Employee Job Performance in UTC Aerospace System Singapore (Dissertation Review Sample)

FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION ON EMPLOYEE JOB PERFORMANCE IN UTC AEROSPACE SYSTEM SINGAPORE
1. Introduction
One primary resource of an organization, which is vital to the success of the organization, is its employees (Ali and Ahmad,2009). Employee motivation is considered an important factor affecting the job performance of employees (Yurtseven and Halici, 2012). Hence, understanding the various factors that affect the employee motivation in an organization and their effects on the job performance of employees remains very relevant. Given this background, the existing studies on the factors affecting the employee motivation and their effects on the job performance of the employees are critically reviewed here. The concepts and terms are defined here as well as the theoretical and empirical studies are critically reviewed.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Terms and Concepts
2.1.1.Motivation
Motivation is defined as the influential processes that characterize the intensity, direction and persistence of the efforts of an individual for the attainment of a goal (Ramlall, 2004). Here, intensity is defined as the amount of hard work of the employees. Direction is defined as the efforts' quality towards the organizational benefits. Persistence is defined as the time for which the employee can keep on doing his/her efforts.
2.1.2.Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation and Job Performance
There are two types of motivation namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Intrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation inside the individual itself, not dependent on any external factor (Ramlall, 2004). Examples of factors affecting the intrinsic motivation are responsibility, chances for proving skills and competences of an individual, advancement opportunities etc. It is derived from the enjoyment of the task itself by the individual (Deci et al, 1999). Extrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation arising from external factors like rewards, punishment threats and coercion (Deci et al, 1999).
2.2. Theories of Motivation and Empirical evidence for the Theories
2.2.1. Content and Process Theories
There are two types of motivation theories namely content theories and process theories (Van and Thierry,1996). The focus of content theories is the internal factors of an individual, which drive the behavior of the individuals (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Based on these theories, the internal factors motivate individuals for action in achieving the satisfaction of fulfilling their needs (Van and Thierry, 1996). The most important content theories are hierarchy of needs by Maslow, Erg theory, motivator hygiene theory and learned needs theory (Van and Thierry, 1996). Process theories explain motivation based on the decision processes of individuals, which are conscious (Tien, 2000). The theoretical foundations of these theories are from the cognitive theories in psychology. The main process theories are expectancy theory, equity theory, goal setting theory and reinforcement theory (Tien, 2000).
Each of the content and process theories is explained in detail in the sections below.
2.2.2. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory
According to the hierarchy of needs developed by Maslow (1943), the needs of individuals lie in a hierarchy, which consists of basic, and growth needs ( Osterloh et al,2002). Basic needs are again categorized into physiological and safety needs while growth needs are those for love and belonging need, self esteem, understanding and knowledge as well as aesthetics and self actualization (Durmaz et al, 2011). Based on the hierarchy concept, the basic needs have to be satisfied first before moving into the satisfaction of growth needs (Durmaz et al, 2011). However, there is very little empirical support for this theory ( Saeed et al, 2013).
2.2.3. Erg Theory
Erg theory, which is an extension of the Hierarchy of needs theory, categorizes the individual needs into existence, relatedness and growth (Ryan and Deci, 2000). The basic needs need not be necessarily satisfied for moving into the upper level needs to become motivational, based on this theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
2.2.4. Motivation Hygiene Theory
Based on the motivation hygiene theory developed by Herzberg et al ( 1959 ), the lower level needs satisfaction need not necessarily motivate the individuals for work but only help in the dissatisfaction prevention while higher level needs satisfaction are required for motivating them. Thus, the first group of factors are called hygiene factors which include salary, job security, differences with others, management quality, policies etc while the second group of factors are called motivation factors which include the satisfaction obtained from the job itself due to the intrinsic characteristics, according to this theory.
Bahaduri et al (2013) tested the Herzberg theory of motivation for 115 participants in military centre in Iran using Analytical Hierarchical process. The main factors affecting the employee motivation were obtained as job security and fairness of salary while the least important factors were obtained as policies of the organization and social relations with colleagues. Thus, the study obtained extrinsic factors as the main motivating factors and intrinsic factors as not motivating the employees, thus not accepting Herzberg's theory. However, this study is based on only one military centre and can have generalization problems.
2.2.5. Learned Needs Theory
This theory argues the needs of individuals as learnt and derived from culture ( Ramlall, 2004 ). There are three important need, based on this theory, namely need for affiliation, power and achievement, based on this theory ( Saeed et al, 2013 ). One of these needs inherent strongly in an individual can motivate him for action resulting in satisfaction, based on this theory.
2.2.6. Expectancy Theory
Based on the expectancy theory, which is a major process theory of motivation, developed by Vroom(1964), the individual motivation is affected by three factors namely expectancy, instrumentality and valence of the outcomes regarding the behaviour. All these factors need to be high for the individual to get motivated, based on this theory( Wahba and House,1974).
2.2.7.Equity Theory
The equity theory argues the motivation level of individuals as affected by the individual perceptions about the fairness of the rewards for their efforts in comparison to the rewards of others, which are relevant ( Ramlall, 2004 ) . The basic assumption of this theory is the attempt by individuals for the perceived inequity reduction, which in turn motivates the individuals for action, leading to satisfaction ( Saeed et al, 2013 ).
Muogbo(2013) examined how employee motivation affected the organizational performance for the employees for 103 employees of 17 selected manufacturing firms in Anambara state in Nigeria. The analysis was based on descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The findings showed significant effects of extrinsic motivations especially the fairness of rewards on the job performance thus supporting the equity theory of motivation. However, the effects of motivation on job performance cannot be completely understood by descriptive statistics and rank correlation .A multivariate regression analysis needs to be done in this regard for understanding the effects completely. Moreover, there are many factors other than the employee motivation, that can affect the job performance. The effects of these factors on the job performance needs to be separated from the motivation factors, which can give more fruitful results.
2.2.8. Goal Setting Theory
This theory argues the main factors affecting motivation as the goals of the employees ( Ryan and Deci, 2000 ). Thus, specific or challenging goals motivate the individuals more than the goals, which are easy to attain, based on this theory. Two factors namely commitment and self efficacy moderate the relationship between goals and motivation, according to this theory ( Ryanand Deci,2000).
2.2.9. Reinforcement Theory
Based on this theory, neither needs or processes determine the individual motivation, while the behavioral consequences motivate the individuals for action ( Ramlall, 2004 ). Thus, the consequences of behaviors act as motivations for the individuals, which, in turn, makes them to do the work again, based on this theory ( Saeed et al, 2013 ). However, the behavior, which is rewarded, will only repeat, based on this theory.
The above review thus shows that there is no single theory which can completely examine the factors affecting the individual motivation.
2.3.Empirical Studies
2.3.1.Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors
Kea (2008) examined the various demographic, intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the motivation of 538 engineers in NASA using questionnaire based primary research. The results based on hierarchical regression analysis showed the demographic factors like age and both the intrinsic factors like feedback and competence as well as extrinsic factors like the behavior of supervisors, benefits, rewards and competitions significantly affecting the motivation of the employees studied. However, this study is focused on only NASA and can have generalization problems, when applied to other organizations in different countries.
In the study by Saeed et al (2013), the effects of the factors namely financial rewards, attitude of the manager, personal problems, organizational culture and job content on the performance of the banking sector employees in Pakistan were examined . The study was done for 200 employees in Sahwal banks using multivariate regression analysis. The study showed positive and significant effects of all the variables except that of the personal problems, which show significant negative ...