CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Recent human resources shortage in the health sector in most African countries threatens the

realization of any plans to scale up interventions to control the spread of diseases like malaria,

cholera and tuberculosis as well as health related problems such as infant and maternal mortality.

The World Bank states clearly that without improvements to the human resources situation, the

health-related millennium development goals cannot be achieved (World Bank Report, 2004).

Therefore, given the current challenges facing human resources management in the health sectors

in most developing countries especially Ghana, health sector employees need to be motivated to

stay on their jobs and work harder to improve performance of the sector. Indeed, it is only when

employees are highly motivated that they put up outstanding performances.

An organization’s performance is critically dependent on workers’ motivation, with service

quality, efficiency, and equity, all directly mediated by the workers’ willingness to apply

themselves to their tasks. According to Lynene et al., 2002 resources availability and worker

competence are essential but not sufficient to ensure desired worker performance.

Mathauer and Imhoff (2006) acknowledge that low motivation of health workers is a serious

challenge facing health sector human resource management in developing countries. In Ghana, for

instance, health service workers do not seem to be motivated enough by their employer because of

frequent threats of strike actions and service withdrawal by the various health service trade unions.

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This is evident by the recent strike action embarked on by the Ghana Medical Association in

October, 2011 during negotiation over distortion in salary scale designed for them by the Fair

Wages and Salary Commission. Meanwhile, there is a general perception within the civil and

public services that health Service workers are very well motivated by their employer (the

Government) due to upward revision of their conditions of service. For instance, the upward

review of their salary structure two times above other workers within the public and civil service

in year 2005 confirms the perception of the government workers.

The issue of inadequate motivation for health service employees has become a national concern as

many health professionals who feels de-motivated in Ghana seek better conditions of service

elsewhere outside the country, especially in Europe and America (Adzei, Roger & Atinga, 2012).

The fact is that the Government of Ghana cannot achieve its objective of increasing access to good

quality health service in the country with highly de-motivated healthcare professionals who either

migrate to urban centres or emigrate to work in countries with better motivating healthcare systems

at the disadvantage of the country that spent millions of united state dollars each in training of

healthcare professionals (Agyepong et al, 2004). The general concerns about what has to be done

to retain healthcare workers to play their role effectively towards the attainment of increased access

to high quality health services in Ghana makes a research on ‘’the role of motivation on employee

performance’’ a case study of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) a very laudable idea.

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 Statement of the Problem

In Ghana, the health sector is a large bureaucracy whose management is driven centrally by

guidelines, standards and regulatory systems. Hence, incentives such as rewards for strict

adherence to tailor-made policies and procedures could work against initiatives, creativity and

innovation which inspire workers to work for the achievement system objectives.

Health workers in Ghana like their counter parts anywhere in the world usually work in teams and

their incentive structures are designed as such like other public sector workers. These team

working systems, especially in the health service, mostly weakens the objective of most financial

incentives because the efforts of some individuals in a team may have little influence on overall

performance. This notwithstanding, experience has shown that individual incentives particularly

where they work as a team can worsen team cohesion and cooperation in some situations.

Consequently, this ‘team motivation approach’ within the Ministry of Health (MoH) affects health

workers’ performance since they work for system goals by cooperative ways. Most of the times,

issues of wage or salary structures more often than not become a benchmark for comparison of

how well the employer motivates the various teams. This type of comparison of incentives between

professional groups often leads to problems bordering on industrial relation and harmonious

working environment. For example, Emmanuel (2007) reveals that by July 2007 there were about

1,200 nurses, while other health care professionals including medical doctors made a total of about

350 at KBTH. Meanwhile, medical doctors despite their smaller number have a stronger

representation and a much stronger influence on major managerial decisions for staff welfare than

the nurses who formed the majority in the hospital did. This situation in itself further exacerbates

the complexity within the health service on matters of motivation for employees.

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Adams and Hicks (2000) admit that health systems have a spectrum of workers with different skills

and expectations, and incentives for one group can have negative effects on others. On the issue

of how to motivate employees who work in teams, paying group bonuses for achieving a given

level of output can work only if individual team member feels adequately rewarded for their

efforts.

However, whilst managers of the Ghana Health Service are constantly finding ways to improve

employee motivation, many health service professionals and supports staffs in Ghana tend to

pursue their individual interests, often in private practice, to the detriment of organizational and

system performance. Recent reports from the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic

Research (ISSER) indicates that the annual cost of medical education in Ghana is estimated at

US$9 million. Despite this huge expenditure on the training of healthcare professionals incurred

by the Government of Ghana on the face of the country’s limited resources, whilst many healthcare

workers leave the country every year in pursuance of better conditions of service, others desert the

profession and pursue their careers in other areas such as politics. It is therefore relevant to note

that the reality of motivation for the health worker cannot be over emphasized, but the question

has always been what kind of motivation scheme is appropriate and adequate enough to encourage

the healthcare professional to stay, work and offer the best?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to provide a link between motivation and employee performance in

the Ghana Health Service through the testing of various theoretical frameworks on motivation.

The study is also meant to identify and evaluate the motivating factors that influence employees’

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performance; and establish the rationale for motivation in an organization. Another purpose of the

study is to make recommendations on the motivation strategy(ies) health managers can adopt to

develop employees to increase productivity

Delimitations of the Study

This study is limited to the relationship between extrinsic motivation and employee performance

in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH). The case study of the research focused on only the staff

of KBTH because of easy accessibility and their integral role in health service delivery in the

nation. Hence, any generalization of the research findings to other similar departments of Ghana

Health Service or other organizations should be done with greater caution.

Research Questions

To be able to review relevant literature on the research objectives, the following specific questions

have been asked:

1. What is the influence of Motivation on employees’ performance?

2. What is the rationale for motivation in an organization?

3. How can mangers develop motivated employees to increase productivity?

Limitations of the Study

The credibility of responses from the respondents to questionnaires, lack of co-operation from

respondents, time constraints accounts for the limited scope of the study as against the expensive

nature of the research topic. The research instruments were administered mainly through online

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systems and telephone interviews. This is mainly due to the restrictions on public gathering and the

need to observe social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organization of the Study

The study has been organized into five (5) chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. It consists

of the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions,

significance of the study, limitation of the study, delimitation of the study, and organization of the

study. The second chapter deals with the review of related literature. The third chapter is the

methodology. The fourth chapter is the result of the study, and the final chapter deals with the

summary of findings, conclusion and recommendations made from the analysis and interpretation

of the data.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

The job of a practicing manager in any work environment seeks to get activities performed through

employees. However, the issue of what influences employees to give off their best performance is

a fundamental concern to many practicing managers. Managers have therefore not ceased

exploring for motivating mechanisms that can energize employees for the achievement of results.

The aim of this chapter is therefore, to review relevant available secondary data on motivation and

performance so as to establish a theoretical framework for the research objective.

Definition of Motivation

The term motivation has been defined variously by many authors. Motivation has been defined as

‘’the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction, a predisposition to behave

in a purposive manner to achieve specific unmet needs, an unsatisfied need, and the will to achieve

respectively (Kreitner, 1995; Buford, Bedeian & Linder, 1995; all cited in James, 1998).

Cole (1995) has defined motivation as the term used to describe those processes, both instinctive

and rational, by which people seek to satisfy the basic drives, perceived needs and personal goals,

which trigger human behaviour.

Young, (2000) has suggested that motivation can be defined in a variety of ways, depending on

who you ask. Ask someone on the street, you may get a response like ‘’it is what drives us’’ or ‘’it

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is what makes us do the things we do’’. Therefore, ‘’motivation is the force within an individual

that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.’’

Helepota (2005) refers to motivation as ‘’a person’s active participation and commitment to

achieve the prescribed results’’

Motivation can be described as any factor that urges or impels an individual to assume an attitude

generally favourable towards his/her work leading him/her to achieve results.

Concepts of Motivation

Within organizations, managers are constantly seeking ways to improve performance at every level

of operations, in order to raise productivity and reduce cost. Employees during the early years of

industrial revolution were considered as just another factor of production of goods and services.

This perception changed after a research conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1992 (Dickson,

1973 & James, 1998). This research referred to as the Hawthorne studies revealed that employees

were not motivated solely by money and as such employees’ behavior was linked to their attitudes.

The Hawthorne Studies brought about the human relations approach to management, whereby the

needs and motivation of employees become the primary focus of managers (Bedeian, 1993). A

major element in the motivational concept is the application of practices that will contain

motivational strategies to achieve set goals. However, there is no single theory of motivation that

can be claimed to embrace the entire range of organizational and personal conditions that exist.

For example, something that motivates an individual today may not work tomorrow; equally every

individual employee is different and will respond to particular motivation process differently with

change in organizational conditions over time.

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The concept of motivation can either be said to be intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external).

Intrinsic Motivation refers to an interest that originates within the individual as a response to the

job itself and the circumstances surrounding its execution. For example, an artist may be motivated

to produce exciting paintings because of the satisfactions derived from having the opportunity to

realize his/her ideas and also through avenues such as professional and peer recognitions of his/her

works.

Extrinsic (External) Motivation on the other hand, refers to any source of motivation that originates

outside an individual worker which influences his/her behaviour. For example, a promise of higher

salary in response to increased productivity at the end of a period.

Theories of Motivation

Many organizations today have realized that some employees in most cases do not contribute

towards the realization of organizational goals as much as they can and are therefore seek to find

out reasons that impede people from increasing their productivity. To help achieve this, various

theories of motivations could be analyzed to help them prepare a plan for motivating their

employees.

These theories of motivation can be broadly categorized into two different perspectives; Content

and Process theories. The content theory refers to theories that emphasize on what motivates

people in relation to individual need’s or goals. Some of the motivation theories that fall into this

category include; Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Alderfer‘s ERG Theory, Frederick

Herzberg‘s Two Factor Theory, and McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory.

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The Process theories on the other hand deals with the process of motivation and how it occurs. The

major process theories include Vroom‘s Expectancy Theory, Adams’ Social Equity Theory and

Locke’s Goal Setting Theory.

Abraham Maslow‘s Hierarchy of Needs

According to Abraham Maslow, employee needs can be classified into a five level hierarchy of

importance. These needs are physiological, safety, social, ego/esteem, and self actualizing. These

five level needs are categorized into two main groups namely primary or lower level needs and

secondary or higher-level needs. The primary or lower level needs include the physiological and

safety needs which basically help the employee to stay alive. The Secondary or higher needs, on

the other hand consist of the social, ego/ self-esteem and self-actualization needs. The basis of this

theory is that individuals have innate needs or wants which they seek to satisfy. These innate needs

as outlined by Maslow have an in-built prioritizing system which argues that lower level needs

have to be satisfied before the next higher level need would motivate employees.

❖ The physiological needs include a wide range of basic needs that very human body requires

to stay alive and function normally. Example would include food, air to breathe, water, and

wages/ salary in an organizational context.

❖ The safety needs consist of the security of the individual in his/her environment. Examples

are shelter, the need to be free from harm and job security in an organizational context.

❖ The social needs include the factors that help the individual to draw on social support

necessary for life. Examples include sense of belonging, friendship, etc.

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 ❖ The ego/ esteem needs would include an individual’s self-respect, achievement, reputation

and recognition for useful ideas.

❖ The self-actualization needs are related to the opportunity to realize one’s full potential.

Maslow’s Hierarchy needs theory as shown in Fig.1 observes that an individual’s needs arise in a

certain order of preference and not randomly. A person is motivated first and foremost to satisfy

lower/primary needs before the higher/secondary needs. When the physiological needs are

satisfied, they cease to act as primary motivation factors and the individual moves up the hierarchy

and seek to satisfy the next level needs i.e. Security needs. This process continues until the self

-actualization needs are finally satisfied. Relating to Maslow‘s theory to employees, the rationale

is quite simple because employees who are too hungry or too ill to work will hardly be able to

make much a contribution to productivity.

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 creativity

Promotion,
Praise and
recognition
Social needs –
pleasant supervisor,
Friendly co-workers,

Safety needs – job security,

rest, leisure time

Physiological
needs - Food, Wage/ salary,
reasonable work hours
Figure.2.1 Model of Employee Motivational Factors Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

theory

ERG Theory

The ERG (Existence, Relatedness, and Growth) theory propounded by Clayton Alderfer is a

modification of Maslow’s hierarchy which collapses the number of needs categories from five to

only three levels of need:

a. Existence (e) or survival needs are desires for physiological and material well-being.

These include the needs for things such as foods, drinks, shelter and safety (in terms of

Maslow’s model, existence needs include physiological and safety needs)

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 b. Relatedness (r) needs are desires for satisfying interpersonal relationships which deals

with social interaction, recognition and status from others (in terms of Maslow’s model,

relatedness correspondence to social needs) i.e; and

c. Growth (g) needs are desires for continued psychological growth and development (in

terms of Maslow’s model, growth needs include esteem and self-realization needs) i.e.

focusing on the desire to achieve and develop an employee’s potential and the internal

facets of ego fulfillment (success and autonomy).

Alderfer’s erg theory proposes that unsatisfied needs motivate behavior, and that as lower level

needs are satisfied, they become less important. Higher level needs, though, become more

important as they are satisfied, and if these needs are not met, an employee may move down the

hierarchy. This is what Alderfer calls the frustration-regression principle which means that an

already satisfied lower level need can become reactivated and influence behaviour when a higher

level need cannot be satisfied. It is, therefore, suggested that a manager should provide

opportunities for workers to capitalize on the importance of higher level needs since the three basic

human needs: existence, relatedness and growth, must be met by an employee to enable him

increase performance.

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 Growth Needs

Relatedness Needs –
Social interactions,
team participation,
etc

Existence Needs – food, drink,

shelter,
safety, etc

Fig. 2.2 Model of Employee Motivational Factors Based on Alderfer’s ERG theory

The Two Factor Theory

The two factor theory proposed by Frederick Herzberg suggests that there are factors in a job, with

cause satisfaction. Therefore, Herzberg’s work categorized motivation into two factors:

motivations and hygience factors (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959), Herzberg’s research

suggests that motivation is composed of two largely unrelated dimensions:

a. Job-related factors which can prevent dissatisfaction, but do not promote employees’

growth and development (hygiene); and

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 b. Job-related factors that encourage growth (motivators).

The hygienic factors include salary, job security, working conditions, organizational policies, and

technical quality of supervision. Although these factors do not purposefully motivate employees

but can cause dissatisfaction if they are missing. Satisfiers or motivators include responsibility,

achievement, growth opportunities, and feelings of recognition, and are the key to job satisfaction

and motivation. However, the absence of these motivators or intrinsic factors produce low

motivation and not job dissatisfaction. Accordingly, Herzberg postulates that if the motivators are

met, the employees become motivated and hence perform higher.

McCrimmon (2008) acknowledges that the key point about hygiene factors is their absence,

particularly when they are suddenly removed, that causes dissatisfaction at work. Providing them

does not motivate employees to work harder, except perhaps for a short period of time, after which

they are taken for granted and people want new improvements. The reason that providing or

improving hygiene factors fails to motivate employees is that they are not dependent on how hard

employees work. It must be noted that Herzberg’s main idea is that his two sets of factors are

independent of each other. Thus, it is possible to be satisfied at work even though the working

conditions are poor and it is possible to be relatively content with the latter even though you may

not be very motivated to put in any extra effort.

The Acquired Needs Theory

This theory developed by David McClelland outlines three different set of needs as the basis

motivation for people. The three-need category include the Need for Achievement (nAch), the

Need for Affiliation (nAff) and the need for Power (nPow).

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The need for achievement refers to the idea of an individual being successful in all his/her activities

whilst the need for Affiliation is the wish to be around people and be socially-connected, for

example, people’s interpersonal relationships and opportunities to communicate with others. The

Need for Power also is the desire to have control over others around and over him/her self.

McClelland suggests that although there is a tendency for only one of them to be dominant at any

point, all people who have these three needs and will tend to engage in competitive activities whilst

seeking for club’s and team’s affiliation and also compete for higher positions to fulfill their

desires.

The Expectancy Theory

This theory propounded by Victor H. Vroom in 1964 proposes that people are motivated by how

much they want something and how likely they can achieve it. The theory postulates that an

individual’s choice of behaviour depends on his/her assessment of the probable success of the

behaviour leading to the goal. By this, Vroom suggests that an employee will be motivated to exert

high level of effort when he or she expects that:

a. Effort will lead to a good performance appraisal, and then

b. A good performance appraisal will lead to organizational rewards, and then

c. The organizational rewards will satisfy his or her personal goals.

The relationship between efforts and performance, between performance and rewards, and then

between rewards and individual goal satisfaction forms the basic principle of expectancy theory.

Therefore, to motivate employees, managers must strengthen employees’ perceptions of their

efforts to clarify expectations of performance, tie rewards to performances, and make sure that

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rewards are desirable. It must, however, be noted that performance leads to various outcomes

(rewards) which 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.

Individual
Efforts
Goal

Rewards Performance

Fig.2.3 Model of Vroom’s Expectancy theory

The Social Equity Theory

In 1965, John Stacey Adams propounded that people are motivated to seek social equity or relative

fairness in the treatment they receive at work for performance. The equity theory states that

employees strive for equity between themselves. Hence, equity is achieved when the ratio of

employee’s outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee’s outcomes over their inputs.

According to Adams, the outcome from jobs such as pay, recognition, promotion, social

relationships are extrinsic rewards. These rewards are obtained when various inputs such as time,

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effort, education, experience and loyalty are employed by the employees to their jobs. Employees,

therefore, tend to view their outcomes and inputs as ratios and then compare these ratios with

others and tend to become motivated if these ratios are high. Social Inequality or relative unfairness

occurs when people feel that their rewards are mediocre as compared to the rewards offered to

other persons sharing the same workloads. Employees who feel they are being treated inequitably

may exhibit the following behaviours:

a. Put less effort into their jobs

b. Ask for better treatment and /or rewards

c. Find ways to make their work seem better by comparison

d. Seek transfer or quit their jobs.

The equity theory by Adams stipulates that employees behave according to their perceptions and

not to what a manager thinks is relevant to an employee because the real issue of motivation is the

way an employee perceives his or her situation. Adams advises that every manager needs to ensure

that any negative consequences from equity comparisons are avoided, or at least minimized, when

rewards are allocated. Instead of letting equity concerns get out of hand, managers should carefully

communicate the intended values of rewards being given, clarify the performance appraisals upon

which these rewards are based, and suggest appropriate comparison points.

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 Motivation scale

Input Output
Time, efforts, Pay, promotion,
education, etc recognition, etc
Fig.2.4 Model of Adam’s Equity theory

The Goal Setting Theory

The goal-setting theory, introduced in the late 1960s by Edwin Locke, proposes that intentions to

work toward a goal are major source of work motivation. Goals, in essence, tell employees what

needs to be done and how much effort should be expanded. One advantage of employees’

participation in goal setting is that they may be more likely to work toward a goal they helped

develop. However, employees do better when they get feedback on their progress. In addition to

feedback, four other factors that influence the goals-performance relationship include:

a. The employee’s commitment to the goal.

b. The employee’s belief in the success of the task to be performed.

c. The nature of the task involved in achieving the goal whether simple, familiar, independent

or realistic.

d. Manager’s willingness and readiness to work with their employees in determining goal

objectives in order to provide targets for motivation.

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Motivation and Performance

Employees are an organization’s livelihood and thus, the perception and feeling about the work

they do and the results received from that work directly impact on the firm’s performance and

ultimately its growth. For example, if an organization’s employees are highly motivated, they will

do whatever is necessary to achieve the goals of the organization. Ability on the other, capacity to

carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. The

ability of employees to perform assigned tasks depends on their effort, education, experience and

training and its improvement is a slow and long process thereby requiring time. It must therefore

be emphasized that motivation is extremely essential for the survival of any business operation or

activity and can be improved quickly. Performance is considered to be a function of ability and

motivation, thus:

JOB PERFORMANCE = F (ABILITY + MOTIVATION)

Motivation Strategies

The level of employee motivation in a business environment can be increased or decreased through

the development and use of effective management practices. To develop motivated employees, a

manager must treat people as individuals, empower workers, provide an effective reward system,

redesign jobs, and create a flexible workplace.

Employees Empowerment

Empowerment occurs when individuals in an organization are given autonomy, authority, trust,

and encouragement to accomplish a task. Empowerment is designed to unshackle the worker and

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to make a job the worker’s responsibility. In an attempt to empower and to change some of the old

bureaucratic ideas, managers are promoting corporate entrepreneurships. Entrepreneurship

encourages employees to pursue new ideas and gives them the authority to promote those ideas.

Obviously, entrepreneurship is not for the timid, because old structure and processes are turned

upside down (Wiley, unpublished).

Provision of Effective Reward System

Wiley, (unpublished) has noted that mangers often use rewards to reinforce employee behavior

that they want to continue. A reward is a work outcome of positive value to the individual.

Organizations are rich in rewards for people whose performance accomplishments help meet

organizational objectives. People receive rewards in one of the following two ways:

a. Extrinsic rewards are externally administered. They are valued outcomes given to someone

by another person, typically a supervisor or highe- level manager. Common workplace

examples are pay bonuses, promotions, time off, special assignments, office fixtures,

awards, verbal praise, and so on. In all cases, the motivation stimulus of extrinsic rewards

originates outside the individual.

b. Intrinsic rewards are self-administered. Think of the ‘’natural high’’ a person may

experience after completing a job. That person feels good because she has a feeling of

competency, personal development, and self-control over her work. In contrast to extrinsic

rewards, the motivational stimulus of intrinsic rewards is internal and doesn’t depend on

the actions of other people.

To motivate behaviour, Wiley, (unpublished) suggests that the organization needs to provide an

effective reward system with the following four elements:

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 ❖ Rewards need to satisfy the basic needs of all employees.

❖ Rewards need to be included in the system and be comparable to ones offered by a

competitive organization in the same area.

❖ Rewards need to be available to people in the same positions and be distributed fairly and

equitably.

❖ The overall reward system needs to be multifaceted. Because all people are different,

managers must provide a range of rewards – pay, time off, recognition, or promotion. In

addition, managers should provide different ways to earn these rewards

This last point is worth noting. With the widely developing trend toward empowerment, many

employees and employers are beginning to view traditional pay systems as inadequate. In a

traditional system, people are paid according to the positions they hold, not the contributions they

make. As organizations adopt approaches built upon teams, customer satisfaction, and

empowerment, workers need to be paid different. Many companies have already responded by

designing numerous pay plans, designed by employed design teams, which base rewards on skill

levels. Basically, the purpose of rewarding employees is to demonstrate to them that their

behaviour is appropriate and should be repeated. If employees don’t feel their work is valued, their

motivation will decline (Wiley, unpublished).

Job Redesigning

Many people go to work every day and go through the same, unenthusiastic actions to perform

their jobs. These individuals often refer to this condition as burnout. But smart managers can do

something to improve this condition before an employee becomes bored and loses motivation.

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Wiley, (unpublished) states that the concept of job redesign requires knowledge of and concern

for the human qualities people bring with them to the organization, applies motivational theories

to the structure of work for improving productivity and satisfaction. When redesigning jobs,

managers look at both job scope and job depth. Redesign attempts may include the following:

a. Job enlargement: Often referred to as horizontal job loading, job enlargement increase the

variety of tasks a job includes. Although it does not increase the quality or the challenge of

those tasks, job enlargement may reduce some of the monotony, and as an employee’s

boredom decreases, his or her work quality generally increases.

b. Job rotation: This practice assigns people to different jobs or tasks to different people on

a temporary basis. The idea is to add variety and to expose people to the dependence that

one job has on other jobs. Job rotation can encourage higher levels of contributions and

renew interest and enthusiasm. The organization benefits from a cross-trained workforce.

c. Job enrichment: Also called vertical job loading, this application includes not only

increased variety of tasks, but also provides an employee with more responsibility and

authority. If the skills required to do the job are skills that match the jobholder’s abilities,

job enrichment may improve morale and performance.

Flexible Working Hours

The complexity of jobs and globalization is gradually making the traditional nine-to-five daily

work scheme unfavourable for many people. Therefore, flexible working scheme (flextime) which

permits employees to set and control their own work hours is one model that organizations can

adopt to accommodate different employees’ needs. The following strategies can be adopted to

create flexible work hours for employees:

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 a. A compressed workweek is a form of flextime that allows a full-time job to be completed

in less than the standard 40-hour, five-day workweek. Its most common form is the 4/40

schedule, which gives employees three days off each week. This schedule benefits the

individual through more leisure time and lower commuting costs. The organization also

benefit through lower absenteeism and improved performance.

b. Job sharing can be instituted by splitting one full-time job between two or more persons.

Job sharing often involves each person working one-half day, but it can also be done one

weekly or monthly sharing arrangements. When jobs are split and shared, organizations

can benefit by employing talented people who would otherwise be unable to work full-

time. The qualified employee who is also a parent may not want to be in the office for a

full day but may be willing to work a half-day. Although adjustment problems sometimes

occur, the arrangement can be good for all concerned.

c. Telecommuting, sometimes called flexi-place, is a wok arrangement that allows at least a

portion of scheduled work hours to be completed outside of the office, with work-at-home

as one of the options. Telecommuting frees the jobholder from obligation to work fixed

hours, wear special work attire, endure the normal constraints of commuting, and have

direct contact with supervisors. Home workers often demonstrate increased productivity,

report fewer distractions, enjoy the freedom to be their won bosses, and appreciate the

benefit of having more time independently

What Motivates Employees

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Motivation deals with complex human behaviour in order to determine the factor that prompts an

employee to do his best. In order to motivate employees, management must first of all know the

motivational factors influencing the behaviour of employees.

Working is however commonplace that the question, ‘’what motivates people to work?’’, is seldom

asked. People often wonder why other people commit suicide than to question the motivational

basis of their work (vroom, 1995). Griffin, (1990) has affirmed that in most instances, employee

performance is determined by three things; ability, the work environment; and motivation.

If an employee lacks ability, appropriate training and development programme can be employed.

If there is an environmental problem, altering the environment to promote higher performance is

the key. However, if motivation is the problem, the solution is more complex and more

challenging. For motivational problems, the best source of information is the employee.

Employees must be asked on a regular basis what sparks and sustains their desire to work. Their

responses may lead the employer to redesign jobs; increases pay, change the working environment,

or give more credit for work done.

The key is, however, that managers should avoid the assumption that what motivates the employer

motivates the employees as well (Wissler, 1984).

A careful scrutiny of most of the theories of motivation has revealed that employees are motivated

by factors not limited to the following:

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 Good wages:
Full appreciation for work done:
Job security;
Promotion and growth in the
organization;
Interesting work;
Empathizing with employee
problems;
Personal or company loyalty to
employees;
Good working conditions;

Fig.2.5 Employee motivators

Significance of Motivation

Motivating employees by provision of opportunities to fulfill their physiological and psychological

needs improves employees’ job satisfaction and cooperation with management thereby enhancing

overall performance of co-operate goals. Motivating employees through career development leads

to improvement of their effectiveness and efficiency and this results in increased productivity.

Motivation can also lower the rates of employees’ turnover and absenteeism. Good human

relations may develop in the organization since conflict at the workplace could be less heard off

as the number of complaints and grievances will reduce as well as wastage. The company will

produce better quality of products which will enhance the cooperate image of the business.

26
The Process of Employee Motivation

Peter, (unpublished) has suggested that motivation concerns with how behaviour gets started, is

energized, is sustained, is directed, is stopped and what kind of subjective re-action is present in

the organization while this is going on. Peter has suggested the following 11 steps of employee

motivation process:

Step 1: Personalize Motivation

When mangers do not know what motivates an individual, they commit serious errors by

mistakenly assuming that all workers want the same thing, or make random guesses about what

motivates an employee. For managers to successfully motivate their individual employees, human

resources professionals must accept the responsibility of providing managers with a list of what

motivates and frustrates employee. Just ask your employees the following questions:

❖ What are the elements of any job that exit, challenge and motivate you to be more

productive?

❖ What are elements of any job that frustrate you or inhibit your productivity?

❖ How can you help me understand the best approach to get the most productivity out of

you?

❖ Why did you quit your last jobs?

Step 2: Organize One – One – Meeting With Each Employee

Employees are motivated more by the care and concern for them than the attention given to them.

Get to know you employees, their families, their favorite foods names of their children, etc. This

can seem manipulative – and it will be if not done sincerely. However, even if it is done out of

27
sincerity you will get to know each of your employees, but it may not happen unless you

intentionally set aside time to be wit h each of them.

Step 3: Instill an Inspiring Purpose

A critical condition for employee enthusiasm is a clear and inspiring organizational purpose. Every

manager should be able to expressly state a strong purpose for his/her unit. Stating a mission is a

powerful tool. But equally important is the manager’s ability to explain and communicate to

subordinates the reason behind the mission of the organization.

Step 4: Reward It When You See It and Soon

A critical lesson for new managers and supervision is to learn to focus on employee behaviours,

not on employee personalities. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviour toward

goals, not on popularity of employee. You can get in a great deal of trouble (legally, morally and

interpersonally) for focusing only on how you feel about your employees rather than on what you

are seeing with your eyeballs. This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the

behaviours that you are currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time between

an employee’s action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the employee that you

highly prefer that action.

Step 5: Cultivate Strong Skills in Delegation

Delegation includes conveying responsibility and authority to your employees so they can carry

out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to your employees to decide how they will carry out

the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also

28
allows employees to take a stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and

motivation in their jobs, as well.

Step 6: Celebrate Achievements

This critical step is often forgotten. New managers and supervisors are often focused on a getting

‘’a lot done’’. This usually means identifying and solving problems. Experienced managers have

come to understand that acknowledging and celebrating a solution to a problem can be as important

as the solution itself. Without ongoing acknowledgment of success, employees become frustrated,

skeptical and even cynical about efforts in the organization.

Step 7: Promote Teamwork

Most work requires a team effort in order to be done effectively. Research shows repeatedly that

the quality of a group’s efforts in areas such as problem solving is usually superior to that of

individuals working on their own. In addition, most workers get a motivation boost from working

in teams. Whenever possible, managers should organize employees into self-managed teams, with

the teams having authority over matters such as quality control, scheduling, and many work

methods. A manager must know that working in teams offers opportunity cross-learning and

sharing diversity of ideas, methods, and approaches.

Step 8: Let Employees Hear from Their Customers Internal or External

Let employees hear customer feedbacks to the benefits of the efforts of the employee. For example,

if the employee is working to keep internal computer systems running for other employees

(internal customers) in the organization, then have other employees express their gratitude to the

29
employee. If an employee is providing a product or service to external customers, then bring in a

customer to express their appreciation to the employee.

Step 9: Implement at Least the Basic Principles of Performance Management

Good performance management includes identifying goals, measure to indicate if the goals are

being met or not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective

action to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance

management can focus on organization, groups, processes in the organization and employees.

Step 10: Be a Catalyst for Your Employees

Incorporating a command- and-control style is a sure-fire path to demonization. Instead, redefining

your primary role and serving as your employees’ catalyst will expedite their activities to get jobs

done. Your role as a catalyst involves a range of activities, including serving as a linchpin to other

business units and managerial levels to represent their best interests and ensure your people get

what they need to succeed.

Step 11: Coach Your Employees for Improvement

A major reason why so many managers do not assist subordinate in improving their performance

is, simply, that they don’t know how to do this without irritating or discouraging them. A few basic

principles will improve this substantially. First and foremost, employees whose overall

performance is satisfactory should be made aware. It is easier for employees to accept, and

welcome feedback for improvement if they know management is basically pleased with what they

do and is helping them do it even better.

30
Compensating Employees to Stimulate Performance

Employee compensation includes all work-related payments, including wages, commissions,

insurances, time off, etc.Wages and salaries are the most obvious forms of compensation and are

on job evaluations that determine the relative values of jobs to the organization. Some occupations

are compensated through incentive pay programs. A production worker’s pay may be based upon

some combination of an hourly wage and an incentive for each “piece” he or she makes. Some

employees are offered merit awards as a reward for sustained superior performance.

Compensations like employee benefits are supplements to wages are legally mandated. Other

benefits which are optional and help build employee loyalty to an organisation, including the

following:

a. Health insurance

b. Pension plans

c. Employee discounts

d. Vacation, sick, and personal days.

e. Bonuses (incentive money paid to employees in addition to their regular compensation)

f. Profit-sharing (money from a portion of the company profits used to supplement regular

compensation)

g. Stock options (a plan that permits employees to buy shares of stock in the employee’s firm

at or below the present market value) (Wiley, unpublished).

Job Performance Equation

31
Job performance is viewed as a function of three factors and is expressed with the equation below

(Metchell, 1982). According to this equation, motivation, ability, and environment are the major

influences over employee performance.

Performanc = Motivation x Ability x Environment

e

Figure 2.6 Performance Equation Source: adopted from (Mitchell, 1982)

Thus the interactions between an employee’s motivation, ability, and environment have great

influence on his or her performance.

Hence, incentives, reward systems or pay should be tied to performance. Incentives could be tied

to individual performance organizational performance. Pay-for-performance plans are very

common among organizations (Vision Quest, Salam et al, (2005) and Peterson et al, (2006) have

all indicated that companies using pay-for-performance systems actually achieve higher

productivity, profits, and customer service. These systems are more effective than praise or

recognition in increasing intention of higher performing employees by creating higher levels of

commitment to the company. Also, Greenberger et al, (1988) reveal that employees report higher

levels of pay satisfaction under pay-for-performance systems.

32
However, many downsides of incentives exist. For example, it has been argued that incentives may

create a risk-averse environment that diminishes creativity. This may happen if employees are

rewarded for doing things in a certain way, and taking risks may negatively affect their paycheck.

Moreover, research has shown that incentives tend to focus employee energy to goal-directed

efforts, and behaviours such as helping team members or being a good cooperate citizen of the

company may be neglected (Wright et al, 1993; desktop et al, 1999, & Breen, 2004).

Motivating Employees Using Financial Incentives

Despite their limitations, financial incentives may be considered powerful motivators if they are

used properly and if they are aligned with organizational objectives. Hence, the following financial

incentives options are suggested for managers to explore:

Piece Rate Systems

Under piece rate incentives, employees are paid on the basis of individual output they produce.

Today, increases in employee monitoring technology are making it possible to correctly measure

and observe individual output. For example, technology can track the number of tickets an

employee sells or the number of customer complaints resolved, allowing a basis for employee pay

incentives (Conlin, 2002). Piece rate systems can be very effective in increasing worker

productivity in many organizations.

Individual bonuses

Talya et al, (2009) have defined that bonuses are one-time rewards that follow specific

accomplishments of employees. For example, an employee who reaches the quarterly goals set for

33
him/her may be rewarded with a lump sum bonus. Employee motivation resulting from a bonus is

generally related to the degree of advanced knowledge regarding bonus specifics.

Merit pay

In contrast to bonuses, Talya et al, (2009) suggest merit pay which involves giving employees a

permanent pay raise based on past performance. Often the company’s performance appraisal

system is used to determine performance levels and the employees are awarded a raise, such as a

2% increase in pay. One potential problem with merit pay is that employees come to expect pay

increases. In companies that give annual merit raises without reference to cost of living, merit pay

ends up serving as a cost-of-living adjustment and creates a sense of entitlement on the part of

employees, with even low performers expecting them. Therefore, making merit pay more effective

depends on making it truly dependent on performance and designing a relatively objective

appraisal system (Talya et al, 2009).

Awards System

Plaques and other recognition awards may motivate employees if these awards fit with the

company culture and if they reflect a sincere appreciation of employee accomplishments. It has

been argued by Nelson, (2009) that some companies manage to create effective incentive systems

on a small budget while downplaying the importance of large bonuses. Talya et al, (2009) state

that it is possible to motivate employees through awards, plaques, or other symbolic methods of

recognition to the degree these methods convey sincere appreciation for employee contributions.

Thus, these awards may help create a sense of commitment to the company by creating positive

experiences that are attributed to the company.

34
Team Bonuses

In situations in which employees should cooperate with each other and isolating employee

performance is more difficult, companies’ resort to increasingly tie employee pay to team

performance level may be effective (Talya et al, 2009).

Profit Sharing

Profit sharing programs involves sharing a percentage of company profits with all employees.

These programs are companywide incentives and are not very effective in tying employee pay to

individual effort, because each employee will have a limited role in influencing company

profitability. At the same time, these programs may be more effective in creating loyalty and

commitment to the company by recognizing all employees for their contributions throughout the

year (Talya et al, 2009).

Motivating Employees through Job Design

Job design is the very most important aspect of job creation. Although job design is not limited to

job enlargement and job enrichment, but the two have been discussed because of the specialized

nature of jobs in the health sector.

Job Enlargement

This refers to expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety. By giving

employees several different tasks to be performed, as opposed to limiting their activities to a small

number of tasks, organizations hope to reduce boredom and monotony as well as utilize human
35
resources more effectively. Job enlargement may have similar benefits to job rotation, because it

may also involve teaching employees multiple tasks. Research indicates that when jobs are

enlarged, employees view themselves as being capable of performing a broader set of tasks

(Parker, 1998). There is some evidence that job enlargement is beneficial, because it is positively

related to employee satisfaction and higher quality customer services, and it increases the chances

of catching mistakes (Campion & McClelland, 1991). At the same time, the effects of job

enlargement may depend on the type of enlargement. For example, job enlargement consisting of

adding tasks that are very simple in nature have negative consequences on employee satisfaction

with the job and results in fewer errors being caught. Alternatively, giving employees more tasks

that require them to be knowledgeable in different areas seem to have more positive effects

(Campion & McClelland, 1991).

Job Enrichment

This is a job redesign technique that grants workers more control over how they perform their own

tasks. This approach allows employees to take on more responsibility. As an alternatively to job

specialization, companies using job enrichment may experience positive outcomes, such as

reduced turnover, increased productivity, and reduced absences (locks et al, 1976; McEvoy et al,

1985). This may be because employees who have the authority and responsibility over their work

can be more efficient, eliminate unnecessary tasks, take shortcuts, and increase their overall

performance. However, Locke et al, (1976) & McEvor et al, 1985 have reported that there is

evidence that job enrichment may sometimes cause dissatisfaction among certain employees. The

reason may be that employees who are given additional autonomy and responsibility may expect

36
greater levels of pay or other types of compensation, and if this expectation is not met they may

feel frustrated. Again, not all employees desire to have control how they work.

Importance of Job Design

There is an assumption that the most important motivation at work is pay. Interestingly, many

empirical studies point out to a different factor as having major influence over worker motivation

job design. In Ghana for example, Fugar et al (2008) have reported that some Ghanaian workers

rank salaries lowest whilst supervision and responsibility rank highest in order of importance of

ten potential motivations. It is, therefore, important to note that how job is designed has a major

impact on employee motivation, job satisfaction, commitment to an organization, absenteeism,

and turnover (Talya et al, 2009)

Motivating Employees through Empowerment

Conger & Kanungo, (1988) have defined empowerment as the removal of conditions that make a

person powerless. The essence of empowerment is to allow employees to have the ability to make

decisions and perform their jobs effectively if management removes certain barriers. Thus, instead

of dictating roles, managers should create an environment where employees thrive, feel motivated,

and have discretion to make decisions about the content and context of their jobs. Employees who

feel empowered reckon that it is meaningful.

37
Types of Empowerment

Structural empowerment refers to the aspects of the work environment that give employees

discretion, autonomy, and the ability to do their jobs effectively. The idea is that the presence of

certain structural factors helps empower employees, but it should be acknowledged that

empowerment is a perception. The following figure demonstrates the relationship between

structural and felt empowerment. Empowering individual employees cannot occur in a bubble, but

instead depends on creating a climate of empowerment throughout the entire organization (Seibert,

silver, & Randolph, 2004).

STRUCTURAL ✓ FELT EMPOWERMENT

EMPOWERMENT
✓ Decision authority ✓ The work is meaningful

✓ Leadership style ✓ Feeling confident that one

can perform the job
✓ Organizational structure
✓ Having discretion and
✓ Access to information autonomy at work
✓ Organizational climate
✓ Ability to influence how
the company operates

Figure 2.7: Types of empowerment Source: Seibert, Silver, & Randolph, (2004)

The empowerment process starts with structure that leads to felt empowerment. Empowerment of

employees tends to be beneficial for organizations, because it is related to outcomes such as

employee innovativeness, managerial effectiveness, employees’ commitment to the organization,

38
customer satisfaction, job performance, and behaviors that benefit the company and other

employees (Spreitzer, 1995; Liden et at, 2000; Ahearne et al, 2006; Chen et al, 2007)

At the same time, empowerment may not necessarily be suitable for all employees. Those

individuals with low growth strength or low achievement need may not benefit as strongly from

empowerment.

Guidelines for Empowering Employees

i. Change the company structure so that employees have more power on their jobs. If jobs

are strongly controlled by organizational procedures or if every little decision needs to be

approved by a superior, employees are unlikely to feel empowered. Give them discretion

at work

ii. Provide employees with access to information about things that affect their work. When

employees have the information they need to do their jobs well and understand company

goals, priorities, and strategy, they are in a better position to feel empowered.

iii. Make sure that employees know how to perform their jobs. This involves selecting the right

people as well as investing in continued training and development.

iv. Do not take away employee power. If someone makes a decision, let it stand unless it

threatens the entire company. If management reverses decisions made by employees on a

regular basis, employees will not believe in the sincerity of the empowerment initiative.

39
 v. Instill a climate of empowerment in which managers do not routinely step in and take over.

Instead, believe in the power of employees to make the most accurate decisions, as longs

as they are equipped with the relevant facts and resources (Talya et al, 2009).

Impact of Goal Setting on Motivation and Performance

Goal-setting theory according to Locke & Latham, (1990) is one of the most influential and

practical theories of motivation. Miner, (2003) has reported in a survey of organizational

behaviour, that goal setting has been rated as the most important approach to employee’s

motivation. The theory has been supported in over 1,000 studies with employees ranging from

blue-collar workers to research-and-development employees, and there is strong support that

setting goals is related to performance improvements ( Umstot et al, 1976; Ivancevich et al, 1982;

Latham et al, 2006).

Pritchard et al, (1988) have estimated that goal setting improves performance by at least 10% -

25%. Based on this evidence, thousands of organizations around the world are using goal setting

in some form, including Coca Cola Bottling Company, Price Water House Coopers International

Ltd., Nike Inc., Intel corporation, and Microsoft Corporation, to name but a few (Talya et al, 2009)

Setting Smart Goals

Smart goals help people achieve results. Accumulated research evidence indicates that effective

goals are smart. A smart goal is a goal that is specific, measurable, aggressive, realistic, and time-

bound.

40
 S = SPECIFIC

T = TIME M=
BOUND MEASURABLE

SMART
GOALS

A=
R = REALISTIC
ATTAINABLE

Figure 2.8: Setting Smart Goals, Source: Talya et al, (2009).

Specific and Measurable

Effective goals should be clearly defined specific and definite in the amount, size and number to

be achieved. For example, ‘’increasing sales to a region by 10%’’ is a specific goal, whereas

deciding to ‘’delight customers’’ is not specific or measurable. When goals are specific,

performance tends to be higher (Tubbs, 1986).

41
Attainable

Talya et al, (2009) states that attainable goals are also called aggressive yet achievable goals.

Stressing on the significance of attainable goals, stein, (200) has reported that according to a Hay

Group study one factor that distinguishes companies that are ranked as ‘’most admired

companies’’ in Fortune Magazine is that they set more challenging yet achievable goals. In related

literatures, Yukl et al (1978), Tubbs, (1986), Mento et al, (1987) and Phillips et al, (1997) have all

asserted that people with difficult goals outperform those with easier goals because easy goals do

not provide a challenge . When goals are challenging and require people to work harder or smarter,

performance tends to be dramatically higher. Research shows that people who have a high level of

self-efficacy and people who have a high need for achievement tend to set more difficult goals for

themselves, Phillips & Gully, (1997) have declared.

Realistic

Even though goals should be difficult, they should not be unrealistic. In other words, if a goal is

viewed as impossible to reach, it will not have any motivational value. In fact, setting impossible

goals and then punishing people for not reaching these goals will de-motivate employees (Talya

et al, 2009).

Time-Bound

Talya et al, (2009) have hinted that goals should contain a statement regarding when the proposed

performance level will be reached. For example, ‘’increasing sales to a region by 10% is not a

time-bound goal, because there is no time limit. Adding a statement such as ‘’by December of the

current fiscal year’’ gives employees a sense of time urgency.

42
Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Goals Setting

Goals give employees vision, direction, energize people and challenge them not to stop until the

goal is accomplished. Thus when people have goals and proceed to reach them, they feel a sense

of accomplishment. Finally, SMART goals urge people to think outside the box and rethink how

they are working. As with any management technique, there may be some downsides to goal

setting (Pritchard et al, 1988; Locke, 2004; & Seijts et al, 2005). Setting goals for specific outcomes

may hamper employee performance if employees are lacking skills and abilities needed to reach

the goals. In these situations, setting goals for behaviours and learning may be more effective than

setting goals for outcomes. Goal setting may also prevent employees from adapting and changing

their behaviours in response to unforeseen threats. For example, Le Pine, (2005) has insinuated

that one study found that when teams have difficult goals and employees within the team have

high levels of performance expectations, the teams have difficulty adapting to unforeseen

circumstances. Goals may sometimes focus employee attention on the activities that are measured.

This focus may lead to sacrificing other important elements of performance. As a result, it is

important to set goals touching on all critical aspects of performance. Finally, an aggressive pursuit

of goals may lead to unethical behaviours if employees are rewarded for a goal accomplishment

but there are no rewarded for coming very close to reaching the goal, employees may be tempted

to cheat (Talya et al, 2009).

SMART goals motivate and de-motivates for at least the following factors depicted in figure 2.7

(Latham, 2004; Shaw, 2004; Seijts, & Latham, 2005).

43
 Learning
Energize decreases

Adaptability
declines
Gives
direction Single
mindedness
Provides
develops
challenge
Ethical
problems
Makes you increase
think outside
the box

Figure 2.9: Major Upsides and Potential Downsides of Goal Setting

Performance Appraisals and Employees Motivation

Performance Appraisal

Organizations also have a formal process of providing feedback to employees called the

performance appraisal. A performance appraisal is a process in which a rater or raters evaluate the

performance of an employee on a job. Even though performance appraisals can be quite effective

in motivating employees and resolving performance problems, in reality, only a small number of

organizations use the performance appraisal process to its full potential. In many companies, a

performance appraisal takes the form of a bureaucratic activity that is mutually despised by

employees and managers. The problems a poor appraisal process can create may be so severe that

44
many experts, including the founder of the total quality movement, Edward Deming, have

recommended abolishing appraisals altogether (Carson, & Carson, 1993). However, Mayer &

Davis, (1999) have argued that creating and executing an effective appraisal system actually leads

to higher levels of trust in management. For that reason, identifying ways of increasing

performance appraisal effectiveness is important.

Talya et al, (2009) have indicated that giving employees’ feedback is not synonymous with

conducting a performance appraisal. A formal appraisal is often conducted once a year, even

though there are some organizations that conduct them more frequently. For example, there are

advantages to conducting quarterly appraisals, such as allowing managers to revise goals more

quickly in the face of changing environmental demands (Odiorne, 1990). Meanwhile, Talya et al,

(2009) have proposed that the conduction of appraisals once a year has the advantage of being

more convenient for managers and for effectively tying performance to annual pay raises or

bonuses.

Purpose of Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal can be important tools to give employees feedback and aid in their

development. Yet feedback is the only reason why companies conduct performance appraisals. In

many companies, appraisals are used to distribute rewards such as bonuses, annual pay raises, and

promotions. They may also be used to document termination of employees (Talya et al, 2009).

Lawyer, (2003) has noted that research has shown that performance appraisals ten to be viewed as

more effective when companies tie them to reward decisions and to terminate lower performers.

45
This is in line with reinforcement motivation theory which indicates that behaviour that is

rewarded is repeated. Tying appraisal results to rewards may lead to the perception that

performance is rewarded. However, if performance appraisal ratings are not accurate, it is possible

for appraisals to be a major cause of reward inequity.

Characteristics of Effective Appraisal System

Research has identified at least three characteristics of effective appraisal systems which include

adequate notice, fair hearing, and judgment based on evidence. Adequate notice implies letting

employees know what criteria will be used during the appraisal, fair hearing means ensuring that

there is a two-way communication during the appraisal process and the employee’s side of the

story is heard. Judgment based on evidence suggests documenting performance problems and

using factual evidence as opposed to personal opinions when rating performance (Taylor et al.;

1995).

Conclusions on Review

The term ‘’motivation’’ has a simple meaning to every individual despite the variety in their verbal

and / written expressions. The complexity of motivation, however, lies in those factors that

motivate every individual to pursue any cause of action, what sustains such pursuits and whether

those factors can be synchronized for purposes of generalization. Many suggestions have been

made by many researchers and practicing managers on what motivates employees yet there are

many concerns about how managers can effectively motivate their employees. Halepota (2005)

has conceded that the concept of motivation is abstract because different strategies produce

46
different results at different times and there is no single strategy that can produce guaranteed

favourable results all the times.

Consequent to this, Frederick Herzberg’s motivation theory provides an understanding of the

forces that lead to improvement of morale, happiness and self –realization (Herzberg et al, 1993).

Herzberg’s theory establishes that achievement, responsibility, recognition, the work itself, and

advancement are motivators and factors which produce job satisfaction. The motivators are derived

from the job content and they tend to produce long lasting positive feelings. McCrimmon (2008)

has stated that the distinguishing feature of Herzberg’s motivation is that the employees can only

get them by the way they work, unlike hygiene factors which are present regardless of how hard

one works. This set of factors includes recognition, bonuses, sense of achievement, and intrinsic

enjoyment of the work itself. Being given an extra responsibility and career advancement are also

motivation factors in Herzberg’s theory. Presumably these factors motivate employees to work

harder because they can see a direct relationship between their efforts and an outcome which they

feel is worth striving for.

However, the hygiene factors of Herzberg’s motivation theory which cause dissatisfaction policy

and administration, supervisors, interpersonal relations, wages and salaries, and working

conditions. The hygiene factors are noted to relate to the context of the environment within which

the employee works (Fugar et al, 2008).

Similarly, the goal setting theory by Edwin Locke, one of the most influential and practical theories

of motivation according to Miner, (2003) has been supported in over 1,000 studies with employees

47
ranging from blue-collar workers to research and development employees as a performance

improvement theory.

Just as the factors that motivate employees are various, so do motivation theories. However,

Frederick Herzberg’s Two factor Theory and Edwin Locke’s Goal setting Theory have been

adopted to serve as the principal theoretical framework for this study because of their suitability

for the case study are as well as the research objectives.

Hence, this study has attempted to establish a rational for motivation in an organization from the

viewpoint of employers and employees using a pay (compensation/reward), performance and

productivity as prime factors. The researcher has decided to find out the relationship between pay,

performance and productivity through views that have been sought from the respondents during

primary data collection.

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 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter outlines the methodology which was used to carry out the study. The methodology

covers the research strategy, the population and sample design, data collection and data analysis

methods. The chapter is designed specifically to assess the role of motivation on employee

performance at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra using Herzberg’s Motivation and Hygiene

theory and Edwin Locke’ Goal-Setting theory focusing attention on the way of gathering

information that could lead to a possible best solution to the research problems and to accomplish

the research objectives outlined in chapter one.

Research Design

The study involves the use of a case−study strategy which employed quantitative design for the

purpose of assessing the role of motivation in employee performance. The quantitative design

sought to gather information from respondents through questionnaires. Based upon a review of the

relevant literature and research objectives, structured questionnaire was prepared and administered

online to the various respondents. It was essential to first establish the information to be gathered

so that relevant questions are solicited. The format of the questionnaires was guided by

considerations to ban on movements, ease of reading, and providing the required data so that

research participant’s time were not wasted during the data collection. Almost all the questionnaires

have closed-ended questions to ensure consistency of respondent feedback. Because it is not

entirely possible to design all questions as closed-ended, some questions were left open-ended, to

49
obtain numerical data or to solicit some written comment and ascertain expect opinion on some of

the issues.

Population

The population for the study covered employees and Management at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

(KBTH). Thirty (30) respondents were selected. This is made up of fifteen (15) management staff

and fifteen (15) employees.

Sampling Procedure

The Purposive Sampling method was used to get the views of the managers and employees selected

for the study. This method was used to avoid bias. Non-probability Sampling technique, which is

the sampling technique in which the chance or probability of each person being selected is not

known, has been adopted. Purposive sampling technique has, therefore, been employed in the

sampling process. Mark et al (2007) defines purposive sampling as a “non-probability sampling

procedure in which the judgment of the researcher is used to select the cases that make up the

sample”. The choice of purposive sampling has been informed by the suitability of the method for

heterogeneous population of the case study area which has sections of identifiable characteristics

in different departments. Hence, a larger section of the entire workforce of the institution

comprising 30 members of staff has been purposively sampled for this study.

Case Study Area

Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) is a public hospital under Ministry of Health that provides

clinical and public health services to the inhabitants of Greater Accra Region and beyond. KBTH

has the overall responsibility to provide quality services to meet the needs and expectations of all

50
its clients through well-motivated and committed staff applying best practices. This objective can

be achieved through highly motivated workforce. However, available statistics reveals a situation

of not too good health delivery system where more patients are chasing few doctors. The rippling

effects include low productivity. Therefore, to establish the strategies to adopt to boost the morale

of workforce, the role of motivation on performance of workers at KBTH needs to be investigated

and understood so that proposals can be made as to what can be done to increase their performance.

Data Collection Instrument

Two major sources of data available to the researcher are primary and secondary sources of data.

In the light of this, the research work explored the primary and secondary data sources for the data.

Primary data includes data gathered from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital by the researcher through

providing questionnaires for respondents online and calling them for responses. The online

questionnaires were sent to respondents through the whatsapp and e-mails. The researchers used

online questionnaires as the only instrument because of the restrictions on human movement due to

the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of this instrument allowed the respondents time to consider their

responses carefully without any interferences from the researcher.

Data Processing and Analysis

Questionnaire is a data collection technique which refers to written instrument that contains a

series of questions called items that attempts to collection information on a particular topic to the

same set of questions in a pre-determined order (Agyedu et al., 2011). Therefore, closed ended

questions in self-administrated questionnaires have been employed to collect data from

respondents with respect to the motivators and hygiene factors applicable in their organization.

Closed questions in self-administered questionnaire have been used because “they work best with

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standardized questions that you can be confident will be interpreted the same way by all

respondents” (Robson, 2002, cited in Mark et al., 2007). The analysis of data would be done at the

end of the data collection. On analysis of data, collected data was coded, edited and tabulated

(tabular and bar charts).

Validity and Reliability of Data Collection Instrument

The researcher did personal vetting of the research tools for the primary source of information

that consisted of written questionnaire which was the tool for the research. This helped to make the

research were free from errors. Further on, copies were given to colleague students for peer

reviewing. Again, the questionnaire was also given to my supervisor for further viewing,

corrections, and validation. Secondary source of information from various libraries and other

sources were also vetted by the researcher and by colleagues before the information gathered was

considered valid for the work.

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