The factors that motivate first line management in engineering companies.
Title
The factors that motivate first line management in engineering companies.
Research Objectives
) To critically evaluate the literature to identify key theories and models of motivation
2) To undertake primary research amongst the first line management in engineering companies in order to evaluate identified key theories of motivation.
3) To draw conclusions and give recommendations for areas of improvement.
Background
Motivation is a basic concept in human behaviour and also in employee behaviour.
My research proposal is on motivation because motivation has a huge value in determining performance, and employee morale. An employee's performance typically is influenced by motivation, ability, and the work environment.
The organisation I'll be concentrating on will be in a number of local Engineering Companies (in Kenya). I chose to study motivation in engineering companies due to having communication access i.e. contacts. I would comfortably get information about the organisations. This is because I am familiar with engineering companies, as I have had work experience last summer. And while working in the organisation I know the company's competitors.
As a result of research on engineering companies I would be aware of the way the employees work and will be able to understand the employees' behaviour at an early stage.
In every organisation motivation is a major subject. Every organisation wants its employees to be motivated to work and the organisation will try to help its employees to be motivated to their work.
In summary, this research is of both personal and generic value in illuminating the impact of motivational techniques within a chosen organisational setting.
Literature Review
Engineering is simply context of the study but not the core. In the same way first line management are the population to be studied. Evans (1992) defines the First-Line Manager, as "the supervisor is the official manager of the work Like a manager he is responsible for determining objectives, planning/organising, communicating, controlling, motivating, etc", and this will be the definition brought forward for this study. However, the core of the study is motivation, and forms the basis of the literature review.
I am defining each parameter in narrow.
- Language: English
- Subject area: Motivation
- Business sector: Engineering Company
- Geographical area: Kenya
- Publication period: 5 years
- Literature type: Internet and books
The underlying concept of motivation is some driving force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfil some need or expectation. This concept gives rise to the basic motivational model illustrated below.
A Basic motivational model
Source: Mullins 1999
"People's behaviour is determined by what motivates them. Their performance is a product of both ability level and motivation" (Mullins 1999).
The various approach of motivation theories are highlighted by Mullins (1999) which are as follows:
* Economics needs motivation
* Social concept of motivation
* Self-actualisation
* Complex person concept of motivation
Taylor (1890) was a believer in the economic needs concept of motivation. He was an economic man. The traditional approach to motivation was by Taylor.
Taylor believed that if management acted on his ideas, work would become more satisfying and profitable for all concerned. Achieving the highest possible wages through working in the most efficient and productive way would motivate workers.
Taylor's (1890) work has been criticised quite a lot by a number of people, e.g. Rose (1891), she argued that Taylor's (1890) diagnosis of the industrial situation ...
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* Complex person concept of motivation
Taylor (1890) was a believer in the economic needs concept of motivation. He was an economic man. The traditional approach to motivation was by Taylor.
Taylor believed that if management acted on his ideas, work would become more satisfying and profitable for all concerned. Achieving the highest possible wages through working in the most efficient and productive way would motivate workers.
Taylor's (1890) work has been criticised quite a lot by a number of people, e.g. Rose (1891), she argued that Taylor's (1890) diagnosis of the industrial situation was based on the simple theme of inefficiency. Among his criticisms are that Taylor selected the best workers for his experiments and assumed that workers who were not good at one particular task would be best at some other task.
After Taylor (1890), Maslow (1954) studied motivation, when he first published "Motivation and Personality" which introduced his theory about how people satisfy various personal needs in the context of their work.
He theorised that a person could not recognise or pursue the next higher need in the hierarchy until her or his currently recognised need was substantially or completely satisfied, a concept called prepotency.
According to literature on motivation, individuals often have problems consistently articulating what they want from a job. Therefore, employers have ignored what individuals say that they want, instead telling employees what they want, based on what managers believe most people want under the circumstances. Frequently, these decisions have been based on Maslow's (1954) needs hierarchy, including the factor of prepotency. As a person advances through an organisation, his employer supplies or provides opportunities to satisfy needs higher on Maslow's (1954) pyramid.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs model
Source: Mullins (1999)
After Maslow Alderfer (1969) presented a modified need hierarchy model, his 'ERG' theory. This model condenses Maslow's five levels of need into three levels based on the need of existence, relatedness and growth.
The 'ERG' pyramid
Herzberg, a psychologist, proposed a theory about job factors that motivate employees. Maslow, a behavioural scientist and contemporary of Herzberg's, developed a theory about the rank and satisfaction of various human needs and how
people pursue these needs. These theories are widely cited in the business literature.
Herzberg (1959) constructed a two-dimensional paradigm of factors affecting people's attitudes about work. He concluded that such factors as company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary are hygiene factors rather than motivators. According to his theory, the absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create any satisfaction.
In contrast, he determined from the data that the motivators were elements that enriched a person's job; he found five factors in particular that were strong determiners of job satisfaction: achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement. These motivators (satisfiers) were associated with long-term positive effects in job performance while the hygiene factors (dissatisfiers) consistently produced only short-term changes in job attitudes and performance.
Herzberg's two-factor theory
Source: Mullins 1999
Herzberg, a psychologist, proposed a theory about job factors that motivate employees. Maslow, a behavioural scientist and contemporary of Herzberg's, developed a theory about the rank and satisfaction of various human needs and how people pursue these needs. These theories are widely cited in the business literature.
Herzberg (1959) constructed a two-dimensional paradigm of factors affecting people's attitudes about work. He concluded that such factors as company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary are hygiene factors rather than motivators. According to his theory, the absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create any satisfaction.
In contrast, he determined from the data that the motivators were elements that enriched a person's job; he found five factors in particular that were strong determiners of job satisfaction: achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement. These motivators (satisfiers) were associated with long-term positive effects in job performance while the hygiene factors (dissatisfiers) consistently produced only short-term changes in job attitudes and performance.
Taylor (1890), Maslow (1954) and Herzberg (1959) are all process theories of motivation. Process theories, are brought forward by Vroom, and Poter and Laweler (1968) - Expectancy-based model.
Vroom (1968) was the first person to put forward the expectancy theory aimed specifically at work motivation. His model is based on three key variables: valence (the feeling of specific outcomes), instrumentality (the valence of outcomes derive, therefore, from their instrumentality - Mullins 1999. Leading to two distinctions between first-level outcomes and second-level outcomes). And expectancy (when a person chooses between alternative behaviours which have uncertain outcomes).
Basic model of expectancy theory
Source: Mullins 1999
Research Methodology
To achieve my research objectives I would talk about the Research Design and Data Collection.
In the Research Design I would be using The Research Process 'Onion' - using the four layers of the 'Onion' and in the Data Collection I would be using the fifth layer of the 'Onion'. The diagram below shows The Research Process 'Onion'.
Research Question
What are the factors that motivate employees within the engineering companies?
Research Design
According to my research question, the research philosophy that will be undertaken for the engineering companies is the positivism philosophy.
"In a positivistic study Black (1993) recommends a specific research question, followed by a number of hypothesis" (Saunder 2000).
"A theoretical framework is a collection of theories and models from the literature which underpins a positivistic research study" (Hussey et al., 1997).
My research philosophy is a positivism philosophy (first layer of the 'onion') this is because it is closely related to a hypothesis. Whereas a "phenomenological study, a theoretical framework may be less important or less clear in its structure" (Hugges et al., 1997). This philosophy does not match with my research question.
My research approach is a detuctive approach (second layer of the 'onion') instead of an inductive approach. Detuctive research is a study, which is based on concepts, and theoretical structure is developed and then tested by an empirical observation. Basically it's where theory is developed and hypothesis and a research strategy is designed to test the hypothesis. E.g. my topic is about motivation and motivations' got theories and I just need to prove it. I would prove it by giving out questionnaires and have face-to-face interviews. This will be discussed later in the assignment in the Data Collection.
I did not choose inductive approach, because according to Saunders 2000 detuctive approach owes more to positivism and the inductive approach to phenomenology.
Inductive approach is a study where theory is developed from the observation of empirical reality.
I also chose detuctive because I have read theories of motivation and will test them at a couple of engineering companies.
The research strategies I choose are survey and case study (third layer of the 'onion'). This is because the survey method is associated with the deductive approach, which I have chosen. Survey is a common and popular strategy in business and management research. Surveys allow the collection of a large amount of data from sizeable population in a high economic way. Mainly based on questionnaires, because it is easily understood and can easily come to a conclusion.
I have also chosen case study. This is because I have gained a rich understanding of the context of the research and the process being authorized. The case study usually answers he questions to 'why', 'what', and 'how' questions.
Robson (1993:40) defines case study as the development of detailed intensive knowledge about a single "case" or a small number of related "cases".
My research is more of a case study and a survey.
In my Research Design I am defining each parameter in narrow.
- Language: English
- Subject area: Motivation
- Business sector: Engineering Company
- Geographical area: Kenya
- Publication period: 3 years
- Literature type: Internet and books
Data Collection
This is the fifth layer of The Research Process 'Onion'.
Data collection is how I intend to collect my data to analyse and receive results for my research.
There are two types of capturing data i.e. secondary data and primary data.
I would us the secondary data i.e. Internet to find out what motivates people and their behaviour and attitude towards work. I am only using Internet for my secondary data because of time constraint. I don't have enough time to research from books, journals and articles. Due to not having enough time I would be concentrating on primary research i.e. face-to-face interviews and questionnaires but not on observations.
I would acquire results from for the Data Collection by going to two engineering organisations.
The sample size will be small i.e. 20 people due to time constraint. I would give ten questionnaires to one organisation and other ten to the other organisation. I would hand out the questionnaires both to the employees and employers, because the job for an employee is different from an employer. And employer might be receiving more benefits than an employee. This is known as triangulation. "Triangulation refers to the use of different data collection within one study in order to ensure that the data are telling you what you think they are telling you" (Saunders 2000).
The questionnaire will be simple and straightforward to answer. The questionnaires will be both closed and open questions, due to motivation being a wide topic.
While employees and employers are filling in the questionnaires I would be having face-to-face interviews with the other employees who are not filling the questionnaires. I would be asking them short structured questions.
I would interview and give out questionnaires to both part-time i.e. mostly students and full-time employees and employers. This is because students' behaviour towards work is very different from full-time employees/employers or old people.
Overall, to analyse and compare my results I would draw bar graphs and pie charts to draw a conclusion.
Numerical Techniques
The statistical data I have collected is through questionnaires. A copy of a questionnaire is attached in the appendix of my assignment. My questionnaire is about motivation at work, how do employees and employers get motivated. I gave out questionnaires to two organisations and they are EGG and Search.
To draw my results I would draw pie charts and bar graphs.
I have analysed my results in a tally table to make it easier to draw conclusions (and to draw pie charts and bar graphs).
. What is your gender?
2. What age group do you fit in?
3. Are you are part-time employee/employer or a full-time employee/employer?
Women P/T employee Women P/T employer Women F/T employee Women F/t employer
5. The job you are doing is it interesting?
6. How does the organisation motivate you, by...
9. Does the organisation provide any benefits to you if you work overtime?
Overall, I would conclude that motivation is very important that a person is motivated when working. If he/she is not motivated to work than the person will not enjoy working and will be wasting time where he/she can do something else that motivates them.
Bibliography
* SAUNDER, M. LEWIS, PHILIP. THORNHILL, A. (2000) Research Methods for Business Students. 2nd ed., FT: Prentice Hall.
* HUSSEY, J. HUSSEY, R. (1997) Business Research. Macmillan.
* MULLINS, L.J. (1999) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 5th ed., FT: Prentice Hall.
* EVANS, D. (1992) Supervisory Management. 3rd ed., Cassell.
Sadia Niaz Business Measurement 28th May 2002
