MOTIVATIONAL TECHNIQUES IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND THEIR EFFECTS ON JOB PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC SERVANT
ABSTRACT
The issue of productivity in the public service had been a growing concern to members of the public in general and senior civil servants in particular. The argument is that most public servants are not usually motivated to put extra efforts in getting committed to their job. The lack of commitment to the job has led to a serious decline in the performance of public servants. So many reasons have been attributed to this while some people believe that the rewards for efforts in terms of financial compensation to public servants have been very poor, others attribute the lack of commitment to work to issues of poor physical working environment social aspects of the work situation as well as non challenging nature of the tasks and responsibilities in the public service.
This research work attempts to find whether or not it is true that public servants are not motivated. The Nigerian customs service has been selected as the case study. The research among other things seeks to find out what factors cause the lack of motivation among public servants if truly they are not motivated.
The research design adopted is the social survey method adopting the use of questionnaire to gather data from the selected sample of the total population of study. Hypothesis are then tested and from the analysis of data results inferences are made to generalize about the behaviour and perception of the public servants in the customs services.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The primary concern of management in the public and private establishment is that of increasing workers' productivity. Productivity is one of the yardsticks for measuring the success of an organization. The provision of adequate motivational programmes has been identified as one of the most vital instruments through which the productivity of the workers can be increased.
Motivation has been defined as an internal emerging force that makes a man move towards satisfying his needs.
Maslow (1954) believed that human needs are hierarchical order starting from the basic needs to the higher order needs. Once a particular need is satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator of behaviour and another need emerges. His hierarchy of needs is classified thus: physiological, safety love esteem, self-actualization and cognitive needs.
Thomas (1923) looked at motivation as comprising of wishes, security, recognition and response from one's fellows and experience.
Herzberg views motivation from two-dimensional theory of motivators and dissatisfiers. These two factor theories have often been called Motivation- maintenance-able theory.
The process of motivation is psychological. It is not directly observable and visible. Motivation cannot be seen, heard or felt but can only be inferred from behaviour. It is absolutely impossible for managers to measure motivation directly because it is in-observable
For instance, if workers in factor A are more productive than the workers in factory B, one might infer that those workers in factory A might have been highly motivated than those in factory B. Thus one can say that all behaviour is motivated and people have reasons for behaving in a particular manner or doing things in a particular fashion. Human behaviour is conditioned by the goals and objectives to be achieved. Such goals revolve around the desire to satisfy a particular need. An unsatisfied need is the starting point in the process of motivation.
Every worker in an organization has a goal or an objective to achieve and thus the process of motivation is complete. For example, an angry person needs food to satisfy his hunger. Such a person would only be motivated by the desire for food in order to satisfy this need. Thus, the continuous process begins with an unsatisfied need and ends with need satisfaction and with goal directed behaviour as part of the process.
In effect, the employ's ability to satisfy those pressing needs of the worker's gives a long way to determine how motivated a worker is which invariably affects the worker's productivity.
The need for motivation can be viewed from different aspect in an organization which constitutes the fact that qualified manpower must be attracted and maintained, worker must be motivated to exert their time and energy in achieving and pursuing the predetermined goals of the organization and also for human resources being the most important factor of production in an ·organization maintained and developed. These reasons suggest that the creation of conducive environment is a prerequisite for achievement of organizational success.
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
It has become obvious that organization consider motivation as a tool to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of workers for increase in employee’s productivity. It has been noticed that employees are yet to be efficient in their work due to the fact that employees are not given the type of motivation they want. It is this aspect that brought about certain question like
i. Does it mean that workers are not given the right type of motivation?
ii. Does motivation increase workers’ productivity in an organization?
iii. How does motivation stimulate employees to put in his best in the organization?
iv. Does motivation of employees increase organization efficiency and effectiveness towards making profits?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The objective of this research study among other vital condition include:
i. To examine the role in which workers can play in influencing the productivity of workers.
ii. To examine the role which the satisfaction physiological can play in influencing their productivity.
iii. To study the impacts of adequate motivational programmes on workers’ productivity and how it has helped the ~any in achieving its set goals and targets.
iv. To suggest possible ways of increasing the work performance of employees.
1.4 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES
i. There is no positive relationship between workers t productivity and satisfaction of economic needs.
ii. There is no positive relationship between level of motivation and workers commitment to the goals of the organization.
iii. There is no positive relationship between satisfaction of workers social needs and productivity.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY
The study of motivation is very wide because almost all organizations both private and public use it is a means or tool for enhancing their employees' potentials and productivity.
The study shall be limited in scope to Nigeria Customs Services. It will cover various departments such as Finance, Administration and Technical Services department e.tc. The study is also limited among other things which nature of the academic calendar will not allow for an in depth analysis of the study.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SYUDY
The findings of this study will elicit the effect of motivation on the production of the employees of Nigeria Customs Services. It will offer the best method to motivate employees at a particular point in time. It will also serve as a useful tool in Nigeria Customs Services for further decision-making process on promotion related issues. Knowledge of organization motivations shall be enhanced along with the improvement of the employee’s performance and production for smooth discharge of their duties.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Motivation: This can be defined as the energizing force an all those inner striving conditions described as wishes, desires, drives, e. t, c. That induce compel and maintain behaviour.
Productivity: This is an increase inefficiency and the rate at which goods are produced in an organization towards the achievement of the set goals.
Role: This is the part an individual worker plays in the accomplishment of the goals of an organization,
Employee Morale: This is the attitude or feeling of an individual worker towards his job colleagues and supervisors in the organization.
Welfare Services: These are wide range of services such as Conducive Work Environment, Medical Care, Housing Facilities, transport Services e.t.c. To boost the worker's morale so as to increase their productivity.
Management: These are workers who occupy managerial position in an organization.
Strategies: Skill of managing all affairs.
The Hypothesis of the study includes:
a. There is no positive relationship between workers productivity and satisfaction of economic needs.
b. There is no positive relationship between level of motivation and workers commitment to the goals of the organization.
c. There is no positive relationship between satisfaction of workers social needs and productivity.
Also, in view point to note about motivation, job satisfaction and employee productivity.
The following points should be noted by managers about staff motivation, job satisfaction and productivity.
a. Human beings are wanting beings; they always want and they want more. Bye what they want depends upon what they have already. As soon as one need is satisfied, another will emerge.
b. Mutual interest; there is commonality of interests between the manager and his subordinates and among all employee in the organization. Though individual interests are different, yet they can find mutual interest in the organization or in the social group e.g. seeing to welfare of the workers generally, and the survival of the organization.
c. Human dignity; people want to be treated with respect and dignity. They want to be treated as human beings.
d. Effective Communication; Communication is essentially a bridge of meaning between people. It is defined as the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another.
Therefore, the manager should ensure a free flow communication in the organization setting.
