MOTIVATION AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY
A CASE STUDY OF BUGANDAROADPRIMARY SCHOOL
BY
NABAKIIBI ANTHONY
07/U/11374/EXT
207015282
A RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED TO MAKERERE UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN COMMERCE IN MAKERERE UNIVERSITY.
JULY 2011
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DECLARATION
I Nabakiibi Anthony declare that this is my original work and that it has never been
presented to any institution of higher learning for any academic award.
Signature……………..
Date…………………..
Nabakiibi Anthony.
(STUDENT).
APPROVAL
This work has been approved and carried out under my supervision.
Signature…………………..
Date………………………..
Ms Mayanja Jamiah.
(SUPERVISOR)
DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to my mother Mrs. Nalule Robinah, my brother Mr. Kyalema
John Bosco and his wife Ms. Nalubega Harriet, my children Patricia, Pouline, Jude
Eric, Mzee John Mary and to all my brothers and sisters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge all those people whose efforts have enabled me to compile and complete this work in my course.
My sincere thanks go to my brother Mr. Kyalema John Bosco for his efforts towards my future, his financial and moral support he has rendered me through out the course of my education. May the almighty reward him abundantly.
My special thanks go to my supervisor Ms. Mayanja Jamiah for her advice and corrections she rendered to me in carrying out my research and this research report.
My deep felt gratitude go to my brother Mr. Musajjaawaza Achilles for the choice of the course he made for me and his advice and encouragement through out my course.
I also acknowledge the efforts of my great friends, Mr. Kiguli Bbosa, Nabisere Betty, Namande Mable, Namuyomba Jacky, Kyalimpa Hellen, Kyohirwe Eunice, Amutuhaire Molline, Kyampeire D Annet, Muwonge Henry, Christine, Fortunate, Luba,
Florence and all friends for their tireless efforts towards this achievement.
Special thanks go to the management and teachers of BugandaRoadPrimary School for allowing me carry out my research study in their school.
My endless thanks go to God because without him northing would be accomplished. May his name be glorified.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
APPROVAL
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
LIST OF TABLES
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1.4 Objectives of the Study
1.5 Research Questions
1.6 Scope of the Study
1.6.1 Subject Scope
1.6.2 Geographical Scope
1.7 Significance of the Study
CHAPTER TWO:LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
2.1 The concept of motivation
2.1.1 Hierarchy of needs theory
2.1.2 Two fact theory
2.1.3 The theory of x and y
2.1.4 Goal setting theory
2.1.5 Expectancy theory
2.1.6 Equity theory
2.1.7 Motivational strategies
2.2.0 Employee Productivity
2.2.1 Factors that affect employee productivity
2.2.2 Personal factors
2.2.3 Environmental factors
2.3.0 Relationship between motivation and employee productivity
2.4Conclusion
CHAPTER THREE:METHODOLOGY
3.0Introduction
3.1Research design
3.2Sampling design
3.2.1Survey population
3.2.2Sample size
3.2.3 Sampling techniques
3.3.Sources of data
3.3.1Primary data
3.3.2Secondary data
3.4Instruments
3.4.1Questionnaires
3.5Data processing, analysis and presentation
CHAPTER FOUR:PRESENTATION OF THE ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Back ground information of respondents.
4.2 Findings on the motivation tools undertaken by Buganda road primary school
4.3 Findings on the level of employee productivity in Buganda road primary school
CHAPTER FIVE:SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
5.1 Summary of the major findings
5.1.1 Findings on the tools of motivation used by Buganda Road Primary School.
5.1.2 Findings on the level of employee productivity.
5.1.3 Findings on the relationship between the employee motivation and the level of their productivity.
5.2 Recommendations
5.3 Areas of further research
Reference:
Questionnaire…………………………………………………………………………………….39
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:Gender of respondents
Table 2: Age distribution of the respondents
Table 3: Marital status of the respondents.
Table 5: Period of stay in the school
Table 6: Motivation by salary
Table 7: Participation in decision making
Table 8: Job design
Table 9: Job security
Table 10: Given responsibility.
Table 11: Always praised at work
Table 12: Meeting of school targets
Table 13: Cooperation with the school management
Table 14: Teaching of students from the opening of the school till the closure
Table 15: Student performance in the class I teach and subject I teach is dependant on my efforts
Table 16: Receipt of a warning letter from the administration
Table 17: My students are at the same level of performance with students from other schools
Table 18: My students are offered good schools after sitting for PLE in our school
Table 19: I continue teaching even when the salaries are low
Table 20: The increase in the number of students de-motivates me
Table 21: The performance of pupils has declined since the introduction of UPE
Table 22: Correlations
ABSTRACT
The aim of the research was to establish the relationship between motivation and employee productivity. A case study of Buganda road primary school was used because of the reduced productivity of teachers evidenced by among other factors the reduced performance of students.
A descriptive research design was used and simple random sampling method was used to select 30 respondents who were teachers of Buganda road primary school. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. Data collected was tabulated and analysed using percentages and frequencies.
The study revealed that Buganda road primary school uses various motivation tools which include provision of lunch to teachers, housing facilities, inclusive decision making, offering job security among others. The study also revealed that the school had been a victim of declining productivity and that there was a moderate relationship of 0.935 between motivation and employee productivity.
Recommendations were made at the end of which they include revising the current
salary scale, increasing allowances, promotion schemes, provision of sponsorship in education and extension of loans to teachers.
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background
Motivation comes from the word motive. A motive is a force that makes you to do something therefore, motivation refers to a complexity of forces inspiring one to work in an organization to intensify his/her desire and willingness to use his/her ability to perform in order to achieve organizational objectives (Miles, 1999).Employee productivityon the other hand is the efficiency and effectiveness of employees in achieving organizational objectives (Lawer,2001). Motivation is an important internal control tool that should be emphasized in an organization in order to achieve improved quality, efficiency and employee commitment.
Buganda road primary school is a government school under the UPE scheme. The school motivates its employees through salary payments, housing facilities and lunch allowances. However, this is not enough to motivate its employees since they are never given bonuses, not paid over time and above all salaries come late(The Observer Jan Wed 27th 2010).
The reduced productivity in the school is evidenced by the continual absenteeism of teachers, arriving late for classes and in turn they end up missing classes which has affected student’s performance which could most probably be due to inadequate motivation of employees. The headmistress Mrs. Beatrice Tulyasingula commented that the academic ground is no longer good and that the school can’t perform like in the past.(The Observer Jan Wed 27th 2010).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Motivation is taken to be a key factor in the success of any organization. For Buganda Road, the school has tried to motivate its teachers through offering housing facilities, lunch allowances, and increase in salaries but still their productivity is lowering. Teachers are ever living the school to look for other schools, they arrive late, absenteeism which has affected the students performance negatively.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between motivation and employee productivity in BugandaRoadPrimary School.
1.4 Objectives of the Study
- To examine the motivation tools used in BugandaRoadPrimary School.
- To evaluate the level of employee productivity in BugandaRoadPrimary School.
- To examine the relationship between motivation and employee productivity in BugandaRoadPrimary School.
1.5 Research Questions
1.What are the motivationtools used inBugandaRoadPrimary School?
2.What is the level of employee productivity in BugandaRoadPrimary school?
3. What is the relationship between motivation and employee productivity in BugandaRoadPrimary School?
1.6 Scope of the Study
1.6.1 Subject Scope
The study focused on motivation as the independent variable, productivity as the dependent variable and the effect of motivation on employee productivity.
1.6.2 Geographical Scope
The study was conducted in BugandaRoadPrimary School located in KampalaCity. This was because of the reduced productivity of the school evidenced by among others reduced performance of the students.
1.7 Significance of the Study
a)The study added to the existing literature on motivation and the level of productivity for future research purposes.
b)The study was beneficial to BugandaRoadPrimary School and the government at large in the area of motivating employees and its relationship with productivity of employees. At the end of the study, the recommendations made can be used by BugandaRoadPrimary School in order to improve on its motivation strategy.
c)It was of great importance to already existing institutions in analyzing of their current approach towards motivation as a mode of improving employee productivity.
d)The study helped other schools and companies in knowing how best they can improve performance of their employees through motivation.
e)The study benefited me as a student to complete my course as it is a requirement.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
Literature in this chapter reviewed necessary information pertaining to the subject area of the study. This chapter was divided into 3 sections; First section discussed motivation, the second one discussed employee productivity while the third discussed the relationship between motivation and employee productivity.
2.1 The concept of motivation
Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of efforts towards organisation goals, conditioned by the effort’s ability to satisfy some individual need. (Robbins, 1989). This means that motivated employees are a state of tension and to get relief, they exert efforts to a greater extent in order to achieve success leading to satisfaction of the need.
Hersey, (1996) refers to motivation as a needs, wants, and drives of impulses within the individuals that drive a person towards goals which may either be conscious or sub conscious. This therefore means that a person attempts to achieve a given goal, this act is referred to as “motivation” and all things done by managers / heads to ensure that their subordinates needs drivers and wishers are satisfied are referred to as “motivators”.
According to Stoner, Freeman and Daniel (2002), Motivation is a human psychological characteristic that contributes to a person’s degree of commitment. It includes factors that cause channel and sustain human behaviour in a particular committed direction.
According to Breadwell, Holden & Clayton (2004), motivation refers to motives and needs. Motives are said to be internal drivers and energies of an employee. They direct behaviour that results in outcome. Needs are seen as internal drives which can be physical, social or self-esteem needs.
Since 1950s, motivation theories have been formulated to support factors that attribute to man’s behaviour in organisations towards achieving organisational goals and during this period, specific theories were formulated are known explanation of employee motivation, (Robbins, 1989). They include;
2.1.1 Hierarchy of needs theory
According to Komunda Birungi Mable in Human resource simplified, the first attempts to classify needs were undertaken by Abraham Maslow. He became associated with hierarchy of needs works motivation. He suggested that within in a human being there exists a hierarchy of five needs.
Physiological needs (food, water, shelter, sex among others)
Safety needs (safety from physical or emotional harm)
Belongingness needs (affection and acceptance by others
Esteem needs (feeling of achievement)
Self actualization (self fulfillment).
Maslow believed that what motivates one to perform depends on the level of needs to be achieved and failure to fulfill those needs results into dissatisfaction which in turn affects productivity. However, though Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is popular, it had little empirical support due to the fact that it’s difficult to predict when certain needs become important.
2.1.2 Two fact theory
Frederick Hertzberg (1966) was a psychologist, who looked at motivation directly, that causes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction he believed that an individual’s relations to his work is a basic and his attitude towards work can vary and this determines one success for failure. Hertzberg interviewed 200 engineers to establish what determined their job satisfaction is related to workers’ achievements, recognition, opportunity for personnel growth and having responsibility for their job and called these factors motivations. While job dissatisfactions are related to job environment that is money working conditions, job security, company policy, quality of supervision and interpersonal relations and termed these as hygiene factors.
Both motivation and hygiene factors are important for improved performance.
However, though these theories faced criticism that is there is no relationship between workers’ satisfaction and productivity. It’s of great importance to note that Hertzberg’s findings appear consistent with other researchers done in regard to workers and what they want mostly and their jobs.
2.1.3 The theory of x and y
Douglas Mc Gregor put forward a theory relating to the altitude of workers and the style of supervision. According to him theory x is to the effect that an average human being had an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it whenever possible and therefore prefers to be directed, coerced, controlled or threatened with punishment to get to put the necessary effort into work but above all wants safety.
While theory y assumes an average person does not inherently dislike work. Such employees like work are creative, self responsibility and could exercise self direction.
To them, the expenditure of physical and mental efforts in work is as natural as play/rest.
Mc Gregor therefore believes that if workers learn how to work and take responsibility and perform better with little and / or minimum supervision then they could be allowed to work with that minimum supervision. However x and y lack evidence that conforms either a set of assumptions is valid or that acceptance of theory x and y assumptions and altering ones actions accordingly will lead to more motivated workers.
2.1.4 Goal setting theory
This theory was put forward by Locke and Lathan in 1984 and proposed that performance is caused by person’s intention to perform or work towards a goal and this is a major source of work motivation. Goal setting therefore becomes a stimulus to supervisor performance and it can be done at individual or organisational level.
This follows a fact that if workers participate in setting their goals employee performance will be improved.
2.1.5 Expectancy theory
Victor Vioom’s expectancy theory of 1964 is one of the most commonly and currently expected explanation of motivation. It is on the assumption that the anticipation (exception) of want will occur influences the employee choice of behaviour. This means that whether or not a person is motivated. Therefore according to the expectancy theory motivation is a result of workers making choices depending on their expectations.
2.1.6 Equity theory
Research by Adams (1972) showed that fairness is a major source of work motivation. Individuals generally assess fairness by making comparisons with others in similar situations. To assess fairness, an employee is likely to make a comparison between the level of input (factor like age, education, skill and effort expended) and output (reward, pay incentives) in the same way for all individuals in the organisation. Adams research therefore showed that people do adjust their input to the perceived equity of their input-output relations compared with that of others.
2.1.7 Motivational strategies
It’s every manager’s desire to have reliable, self driven and result oriented employees and as a result much effort is devoted to provide the necessary conditions that will lead employees towards goal and result achievement. However, a manager’s problem is how best to motivate people to their expectations.
To solve this problem it will require an examination of the nature and assumption of job description following the fact that motivation is a personal condition made up of thins that arise, and direct what one does towards achieving some set goals.
In Uganda several organizations have come up with structures and assumptions which is properly implemented can motivate employees to work to their expectations. Organisations such as TOLLOW Uganda WHO, World Vision among others have created policies like housing allowance, loans to employees, transport, lunch, medical care high wages and salaries and others. These motivation tools have not only attracted high quality personnel but have also kept the organisations to the top.
The above mentioned polices therefore agree with some scholars who argue that it is a set of factors rather than a single factor that motivates workers.
Basing on the above mentioned literature, there is no published literature pertaining motivation and motivation strategies in Uganda organizations and available management documentation concerning employee satisfaction and remuneration is less detailed in that it cannot act as a limitation not to proceed with the study. The researcher will therefore proceed to the field in BugandaRoadPrimary School together the employees’ views as far as motivation and employee productivity is concerned.
- Motivation is mainly guided by three elements:
- Go be free from dependency on others
- Freedom to live the life style we dream of
- Freedom to explore our ideas with no oppression.
Achieving total freedom is impossible but the struggle to achieve that idea is the basis for motivation.
Benefits that arise as a result of working with motivated people are;
- Work standards will be met and within the desired time
- Workers will enjoy doing their work
- Hard work will be enhanced because people are enjoying their work
- Less supervision as performance is motivated by individuals themselves.
For motivation to be effective, motivational tools mentioned earlier such as job security, lunch provision, medical care, should be accompanied by factors that affect employee motivation, which according to Ian Beardell et al., include intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors.