INPACTS OF NATURE OF WORK, SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND BENEFITS ON MOVIVATION OF EMPLOYEES THE CASE OF A PUBLIC ORGANIZATION IN BRITAIN Hoang Le An VPBank Abstract This study explored the impacts of nature[.]
INPACTS OF NATURE OF WORK, SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND BENEFITS ON MOVIVATION OF EMPLOYEES: THE CASE OF A PUBLIC ORGANIZATION IN BRITAIN Hoang Le An VPBank Abstract This study explored the impacts of nature of work, social environment and benefits on employee motivation at the Environment Agency (EA) as responding to the continuous public sector pay restraint, which has already been in place for seven years in Britain A mix methods of primary data collection was employed including a questionnaire survey generating quantitative data, preceded by qualitative, semi-structured interviews The questionnaire was sent out to a sample of 500 employees selected from the National Office group using stratified sampling technique 197 people responded within two weeks, making a response rate of 39.4% The findings indicate that a more favourable attitude toward the meaningfullness and worthiness of work as well as equality and recognition have significantly positive impacts on employee’s (self-reported) motivation level Recommendations based on these findings are also provided Key words: Public sector, Employee motivation, Work characteristic, Equality, Benefits 631 Introduction Many studies have confirmed the vital role of motivation in employee retention and work performance (Eberendu and Kenneth-Okere, 2015; Kassa, 2015; ACCA, 2012) A commonplace assumption might be that financial rewards are the major motivator However, non-financial incentives are also important and have been emphasized in influential work motivation theories Herzberg’s (1968) two-factor theory identified pay as a ‘hygiene factors’, distinct from the motivation factors of achievement, recognition, personal growth and the work itself According to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (2005), higher pay increases performance for tasks that require ‘mechanical’ skill alone, and decreases performance when rudimentary cognitive skill is involved If more jobs in the future will require cognitive skills and creativity, organisations will need to develop new or modify existing policies and practices they use to motivate staff In the UK, public sector pay has been restrained since 2010, as governments have insisted on public expenditure austerity as the means of reducing the national deficit and debt Public sector managers have to consider using non-pay incentives to sustain employee retention and motivation at work Whether this is effective or not is still a question This research, therefore, aims to answer two questions: Question 1: How much has nature of work, social environment and benefits influenced on employees’ work motivation in public organisations in Britain? Question 2: Are motivational influences the same or are there differences among different groups of employees? The Environment Agency (EA) in the UK is selected to be the venue for research It is an executive non-departmental public body that is part of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Its responsibilities are protecting and improving the environment The EA helps people and wildlife to deal with climate change consequences (flooding, drought, sea level rise and coastal erosion) and threats to wildlife It works to tackle pollution, improve the quality of water, land and air, and regulate nuclear activities (EA, 2017) Its head office is located at the Horizon House in Bristol, and across the country, there are around 11,200 staff As in the case for other public-sector organisations, employees’ pay has been restrained by the government’s pay cap policy over the last years, at the same time, it is under pressure to develop employees’ productivity Given its nature and scale, EA 632 can serve as a great context for the study of employee motivation in public organisations in Britain Regarding research question 2, in 2016, DEFRA developed its equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy which focuses on ensuring equality between individuals and groups, improving workforce diversity and promoting an inclusive culture (DEFRA, 2017) Embracing these EDI priorities, the research aims to investigate the similarities or differences in motivation between different employee groups Based on the HR team’s priority, four demographic factors, including age, seniority, gender, profession were chosen for comparison The aim has been to generate findings helpful for the development of HR policies that aim to attract, retain and motivate all the talents, through workforce diversity and inclusivity Theoretical Background, Literature Review, and Hypotheses 2.1.Motivation theories Motivation is defined as the forces initiating behaviour or the reasons for us to or not to something (Guay et al, 2010; Gredler et al., 2004; Gibson et al., 2003) Theories of motivation have a long history They dated from the 17th and 18th centuries when hedonism was conceptualised by philosophers as drivers of human behaviour (Steers et al., 2004) At the end of the 19th century, the issue of motivation began to capture in the interest of the emerging discipline of psychology Various models have been proposed to explain motivation In 1940s, content theories started to emerge This group of theories focus on identifying different types of internal and external stimuli (Herzberg, et al, 1959) One of the earliest content theories is Maslow’s need hierarchy (1943) And a very similar theory to Maslow’s is Alderfer’s (1972) which views Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG) needs in a hierarchical order Herzberg’s two-factor theory (Herzberg et al., 1959) focused on extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors It suggests there is a series of dis-satisfiers or hygiene factors which not necessarily increase employees’ motivation but will demotivate people with their absence Hygiene factors are extrinsic, such as remuneration, job security and promotion This contradicts the traditional view that pay is the main incentive (Brooks, 2009) On the other hand, Herzberg also proposed a series of satisfiers which will lead to increased motivation These are intrinsic factors relating directly to the work itself such as sense of achievement 633 and recognition, responsibility and growth opportunities The theory suggests that managers should seek to enhance employees’ intrinsic motivation as well as provide adequate extrinsic rewards In comparison to Maslow’s theory, the hygiene factors equate to physiological and safety needs, while satisfiers are similar to higher-level needs (Brooks, 2009) Although Herzberg’s theory received strong criticism in terms of its validity, owing to the limited sample size (210 professionals) in his original study (House and Wigdor, 1971), it remains influential among researchers and managers as they continue to discuss and try to use the theory to increase employees’ motivation (Gibson et al 2003) Blackburn and Mann (1979) found similarly that people have strong orientation towards intrinsic motivators rather than pay alone, in research among 1000 low- to medium-skilled workers Beginning to emerge in the mid-1960s, process theories focused on causal relationships between events as they relate to employees’ behaviour (Steers et al, 2004) These theories collectively attempt to explain the mental process that people undergo to make choices The best known process theory is expectancy theory, developed by Victor Vroom (1964; Gibson et al., 2003) Motivation is viewed as the product of three elements: expectancy (E) about the effort that will lead to a certain level of performance (first-level outcome), instrumentality (I) which is people’s perception that their performance is associated with the final results, and valence (V) measuring the degree to which the results are desirable Equity theory as developed by Adams (1963) is also classified as a process theory There are three main components in his model which are inputs (the effort of an individual), outputs (rewards from the organisation) and comparison with others The first two factors equate to effort and reward in expectancy theory, while the last component is significantly different Adams (1963) suggests that the level of motivation an individual might gain from receiving a reward is influenced by the rewards of others since people tend to be motivated by fair return for their efforts In contrast, the sense of unfairness will cause dissatisfaction and demotivation, which might result in reduced input, conflict and relationship difficulties between management and employees (Brooks, 2009) Equity theory has held its validity (Goodman and Friedman, 1971; Miner, 1984) However, it is also criticised for not considering differences between individuals and cultures (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Maldi, 2012) Empirical studies’ findings on motivation are very diverse because of the differences in motivation theories employed, research contexts, as well as study methods Each theory or study has its own advantages and disadvantages which make it very difficult to evaluate and 634 choose the best theoretical frameworks between them As this research has its context in a public sector organisation in which non-financial motivators have become increasingly important, the author found that Herzberg’s (1968) two-factor theory and Equity theory are the most useful Next section about the UK public sector will clarify the appropriateness of the two theories 2.2 The public sector in the UK Following the 2008 financial crisis, the British government’s fiscal policy from 2010 focused on reducing the public deficit through an austerity programme and accelerated privatisation A 2-year pay freeze was followed by the policy of a 1% limit on public sector pay increases and adjustment in pension provision alongside welfare benefit cuts (Bach, 2016) Public sector employment has also suffered because of vacancy freezes and redundancies (NAO, 2014), services withdrawn, early retirement (Jones et al 2015) and privatisation A debate concerns the UK traditional conceptualisation of erosion of public service ethos (PSE) and the US literature on public service motivation (PSM) In the UK, PSE is the unwritten cultural values and rules that set out the standards across public institutions and agencies and inform public servants’ behaviour (Pratchett and Wingfield, 1994; House of Commons, 2002) In this case, ethos acts as a benchmark or principled framework for action that public service workers should uphold This view is considered a more bureaucratic perspective compared to the US theories of PSM, which emphasise the importance of “getting the right people in the job” (Norris, 2003) US literature argues that public sector workers naturally have a distinctive set of values (or ethos), for example, Perry (1996) identifies four elements of public service motivation (PSM): attraction to policy making, commitment to public interest, compassion and self-sacrifice Hence public sector workers are believed to be more intrinsically motivated rather than affected by extrinsic incentives They choose to work in the sector being concerned to help other people, being useful to the society and for the greater good (Hebson et al., 2003; Buelens and Van de Broeck, 2007) John and Johnson (2008) suggest this is also the reason for many people to choose to work in the public rather than private sector considering the fact that public sector pay is lower on average for the same jobs and it also has more rules and regulations (Boyne, 2002) However, there are still arguments in the literature about PSE’s existence Buelens and Broeck (2007) argue that it is job content instead of working in the public sector that matters since some jobs only exist in the public sector such as social work, doctors and nurses 635 Jurkiewicz and Brown (1998) look at a totally different aspect which is age or cohort effects They suggest that different age groups have different visions for society leading to variances in ethos between them Thus, data shows that public sector employees tend to be older, are more likely to be female, professional and trade union members (see Table 1), which indicates that PSE might be the result of the different social demographic characteristics Table 1: Composition of private and public sector employees in 2005 % of employees Private sector Public sector Difference Men 51 35 -16 Women 49 65 +16 18-34 33 20 -13 65+ 19 24 +5 Professional 31 52 +21 Routine/semi-routine 37 24 -13 Degree or higher 24 44 +20 No qualifications 27 20 -7 Highest income quartile 22 27 +5 Lowest income quartile 27 19 -8 Labour supporter 41 41 Conservative supporter 23 24 -1 Trade union member 11 37 +26 2404 1158 Base Source: John and Johnson (2008) Testing for this issue using multivariate analysis, John and Johnson’s (2008) findings support the existence of PSE Public sector employees remained more altruistically motivated than those in the private sector after taking into account the above demographic factors There is persuasive evidence for the existence of PSE However, many policymakers and commentators claim that PSE has been declining among public sector employees Based on the study of Jurkiewicz and Brown (1998) about cohort effects, PSE might be a feature of the public sector of the past This argument is supported by empirical research undertaken by Moynihan & Pandey (2007) which found a stronger sense of public service among older workers Hence, it may have started to decline when a new generation entered the public 636 sector Moreover, as the public sector increases the outsourcing of the works to the private sector, many authors blame the involvement of the private sector for PSE erosion Hebson et al.’s (2003) two case studies in health and local government suggested that public-privatepartnership arrangements had weakened managerial accountability and PSE’s traditional values This is because PSE has been gradually replaced by behaviour driven by commercial values Public sector workers are treated like self-interested actors with the increasing use of private sector’s management techniques, for instance, performance-related pay (Public Administration Committee, 2002) John and Johnson (2008), however, using data from the British Social Attitudes survey present a totally opposite result The findings reject PSE’s weakening based on the growth of individual self-interest; they argue PSE increased during the New Labour years (1997-2010), although this might be as the two sectors become more similar and the choice of careers now depends on values rather than practical factors such as job security As a result, the public sector has only attracted individuals who already have ‘the right’ values (John and Johnson, 2008) This explanation does not seem conclusive Furthermore, the data cover the period of Tony Blair’s government from 1997 to 2005 There has been much change since then with the switch of ruling party from Labour to Conservative-Liberal Democrat in 2010, followed by the introduction of the austerity programme A more recent study by Booth-Smith and Leigh (2016) confirms the negative effect of private sector involvement on public services’ quality and core values Major components of PSE such as social justice, accountability, integrity and community responsibility are reported to have deteriorated by 1,415 public sector managers and executives In summary, the UK public sector has experienced a harsh reform triggered by the political goal of national budget reduction The austerity programme froze and then capped public sector pay rises at 1% for seven years (Maidment, 2017) Some believed that public service quality should remain the same as pay has a very minor role in the distinctive ethos of public servants (PSE) However, the recent protest of NHS nurses in early September against the pay cap suggests this policy has become very problematic It has lasted for a long period of seven years and is far below the current rate of inflation at 2.6% (Maidment, 2017) Besides, PSE is reported to be diminishing Given pay is more or less a fixed factor in the UK public sector, furthur studies should be conducted to find out whether non-pay factors play an important role in determining employee motivation 637 Applying Herzberg’s two-factor theory and Equity theory to the public sector context, in this study, the impacts of non-pay factors including the work itself (whether it is meaningful and/or worthwhile), equality, recognition, and benefits will be examined The following hyptheses are proposed: H1: Higher level of the work’s meaningfulness leads to higher level of employee motivation H2: Higher level of the work’s worthiness leads to higher level of employee motivation H3: Higher level of equality leads to higher level of employee motivation H4: Higher level of recognition leads to higher level of employee motivation H5: Higher level of benefits leads to higher level of employee motivation 2.3 Age, seniority, gender, profession, and employee motivation This section looks at previous research examining the influence of four demographic and social status factors: age, seniority (length of service), gender, and profession, on employees’ motivation Age and seniority Pratchett and Wingfield (1996) suggest older people have a stronger belief in PSE, while younger workers might be more motivated by extrinsic rewards This is supported by many empirical studies indicating that extrinsic motivation such as power, achievement, progression and recognition seems to decline with age (Warr, 2008; Inceoglu et al., 2012), while intrinsic motivation witnesses the reverse (Kooij et al., 2011; Inceoglu et al., 2012; Rhodes, 1983) Van De Berg (2011) found job characteristics such as organisational stimulation, work variety, challenging goals and autonomy effectively motivated older employees since they increase intrinsic motivation On the other hand, Maehr and Kleiber (1981) whose study focused on achievement motivation, propose that achievement does not decrease with age but transforms from a more extrinsic to an intrinsic, ‘mastery-related’ pattern ‘Mastery’ is defined as the intra-personal standards of competence that are intrinsically, instead of extrinsically interpersonal or other-referenced standards (De Lange et al., 2010) Young workers, in contrast, place more value on career advancement 68% of recent graduates surveyed by Adecco in 2012 chose growth and development opportunities as one of their top priorities (Goudreau, 2013) Some studies argue that differences in motivation 638 between age groups are caused by the distinctive eras in which they grow up Therefore, they examine this topic by dividing the population into various generations: Baby Boomer, Generation Xer and Millennial The findings on each generation’s motivations and demotivation are diverse (Goodman, 2006; Erickson, 2008; Jaworski, 2009) Much work has focused on the Millennials as they are about to be the majority of the workforce Encouragement, recognition and work-life balance are the top three reward preferences, while high pay is far behind in the list (Fertik, 2011; Goudreau, 2013; Twenge, 2010; Hershatter and Epstein, 2010) A study about generations by Griffith Insurance Education Foundation in 2012 reported that Millennials are willing to sacrifice pay to have more time on holiday and work outside the office It is argued that technological change might have impacted Millennials’ expectation about their work (Thompson and Gregory, 2012; Goudreau, 2013) In fact, work can be performed anytime from anywhere as long as Internet access is available Thus, fixed working hours and to having to sit at a desk all day everyday are not favourable Millennials also responds well to encouragement, feedback and praise This is because they have been socialised by ‘helicopter parents’ who provide frequent positive feedback, praise, reassurance and guidance (Hershatter and Epstein, 2010) As a result, they will expect the same level of feedback, praise, individual attention and guidance at work (Thompson and Gregory, 2012) Other research also suggests management style is the key to motivate Millennials (Lancaster and Stillman, 2002; Ng et al., 2010), since poor management might be the cause for the highest turnover rate of Millennials among other generations (Gallup, 2016) Length of service or seniority might share some common impacts with age on motivation of employees since normally young workers are the one who have shorter length of service compared to older employees However, this is not always the case as many older workers decided to change their job for various reasons such as to be promoted to a higher rank, better salary or simply for closer distance from home, which leads to their short duration of service at the new organisation Many authors have researched the relationship between length of service and job satisfaction and found the positive relationship (Atchinson and Lefferts, 1975; Karp et al., 1973; Locke, 1968; Mobley et al., 1979), while the impacts on motivation has not been studied much Nonetheless, job satisfaction is well-known as strongly related to motivation, which means there is a high possibility that seniority would affect employees’ motivation 639 Gender Research findings on gender and motivation seems to capture gender stereotypes For example, studies find significant difference in preference between men and women in terms of achieving promotions or power which may provide part of the explanation for the higher percentage of men holding leadership positions (Gino and Brooks, 2015) These findings have a long history since the 1960s and 1970s Research at that time illustrated that males had higher levels of achievement motivation than females (Tyler, 1965; Hoffman, 1972), which was consistent with the social belief that women should stay at home and look after their children (Hyde and Kling, 2001) Horner (1969) suggests this imbalance in achievement motivation is caused by women’s fear of success To prove her theory right, Horner (1969) conducted a projective test which required respondents to finish a story that started “After first-term finals, Anne (John) finds herself (himself) at the top of her (his) medical-school class.” 65% of women showed very negative responses compared to men’s They indicated fears of social rejection, success denial and concerns about womanhood, while men expressed their satisfaction over the achievement Horner’s study was criticised for not taking into account the heavily stereotyped society at that time Critics noted that Anne’s success was in medical school, which was stereotyped as male Therefore, the findings might indicate a fear of violating stereotypes rather than a generalised fear of success (Cherry and Deaux, 1978) Eccles (1994) also tried to explain gender differences by using an expectancy x value model This identifies two sets of beliefs influencing the choice to conduct an achievementrelated behaviour: the individual expectation for the success and how he/she values the results These beliefs in turn are affected by social and cultural factors such as socialisers (parents and teachers) and gender stereotypes However, studies show that women’s achievement motivation has developed over time (Veroff et al., 1980; Jenkins, 1987), which seems to be the result of more educational and career opportunities becoming available for women over the last decades (Hyde and Kling, 2001) More recent research on achievement motivation, in contrast, reveals no gender differences (Mednick and Thomas, 1993; Barron and Harackiewicz, 2001) Other studies also find male workers value pay, benefits and authority more highly than females Whereas, women tend to be motivated by affiliation such as relationships, respect, collaboration, fairness and work-life balance (Guth and Taguiri, 2007; Buelens and Broeck, 2007; Fapohunda, 2013) However, culture and sector characteristics contribute important roles in gender differences A study of gender relations in the broadcast sector in Nigeria 640 ... Question 1: How much has nature of work, social environment and benefits influenced on employees? ?? work motivation in public organisations in Britain? Question 2: Are motivational influences the same... an intrinsic, ‘mastery-related’ pattern ‘Mastery’ is defined as the intra-personal standards of competence that are intrinsically, instead of extrinsically interpersonal or other-referenced standards... vacancy freezes and redundancies (NAO, 2014), services withdrawn, early retirement (Jones et al 2015) and privatisation A debate concerns the UK traditional conceptualisation of erosion of public