MOTIVATION VARIABLES AND EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR (A CASE STUDY OF AKBC, UYO)

 

ABSTRACT

This study examined Motivation Variables and Employees Performance in the Public Sector, a case study of Akwa Ibom State Broadcasting Corporation (AKBC), Channel 45, Uyo. To carry out this research, research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Related literature was reviewed. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of the study was made up of the entire staff of Akwa Ibom State Broadcasting Corporation (AKBC), Channel 45, Uyo. Meanwhile, the total population of the organization was 200 (two hundred). A simple random sampling techniques was use to select the respondents. This was to enable the researcher to have effective coverage of the area of study.  A questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. It was discovered that a good reward system, incentives and promotion influenced workers productivity in the public sector. Recommendations were made at the end of the research and also suggestion for further study.

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

Motivation has always been a central problem for leaders and managers. Unmotivated workers are likely to spend time or no effort in their job, resulting in low quality work that they will willingly undertake. There have been a lot of research done on motivation and performance by many scholars, but the problem is that every employee in the public sector does not perform maximally in their work place.

The organizations needs to engage in the motivation of its employees who are faced with the challenges of the reduction in the value of their pay because of the impact of inflation and recession, the reduction in the government commitment to financing public services, and the general increase in the demand for public service as a result of the state of the economy (Varma, 2017). According to Okeke-Ezeanyanyu (2017), these conditions have demoralizing effects on the performance of the employees, who are of the view that their organization can dismiss them at will.

The above situation has led to the need for promoting employee motivation. Njoroge, Ongeti, Kinuu & Kasomi (2016) noted the need for changes that will tackle the dynamic external environmental pressures on organizations which demands that organizations adopt the best strategy that will motivate the employees into competitive performance. The aim of promoting employee motivation is to enhance the level of commitment, increase the level of display of skills, and intelligence of the employees for competitive performance. Adedeji & Ugwumadu (2018) argued that modern organizations are faced with the challenges of keeping their loyal and performing employees; therefore, they plan to achieve employee retention through adopting motivation as a business strategy that improves employee performance.

Arief, Tatang & Zarah (2018) conceptualized motivation as a positive emotional condition emanating from the evaluation of one’s service experience in his organization. Blaskova, et al. (2018) argued that motivation is a cognitive decision making targeted at ensuring that employees’ behaviors are channeled towards achieving an identified objective through initiation and monitoring. Badubi (2017) identified that motivation can be applied in different ways but the driving force is the target to achieve an identified objective. From the above viewpoints, it is observed that these authors are drawing attention to the psychological condition of the employee(s) at the workplace and deliberate need for evaluating the employees’ performance by the employer to ascertain the factors which hinder improved performance.

The role employees play in achieving the objectives of the organization, and the complex nature of human beings has made motivation a challenging task to the managers, directors, and heads of agencies and also demands that all managers should promote motivation which will make the employees perform optimally. It is noteworthy that the employee performance in the organization determines the success or failure of the organization.

According to Pradhan and Jena (2016), employee job performance entails the quality and quantity expected of every employee or the employees from their service to the organization. Siddiqi & Qureshi (2016) submitted that high performance of the employees is necessary because the innovative ability and creative intelligence of the organization reside with the employees; therefore, employee performance is the physical manifestation of the willingness, openness, and commitment to achieve new aspects of the job leading to higher productivity of the organization.

The importance of motivation on the performance of public sector organizations has necessitated the need to pay attention to both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that drive employees’ performance. Almas (2017) submitted that motivation can be carried out through the following ways: performance recognition, ensuring employees’ job satisfaction, listening to the complaints of the employees and attending to the needs, having a team of skilled managers, maintaining good communication flow, and giving the employees opportunity for career advancement.

According to the author, the motivational factors aim to create a conducive environment that will boost the enthusiasm, inspire the initiative of the employees with the group and individual satisfaction, and enhance their commitments targeted at achieving the organizational and individual goals. Ashveen (2018) warned that because of the unique perception of individuals, which varies from person to person, there is no motivational factor that is considered as the best.

However, Kjeldsen & Hansen (2016), on his analysis of the public sector motivation theory, submitted that the behavior and motivation of the public employees defer from that of the private sector because they are driven more by intrinsic than extrinsic motivation such as a financial reward. The diversity in individual perceptions and different reactions of the employees of the public and private sector to the concept of motivation as noted by Kjeldsen and Hansen has called for the need to examine the various ways through which motivation can be promoted in a public sector organization to ensure that the needed impact is made in the performance of the employees. Many things can be said to answer this questions, the reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated. Employers need to know their workers very well and use different kind of motivation depending on their needs and performance.

According to Webster dictionary, motivation is defined as something that drives people to action motivation varies in different people. Motivation emerges in current theories out of needs, values, goals, intentions and expectations, because motivation comes from within, managers need to cultivate and direct the motivation according to the need of the employee.

According to Frederick Herzberg, who conducted studies on workers motivation in the 1950’s, he developed the motivation hygiene theory of workers satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This incredible research concluded that hygiene benefit, and working condition can prevent dissatisfaction but they do not motivate the workers. He found that motivation such as recognition, giving or responsibility, advancement; increase satisfaction from work place can motivate people towards greater effort and performance. This study examined Motivation Variables and Employees Performance in the Public Sector, a case study of Akwa Ibom State Broadcasting Corporation (AKBC), Channel 45, Uyo.

 

1.2   Statement of Problem

The research focuses on the motivational variables and performance in the public sector which characterized a lot of attributes in the works behaviour in Akwa Ibom State Broadcasting Corporation (AKBC), Uyo. As was rightly pointed out by Nwokorie (2017), the Nigerian public sector is devoid of enticing physical needs packages to their employees. It is a common experience that the costs of foods, clothing, and shelter in Nigeria are unevenly distributed and unnecessarily high. This situation makes the stipends of public sector employees too meager and insufficient to take care of their ever-increasing needs. No employee will be happy working without getting a commensurate reward to take care of their needs and still puts all his or her best to practice hence, resulting in gross demoralization and discouragement. This in essence is one of the problems and prospects discovered that need to be addressed and this study will aim to do justice to this ugly trend in the Nigerian public sector.

The research based on workers motivation variables in the public sector and the inherent problem identified is that many employers do not motivate their staff adequately and this has affected their level of performance in their work place. It is based on this problem of lack of motivation that this project was undertaken to find the motivation variable that can enhance staff productivity in AKBC, Uyo.