“the Impact of Employee Motivation on Job Performance”

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- The research study will help inform managerial staff of the motivational factors of Caribbean employees and offer insight into their thought processes.

- The research study will aid managerial staff to recognize that no two employees are motivated in the same manner.

- The research study will in totality add to existing literature on the impact of employee motivation on job performance in Barbados.

Literature Review

Motivation

One author, Alnasrallah (2016) suggests motivation is the ability to influence others to make a decision to act. It is a strength that empowers individuals to take action towards a specific goal (Shahzadi et al., 2014). Likewise, it is a method used to excite people towards achieving goals (Chaudhary and Sharma, 2012). Consequently, inspired and competent staff are necessary to enhancing the overall organizational productivity and advantage to accomplishing goal (Opu, 2008).

Furthermore, author Oosthuizen (2001) has claimed that “motivation is one of the factors that directly influence performance.” This explanation pinpoints, that for guaranteed performance employee motivation is a key factor. According to Danish and Usman (2010, p. 159) “the best performance is feasible with most committed employees that can only be achieved through employee motivation.”

Another author, Shukla (2012) describes motivation as an influence that reinforces and charts a course to conduct and activates a trend to continue. This explanation suggests, that to reach certain objectives, individuals must be active and have a clear idea of their purposes. Put another way, motivation is an internal desire to fulfil unsatisfied needs and to achieve specific goals. Moreover; research by Muauz (2013) found that motivation is a technique that starts from a physiological and psychological want that, drives action towards a goal.

Similarly, the motivation of fully dedicated employees is dependent on particular intrinsic and extrinsic factors. According to one author Clarke (2003) “financial or other tangible incentives (for example, vacations or luxury gifts) can significantly increase people's work performance by increasing their motivation.” Limaye and Sharma (2012 p. 09) describes incentives, rewards and recognition as key influences that effect the motivation of employees. Similarly, according to Danish and Usman, (2010 p. 159) found that “factors like incentives and rewards are the most preferred factors for employee motivation programs.”

Employee Motivation

Employee’s motivation starts with recognizing; for them to reach their maximum potential, they must be in a conducive environment. According to Nohria et al., (2008) claimed “that employees have four drives that underlie motivation; the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to comprehend and the drive to defend.” In other words, managers have the responsibility to set an atmosphere that is beneficial to employee’s, for fulfillment of their needs and maximal performance.

Furthermore, Nohria et al., (2008) in their business review suggested that managers must target all four drives for their employees to be motivated. They also added that, the four drives of employees are self-governed and can be satisfied in any order as there become important and do not replace each other.

Similarly to the view of Nohria et al. (2008) one author, Al Jasmi (2012) has claimed that “the performance of any organization and its continuity depends on their key assets, employees, as well as the capabilities of the managers to be able to create a motivating environment for their people.” This view is an indication that employees therefore, are not solely responsible for motivation at work. Al Jasmi (2012) further indicated in his study that keeping employees motivated and satisfied is challenging for managers.

Likewise; another author Rafique (2014) is in agreement with Al Jasmi (2012), that managers find it most difficult motivating their employees. Equally, Bessell et al., (2015) suggested in their document, that motivating people can be challenging because, no two individuals are the same and what motives one may not motivate the other.

Job Performance

According to Jankingthong and Rurkkhum, (2012) job performance is a reliant variable that has been studied for a lengthy period of time. Another writer, Osabiya (2015) suggests that performance is consequently of the combination of skills and level of motivation. In other words employee’s job performance is dependent on how motivated they are to work. With this in mind; Dobre (2013) put forward getting employees to perform at their maximum under pressure is challenging but through motivation it can be accomplished.

Furthermore; employees who are confident to work on assignments and pleased with their efforts show levels of motivation. Tessema et al., (2013) suggests that people who feel a sense of appreciation are more confident about themselves and their capabilities; it can boost output and fulfillment. Speaking about this, Tierney and Farmer (2002) suggests that effective employee performance is dependent on self-confidence. Their further proposed that self-confidence boost employee work creativity. Similarly; employees with great self-confidence will trigger satisfactory energies, once performed will, render positive consequences (Stajkovic and Luthans, 2002).

On the other hand, employees with low confidence will cease putting in their efforts and be unsuccessful in performance (Stajkovic and Luthans, 2002). Likewise; Lunenburg (2011a) suggests that employees with low self-assurance, set low objectives, put in little effort when learning and executing multifaceted task and likely to quit when issues arise. Above all; it can be seen that employees who have high self-confidence achieve more on the job in comparison to those with low self-confidence.

Authors, Javed et al. (2014) had a different concept of job performance. They believe that once employees are provided with a good working environment, there are able to perform better. They also believe; when employees are satisfied with their jobs and content with equal treatment absenteeism is low but when unsatisfied it is high. Similarly, Tella et al., (2007) believe that once employees are being treated good and paid fairly, they are more liable to have positive attitudes to perform. They also believe that job satisfaction is a consequence of employee perception of how satisfactorily their job delivers what they expect.

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