Staff Performance Appraisal And Motivation In Business Organizations

Project and Seminar Material for Accountancy / Accounting

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between staff performance appraisal and Motivation and Employee productivity, using Nigeria Bottling Company. as a case study. This study was carried out among the employees of Nigeria Bottling Company. spanning through branches and the headquarter in Lagos, Nigeria.450 well –structured questionnaire were administered on the six (6) geopolitical zones of Nigeria where Nigeria Bottling Company is evenly represented in branches with a total of 300 questionnaires received back and passed through statistical analyses. Research questions were raised based on the research objectives and hypotheses. Chi-square statistical test was deployed to test the various hypotheses formulated in the study. The result showed that quality of supervision has positive effect on employee motivation to work better. It was also found that workers perception on what obtained in his organization will motivate him to greater productivity. Financial motivation involving monetary rewards have greater impact on performance and organizational productivity.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Although, there is general agreement among psychologists that man experiences a variety of needs, there is considerable disagreement as to what these needs are and their relative importance (Van Rooyen, J. 2006). One of the basic problems in any organization is how to motivate people to work. Motivating people to work entails, meeting their needs. This is because people working in the organization to meet workers needs affect the satisfaction, which the workers derive from their job. The satisfaction that the workers derive from their job can affect their motivation to work.

People are motivated by various factors at different times, according to Wilkinson et al (2007) the first factor is the combination of the individual perceptions of the expectations other people have of them, and their own expectations of themselves. This happens because people come into work situations with various expectations. When they arrive at the work place, they meet other people who also have expectations of them; positive individual and group expectations serve as positive motivational factors for the worker. This is why a balance must be struck as much as possible between organizational objectives and individual aspirations (Sulcas, P. 2007).

The essence of this is to ensure a situation where the individual is motivated while the organization is achieving established objectives. The second factor deals with the issue of self-images and concepts as well as life experiences and personality. These factors have to be positively motivated in the worker to yield proactive behaviour. This can be achieved through a carefully planned reward system, which is a type of reinforcement directed at modifying people behaviour. Those who occupy management positions in organizations encourage behaviour basically through the means of positive reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement boosts favourable consequences that go a long way to encourage the repetition of particular behaviour (Adonisi, M. 2005). It is therefore important for the management to ensure that they motivate their employees to achieve the set goals and objectives of the organization. The management of an organization can motivate its employees if it’s able to study the characteristics of the employee and know what actually motivate them to productivity. It is in view of this that this study wants to look at motivation of employees as tool for improving organizational productivity, by using the Nigeria Bottling Company as a case study.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Organization exists for the purpose of rendering some services. For the organization to meet its objectives, people are employed in the organization in order to help the organization meet its objectives. Thus, in order to ensure that people employed in the organization perform optimally towards the realization of organizational goals, they need to be motivated to work. Motivating people to work entails meting their needs. There is a great controversy over the issue of motivating people. Some people are of the view that such extrinsic factors like money, praise, and quality of supervision and company’s policy can motivate people to work, while others are of the view that such extrinsic factors like advancement quality of the job done by person, recognition and growth can motivate workers to productivity. It is in view of these controversies that this study wants to look at the motivation of employees in the organization by using Nigeria Bottling Company as a case study; and in doing this.

1.3 Research Questions

It is in view of the above problems that the following questions arise:

What are the factors that motivate employees to perform in an organization?
What are the available techniques of motivating employees for higher productivity?
Do motivation actually steer employees productive capacity?
What are the problems militating against employees motivation, and
How can these problems of employees’ motivation be addressed in order to improve productivity in the organization?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

This research work hopes to achieve the following objectives:

To examine the factors which motivate employees to perform in the organization
To look at various techniques of motivating people to performance in the organization,
To ascertain the effect of motivation on workers productivity.
To identify the problems associated with the motivation of workers in the organization.
To suggest the solutions to such problems, if any.
Finally, to improve people’s knowledge in this area of organizational behaviour.

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses will be tested in this study:

Ho: The quality of supervision will not motivate workers productivity.
Hi: The quality of supervision will motivate workers productivity.
Ho: A worker’s perception of what obtained in his organizational will not motivate him to greater productivity.
Hi: A worker’s perception of what obtained in his organizational will motivate him to greater productivity.
Ho: A worker’s perception of organizational appraisal policy will motivate him to greater productivity.
Hi: A worker’s perception of organizational appraisal policy will not motivate him to greater productivity.
Ho: The worker’s satisfaction with its fringe benefits will not motivate him to greater productivity.
Hi: The worker’s satisfaction with its fringe benefits will motivate him to greater productivity.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will educate the management of the organization (especially the organization under study, Nigeria bottling company) on how to motivate their workers to productivity. The findings of this study will generate people’s interest in researching into other areas of motivation in the organization will enrich the literature on motivation as a phenomenon. Finally, the study hopes to enrich people’s knowledge in this area of organizational behaviour and management of people in the organization.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study is on impact of motivation on organizational productivity. The study will also covers the various techniques of motivation and theories of motivation as they impact on employees productivity in an organization. The study will cover a period of ten (10) years of organizational performance.

1.8 Limitation of Study

The study is limited to the employees’ motivational factors, and its effect of organizational productivity. The study does not consider other variables and as such is limited to only those areas specified above. Also, it does not cover all sectors of the Nigerian economy. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria is only one area of the economy that is responsible for power generation and distribution in Nigeria, and as such the study does not look into how these motivational factors work or influence productivity across other sectors.

1.9 Organization of Study

For an orderly presentation of this study, this research essay has been divided into five (5) chapter; the first gives an introduction of the study, chapter two focuses on literature review, chapter three talk about the methodology, chapter four is the analysis and presentation of data for this study, and the last chapter summarizes the study and gives useful recommendations.

1.10 Operational Definition of Terms

The following terms were defined as used in this study:

Productivity:

Is the ratio of output or production capacity of the workers in an organization. It is the relationship between the amount of one or more inputs and the amount of outputs from a clearly identified process.

Employees:

Are the workers in an organization, working for the accomplishment of the organizational goals. In this study, the employees are those staffs of the organization, PHCN.

Motivation:

Motivation is a decision-making process, through which the individual chooses the desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviour appropriate to them”.

Adequate Motivation:

These are factors (familiarity, concern and driving force), which exist or are provided in a work situation either physically or psychologically which determine the input and productivity level of the worker.

Intimacy:

Intimacy or Familiarity could be described as the feeling of warmth and friendliness based on interpersonal relationship among people.

Consideration:

Consideration or Concern refers to a situation where both their colleagues and managers treat staffs with understanding. In this case, there is both a personal and human touch in dealing with workers.

Chapter Five

Summary, Recommendations and Conclusion

5.1. Summary of Findings

So far, this study explore on the impact of motivation on organizational productivity, a case study of Nigeria Bottling Company. The study employed the primary data collection method, and the four hypotheses were tested with the use of chi-square statistics.

Based on the research objectives, the following findings were gathered:

In the course of this research, it was discovered that there is a positive relationship between the quality of supervision and motivation to work. Most of the respondents used in this study-expressed satisfaction with their boss leadership style. This shows that there is a cordial relationship between leaders and most of their subordinates in the organization.
It is also discovered that in the course of this study, many of the workers in the company are not happy with the fringe benefits, which they get from the company. In fact, many of the workers interviewed express their views that the fringe benefits enjoyed by them in the company are not in line with present day realities.
There was also the belief by majority of the respondents included in this study that what obtains in other companies are better than what obtained in their own.
Many of the workers included in this study-expressed satisfaction with the company’s appraisal policy.
Finally, another important finding of this study is that many workers are some how satisfied with the training policy of the company. But they advocated for more training with regularity and richer contents than cover both work and personal development areas.

However, interview with some of the management have shown that the company is considering using the e-learning platform to deliver some of the lerarning interventions to save cost and take good advantages of benefits of using e- learning which according to CIPD (2014), e-learning offers the following advantages over traditional offline methods:

The learner is at the center of the process and has full control over the pace of the learning
Interactively, at its best, is engaging and increases the effectiveness of learning, especially retention.
It is flexible regarding time and place of learning.
Consistency of presentation- the computer never has a ‘bad day’.
Materials stored electronically can be repurposed as often as necessary (e.g. bulletin board discussions can be edited to form FAQs or case studies)
It can provide support for users with learning difficulties.

5.2 Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made:

Organization leadership and management should provide adequate fringe benefits to the workers and such benefits should be geared towards meeting the needs of the workers. The provision of adequate fringe benefits to the workers will propel (motivate) them to put in their best in their contribution to the attainment of corporate objectives.
The rewards workers enjoy in the company should be benchmarked and at par favorably with the reward which workers in other similar industries or companies enjoy. This is important because workers perception of what obtained in other organizations can affect their level of motivation.
The management of the company should also encourage the training of workers. Learning and development opportunities is an important factor in motivating employees for superior performance.
Managers; Supervisors and other workers who supervise and lead others should be equipped with management and leadership skills in other to manage and lead their team well and contribute to favourable work place environment for employee motivation and engagement.

Other recommendations for employee motivation based on this study are:

Hire the right people from the start. People who are happy with themselves, self- fulfilled, and respectful of others. Employees are more in charge of their overall happiness in life than their managers. It is also very important to hire the right type of person for the type of job that will be performed. For example: Disney: imagination; BMW: Technical engineering and First Bank -Attention to detail and Customer service. If you don’t hire the right people from the start, no amount of management or leadership will be able to motivate the employees.
Intrinsic (internal) motivators are far more powerful than extrinsic incentives, commissions, or bonuses. Done well the extrinsic motivators compliment the intrinsic
motivators. Incentives and bonus plans define results for performance, but they do not manage, or in the long term, motivate employees. Incentives and bonus plans do require more attentive management and result in key metrics being more visible. Incentive systems are also good at setting clear expectations between the manager and the employee.
Managers should always proactively schedule one-on-one time with their employees. Frequent communication is essential to maintaining a motivated employee. Quality time spent with your employees can be a huge enabler for understanding their current motivators.
The strength or weakness of the employee’s peers/ co-workers and the culture of the company build-up or drain the employee’s energy and motivation. We all want to be on a winning team.
Great leaders create a vision and common team goals to maintain the motivation of their employees over a long period of time. The management team must demonstrate success and growth of the organization. The current success of the business and the belief or trust on where the business will go in the future is very important to an employee’s motivation.
The overall compensation plan has to be competitive. It is important to check annually on what the current market range is for each particular position. Compensation plans have to be clearly communicated and understood between the manager and employee.
There must be an availability of meaningful work. There must also be organization and a sense of urgency by the team to get the work done. There should always be a good queue of work to be accomplished by each person. Idle time without direction is generally more of a de-motivator than being busy and engaged.
A balanced work and personal life can enhance or detract from an employee’s motivation.

5.3 Conclusion

This research work was carried out with the aim of looking at the motivation of employees in Nigeria Bottling Company. From the analysis of data and findings of such analysis, it was discovered that such motivational factors like the quality of supervision; the nature of fringe benefits enjoyed by the workers; worker’s perception of the reward he gets in the organization in relation to what other workers of similar status get and also his perception of what is obtained in his organization in relation to others Identifying the impact of each of these variables on employees‟ performance from the data analysis and interpretation, the following conclusions were drawn:
If managers wish to be effective, they need to have at least a basic understanding of motivation and the different motivational theories that try to explain the concept of motivation. They must be able to grasp the key components of theories such as Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg‟s two-factor theory and make an effort to truly understand their employees. It is only by grasping these concepts that they can hope to effectively bring about continual high performance in their workers.

This study, survey results, and interviews have given us some valuable insight into motivation and its role in the workplace. Managers need to provide growth opportunity and challenging jobs in order to better motivate today’s workers. Without these challenges and opportunities for growth, employees may not see a need to perform highly at work. We have seen that recognition plays a major role in employees‟ motivation and that it is a very effective motivator. Employees want and need to feel that their contributions make a difference and recognition is one way to satisfy those wants or needs

This research and interviews have confirmed that the use of cash rewards can be an effective way to motivate employees, and the majority of our survey respondents agree with this statement.

In conclusion, when it comes to bringing out the best performance of employees, quality of supervision and relationship with the supervisor; recognition and adequate cash rewards are effective motivators.

Thus, it is important for organization to encourage and improve these motivational factors in the company in order to get optimum productivity from the workers.

The implication of this study cannot be overemphasized as this study will educate the management of the organization (especially the organization under study) on how to motivate their workers to performance. The findings of this study will generate people’s interest in researching into other areas of motivation in the organization, which will enrich the literature on motivation as a phenomenon.

In a nutshell, the study will enrich people’s knowledge in this area of organizational behaviour and management of people in the work place.

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