MOTIVATION:A CATALYST FOR ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY

ABSTRACT

This project espouses the motivation as an essential ingredient for enhanced productivity. Quite often, management is so much concerned with what it can get out of employees in terms of best job performance; profitability or results. Little attention is paid to the motivation of employees who are human beings and not machines. This slow attitude of management in failing to appreciate the value of employees motivation so that appropriate management techniques can be developed has resulted in a great wastes of human resources.

This dissatisfaction of employees are more often than not; reflected in high labour turnover, frequent complaints, strikes and deterioration in job performance. In order to avoid employees dissatisfaction management should identify the causes and develop a package programme to cater for the maintenance motivation needs of staff.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background Of The Study

Motivation is a common word often discussed by people in any given organisation and it shall be discuss in terms of management and employees relationship. Basically, management involves planning, organising, directing, coordinating, budgeting, control etc. (Drunker, 1975 and 1978). The primary objective of all these responsibilities is the achievement of best result. Similarly, management cannot achieve its primary objective in the atmosphere of chaos, unfriendliness and lack of motivation (Humble, 1969: Akpala, 1991). Motivation entails in very simple terms, encouragement shown in cash and/or in kind.

Management cannot operate in isolation of employee employees are human beings and not more tools which are utilized in reckless manner. In a changing economic world, employee have gone beyond being just employees, but have take keen interests in the management of organisational affairs that concern them.

The need to satisfy human wants has led to the study of motivation an individual basis. The inner state of dis-equilibrium of man is forcing him to search and choose strategies to satisfy his needs. In the course of searching and choosing strategies, he processes some abilities which enable him to direct his performance towards his goals. If the performance satisfies the employer, a reward is given to the employees. On the century, the employee will receive punishment, therefore, motivation is the concern of both employer and employee.

In organisations, managers in recent times are worried about the decline in workers productivity. The over increasing external forces of national and international competitions economic, social, technological and political situations have compelled mangers to develop and acquired new levels of organisational efficiency and effectiveness. Having in mind the endless changes in organisations, the managers that are lealing the race to reach the goals of the organisations are encouraging the employees to continue the race by developing ways to stimulate the employee ways to maintain the effective for work force and ways to develop their skills.

Motivating employees leads the functions of managers in any organisations to make policies, many managers take the motivation of employees into consideration in order to get the best out of them. The key to high productivity, high profitability and high viability of any organisations is motivation, so it must not be tampered with.

Also, there is a growing realization that traditional models of motivation do not explain the diversity of behaviour found in organisational settings. While research and theory building in the areas of goal setting, reward system, leadership and job design have advanced our understanding of organisational behaviour, most of this work is built on the premise that individuals act in ways to maximize the value of exchange with the organisations. In addition, some researchers have called attention to the role of dispositions and volitional processes as models of motivation (Kanfer, 1990) others point out that we have a variety of motivation theories that have no unifying theme and are not supported well by the research (Locke and Henne, 1986). In an effort to address these issues, some researchers have turned to self theory as an alternative explanation for organisational behaviour. Specifically, social identity theory (Stryker, 1980, 1986, Teyfel and Tuner, 1985). Self presentation theory (Beach and Mitchell, 1990). Gergen, 1968, Schlenker, 1985) and self efficiency theory (Bendura 1982, 1986) are all fundamentally rotted in the concept of self.