Implementing A Hr Motivation Programme

State University of Political and Administrative Studies Bucharest

Public Sector Mangement Masters

(English Teaching)

DISERTATION THESIS

GRADUATE:

OANCEA(FLORESCU) G. RALUCA GABRIELA

Bucharest

2016

State University of Political and Administrative Studies Bucharest

Public Sector Mangement Masters

(English Teaching)

IMPLEMENTING A HR MOTIVATION PROGRAMME

IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

GRADUATE:

OANCEA(FLORESCU) G. RALUCA GABRIELA

Bucharest

2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………………

2. THEORETICAL APPROACH …………………………………………………………………….

2.1. Defining motivation of the human resources…………………………………………..

2.2 Types of motivation…………………………………………………………………………….

2.3. Literature review ……………………………………………………………

2.4. Implications of motivation on other HR concepts……………………………………

2.5. Implications on the effectiveness of a company …………………………………….

2.6. Personal perspective…………………………………………………………………………..

3. IMPLEMENTING A HR MOTIVATIN PROGRAMME IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION……………………………………………………………………………………………..

3.1. Overview of the Romanian Public Administration ………………………………….

3.2. Information related to the hired personnel ……………………………………………..

3.3. Current situation of the motivational system in Public Administration……

3.4. Critical analysis of the current motivational system ………………………

3.5. Personal recommendation for possible improvements ……………………

4.CONCLUSIONS …………………………………………………………………

5. REFERENCIES …………………………………………………………………

Appendix …………………………………………………………………………..

FOREWORD

I have chosen the subject of implementing a HR motivation programme in an organization since motivation can be one of the most important drivers of Public Administration’s effectiveness when facing its challenges.

The present paper is structured into two large chapters which approach the concept of motivation from two different perspectives. The first part of the thesis consists of a theoretical approach of the concept of „motivation” and its implications on other HR concepts or on the effectiveness of an organization. This sections consists of the review of different definitions provided by scholars to the term „motivation”, the presentation of the most common types of motivation identified by researchers, a consistent literature review on motivation, as an essential factor in supporting a company’s performance and a personal perspective on motivation from a strategic point of view.

The second part of the paper consists of a theoretical approach which, in turn, is divided into two different segments: a case-study segment and a critical analysis segment. The case-study segment presents the general characteristics of Romanian Public Administration with emphasis on its organizational structure, vision, mission, achievements, objectives on the short, medium and long term and personnel analysis. The critical analysis of the current motivational system implemented in Public Administration is conducted based on the results of a questionnaire using data collected from over 30 individual employees of the organization. Based on the objectives of the study, which consisted of measuring salary and job satisfaction, evaluating the main motivating factors and evaluating the hygene factors of motivation, recommendations for implementing a HR motivation programme through two different methods are then made: the vacancy promotion system method and the standardised strokes grade system. Recommendations for future improvements of the motivation programme are also made.

In writing this paper, I am heartily thankful to my coordinator whose support, guidance and encouragement from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the motivation subject. Lastly, I offer my blessings and regards to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of my study.

2. THEORETICAL APPROACH

2.1. Defining motivation of the human resources

The term ”motivation” can be defined as a process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors or, in other words, motivation is what causes people to act, whether they are eating a pie to reduce hunger or studying an article to gain knowledge (Schacter, Gilbert et al., 2011). From a psychological point of view, it involves cognitive, social, emotional and biological forces that activate behavior, describing why an individual does something.

Scholars have proposed several theories of motivation, including humanistic theory, instinct theory and drive theory (Pritchard and Ashwood, 2008).

a) Humanistic theory

This is perhaps the most well known theory of motivation. According to the humanistic theory, individuals are driven to achieve their maximum potential and will always try to do so, unless obstacles such as financial problems, thirst, safety issues or hungar are placed in their way (Markus and Kitayama, 1991).

The humanistic theory can be best explained using the ”Hierarchy of Needs” developed by Abraham Maslow (1954). He believed that individuals have specific needs that must be met and if lower level needs go unmet, individuals are not able to strive for higher level needs.

b) Instinct theory

This theory is based on the statement that all intents, thoughts and actions can be traced back to being caused by instinct. The instinct theory states that motivation of human behavior is governed, like animan behavior, by instincts (Kendra, 2008). The instincts are goal-directed and innate sequences of behavior and they are more complex than simple reflexes, but are imprevious to the influence of experience and learning.

c) Drive theory

As shown previously, in the mid 20th century Abraham Maslow created the ”theory of needs” and identified the basic needs that human beings have. Twenty years later, David McClelland build on Maslow’s work and identified three motivating drivers that all individuals have, regardless of their age, gender or culture (McClelland, 1987). The three motivators are power, affiliation and achievement (see Table 1).

Table 1

Dominant motivators

Based on these driving motivators, a manager of a company can structure his or her leadership style and project assgnments around each individual team member (Raynor, 1973). By doing this, the manager will ensure that the team members will stay motivated, happy and engaged with the tasks they are assigned.

We can say that motivation can represent any forces that makes an individual play a better work or achieve a particular goal. Motivation can come in different forms and, as a consequence, there are many studies and theories that are based on this term and several domains where motivation is essential to carrying out tasks (Kendra, 2008).

For example, motivation is essential in a company, playing a basis role in work force success or leadership success, while affiliation, security, safety, positive behavior, benefits, supervision, working conditions or salary are all important externally motivational instruments (Qayyum, 2012). Scholars even say that understanding the meaning of motivation and applying it to the work force can be one of the most powerful challenges facing supervisors and employees and, as a consequence, organizations often spend a lot of money every year hiring outside companies just to provide training sessions for motivation (Bennet, 2002).

Another domain where motivation is essential is education (Guay, Chanal et. al., 2010), an area where individuals learn things and where the teacher must implement motivational techniques in order to see higher grades, greater effort and increased participation. Under these circumstances, a teacher’s role is providing a motivationally charged environment which accounts for students who lack their own internal motivation (Broussard and Garrison, 2004).

2.2. Types of motivation

The two most common types of motivation identified by scholars are the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Kendra, 2008). If we understand that every individual is different, motivating the employees becomes an activity that requires categorizing the team members and then applying the best fit types of motivation. Some individuals will better respond to extrinsic motivation because they consider that difficult problems can be resolved if there is a reward upon completion of that problem. Quite the reverse, other individuals will better respond to intrinsic motivation and will resolve any problem that is in the area of their passion. If the team leader will manage to determine which type of motivation will best work with every employee, the implemented motivational system in that team will be a success (Pritchard and Ashwood, 2008).

a) Extrinsic motivation

This type of motivation means that every individual’s motivational stimuli is coming from outside. As a consequence, one’s desire to perform a certain task is controlled by outside sources and, even if these stimuli are coming from outside the individual, the result of performing that certain task will still be rewarding (Pitts, 2005).

The most debated and most well-known extrinsic motivation is money. Other examples of extrinsic motivators provided by the economic literature are as follows (Eccles and Wigfield, 2002):

– bonuses

– benefit packages

– organized activities

– employee of the year award

Scholars have identified several types of extrinsic motivation (Eccles and Wigfield, 2002):

– extrinsic regulation, when tasks are performed in order to obtain an externally imposed reward contingency or satisfy an external demand;

– intrinsic regulation, when people perform tasks in order to avoid anxiety or guilt or to attain pride or ego-enhancements (Nicholls, 1984);

– regulation through identification, when an individual identifies with the personal importance of a certain behavior and thus accepts its regulation as his or her own. For example, a student who memorizes mathematical concepts because he or she sees it as important to mathematics, which he or she values as a life goal, has identified with the perceived value of such a learning activity (Ryan, 1982);

– integrated regulation. This is considered as being the most autonomous form of extrinsic motivation and occurs in the moment when an individual fully assimilates to self-identified regulations. In other words, the more an individual internalizes the reasons for performing an action and assimilates these reasons to the self, the more he or she will perform self-determined extrinsically motivated actions.

b) Intrinsic motivation

This type of motivation refers to the fact that a person’s motivational stimuli are coming from within. In other words, an individual performs a specific task if the results of that task fulfills a desire or are in accordance with his own belief system. Ames (1992) considers that an individual’s deep-rooted desires have the highest motivational power (Table 2).

Table 2

Intrinsic motivational drivers

Studies have shown that positive performance feedback enhances intrinsic motivation (Harackiewics, 1979) and, on the other hand, negative performance feedback diminishes intrinsic motivation (Deci & Cascio, 1972). More recent studies (Reeve & Deci, 1996) have shown that perceived competence can mediate these effects, while other authors supported the hypothesis that if perceived competence increases, this psychological factor must be accompanied by a certain sense of autonomy in order for the enhanced feelings of competence to lead to higher intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Kuhl, 1997).

Other scholars have identified different motivations that can be formed during an individual’s existence and that can be classified two by two in (Westaby, 2002):

a) The positive and negative motivation. While the positive motivation is generally produced by awards an has benefits on the companies, the negative motivation is produced when one uses negative stimulus (punishment, blaming, threatening etc.);

Positive motivations represent, thus, a process of influencing the behaviors of emloyees through the means of reward. The reward or incentive generally consists of salaries and wages. On the other hand, negative motivations represent negative treatments exercises on the employees who do not perform their tasks as expected. Scholars emphasize on the fact that it is not a good practice to choose negative incentives in order to motivate the employees (Harackiewics, 1979). However, the management of a company may be compelled, on the short-term, to use negative motivation in order to prevent the employees from undesirable behavior (Bennet, 2002).

b) The cognitive and affective motivation. While the cognitive motivation refers to the need of an individual to know new things, the affective motivation is only determined by an individual’s need of approval and maintaining (Miller and Brickman, 2004).

Scholars have shown that global intrinsic – extrinsic motivation is composed of several cognitive and affective dimensions which have distinct consequences and antecedents (Amabile, Hill et al., 1994). This is why, if a manager does rely on global intrinsic – extrinsic motivation without incorporating the perspective of cognitive and affective motivation can compromise the performance obtained by his or her employees. For example, if a type of behavioral control, such as activity control, affects mainly the cognitive dimension and doesn’t interact with the affective dimension of intrinsic motivation, such a relationship can become elusive if global intrinsic -extrinsic motivation is employed (Corno, 1993). In other words, the use of global motivation constructs without attending to the employee’s personal cognitive and affective motivational needs can compromise a leaders ‘ability to create and implement efficient control systems (Dubinsky, Kotabe et al, 1994).

c) The internal and external motivation. Managers of a company must follow the construction of interior motivational drivers since this is, in fact, the real spring of the quality of an activity (Pritchard and Ashwood, 2008).

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