Lack of Job Satisfaction and General Welfare of Employees of Ramseyer Shipping Agencies Ghana Ltd - Research Proposal Example

Introduction Low morale, lack of job satisfaction and low productivity are the issues faced by most industries across the globe. Managing employees in the shipping agencies is even more challenging because of the nature of the job and the intense competition in the sector. As per HIS Global Insight, the liner shipping industry, a part of Ghana Maritime Industry, using 2007 as the base year, had annual economic contribution of US$183.3 billion while creating 4.2 million jobs (Graphic Business, 2012). Ghana, a Sub-Saharan African country, with a population of 24 million (as of 2010) and with per capital GDP of 1098 USD, is an island of English speaking country in the ocean of Francophone nations (Ghana Government Portal, 2012). While the maritime industry plays a significant role in the development of any country, Ghana has failed to take advantage of two ports and harbours to serve the needs of its neighboring landlocked countries. The maritime industry has a wide scope ranging from designing, constructing and maintaining of vessels to managing and operating shipping lines, freight forwarding, and hence the industry has the capacity to generate lot of direct and indirect jobs (Graphic Business, 2012). Ramseyer Shipping Agencies Ghana Ltd is engaged in shipping cargo from the Far East and Europe to Africa. In addition, it intends adding services such as stevedoring, shore-handling, customs clearance and warehousing in the future. The vision statement of the company is to be a leading competitive shipping agency and to take advantage of the latest technology to seek out up-to-date solution to its clients. Since the company has been formed after a series of takeovers and mergers, the staff at Ramseyer Shipping is apprehensive of the growth and profitability of the company amidst the competitive environment in which it operates. This is responsible for low morale among the staff which consequently affects the output. Rationale for Research The staff at Ramseyer Shipping was apprehensive of their future at the company but they were assured of good returns once the company found a solid footing. However, the company did make profits but the staff was not included in it. Their wages continued to be the same while the shareholders were paid handsome annual dividends. The staff could not leave their jobs because of lack of opportunities in Ghana. If people gave up their jobs they would either have to return to agriculture which was hardly remunerative or fall back on the informal economy for subsistence (ILO, 2004). The fear of joblessness forced the people to continue with the company. As a result they suffer from low morale which impacts client servicing and performance output. Their morale continues to be low as no appraisals were held and no increase in remuneration was granted. It also appears that no training and development of staff is undertaken at Ramseyer Shipping. This situation has been prevailing in Ghana despite the GPRS (Ghana Poverty Reductions Strategy) initiated by the Government to overcome poverty (ILO, 2004). Research Aims and Objectives Moreover, the UNDP is attempting to promote employment in the maritime industry in Ghana (UNDP-Ghana, 2012). However, if the working conditions and employee morale continue to be low in shipping companies such as Ramseyer Shipping, the sector will not be able to attract, motivate and retain talent. Based on the above rationale, the aim of the study is to investigate the causes of low morale, lack of job satisfaction and lack of employee welfare at Ramseyer Shipping Agencies Ghana Limited, the study objectives are: To investigate the HRM policies at Ramseyer Shipping To evaluate if employee motivation can lead to job satisfaction in shipping companies To evaluate the type of motivation effective in leading to employee satisfaction To recommend an HRM strategy to the shipping company under study Literature Review The shipping industry is a prime example of a globalized industry and widely differs from other types of industries such as the fast food industry and auto companies. As the physical capital of the shipping industry is itself movable the strategic and human resource management in the industry also has a mobile dimension, not generally found in other industries. Thus, as the world shipping industry has registered commercial vessels overseas, human resource functions have also been relocated. The German Shipping companies relocated their HRM functions to low-cost countries such as Cyprus and Philippines. However, Klikauer and Morris (2003) highlight how the German shipping companies, based on new German regulation, have brought back the HRM functions back to Germany. This back-souring was triggered by tax concessions granted by the German government. The paper however, does not elaborate whether the HRM functions that were brought back to the country, were as effective and beneficial to the shipping companies. Moreover, Ghana, with such high levels of unemployment would not outsource functions to overseas countries. This study however, highlights the importance of HRM in the shipping industry. Because of intense competition in the shipping industry consolidation has been taking place at the global level. Firms with weak corporate governance mechanisms are likely to be less effective in achieving desired financial performance and in maximizing shareholder value (Syriopoulos and Theotokas, 2007). Poor financial performance carries the risk of hostile takeover bid and such firms are known to underperform. This finding is of importance to the study because even though Ramseyer Maritime is not really a takeover of Avoir Ghana as a company, but Ramseyer did take over the functions and clients of Avoir Ghana. Besides, its parent company, Ghana Lines does have multiple offices across nations and strong corporate governance becomes essential to manage affairs. Morale is an intangible concept that refers to the positive or negative feeling of the group towards the organization they work for (Ngambi, 2011). It is also the general level of optimism and confidence experienced by the employees. The level of morale impacts productivity and low morale is also associated with absenteeism which can cost the businesses huge amounts in payroll costs. Low morale leads to disengagement of employees, which in turn results in low commitment and low productivity. Ngambi found a relationship between leadership and employee morale. The leadership competencies that can enhance employee morale include communication, trust and team building that can provide a clear direction to the team. Ngambi suggests conducting a morale survey to identify factors related to employee morale, retention and performance. Thus training and development, performance appraisal and job security can positively impact employee morale, job satisfaction and optimism among the employees (Chow, Haddad and Singh, 2007). Owusu-Frimpong and Martins (2010) investigated the concept of internal marketing (IM) among the SMEs in Ghana. IM is an integrative process that fosters positive working relationships, that can help manage resistance to change, thereby leading to enhanced organizational performance. Most SMEs in Ghana are unaware of this concept and a majority of the firms in Ghana do not regard their employees as customers. To some extent IM is practiced in the manufacturing sector but is negligible in the service sector. The literature thus suggests that low morale depends on several factors such as leadership, the work environment, corporate governance and internal marketing. Methodology This would be a qualitative study comprising of both primary and secondary data. The secondary data would be gathered through government papers, through academic journals such as EBSCO HOST, PROQUSET, Emerald or Taylor & Francis. A qualitative study is justified because it is important to know the attitudes of the employers as well as the employees. Figures and numbers are not important for this study. To understand the attitude, prolonged contact with the field of study is essential which is possible in qualitative studies. Thus primary data will be gathered through questionnaire surveys of the employees at Ramseyer Shipping. This will help gain insight into the attitude and behaviour of the employees and investigate into the causes of low morale which impacts performance. Data would also be gathered on the education level of the employees. Since the number of employees is only 40, efforts would be made to ensure total participation. The questionnaires would be personally handed over to the employees as they may not be able to access internet or may not be comfortable responding through the Internet. The researcher would personally be available should the respondents seek clarification if they are unable to understand some question. Survey questionnaire will be designed based on the literature reviewed for the final project. The framework too would be established at that time. Primary data will also be gathered through interviews with the employers. Attempts would be made to ensure at least two executives of the company participate in the study. The organization would be informed of the purpose of the study and they would be assured that the outcome of the study would be shared with them, which could perhaps help them improve their HRM processes. These interviews would be in-depth interviews aimed at evaluating the leadership at Ramseyer, the communication strategies or gaps identified by them and their approach to HR processes. Efforts would be made to evaluate the corporate governance at the company and how this impacts the employee morale. Consent would be obtained from the company before the study commences. Data Analysis would then be carried out through the process of triangulation. This would help to corroborate, compare and contrast data gathered from different sources. Significance of the study This study would help not just Ramseyer Shipping but all the shipping companies in Ghana and other African countries. This would be first of its kind of study in understanding the morale and job satisfaction in shipping companies in Ghana. If the working conditions and employment relations improve in Ghana, it could also attract more people to the sector, thereby contributing to job creation. This study will also positively impact the academia which will benefit the global shipping industry. Limitations of the study This study has limitations as primary data would be gathered only through one shipping firm. Even in this, it is not known how many would be willing to participate. Besides, how many would share accurate information, is also difficult to evaluate. Perhaps gathering more data from competitive firms would help evaluate the HR practices in the shipping industry in Ghana. It is also likely that the respondents to the survey may not understand the question and hence the responses may be affected. However, the researcher has no control over this although efforts would be made to keep the questions and language as simple as possible. References Chow, CW., Haddad, Kamal., & Singh, Gangaram. (2007). Human Resource Management, Job Satisfaction, Morale, Optimism, and Turnover. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 8 (2), 73-88 Ghana Government Portal. (2012). Ghana at a Glance. Retrieved from http://www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/about-ghana/ghana-at-a-glance Graphic Business. (2012). The Maritime Industry. Retrieved from http://www.modernghana.com/news/416809/1/the-maritime-industry.html ILO. (2004). Working out of poverty in Ghana. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/dwpp/download/ghana/ghbooklet.pdf Klikauer, T., & Morris, R. (2003). Human resources in the German maritime industries: ‘back-sourcing’ and ship management. Int. J. of Human Resource Management, 14 (4), 544-558 Ngambi, HC. (2011). The relationship between leadership and employee morale in higher education. African Journal of Business Management, 5 (3), 762-776 Owusu-Frimpong, N., & Martins, A. (2010). Adoption and Implementation of Internal Marketing Systems by Ghanaian Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Journal of African Business, 11 (1), 26-48 Syriopoulos, T., & Theotokas, I. (2007). Value creation through corporate destruction? Corporate governance in shipping takeovers. MARIT. POL. MGMT, 34 (3), 225-242 UNDP-Ghana. (2012). Support to the Promotion of Employment in the Maritime Industry. Retrieved from http://www.undp-gha.org/site/project.php?page=18 Read More