Title: A measure of the impact of employee motivation on multicultural team performance

using the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient

Dr Blessing Chinyere Okpala,

School of Business and Management Cardiff Metropolitan University
200 Western Avenue, Cardiff, South Glamorgan CF5 2YB
me@blessingokpala.com

SUBMITTED ON 29/9/2020

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3702059

Abstract
Purpose – This paper examines the impact of employee motivation on multicultural team
performance. Despite the available motivational strategies, it is still unclear on what truly
motivates employees at the workplace. For competitiveness, addressing the issue of motivation is
integral.
Design/methodology/approach – ​The study adopts the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient
to measure a selection of eight workplace indicators that address employee's motivation. The
content and process theories, partly introduced in this study are helpful in the analyses. Out of
the 90 questionnaires distributed to the employees of the selected UK company, only 60
employees responded thereby giving a response rate of 67%. The Spearman Rank Correlation
Coefficient is used to show the relationships between the dependent and independent variables.
Findings ​– ​The result shows that there is a significant correlation between employee motivation
and multicultural team performance.
Research limitations ​– The scope of this paper is restricted to a sample size from a company. It
does not capture the views of all the employees of the study company.
Originality/value – ​This study proposes that a motivated workforce is ideal for improved
performance in a multicultural team setting. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge on
motivation.

Keywords: Employee motivation, Team performance, Content theory, Process theory,

Culture, Multiculturalism, Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient.

Paper Type: ​Research paper

1. Introduction
Businesses presently face challenges with human capital especially in the areas of teamwork,
talent retention and employee motivation. Human resource management (HRM) is an
indispensable field that requires utmost attention by every organisation in order to remain
competitive (Hanaysha and Hussain, 2018). The essence of HRM is to foster employee
motivation, which is required for promoting the performance of any organisation. Motivation is a
powerful key for achieving a goal (Anyim et al., 2012). It requires scaling through various
cultural heterogeneous barriers in a multicultural team so as to attain the desired organisational
goals. The concerns are how employees can be motivated and made to remain motivated.
Hanaysha and Majid (2018) emphasized on the need for organizations to design either financial
or non-financial reward systems for their productive employees in order to motivate them.
Employees’ motivation invariably encourages utmost commitment from the employees, thereby
maximizing productivity and higher performance (Ochola, 2018).

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Robbins et al. (2011) agreed that employees from all over the world can possibly adapt, yet most
employees fail to give up their cultural values even in a work setting. This causes problems
towards establishing an enabling environment for other team members. When the management
fails to recognise the impact of diversity in a workplace, there will be a point when the goals and
objectives of both the organisation and the employees are not met (Aghazadeh, 2004).
Interestingly, diversity can facilitate an increased sense of creativity thereby leading to higher
results. With the increase in international talent hunt, there exists a gap between motivation and
its influence on a multicultural team setting. Thus, the main idea behind this study is to
determine how a motivated workforce can influence a multicultural team setting. Some
motivational strategies adopted by organisations to achieve higher results are also examined.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

Going through the existing literature on motivation, it is still unclear on what truly motivates an
employee to perform as expected at the workplace. Conrad et al. (2015) suggested the need for
managers to create an enabling environment for their employees. A major challenge is why
people are prompted to act in certain ways. The level of team performance has been an area of
interest over the past years as failure to manage a team effectively can be problematic. Due to the
differences in cultural beliefs, multicultural teams are often faced with the problems of
communication conflicts, disagreement on acceptable work method, cultural norms, a vision of
leadership, decision making and personality (Congden et al., 2009). It is worthy to note that
inadequate management of diversity can negatively impact the performance of the employees.
Since human wants and needs are insatiable, certain key factors that can really motivate
employees are still unclear. Looking at today’s business world, it is evident that many
organisations in developed countries are faced with a shortage of talent and this has resulted in
most of these organisations attracting top talents from the emerging countries. These talents from
the emerging countries make up a multicultural team and it is worthy to note that they bring to
the team varying belief systems, cultural values and ways of doing things. Due to the presence of
prejudices, segregations and stereotypes in some organisations, some employees feel
insignificant, and this often reduces their morale and working capacities (Rožman et al., 2017).

Therefore a balance must be struck on how to accommodate these individuals if the organisation
is to adequately achieve its goals. Every individual has three unique components namely; traits,
competencies and behavioural prototypes (Leonard et al., 1999). As a result, it seems quite
difficult to determine the actual components that prompt or motivate an individual to act in a
certain way. Everybody has a unique mindset due to diverse cultural background and people tend
to carry out their duties based on their origin. There is always a kind of discrepancy each time an
organisation employs an individual. While employers aim to ensure that their employees
thoroughly accept the core values of the organisation, they concurrently try to support the diverse
opinions that the employees bring into the organisation. It is noteworthy that any sort of

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imbalance can lead to workplace issues. Based on these issues, this study aims to determine the
impact of motivation on team performance in a multicultural team setting.

1.2 Objectives
The objectives of this study are;
1. To investigate the relationship between an employee’s motivation and multicultural team
performance.
2. To examine some motivational strategies that can affect team performance.

1.3 Hypotheses Development

To achieve the objectives of this study, some hypotheses were designed;
H1​: There is a significant relationship between an employee's motivation and multicultural team
performance.
H2​: There is no significant relationship between an employee's motivation and multicultural
team performance.

2. Literature review
2.1 Overview of HRM
Human resources are the most vital organisation’s assets, thus the need for an effective and
efficient human resource management (Sims, 2007). HRM requires planning, managing,
directing, maintaining and controlling the affairs of the employees to foster higher performance
(Kramar, 2014). In order to remain competitive, employees are expected to possess some top
skills to carry out their tasks. The main determinants of economic growth in today's modern
economies are employees' skills (Iversen and Strøm, 2020). High performing teams are integral
for a successful organisation and this is only obtainable through teamwork. Saifullah (2015)
defined a team as a group of people with similar skills working together with a common goal.
Multicultural teams are vital in today’s business world however, management is often faced with
the challenges of striking a balance between motivating employees to integrate into the
organisation’s cultures and encouraging them to accept their individual differences. Khan and
Haseeb (2015) agreed that team performance involves fulfilling all the conditions mapped out by
team members for each other’s growth and success. Since the mind is the basis of dedicated
manpower, then there is a need to establish an encouraging HRM platform that can maintain a
friendly work environment.

2.2 Motivation
Motivation is the energy behind doing things, which plays a significant role in the success of a
company (Zameer et al., 2014). It is the key to unlocking an individual's capacity, strength and
tenacity towards attaining one’s goals (Asim, 2013). It is also a mental stimulant that prompts an
individual to act. Organizations cannot function without people or employees (Dodd et al.,

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2016). As a result, they tend to employ various forms of resources such as human, physical,
financial and non-financial resources to obtain positive outcomes. To be successful and remain
successful, every organization requires incredible capabilities and continuous efforts from its
workforce. Organizations design and adopt several motivation and reward packages to keep their
employees motivated at work (Pang and Lu, 2018). Everyone has a reason for working but most
people admit that money is a strong determinant. To a large extent, money is a great motivator
but not entirely a valid reason. The point is that if money is a perfect work motivator, researchers
like Shen et al. (2014) would not have argued that there is no relationship between employee’s
productivity and monetary return. Employee’s motivation remains a very challenging task in any
organization due to the difficulties in ascertaining what motivates an individual (Khan and
Haseeb, 2015). Motivational strategies such as pension scheme, good work reward,
empowerment, performance appraisals, training, recognition, compensation, career growth and
responsibility are vital for enhancing effectiveness in a multicultural firm.

2.3 Theoretical Approaches

There are various theories of motivation and they directly or indirectly influence the effect of
employee job satisfaction (Badubi, 2017). The two main aspects of motivation relevant to this
study are the content and process theories. Content theories of motivation identify what makes
and keeps employees motivated at the workplace while the process theories determine how
motivation impacts employees’ behaviours (Yusoff, 2013). Content theories focus on the
following theories; Abraham Maslow, Herzberg, Alderfer (Zameer et al., 2014). The highest
level of need cannot be fulfilled if the lowest levels have not first been fulfilled. The lowest level
is made up of the basic needs such as physiological (food, shelter, water, sex, sleep) and if these
needs are fulfilled, then one can then ascend the ladder to satisfy the safety needs (protection,
security). The third level of the Maslow’s hierarchy involves the social needs that correspond
with the design of roles in various units, which must align with the organizational culture. A
clear relationship between HRM and the organization’s culture results in self-esteem and
ultimately self-actualization and this can be seen clearly through the employee's’ performance for
the organization’s success.

3. Theoretical framework
This study is based on a positivist deductive and mixed approach because it is structured,
objective, reliable and independent. The deductive aspect of this study involves moving from
theory to survey in order to apply the relevant theories in understanding the ideology behind this
study. Primary data has been collected and the process followed an explorative method by
beginning with data collection, data analysis and findings. The unit of study is a UK company
while the unit of observation is the employees in the company. Team performance is the
dependent variable while the factors affecting employee’s motivation are the independent
variables. Factors such as skills, cultural values, satisfaction level, teamwork relationship, level

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3702059

of motivation and communication breakdown that can affect employees’ motivation at work are
selected as the constructs for the study.

4. Data presentation & analysis

4.1 Instrument for Data Collection
Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires that contain only close-ended
questions. The deductive phase was carried out using secondary data sources such as journals,
textbooks and other publications relevant to this study. Out of the 90 questionnaires distributed
to the employees of the selected UK company, only 60 employees responded thereby giving an
effective response rate of 67%. The constructs were used to measure how factors such as gender,
age, skills, cultural values, satisfaction level, teamwork relationship, level of motivation and
communication breakdown can influence team performance. These parameters were measured
using multiple items from the survey based on a five-point Likert scale of 5= Strongly Agree to
1= Strongly Disagree whereby Strongly Agree (SA) = 5, Agree (A) = 4, Neutral (N) = 3,
Disagree (D) = 2 and Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1 in accordance with Lantz (2013).

4.2 Data Analysis

Using the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient, the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance. The null hypothesis is rejected if the value is below 5% (0.05) level of significance
and vice versa.

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

Variables Ages (19-30) Ages (31-40) Total

Gender Male 22 25 47

Female 4 9 13

Total 26 34 60

Table 1 shows the demographic information of the respondents, which are the first and second
questions. The respondents comprise of 22 males aged 19-30 and 25 males aged 31-40 making
up a total of 47 males while the female respondents comprise of 4 aged 19-30 and 9 females aged
31-40 making up a total of 13 females. This shows that most of the respondents were male and
middle-aged. The result implies that adolescents below the age of 19 years and older adults are
not suitable for the company. The younger generation seems to be interested in the company in
the sense that at the ages of 19 to 40 years, there is more physical energy to work with much
managerial capabilities and interest thereby leading to higher productivity.

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Table 2: Likert-scale of Survey Responses
No Variables SA A N D SD Total

3 Skills 33 24 2 1 0 60
(55%) (40%) (3.3%) (1.7%)

4 Cultural Values 9 27 18 4 2 60
(15%) (45%) (30%) (6.7%) (3.3%)

5 Satisfaction Level 42 15 3 0 0 60
(70%) (25%) (5%)

6 Teamwork 32 15 8 4 1 60
Relationship (53%) (25%) (13%) (7%) (2%)

7 Level of Motivation 38 11 7 3 1 60
(63%) (18%) (12%) (5%) (2%)

8 Communication 10 37 9 4 0 60
breakdown (16.7%) (61.7%) (15%) (6.6%)

Questionnaires variables shown above were used to address the research objectives. The
respondents were asked the following questions; if they possess the relevant skills needed to
perform their roles, if cultural values interfere with the way they perform their duties, their level
of satisfaction at work, if they build teamwork relationship, their level of motivation at work and
if they encounter communication breakdown at work. The responses were shown in table 2
above. The results show that majority of the respondents possess the right skills to work,
majority believe that cultural values influence their work performance, majority attested that
their level of motivation at work is high, majority of the respondents equally believe that they
build teamwork relationship and a majority also admitted that they experience communication
breakdown at work.

4.3 Motivation of Employees

The results of the Spearman rank correlation results for determining employees motivation are
shown in Table 3 and Table 4 respectively. The results illustrate that there is a significant
relationship between employees’ motivation and multicultural team performance where
hypotheses 1 is p = 0.05 = 0.900 (i.e 0.9 ≥ 0.900) and hypotheses 2, p = 0.05 = 0.900 where 0.7 ≥
0.900. The positive relationship illustrates that an increase in motivation increases employee
performance as supported by Kiruja and Elegwa (2013).

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3702059

4.4 Testing the Hypotheses
H1​: There is a significant relationship between an employee's motivation and multicultural team
performance. To test this hypothesis, the questionnaire constructs 7 and 8 were tested and
represented in table 3 below. Based on the Likert scale result, Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A),
Neutral (N), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD).
Procedure one
To determine ​Rs, firstly rank each piece of data from 5 to 1 depending on the number of the
pieces of data. The variable with the highest number bears the highest rank for example, in data 1
from table 3 below with variable SA (strongly agree), the value 38 is ranked 5 in category rank 1
because 38 is the highest number. The ranking is carried out respectively for the remaining
variables.
Procedure two
Secondly, the difference between rank 1 and rank 2 was determined, which is identified as ​D​.
The difference (D) is then multiplied by itself (squared) and the values are shown on the (D​²)
section.
Procedure three
Count the number of available data. For this study, we have 5 pieces of data (from SA to SD)
and these data are ranked from 5 to 1. The total number is referred to as​ (n).
Procedure four
Fix the workings in the formula ​Rs= 1-(6∑d²)/n(n²-1) ​to get the final result.

Table 3: Spearman rank correlation results for testing hypotheses 1

Variables (n) Data 1 Data 2 Rank 1 Rank 2 D D²

SA 38 10 5 4 1 1

A 11 37 4 5 -1 1

N 7 9 3 3 0 0

D 3 4 2 2 0 0

SD 1 0 1 1 0 0

TOTAL ∑d² = 2

To calculate the Spearman Rank correlation coefficient of the ranked data,

Using the formula​ ​Rs= 1-(6∑d²)/n(n²-1)
Where ∑d² = 2
n=5
1- (6x2)/5(25-1) i.e 1 - (12)/5(24)
= 1 - (12)/(120) i. e 1 - 0.1 = 0.9

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Spearman rank correlation (calculated) = 0.9
Spearman rank (table) at p= 0.05 = 0.900
The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to test if there is a significant relationship
between employee's motivation and multicultural team performance. The findings show that r is
0.9 and it is greater than the spearman rank (table) at p = 0.05 = 0.900 (i.e 0.9 ≥ 0.900).
Therefore, there is a strong positive correlation between employee's motivation and multicultural
team performance.

H2​: There is no significant relationship between an employee's motivation and team

performance.
To determine the outcome of this hypothesis, questions 3 and 4 were tested.

Table 4: Spearman rank correlation results for testing hypotheses 2

Variables (n) Data 1 Data 2 Rank 1 Rank 2 D D²

SA 33 9 5 3 2 4

A 24 27 4 5 -1 1

N 2 18 3 4 1 1

D 1 4 2 2 0 0

SD 0 2 1 1 0 0

TOTAL ∑d² = 6

To calculate the Spearman Rank correlation coefficient of the ranked data,

Using the formula Rs= 1-(6∑d²)/n(n²-1)
Where ∑d² = 6
n = 5 (n = number of values in the data set)
1- (6x6)/5(25-1)
= 1 - (36)/5(24)
= 1 - (36)/(120) i.e 1 - 0.3 = 0.7
Spearman rank correlation (calculated) = 0.7
Spearman rank (table) at p= 0.05 = 0.900
The Spearman rank was also used to test if there is no significant relationship between
employee's motivation and multicultural team performance. From the results, r (0.7) is greater
than the spearman rank table at p = 0.05 = 0.900. Since 0.7 ≥ 0.900, this study therefore rejects
the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between employee's motivation and
multicultural team performance.

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5. Research findings
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of motivation on multicultural team
performance. From the results, the first hypothesis was accepted while the second hypothesis
was rejected. Hence, there is a significant relationship between employee’s motivation and
multicultural team performance. This is also evident from the respondent’s answers where most
of them agreed to be satisfied and motivated at work. This could be attributed to the motivational
factors present in the company as supported by Zameer et al. (2014). This research is important
as it shows that motivation can influence a team performance especially in a diversified work
setting. Since everyone is unique, it is worthy to note that adopting various motivational
strategies is the key to unleashing full employees potentials for improved performance.

6. Conclusion
Conclusively, this study shows a strong positive relationship between motivation and
multicultural team performance as supported by Herzberg’s findings. Thus every organization
should acknowledge the value they can obtain by enacting a motivated workforce. Although
earlier research has been carried out in the area of motivation, this research contributed to the
existing knowledge by examining how certain motivational factors can influence multicultural
team performance. Insights were given on how organisations can relate with their employees for
improved performance.

7. Limitations and Further Research

There are some limitations for considerations; the sample size was small and only a UK
company was surveyed. The survey did not capture the entire employees especially the top
executives in order to ascertain if the reasons for the respondents’ feedback were due to their
positions in the company. Employees on holidays, paternity and maternity leave were not
included hence the need for future research that can capture all members of any selected
company. It is also vital to survey employees from all over the world so as to get a better picture
of the global view on the impact of motivation on multicultural team performance.

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