This paper aims at studying the importance of employee motivation and the factors influencing it. The report examines a number of factors that lead to employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The present study was conducted on the employees of Faysal Bank and the factors influencing their work behavior were studied in detail. The main focus of the paper is on how employees are managed in the organization and what measures are taken by the management to motivate existing employees and attract more employees. The paper makes use of different motivational theories for the analysis of the result.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
The importance of employee motivation is now being recognized by all the major organizations as it has a significant impact on the overall performance of the organization. For any organization to achieve its goals it is important to keep their employee motivated and satisfied. When employees are motivated the individual quality and quantity of performance increases which directly has a positive effect on the overall performance of the organization. Employee motivation leads to job satisfaction which also plays an important role in increasing the overall efficiency of the organization. The presence of these factors may not be as important but the absence of these factors can have an adverse affect on the organizational performance. One of the main jobs of a manager is to motivate his or her employees. This paper studies the level of employee motivation at Faysal Bank, DHA, Phase IV branch. In order to develop a better understand of employee motivation and factors affecting it, the paper begins with a review of the literature and theories related to employee motivation. Then the adopt research methodology is discussed in Chapter 3. The next chapter includes the findings and the results of the study. Conclusion and recommendations are explained in Chapter 5.
Chapter 2 - Literature Review
2.1. Employee Motivation
In order to achieve the goal of strategically solving organizational problems, it is very important for the managers to adopt various approaches to make sure that the employee performance is consistently getting better. The reason why researchers and investigators have been stressing on the selection of appropriate leadership style is because effective leadership and right style of leadership can help in motivating employees (Goleman 2010). Some of the most popular leadership theories and their assumptions are mentioned in Appendix I in the order in which they were proposed. It has been noted that the four basic emotional need, or drives, to "acquire (obtain scarce goods, including intangibles such as social status); bond (form connections with individuals and groups); comprehend (satisfy our curiosity and master the world around us); and defend (protect against external threats and promote justice)" (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008, p. 1). Empirical evidence suggests that a motivated workforce results in a better overall performance of an organization and so managers who seek to improve the motivation of their employees must take note of the above mentioned needs and drives.
2.1.1. Job Satisfaction and Employee Turnover
Locke described job satisfaction as "…a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences" (Locke, 1976, p. 1304). It can thus be said that when jobs are evaluated, both thinking and feelings are involved (Saari & Judge, 2004). Studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between job satisfaction and employee's performance and factors such as "fair promotion, reasonable pay system, appropriate work itself, and good working condition" increases the level of job satisfaction (Nimalathasan & Brabete, 2011, p. 3). However, there may be other factors present leading to job satisfaction. Studies have also shown that job dissatisfaction and lack of involvement in the job leads to an increase in the employee turnover (Lee, 1988). W. H. Mobley was the first person to explain the process of job dissatisfaction leading to employee turnover in 1977. Mobley proposed the following seven stages of job dissatisfaction leading to employee turnover (Mobley, 1977):
the thought of quitting the job
Evaluation of the "expected utility of searching for another job and the costs associated with quitting the present job" (Lee, 1988, p. 263).
the intention to look for another job surfaces
the employee then finally starts searching for an alternative job
once the alternative is identified, the employee then evaluates its acceptability
a comparison is then made between the current job and the alternative
an intention to quit the current job emerges after the comparison leading to employee turnover
It can be said that there is a strong relationship between job dissatisfaction and employee turnover and it is only one of the negative effects of job dissatisfaction. Employee dissatisfaction also brings down the overall productivity of an organization and decreases the morale of the work force. According to Price's preliminary causal model of turnover, four main external factors have a significant impact on job satisfaction and employee turnover (Price, 1975). These factors include pay, primary group, communication, and centralization (Price, 1975).
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Figure 1 - Preliminary Causal Model of Turnover
According to the model, pay will only be an important determinant if it plays an important role in the employee's life otherwise it will not have a significant impact on the employee satisfaction. The second variable describes the participation in a primary group, for instance, importance of kinship-type systems was highlighted by the Western Electric Research (Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939). Communication in the model refers to the flow of information in the organization between the members and the sharing of ideas, where as centralization refers to the distribution of power in the organization (Price, 1975). It was hypothesized by Price, that employee turnover is likely to be low if the primary group participation and communication in an organization is high. The significance of pay, however, is perceived to be high as all employees consider it to be important. Centralization, on the other hand, increases the employee turnover and has a negative impact on an organization. The model also identifies two intervening variables of job satisfaction and opportunity that have different affect on employee turnover. The model suggests that if the exogenous variables have a positive effect on job satisfaction is likely to be low. However, if the exogenous variable produce more dissatisfaction than satisfaction, and if there are other job opportunities present in the environment, employee turnover is likely to be high (Price, 1975).
2.1.2. Herzberg's Two Factor Theory and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, also known as intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, assumes that job satisfaction at workplace is influenced by certain factors and their absence can lead to dissatisfaction (Willmott 2007). The two factors identified by him are:
Hygiene Factors: Even thought hygiene factors such as, security, salary, fringe benefits, working condition, interpersonal relations, etc, do not motivate people at a work place nor inspire them; their absence can lead to dissatisfaction which can have an adverse affect on the overall performance (Willmott 2007).
Motivation Factors: These factors, which include recognition, growth, interest in job, advancement at work, etc, are used to motivate the employees to perform better.
A combination of these two factors results in job satisfaction and employees working under these situations tend to perform better than employees who work in the absence of these factors. This theory has been applied in the fields of information systems in particular. Herzberg also concluded that the factors leading to job satisfaction are different from the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction and so the managers should focus on eliminating the factors leading to dissatisfaction. Another theory of motivation, perhaps the most popular theory of motivation, is Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. He proposed that there is a hierarchy of five needs in each individual that needs to be satisfied.
2.1.3. Psychological Well-being of the Employees
A study was conducted by Terry, Nielsen, and Prachard in 1993 to study the relationship between work stress, social support, and the well-being of the employees. The study was conducted on a large public sector organization from which a sample of 153 employees was randomly drawn. These employees were put under different working conditions and then the impact of these conditions on their psychological well-being was observed. The following two hypotheses were tested in this research: H1: "the high levels of work stress would have a negative impact on job satisfaction and psychological well-being [of the employees]" (Terry, Nielsen, & Perchard, 1993, p. 168). H2: "the perceived availability of support of work-related problems would have both direct and stress-buffering effects on levels of well-being" (Terry, Nielsen, & Perchard, 1993, p. 168). It was found that there was a strong relationship between role conflict and role ambiguity and psychological well-being and job dissatisfaction (Glazer & Beehr, 2005). It was also found that underutilization of skills had some impact on the psychological well-being of the employees. Moreover, it was found that the support of the supervisor had a positive impact on the psychological well-being of the employees, regardless of the level of the work stress. These findings are consistent with the stress-support matching hypothesis which suggests that work-related support provides as a shield against work-related stress (Cohen & Willis, 1985).
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Figure 2 - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The needs identified by Maslow include the physiological needs of food, drink, shelter, and other physical requirements, Safety needs include security and protection from physical and emotional harm along with the assurance that these physical needs will be met in future, Social needs of affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship, Esteem needs or self-respect, autonomy, status, recognition, etc, and finally, Self-actualization needs that include achieving one's potential and self-fulfillment, i.e. the drive to become what one is capable of becoming (Miller, Vandome, & McBrewste, 2010). He proposed that even though no need is ever fully satisfied, a substantial satisfied need no longer motivates the person and in order to motivate a person, his or her level of need on the hierarchy and then efforts should be made to satisfy the needs at or above that level.
2.2. Company Profile - Faysal Bank Ltd.
Faysal Bank Limited was incorporated in Pakistan on October 3, 1994, as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance, 1984. Currently, the Bank's shares are listed on the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock Exchanges. Faysal Bank is engaged in Commercial, Consumer, Corporate and Islamic Banking activities.
Following the acquisition of RBS Pakistan, Faysal Bank's footprint has expanded to over 220 branches, with combined business assets of over PKR 250 billion, further strengthening its balance sheet and placing it amongst the top ten banks in Pakistan. Faysal Bank's ambition is to provide par excellence service for its customers while meeting all their financial needs.
Faysal Bank has a 3 fold objective in their processing of clientele.
Vision
Excellence in all that they do
Mission
Achieve leadership in providing financial services in chosen markets
through innovation.
Values
Daily code of conduct is exemplified by eight core values:
Four threshold values - values at the heart of the brand.
Four differentiator values - values that set the brand apart.
Chapter 3 - Research Methodology
3.1. Adopted Research Methodology
A research may be qualitative or quantitative in nature. The present study has adopted a qualitative research methodology which may be defined as a "multi-method [approach]...involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter" that required its researchers to "study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of meanings people bring to them" (Britten, Jones, Murphy, & Stacy, 1995, p. 104). Qualitative approach is more suitable for this research as the study requires an analysis of opinions and behavior that is descriptive in nature and depends upon the researcher's own interpretation of data collected. This is the reason that this method of research is also known as an interpretative approach (Smith, 1987). Because of the diverse nature of qualitative approach adopted for the present study, two approaches that can be applied are inductive and deductive. However, keeping in view the data to be analyzed and findings to be presented in this report, inductive approach has been used that may be defined as "a systematic procedure for analyzing qualitative data where the analysis is guided by specific objectives" (Thomas, 2003, p. 2).
3.2. Data Collection
Collecting data to conduct a research is the most important part since all the assumptions and analysis are based on it. Data may be collected either from a primary or secondary source. For the present study, data is first collected from secondary sources and based on those findings primary data is collected using an inductive approach. Secondary data is usually collected from secondary sources i.e. existing material on the subject matter, while primary data is collected specially for the purpose of a specific study. The present study makes use of both secondary and primary data, making the results more reliable accurate.
3.2.1. Secondary Data - Different websites, journal articles, and books is used to collect the secondary data for the report on the basis of which primary data is collected.
3.2.2. Primary Date - Employees of Faysal bank were interviewed for the collection of primary data. The employees were requested to fill out a detailed questionnaire which can be viewed in Appendix II.
3.2.3. Sampling
Sampling is the process of selecting a sample from the whole population that can be used to "fairly represent the population" (Freedman, 2010). Sampling may be simple, systematic, stratified, or clustered. For the present research, a simple random sampling method has been used. For the present research, a random sample of 6 out of 10 individuals was selected who were present at the organization. These individuals included three male and three female participants.
3.3. Limitation
The descriptive nature of the qualitative research methodology used for this study raises concerns regarding the researcher's own understanding and opinion regarding the research topic. This has been dealt with by gathering and describing data from secondary sources which provide definite information related to the topic.
Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussion
4.1. Interview
A questionnaire is designed to examine the level of job satisfaction of an average employee. The questionnaire is made of 31 questions that are divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to the demographics and general information of the interviewee. The second part assesses the level of job satisfaction with respect to different aspects of job and includes15 questions. The last part is made of seven questions that require descriptive answers. All the questions are related to the job satisfaction of the interviewee and the impact of the job on their well-being. The aim of the interview is to assess the level of satisfaction with ones job and a qualitative approach is applied for this purpose. The questionnaire includes both open ended and closed ended questions and lasted for about 20 minutes. The reason for adopting a qualitative approach for this paper is because it gives an opportunity to understand the different dimension of the problem. The questionnaire include both close ended and open ended questions in order to identify any external factors that might have an impact on the thinking of the employee.
4.2. Findings
Since the interview is divided into three parts, the findings are also divided into three the findings are also discussed in three parts to avoid any confusion. It is found in the first part that the interviewees belonged to 4 different positions at the bank. Two of the interviewees held the position of the relationship manager, two of teller, one of floor manager, and the last one held the position of a business coordinator. Employees had the minimum work experience of one year and the maximum of four years. All employees belonged to the age group of 25 to 31 years. It was also found that the bank had recently acquired RBS Operations but that did not have any impact on employee performance or motivation.
The second part of the interview revealed that 50% of the employees were satisfied with their current position and working hours while 50% of the respondent were unhappy about their salary. It was also found that up to 66% of the employees were unhappy with the scheduling of their jobs but up to 83% were quite satisfied with the vacations and sick leaves given by the organization. 50% of the employees were also happy with the opportunities of promotion and job security. The employees showed dissatisfaction with their leaders and relationship with their supervisors, opportunities to utilize their talent and to learn. However, it was noted that the employees had a good relationship with their co-workers and were happy with their job responsibilities and recognition for accomplishment.
The third part of the interview revealed that though the perception of the employees of their organization is getting better their experience, their perception of their leaders was not very positive. It was found that up to 83% of the employees agreed that there needs to be a better communication between the supervisors and the employees and all of the employees agreed that there is a need for improvement in the management style of the company. Employees felt their supervisors and managers did not have the communication skills needed to bring the best out of the employees. Almost all the respondents defined their relationship with their supervisors as "professional".
4.3. Discussion
It was noted that the environmental factors significantly altered the response of the employees as the organization had been having electricity problems for two days when the interview was conducted. It was also noted that there was unequal job distribution due to this problem at the time of the interview. Some employees had nothing to do while others were overloaded with work as only some of the systems were working. Keeping the environmental factors aside, it was found that even though employees rated their relationship with co-workers are satisfactory, they were extremely uncomfortable filling the questionnaire in front of the colleagues. There was also some hesitation in revealing their name on the questionnaire. It was also found that the employees were unhappy about the scope of their job and the only reason why the employees who were dissatisfied chose to continue with their jobs was due the rewarding system, job security, vacation and sick leaves, and other benefits offered by the organization to motivate the employees. It was also noted that the position of job had a significant impact on the employee perception of the job, for example, the relationship managers were not satisfied with their supervisor while the business coordinator seemed to be very fond of her supervisor. Similarly, the tellers were unhappy with their salary while the flood manager thought her salary was more than enough. All these factors played an important role in employee satisfaction. It was also found that employees who had a good relationship with their supervisors had a lower level of stress compared to the employees who had a "professional" relationship with their supervisors. This is consistent with the findings of the review of the literature which shows that the good relationship with the supervisors buffers the employee stress (Cohen & Willis, 1985).
Chapter 5 - Conclusion
5.1. Conclusion
It can be concluded that the level of employee motivation at Faysal Bank is not very high nor low. Though employees seem satisfied with the working hours, vacations, rewards, etc, there seem to much dissatisfaction with respect to the leadership style of the organization. The employees do not seem very happy with the things are managed in the organization which is likely to have a negative impact on the organization in the long term. It was also noted that the respondents altered their answers in presence of other employees but they did make an attempt to indirectly suggest that they are not completely satisfied with their jobs. The main reason for this appears to be the lack of leadership in the organization and lack of communication between the employees and their supervisors. If the organization does not introduce changes in leadership in the organization it can lead to and increased rate of employee turnover. It is clear from the results that relationship of the employees with their supervisor plays an important role in increasing employee morale and motivation no matter how good the rewarding system of an organization is.
5.2. Recommendations
Increased Communication - It is recommended that the communication between eh management and the employees be improved in the organization. Customer service is a very important part of organization and in order to provide the customer with quality services, it is necessary to make sure that the employees of the organization are motivated. This can be achieved by increasing the interaction between the management and the employees. It is recommended that the top managers visit the work floor of the organization and personally communicate the employees so that they motivated to perform better.
Decentralization - It is also recommended that the organization provide the employees with an opportunity to take part in the decision making process. All new ideas and thoughts should be welcomes and employees should be encouraged to express their opinions. This will improve the sense of belongingness of the employees and they will feel like they play an important part in the organization. This will also serve the esteem need mentioned in Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory.
Utilization of Skills - Managers should make sure that the each employee is fit for his or her job. If the skills of the employees are underutilized this can result in boredom and dissatisfaction. Each employee must be suited for his or her job position.
