Alex sawdon

Motivational Incentives and their affects upon employee commitment

1

Motivational Incentives and their affects upon employee commitment within 2 marine

sector businesses.

1.0 Hypothesis

N0: “Motivational incentives will not increase the commitment of employees to their company”

N1 :“Motivational incentives will increase the commitment of employees to their company”

2.0 Introduction

At one time, employees were considered just another input into the production of goods and services. What

perhaps changed this way of thinking about employees was research, referred to as the Hawthorne Studies,

conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 (Dickson, 1973). This study found employees are not motivated

solely by money, and employee behaviour is linked to their attitudes (Dickson, 1973). The Hawthorne studies

pioneered the human relations management of businesses and became a huge focus. Henry. A. Landsberger

studied this concept through the experiments carried out by Elton Mayo, using light, he observed workers in

higher or lower levels to see if it had an effect upon production levels.

Over the years after the study various different theorists characterised their own studies and came up with

very viable theories. Around the same sort of time as the Hawthorne Studies, Abraham Maslow pioneered the

hierarchy of needs theory, which is taken from his paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’. It characterises the

steps to self-actualisation using a triangular formation through physiological, safety, love/belonging and

esteem. Maslow indentified these need to grow and develop until a person can achieve their individual

potential. One Frederick Winslow Taylor probably put forward the first theory that workers are motivated

mainly by pay. He came up with a theory of Scientific Management which argued many different points, such

as; workers don’t naturally enjoy their work and need close supervision, managers should break down

production into a series of small tasks, workers should be given training and tools so that can achieve a set task

efficiently.

Many more studies including Herzberg’s X and Y theory have being coined for use in employee motivation.

These theories and previous studies are constantly referred to in many different journals of motivation.

3.0 Significance of the study

The study is been carried out to analyse the commitment and work output of employees within marine sector

businesses based upon various motivational incentives they are given or not given. Production levels, profit

levels and service levels will be increased if an organisation motivates its employees and builds up a good

relationship between their staffing and management team.

Motivation can come in many different forms which will affect employees in different ways. Intrinsic

motivation tends to be emotional and physical, this is when an employee is motivated by the interest or

enjoyment in the task and will strive to do better because they want to know more. Extrinsic motivation is

when the driving factors are external so motivation such as; money, holidays or other material possessions,

this will enhance and employee’s home life and they value this more than there working environment.


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4.0 Objectives of the study

Primary objective – To study the commitment of employees in relation to motivational incentives

Secondary objectives

- To study the different forms of incentives in place and observe their impact on commitment

- To identify the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation within the companies

- To come to a valid conclusion based upon data gathered

5.0 Methodology

Choose two different businesses for which to carry out your survey

Compile a number of questions relating to these 5 areas:

- Security;

- Excitement and variation;

- Significance (making a difference);

- Connecting with others;

- Growth;

- Contribution.

Get in touch with the businesses where you are going to carry out the survey

Print off about 20 surveys and ask each person within the business the questions

Do the same for the second business

Once all data is collected, analyse the data and make some graphs which are comparable to each other making sure that the data is not seen or handled by any third parties.


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6.0 Analysis and Interpretation of data

6.1 Local Watersports Centre

6.1.1 Job Satisfaction (Statistical analysis question)

How much do you like your job?

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1-10

nu

mb

er

of

part

icip

an

ts

Interpretation

This chart shows that on a scale of 1-10, 8 people chose between 7 and 8 meaning that they like their job quite

a bit.

1. On a scale of 1-10 how much do you like your job (1 being not at all 10 being thoroughly enjoyable)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2 2 4 4 1


4

6.1.2 Job Security

How secure do you feel within your job?

Not secure at all Not very secure Not sure Quite secure Very secure

4 5 3

Job security

Not secure at all

Not very secure

Not sure

Quite secure

Very secure

Interpretation

This graph shows us that the majority of people, nearly 50% were quite secure with their job and

25% said very secure which favours towards the higher end of the scale.

6.1.3 Alternative position

Is there a position within a company that you would rather be doing than your current job and why?

Yes No Maybe

7 3 2


5

Would you rather be doing a different job?

Yes

No

Maybe

Interpretation

This chart shows us that regardless of people liking their job and feeling secure they would rather

have a different job. This favours about 60% towards having a different position.

6.1.4 continued

If No proceed to question 4

more pay

better quality of work

more

enjoyable

more suited

your skills Full time

3 1 1 1

other job opportunites

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

more pay


more enjoyable

more suited your skills

Full time

number of participants

Full time


more enjoyable


more pay


6

Interpretation

Of the other possible job opportunities this chart shows that most (3 out of 7) people would vouch for a job

with more pay.

6.1.5 Repetitiveness or Tedium

How repetitive or tedious do you find the tasks within your job description

Very repetitive

Slightly

repetitive Not sure

Not very

repetitive

Not at all

repetitive

4 4 3 1

Repetitive or tedious work

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Very repetitive Slightly repetitive Not sure Not very

repetitive

nu

mb

er

of

part

icp

an

ts

Very repetitive

Slightly repetitive

Not sure

Not very repetitive

Interpretation

This graph shows that 70% of the participants said that there work was either very repetitive or

slightly repetitive.


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6.1.6 Job Opportunities

My job gives me plenty of opportunities to communicate and work alongside others

Completely disagree

Mostly

disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree Mostly agree

Completely

agree

4 5 3

Ability to communicate with others

Completely disagree

Mostly disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Mostly agree

Completely agree

Interpretation

This simple pie chart analyses the data and gives us a picture showing that 25% of people completely

agree that their job enables them to communicate with others; this makes someone’s job feel more

worthwhile. Nearly 50% of people mostly agreed so this is a high percentage towards good

communication.


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6.1.7 Growing to potential

Does your job give you the ability to flourish and grow to your full potential?

Completely disagree

Mostly

disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree Mostly agree

Completely

agree

1

6 4 1

Opportunities to flourish

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Com

ple

tely

dis

agre

e

Mostly

dis

agre

e

Neither

agre

e n

or

dis

agre

e

Mostly

agre

e

Com

ple

tely

agre

e

nu

mb

er

of

part

icip

an

ts

Completely disagree

Mostly disagree


Mostly agree

Completely agree

Interpretation

This chart showing people’s opportunity to flourish within their workplace clearly tells us that the 50

% of participants though they had a little opportunity but not enough and vouched for neither agree

nor disagree. This may show that they need encouragement to flourish fully or an internal

promotion.

6.1.8 Incentives (statistical analysis question)

Do you have any incentives in place for employees within the company?

Yes No

Don't

know

5 6 1


9

Incentives for employees?

Yes

No

Don't know

If yes, what are they

Qualifications

through volunteering

Paid

Holiday

Opportunities to work

abroad

Experience

Social events

Interpretation

This pie chart tells us that 50% of participants thought that there were no incentives in place within

their company, which is a shocking figure. Although some people did say yes and highlighted as to

what incentives. Some that came up were qualifications and experience which should come

customary in most watersports position, training is necessary in any workplace. Social events and

paid holiday are some luxuries that if used appropriately could be very effective towards motivation.

But this chart goes to show that the majority of people aren’t aware of the incentives that are

available to them.


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6.1.9 Motivational Incentives meter

What type of incentive would motivate you most (rank these in numerical order, the lowest been the most

important incentive to you)?

Money Medical/Dental plans Holiday Social Job satisfaction Contribution to company Fear

6 3 2 1

3 1 3 1 4

1 2 4 4 1

3 3 6

2 3 2 3 2

2 2 2 3 2 1

5 4 1 1 1

Interpretation

This question was important to determine exactly what would motivate people to work harder using

a ranking system of 1-7. Money was the most important for motivating people because it got 6

participants for 1st, followed by social with 3 votes and contribution to company with 2.

6.2 Falmouth Marine School

6.2.1 Job Satisfaction

On a scale of 1-10 how much do you like your job (1 being not at all 10 being thoroughly enjoyable)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3 3 2 2 1 1


11

Job security

Not secure at all

Not very secure

Not sure

Quite secure

Very secure

How much do you like your job?

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1-10

nu

mb

er

of

part

icip

an

ts

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Interpretation

This chart doesn’t put much across because it shows that most of the participants are happy with their job but

some are just a bit unhappy with 50% of the votes between 4 and 6.

6.2.2 Job Security

How secure do you feel within your job

Not secure at

all

Not very

secure Not sure

Quite

secure

Very

secure

3 3 6


12

Interpretation

This chart shows us that 50% of participants feel quite secure in their jobs and 75% feel secure

whereas only 25% feel they are not secure at all.

6.2.3 Alternative position

Would you rather have a different position?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Yes

No

Maybe

nu

mb

er

of

part

icip

an

ts

Maybe

No

Yes

Interpretation

This graph simply shows that 50% of the participants if offered an alternative position to their liking

they would take it. This shows that their current jobs may not be as rewarding as it appears in other

graphs.

Is there a position within a company that you would rather be doing than your current job and why?

Yes No Maybe

6 4 2


13

other job opportunities

more pay


more enjoyable


Full time

6.2.4 Position continued

Interpretation

If No proceed to question 6

More pay better quality of work more enjoyable more suited your skills Full Time

4 3 1


14

Repetitive or tedious work

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Very repetitive

Slightly repetitive

Not sure

Not very repetitive

Not at all repetitive

nu

mb

er

of

part

icip

an

ts

Not at all repetitive

Not very repetitive

Not sure

Slightly repetitive

Very repetitive

This graph shows that 50% of people if offered a new job would go for the position that offered

more pay. 75% of participants would take a position that offers a better quality of work, so

something that they feel their skill set is made for.

6.2.5 Receptiveness or Tedium

How repetitive or tedious do you find the tasks within your job description

Very repetitive Slightly repetitive Not sure

Not very

repetitive

Not at all

repetitive

2 6 3 1

Interpretation

50% of participants feel their job is slightly repetitive and only 1 person thinks there job isn’t tedious.

This would reduce motivation levels in a workforce, the way to overcome this would be to vary the

jobs given to employees so they have something new to try, it will also give them an opportunity to

gain skills


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Opportunties to communicate with others

Completely disagree

Mostly disagree


Mostly agree

Completely agree

6.2.6 Ability to communicate

My job gives me plenty of opportunities to communicate and work alongside others

Completely

disagree Mostly disagree

Neither

agree nor

disagree

Mostly

agree

Completely

agree

3 5 4

Interpretation

This doughnut chart shows that about 40% of people believe their job gives them an opportunity to

communicate with others and the same completely agree that they have the opportunity to communicate.

This means the employees’ skills and information will be passed on very easily.

6.2.7 Ability to flourish

Does your job give you the ability to flourish and grow to your full potential?

Completely

disagree Mostly disagree

Neither

agree nor

disagree

Mostly

agree

Completely

agree

5 4 2 1


16

Ability to flourish and grow

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Com

ple

tely

dis

agre

e

Mostly

dis

agre

e

Neither

agre

e n

or

dis

agre

e

Mostly

agre

e

Com

ple

tely

agre

e

nu

mb

er

of

part

icip

an

ts

Completely disagree

Mostly disagree


Mostly agree

Completely agree

Interpretation

This graph identifies whether participants have the opportunity to learn skills and reach their full potential. 5 out of 12 people mostly disagree that their job allows them to grow to their full potential. However some people may overestimate their own potential and think there job is holding them down whereas they are actually perfect in their job.

6.2.8 Incentives (Statistical analysis question)

Do you have any incentives in place for employees within the company?

Yes No

Don't

know

2 9 1


17

Incentives within company

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Yes No Don't know

nu

mb

er

of

part

icp

an

ts

Series1

Interpretation

This chart is very simple to interpret, it gives a triangle formation to show that over 75% of participants said there were no incentives within their company and 2 people said they didn’t know. The people that said yes were maybe referring to minimalistic incentives that may be important to them but not significant for the others to notice. If a business introduces new incentives every so often then employs will also be contempt with what they have thinking they have something extra.

If yes, what are they

Awards

6.2.9 Motivation incentives

What type of incentive would motivate you most (rank these in numerical order, the lowest been the most

important incentive to you)?

Money

Medical/Dental

plans Holiday Social

Job

satisfaction

Contribution

to company Fear

4 1 1 2 4

2 4 5 1

3 4 1 1


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1 5 2 2 2

1 4 3 3 4

1 2 3 5 5

3 2 3 1 1 3

Interpretation

This table appears to be the most completed question and can’t be formed into a chart; however it clearly

shows that money and fear are the most important motivational incentives. Fear scored fairly highly in this

test which is quite worrying because it means autocratic management are putting procedures in place to scare

employees into working. It also shows that social is the least liked of all motivational incentives so these

employees are not motivated by social events held by their company to allow them to communicate with

colleagues.

7.0 Statistical analysis

The test that I am going to use is the Pearson correlation, it will be used to analyse two different questions that

are important towards analysing my hypothesis and coming to a conclusion. This test is the most common

measure of correlation in a data set.

Pearson correlation or r = Sxy / (SQRT(Sxx*Syy))

7.1 Method

- First find the mean of x.

- Now find (x - (mean of x)) for each column

- Square each of the numbers

- Achieve the sum of the whole column

= Sxx

- Now find (y - (mean of y)) for each column

- Again square each of these

- Achieve the sum

= Syy

- Now find (x - (mean of x))(y - (mean of y)) for each column


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- Achieve the sum of this column = Sxy

7.1.1 Local Watersports Centre

x-meanx squared

4.916667 24.17361

4.916667 24.17361

4.916667 24.17361

4.916667 24.17361

4.916667 24.17361

-4.08333 16.67361

-4.08333 16.67361

-4.08333 16.67361

-4.08333 16.67361

-4.08333 16.67361

-4.08333 16.67361

-0.08333 0.006944

sxx 220.9167

y-ymean squared

-3.41667 11.67361

-3.41667 11.67361

-1.41667 2.006945

-1.41667 2.006945

-0.41667 0.173611

-0.41667 0.173611

-0.41667 0.173611

-0.41667 0.173611

0.583333 0.340277

0.583333 0.340277

0.583333 0.340277

0.583333 0.340277

syy 29.41667

squared x and y

-16.7986

-16.7986

-6.96528

-6.96528

-2.04861

1.70139

1.70139

1.70139

-2.38194

-2.38194

-2.38194

-0.04861

sxy -51.6667


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sxy / SQRT (Sxx*Syy) -0.64091

Pearson correlation states that if the critical value number is above 0.381 then you should reject your null

hypothesis and accept you null hypothesis

And if it is below 0.381 then you should accept your null hypothesis and reject your alternative hypothesis

Therefore for this business we need to accept the null hypothesis and reject the alternative hypothesis.

7.1.2 Falmouth Marine School

x-meanx squared

7.166667 51.36111

7.166667 51.36111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

-1.83333 3.361111

2.166667 4.694444

sxx 137.6667

y-ymean squared

-1.75 3.0625

-1.75 3.0625

-1.75 3.0625

0.25 0.0625

0.25 0.0625

0.25 0.0625

1.25 1.5625

1.25 1.5625

2.25 5.0625

2.25 5.0625

3.25 10.5625

4.25 18.0625

syy 51.25

squared x and y

-12.5417

-12.5417

3.208333

-0.45833

-0.45833

-0.45833

-2.29167


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-2.29167

-4.125

-4.125

-5.95833

9.208333

sxy -32.8333

sxy / SQRT (Sxx*Syy) -0.39089

If we look again at the critical values table it tells us that we need to accept the null hypothesis and reject the

alternative hypothesis.

7.2 Pearson correlation coefficient critical values table

df = n -2

Level of Significance (p) for Two-Tailed Test

df .10 .05 .02 .01

1 .988 997 .9995 .9999

2 .90 .950 .980 .990

3 .805 .878 .934 .959

4 .729 .811 .882 .917

5 .669 .754 .833 .874

6 .622 .707 .789 .834

7 .582 .666 .750 .798

8 .549 .632 .716 .765

9 .521 .602 .685 .735

10 .497 .576 .658 .708

11 .476 .553 .634 .684

12 .458 .532 .612 .661

13 .441 .514 .592 .641

14 .426 .497 .574 .623

8.0 Findings


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The findings of my study are as follows

Both companies have shown that they do not have fully motivated employees

The employee’s commitment is not affected by motivational incentives

Employee’s in the watersports business enjoy their job more than employees in teaching

The employee’s are not very motivated by their management

There are not enough significant incentives in place to increase employee commitment

The employee’s aren’t aware of any incentives in place

The majority of employees feel safe within their jobs

There is a good communication among all the employees

They feel they are been stopped from reaching their peak and growing to their full potential

All the job positions cause high levels of tedium

Incentives in place would influence employees (according to qualitative data)

9.0 Suggestions

The suggestions for the companies are as follows:

Put a rotational incentive program in place in order to make sure employees are constantly

committed

Use appraisals to communicate and get to know employees and their requirements of the

company and management

Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation factors should be used accordingly with the situation to create

employee commitment

Offer training and internal promotion within the company so that people with the skills can reach

their full potential, otherwise these people will go elsewhere

New development plans could help towards training and would also enable management to

know exactly how an employee was improving, this would also reduce the “tedium factor”

10.0 Limitations of the study

The limitations of the study are as follows

Both businesses are not in the same sector; one is private sector and one public sector

Statistical tests don’t analyse very important qualitative data

Data from participants in a questionnaire basis may not be accurate

Lack of researcher experience


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Limited time span to study the project

11.0 Conclusion

Using statistical and visual interpretations analysis I have come to the conclusion that I have to accept my null

hypothesis (N0) and reject my alternative hypothesis (N1). This was visualised in the charts and using Pearson’s

correlation coefficient, that “there is no significant correlation between motivational incentives and employee

commitment so therefore using this study people in marine sector businesses are not affected by motivational

incentives that aren’t already in place.

11.1 Scope for future research

The conclusion was not the outcome I had hoped for, however this could be down to various different reasons

or variables. For example; the marine industry is a very worthwhile working environment because of the

outdoors, sports and leisure activities involved. Another variable could be that the 12 people from each

business I asked were inclined towards the null hypothesis, a more in depth study could analyse a wider

participant base, including altering the collection of data to many different industries and businesses.

The study was very useful in providing key qualitative data to analyse; this provided a good visual

interpretation of the results and allows someone researching the subject to come to a faster and more

educated conclusion.

More statistical tests including a paired t-test could have been used and data could have been gathered faster

for two key analysis areas. For example; a survey could have been carried out using incentives, applying them

individually to workers and observing which one has most affect in increasing employee output and happiness

levels.

More statistical tests including a paired t-test could have been used and data could have been gathered faster

for two key analysis areas. For example; a survey could have been carried out using incentives, applying them

individually to workers and observing which one has most affect in increasing employee output and happiness

levels.

More time as in any situation could have yielded better results because it would allow for more collection and

analysis and more accurate statistical analysis. Also if this data were gathered by the researcher it could be

more accurate and not bias.


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12.0 References

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team.com/motivation/hawthorne_02.html. Last accessed 02/05/12.

Ali Sukru Cetinkaya. (2011). The Impact of Employee Motivation on Emotional Commitment: Research

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Bedeian, A. G. (1993). Management (3rd ed.). New York: Dryden Press.

Deci (1971), Petri (1991), Lepper, Greene and Nisbett (1973). (2002-2012). Extrinsic motivation. Available:

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/extrinsic_motivation.htm. Last accessed 02/05/12.

Del Siegle, Ph.D.. (10/14/2009). Is there a relationship (difference) or isn't there a relationship (difference)?.

Available: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Correlation/corrchrt.htm. Last accessed 02/05/12.

Dickson, W. J. (1973). Hawthorne experiments. In C. Heyel (ed.), The encyclopedia of management, 2nd ed.

(pp. 298-302). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Ellen.M Whitener. (2001). Do "high commitment" human resource practices affect employee commitment?: A

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John P. Meyer et al. (2004). A Conceptual Analysis and Integrative Model. Employee Commitment and

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Julian Birkinshaw, Simon Caulkin. (2011). The open secrets of employee motivation. Available:

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/14/the-open-secrets-of-employee-motivation/. Last accessed

02/05/12.

Kendra Cherry. (2012). Hierarchy of needs. Available:

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm. Last accessed 02/05/12.

Martyn Shuttleworth . (2009). Hawthorne Effect. Available: http://www.experiment-

resources.com/hawthorne-effect.html. Last accessed 02/05/12.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, July 1943. 370-396.

Nitin Nohria et al (2008). Employee Motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard: Harvard Business School

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Scott A. Jeffrey et al (2007). The Motivational Properties of Tangible Incentives. Unknown: Sage Publications. 1-

7.

Shahid Kv . (2009). A study on employee motivation. Journal of Management studies. 1 (1/2), 1-60.

Sunil Ramlall. (2004). A Review of Employee Motivation Theories and their Implications for Employee

Retention within Organisations. Journal of American Academy of Business. 5 (1/2), 52.

Unknown. (2009). How do you calculate Pearson correlation coefficient?. Available:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090303084607AAsXE9W. Last accessed 02/05/12.


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13.0 Appendix

13.1 Literature review

Introduction

What is Motivation? Motivation is the desire to do things and is crucial in setting goals and aims to work

towards attaining so that one may become closer to their ‘ideal’. Charles Handy in his book (Understanding

Organisations) says that “motivate is one of those ambiguous words, it normally has a subject and an object. X

motivates Y, Y is motivated by X.” This is where numerous motivational theories fall into the equation because

a management professor Douglas Mcgregor at the MIT Sloan School of management devised something called

the “X and Y theory”. The X and Y theory enunciates two sets of propositions for men in an organisation.

Theory X is that of a man who works as little as possible and lacks ambition and dislikes responsibility. These

people must be motivated controlled and punished most within an organisation. Theory Y is that of a man who

is self-motivated and ambitious. These people possess the ability for creative problem solving but their talents

are underused in many organisations.

There are many other motivational theories developed by great business men and psychologists, for example

Abraham Maslow an American Professor of psychology proposed a theory called the Hierarchy of needs. The

theory is based around a triangle which identifies the different stages that an individual goes through to reach

self-actualisation. The stages are Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem and then finally self-

actualisation. When related to a business this theory can be used for an employee, if they fulfil their own

needs and the organisation fulfils their needs then they can reach self-actualisation and will be more

motivated within the business.

Another theory developed by an American psychologist Frederick Herzberg looks at different factors that lead

towards job satisfaction. There are some factors that result in satisfaction then there are some that prevent

dissatisfaction. These are motivational factors and hygiene factors, Hygiene factors are factors that are

essential for existence of motivation, if they are absent then this will lead to job dissatisfaction. They can

include:

1. Pay – appropriate and reasonable 2. Company policies – not too rigid 3. Fringe Benefits – Health care plans, employee help programmes. 4. Working conditions – safe, clean and hygienic 5. Status- familiar and retained 6. Interpersonal relations – employee relationships 7. Job security- be safe with their job

The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction; they motivate employees for superior performance.

Motivational factors can include:


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1. Recognition – praised and recognised for accomplishments 2. Sense of Achievement 3. Growth and promotional opportunities – opportunities to motivate employees 4. Responsibility – minimise control and maintain accountability 5. Meaningfulness of the work – meaningful, interesting and challenging

Importance

“Commitment is critical to organisational performance, but it is not a panacea. In achieving important

organisational ends, there are other ingredients that need to be added to the mix. When blended in the right

complements, motivation is the result” (O’Malley, 2000) One of these complements within the business

structure is human resources.

“Managing human resources effectively and efficiently plays a critical role in ensuring that a satisfied,

motivated work force delivers quality services. It also plays an important role in increasing staff performance

and productivity, enhancing an organization’s competitive advantage, and contributing directly to

organizational goals.” (Janice Miller, 1999 Human Resources: Managing and Developing Your Most Important

Asset). Human Resource management is the most important department within an organisation because they

look after the needs of any current employees they have, for example; payment, motivation and terms of

employment. They also deal with employment of new employees where needed and allocating the employees

skill set to the correct area of the organisation. An organisation cannot run efficiently without control and

support of their workforce.

Motivational Incentives are very important towards the commitment and empowerment of an organisations

employees and this in turn can enhance society and the community as a whole. There are many needs for

motivational incentives within a business:

1. To increase productivity, 2. To drive or arouse a stimulus work, 3. To enhance commitment in work performance, 4. To psychologically satisfy a person which leads to job satisfaction, 5. To shape the behaviour or outlook of subordinate towards work, 6. To inculcate zeal and enthusiasm towards work, 7. To get the maximum of their capabilities so that they are exploited and utilized maximally.

(http://www.managementstudyguide.com/motivation_incentives.htm, 2008)

There are two types of motivational incentives which fall into two motivational categories such as; intrinsic

and extrinsic motivation. Non- monetary incentives are part of intrinsic motivation, they can include job

security, praise or recognition, suggestion scheme, job enrichment and promotion opportunities. Job security


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provides great motivation because an employee has less to think about and can put more effort into their

work.

Pay and Financial Incentives

Money is one of the most important motivators within an organisation because an employee can buy any type

of assets they need with the money they have been given.

Management should have a payment system that will:

Be effective in recruiting the right quantity and quality of labour

Be effective in retaining labour over the required period of time – it is expensive to have to keep advertising for and training new employees

Keep labour costs as low as possible in order to maintain the competitiveness of a business

Help to motivate staff and encourage effort (careful thought needs to be applied to structuring pay systems in a way that encourages motivation and performance)

Be designed to allow for additional rewards and benefits

Most pay is deemed as a basic wage or salary and can be categorised as follows:

Flat Rate

Set weekly or monthly rate, based on a set number of hours. Does not provide an incentive to work harder

Time Rate

Set rate of pay per hour. Any hours worked over are paid on an ‘overtime rate’. Often employees will use this

pay rate as an advantage and will do work slower so that they get paid for more hours. Sometimes

management supervision is important.

Piece Rate

Payment made for every item produced or job finished that meets quality standards. This encourages the

employee to work harder, faster and more efficiently. This however is not suitable for jobs that require time

and care.

Bonus

A bonus is paid as an added encouragement to employees. It can be paid as a result of hard work or at a time

when it is believed employees’ effort might slacken.


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Commission

Payment made on the percentage of sales by the employee

Output-related payment

The most common method to reward manual workers, it is and element of time rate plus a bonus or other

incentive.

Performance related pay

Assessed against working objectives and ‘company goals’, scoring systems are then developed to assess the

performance.

Profit Sharing

Pay and bonuses are paid based on the profit performance of the business, if employees work hard then the

success if the company will reward them.

Fringe Benefits

- pension schemes - educational courses - travel opportunities - crèches - housing and relocation packages - telephone costs - discounts on insurance - private healthcare and dental plans - time off - sports, leisure activities

History

Before the term ‘motivation’ came about manager’s just realised that giving workers things influenced them to

accomplish tasks. The oldest known technique is the Carrot and Stick method. “The name evolved from the

stubbornness of donkeys that could only be moved by taunting them with a carrot. Early managers regularly

offered economic "carrots" to entice people to work harder” (Elton Mayo, 1923). It was later identified that

this method was inadequate so 2 minute breaks were introduced and these produced immediate and dramatic

results. Morale improved and output increased dramatically.


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UK Benefits and commitment to work

There are a total of 2.62 million unemployed in the quarter, the highest total since 1994. In September 2011

the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance raised by 5,300. Most of the media in the UK perceive

those people who are on benefits within the UK just don’t have the motivation to work. They are required to

attend so many job interviews and apply for so many jobs a month however they just aim to not get these jobs

so that they can remain on jobseeker’s allowance. It is believed that UK jobseeker’s allowance pays more a

week than a job on minimum wage with average hours, this is one reason people do not work. However, David

Cameron has outlined plans to bring in a Welfare Reform Bill; this bill will benefit those people in society who

are working. He said “Never again will work be the wrong financial choice... We are finally going to make work

pay for some of the poorest people in our society."

Journal analysis

One journal titled “a review of Employee Motivation Theories and their implications for Employee Retention

within organisations” looks at different theories to motivate employees so that they are happy and remain in

their job. It analyses Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, McClelland’s need theory, Equity Theory, Expectancy

Theory, Vroom’s original theory and the Two Factor Theory. The journal looks at how these theories affect

employee retention and the behaviours of employees within the organisation. Swanson (2011) emphasised

that theory is required to be both scholarly in itself and validated in practice, and can be the basis of significant

advantages. Because of low employment levels the author decided to identify, analyse and critique employee

motivation theories to show a relationship. Hale (1998) stated that 86% of employers were experiencing

difficulty attracting new employees and 58% of organisations claim that they are experiencing difficulty

retaining their employees. There must have been an explanation for these statistics. This journal will relate to

my project because it looks at theories within a business and analyses their structure and impact upon the

employees, my project will look at the same sort of thing but with motivational incentives.

Employee Commitment is also very important as a pre-cursor to employee retention. A journal titled “The

Impact of Employee Motivation on Emotional Commitment” looks into this study. The investigation outlined in

this journal was carried out with employees at a five star hotel. It discovers that if the employees are

motivated, happy and productive within the workplace then the customer satisfaction will increase and the

business ill be more successful. “Employee behaviours such as smiling, courtesy, sincerity, cleanliness,

friendship and understanding towards hotel guests have a profound impact on customer satisfaction for the

given service (Kantarcl, 1997). Motivation is said to be on of the most researched subjects that has been

investigated in literature both in the business world and personal world. Researchers found that the effects of

work motivation are related to the variables of job satisfaction, turnover, absenteeism, intention to leave job,

performance and commitment (Ertan, 2008). This study investigated the relationship between intrinsic and

extrinsic motivators, employee work motivation and affective commitment of hotel employees. It will relate

comfortably with my research because of the investigation into intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Essentially

my investigation is very similar but just based upon the marine sector. It would be interesting to investigate

whether quality of life and job had an impact upon employee’s motivation also.


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Another journal titled “Employee Commitment and Motivation: A conceptual analysis and integrative model”

also identifies that employee motivation is very important towards a successful workforce. ‘Organisational

scientists and practitioners have long been interested in employee motivation and commitment. This interest

derives from the belief and evidence that there are benefits to having a motivated and committed workforce

(Locke & Latham, 1990; Meyer and Allen, 1997; Pinder, 1998). This journal aimed to strengthen the literature

on motivation by integrating a number of theories into a single theory so that the understanding of human

behaviour in the workplace can be more advanced. This will relate to my investigation because it identifies

some key areas of why motivation and commitment is important in and organisation.

Project

The investigation I am going to carry out could be very useful and influential towards the Human Resources

sector of the business world. My project title is Motivational Incentives and their affect on Employee

Commitment within 4 marine sector businesses. I aim to take 4 businesses in the marine sector and do a

survey with all their employees to see if they are happy with their job and if they are motivated to work within

their workplace. Once I have collected the results from the 4 businesses. I will compare the motivation to the

incentives they have in place and look at other incentives that might be able to improve the commitment of

employees. I will also analyse the hierarchy of each businesses and see if their motivation relates to their job

title or their position within the business. After all the data is collated I will create a pack for each businesses

management team to inform them about the motivation of their workforce and possible changes they can

make to further motivate their workforce. If I identify the incentives that are present in each business then I

can analyse the effectiveness of certain incentives within an organisation, remembering to distinguish

between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.

This literature should provide organisations with a informative writing that will help them to decided which

motivational incentives would be the most constructive to increase the commitment of their employees.

References

Ali Sukru Cetinkaya. (2011). The Impact of Employee Motivation on Emotional Commitment: Research

Undertaken in a Five-Star Hotel. Journal of Transnational Management. 16 (0), 149-156.

Bard Kuvaas. (2006). Work Performance, affective commitment and work motivation: the roles of pay

administration and pay level. Journal of Organisational Behaviour. 27 (3), 365-285.

Barney, Jay B., and Ricky W. Griffin. The Strategy Management Structure of Behaviour Organization. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

Charles Handy (1993). Understanding Organisations. 4th ed. England : Clays Ltd.. 29-60.

Greenberg, Jerald, and Robert A. Baron. Behaviour in Organizations. Needham Heights: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

John P. Meyer et al. (2004). A Conceptual Analysis and Integrative Model. Employee Commitment and

Motivation . 89 (6), 991-1007.


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Nitin Nohria et al (2008). Employee Motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard: Harvard Business School

Publishing Co.. 1-8.

Rob Dransfield and Dave Needham (2005). Applied Business. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 84-

93.

Scott A. Jeffrey et al (2007). The Motivational Properties of Tangible Incentives. Unknown: Sage Publications. 1-

7.

Sunil Ramlall. (2004). A Review of Employee Motivation Theories and their Implications for Employee

Retention within Organisations. Journal of American Academy of Business. 5 (1/2), 52.

Timothy Dixon et al. (2005). Lessons from the private finance initiative in the UK: Benefits, problems and

critical success factors. Journal of Property Valuation and Investment. 23 (5), 412-423

Unknown. (2008-2012). Herzberg's Two Factor Theory of Motivation. Available:

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/herzbergs-theory-motivation.htm. Last accessed 12/12/11.

Unknown. (2011). David Cameron sets out Welfare Reform Bill plans. Available:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12486158. Last accessed 12/12/11.

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