An Exploration of the Impact of Employer Motivation on Organisational Success

Introduction

This research Explores the Impact of Employer Motivation on Organisational Success, and how employers plan strategically for the well-being of its staff; to make them comfortable in their jobs, which will make them more effective and efficient. It also looks at what gives the employers satisfaction, and what motivates them. These are important factors which will work in favour of the organisation.

This study is based on a company called Greener Books Limited which at the moment uses Amazon the famous online company to retail their books.

The company deals in used books and have been in business for approximately 5 years. The books are of good quality and affordable.

The company has been in the E-commerce industry for some time now, and has been competing well in the sector. The researcher would like to investigate what has given the company its edge even in time of difficulty, to be able to weather the storm.

The researcher will outline the objectives and significance in achieving organisational performance, its various limitations and a clear definition of motivation.

The researcher will also demonstrate how if employers are well motivated, the impact it’s going to have on employees, and how it is going to contribute to the success of the organisation. This will be shown after analysing the role of the employer, and the impact he or she will make on the organisation.

Choice of Research Area

The reason for this research topic is because the researcher feels not much has been discussed on employer motivation, and not a lot of researchers have been bold enough to venture into the area of employer motivation. As many of the researchers feels employer motivation is all about making profit. This research is going to prove employer motivation goes beyond making profit alone.

Background of Study

The study of this research is based on motivation, which is linked to Human Resource Management (HRM). Human resource management can be defined as all management decisions and practices that directly affect or influence the people, or human resources, who work for the organisation. (Fisher et al. 2003). It also looks at success and leadership in an organisation

This research is going to provide us with information about employer motivation, as not much has been said about it before; the researchers aim is to fill that gap, as most theorists only talk about employee motivation. Like Maslow who talks about the hierarchy of needs, that an individual would have to satisfy one need before he can go to the next level, or Alderfer, who like Maslow said that the individual needs are more a continuum than hierarchical level. More than one need may be activated at the same time. Herzberg went on to create his two-factor theory which is the hygiene factor and the motivators or growth factors. Many more theorists discussed motivations of employee. The researcher is going to discuss more in the literature review.

This research project is looking at the aspect of motivation that most researchers don’t talk about, and why most people believes money is the only motivating factor for any employer. The focus of this research is going to be on small businesses, as it will be easier for the researcher to get hold of the employers themselves.

The researcher is going to be using qualitative methods in the analysis of this research because it provides more insight for this topic, and helps the researcher to understand employers better. Questionnaires are going to be the form of data collection, due to word limitation for the whole research; the researcher would not be able to combine other data collection methods for this research.

Statement of the Problem

Why do people feel money is the only motivating factor for employers?

One of the major problems facing employers is that people often feel that they go into the business mainly to make profit. This is important to study because there are more to employers than making profit alone. They also look for job satisfaction and esteem as any other employee, and that is why a lot has not been said about employer motivation.

To find out the truth, and to change the perception of individuals towards employers, the researcher would have to speak to or ask a number of employers and owners of small businesses in north-west London to help in this survey, by filling in questionnaires.

Aims of the Research

The aim of this research is to explore the impact(s) of employer motivation on organisational success, and how it affects the everyday activities and enhance productivity of Greener Books Limited to become a self sufficient online retail organisation. The research will focus on small businesses in north-west area of London

Research Objectives

• To identify the motivating factors employers have in owning a business.
• To identify whether it is more-rewarding to run a business, as opposed to working for someone else.
• To change the perception of people towards employers.
• To highlight the significance of motivation in a business environment.

Significance of Study

This study is important for the following reasons:

• It will show that employers need to be motivated just as much as employee.
• It will show that employers and employees are motivated by different factors.
• It will challenge the perception that making a profit is the main reason employers set up a business.
• It study will change the idea people have about employers.

Literature Review

Introduction

For any business to be able to thrive in this present economy, it has to have a very strong base, which is their employee. However the employer must be able to motivate himself first before he can motivate his employees. He has to have exceptionally good leadership skills. Also have the ability to plan, organise and successful deliver the organisations requirements. He should have an idea of what and where he wants the organisation to be in the next 7 to 10 years. He or she also has to be aware of their environments, both internal and external, and make it work in their favour. There should also be a feedback system to show if the company is deviating from their initial goals and objectives.

What is Motivation?

Motivation is often seen as the cornerstone to any organisation; without motivation from employees or employers an organisation will struggle to compete, especially in times of economic uncertainty. This section will give an understanding of motivation in the workplace and some of the theories behind it.

Studies in motivation have shown it as the driving force within an individual, by which they attempt to achieve goals in order to fulfil some need or expectation.

‘’Motivation can be described as the direction and persistence of action. It is concerned with why people choose a particular course of action in preference to others, and why they continue with a chosen action, often over a long period, and in the face of difficulties and problems’’(Mullins, 2005).

On this basis, Mitchell defines motivation as ‘‘the degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behaviours’’. Bennett (1997) ‘’sees motivation as consisting of all drives, forces and influences- conscious or unconscious- that causes the employee to want to achieve certain aims’’. Wilson and Rosenfeld (1990) said that ‘’motivation is characterised by a certain level of willingness on the part of an individual to increase effort, to the extent that this exertion also satisfies some need’’.

Rudolph and Kleiner (1989) proposed a more detailed definition stating that the needs and expectations at work fall into two categories, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is related to psychological rewards such as opportunity to use one’s ability, positive recognition and receiving appreciation. The psychological rewards are those that can be determined by the actions and behaviour of individual managers. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand, is related to tangible rewards such as salary and fringe benefits, security and promotion, contract of service. Such tangible rewards are often determined at the organisational level and may largely be outside the control of the individual manager.

As can be seen there are various definitions of motivation, however all of them agree in that motivation is resident within the individual, however motivation is clearly linked to a desired outcome. Even though Rudolph and Kleiner’s definition includes external factors it is not clear how these contribute or inhibit motivation.

Theories on Employee Motivation

There are many competing theories which attempt to explain the nature of motivation. All of them have been criticised and don’t seem to be able to fully explain motivation in relation to people’s behaviour. Some of these theories are introduced below.

The usual approach to the study of motivation is through an understanding of internal cognitive processes, that is people’s feelings and thoughts. These cognitive theories of motivation are usually divided into two contrasting approaches: content theories and process theories.

Content Theories

Content theories provide a link between individual needs and work rewards. They offer a perspective based upon the relative value people place upon various rewards (Wilson and Rosenfeld, 1990). ) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Model was originally published in 1943 (Mullins, 2005). Maslow’s basic preposition is that people are “wanting beings”, wanting more after each achievement. He suggests that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy of importance.

Maslow identified eight innate needs, including the need to know and understand, aesthetic needs, and the need for transcendence. However, the hierarchy is usually shown as ranging through five main levels. From the bottom to the top of the pyramid these are as follows.

Physiological needs include homeostasis (the body’s automatic efforts to retain normal functioning) such as satisfaction of hunger and thirst, the need for oxygen etc.
Safety needs are physical security, freedom from pain or threat of physical attack, protection from danger or deprivation, the need for predictability and orderliness.
Love needs include affection, sense of belonging, social activities, friendship etc.
Esteem needs are self-respect and the esteem of others, also the desire of confidence, strength, independence and freedom, and achievement.
Self-actualisation is the development and realisation of one’s full potential.

Maslow sees this as: ‘What humans can be, they must be’, or ‘becoming everything that one is capable of becoming’.

However, Bennett (1997) criticised Maslow’s theory that needs are individual and can vary from person to person depending on social influences, cultural backgrounds and traditions or can even be suppressed by cultural or social pressures. In relation to this Maslow did not specify the source of needs, which could be biological, trans-cultural or conditioned behaviour. Also, whereas Maslow arranged his needs hierarchically, they could also exist at the same time or in a different order. Furthermore Maslow’s theory states that people will only seek to achieve higher-level needs once lower-level ones have been satisfied. Many people, however, are actually conscious of higher needs even though their fundamental physiological needs have not been fully met. In a consumer society, the poor may yearn for status symbols even though they are unable to satisfy their immediate requirements.

Alderfer (Mullins, 2005) went on to modify Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, his model condensed it from five levels of needs into only three levels based on the core needs of existence, relatedness and growth (ERG theory).

Existence needs are concerned with sustaining human existence and survival, and cover physiological and safety needs of a material nature.
Relatedness needs are concerned with relationship to the social environment, and cover love or belonging, affiliation, and meaningful interpersonal relationship of a safety or esteem nature.
Growth needs are concerned with the development of potential, which covers self-esteem and self-actualisation.

Like Maslow, Alderfer suggests that individuals’ progress through the hierarchy from existence needs, to relatedness needs, to growth needs, as the lower level needs become satisfied. However, Alderfer conceptualises these needs as continuum rather than hierarchical levels. More than one need may be activated at the same time. Individuals may also progress down the hierarchy. There is a frustration-regression process (Mullin, 2005). Unlike Maslow’s theory, the results of Alderfer’s work suggest that an individual does not have to satisfy a lower-level need before he can start thinking of a higher-level one. However, similarly Alderfer’s theory does not offer further explanations of sources of needs or how they are formed and influenced.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory is based on his original study, which consisted of 203 accountants and engineers, who were interviewed because of their growing importance in the business world. Professor Herzberg (Oakland, 1993) carried out investigations into the factors affecting job attitude. From an analysis of his findings, he hypothesised that the things that lead to satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not equal and opposite. He labelled the satisfying factor motivators or growth, and the dissatisfying factor hygiene or maintenance. Herzberg’s hygiene factor relates to the condition of work rather than to work itself (Bennett, 1997). Proper attention can prevent dissatisfaction, but does not create a positive attitude or motivation by itself,

• How people are treated at work.
• Salary.
• Working conditions.
• Supervision.

Oakland (1993) stated that, to be motivated people need ability, which may require some training, and the opportunity to use that ability. According to Herzberg there are another variety of factors such as job enrichment, feedback, self-checking and direction communication all aid motivation.

• Achievement.
• Recognition of achievement.
• Meaningful and interesting work.
• Increased responsibility.
• Growth and advancement at work.

King (1970) suggested that the two-factor theory is open to different interpretations. He outlined four other interpretations, one being: motivators cause more satisfaction than dissatisfaction. Hygiene causes more dissatisfaction than satisfaction. However, if for example, hygiene are the predominant cause of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction, then the above hypothesis could be verified; but with hygiene rather than motivators having the greater effect on satisfaction.

Thus any weaker version of the Two-Factor theory can result in situations contradictory to the general intent of the theory.

Shipley and Kiely (1988) seriously challenge the worth of Herzberg’s theory to industrial sales managers. Its application by them would result in a less than wholly motivated and at least partially dissatisfied team of salespeople. Despite the criticism, there is still evidence of support for the continuing relevance of the theory. Phillipchuk’s (1996) based his study on a small sample of engineers within a single company in Canada. He attempted to replicate Herzberg’s study in today’s environment. Herzberg’s methods still yield useful results. Respondents did not offer any new event factor from the original study although some old factors were absent. Salary and working conditions were not mentioned as a satisfier or a dissatisfier, and advancement as a satisfier did not appear. The top demotivator was company policy and the top motivator was achievement.

According to Crainer and Dearlove (2001) Herzberg’s work has had a considerable effect on the rewards and remuneration packages offered by corporations. Increasingly, there is a trend towards ‘cafeteria’ benefits in which people can choose from a range of options. In effect, they can select the elements they recognise as providing their own motivation to work. Similarly, the current emphasis on self-development, career management and self-managed learning can be seen as having evolved from Herzberg’s insight.

A fairly recent theory of motivation comes from Professor Reiss (Reiss, 2000) a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio State University.

After conducting studies involving more than 6,000 people, Reiss found that 16 basic desires guide nearly all meaningful behaviour. These desires are power, independence, curiosity, acceptance, order, saving, honour, idealism, social contact, family, status, vengeance, romance, eating, physical exercise, and tranquillity. “These desires are what drive our everyday actions and make us who we are,” Reiss said. “What makes individuals unique is the combination and ranking of these desires. “He said at least 14 of the 16 basic desires seem to have a genetic basis. Only the desires for idealism and acceptance don’t appear to have a genetic component’’. “Most of these desires are similar to those seen in animals, and seem to have some survival value,” Reiss said. “This indicates they are genetic in origin.”

The research is bound to be controversial with many researchers who have tried to reduce all human behaviour to just one or two basic desires – such as pleasure, pain or survival – or who say that that there are some desires that all people share equally. Looking at how people differ in these 16 desires, Reiss said he concluded that “we are individuals to a much greater extent than psychologists have previously realised.” For example, he said our educational system is built on the premise that all children are naturally curious (curiosity is one of the 16 basic desires) and have the same potential desire for learning, but he found that people can differ quite a bit in their maximum potential to enjoy learning.

“Not everyone is naturally curious,” Reiss said. “A child may be very smart, but still not be interested in school. But our educational system cannot deal with the idea that there is someone who cannot enjoy learning and never will. Educators are making a mistake when they think all children were born with more or less equal potential to enjoy learning.”

He also said, parents of non-curious children should realize they will never be able to change their child’s fundamental nature. “It’s OK to be non-curious. As long as the child is not flunking and is meeting some minimum standards, parents should ease up on their expectations. By pushing a non-curious child to be more curious, all a parent is doing is ruining their relationship.”

The same goes for any fundamental desire, according to Reiss. Workaholics may work a lot, not because they have some void or problem in their life, but because they have a naturally strong desire for power and status.

The failure to understand individual differences causes problems in everything from marital relationships to co-worker interactions. “People know that other people have different values and pursuits, but they cannot understand how this can be. Self-huggers waste enormous effort trying to change people who do not want to be changed.” Reiss said the research that psychologists cannot boil down human experience to just one or two basic desires that we all share equally. He noted that 2 trillion different profiles can be assessed by the Reiss Profiles. “Every person has a unique desire profile,” he said.

What is Success?

Fitzgerald (n/d) ‘’Success can be defined as the ability to work constructively in teams, develop and maximise others’ contribution and ensure commitment of the team towards overall goals’’. ‘’It can also be defined as the ability to plan, organise and measure activities to ensure effective delivery of business requirements’’.

Factors of success

Harrison (2000) identified six critical success factors for career development:

• It must embody a transparent process owned by line manager.
• It must be a process that can evolve through time and is integrated with existing HR systems.
• It must comprise a system based on full information about people’s career expectations and about the needs of the organisation.
• There must be a measurement of standards to show whether the system works.
• There must be clear communication about development processes and responsibilities to all employees and provision of all employees of relevant and full information about career path.
• There must be support for employees in planning and developments.

Leadership in an Organisation

Leadership, according to Doherty and Horne (2002) “is a relationship through which one person influences another” and also “according to Useem (2001) leadership is a matter of making a difference’’. It entails changing an organisation and making active choices among plausible alternatives, and depends on the developments of others and mobilising them to get the job done.

Leadership theory and research have increasingly centred on leaders as good at articulating, communicating visions, empowering people and developing the trust of their followers (Peters and Waterman (1982). Further to this, Joyce (1999: 88) adds that a good sense of timing, personal ‘drive’ and the ability to handle the emotional aspects of strategic change are fundamental qualities a good strategy oriented leader must possess.

Strong leaders can lead to both success and failure of any organisation. There is ample evidence from firms which have turned round and escaped from the jaws of decline due to the tireless effort a strong leader (Pettigrew, 1985). They can also lead to a strategy which will ‘over-extend’ the organisation with rapid growth followed perhaps by divisionalisation, but which is uncontrolled or simply in the wrong strategic direction

Summary

The overall success of any organisation, relies mainly on its employees, and for organisation to achieve their aims and objectives, their staff have to be in a good frame of mind, so that they can be very efficient and effective in their job descriptions.

For the staff to be well motivated, the employers themselves must be motivated as well, because without a well motivated and focused employer, the employees might not have a conducive environment to work in.

After conducting the research, the researcher noticed that not a lot, if any, had been said about employer’s motivation. The entire theorist has only focused on employee motivation.

The researcher is going to investigate how employers get motivated; he is going to conduct this by issuing out questionnaire to employers. Feedback from the questionnaires will allow the researcher conclude his analysis.

Methodology

Introduction

In this methodology, the researcher is going to discuss the different components that makes up the chapter, they include, research philosophy, research methodology, research design, research method, target population, question format, ethical consideration, research limitation and conclusion for the chapter.

Research Philosophy

Saunders et al. (2003) stated that research philosophy depends on the way that you think about the development of knowledge. They are three views of literature that dominate the research process; these are positivism, interpretivism and realism. They are different, if not mutually exclusive, views about the way in which knowledge is developed and judged as being acceptable. All three have an important part to play in business and management research.

For this research the researcher is going to focus on interpretivism process, because in business and management, not only are the situations complex, they are also unique.

The researcher is going to be dealing with a number of employers to find out what motivates them, because of this, the researcher would not be able to generalise as we keep being told that the business environment is not constant.

With the interpretivism process, the researcher would be able to understand the situations in details and the reality working behind them.

The researcher could have used positivism or realism for this research, but both of them are not suitable for this research, because for positivism it is more standardised and law abiding, while realism is based on a reality that exists independently of human thoughts and believes. In the study of business and management this can be seen as indicating that there are large-scale social forces and processes that affect people without them being aware of the existence of such influence on their interpretation and behaviour. (Saunders et al 2003).

They both underpin the collection of data and the understanding of that data, they both do not suit this study where the researcher is to interpret the data and bring in some ideas according to own understanding.

Research Method

According to Jankowicz (2000), ‘‘Research method is a systematic and orderly approach taken towards the collection and analysis of data so that information can be obtained from those data.’’

Research methods are the techniques used in gathering evidence, and also the various ways of preceding the information. (Harding, n.d).

The individual purpose in doing the research will dictate when and how it is undertaken. The goal will thus vary but publication in one way or the other is essential.

There are two main kinds of research methods, which are Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods.

According to Brocklehurst and Gates, in O’Brien and Pipkin(1999) in broad terms said, Quantitative research is concerned with enumeration; for example, measuring whether an exposure leads to an outcome and, if so, by how much that outcome is increased, or measuring the size of an effect of the new intervention. Quantitative research is concerned more with why social factors lead to change in outcome or how an intervention is effective.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, quantitative research only measures the number of individual’s feelings, and how they think or operate in a certain way. Such surveys require huge samples – for examples above 50 interviews or questionnaires. These questionnaires are structures in a way that they answer the research objectives of the study, as a result there are numerous tools used to gather all this valuable information but the regular methods used are the street and the telephone interviews.

Having looked at quantitative research, the researcher will now analyse qualitative research. Qualitative Research is done after gathering all the information from the questionnaires, telephone interviews or internet survey. The data collected is then used to analyse the study in a well planned manner, where the researcher will make final conclusions based on them.

Qualitative research draws the final concrete conclusion of the study which gains insight into the participant’s attitudes, behaviours, concern, motivation, culture, background, communication, and survey and value systems. Qualitative research involves any analyses of unstructured bits and pieces of data which includes feedbacks from customers in a form of reports, questionnaires and media clips.

With the two research methods available to the researcher, the researcher decides to use the qualitative methods, because this method provides more in-sight for the research, and gives the researcher a better understanding of what motivates employers.

Qualitative methodology and case studies provide powerful tools for research in Strategic Management and business subjects, including general management, leadership, marketing, organisation, corporate strategy, accounting and more. Particular attention should be paid to the study of decision making, implementation and the change processes within companies and other organisations. (Gummesson, 2000)

Although both quantitative and qualitative methods are used for data collections in case studies, the latter will normally predominate in the study processes in which data collection, analysis, and action often take place concurrently. (Gummesson, 2000)

Qualitative analysis allowed the researcher to investigate some of these concepts rather than standardised measures of the quantitative approach.

Research Design

‘‘A research design is a framework for conducting the research effectively. It involves the procedures necessary to obtain the information needed to structure or solve the research problems.’’,

• Types of Research Design
• Exploratory Research
• Descriptive Research
• Causal Research (cause/effect)

Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is a valuable means of finding out ‘‘what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to asses phenomena in a new light’’ (Robson 2002). It is particularly useful if you which to clarify your understanding of the problem. There are three principal ways of conduction exploratory research:

• A search of the literature;
• Talking to experts in the subject;
• Conducting focus group interviews

Exploratory research can be linked to the activities of a traveller or explorer (Adams and Schvaneveldt, 1991). Its great advantage is that it is flexible and adaptable to change. If you are conducting exploratory research the researcher must be willing to change direction as a result of new data that appears and new insight that occur along the way.

Adam and Schvaneveldt (1991) reinforce this point by arguing that the flexibility inherent in exploratory research does not mean absence of direction to the enquiry. What it does mean is that the focus is initially broad and becomes progressively narrower as the research progresses.

Descriptive Research

The object of descriptive research is ‘‘to portray an accurate profile of persons, events or situations’’ (Robson, 2002). This may be an extension of, or a forerunner to, a piece of exploratory research. It is necessary to have a clear picture of the phenomena on which the research intends to collect data prior to collection of the data. (Saunders et al. 2003)

Saunders et al. (2003) went on to say, project tutors are rather wary of work that is too descriptive. There is a danger of their saying ‘That’s very interesting… but so what?’ They will want the researcher to go further to draw conclusion from their data. They will encourage the researcher to develop the skills of evaluating data and synthesising ideas. These are higher-order skills than those of accurate description. Description in management and business research has a very clear place. However, it should be thought of as a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

Causal Research (cause/effect)

Causal designs differ from descriptive designs in their greater probability of establishing causality.

The reason for this is that causal designs are similar to experiments done in the lab; it is often difficult to determine because of the influence of other variables. Causal designs are also known as experimental designs. It is undertaken with the aim of identifying cause and effect relationship among two or more variables.

For this research project the researcher is going to make use of exploratory research method, because it is the only method that can help the researcher clarify the ambiguous problems facing employer motivation.

This method also provides a platform for the researcher to be able to explore in-depth about employer motivation, because most people think employer motivation is all about making money. So with this method the researcher will find more knowledge sufficient enough to draw a conclusion that employer motivation goes far beyond just making money. With this method the researcher will be able to explore and uncover basic viewpoints, perception, behaviour and attitudes.

Target Population

The target population for this research project is going to be organisations that are running on a small scale, from two (2) employees to about twenty-five (25) employees. The reason for scaling down to small organisations is because the aim of the researcher is to be able to speak to the owner or rather issue out questionnaires to the owners of these organisations directly.

Having considered speaking to large organisations, the researcher found out it might not be possible to be able to get hold of the actual owners of those organisations. For this research project, the researcher is going to use make use of about twenty-five (25) organisation for the survey.

Data Gathering

There are many way to collect information. The most common research methods are: literature searches, focus groups, talking with people, questionnaire, personal interviews and internet surveys etc.

Among the research methods available to the researcher for this project, the researcher is going to make use of questionnaire method; this would make the researcher be able to analysis the data quickly. Due to words limitation and time constraints, the researcher would not be able to combine other research methods in the analysis of this project.

It took the researcher about three days to be able to gather all the data used for this research project

Question Format

For this research project, the researcher is going to make use of questionnaire; the questions were designed in accordance to the research objectives. The question formats for this project are mainly going to be close-ended questions. Also they are going to be some few open-ended questions. A scale of a-d is going to be used to answer the questions (a. Strongly Agree b. Agreec. Disagreed. Strongly Disagree).” Yes” and “No” questions would also be used to analyse what makes employers motivated. The researcher did not opt to use “5 scale” as most respondents have a tendency of always choosing the middle answer (3) which is neither agree or disagree and in most cases it misleads the researcher. The questionnaire would be given directly to the employers by the researcher, and explained to them the reason for the research, and give them a three day period for collection.

Ethical Consideration

Due to ethical issues and the sensitivity of people, the questionnaires were designed in a manner that does not require the respondents to mention their names, sex and other confidential information. This is done to protect their identity and privacy. The researcher also assured respondents that the information shared would not be given to a third party, that it is only going to be used for this research project.

Research Limitation

The greatest limitation was to find the actual owner of the businesses, because many of the organisations the researcher went to was managed by an employee.

Secondly time constraint was another factor that affected the researcher; it took the researcher time to track the owner of the businesses to help fill the questionnaires.

The researcher managed to overcome this limitation by share persistence, and was able to convince the employers how important this research project was to the completion his bachelor’s degree. This made the employers create some time from their busy schedule to take part in this survey.

Conclusion

To be successful in any research project, the researcher would have to use the appropriate research method to analyse the data collected. For this research project, qualitative research method was more suitable for the researcher, because the research method is more interactive, and the researcher got to understand how they are feeling.

Introduction

In this chapter the researcher is going to collate and analyse the data collected from the employers of small organisations in the north-west area of London that took part in the survey organised by the researcher with the aid of a questionnaire.

Through a detailed and careful analysis of the research data collected from the employers on what motivates them and how it leads to the success of their organisation, the researcher was able to gather crucial information’s about employers, and this data should change the perceptions of people towards employers that they only go into business for the monitory rewards. The researcher has analysed, interpreted and presented the data in various forms in other to better understand and have a visual image of the analysis.

Respondent Profile

According to the above diagram in (figure 4.1) it better illustrates the percentage of employers that have been running their own businesses.

The researcher grouped some questions together from the questionnaire; according to (table 4.3) this question addresses the business experience of the employers, how they feel and if the challenges of running their own business are worth the effort.

Results from (table 4.3) shows that about 89% which is the vast majority of the employers agreed that it was tough at the beginning than expected, but are more satisfied running their own business and enjoy the different challenges everyday brings. Only a fraction of the employers, just over 11% said it was not difficult at the beginning, because they took their time to look into the business before venturing into it.

The researcher went on to ask the employers why they decided to set up their own businesses; about 59.10% of them said it was because they were fed up of the 9-5 routine, and wanted to do what they enjoyed. The other 40.90% of them said they had never thought of working the 9-5 routine.

The researcher then went on to one of the main question for this research project, is money the main motivating factorAstonishingly over 80% of them said money was not a major factor, job satisfaction, providing services to people that they enjoyed ranked higher to them than just making profits.

Fewer than 20% of them said money was the most important factor that made them decide to set up their own businesses; they could make huge profits running their own business, rather than work 9-5.

The researcher went on to ask about staff motivation, and a lot of the employers seem very positive about employee motivation, they all agree their employee are all motivated one way or another. The researcher then decided to ask specific question, 86.36% said their employees are better motivated because of job security and 13.64% said they are not. For job satisfaction and sense of belonging the researcher found out the percentage there were the same, 81.82% said they were motivated due to the factors, while 18.18% said they were not.

However there was a particular employer who believed his employee were mainly motivated by money, and the other factors were down their scale.

The researcher also asked the employers if they have ever thought about motivating their employee, they all said yes, and gave their reasons.

Training and re-training of employees came up a lot, some said they organised workshops for their staff, better pay incentives, healthy working environment, recognising excellent contributions to work, promotion per performance, bonus, and one employer said his business is run like a family, so he treats all his employees like family.

When analysing the factors to consider in running a successful organisation (see table 4.4), the researcher used questionnaires measuring scale from a – d to find out how employers feel about running their own business, perception of the public towards them and time management.

Out of the entire participant, 81.81% of them agreed and strongly agreed that running their company was more challenging than when they were just employees in other organisation. All the employers agreed that time management is very important if you want your business to run smoothly.

Only 18.18% of the participants said work/life balance is not a problem, but the other 81.82% said its difficult combining both. They all agreed it is time consuming, and very rewarding to know people enjoy the service they provide.

The bar chart below would show the response of the employers, when asked if people have a wrong impression about them, that they are only in it to make money. 81.81% of them agreed and strongly agreed, but one employer in particular strongly disagreed that the public are right to have that impression

The researcher left the final question open, saying any other information would be appreciated, but most of the respondent left the question blank. Among the few that filled it, one said running your own business comes with 100% sacrifice, and the other respondent said, to be a successful business person, one needs to be focused. He said they have to be dedicated, disciplined and determined, which he calls his 3d slogan.

Summary

In summary, the results from the above analysis represents the more humane and conscious side of the employers, as most of them tend not to be go into business just because of the monitory rewards it provides. As one employer told the researcher, there is more to business than just making money.

Introduction

In this chapter, the researcher is going to critically look at the analysis in chapter four, and link them up with the research questions in chapter one, this would make him be able to justify the research project.

Key Research Areas and Results Obtained

The researcher would look if he answered the question asked in the research question in chapter one, which were;

• To identify the motivating factors employers have in owning a business.
• To identify whether it is more-rewarding to run a business, as opposed to working for someone else.
• To change the perception of people towards employers.
• To highlight the significance of motivation in a business environment.

Several questions were asked in the questionnaire in relation to owning a business, and all the employers said job satisfaction was a high motivating factor for them setting up their business. Also, due to the high level of customer appreciation towards the service they provided which also motivated the employer to remain self-employed.

All employers agreed that it is more rewarding to run their own business rather than to be employed by someone else. However most of them did face new difficulties with regards to time management and work/life balance to make sure their business ran successfully. Also they were looking forward to the different challenges each day brings.

What prompted the researcher to take on this research topic was the reaction he got from one of his lecturers, when asked what he thought about employer motivation; he just laughed and said money. This got the researcher thinking that there has got to be more to employers than just making money. The researcher was then surprised to find out when about 2/3 of the employers said money was not the reason they set up their business. They all agreed that job satisfaction was the main reason why they did it, and they also enjoyed the challenges and satisfaction they gave to customers with the services they provided.

The analysis in chapter four also looked at some part of employee motivation; the researcher found that most of the employers looked for ways to motivate their employees, either by training and re-training them, better pay incentives or bonuses. These efforts from the employers made the employees have a sense of belonging, believing their jobs were secure, and were satisfied as well.

Conclusion

The aim of this research is to explore the impacts of employer motivation on organisational success. To also find out what motivates employers, as people often think money is the only reason that employers set up their business.

The researcher is happy to say that the aim of the research set at the beginning of this study has been met; there were several questions he set out to answer at the start of this research which were:

• To identify the motivating factors employers have in owning a business.
• To identify whether it is more-rewarding to run a business, as opposed to working for someone else.
• To change the perception of people towards employers.
• To highlight the significance of motivation in a business environment.

The researcher took several steps to get to this stage, he did a literature review on the topic, chose an ideal method for the research analysis, and analysed the finding of the research.

The literature review section covered what experts theorists have discussed on motivation, but the problem the researcher found was most of the theorists if not all failed to talk about employer motivation; all they did talk about was employee motivation. This made the research more interesting, as the researcher ventured into unknown territories.

Qualitative research method was used by the researcher to gather data, because it gave more insight to the study, and better understanding of employers. The researcher was impressed with the findings, after close analysis of the questionnaires and the results obtained from it. The researcher could boldly say there is more to employers than just making profit.

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An Exploration of the Impact of Employer Motivation on Organisational Success. (2019, Apr 14). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/an-exploration-of-the-impact-of-employer-motivation-on-organisational-success/

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