ABSTRACT

Employees are a company’s livelihood. How they feel about the work they are doing and the results received from that work directly impact an organization’s performance and, ultimately, its stability. An unstable organization ultimately underperforms. The study had the following objectives: Determine how motivation influence the staffs of MFI approach to work, finding out the relationship between motivational strategies and the performance of staffs at MFI, examine whether motivation has any influence on the staff of MFI

To achieve these goals, a questionnaire was designed based on the objectives. The completed questionnaires were processed and analyzed using the Simple

Percentage and Multiple linear regression. The findings of this study revealed that alongside monetary incentives, another key factor in motivating employees is to involve them in the process aimed at attaining organizational effectiveness because without their co-operation and support a great deal of managerial energy may be wasted. The study concluded that efforts should be aimed at motivating staff of all levels in order to increase productivity for higher returns.

The research made extensive use of both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by administering a well-structured questionnaire to respondents in the selected MFI. Interviews were also conducted from the MFI to access the information on incentive package by the MFI, MFI reports, the Internet, were collected for the study. This study revealed that the workers motivational processes in MFI have undergone tremendous change since the organization was established.

Keywords: Employee, Motivation, Engagement, Organizational Goals

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

The term motivation is derived from the Latin word ‘movere’, which means to move (Baron, Henley, McGibbon and McCarthy, 2012). Certo (2016) describes motivation as giving people incentives that cause them to act in desired ways. Motivation has also been described as the process of arousing and sustaining goal-directed behavior (Nelson, 2013). In every organization, they are continuously trying to see how employee’s productivity can be increase so as to increase organization productivity. Among the factors of production, the human resource constitutes the biggest challenges because unlike other inputs, employee management calls for an effective handling of thoughts, feelings and emotions for highest productivity. High performance is a long-term benefit of employee motivation. A motivated employee is a valuable asset, which delivers high value to the organization in maintaining and strengthening its business and revenue growth. In general sense, motivation can be referred to as a combination of motive and action. Vroom has suggested that productivity can be thought as a multiplicative function of motivation and ability. In addition, research reveals that an employee’s ability only partially determines his output or productivity. The other major determinant is his motivation level. Employee motivation plays a vital rule in the management field both theoretically and practically. It is said that one of the important functions of human resource manager is to ensure job commitment at workplace, which can only be achieve through motivation. There is general agreement that people are motivated in situations where; they can participate, can feel accomplishment and receive recognition for their work, where the communication is frequent and there are opportunities for career and knowledge growth. Motivation is crucial for good performance and therefor it is increasingly important to study what motivates employees for better performance.

It is commonly agreed that there are two types of motivation, namely extrinsic and intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is that behavior which an individual produce because of the pleasant experiences associated with the behavior itself (Mosley, Pietri and Mosley Jnr, 2012). They stem from motivation that is characteristic of the job itself. Examples are receiving positive recognition, appreciation, a sense of achievement and meeting the challenge. According to Beer and Walton (2014), intrinsic rewards accrue from performing the task itself, and may include the satisfaction of accomplishment or a sense of influence. Mosley, Pietri and Mosley Jnr. (2012) describe extrinsic motivation as the behavior performed, not for its own sake, but for the consequences associated with it. Examples include salary, benefits and working conditions. Extrinsic rewards come from the organization as money, perquisites or promotions from supervisors and co- workers as recognition (Beer and Walton, 2014). Employees are motivated by a combination of both factors at any given point in time (Riggio, 2013).

Globalization is being experienced by most of the organizations in Cameroon. Neeraj (2014) states that the opportunities and challenges of leadership and management are significantly different from that of the past and in particular, the last decade. Industrial psychologists and management practitioners have long been interested in searching for factors, which influence motivation and productivity (Chung, 2013). According to Stanley (2012), in today’s marketplace, where companies seek a competitive edge, motivation is key for talent retention and performance. No matter the economic environment, the goal is to create a workplace that is engaging and motivating, where employees want to stay, grow and contribute their knowledge, experience and expertise.  Chung (2013) continues to state that in an effort to find the determinants of motivation and performance in industry, industrial psychologists and managerial practitioners have developed a variety of theories of (and approaches to) human motivation. Many psychologists have developed motivational theories in terms of human needs or motives, while most management scholars have developed managerial theories in terms of incentives or inducements (Riggio, 2014).

Traditionally, the study of job performance has been based on two somewhat independent assumptions: that performance can be understood in terms of the individual’s ability to perform the tasks, and that performance depends solely upon the level of motivation (Chung, 2013). Motivation is generally defined as the psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s level of effort, as well as a person’s persistence in the face of obstacles (Stanley, 2012).

The responsibility for motivation is three-fold: it falls on the senior leadership, the direct manager and the employee (Bhuvanaiah and Raya, 2015). Numerous factors are involved, from trust, engagement and values (individual and organizational) to job satisfaction, achievement, acknowledgement and rewards. Motivation is essential for working autonomously, as well as for collaboration and effective teamwork (Stanley, 2012). Motivating employees for better performance encompasses these critical factors: employee engagement, organizational vision and values, management acknowledgment and appreciation of work well done, and overall authenticity of leadership (Neeraj, 2014).

Performance appraisal is one of the most important human resource (HR) practice, administered in organizations by which supervisors evaluate the performance of subordinates (Neeraj, 2014).  Aguinis (2013) implies that the focus of the performance appraisal is measuring and improving the actual performance of the employee and also the future potential of the employee; it aims to measure what an employee does. Performance appraisal is generally regarded as one of the most crucial human resource management functions (Judge and Ferris 2013), furthermore; a competent performance appraisal and management system is an indispensable part of an organizations human resource management adequacies (Guest, 1997). Employee reactions to appraisal in terms of perceived employee fairness, accuracy, and satisfaction are important components of appraisal effectiveness because these perceived employee reactions can motivate employees to improve their performance (Taylor, Tracy, Renard, Harrison and Carroll 2015). That is, performance appraisal serves as a means for providing feedback that can result in improved performance (Tornow, 2013).

Research in performance appraisal has demonstrated that performance appraisal characteristics (such as appraisal purpose and source) can elicit positive employee reactions to performance appraisal and, which in turn, can motivate employees to improve their performance (DeNisi and Pritchard 2016). Therefore, by focusing the attention on performance, performance appraisal goes to the heart of personnel management and sets out different objectives which are directly responsible for the Career development of employees and continued growth and development of the organizations (Selvarajan and Cloninger, 2016).

Employee turnover is a universal problem that all organizations around the world face (Stanley, 2012). One of the factors that contribute to high employee turnover is demotivation (Mosley, Pietri and Mosley Jnr, 2012). There is a growing consensus among managers and leaders about the significance of combining effective motivation incentives to encourage good performance (Cole and Kelly, 2011). In order for organizations to meet their objectives, they must have a workforce that is motivated and works towards achieving the said objectives (Steers and Porter, 2011). 

Motivating employees is a challenge and keeping employees motivated an even greater challenge (Levy, 2013). Today, organizations are under intense pressure to identify and implement programs that will prove effective in improving employee productivity (Deci, 2013). It is no longer enough to increase salaries and expect increased performance; it is more complex than that (George and Jones, 2013).

Employee motivation affects productivity and a poorly motivated labor force will be costly to the organization in terms of lower productivity and performance, excessive staff turnover, increased expenses, frequent absenteeism and a negative effect on the morale of colleagues (Jobber and Lee, 2014). It is a well-known fact that the success of an organization largely depends on the quality of its human resource, irrespective of the industry within which it operates (Deci, 2013). It is with this in mind that leaders and managers must strive to ensure that their workforce is motivated and therefore productive. Motivation is seen as one of the most important factors in issues related to human resources management (HRM) and organizational behavior management (Nelson, 2013).

1.2 Statement of the problem

The need to increase productivity in the work place of organizations such as to achieved the organization goals this has led to increasing academic interest in the area of motivation over the years. Scholars have been keenly interested in knowing which motivational strategy are responsible for stimulating the will to work. It is in this light that the study interns to look into the imapacts of motivational strategies on the performance of the employee in micro institution in Branch 2 Cameroon. Therefore, this study will clearly state some of the motivational strategies that will help micro finance to motivate staffs and achieve organizational goals. Motivation alone can promote work place harmony and increase employee performance.

1.3 Research Questions

The research will attempt to get answers to the question agitating the minds of organizations management as to what to do in other to adequately motivate workers to contribute highly to their company’s productivity and growth. The study will answer the following research questions.

1. Is there any relationship between motivation and higher performance productivity?
2. Is there any relationship between motivational strategies and attitude to the workers and staff of MFI?
3. How does motivation influence workers of micro finance institution in bamenda 2?

1.4 Research objectives

The main objective of the study is to examine The Effect of Employee Motivation and Engagement in Achieving Organizations Goals in Micro Finance Case of Bamenda 2

 The study seeks to

1. Determine how motivation influence the staffs. Of micro finances around bamenda 2
2. Find out the relationship between motivational strategies and the performance
3. Examine whether motivation has any influence on the staff. Of micro instruction around bamenda 2

1.5. Hypothesis of the study

H0: There is no significant relationship between incentives and work productivity for employees of MFI