Productivity has been generally defined as a ratio of a measure of output to a measure of some or all of the resources used to produce this output (Daniel , 1997). Defined in this way, one or a number of input measures can be taken and compared with one or a number of output measures. Productivity has now become an everyday word. Since the Second World War, governments, politicians, academics and economists have all stressed the importance of productivity because of its relationship with the general economic health of a nation.
Corporate management globally is concerned with productivity because it is regarded as a main indicator of efficiency when comparisons are made with competitors in world markets. Governments stress the relationship between productivity, the standard of living, inflation and economic growth (Robert, 1996).
Statement of the Problem and Justifaction of the Study
The increased cases of strikes and resignation of dissatisfied employees from different organizations, raise concern on the level of motivation of workers in those organizations. For example the recent strike in Kypt Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) by the members of KETAWU (Kypt electrical trades and allied workers union). This study seeks to investigate the effects of employee motivation on productivity.
The primary objective of employee motivation is to have productive and competitive labor force. This is because motivation of employees is very crucial for an organization to achieve its goals and objectives which are aimed at increasing productivity. Despite the fact that employee motivation is an important aspect in every organization, many organizations have poor motivational techniques while some do not motivate their employees at all. This leads to a decline in productivity and eventually collapse of most crucial projects in the organizations. As a result of this, it is imperative to carry out comprehensive research on motivation of employees and its contribution to the overall productivity in the company.
Research Variables
The variables that this study seeks to investigate includes: staff training, technology, remunerations, employee-management relationship, recognition of employees in decision making and the effects of these variables on motivation and hence productivity. More specifically, the study purposes: To investigate the effects of staff training and development on productivity in KPLC; To find out the impact of application of new technology on productivity; To investigate the effects of management and staff relationship on productivity; to describe the relationship between employee remuneration patterns and productivity; and to find out the risks associated with lack of employee motivation on productivity.
Research Methodology and Design
The research adopted case study design, which comprised of face to face interview. Questionnaires which comprised of both open and close ended questions were also used. The questionnaires were distributed by hand delivery and they targeted 4 staffs in (HR &ADMIN )-Human Resource and Administration departments ;that is 2 senior officers and 2 clerks from Human Resource and Administration department. The study also involved conducting face-to-face interviews to staffs from the following departments: procurement, finance, Disconnection and Connection (D&C) .Operations and Maintenance (O&M) and Customer service, marketing and IT &Telecommunication departments. The interview targeted 4 staffs from each of the above departments. The entire research therefore, comprised of 32 respondents. On the other hand, secondary data collection techniques consisted of: company’s journals, magazines and documentaries to find out the information about the company policies such as productivity increase and motivational policies and techniques.
Summary of the Findings
The findings show that many employees were not given other allowances apart from house allowance. This group of workers comprise of those employed on 3 months, 1 month contract and those employed on casual terms. On the other hand employees employed on permanent term, 3 years and 1 year contract are entitled to extra allowances, such as hardship allowances, travelling allowance, leave allowance and so on. The company management usually organizes an open forum meetings where the company employees forward their grievances to the management. The management uses such meetings as a platform to inform employees about the current status of the company’s performance in terms of productivity. The meetings are also used to inform the employees on the changes arising and also to clarify the goals and objectives of the company. This initiative has increased the company’s productivity because all employees are aware of the targets they are expected to achieve.
The company productivity is measured by the number of units sold. As a such, the company management endeavors to motivate its labor force to work hard to increase the number of units sold which translates to the overall productivity of the company. Introduction of staff training and development have ensured that the company have highly skilled and competent employees who are competitive in the job market. Many staffs admitted the existence of training and development in the company. Some of the training included E-leave training and safety training. According to the researcher, this initiative has eased the execution of tasks and as a result, the company employees are determined to execute their daily tasks to meet the objectives of the company at the speculated time.
Besides, application of new technology in the company has eased the execution of tasks by workers. Workers are satisfied with the technology applied by the company management.
The fact that many operations of the company are done online has reduced the work overload in the company. Some of the operations that are done online includes: application of leave by staff, loans applications, processing of medical data and so on. All these operations are done electronically and this has created a good working environment for the staffs thereby acting as an intrinsic motivator. As depicted by table 1.1, many of the respondents (75%) refuted the existence of good relationship between the management and the employees. This was also justified by the fact that some employees were not willing to respond to the research questions due to fear of victimization by the management even after earlier assurance that information provided would be treated as confidential.
Conclusion
As suggested by the above findings, productivity is a function of motivation; P=f (M). The more motivated workers are, the higher the output. Motivation on the other hand is a multivariate function of technology (T), staff training (t), remuneration (R), participation of employees in decision making (D) and employee-management relationship (E). It therefore follows that; M=f (T, t, R, D, E). These statistical relationships are important to the management in making productivity decisions. Productivity will entirely depend on how these variables are varied.
Recommendation
The company management needs to come up with means to improve employees’ satisfaction to increase performance which translates to the overall increase in productivity. Employees’ satisfaction can be realized by providing good working condition for the employees as well as offering them competitive salaries. Employees’ satisfaction guarantees harmonious relationships between management and subordinates and as a result each and every employee works hard to increase the company’s productivity.
The company should also ensure that the goals and objectives are realistic, clear and achievable. This can help in ensuring efficiency in the company’s operations because all workers are aware of the tasks they are expected to execute leading to an increase in the overall productivity. Furthermore, to get a better understanding of the workers motivation factors, the company should strive to know each of the workers through a one-on- one communication. This would help the management to obtain firsthand opinions through workers themselves.
The company management should also endeavor to ensure that there is mutual relationship between management and the employees; this can only be achieved if the management allows subordinates to contribute in decision making process. Existence of harmonious relationship between management reduces cases of strikes and employees boycotts which can affect the company’s productivity adversely.
