Motivation and performance

Thesis Overview

<p> <strong>INTRODUCTION</strong><br><strong>1.1 Background of the Study</strong><br>People work for a wide variety of reasons. Some want<br>money, some want challenge, and some want security.<br>The things that each unique individual in organization<br>decides that he or she wants from work plays an<br>instrumental role in determining motivation to work. But<br>some do not know what they want.<br>Employee motivation represents one of the largest competitive<br>reserves and a key element for increasing competitive advantage of any<br>organization. Motivation is a central force and strong factor in employee<br>performance. It is the energizing force that induces or compels and<br>maintains behaviour. Human behaviour is motivated, it is goal directed.<br>It is not easy to motivate an individual, for the success of any<br>motivational effort depends on the extent to which the motivator meets the<br>needs of the individual employees for whom it is intended. Motivation is an<br>internal psychological process whose presence or absence is inferred from<br>observed performance.<br>According to Nwachukwu (1988:181), motivated behaviour has three<br>basic characteristics:<br>(a) It is sustained – It is maintained for a long time until satisfied.<br>(b) It is goal directed – It seeks to achieve an objective.<br>(c) It results from felt need – an urge directed towards a need!<br>A need creates a tension in the individual who moves in a certain<br>direction in order to achieve the desired objective which reduces the<br>tension. A satisfied need does not motivate, conversely, an unsatisfied need<br>motivates. Therefore, to motivate an employee in order to boost his or her<br>performance, management must create real or imagined need for the<br>employee to aspire to. A real need could be a desire to achieve through<br>promotion, increase in images or employment of increased organizational<br>2<br>favours, such as company cars with a chauffeur. Imagined needs of a staff<br>could be an aspiration to have coffee at 10 am which is the entitlement of<br>successful executives, to have a secretary, have someone carry his briefcase<br>upstairs, have someone run into the office at the sound of the bell or<br>visitors fill papers before they enter into his office. Based on these, since<br>every employee has needs, he is capable of being motivated. The task of<br>management is to determine what is the valued needs that will make him<br>react according to organizational desires – increased productivity.<br>The Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) is one of<br>the Universities in Enugu State. It was formerly called the Anambra State<br>University of Science and Technology (ASU TECH.) until 1991 when Enugu<br>State was created out Anambra State. Most of these staff contributes poorly<br>or at low capacity level due to the absence of motivation towards the<br>achievement of the goals and objectives of the University and to make the<br>University a force to reckon with in Enugu State and Nigeria as a whole.<br>To that extent, it is in the light of the above that the researcher deemed<br>it fit to research into motivation and performance in an organization: A case<br>study of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).<br>A number of factors such as Economic, Sociological, Managerial and<br>Personnel’s problems have been said to militate against motivation in<br>ESUT.<br><strong>1.2 Statement of the Problem</strong><br>One of the major problems confronting the Enugu State University of<br>Science and Technology authority is that of motivating her workers to<br>perform assigned tasks to meet or surpass predetermined standards of the<br>University as a seat of academic heights. Harry (1973) made a very<br>interesting observation about an unmotivated employee and his or her level<br>of task performance thus:<br>3<br>The characteristics of a Jackass are stubbornness,<br>stupidity, willfulness and unwillingness to go to where<br>some one is driving them. These, by interesting<br>coincidence, are also characteristics of the unmotivated<br>employee.2<br>An unmotivated employee is a threat to the organization. When an<br>employee fails to achieve a goal or perceive that he cannot achieve a goal,<br>he feels frustrated, thereby affecting his performance in the organization. It<br>is against this background that these questions are found relevant to guide<br>the present research effort.<br>(a) What are the importance of motivation and performance of the<br>staff of ESUT?<br>(b) What are the factors hindering motivation and performance of the<br>staff of ESUT?<br>(c) What are the measures to boost motivation and performance of<br>the staff of ESUT?<br><strong>1.3 Objective of the Study</strong><br>In the light of the foregoing, therefore the general objective of this<br>research study is to determine the effect of motivation on performance in<br>ESUT . The specific objectives are: <br></p>