Factors of Productivity - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal Working To study the relation between satisfying and dissatisfying factors affecting workers’ productivity. Aim of the research Herzberg’s theory of motivation emphasizes upon the need to take separate measures to improve the satisfaction and reduce the dissatisfaction of workers. This research aims at identifying methods to improve satisfaction and reduce dissatisfaction of workers simultaneously so that their productivity can be enhanced and the quality of their work can be improved. Objectives The research will achieve the following objectives: • Identification of dissatisfying factors that decline the productivity of workforce. • Identification of satisfying factors that improve the productivity of workforce. • Studying the influence of environment on the nature of factors influencing productivity. • Study of the traditional methods for productivity improvement. • Formulation of a productivity improvement strategy that simultaneously focuses on lessening the dissatisfaction and improving the satisfaction among workers. • Judgment of the validity of the Herzberg’s theory of motivation through results of the strategy. Justification: Productivity is one of the most cardinal concerns in the state of the art business practices. The progress of any organization depends upon the speed of work. Workers’ motivation plays a decisive role in boosting the speed of work because they work at the grass root level. Their productivity is essential for the company’s progress to comply with the schedule. Companies that surpass the deadline make the owners incur great financial losses. Liquidated damages absorb the profit margin that not only decreases the profitability of business, but also serves as a potential discouragement for the owners. Therefore, workers’ productivity is the key factor that needs to be concentrated upon in order to increase the profitability of a business. The extent to which a worker is productive is governed by several factors that include but are not limited to the workers’ motivation, skill, age, and culture. For the scope of this research, workers’ motivation will be focused and means will be identified to increase their motivation so that they may increase their productivity. Various theories of motivation have been proposed, each highlighting a specific aspect of motivation. One such theory is the Herzberg’s motivational theory that emphasizes that workers can only be motivated for work if managers take measures to both satisfy them and remove the factors that dissatisfy them. Such theories are readily being relied upon by both researchers and practitioners. There is a need to check the validity of these theories. This research will check the validity and practical usability of the Herzberg’s theory of motivation by devising a strategy based on it that would focus on improving workers’ motivation for work, and hence their productivity. The research will be very useful for researchers and philosophers that tend to base their proceedings on the Herzberg’s theory of motivation. If the strategic model of productivity enhancement devised in this research brings out positive results, it would not only justify the usability of the Herzberg’ motivation theory, but would also provide the owners with a well developed strategic model of productivity improvement. Review of the literature Various factors influencing the productivity of individuals in the context of work can be success, job satisfaction, desire for money, team work and recognition (Management Study Guide, 2011). Productivity is directly influenced by an individual’s level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the job. Job satisfaction is controlled by the employees’ satisfaction with such factors as salary, leave, medical facilities and insurance etc. Various theories of motivation like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Alderfer’s ERG theory and the Herzberg motivational theory commonly stress upon a need to address workers’ concerns on these factors so that their motivation for work can be increased. Therefore, workers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction factors can be linked to their motivation. Hence, this research would base the workers’ productivity improvement strategy upon the Herzberg’s motivation theory. This requires an in depth analysis of the motivation increasing methods that are conventionally applied in Thailand. Before analyzing methods in place in Thailand to improve workers’ motivation, it is customary to define the term “motivation”. Motivation can be understood as “the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors” (Cherry, 2011). Hartney (2009) refers to motivation as a person’s desire to alter his/her addictive attitude. According to Sasson (2011), motivation is an individual’s inner energy or force that causes him/her to act or perform in a certain manner. Herzberg presented a unique theory about motivation in which he said that factors that cause dissatisfaction among workers in their workplace are not opposite to the factors that inculcate satisfaction in them. Herzberg drew the relationship between job satisfiers and dissatisfiers stating, “…job satisfiers deal with the factors involved in doing the job, whereas the job dissatisfiers deal with the factors which define the job context” (Herzberg, 1959 cited in Chapman, 2010). That essentially means that if the employers take measures to reduce the dissatisfaction among workers, they may effectively preclude all the factors causing dissatisfaction among workers. However, that does not mean that such an attempt of the employers would generate satisfaction among workers so that they would improve their performance. There is dire need to study the relationship between the potential satisfying and dissatisfying factors so that measures taken by employers can be made effective in drawing the desired results by simultaneously addressing both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Herzberg’s demarcation of job satisfiers and dissatisfiers compliments nearly all other theories of motivation, that essentially talk about certain specific factors, addressing which, employers can increase the motivation of their workers. For example, the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory has identified five specific needs that hierarchically play a role in motivating a worker. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be best explained with the help of the figure given below: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Sorensen, 2006). As can be observed from the figure, Maslow has simply highlighted five needs and has not talked about any satisfying or dissatisfying factors. According to Maslow, a worker will only think about realization and self actualization if his/her four basic needs of physique, security, affection and esteem are met. Likewise, Alderfer’s ERG theory talks about the needs of existence, relatedness and growth (NetMBA, 2010). Alderfer has emphasized that managers need to simultaneously take measures to address each of the three needs of existence, relatedness and growth, and did not specify any satisfying or dissatisfying factors. Research Strategy The research will be fundamentally of a quantitative nature. The research will be conducted on a floor tile manufacturing company in Thailand. In order to cover the whole range of factors that may influence the workers’ productivity, data will be collected both from workers working in offices and others that work in the plant. It is expected that plant specific factors that influence productivity are different from those that are not plant specific, and are indeed office specific. This can be attributed to the fact that the culture prevalent in a tile manufacturing company’s office is significantly different from that which is prevalent in the plant. By collecting data from workers working in both areas, the research will not only be more realistic, but also will provide the researcher with an opportunity to draw a comparison between the office and plant specific satisfying and dissatisfying factors. Data will be collected from about 300 people through questionnaires. Sample will be equally divided between office and plant. Research techniques First, focus group sessions will be conducted. Focus group discussions with the workers would allow the researcher to identify the core satisfying and dissatisfying factors that influence their productivity. Half of the focus group sessions will aim at determining the factors that satisfy the workers in their work. The other half of the focus group sessions will identify factors that dissatisfy the workers in their work. In the end, common factors will be identified and listed in the questionnaire. The questionnaire will be based on Likert scale. The common factors will be mentioned and the workers will be asked to grade them as their provision satisfies them and their lack dissatisfies them. Likert scale will have numbers from 1 to 4 where 1, 2, 3 and 4 would mean “does not satisfy”, “somewhat satisfies”, “satisfies a lot” and “extremely satisfies” respectively. Similar scale will be used to measure dissatisfaction and 1, 2, 3 and 4 would represent “does not dissatisfy”, “somewhat dissatisfies”, “dissatisfies a lot” and “extremely dissatisfies.” Sample of questionnaire: For the workers Satisfaction scale Dissatisfaction scale Factors 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Salary Duty hours Reward system For the supervisor: Please tick the level to which this worker is productive: Not at all…………… Somewhat………….. Good enough………. Very good………….. Excellent…………… (Note: The supervisor will give information about the productivity of individual workers, so that response of workers will be assessed against their productivity level). Approach to analysis: Means of responses for the graded factors that were originally commonly identified as both satisfiers and dissatisfiers will be found, to see which the most influential factors on the workers’ productivity are. Factors whose satisfying and dissatisfying role is equal will be identified, along with other factors with biased satisfying or dissatisfying role. This will ease the formulation of a strategy that would enhance workers’ satisfaction and reduce their dissatisfaction. Their productivity is expected to increase as a result of this. Abstract: Workers’ productivity is the key factor in organizational success, since they serve as the driving engine for the organization. Productivity is influenced by workers’ motivation for work. Motivation has a direct effect on the productivity. Therefore, in order to improve workers’ productivity, it is imperative that their motivation is enhanced. Herzberg’s motivation theory is one theory that emphasizes that managers should take separate measures to increase workers’ satisfaction and decrease their dissatisfaction so that their productivity may be enhanced. There is need to check whether the theory is valid as it compliments nearly all other theories of motivation, that focus their discussion around certain factors and do not categorize factors on the basis of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This research will check the Herzberg’s theory of motivation by analyzing the impact of individual factors on the workers’ productivity from their own perspective. The research will clearly identify the productivity influencing factors that are job satisfiers and others that are job dissatisfiers. This will allow the research to come up with a practicable strategy that addresses both types of concerns of the workers. In addition to that, the effect of environment on the factors influencing workers’ productivity will be studied by comparing the response of office workers to that of plant workers for the same factors. Owing to the great difference between the office environment and the plant environment, it is expected that workers’ response will greatly vary for the same factors, and will yet be consistent within their individual categories of office and plant. This will allow the researcher to devise strategy that takes into account the effect of environment on the workers’ productivity, so that the practicability of the strategy can be enhanced. References: Chapman A, 2010, Frederick Herzbergs motivation and hygiene factors, viewed, 16 February, 2011, . Cherry, K 2011, What is Motivation? viewed, 16 February, 2011, . Hartney, E 2009, What is Motivation? viewed, 16 February, 2011, . Management Study Guide, 2011, What is Motivation? viewed, 16 February, 2011, . NetMBA, 2010, ERG Theory, viewed, 16 February, 2011, . Sasson, R 2011, What Is Motivation and How to Strengthen It, viewed, 16 February, 2011, . Sorensen, K 2006, Maslows hierarchy of needs and subpersonality work, viewed, 16 February, 2011, . Read More