A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION 

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY: Although there is widespread consensus among psychologists that humans have a diverse set of needs, there is a great deal of dispute over the nature of these requirements and the order of priority they should be given (Adonisi, 2021). Finding ways to get employees excited about their job is one of the most fundamental challenges faced by any business. To get individuals to work more, you have to cater to their individual requirements. This is due to the fact that people working inside the company to satisfy the demands of employees have an impact on the pleasure that workers obtain from the work that they do (Sulcas, 2022). The amount of pleasure an employee gets from their work might have an effect on how motivated they are to put in effort. According to Wilkinson et al. (2007), the first component that motivates individuals is the combination of their own views of the expectations other people have of them and their own expectations of themselves. People are driven by a variety of variables at different times. This occurs due to the fact that individuals enter work circumstances with a wide range of expectations. They encounter other individuals who also have expectations of them when they come at the workplace; favorable individual and collective expectations serve as positive motivating elements for the worker (VAN ROOYEN 2006). Because of this, there has to be as close to a perfect equilibrium as possible between the goals of the organization and the goals of each individual (Sulcas, P. 2007). The crux of this is to create conditions in which a person may be inspired while also facilitating the accomplishment of predetermined goals by the organization (Wilkinson, Westerman, & Simmons, 2022).

The issue of one's self-images and notions, together with one's life experiences and personality, are all taken into consideration by the second element. In order for these characteristics to result in proactive behavior from the worker, they need to be favorably motivated. This may be accomplished through the implementation of a well-thought-out incentive system, which is a kind of reinforcement designed to influence the behavior of individuals (Adonisi, 2021).

Those who hold management roles in companies are often the ones responsible for encouraging behavior inside the organization through the use of positive reinforcement. The use of positive reinforcement helps to increase the likelihood of desirable outcomes, which goes a long way toward encouraging the repeat of certain behaviors (Sulcas, 2022).

Because of this, it is essential for the management to make sure that they are able to encourage their staff to attain the goals and objectives that have been established for the firm. Employees of an organization can be motivated by the management of that company if the management is able to examine the features of the employees and understand the factors that genuinely encourage the employees to be productive.

As a result of this, the purpose of this research is to investigate the concept of employee motivation as a tool for increasing organizational efficiency. The Nigeria Bottling Company will serve as the research subject for this 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, the following questions arise:

1.3 Research Questions

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

1. What are the factors that motivate employees to perform in an organization?

2. What are the available techniques of motivating employees for higher productivity?

3. Do motivation actually steer employees productive capacity?

4. What are the problems militating against employees motivation, and

5. 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:

1. To examine the factors which motivate employees to perform in the organization

2. To look at various techniques of motivating people to performance in the organization,

3. To ascertain the effect of motivation on workers productivity.

4. To identify the problems associated with the motivation of workers in the organization.

5. To suggest the solutions to such problems, if any.

6. 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:

1. Ho: The quality of supervision will not motivate workers productivity.

Hi: The quality of supervision will motivate workers productivity.

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

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.

Morale: Moral refers to staff emotional and mental level of zeal.