Improving Motivation and Job Satisfaction at the Laredo Federal Credit Union

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Improving Motivation and Job Satisfaction at the Laredo Federal Credit Union

INTRODUCTION

        Motivation is the process of modifying an individual’s behavior to produce an acceptable and desired response to a given circumstance.  Motivation is force acting either on or within a person to initiate behavior (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2003).  Human motivation has a basis according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which lists human needs in the following order for satisfaction.  Physiological needs like food air, and water take up the primary base followed by the need for safety, which includes shelter and belonging to a family.  The love is the next step in an individual’s personal self-esteem, and the esteem individuals as perceived from their peers acceptance.  The final step is dynamic self-actualization, which encompasses realization and harmony with ones internal and external motivational influences (Kozier, Erb, and Oliveri, 1995).  

        Whether in a personal or professional setting, individuals are motivated by intrinsic factors that come from personal acquired life experiences that are rooted in an individuals core psyche.  Extrinsic factors are the motivators that influence an individual’s drive to modify and adapt their own intrinsic forces to that which are enhancing to personal and professional incentives, and thus motivators for individuals.  Esteem, which is how individuals perceive themselves, or how the person feels they are viewed by peers, is a significant motivational force in the professional setting.  An individual’s position in an organizational matrix is another motivational factor that greatly impacts an individual’s professional performance.  Financial gains and incentives is another significant motivational area that greatly affects the extrinsic drive for adaptation to the given situational model.  The final determining factor for an individual’s extrinsic motivation is the need for professional self-actualization, which comes from the personal satisfaction and self-respect derived from knowing that goals and expectations have been achieved (Kozier, Erb, and Oliveri, 1995).  

        The lack of employee motivation, and management’s lack of proper training and tools to effectively deal with these problems in the work place can have dramatic impacts on the organization’s goals.  Management must be able to recognize and properly motivate employees to meet their own goals and those of the organization.  By having a standardized format and dealing with all individuals on a unique and dynamic basis, management should be able to properly motivate employees to excel, and thereby meet the common good of the group, individual and organization.        

        Laredo Federal Credit Union can be included among those organizations with unmotivated employees. Certainly, everyone at the LFCU has been unmotivated at one point or another. However, employee motivation has become a problem in the last year, and no one seems to know the exact reason behind the lack of motivation. In addition, no one knows how to solve this serious problem.

        The purpose of this report is to understand why motivating employees is crucial for an organization. Employees lacking motivation can be detrimental to an organization. Decreases in production, morale, and customers are just a few of the negative effects low morale can have on a company. On the other hand, motivated employees can have just the opposite effect. Through secondary research, using the American Business Index, this thorough report will provide crucial information about motivating employees.

        The goals of this report are to (1) Determine the current level of motivation and job satisfaction at the LFCU (2) Explain why employees become unmotivated, (3) Identify the consequences a company endures with unmotivated employees, (4) Discuss strategies or techniques organizations can use to motivate their employees, and (5) Illustrate the positive consequences a company enjoys with motivated employees. Finally, the report will analyze the data collected by the population survey and suggest recommendations based on the conclusions derived from secondary research.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

The survey was administered to the total population of fifteen tellers from the McPherson branch of the Laredo Federal Credit Union. The survey consisted of five sections. The first section collected personal information of the respondent regarding employment status, seniority, current salary, the rating of their latest evaluation, type of compensation preferred, and their overall feeling of changing their job. The second section contained a topical module of questions, using a Likert scale, regarding motivation and job satisfaction towards work. This section was made-up of seven different topics: challenge, financial rewards, promotions, relationship with co-workers, resources, comfort, and communication. The third section consisted of two lists, one dealing with motivation factors and the other with incentives, which the respondents had to rank in order of preference and effectiveness, respectively.

Employee Demographics

A majority, 73 percent, of the respondent’s have a full-time employment status. Only 60 percent of the population has been employed by the Laredo Federal Credit Union for one to three years, with 13 percent working for less than six months. A total of 66.7 percent started with an hourly rate under eight dollars. Only 26.7 percent started with an hourly rate between eight and nine dollars. A good number of respondents, 33.3 percent, are currently earning between eight and nine dollars per hour. This is due to the fact that new tellers are currently starting at an hourly rate of eight dollars. There are still 33.3 percent with an hourly rate under eight dollars, ranging between six and eight dollars.  The assumption can be made that the hourly rate of the tellers earning less than eight dollars was not adjusted when the hourly rate for new hires rose to eight dollars.

The job performance rating for most of the respondents was the same. A majority, 80 percent, received a rating of “Satisfactory” on their latest evaluation. Their overall performance was also “Satisfactory”. One reason for this unchanged result is that the employees are not getting the motivation required for continual improvement. Also, tellers are not getting rated as “Exceeding Requirements” or “Excellent” because most of them are only aiming to fulfill the necessary requirements for their position, if that. Changes in job performance did not improve due to last year’s annual evaluations, where everyone got the same percentage increment, regardless of their individual performance. This action by LFCU discouraged the tellers to exceed the required job performance. Monetary compensation was chosen over non-monetary, 66.7 percent and 26.7 percent respectively. When asked if their impression of the LFCU has changed since they were first hired, 53.3 percent said it improved while 26.7 percent said it diminished, and the remaining 20 percent had no change. Again, the reason why a large percent whose view diminish can be linked to last years annual evaluations and a cross the board salary increases. A small amount, 13 percent would not recommend the LFCU as a place for employment. This could be associated with the high percentage of 93.3 that would leave LFCU if given the opportunity, most of which are not eager to leave but would do so if given a better paying job. Lack of motivation can really hurt the Laredo Federal Credit Union in terms of turnover, by increasing training costs, losing a productive employee, and negatively impacting customer satisfaction.

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Challenge

        Employees are motivated by a challenging job that allows a feeling of achievement, responsibility, growth, advancement, enjoyment of work, and earned recognition. Overall, a majority with 69.6 percent are satisfied with the workplace, with only 7.7 percent disagreeing. A total of 86.6 percent find their work interesting. Eighty percent of the respondents feel they are given the opportunity to develop their abilities. A significant amount of respondents, 33.3 percent, are undecided towards their feeling of having the freedom to decide how they work. This percentage is the same for the amount of respondents that are undecided on whether ...

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