Employee Productivity

Technically, it could be said that productivity has been the long run aim of every work organization, from the smallest to the largest work organization; the zeal to be productive is supposed to be the goal of all and sundry in the work organization. As it is, because it has been realized that no work organization could survive without the productivity of its members, then productivity has been one of the major areas of study in many disciplines such as Business administration, Economics, Public administration, Industrial relations and so on (French 2003). According to Tangen (2002), the concept of productivity has been a subject of enquiry among intellectuals since over two centuries before now and has been applied in many different circumstances on various levels of aggregation in the economic system. It is argued that productivity is one of the basic variables governing economic production activities and perhaps the most important one. With this observation, it could be said that the dilapidated state of Nigeria’s economy as manifested in the persistent increase in the rate of unemployment and many other socio-political problems in could be as a result of increasing closure of business setups as result of lack of employee’s productivity.   

            Specifically, in the field of industrial relations, the conception is that the productive level of the worker is not haphazardly realized, rather, it is a consequence of various factors ranging from the individual micro elements to societal macro factors. In the view of some classical scholars of organizational studies such as Frederick Taylor, Henry Fayol; productivity in the workplace is essentially the consequence of managerial style, for the neo-classical theorists such as Urwick, Mooney, Brech and so on; productivity in the work place is a consequence of certain factors such as the work environment, the lightning system, the financial incentives received by the individual workers. For some other researchers such as Maslow (1949), productivity in the workplace is highly psychological as the zeal to satisfy certain basic needs is grossly the factor determining productivity in the workplace.

            Furthermore, the human relations theorists such as Elton Mayor (1880–1949); Hostfede (1980,1991), Oloko (1977) are of the view that productivity in the workplace is as result of sociological factors such as the culture, the group type, group norm, the educational background of the employees and so on. To some many others, the causal factor for enhanced productivity in the work place could be located in the leadership, gender factor, and political-economic factors and so on (McGregor, 1987; McClelland, 1997) and to some, motivational packages could be a factor determining people’s behavior in the workplace (Adam, 2001).

            Deducing from the foregoing, it could be seen that productivity is an important fact for survival of any work organization and that scholars are of the different opinions on the different factors that enhanced or dis-enhance productivity in a work organization.  In other words, the foregoing discussion points to the fact that productivity in the workplace is a consequence of varying factors and motivational elements could be one of such important factors. Although, researches has been geared towards this direction but not much of such research were empirically conducted and not much of it was conducted on communication network services in Nigeria. In this regard, this research is posed to provide answers to the following questions:

i           what are the motivational incentives available for employees in the study area?

ii          What is the productive prospect of employees in the study area?

iii        Does the existing motivational packages have significant relationship with employees       productivity?  

 

By providing answerers to the above questions, this research effort would go a long way in improving the productive capacities of employees and by that would create the effect of developing the general industrial sector in Nigeria and would invariably solve unemployment issue which is one of the major social problems in Nigeria. Academically, this paper would cover the gap of insufficient empirical research on the relevance of motivational packages on productivity of employees, the findings emanating from this research would benefit managers and employers of labour as well as Academia in the Management and Industrial relations and it would also serve as the bedrock on which similar researches could be laid upon in the future.      In this regard, the objective of this presentation is to examine the possible effects of motivational packages on the work behaviors of employees in Communication Network Support Service (CNSSL) in Ilorin, Kwara State. 

References

Adam, J (2001). Business management: An introduction Ibadan: Macmillan Nigeria                                Publisher         Ltd.

Adebisi M.A (1995). “Productivity as a function of incentive system: A study of an industrial             Establishment in Lagos, Nigeria”  Ilorin Journal of sociology, 1(2)

Akintoye I.R. (2000). The place of financial management in Personal Psychology,                                 University of Ibadan, Nigeria,

Akinwumi, F.S. (2000). ‘Impact of motivation and supervision on teacher productivity in                        Secondary Schools in Oyo State Nigeria’ Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis submitted to the                              Faculty of Education. University of Ibadan, Nigeria.