Work and Organizational Psychology - Research Proposal Example

Motivation is everywhere and people use it more often in whatever they do. In school, in organizations, in sports clubs etc; Motivation is required. The question that remains is what does motivation do to the members of these groups or institutions? Well, motivation is like gas to a vehicle for a human being. It is common knowledge that with motivation, however little it is, people are able to accomplish much (Bruce & Pepitone, 1998: pp140-143). It is nevertheless important to note that people may be motivated to pull in the wrong way. People may be motivated to pull down a regime. People may be motivated to fail an establishment etc. Motivation, positive motivation, more often brings forth positive results. This explains why most organizations are bent to ensure that they motivate their workers so that they can have the positive energy required to positively realize the company’s vision. How does motivation influence organizational Performance? The influence is obvious. A highly motivated workforce will certainly produce more than the contrary will. Take for instance of external auditors who constantly work as a group. When they visit their client for analysis of books, their teamwork will not only motivate them but assist them have results and deliverables within a very short time. Most of the organizations that are highly productive, most of the times have highly motivated human resource and more often than not embrace teamwork. Therefore, teamwork is also a very important ingredient in organizational performance but it affects both motivation and performance. In other words, teamwork enhances motivation which in turn influences organizational performance. Teamwork can as well directly influence organizational performance. This paper will seek to propose how a research into the influence of teamwork on motivation and organizational performance can be conducted. Objectives of the Proposed Research As mentioned in the foregoing section, the proposed research will focus on finding out how teamwork influences both motivation and organizational performance. The research question to be answered at the end of the research is: How does teamwork influence motivation and organizational performance? This question is answered through two main ways in which we shall see how teamwork in auditors enhances both the motivational and performance of the auditors as well as how teamwork is seen in the organization the auditors visit and how this organizational teamwork enhances motivation and hence organizational performance. First the research will show how teamwork affects motivational level of personnel in an organizational setting and how this resultant motivation affects the performance of the organization in question. As such the research shall be investigating the route of influence of teamwork on organizational performance through motivation. Secondly, the research will also try to look for a strait route-influence of teamwork on organizational performance (West, 2004: pp123-127). At the end of the research, the number of routes of influence of teamwork on organizational performance would have been established. Secondly, the influence of teamwork on individual motivation shall be investigated. Purpose of the Research In today’s very competitive market, the human resource in an organization is the one that can insulate the organization from this fierce competition thus giving it a competitive edge in the market. Organizations talk about brand differentiation all the time as a way of countering the competition in the market. This differentiation starts with organizational culture because teamwork is indeed a culture. In teamwork, there are no individual goals. Teams work as a unit to bring forth deliverables aimed at achieving the overall organizational goals. The end result is high degree of organizational performance which is able to differentiate the brand (organization in totality) from all the others in the market. As such, teamwork is very important and if its influence on motivation and teamwork is established, then this would have been a discovery of a century because, embracing teamwork would be synonymous to organizational success. This research will help in the following ways: With teamwork, organizations are more likely to be ethical because there will be no individual goals except team goals. It is less likely that the entire team will consent to unethical deeds. Individual goals push individuals to do whatever they can to achieve the goals. If a group of external editors analyze books that have engineered financial information, teamwork will prevent corrupting the auditors to propagate the engineering in the financial books. Teamwork enables caring for each other thus establishing a united organization and a strong organizational culture Achieved goals will be celebrated and owned by the team and as such there is a general feeling of ownership and belonging in the organization. Quality decision making is enhanced in teamwork Democracy and hence self responsibility in the workers is achievable with teamwork. Less probability of laxity among workers for fear of letting down the team and being censured by it; teams set their targets and it will be embarrassing for the member who lets the group down. Less supervisory workload as the teams can supervise themselves especially through the targets they set for themselves. Therefore, with the research, teamwork will help induce self responsibility, sense of belonging, sense of ownership and all these are the very important ingredients for motivational benefits, organizational performance and the subsequent organizational success. Literature Review A number of scholars have delved into the subject of teamwork and its influence on motivation of the organizational workforce as well as its influence on organizational performance. Most of the literature present concerning this topic may be divided into such groups as practise literature, policy literature, theoretical literature, report literature and research literature. At least one of such literatures will be reviewed to see the scope of the subject of teamwork and its influence on motivation and organizational performance as it has been handled by some scholars. Teamwork is quite central in the organization as a whole. This is according to Anderson & Sinangil (2001). In their book Handbook of Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology: Organizational psychology, they cite that teamwork has far more benefits than its perceived influence on motivation and organizational performance. The book further delves into how individuals interact in an organizational setting and how these interactions effect motivation and the subsequent organizational performance. The book basically brings together research on various topics such as motivation, job satisfaction, organizational communication, compensation, organizational justice, intra- and inter-team performance and organizational decision-making function. All these topics have a motivation component supported by organizational teamwork. The part on intra and inter-teams functioning helps propagate the concept of teamwork in an organization. The book briefly, under motivation, and categorically states that motivation is brought about by teamwork and under teamwork, the book clearly illustrates the relationship between teamwork and organizational performance. The book gives a specific example of external auditors and how teamwork can help enhance performance and motivation in their work. Finally, the book highlights the concept of organizational development and change management and how teamwork helps in these two. It also tells us how teamwork helps install a strong organizational culture (Anderson & Sinangil, 2001: pp368-372). Baldwin & Migneault, (1996) in their book titled Humanistic Management by Teamwork: an Organizational and Administrative Alternative for Academic Libraries portray a rather practical literature. The book shows how teamwork can be embraced in a concrete working organization like a library. The book further argues the need to reshape the organization through the enactment of a team based organizational design. The enactment should be carried along such lines as staffing, organizational communication, compensation, performance appraisal among other organizational functions. The book finally goes ahead to illustrate how teamwork has helped boost motivation in a library settings; the library in this way is looked at as an organization (Baldwin & Migneault, 1996: pp54-59). Zachary Wong (2007) delves into Inspiration of teamwork and motivation in the workforce. In his book titled Human Factors in Project Management: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques for Inspiring Teamwork and Motivation he highly pays respect to the human factors in the practice of project management. Assume the organization is carrying out a project; the success of that project means the success of the organization. As such, Wong talks about how the success of any project is squarely dependent on the human factors in the project especially the workforce. He proposes the fact that teamwork orients the project more to success than when there isn’t teamwork. He assumes that he is addressing an organization that already is embracing teamwork and as such proposes what he calls the “people-based” management skills in an organization with rampant teamwork. The book basically brings together the most current developments in teamwork, team motivation and their effects on organizational performance. Wong integrates all the concepts in teamwork motivation in what he generally calls “Human Factors”. He further proceeds to show how these human factors can be applied to make projects a success especially after the factors have specifically found application in management. He presents the managers, be it those managing projects or/and organizations, with the responsibility of motivating the workforce, aiding team decisions, deciding interpersonal conflicts, managing difficult and de-motivated people, reinforcing team accountability, enhancing inter and/or intra-team communications and embracing true leadership in managing and motivating teams, Generally, Wong’s work shows clearly how motivation and teamwork are closely tied and how ,both create a synergy that brings forth a successful venture or organization for that matter (Wong, 2007: pp20-31). A rather theoretical literature is the book titled Handbook of Competence and Motivation authored by Andrew J Elliot and Carol S Dweck (2005). The book deals with the theory of motivation and how this motivation is closely linked to competence or what can be basically called performance. Basically, the book says that motivation leads to enhanced performance. On the same breath, the authors try to propose the origins of motivation in the workforce. They single out intrinsic motivation in some employees and how these employees can be used to motivate others especially the de-motivated lot. Take for instance a group of external auditors where by some of them will be intrinsically motivated and through teamwork, the motivation spills over to the other s and the end result is competent performance. Similarly, they cite the strong role of teamwork in motivating employees. If a team of ten had at least four intrinsically motivated individuals, they will manage to motivate the entire team because theoretically and in practice, motivation is contagious and highly psychological. Basically, the book singles out teamwork as a very serious propagator of motivation and the latter as a serious enhancer of competence or performance. Therefore, the book simply creates a relationship among teamwork, motivation and performance. Teamwork creates motivation which in turn enhances organizational performance. Motivation can as well be sourced elsewhere as is the case with intrinsic motivation and other forms of extrinsic motivation apart from teamwork. However, teamwork greatly enhances motivation (Kanfer et al, 2008: pp345-352). Interestingly, the book presents numerous theories of motivation, theories of teamwork and those of organizational performance or organizational competence. The book also creates a direct link between teamwork and performance without necessarily going through motivation albeit the link is not a strong as when it goes through motivation (Elliot & Dweck, 2005: pp78-86). According to the book, the scheme below is true: Research Strategy & Research Design The research’s focus is to find out the influence of teamwork on motivation and organizational performance. This cannot be established without having organizations to be studied. Four organizations are chosen in terms of performance. They are ranked in terms of their brand popularity and brand recognition. They are also ranked in terms of the post tax profit margins. All the organization must be dealing in the same line of production or business and be at same geographical region. The overall ranks are then given; from first to last. The major UK supermarket brands such as Tesco and the rest can be used in the rankings. After the rankings, the real research then starts whereby the organizational culture is studied for elements of teamwork and motivation of employees especially in the finance department; teamwork is checked in financial reporting. The study is made possible by getting three external auditors attached to each of the organizations for four hours a day for a period of ten weeks. While at attachment, the auditors will keep a diary of all the things they observe. The recording should be made in a stringent non-partisan way. The books of account they observe should be checked for both accuracy and coherence among the records kept by all the personnel in the finance department. Rotations should be able to be made to seek second opinion. At the end of the 10 weeks, each group of three individuals should have gone round all the four organizations and kept four diaries (one for each organization). At the end of the 10 weeks, the data so collected can be analyzed. Research Methods & Data Analysis The research is simply achieved through methods such as: Keeping a dairy- an individual keeps daily recordings of the all activities in the firm which demonstrate presence or absence of teamwork, motivation and organizational performance. This is seen from the coherence seen in the book of accounts analyzed by the auditors. Observation-the individuals posted at each of the four organizations to observe how employees are motivated and the extent to which teamwork is encouraged in finance departments and the entire organization. Review of data and policies- the individuals to access the organization’s human resource management policies to identify whether or not teamwork and motivations are embraced. Policies on performance appraisal are also studied; how are the policies especially managing personnel at the finance department oriented to teamwork and motivation and how is this demonstrated in the way books are kept at the department. Interview- the individuals to interview at least 10 individuals, two from three other departments and rest form the finance department. The data so generated is analysed at the end of the 10-week period to establish whether or not there exists a relationship between the performance rankings made earlier on and the level of embrace of employee motivation and use of teamwork. A correlation is made between teamwork and motivation, motivation and organizational performance and teamwork and organizational performance based on the data collected from the interviews and the daily recordings. Study of human resource management policies is meant to establish appraisal methods and establish whether or not a relationship between motivation and performance is implied by the appraisal methods (Whetten & Cameron, 1995: pp365-367). Similarly, if the HRM policies of a given organization embrace teamwork, then the objectives behind this embrace are established and studied closely. These objectives will give a clue about how the organization relates teamwork to performance and motivation and this is compared against the organization’s rank generated earlier on. Similarly, the books of accounts and the general finance records kept are studied buy the auditors are good pointer to teamwork and motivation in the organization. If the records show coherence, then it means that the personnel at the finance department consult from time to time and believe in teamwork. The opposite is also true. The responses from the four people from finance department interviewed will show how closely the department is knit. If all are able to give exact and similar responses to the same questions, then this shows teamwork and vice versa. Teamwork as seen from the responses is ascertained from the performance in real work performance Validity & Coherence The data collected is basically from the daily records kept by the auditors to the organization. The validity of these records is increased by getting all the three- man auditing group attached to the organizations go though each organization and their records compared for similarity. Similar observations are automatically adopted and the divergent ones argued for perspective. The fact that the interviewees come from different departments gives a clear picture of the entire organization in the bid to establish the degree to which teamwork is embraced in the organization. At least two employees from the same department chosen randomly helps achieve validity of responses given in an attempt to investigate the use of teamwork in the departmental levels. If teamwork infiltrates to the departmental levels and majority of the departments embrace teamwork, then this will automatically mean that the organizational culture values teamwork. For coherence, all the data collected by all the four attachees on one organization are analyzed at a time and conclusions made before going to the next. Finally the conclusions are compared to the ranks of the organization developed earlier. The data analysis used above has a few limitations. First, the fact that there is coherence in the financial records does not necessarily mean that there is teamwork. Teamwork is only implied. It is possible that the coherence is as a result of true and factual entries which get to be entered by each section of the financial department. Secondly, observations may not be as objective and hence there is a possibility for bias during analysis. Finally, because, teamwork cannot easily be measured, implied teamwork is used and it is possible that the implications may be wrong. Conclusion In conclusion, the research will be able to establish whether or not there exists a relationship between teamwork and performance, teamwork and motivation and motivation and performance (ONeil & Drillings, 1994: pp163-173). It there exists such relationships, the research should be able to show how teamwork influences both motivation and organizational performance. Indeed, the research will help add to the quality performance seen in organizations. Once this research is completed and the findings established, teamwork will be rampant in most organizations due to its influence on motivation and organizational performance. References Anderson N & Sinangil K, (2001): Handbook of Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology: Organizational psychology, SAGE Publishers, pp368-372 Practice Literature Baldwin D A & Migneault R L, (1996): Humanistic Management by Teamwork: An Organizational and Administrative Alternative For Academic Libraries, Libraries Unlimited Publishers, pp54-59 Policy Literature Wong Z, (2007): Human Factors in Project Management: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques for Inspiring Teamwork and Motivation, John Wiley and Sons, pp20-31 Practice Literature Elliot A J & Dweck C S, (2005): Handbook of Competence and Motivation, Guilford Press, pp78-86 Theoretical Literature ONeil H F & Drillings M, (1994): Motivation: theory and Research, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp163-173 Research Literature Whetten A D & Cameron S K, (1995): Developing Management Skills, HarperCollins College Publishers, pp365-367 Theoretical Literature Kanfer et al, (2008): Work Motivation: Past, Present, and Future CRC Press, pp345-352 Report Literature Bruce A & Pepitone J S, (1998): Motivating Employees, McGraw-Hill Professional, pp140-143 Practice Literature West A M, (2004): Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons From Organizational Research, Wiley-Blackwell, pp123-127 Research Literature Read More