Research Strategy
In this research, a cross-sectional survey was the preferred information collection method. The management of PGL New Zealand and its employees received questionnaires to self-complete. The study obtained a sample of 10 employees and managers who volunteered to participate in the survey. Questionnaires administered to the warehouse and office staff respondents were the same. Warehouse staffs are those that work in the PGL New Zealand warehouse and handled tasks specifically related to warehousing while office staff performed administrative duties such as consumer relations and staff management in the company.
Our self-completed questionnaire captured data that relates to the behaviors and attitudes of the respondents toward the management practice and the perception and actual results obtained by the management practices.
An interview with the employer happened at PGL offices in New Zealand and interview questions related to those presented to other respondents in the questionnaire. The employer answered how they used applied management practices to maintain the overall competitiveness of their business and specifically about applied management practices that touched on employee motivation and commitment to their work. The employer gave the view on motivation as a company and its importance to their organization.
In addition, they gave theoretical, economic, aesthetic, and social as well as political and regulatory factors that had the most influence on the decision to motivate subordinates. The employer’s method of motivating workers and the manner used to improve the organizational situation was examined in the interview. Lastly, the employer answered what was the most motivating factor in the running of the company.
Respondents filling questionnaires gave information on the exact motivational issues that they were referring to in their responses. The questionnaire gave a clue about the kind of motivation issues that are available such as communication issues and cultural issues to give the respondents a lead. Once the respondents had defined their motivational factors, management respondents named motivational issues and their positive and negative effects in their departments or the entire company.
In addition, management respondents answered whether they had systems of dealing with the identified issues and in cases where they responded positively, they also gave an explanation on the efficacy of the systems in place. Both management and employees answered whether incentives increase work performance and they went ahead and offered the incentives that had the most positive impact as well as their personal preference to the type of incentives available in PGL. The questionnaire categorized incentives as tangible or intangible.
Employee respondents had to answer survey questions that measured their attitude and motivation towards their work. They were given a scale from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly agree.
Data Collection and Analysis
A sample of employees including movement was drawn by asking for volunteer respondents to the survey study. No incentive was offered for respondents to volunteer for the survey and all staff was informed that the employer had permitted any of them to participate in the study.
There was six staff based at the warehouse and four office staff in the total sample. Generally, PGL New Zealand had seven warehouse staff and five office staff. The office staff had a more diverse job description compared to warehouse staff. Respondents were profiled and statistical analysis was done.
Findings
The majority of the respondents were male and the average age of the respondents was 30 years. Two-thirds of the respondents had families. Results of the employee survey indicated that based on a scale of 1 to 5, where five strongly agreed, most staffs were fairly satisfied with their assigned role at the company. Only one respondent strongly disagreed and two thought that their roles in the company were fair. On the motivation to report to work daily, all the respondents who had families were in agreement that yes, they looked forward to work each day but none answered with the highest agreement option. On the contrary, two respondents without families answered that they strongly agreed to yearn to work the next day.
All staff agreed that the management provided good incentives to encourage them to get their jobs done. In the same line, the respondents thought that they were fairly treated. None disagreed on fair treatment and likewise, none of the respondents indicated that they thought that the treatment was the best.
In defining their motivation issues, communication was strongly mentioned among a majority of the respondents because of the fact that they were part of an international organization having different ethnic dimensions in many countries. Language barriers sometimes became an issue in international meetings. The nature and size of the New Zealand unit supported personal communication but the same could not be said of the global organization. Respondents thought that their management could do more to strengthen their leadership by holding more meetings with staff, showing that they were more in control of matters arising and provide personal development as well as assisting them in career development.
According to company management, motivation was paramount in getting employees to deliver their best. Management shared the company goals and results on a monthly basis as a way to make employees feel part of the overall organization and feel appreciated. Monetary forms of motivation to employees were in form of bonuses, gift cards, and commission earnings on their in-house sale performance. Non-monetary forms included verbal and written incentives delivered weekly in the reflection of the staff’s weekly performance.
On individual departments, respondents replied that information about their performance as a department in part of the whole company was a motivational factor. Employers noted that it was their aim to have employees committed to the organization as it grew. They paid employees in time and recognized them as their key customers. The small unit size promoted working as a family unit, enabling employees to have an understanding of the business environment facing the company.
Staff knew well that failure to perform well would result in a negative development of the company and the loss of their jobs. The New Zealand unit staffs talk personally to one another and thus learn tacitly of the company status on the business front. Staffs perform social duties and other engagements together such as having dinner and free lunch on birthdays of each staff. The management gives the staff opportunities to climb the corporate ladder by rewarding them with promotions and further training. The workplace and work culture is relaxed such that workers have long lunch breaks and are allowed to skip responding to work-related matters during their breaks.
Workers get opportunities to work overseas. According to the management, as a result of the incentives put in place, their staffs’ turnover reduces when staffs are motivated and that increases their overall performance. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) measures assist tto the management in dealing with the arising motivation issues. In addition, they rely on dialogue with employees, customer feedback, and internal performance control systems.
For PGL New Zealand, salary increases, training, and cul, natural integrations such as birthday party and Christmas gifts had the most promising effect on staff motivation. There was no clear preference for the kind of incentive preferred by management and staff. However, tangible incentives were preferred in the short-term and intangible benefits for the long-term.
Discussion
The study findings have indicated strongly that motivation plays a key role in ensuring that employees have a positive mentality towards their work and the company. The management of PGL has demonstrated that it understands the importance of keeping its workers motivated. The recognition of employees first as individuals and employees second serve as the basis of a good employer-employee relationship (Robbins et.al, 2009).
When staff is handled accordingly in an organization, then they associate the humanly handling as a committee of management for their betterment (Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2003). Even without monetary incentives, the study results have demonstrated that the intangible motivating factors play a key role in keeping staff loyal to their organizations. In fulfilling the needs of their staff, in order to get their maximum effort, the addition of intangible benefits to staff reaches and fulfills staffs’ social needs as outlined by psychologist Abraham Maslow in his theory of human basic needs (Maslow, 1943).
While tangible benefits like monetary compensation motivate in the short-term because they enable staff to fulfill their lower levels’ needs, without fulfillment of their social, esteem, and self-actualizing needs, they will still feel that they have to look for greener pastures in their career development. Management has to balance its provision of motivating factors and hygienic factors as stipulated by the two-factor theory of Herzberg who noted that the conditions at the workplace that make work pleasant are as important as the incentives staffs get to be more productive (Jamal, n.d.).
References
Jamal, K. (n.d.). Herzberg two factor theory. Web.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). Motivation adn personality. New York, NY: Harper.
Robbins, S. P., Bergman R., Stagg I. and Coulter M. (2009).Foundations of management (3rd.ed.). Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education.
Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. (2003). Human nature and organization theory: on the economic approach. (C. L. Cooper, Ed.) Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.