Identify the Perceptions of a Wide Variety of Different Employees - Essay Example

RESEARCH PROPOSAL Are today's employees in the UK motivated more by reward schemes or individual performance recognition' BY YOU YOUR ACADEMIC ORGANISATION HERE YOUR COURSE/TUTOR HERE DATE HERE Are today's employees in the UK motivated more by reward schemes or individual performance recognition' 1. Introduction There is considerable emphasis today, both in the generic business environment as well as in human resources, on how best to improve staff motivational levels. It seems that regardless of the specific type of business or industry, no definitive model by which to motivate staff members has been developed which will work in all business environments. Some companies prefer a more traditional approach to motivation, by simply identifying individuals for their positive performance and documenting these contributions in annual performance reviews. Other companies struggling to find more enhanced methods of motivation have begun considering and developing reward schemes, which essentially involves offering high-performing employees instant rewards such as vouchers to local retailers or promising a bonus if certain target goals are met or exceeded. Motivating employees to reach company goals involves giving employees an incentive to perform to expectations, by appealing to their needs at the psychological level or from a financial perspective. In some industries, businesses develop incentives schemes in order to motivate employees to reduce current absentee levels (Kohn, 1999), as one relevant example. Spitzer (2000) further offers that in order for any reward structure to be successful, the business must first create what is referred to as a scheme of recurrence, which basically means a consistent reward structure which has very clearly defined rewards for specific performance activities. "If reward structures reflect what is asked for, it will become a systematic reality" (Spitzer, 2000, p.81). This would suggest that it would be highly important for a business to fully understand what types of specific rewards would be embraced by employees prior to adopting and launching a reward scheme. Individual recognition could theoretically come in many forms, such as the aforementioned promise of promotion for meeting target goals, praising the employee in front of managers, colleagues or clients, or offering an incentive bonus (after an annual review) which rewards the individual at a later time for meeting performance targets. 1.1 Research question and objectives This proposed study research question seeks to uncover whether today's employees in the UK are motivated more by reward schemes or individual performance recognition' This study maintains two distinct objectives: Identify the perceptions of a wide variety of different employees, in different industries, regarding what they would consider to be an acceptable reward scheme to boost individual motivation. To uncover which methods are available to today's businesses to increase motivational levels of employees through individual recognition efforts. 1.2 Justification for research study This proposed research study is of considerable interest to today's businesses for many reasons. First, today's global economic recession is putting significant pressures on businesses to reduce the payouts associated with various reward schemes in order to recognise costs and satisfy budget restrictions (Blackwell, 2009). When facing budget problems, it would be of considerable interest to today's companies to explore whether individual recognition can provide the necessary motivation to make employees excel in their unique job functions so as to be able to abandon costly reward schemes. Further, only one in ten organisations, today, have been able to accurately measure whether any of their reward scheme expenditures have met with higher motivational levels as return on the investment (Blackwell). For businesses currently using reward schemes to motivate, but are unable to determine whether the investment is worth the cost, identifying specific motivational drivers which bring highest performance would be very beneficial. This proposed research study will focus on reward schemes in several different industries in order to measure whether employees are motivated more by reward and incentive schemes or whether individual recognition on a different level is more effective. Motivation can involve reductions in absenteeism, improvements in job role performance, or even in group staff environments where a specific goal has been identified which must be reached in a specified time period. 2. Critical literature review One business expert identifies a problem which exists between business leaders and the generic employee, "employers want high employee productivity and efficiency while employees want high compensation for little effort" (Vegas, 2005, p.74). This would tend to paint the business as being somewhat unrealistic in relation to the demands placed on employees whilst illustrating employees as being inherently lazy and difficult to motivate without significant compensation for minimal work effort. If these professional assessments of the disconnect between business expectations and employee demands is accurate, this would represent a significant challenge in boosting motivation, especially when company finances are strained by economic challenges and employees are unwilling to alter their behaviours without high levels of compensation. A recent survey conducted by The Employee Rewards Watch consultancy group surveyed 523 employers and more than half (53 percent) of those surveyed indicated that the current global economic conditions have increased senior level pressure for these businesses to justify their existing reward schemes (Davis, 2009). Alarmingly, in this same survey, 23 percent of all business leaders targeted identified that they did not have any system in place to measure whether their current reward strategies even worked to boost motivation (Davis). If employees can, indeed, be categorised as inherently lazy and unwilling to provide superior effort without excessive compensation, and businesses are facing a lack of knowledge of what really drives motivational behaviours, this could be the reason why there are gaps in business research about which reward schemes would be most effective. A simple voucher to a local retailer earned through high performance or the achievement of corporate target goals, under the aforementioned professional argument, would seem to represent an under-compensated reward scheme which, based on employee needs, would not serve to drive further, future motivation. This would appear only to be true, however, if most employees are unwilling to provide superior effort without extensive compensation promises. Sullivan (2009) would completely disagree as this author offers that short-term incentive schemes, such as instant rewards through vouchers, is just the proper motivational tool in the face of a global recession where justification of costs are being pressured from the highest levels of the business. According to the author, these are effective because they not only provide instant recognition for superior efforts, but because managers are able to observe positive business behaviours as they occur in real-time (Sullivan). Reward vouchers are also cited as being highly effective because they tend to empower employees. For a well-structured reward scheme, with multiple vendors to choose from, the performing employee is given a great deal of options about the specific type of merchandise they wish to choose from different retailers (Sullivan). Empowering employees appeals to their inherent need for security and belonging, as proposed by Morris and Maisto (2005) who offer motivational theory based on Abraham Maslow's five-tiered hierarchy of needs. Under Maslow's theory, employees are motivated when their perceptions of social belonging are fulfilled and they are given the impression that their job role is secure and appreciated. Empowerment simply as a matter of merchandise choice in the reward scheme would seem to provide the necessary motivation to continue these positive behaviours at their psychological needs are being fulfilled at multiple levels. Cooper (2009) further supports the importance of using reward schemes to motivate by suggesting that today's businesses move away from vouchers and instead choose gift cards to known retailers. The author argues that paper vouchers lack flexibility and today's employees tend to view gift cards as being as valuable and easy-to-use as cash. It was described earlier in this review of literature as to the employee need for high compensation for little work effort, and if the basic sociological belief exists that gift cards are as flexible as cash, gift cards might be the alternative of choice for businesses looking for quality motivational schemes. Darnell (2008) would oppose this reasoning as this expert in business believes that true motivation comes from respect for the individual and cannot be purchased through reward schemes. The author points out that people are "motivated by factors that are intrinsic to their jobs, such as worthwhile work and responsibility" (Darnell, 2008, p.S3). Extrinsic rewards are highlighted as including money or holiday-related bonuses and compensation (Darnell). With this premise in mind, it would seem to be difficult to motivate employees who are driven by respect and the quality of the work environment by offering gift cards or paper vouchers in exchange for meeting performance targets. Instead, it would seem, based on human behavioural aspects, that simply recognising the individual, in public, would generate the type of respect employees desire and also to motivate the individual to repeat these same behaviours. Another business and human resources expert views motivation from the same perspective, highlighting that the best method to boost motivation is to "hold up exemplary staff as role models, anchoring a firm's values throughout the workforce" in the process (Goasdoue, 2008, p.63). This would point more toward using public recognition amongst peers and management colleagues as the most important method for boosting motivation as it speaks to the employee need for respect, responsibility, and their need for worthwhile work as proposed by Darnell. Fletcher (2008) takes a wholly different viewpoint on motivation and reward schemes by highlighting that the effectiveness of any reward approach involves how they are packaged and sold to employees. "Programs should tap into the aspirations of the target audience in order to get maximum buy-in" (Fletcher, 2008, p.35). What this professional is suggesting is that it is extremely crucial to first understand the actual motivations of the employee population before constructing an appropriate reward or recognition policy. Ineffective motivational programmes would seem, under this viewpoint, to solely be the product of not really understanding a business' workforce and then attempting to use a standardised reward scheme which is not in-line with employee needs, values and expectations. All of the theoretical and professional viewpoints described in this critical review of literature viewed the employee from multiple perspectives, with some authors believing employees simply cannot be motivated without high-compensation reward schemes and others believing that any reward policy other than respect and public recognition for a job well done are not effective programmes. The nature of how these reward and recognition programmes are developed, also, seems to be quite important which might require preliminary research on behalf of the company in order to effectively communicate and reward staff members. 3. Methodology This proposed study will be largely qualitative in nature, relying on interviews and questionnaires, targeted at a large cross-section of different employees in different industries, in order to measure the psychological and sociological aspects of human behaviour which might drive motivational levels to increase. The study programme will target three different industries with diverse employee populations, recruiting between 20 and 30 employees, per industry, based on the size of the current workforce in each industry. Proposed sample size would be between 60-90 employees. Questionnaires will be constructed to highlight questions regarding their familiarity with known reward schemes, how these schemes may/may not be active in their respective businesses, as well as their individual opinion of several listed reward scheme alternatives. In each industry, one mid-level manager will be recruited for interview to discuss the managerial perspectives of motivation, highlighting any potential successes or failures which each business may have encountered in the past. The questionnaires will be constructed to also list several business scenarios which might occur in each industry (this will be decided once the specific industries are chosen) and the reward or recognition alternatives which each hypothetical business will distribute. Employees will then be asked to choose which alternative would be most favourable to motivate their performance along with a quantitative-focused rating scale to measure the degree to which they find each reward tactic favourable. These questionnaires will be distributed to the chosen sample groups in each industry, by gaining approval from business leadership at each respective industry, with a return expectation of no more than one week. Interviews will be scheduled with each industry manager in this time period and will be collected on the day when the scheduled interview takes place. Analysis of the data will require comparing individual responses with the survey data to determine whether any noticeable correlations exist in certain industries, certain employee groups, or even certain demographics. Each employee participating in the questionnaire will be instructed to give their age and gender to assist in analysis and correlating research results. Interpretative analysis will be necessary for the qualitative research portion (the interviews) to measure certain behavioural and sociological responses. To assist in this analysis, several psychological and sociological texts and journals will be consulted to aid the researcher in making inferences about human behaviour observed during the interview sessions. For ethics purposes, the respondents will be guaranteed anonymity, as well as their respective industries, to guarantee a higher willingness to participate in the study. The recruited managers, additionally, will be informed of their own anonymity to prevent issues of bias in responses and to ensure a more reliable set of answers to the interview questions. If any noticeable correlations exist in certain industries, or certain demographic groups, the results can be charted using appropriate graphing or spreadsheet software. Presentation of the analysed data will rely largely on what specific results are uncovered and whether any observable trends or opinions exist about various reward and recognition schemes. 4. Timescale and resources Below is a list of the activities associated with preparation, administration, and analysis of the proposed research study: August 2009 - Perform additional secondary resource consultation to lay the foundation for research into motivation, employee needs, and the role of business leadership in presentation of a reward and recognition policy. September 2009 - Construct all necessary research instruments, based on the review of literature, and identify the appropriate business industries most suitable for a study of this magnitude. October - December 2009 - Distribution of research instruments will occur, as well as scheduling managerial interviews. Follow-up on questionnaire return will also take place, along with initial review of both qualitative research data and quantitative data. All data will be inspected for potential correlations to demographics or specific industry norms as they apply to employee populations. In this period, construction of the introductory and literature review sections of this research study will be completed. Additionally, consultation with various psychological and sociological texts will occur to assist in data analysis. January 2010 - All data will be charted or plotted according to specific research findings. The methodology and data analysis sections will be completed. February 2010 - Conclusion and/or recommendations section will be constructed. The project, in its final draft form, will be reviewed for relevance, grammar, and university structure guidelines. March 2010 - Final submission of research study in completed form. 5. References Blackwell, James R. 2009. Benefits: Recession hitting reward schemes. Corporate Advisor, London. Jun 2009: 8. Cooper, Martin. 2009. Gift vouchers stay relevant. Human Resources, London. Jan 2009: 73. Darnell, Alexis. 2008. Motivation: Create a strategy that earns respect. Employee Benefits, London. Sep 2008: S3. Davis, Robert N. 2009. HR fails to measure return on reward schemes. Personnel Today, Sutton. 19 May 2009: 2. Fletcher, Mike. 2008. Get them on board. Promotions & Incentives, London. Jul/Aug 2008: 35-37. Goasdoue, Joe. 2008. Recognition is a powerful tool. Human Resources, London. Sep 2008: 63. Kohn, Alfie. 1999. Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes. Houghton-Mifflin Trade and Reference Series. Morris, M. and Maisto, A. 2005. Psychology: An Introduction. 12th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall. Spitzer, Robert J. 2000. The Spirit of Leadership: Optimizing Creativity and Change in Organizations. Provo: Executive Excellence. Sullivan, Nicola. 2009. Motivation: Just the ticket. Employee Benefits, London. May 2009: 37. Vegas, Emiliana. 2005. Incentives to Improve Teaching: Lessons from Latin America: Directions in Development. Washington: World Bank Publications. Read More