable
- Relationship with boss Employee Motivation
- Level of fairness

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of the Study

Working Environment and Employee Motivation

Various studies in the past have tried to explain how the work environment in
different areas plays an important role. Hyatter (2008) concludes that work
environment has only really been discussed by people from the industrial perspective,
meaning that the focus has primarily been on the physical sides such as noise, heavy
lifts, toxic substances and their exposure, etc. Denton found out was that the
environment also plays an important role in the employee’s decision of either staying
with or leaving the organization. Through research in pharmaceutical industry in
Bangladesh, Kabir (2011) also found that working environment plays an important
role in employee motivation.

Pay and Promotion and Employee Motivation

“Promotion is a Shifting of employee for a job of higher significance and higher

compensation (Lazear, 2000)”. “The movement of an employee upward in the
hierarchy of the organization, typically that leads to enhancement of responsibility
and rank and an improved compensation package is a promotion (Lazear, 1986).”
Another definition of promotion is “the reassignment of an employee to a higher-rank
of job”. Many researchers give their opinion that job satisfaction is strongly correlated
with promotion opportunities and there is a direct and positive association between
promotional opportunities and job satisfaction (McCausland, 2005). The reliance of
the positive correlation between promotion and job satisfaction is on perceived justice
by workers.

Relationship with Co-workers and Employee Motivation

Many studies reveal that relationship with co-workers is the fifth strongest
determinant of job satisfaction. This finding reflects the importance that social
relations in the workplace can have on employee job satisfctio. This resutl is in line

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with the extant research in collectivitist cultures wehre employees are reported to put
a strong emphasis on cooperative and collegial work (Huang et al., 2008).

Leaves and Employee Motivation

Greater productivity, lesser attrition rate and higher employee satisfaction

levels are just some of the benefits of increasing employee satisfaction in the
workplace. Yet according to a Gallup survey conducted in 2017, globally only 15%
employees were said to be actively engaged in their work. These dismal numbers
show that companies need to look at other initiatives to help increase employee
engagement in the workplace. Maybe that’s why they are always on the lookout for
the next big thing that can make a difference to how employees work. Apart from
implementing these varied initiatives in the workplace, it is also important to analyze
the impact they have on employees. An efficient and streamlined leave management
process will help the employer analyze and get insights about employee leave
patterns, and thus easily determine their level of engagement and commitment to the

company [ CITATION Paw18 \l 1033 ]. Annual leave,

family leave, child care program, sick leave, relocation benefits, transport benefits,
education fees benefits, and financial assistance were all significant components of
worker compensation that enhanced the relationship with employee

satisfaction [ CITATION Mus15 \l 1033 ].

Relationship with Boss and Employee Motivation

Employee job performance is one of the most important factors within

business analytics for maintaining and increasing productivity for companies The
employee and the boss are mutually dependent on each other.  The boss occupies a
position higher in the hierarchy of the organization. The boss can argue on the
employee’s behalf with superiors, try to secure for the employee needed resources,
and share information that might assist in the employee’s work. Conversely, the boss
needs the employee to perform his/her job well, to provide ideas for improvement, to
be honest in the employee’s statements and actions. If the employee does well, the
boss has a better chance of doing well.  Part of the boss's success depends on the
employee. The overall employee job satisfaction and the overall quality of the

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supervisory relationship are nonetheless positively correlated. In acknowledging that
it is the duty of the boss to ensure that employee job performance is at maximum
potential, it would be advantageous for the boss in all trades and industry sectors
worldwide to understand what types of boss-employee interactions are associated with
employee job performance. These boss-employee interactions lead to better employee

satisfaction and welfare of the company [ CITATION Lip17 \l

1033 ].
Level of Fairness and Employee Motivation

According to Noor (2009), there exists a good and positive relationship

between fairness of work policies, insurance policies and working hours and job
satisfaction. Through a course of action based on work-life principle, a respond can
itself on a better position to be able to cater to te demands of customers for better
service accessibility. Through this, the organization can also reach tactics to work with
the revolutionized ways that will end up satisfying both the employers and employees.

1.6 Research Methodology

This section includes the detail of research methodology that has been used in
this report. It is concerned with formulating the plans and procedures, measurement
instrument development, methods for data collection, analysis and interpretation. The
chapter deals with justification the methodology used for finding solutions to the
research problems. The strategy of sampling design (i.e. universe of population,
sampling frame, and sample selection technique and sample size) has also been
discussed in this chapter. It also describes the participating organization and outlines
the methods gathering the data, characteristics of data and statistical tools to be used
to analyze the data.

1.6.1 Research Design

Research design is a master plan specifying the methods and procedures for
collecting and analyzing the needed information. It consists of the structure for the
collection, measurement and analysis of the research data and aims at allocation of
limited resources for the crucial choices in the methodology. Research design includes

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structure of the research problems and the plans of investigation in order to obtain
empirical evidences to prove relationship between variables of research. The research
design that the researcher adopted in this study was the survey research design.
Survey refers to the collection of data through different methods such as interview or
questionnaire. This method is widely used in research process. With the help of
survey, one can easily analyze the individuals' opinion on certain topics. A survey
may focus on opinions or factual information depending on its purpose, but all
surveys involve administering questions to individuals. Survey research design is an
efficient method for systematically collecting data and generalization the result.

In order to collect data, questionnaire, one of the types of survey was formulated in
order to find the employee motivation in communication sector in Birendranagar of
Surkhet.

1.6.2 Population of Study

The target population of this study was the employees at communication sector.
This population was chosen because it was highly accessible.

1.6.3 Sampling Design

Sampling method is one of the important processes of sample selection during

survey. In statistics, sampling describes the process of selecting sample elements from
target population in order to conduct survey. In survey process, sampling helps to
describe and analyze the characteristics, attitudes of the target population. The
purpose of sampling is to secure a representative group which enables the researcher
to gain information about an entire population when faced with limitations of time,
funds and energy. Simple random sampling method was used to select the sample.
The information was collected from the employees at communication sector.

1.6.4 Data Collection Instrument

For this report, both the primary and secondary sources were used for data
collection. The data were both the quantitative as well as qualitative in nature.

1.6.5 Primary Source

This research used self-design questionnaires for the data collection. The
survey questionnaires were justified because it was affordable and effective way of

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collecting information from a population in a short period of time and at a reduced
cost. The questionnaires also facilitated easier coding and analysis of data collection.
The closed ended questions ensured that the respondents were restricted to certain
categories in their responses. Thus, the major information of this research was
collected through primary source.

1.6.6 Secondary Source

The secondary source of information was also applied in this research. This
source was used while preparing literature review and other places. The major sources
of secondary information were website, books, journals, and articles.

1.6.7 Questionnaire Development

The questionnaire was developed in Nepali language because all the

respondents were not able to understand English language. Some questions were self-
developed, and some were adopted from previous researchers. Most of the questions
were formulated in closed ended pattern. To collect the personal information of the
employees, background related questions were included in the questionnaire. Other
questions were related to the independent variables and remaining question number
related to the dependent variables. The personal information of the researcher,
university, purpose of data collection, confidentiality and use of data and instruction
to fill up the questionnaire were given along with the questionnaires.

1.6.8 Questionnaires Administration

The researcher communicated individually to the employees of communication

sector in Birendranagar, Surkhet and described the information about the survey work
and requested to manage proper time for the fill up the form. Some forms were
distributed by the researcher herself and some were distributed through the help of
friends and support. All the questionnaires were collected through the researcher
herself. The researcher distributed 60 questionnaires. All of the 60 questionnaires
were returned to the researcher.

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1.6.9 Data Analysis and Presentation

For the analysis of data, frequency, percentages were used to describe the
nature of data. After analysis of each question, the figures have been shown in
different table as per the requirement of the subject matter.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

Today's world is dynamic. Everything existing here are of limited characters.

Every principle, role, formula and conditions are applied within limitations. Likewise,
this study cannot escape from limitations. Therefore, the limitations of this study are
as follows:

i. This study is for partial fulfillment of Bachelors in Business Studies course of

Mid-Western University (MU). So, it may not be useful for other aspects.

ii. This study is limited to only the employees at communication sector in

Birendranagar, Surkhet.

iii. The respondents are limited upto 60 only.

1.8 Organization of the Study

This study is organized within the following chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction

The first chapter includes the background of the study, justification of the
study, objective of the study, research question of the study, conceptual framework of
the study, research methodology, limitations of the study and the organization of the
study.

Chapter II: Data Presentation and Analysis

The second chapter includes the presentation and analysis of data

Chapter III: Summary and Conclusion

The last chapter consists of the summary of the study and the conclusion as
well as recommendations.

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