CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 Background to Study

Employee commitment to work and job satisfaction are of major interest in the field of organizational behaviour and the practice of human resource management. Organizations usually see the average worker as the root source of quality and productivity gains. Such organizations do not look to capital investment, but to employees as the fundamental source of improvement. An organization is effective to the degree to which it achieves its goals. An effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation and sense of commitment and satisfaction within its sphere of influence. In order to make employees satisfied and committed to their jobs there is the need for strong and effective motivation at the various levels, departments and sections of these organizations.

Luthans (1998) asserts that motivation is the process that arouses, energises, directs and sustains behaviour and performance. That is, it is the process of stimulating people to achieve a desired task. The concept of job satisfaction has been vital for organizations which aim to achieve organizational excellence. As Amstrong (1999) says, job satisfaction refers to the attitudes and feelings people have about their work.  Positive and favourable attitudes towards the job indicate job satisfaction while negative and unfavourable attitudes indicate job dissatisfaction. Amstrong argues that commitment to work that helps organizations to be more successful, is most likely to happen         when employees are motivated, feel committed to the organization and when their jobs give them high level of satisfaction. It involves employees going an extra mile in the conduct of their duties which is imperative to the achievement of organizational goals.

Management must understand that people work for reward of some sort, that the organization has a common duty to pay wages and that there exists a wage/effort bargain (employees work for certain standards in return for certain rewards). They need to balance the fixed and variable movement through the salary structure to provide incentives and reward performance. Management needs to balance the requirement of attracting and retaining suitable skilled staff with the need to keep labour cost under control. The employment package to achieve these objectives normally consists of a number of elements which may exist together or in different combinations. These elements can be split into financial rewards such as salary, allowances, bonuses and productivity payments, and fringe benefits such as pension, subsidized loan and medical insurance scheme.

According to Higgs (1991), factors which are mostly important to employees in ensuring their commitment and are mostly integrated in organizations are as follows:

1) degree of security of employment; possible existence of non-redundancy agreement;

2) the variety and challenge offered in the job or career, the opportunities to develop leadership skills, introduction of job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation schemes;

3) degree of status given within the firm or job; and

4) degree of individual job satisfaction. Various motivational schemes are is existence.

Human attitude to work is more or less determined by the satisfaction derived by workers in and out of the work environment, which as well has an impact on the production output. Human wants and need  are unlimited and the satisfaction of these wants is the sole aim of people engaging in a particular task and it depends on the extent to which these jobs can satisfy their needs which determine their level of commitment. Higgs (1991) asserts that the way employees perceive motivation within organizations influences their level of satisfaction and commitment to work. Good incentives within organizations produces better output once there is a willingness to perform better by employees.

Statement of Problem

This study is focused on the problems affecting the job satisfaction of employees in the education and banking institutions and their commitment to work in such environment. The employee’s grievances and complains are diverse to their peculiar environment. However, some of the most pressing are briefly explained in the following paragraphs. Interpersonal relationship between the employee’s and management top the list of grievances of employees in the education and banking institutions. The usual complain is about master servant relationship, which is not based on professional relationship. Work conditions is a very serious matter because most conditions given to the employee’s in this sector is seen as not meeting up to international standard. The employee’s in the banking sector complain about the mandate given to them in the marketing department, that they should make sure they have clients with a portfolio of not less than 10 million every month, or they will be sacked. Lack of job security in the education and banking sectors also create a negative impact on the employee’s.

The work itself creates grievances between the employee’s and management. The workers in the educational sectors usual complain is that they are not given adequate training materials to teach the learners, in order to enhance the quality of education dissemination. The employee’s in the banking sector usually complain about the banking hours, with closing time mostly in the night. Quality of supervision also brings about grievances in both sectors. The  level of supervision and its subsequent result/report are expected to be used for the appraisal of each employees contribution to the goals of their organisation. If such supervision and its outcome are not properly handled to the expectation of the employees, it usually leads to conflict. The feeling of achievement creates negative impact on the employee’s attitude if all their effort and commitment to the institutions is not shown to them by management. In the banking sector whose employee’s expectation is to get to the top hierarchy in each of their department and the management feels otherwise about such employee’s aims, grievances arise.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of establishing any form of organisation is to achieve a specific goal and objective in the economy. The effective and efficient use of both material and human resources which are combined in the production process are essential for organisations to achieve their aims. In order for the organisation to satisfy its needs (goal) through increased productivity and maximum profit, its workers as well as those who put in their human efforts need to be satisfied with their position in the organisation. In that sense job satisfaction is likely to foster commitment to work on the employees. The purpose of this study is to investigate, analyse, and make recommendations to get employees to identify with and care about their jobs. The greater the success at this, the more the jobs become important to each employees self image and work identity.

The objectives of this study therefore are:-

1) to determine the factors that could motivate employees to put extra commitment;

2) to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and worker attitude toward organisational goal attainment;

3) to discover the influence of co-operation and interpersonal relation among workers on their commitment to work;

4) to discover the extent to which promotion and recognition can affect worker’s commitment; and

5) to determine the degree of satisfaction of workers with their condition of service.

Research Questions

1. is the nature of your job commensurate with international standard?

2. Is the monthly salary and allowance you earn commensurate with your social economic needs?

3. Is the work load in you establishment distributed evenly among the employees?

4. Are the incentives provisions in your organization enhancing your satisfaction?

5. Are you satisfied with the work itself?

6. Is the annual vacation provision in your organization satisfactory?

7. Is the training provision in your organization encourage employee’s development?

8. is there prospect of carrier growth and development in your organization?

9. What is the level of relationship between the employee’s and management in your organization?

10. What is the level of job security in your organization?

Research Hypotheses

In order to carry out this project, some working hypotheses were developed. These hypotheses are ideas, or beliefs put forward by the researcher for the purpose of helping and guiding in arriving at reasonable conclusion.

The research hypotheses for this project are;

(1) There is no significant relationship between workers feeling of job satisfaction and their commitment to work.

(2) There is no significant difference between educational employees and those in the banking sectors.

(3)  There is no relationship between satisfaction of workers economic need and their commitment to work.

(4) There is no relationship between the work itself and employee’s commitment to work.

(5) There is no significant relationship between employee’s feeling of achievement and commitment to work.

Significance of the Study

This study will provide the basis for which the employees, employers, trade unions, government and the entire management of the organisation will understand what constitute job satisfaction and employees commitment to their jobs on duties. The following group will benefit from this research work: The result of the study will help in improving the commitment of employees to work because, if they are well satisfied with their jobs, their productivity will be high. The employers and employees work directly in the organization. It will help the employers to know the level of the employees commitment to work. If the level of the employees is low, the employers will through the help of this research work, know how to motivate the employees so that they will be committed to the work in order to enhance productivity. This study will help the board  of directors since they control the activities of the organization, to ensure efficient management in the organization and also in monitoring the activities of the workers in the organization. This research work will also help the trade union to have the knowledge of what constitute the problem of an organization, and as a result, solve it with a common front. Trade union can use it for collective bargaining. This study will help the government to plan the economy in time of labour law. Labour law comes as a result of the trade union’s observation where the employees are fond of expressing their grievances by embarking on strikes. It will now create an avenue in solving the problem of non-commitment after considering the structure that will be put in place, and it will help other researchers to lay a good foundation for their research work because, it is a study that is carried out for the benefit of mankind.

Scope of the Study

The main focus of the study is on the permanent senior and junior staff of educational and banking institutions within, Akoka, Yaba and Surulere Local Government areas of Lagos State.

Definition of Terms

The following critical terms in the study are defined contextually as follows:-

Job   This is the daily activity that an individual engages in order to earn a living to satisfying his need.

Satisfaction This refers to the contentment experienced when a need is satisfied. Therefore, satisfaction involves outcome already experienced.

Job Satisfaction This is the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as facilitating the achievement of the person’s job value.

Commitment to Work This is the extent to which the individual identifies with his/her work, with the objective of the organization in which he works, and the degree to which work is a central life interest to him or her.

Incentive These are compensational reward both financial and non financial that incite or encourage a person to work hard.

Motivation This is the act of creating organizational conditions which will impel employees to strive and attain organizational goals.

Need   Need in this study will therefore mean any desire or expectation of workers, if present that will make them to identify with the goals of the organization.