THE IMPACT OF NON-FINANCIAL INCENTIVES ON BRICKLAYERS PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background To The Study: The construction industry in Nigeria is labour intensive; and it is the highest employer of the nation’s work force. The industry also accounts for over 50% of the country’s gross capital formation. Unfortunately most empirical studies have revealed that the output of the industry is quite low when compared with many developed countries. Workers’ productivity on construction sites has been shown to be very poor and this has been the trend for a long time (Olubodun, 1986 and Ayandele, 1996).

Parts of the reasons adduced for this low productivity as given by Wahab (1977) are:

• Substantial rise in the demand thrust on the industry in the 1970’s and early 1980’s as a result of unprecedented increase in revenue from petroleum resources.

• Short supply of both man power and building materials.

• Complexity involved in the construction process.

• Enervating weather condition.

• Ineffective supervision.

• Absenteeism on a prolonged scale.

In the same vein, Ogunlana and Olomolaiye (1992), noted that on the average, workers spend approximately half of their working day, after allowing for lunch breaks and absences on productive work; while the remaining time is not spent directly on production but rather on waiting, receiving instructions and idling. Nwachukwu (1988), also observed that a large number of project managers and supervisors do not know how to identify operatives’ goals and link them with organizational reward in order to motivate operatives. As a result, operatives get frustrated and productivity suffers.

Khan (1993), reported that the importance of human factors in management, including motivation in terms of provision of incentive schemes, was not well recognized until the famous Hawthorne studies were conducted in 1920’s and early 1930’s. The major implication of the Hawthorne studies was a change in management thinking that the work environment, the feeling of being part of something important and the satisfaction of having some control on one’s own destiny could have a significant influence on productivity.

Ayandele (1996), categorized the variety of methods in which workers are motivated as fear of the supervisor and fear of losing a job, being part of the work itself, incentives, job satisfaction and discipline in terms of high site morale. Olomolaiye (1990), in his study on bricklayers’ motivation in the United Kingdom con- cluded that motivation does not influence the rate of working. According to him, what influences or deter- mines how fast a worker produces is more of a function of his equipment and skill.

Olomolaiye and Price (1989), argued that construc- tion work contains some inherent intrinsic motivators. According to them in order to motivate workers, the management should provide a congenial working cli- mate for motivators such as the work itself, feelings of accomplishment by the worker and recognition for efforts. They went further to assert that pay is a lower level motivator and should not be treated as a prime motivator. Adams (1963), proposed his equity theory of motivation, which is based on equal treatment of people. According to him, people in any organization have a tendency to compare their inputs and corres- ponding rewards with other people in the same rganiza- tion or even in other organizations. People compare their inputs in terms of education, experience, ability, effort and loyalty while they compare their rewards in terms of salary, promotion, recognition and social rela- tionship. If a person feels under rewarded in com- parison to others, the productivity of the person may go down and even he or she may quit the job. On the other hand, a person that feels over rewarded may get motivated and contribute more. Khan (1993) also reported that Skinner in 1953 advocated that monetary or non-monetary incentives (praise, recognition, pro- motion etc) after a desired behaviour increase the probability of the repetition of the desired behaviour. Whereas, punishment (disciplinary measures, fines etc) after an undesired behaviour decreases the probability of the repetition of the undesired behaviour.

A number of studies (Maloney, 1983; Borcherding 1976; Choromokos and Mckee, 1981; Borcherding et al., 1982 and Callahan, 1984), have implicitly attri- buted low labour productivity to the presence of a number of demotivators (dissatisfiers). According to Koehn and Cook (1987), motivators (job enrichment) cannot manifest in improved productivity unless these demotivators are removed. Adeyemi (2000b) observed the presence of a number of demotivators in the Nigerian construction industry, which are clogs to pro- ductivity improvement. Those having direct bearing with operatives’ motivation are identified as:

• Inappropriate tools and equipment breakdown.

• Materials shortage, delay and wastage.

• Incessant rework and estimating errors.

• Absence of training and safety programmes.

• Job insecurity/employee turn over.

• Non –involvement of construction crews in production objectives.

• Incompetent foremen.

• Predominance of Maslow’s theory X site managers.

The objective of this study is to determine the extent to which the current non-financial incentive schemes being operated by Nigerian contractors have influenced the productivity of a category of operatives-the brick- layers against the presence of these demotivators.

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

The primary reason for this study is to examine the impact of non-financial incentives on Bricklayers productivity in Nigeria. Also, this study seeks to bring to light the fact that the construction industry indeed implements other than money, non- monetary incentives in motivating their staff. Besides, in this study the application of these incentives and how they have actually improved on workers’ productivity is given due attention. The study also brings to the fore specific non-monetary incentives used by the management of construction companies in their quest for employee motivation geared at enhancing employee productivity. The researcher is particularly concerned whether indeed other than money, there are other incentives put in place by construction companies to motivate the workers. Besides, whether or not those non-monetary incentives have enhanced performance of the employees particularly in bringing about increased productivity of employees, their commitment to work, punctuality to mention but a few.

1.3 Objectives Of The Study

The objective of this study is to determine the impact of t non-financial incentives on bricklayers’ productivity in Nigeria. Consequently upon the research problem stated above, the following research questions are considered pertinent:

1. Are there functional non-financial incentives for bricklayers in the construction industry?

2. How has non-financial incentives affected bricklayers in the construction industry?

3. How related are non-financial incentives and bricklayers productivity?

4. What specific non-financial incentives have been adopted by the construction industry so far?

1.4 Significance Of The Study

This study brings light to the effect if financial and non-financial incentives on staff performance in organization, specifically among bricklayers in the construction industry. The study may therefore be beneficial to the organization under study in the area of policy formulations regarding incentive schemes and remuneration. To education, the study may contribute to already existing knowledge on the impact of financial ad non-financial incentives on workers’ productivity. Finally, to those in academics and human resource researches, the study may serve as a springboard for further investigations.

1.5  Scope of the Study

The study covers an empirical investigation of the impact of  non financial motivation on bricklayers productivity in Banga House Construction. Hence, the participants for this study will be obtained from the staff of Banga House Construction, Kaduna State.

1.6 Limitations of the study

This study was constrained by a number of factors which are as follows:

Financial constraint, was faced by  the researcher ,in getting relevant materials  and  in printing and collation of questionnaires

Time factor: time factor pose another constraint since having to shuttle between writing of the research and also engaging in other academic work making it uneasy for the researcher

1.7 Definition of key Term

The key terms below were used in this study

Financial Incentives: Monetary reward or compensation use to motivate workers.

Non Financial Incentives: Other incentives apart from monetary rewards.

Performance Incentive: Rewards that motivates worker to put in more efforts.

Productivity: The rate at which employee work and their yield in their organization.