Motivation and Employee Satisfaction - Essay Example

Motivation and Employee Satisfaction Contents Background 2 Roles and Responsibility 2 Methodology 4 Research Onion 4 Interviews 9 Findings 9 Recommendations and Conclusion 11 Reference list 13 Appendix: Questionnaire 15 Background Phoenix Ltd. is a trading company situated in Georgia. It is a marble and granite importer company. Phoenix Ltd manufactures and imports exquisite marbles, engineered stone bathrooms, kitchens, commercial applications and granite. They also provide friendly expert help to the customers. Their marbles and granites are known for their expertise craftsmanship and they provide guarantee on their products. Its features include hassle free procedure of ordering and installation of new stone tops (Smith, 2015). They provide high quality products at reasonable prices. I have been given the project on motivation and employee satisfaction in which I had to conduct different programs in order to evaluate the job satisfaction level of the employees. Roles and Responsibility I have done the internship programme in Phoenix Ltd. where the objective of my project was motivation and employee satisfaction. Since, I worked at the HR department of the company; I was under HR Executive assisting him/her in selection and recruitment of employees, motivating the existing employees and providing them different trainings and development programmes. I believe, as work is undone without proper motivation. So, I tried to instil the same thinking among the employees by giving them prep-talks and encouraging them. The first step towards motivation started with asking them what they want out of their jobs. This meant interacting with them on a regular basis which gave me an idea about their perspective towards their personal goals. The employees also shared their opinions about the improvement of their roles. I also had to adopt different approach of motivating employees depending on their age. I had also given the task of planning different recreational activities like outdoor trips or indoor games to bring in some amount of fun to help them in getting rid of their monotonous job. Along with this, I had to make sure that the employees were interacting with each other. I also had to plan for an office party where the employees were rewarded and appreciated according to their performances. At the party, I also had to give them inspirational speeches to motivate them. I also defined them the vision, mission and strategies of the company. During my internship period, there were also given the flexibility to choose their own working hours. This showed that the company trusts them. They even came up to me to discuss their work related problems. I then discussed this problem with my mentor who resolved it afterwards. I was given the responsibility to shortlist the CVs of the applicants from the Company’s job portals. It was a herculean task as I had to shortlist 80 CVs from 300. The selection was primarily done on the basis of their educational qualification. Then I was given the job of conducting the first and basic HR round. At first, I had to give a presentation on the company background, the roles and responsibilities of the posts they applied for, the package and other compensations. I even had to give them motivational speech which included steps to achieve success. Secondly, I made 8 groups consisting of 5 people and took two days to complete the selection procedure. My task was to shortlist them on the basis of their personality, presentation skills, good communication skills and confidence. The next rounds were then conducted by my seniors. It is very important to have a good communication skill and confidence (Pinder, 2014). The company requires employees who can communicate well both with their co-workers, managers and clients. Confidence on the other hand is required to attain both personal and organisational success (Liao, 2012). I also had to judge them on the basis of their thinking clarity and views towards their personal goals because it is essential for a person to analyse his own capabilities and set his objectives accordingly. Under the supervisor, I had to craft out an elaborate training and development schedule for the employees so that they meet the basic requirements of the job. First, I had to implement a self-assessment programme where the employees had to identify their strengths, weakness, skills and abilities. I had to review the results under the guidance of my mentor. Next, I had to conduct position assessment programme where they were asked to identify those abilities and skills which would help them to enhance their current position in office. Working on the results of the respondents, I had to assess and deliver the feedbacks on their interests and skills. According to these programmes, I had to set training and development schedule and activities. I had to plan the programmes which would match their career development objectives and also help them in their present job position. I had to keep myself informed about the recent policies and practices that maintain employee development. I was also assigned the task of following up with the workers after any learning activity to add new skills in their responsibilities. Next step was to conduct a questionnaire survey on 50 employees for which I had to prepare 24 questions. The employees were very generous and helpful in my endeavour of completing this project. They responded well to all my questions and helped me with my endeavour of finding the research outcome. Methodology The methodology of the research includes the detailed and extensive procedure through which the desired outcome of the project has been established (Flick, 2015). This topic broadly discusses the research philosophy, approach, method, strategy and data analysis methodologies (Saunders, 2009). This research aims at finding the level of job satisfaction and motivation in the employees of Phoenix Ltd. Research Onion The research onion helps researchers in selecting the appropriate method for research. The onion graphically intricate the different layers of methods that can be applied for conducting a research work. It also helps in resolving issues that arises during corporate or academic research work. The aims and objectives of any empirical research work can also be resolved with sufficient reference of the research onion (Flick, 2015). Figure: Research Onion (Source: Flick, 2015) The above graph represents the research onion according to which the researcher chooses the methods of the research. In this project, quantitative approach has been applied. Close ended questionnaire method has been used here. Research Philosophy: The fundamental structure of the research framework is explained by the research philosophy. It was stated by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil, (2012) that research philosophy was an elaborate structure that explains the basic structure through which significant information was collected for conducting a particular research process. The philosophy of a research process certifies that the collected information and data of a research project is accurately utilised and investigated for generating the most feasible outcome and hence attaining the desired research goals. The conventional research theories determine the different types of research philosophies. A particular philosophical approach has been chosen in this project through which the actual motive of the research process has been established. According to the research philosophy, the research tools and strategies were implemented. There are primarily four types of research philosophies namely realism philosophy, interpretivsim philosophy, pragmatism philosophy and positivism philosophy (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2010). The realism philosophy has been applied here for conducting the research work. This is because realism is associated with scientific enquiry. It is independent of conceptual schemes, beliefs, perceptions, etc. but is dependent on mathematical entities. Here the numerical quantitative analysis method has been applied (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). Research Approach: There are mainly three research approach including induction, abduction and deduction. According to Leedy and Ormrod, (2005), the two primary research approaches are deductive and inductive approaches which are widely used in academic and corporate research projects. Each approach adopts a different research paradigm. The deductive approach has been selected for accomplishing the research objective. Through deductive method, at first the objective has been established related to the given topic. Primary data has been collected through questionnaire in order to check the validity of the statements. The popular name given to the deductive approach is the theory-testing approach of research (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998). Research Method: The research method explains the primal steps followed for accomplishing the research work of the project (Vansteenkiste, et al., 2007). Considering the strategy of the research, framework of the research method has been drawn. The research primarily focussed on the quantitative approach. Quantitative philosophy can be defined as an extreme of experimentalism which believes that theories are not only required to be justified by the extent to which they can be verified but also can be applied by the acquired facts (Awara and Anyadighibe, 2014). Figure: Deduction Reasoning and Induction Reasoning (Source: Awara and Anyadighibe, 2014) Data can be dealt in terms of statistical analyses, comparative analyses and repeatability of data collection with the aim of verifying reliability. Hence, there are advantages of application of quantitative research in the sense that it allows replication and comparison, independence of the observer from the subject being observed (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014). It also allows the measurement of the subject under examination through objective methods rather than a subjective conclusion through reflection or intuition, sensation, validity. Research Strategy: The main advantage of using questionnaire method is that it requires small amount of time to collect a large amount of data (Wright and Bonett, 2007). This also provides the flexibility to the researcher to survey wide range of population. Research strategy is defined as the activity that requires being undertaken to certify that adequate resources are available to conduct the research and complete the project in the given time (Dewe, O'Driscoll and Cooper, 2010).The strategy is basically done to ensure that appropriate approach has been applied to the design of the project so that the objectives of the study are achieved. Data Collection: Bakker and Demerouti, (2008) stated that data collection is a statistical procedure applied with the purpose of justifying different theories and models. It is a very important step of research methodology. The theory would not stand if adequate data are not present. Data can be categorised into two group namely primary data and secondary data. Primary data are those which are gathered for specific rationale directly from the field of enquiry and therefore are unique in nature. Secondary data, on the other hand, are such numerical information which have been previously collected by some agency for one purpose and are merely compiled from the original source for use in diverse connection (De Vries, R. E., Van den Hooff and de Ridder, 2006). The project exploits the data collected from both secondary and primary data. The academic theory has been compiled using the secondary authentic data sources but the outcomes of the questionnaire survey have been procured from the primary sources. Time horizon: Before reaching the centre of the Research Onion, the final layer underlines the time horizon over which the research has been undertaken. The “snapshot” where the research is conducted to answer problems at an exact time is termed as cross-sectional. Reversely, where answering a problem requires the collection of data for an extended period of time, the research is termed as longitudinal (Lambert, Hogan and Griffin, 2007). Activities 1-3 weeks 4-6 weeks 7-9 weeks 10-12 weeks Completion of introductory and research review chapters. Collection of secondary data and expansion of methodology chapter. Preparing questions for the interview. Conducting questionnaire survey. Submission of the first draft to the organisation mentor. Corrections of the first draft and expanding the findings and recommendations. Submission of the second draft. Final corrections and submission of final paper to college mentor. (Source: Author’s Creation) Interviews Findings I have framed 24 close ended questions to determine the ways through which I can evaluate the level of job satisfaction and motivation among the employees of Phoenix Ltd. The questions of the survey have been provided in the appendix. I have questioned 50 employees of the company. The Likert Scale has been implemented to evaluate the results of the questionnaire. Likert Scale is a statistical tool of attributing quantitative value to qualitative data, so that the acquired data can be amended to statistical analysis. Each potential choice is allotted a numerical figure and at the end of the survey or evaluation, a mean value is calculated (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008). It is divided into five potential choices namely strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree. The responses of the employees have been fitted into these five categories. According to their responses, two charts have been drawn. One chart represents questions from 1 to 12 and the next chart represents data from question number 13 to 24. Figure: Bar diagram for Question number 1 to 12 (Source: Author’s Creation) In the above chart, 12 questions were asked. Question 1 is related to the feeling of accomplishment that a satisfied employee should feel towards his job. It was observed that 15 people strongly agree and 18 people agree that their job gives them the sense of personal accomplishment. This is an important criterion which measures the level of employee satisfaction. Question 2 tries to identify whether the company provides the employees with sufficient resources so that they can work properly. Majority agreed while some felt that the company should implement updated technology. Communication is another important aspect of work culture. Question 3 deals with the circulation of information in the office. I received a mixed response here because while 10 people strongly agreed. The other 10 strongly disagreed here as well. However, there were 9 employees who agreed that the company is good at communicating the news regarding the workplace. Hence, I could conclude that the company is successful in providing the information. Question 4 is about the company’s attention towards value diversity. Majority agreed that the company pays importance to value diversity. Question 5 is about the behaviour of the co-workers. 20 people strongly disagreed indicating that the relationship among the employees is not friendly. Question 6 and 7 deal with the involvement of an employee in decision making of his/her division and the options that they can avail to improve their working abilities. In both the questions, employees agreed that the work culture is encouraging and they seem to be happy about it. The next two questions try to investigate whether the company is successful in providing proper training and various motivational programmes. While the majority believes that the company provides proper training but they think that it has failed to implement motivational programmes. The result showed that the company successfully addresses the problems of the workers. Along with that, the employees can register their complaints easily. 12th question reflects the true nature of the job where most of them agreed that the work load is not much. Figure: Bar Diagram for Question no. 13 to 24 (Source: Author’s Creation) The office also has flexible working hours which was revealed by the employees’ responses. However, 10 strongly disagreed with the question which implies that some employees do not enjoy this facility. Timely delivery of incentives increases the efficiency among the workers and most of them believed that financial incentives are more attractive. However, 17 people strongly disagree and 15 disagree. This is a huge disadvantage for the company. Not only the company encourages employees to complain against any ill practices, but also focuses on implementing stringent rules and guidelines to prevent any kind of discrimination and harassments. It also provides paid leave as agreed by a total of 29 people. Though employees are satisfied with their current salary, but half of them believe a revised salary structure would be more encouraging. 30 people are satisfied with the level of job security. Regarding recognition to their work, employees were neutral. This shows that they want to be recognised by their supervisor. The last question deals with employee’s roles and responsibilities. Majority are contented with their job roles. Recommendations and Conclusion According to the Likert Scale, I have noticed that the company lacks in basically three things. The first one is the behaviour of the employees with each other. Not only from the likert scale but also from my experience as an intern, I have noticed that they do not share friendly vibes among themselves. It is very essential for a workplace to work smoothly that the employees there co-operate and help each other. So, it is recommended that the HR management pays attention to this problem. It is required that the management implements various programmes that help in building a healthy relationship among the workers (Mohammad Mosadegh Rad and Hossein Yarmohammadian, 2006). The company fails to execute programmes to increase motivation. This is also visible in the irregularity in the payment of incentives. The company performs poorly in this category as highlighted in the excel sheet. Motivation is essential to extract the best effort from the workers. Without it, the company would not be able to achieve their desired outcome. HR management should try to provide both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to the employees. Though most of them desire for extrinsic motivation but intrinsic motivation is of equal importance. Recognition is another way of valuing one’s efforts (Rich, Lepine and Crawford, 2010). Along with reward and incentives, employees should be appreciated by their supervisors to make them feel that they are valuable to the company. It is also recommended to regulate the salary structure. Reference list Andreassen, T. W. and Lindestad, B., 1998. Customer loyalty and complex services: the impact of corporate image on quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty for customers with varying degrees of service expertise. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9(1), pp.7-23. Awara, N. F. and Anyadighibe, J, A., 2014.The Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty: A Study Of Selected Eateries In Calabar, Cross. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 5(9), pp.110-125. Bakker, A. B. and Demerouti, E., 2008. Towards a Model of Work Engagement. Career Development International, 13(3), pp. 209-223. De Vries, R. E., Van den Hooff, B. and de Ridder, J. A., 2006. Explaining Knowledge Sharing the Role of Team Communication Styles, Job Satisfaction, and Performance Beliefs. Communication Research, 33(2), pp. 115-135. Dewe, P. J., O'Driscoll, M. P. and Cooper, C. L., 2010. Coping with Work Stress: A Review and Critique. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Flick, U., 2015. Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner's Guide to Doing a Research Project. California : Sage. Hill, C., Jones, G. and Schilling, M., 2014. Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Lambert, E. G., Hogan, N. L. and Griffin, M. L., 2007. The impact of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(6), pp. 644-656. Leedy, D. and Ormrod, E., 2005. Practical Research. New York: Merril Prentice Hall & Pearson. Liao, K.H., 2012. Service Quality, and Customer Satisfaction: Direct and Indirect Effects in a B2B Customer Loyalty Framework. Journal of Global Business Management, 8(1), pp. 86-93. Mohammad Mosadegh Rad, A. and Hossein Yarmohammadian, M., 2006. A study of relationship between managers' leadership style and employees' job satisfaction. Leadership in Health Services, 19(2), pp. 11-28. Pinder, 2014. Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior. London: Psychology Press. Rich, B. L., Lepine, J. A. and Crawford, E. R., 2010. Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of management journal, 53(3), pp. 617-635. Saunders, M., 2009. Research Methods for Business Students. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhil, A., 2012. Research methods for business students. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2009. Research methods for business students. New Jersey: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Schaufeli, W. B. and Bakker, A. B., 2010. Defining and measuring work engagement: Bringing clarity to the concept. Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research, pp. 10-24. Smith, J. A., 2015. Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods. California: Sage. Vansteenkiste, M., Neyrinck, B., Niemiec, C. P., Soenens, B., Witte, H. and Broeck, A., 2007. On The Relations among Work Value Orientations, Psychological Need Satisfaction and Job Outcomes: A Self‐Determination Theory Approach. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80(2), pp. 251-277. Wright, T. A. and Bonett, D. G., 2007. Job Satisfaction and Psychological Well-Being as Nonadditive Predictors of Workplace Turnover. Journal of Management, 33(2), pp. 141-160. Appendix: Questionnaire Serial Number Questions Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 1. The work gives you the feeling of personal accomplishment 2. You have been provided adequate resources and tools to do your task 3. The company efficiently inform us about the developing new matters. 4. The company gives importance to value diversity (recognises and respects the value of differences in age, gender, race, etc.) 5. Your Co-workers are cooperative and helpful. 6. You are satisfied with your involvement in decision making in your division. 7. You have the opportunity to improve in this company. 8. The company implements various motivational programmes. 9. The company provides proper trainings. 10. The company addresses the problem of the employees. 11. Employees have full freedom to register their complaints against any ill practices in the office. 12. You do not have excessive work pressures and deadlines. 13. The working hours are flexible in the company. 14. Providing incentives creates an impact on your efficiency level. 15. Incentives are provided at regular intervals. 16. Financial incentives motivate the employees more than non-financial employees. 17. The company is flexible with respect to your family responsibilities. 18. The company is very strict in maintaining proper rules related to non discriminations and harassment. 19. You are satisfied with your current salary. 20. You are satisfied with the company’s paid leave. 21. You get the sense of job security. 22. The medical benefits are satisfactory in the company. 23. The team leader or supervisor recognises your work. 24. You are satisfied with the job roles and responsibilities. Read More