CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

      1.1    Background to the Study

Human resource is the livewire of any organization. Its effective management is therefore very crucial and central in the achievement of organizational objective. One of the important responsibilities of every organization is making great use of every facility in disposal in order to gain the planned purposes and meanwhile the human resources play an important role (Schll, 2006). In today's competitive world, human resources guarantee the maintenance and survival every organization (Honari, 2006).

          Managers fulfil their organizational goals through the work of employees. Thus, managers need to have highly efficient and productive staff members. Although many factors contribute to productivity, job performance is viewed to be the most influential one. Job performance itself is a function of four variables: ability, understanding of the task, environment, and motivation (Mitchell, 2008). Accordingly, in order to perform well employees need to have the knowledge and tools that are required for the job as well as the will to do what is required from them.              Over the years the Nigerian public sector has continued to render poor quality services to the citizens mainly as a result of low performance of workers in the sector. Poor performance in the Nigeria public sector

manifest in poor planning, ineffective implementation of policies, poor public service delivery, abandoned projects, delays in plan implementation, shortage of basic amenities, and lack of accountability (Unanka, 2009). A walk into any government office on any typical day will reveal a largely lethargically slothful public service where workers are lazy, hawk wares, chatter about or sleep and snore on desks (Davidson, 2008)

       To curb the problems, various Nigerian governments at different periods introduced different measures including reform programmes aimed at motivating and improving the performance of workers in the public sector. Most of these reforms dwelt on motivational factors such as salary reviews, training, participative management, democratic leadership styles, and clinical approach to supervision and welfare facilities (Ogunna, 1999). Motivation is a by-product of many factors. These factors could either be internally or externally galvanized, depending on the disposition of the individual and prevailing circumstances at any given time. In the present Nigerian situation, the economic rate of activities and the subsequent high inflation rate have made money a relatively high motivating factor (Ubong, 2009). 

       The limited number of salary reviews in the Nigerian public sector, the inappropriateness of training programmes, as well as the inadequate access to housing and medical facilities cum low prospects of promotion   has brought about a situation where there have been persistent expressions of dissatisfaction among public sector workers. These workers include staffs of the Beta Glass Plc who are also part of the public sector.  Low performance in most cases is a by-product of dissatisfaction, which could manifest itself in various ways. Some of these ways include indiscipline and general apathy. To contain these traits it is important to assess the impact of motivation on workers’ performance as what constitute needs and satisfaction varies across individuals and organizations.

      1.2    Statement of the Problem

In a bid to motivate and improve the performance of workers in the Nigerian public and private sector, various Nigerian governments at different periods introduced different measures. Some of these measures include public service reforms, review of salaries and wages, creation of training institutes, housing and health insurance schemes and minimum wage act. These measures notwithstanding, the performance of public sector workers has been very poor and remains a major concern to the Nigerian government and its citizens. The prevailing situation at the work place has been one of low work performance and poor service delivery. It is estimated that Nigeria losses over 44 million US dollars annually due to poor service delivery (World Bank Report, 2009).           

Poor performance in the Nigerian public sector in most cases stem from dissatisfaction among workers. In turn dissatisfaction among workers in the public sector is attributed to many factors of which low motivation is a key factor. At the workplace, low motivation manifest itself in various ways including absenteeism from work stations, low quality work, low productivity, lateness, stealing of government property, corruption, insecurity, laziness, a high rate of complaints by the workers, and high staff turnover among the professional staff (Unanka, 2009).              The problem of low motivation also affects the performance of workers in the Beta Glass Plc.

1.3 Research Questions

In order to provide solutions to the problem of this study, the researcher provided answers to the following research questions:

i.             Is there any relationship between training and increased competence for staff of Beta Glass Plc?

ii.             Is there any relationship between financial incentives and work habits for staff of Beta Glass Plc?

iii. What are the effects of recognition on successful completion of task for staff of Nigeria Communication Commission?

      1.4    Objectives of the Study

The overall purpose of the study was to assess the impact of employee motivation on workers performance in Nigeria Communications

Commission.  Specifically, the objectives of the study were to;

a.            Examine whether there is any relationship between training and increased competence for staff of Beta Glass Plc.

b.           Examine the relationship between financial incentives and work habits for staff of Beta Glass Plc.

c.            Determine the effects of recognition on successful completion of task for staff Beta Glass Plc.

      1.5    Hypotheses

To put this study in proper perspective, the following hypotheses were formulated and tested:  

Ho: There is no significant relationship between training and increased competence for staff of Beta Glass Plc.

Ho: There is no significant relationship between financial incentives and work habits for staff of Beta Glass Plc.

      1.6    Significance of the Study

Although the literature is affluent with motivation theories, the problem is that most of them fall short of practical application or offer it only for the private sector. Even the studies that have been conducted on motivation in the public sector were mainly in relation to productivity in organizations whose outputs are easily quantifiable. There is no study that has focused on the impact assessment of employee motivation on workers performance in regulatory bodies like the Beta Glass Plc.

To this end, this study sought to cover this knowledge gap, as it carried out empirical assessment of the impact of motivation on workers performance in the Beta Glass Plc. This study would also provide empirical knowledge of the problems of motivation in the Nigerian public sector and thus would be of great benefit to the chief executive officials of the organisations and policy makers involved in human resource management. The results of the study would hopefully be significant in the sense that it would show how the various motivational factors (training and financial incentives) could be harnessed to inspire staff to increase and sustain higher performance.

      1.7    Scope and Limitations

This study was delimited to Beta Glass Plc. The researcher focused on the impact assessment of motivation on workers performance in Beta Glass Plc. Some of the motivational factors covered in this study included training, financial incentives and recognition. In terms of workers performance, the indicators covered were increased competence, work habits and successful completion of task.  The period to be covered in the study was 2007 – 2012.  Within this period, there were series of agitations by labour unions in Nigeria for the improvement of the welfare of workers in the public sector. The study also addresses the meaning of motivation, role of motivation in an organization, employee performance and review empirical works on motivation and workers performance in the Nigerian public sector.  

 In terms of limitations, two areas of constraint in carrying out this research were:

a.          The difficulty of administering the questionnaires to the staff of the Beta Glass Plc due to high level of security surrounding the work area and offices and;

b.          The suspicious attitude of most organizations towards research work which made accessibility to prospective respondents who are to provide needed data difficult.

      1.8    Definition of Concepts

 For the purpose of clarity, some of the important concepts and variables used in this study were defined authoritatively and

operationally as follows:

Motivation: Robbins and Judge (2008) see motivation as “the set of psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of individual’s behaviour toward attaining a goal”.

Operationally motivation consists of those things which are present or are provided in a work situation to improve the performance of the workers. Some of the indicators include level of absenteeism, rate of lateness and level of employee complaints. 

Training: According to Ogunna (1999) “training is concerned with the development of new skills, new attitudes, technical knowledge and values required to perform specific jobs”. Operationally training is the process by which the aptitudes, skills and abilities of employees to perform specific jobs are increased. Examples of training include in- service training, induction training, on – the – job training etc.

Financial incentives: These are monetary packages like fringe benefits, bonuses, pension, and gratuity, housing allowance and staff grants provided to workers to boost their morale and enhance their performance in an organization.

Recognition: Recognition is the process of publicly acknowledging and rewarding an employee’s high quality work or performance.

Workers/Employee Performance: Workers performance is the

successful completion of task by a selected individual or individuals, as set and measured by a supervisor or organization, to pre-defined acceptable standards while efficiently and effectively utilising available resources within a changing environment. Some of the variables or indicators of employee performance are increased competence, successful completion of task, work habits, timeliness, meeting goals, supervisory time, and implementation of new ideas among others. Increased Competence: This refers to greater abilities, commitments, knowledge and skills that enable a worker to perform effectively in a job.

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