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EFFECTS OF STAFF MOTIVATION ON JOB PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The study of motivation and behaviour is a search for answer to the perplexing question about human behaviour (Hersey and Blanhers, 1979). The Motivation of people in organization through a popular subject of discussion in seminars, symposia, workshops and written professional journals and books, yet is one of the least understood concepts as a management technique (Francis and Milbourn, 1980). Often people do not know why others behave the way they do. Why they are behaving differently at present and how they may likely behave in future under the same conditions (Herbey and Blench, 1979). It is the responsibility or organisational managers to motivate their subordinates and employees to raise their level of output.

Motivation is a force that is directed by the behaviour of people. It is thus a major factor that determines employees’ means of satisfying their needs as to improve their job performance. Financial institutions are specially considered in this project as areas whose success and survival depends strongly on the ability of the workers to efficiently utilize the available material resources in order to achieve the organisational goal. For such task to be performed employees need a lot of incentives as well as a conducive working environment in an organization in order to spur up the workers to work harder for a greater achievement.

The job attitude of most financial institution workers in Nigeria and Anambra State especially has generated a lot of interest among scholars. The growing interest has always resulted to the seminars and workshops on job satisfaction and motivation. The main concern has always been on how to manage workers in order to put their maximum effort. So far the attempt made has not yielded the required result. It is a common reason why Nigerian workers are always being described as “lazy” unproductive, redundant, non-challant and irresponsible. Though there is a unanimous agreement on how to motivate a worker, I feel the worker has a need to be met and until this need is met, the worker’s attitude towards his work would remain bad. While some scholars have attempted to identify the various aspects of workers need.

Alao (1984:16) and Anikpo (1984:38) felt that some of these needs have made workers exhibit negative attitudes towards their job. As the case with the present situation in Anambra State where the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) embarked on a strike action following the refusal of the state governor, Mr. Peter Obi to increase the wages of staff that was agreed upon. The financial institutions are the most affected by this situation especially with the present state of financial crunch in the country and Anambra state in particular resulting in social unrest and holding up activities in financial institutions. This research work therefore is set to answer questions raised above as well as to examine the views of scholars on the impact of motivation of staff on job performance with particular reference to the Intercontinental Bank Plc., Onitsha.

1.2   Statement of Problem

Motivation influences human behaviour in any work place. In recent years, it has been evident that there has been a general drop in the overall rating of performance of financial institutions. It is noted that in Nigeria that when workers are motivated, there will be a high productivity but in western countries other factors rather than money motivate workers. Does this hold true in Nigeria? Have employees been duly consulted on their needs as employees in the financial institution? This research work is designed to study these problems.

1.3    Research Questions

To carry out this research therefore, the following questions have been formulated by the researcher.

1.  What motivate employees in the financial sector?

2.  In what ways can employees in financial institutions be motivated?

3.  What are the factors responsible for work attitudes in financial institution?

4.   What are the possible solutions to the challenges facing employee in the financial institution?

1.4   Objectives of Study

For some years most organizations and industries, both public and private, have showed concern on increased productivity and have produced a wealth of literature on the issues of motivation. Therefore the objectives of the study are as follows:

1.  To establish what motivates employees in the financial sector.

2.  To find out how employees of financial institutions can be motivated.

3.  To ascertain the factors responsible for work attitudes in financial institutions.

4.  To suggest the possible solution to the challenges facing employees in the financial institutions.

1.5      Significance of Study

This research is aimed at finding out how to make employees increase their performance and hence increase productivity. It is intended to contribute to the growing literature on work motivation here in Anambra State, especially on financial institutions. It is also hoped that the study will provide a practical guide to the solution of perennial labour unrest in Nigeria. Another major significance of this research is its theoretical usefulness. Since the study is based on experimental data, it would yield insights that will affirm or challenge some of the basic assumptions of the classical theories of motivation. In addition, this research will make meaningful contribution in the area of public especially those that affect financial institutions.

1.6      Definition of Terms

Capital: This is defined as wealth which may be used for producing more wealth.

Labour: All human efforts of any kind, mental or physical, are known collectively as labour.

Money: Is something which people generally accept a payment. Money is a medium of exchange.

Motivation: To provide someone with a very strong reason or cause for doing something.

Production: This is defined as the transformation of one thing into another.