MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS AND STAFF JOB PERFORMANCE IN INSURANCE COMPANIES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In recent years, the society is experiencing changes in the environment which have resulted in tremendous commercial success. This could be attributed to the level of staff job performance, commitment, creativity and motivation strategy. In other words, staff motivation is an aspect to be considered if organizations are goal driven. Staff motivation has become a pressing concerning for manager. In fact, a number of different theories and methods on staff motivation have emerged ranging from monetary incentives, in-service training, performance appraisal, prompt payment of salary and fringe benefits to increase involvement and empowerment of staff in an organization (Ibanga, 2010).
Staff really needs to be inspired for the job; this will make the staff to work better, smarter and harder in the organization. Job dissatisfaction is quite prevalent in most organizations today. Low performance which comes as a result of job dissatisfaction is always the basis for conflict between organizations and staff. Managers always blame the staff for not putting in the best, in the side of the staff they blame management for not providing and creating enabling environment through desired motivation. Enabling environment and goal achievement depends on the staff productivity.
It is surprising that inspired of the myriad available theories and practices, managers often view motivation as something of a mystery. This is because individuals are motivated by different things and in different ways. The term “motivation” is derived from the word “motive” which means a reason for doing something. It is that which could influence the behaviour of individuals and the expression of needs of a human being. The tasks of management should determine what are the value needs that will make staff work according to the organization desire of increase performance but the adverse side of managers is that staff they do not pay considerable attention to the staff motivation.
According to Mbanefo (2013), motivation is something which prompts, compels and energize and individual to act or behaviour in a particular fashion at a particular time for attaining some specific goals or purposes. It is a force that causes one to act on something. Motivation is a behavioural psychological concept which seeks to understand why people behave as they do. The internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be certainly interested and committed to a job, role, subject or to make an effort to attain goals. Motivation results from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors which are the intensity of staff desires and needs, incentive or reward system for the organizational goals and expectations of staff. These factors are the reasons one has for behaving in a certain way. The presence of motivation influences job performance and this is undisputed fact that business cannot function without human effort and resources.
A staff may be defined as all workers employed in an organization and considered as a group. Different categories of staff in a typing organization are the adhoc staff and permanent staff. All categories of employees or staff considers motivation as the basis of which optimal effort may be exerted towards the achievement of organizational goals. In other words, the relationship between any organization and its staff is influenced by what motivation they receive or what will stimulate them to work and the fulfillment they derived from such motivational instruments. Suffice to say that motivation is an energized used to induce staff behaviour towards performance.
Akwang (2014) noted that the principle of motivation is concerned with ensuring that the remuneration of staff in an organization is satisfactory to bring out the best in them. Indeed, if the goal of achieving quality relationship between organization and staff, there must be various forms of reward or incentives that will stimulate the interest of staff such as in-service training, performance appraisal, prompt payment of salary and fringe benefits and so on.
It is pertinent that managers understand the forces that can prompt the desired job performance and implement same for good or better results. In organizations, not withstanding, this task is seen by most managers as a very difficult one that is better preached than practiced. Based on this premise the study set out to empirically determine the relationship between motivational factors and staff performance using performance appraisal, in-service training, and prompt payment of salary and fringe benefit.
1.2 Statement of the Problems
The problems of this research focus on the motivational factors and staff job performance in an organization. It is anticipated that when good working condition and financial incentives are given to workers, the performance of worker improved but in some cases, it proves abortive. This condition among others gives rise to this research project where it is generally believed that workers are ready to put in their best when motivated.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of motivational factors and staff job performance in an organization. The specific objectives of the study are as follows;
. To determine the impact of in-service training on staff job performance
. To ascertain the impact of performance appraisal on staff job performance
. To examine the impact of prompt payment of salary on staff job performance.
. To establish the impact of fringe benefits on staff job performance
1.4 Research Questions
Below are the possible research questions which are used for this study.
What is the impact of in-service training on staff job performance in companies?
How does performance appraisal related to staff job performance in companies?
What is the impact of prompt payment of salary and staff performance in companies?
What is the impact of fringe benefits and staff job performance?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
The following hypotheses are formulated for the study.
Ho1: There is no significant impact of performance appraisal staff job performance in companies