CASE STUDY

EFFECTS OF MOTIVATION ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE: A CASE OF VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE IN

DAR ES SALAAM

Motivation is one of the most important factors affecting human behavior. Motivation not only affects other cognitive factors like perception and learning but also affects the total performance of an individual in an organisation setting. This is the reason why managers should attach great importance to motivation in organisation. Motivation seems to be one of the most important tools for retaining employees and increasing productivity. Organisations design motivation systems to encourage employees to perform most effectively and attract potential candidates. One of many ways to motivate employees is to give rewards and incentives for good performance (Memmott and Growers, 2012).

Every human being has got a push behind him/her to do something, organisation with wise management should conduct research on such human behaviors as well as an effective and efficient way to achieve organisation objectives. In such situations, motivation becomes important as it makes better utilization of resources and workers' abilities and capabilities (Scott, 1987). Motivation is among the crucial factor in increasing performance to achieve organisation goals. Low motivation or complete lack of motivation at any organisation within Tanzania or across the world leads to high employee inefficiency, turnover, fraud, corruption, absenteeism, and indiscipline at work. Good Supervisors and Managers maintain a positive attitude by valuing employees and treating them fairly through designing a supportive environment that motivates employees.

The key to creating an efficient motivation system is by answering the question of what motivates employees. The significance of employee motivation is influencing employees to behave in a certain way, motivation can ultimately decide the success or failure of an organisation. If an organisation knows why its employees come to work on time, stay with the organisation for their full working lives, and are productive, then the organisation may be able to assure that all of their employees and such understanding is essential to improve productivity. This implies that organisation success depends heavily on motivation and managers must understand what motivates their employees to perform better (Matsei, 2008). The motivation function is among the major tasks that should be handled by every organisation with better performance dreams.

Motivation is a major task for every manager in creating the will to work among subordinates. Workers in any organisation need something to push and keep him/her working for an organisation, therefore, an employee should be motivated to work for an organisation, if no motivation is given then the quality of work or all work, in general, will be distorted (Mbogo,2013). Pay and incentive in public service aim to compensate for work done and motivate and retain employees to avoid the need for expensive recruitment and training for replacement. It is in this context that The Government of Tanzania continues with efforts to motivate its workforce (Tanzania Public Service Pay and incentive Policy).

Employee and organisation performance mostly depends on employee motivation. Low motivation affects employees and organisation performance. Motivated employees' are loyal, committed, and productive and provide good services to the organisation. The employer should exercise employee motivation through a series of rewards for a job well done and better organisational performance (Sevanson, 2011). Although the Government of Tanzania has made an effort in enhancing compensation in the Public services the increase did not result in the convergence between public service pay levels and those of the labour market comparators. A sizable gap remains.

However the study on staffing problems in Tanzania conducted in 2008 on staff motivation, attraction, and retention revealed that there are some motivational problems existing in public services including lack of special incentives, lack of supplementary income opportunities, lack of quality housing, inaccessibility to social services such as education, health, water and electricity in working environment (Tanzania Public Service pay and incentive policy, 2010). Some of the researchers have just expressed the problem of motivation in the public sector in their studies, for example, Gisela, (2014) conducted a study on the "effects of motivation actors on employees' job performance" and found the existence of mismatch of employer rewards and employee's need that affects employees performance.

Despite the fact that the Medium Term Pay Policy and Medium Term Pay Reform Strategy recognised the importance of non-pay factors in improved work performance due to motivation derived no systematic approach has been developed till now to incorporate them into the public service. Pay and incentive levels in the public service especially for technical, professional, and lower group cadre are still low leading to poor performance and low job satisfaction. For employees to carry out their duties effectively they have to be well motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically. A well-motivated employee seems to undertake tasks for his/her own sake.

Source: (Kahungya, 2016) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/79425232.pdf

QUESTIONS 1

1.1 The provided case study implied that organisation success heavily depends on motivation. Critically examine the underlying outcomes of a complete lack of motivation among employees in the workplace.

1.2 Critically indicate the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors that activate behaviour and influence the direction of a sustained effort of performance. Further indicate the design motivation systems that organisations can apply to encourage and motivate effective performance, retain staff, and attract talented candidates.

QUESTIONS 2:

Although there is still a mentality that pays benefits are the main source of motivation in many companies, Taylor's view has been cast aside and there are already many managers who say that "pay is not the main motivator of people."

In view of the above statement, critically provide a distinction between the numerous theories of motivation that intend to indicate intrinsic and extrinsic factors that motivate employees.

QUESTIONS 3:

Researchers of all traditions follow a systematic method comprising certain logical steps and certain ways of thinking or reasoning. These logical steps and systematic methods encompass what is considered as scientific research. Critically examine steps in research methods that must be considered when conducting quantitative/ Qualitative research. Further, examine a differentiation between the two research methods.

QUESTIONS 4: 15 MARKS

"This case study involves an eighteen-year high school senior by the name of Thomas. Thomas is getting ready for college and found himself doubting the direction in which his life is going and the decision that he is making to have a positive impact on his future. Thomas found himself nervous and frustrated about his future which is causing him to have fought with his parents, his girlfriend to break up with him, and his high school friends not coming around anymore. So, with all of this going on, he started to get a sense that his support system is being lost all around".

Source: https://www.coursehero.com/file/30553132/Human-Development-Case-Studiesdocx/

In reference to the abovementioned case study, identify and discuss the life-span development stage that is the causal factor of the psychological dilemma that is experienced by Thomas