EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION ON ORGANIZATIONAL

PERFORMANCE AT ETHIOPIAN TELECOM SOUTH WEST

REGION JIMMA

Wolde SHIFERAW DUBAGUS, MA ¹*

Eminent NEGASH, MA. ²

Aregu ASMARE HAILU, MA. ³

Shimekit KELKAY ESHETE, MA. ⁴

¹ Jimma University, Collage of Business and Economics, Management Department, woldeshif@gmail.com , *Correspondent Author

² Jimma University, Collage of Business and Economics, Management Department, negashemnet@gmail.com

³ Jimma University, Collage of Business and Economics, Management Department, areguasmare2@gmail.com

⁴ Jimma University, Collage of Business and Economics, Hospitality and Tourism Management Department, skelkay@gmail.com

Article history:

Accepted 02 July 2020

Available online 31 August 2020

Keywords:

Ethiopia,

Employee,

Training,

Promotion,

Teamwork,

Employee Benefit,

Organization Performance,

Working Enviroment.

A b s t r a c t

The study examined the effects of employee motivation on organization performance of crews in

Ethio telecom South West Region Jimma. The data were collected through self-administered

questionnaire from 229 respondents and 219 were returned. Both primary and secondary sources of

data were consumed in this study. The quantitative research approach was implemented and simple

random sampling technics were adopted to provide equal chances for respondents. Exploratory

research design and data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The correlation

analysis indicates that there was a positive relationship between the independent variables and

dependent variables. The result of the regression implies that the independent variables have

accounted for 78.1% of variance in the dependent variable. Based on the outcome of the study, the

researcher recommend that, it is better if the company focuses on employee motivation factors,

mostly Promotion, employee benefit, teamwork and training so as to improve its performance.

1. Introduction

Employee motivation is one of the rules of managers of growth

efficient task control between personnel in businesses. A

motivated employee is responsive of the precise goals and goals

he or she ought to achieve consequently he or she directs its

attempt in that course. Motivation formulates an enterprise

greater successful because provoked employees are constantly

seeking out progressed practices doing more. Getting employees

to do their satisfactory performance even in energetic

circumstances is one of the personnel most stable and greasy

demanding situations and this can be made possible over

motivating them. Motivation principle is concerned with what

determines purpose directed behavior. Those wishes, how the

fulfillment of goals and or comments on their success reinforces

a successful behavior and the way perception in a single’s

capacity to perform a specific task will actuate behavior that is

anticipated to achieve the successful overall performance of that

challenge (Armstrong, 2006).

Factors affecting employee’s motivation, nobody work for free,

nor need to them. Employees need to earn affordable revenue and

fee, and personnel choice their people to sense that is what they're

getting (Houran. J, 1974). Money is the fundamental incentive,

no other incentive or motivational technique comes even close to

it to appreciate to its influential cost (Sara et al., 2004). It has the

supremacy to magnetize, preserve and motivate people in the

direction of better performance. Frederick Taylor and his

scientific associate defined money because the most essential

issue in motivating the economic workers to acquire extra

productivity (Adeyinka et al., 2007). Studies have suggested that

a reward is now reason for satisfaction of the employee which

directly affects the performance of the employee (Kalimullah et

http://prizrenjournal.com/index.php/PSSJ/issue/view/9
mailto:woldeshif@gmail.com
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1711-9705
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7622-8149
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http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9042-4074

al., 2010). The rewards are management tools that optimistically

make a contribution to company’s effectiveness by using

influencing character or organization conduct.

All organizations use pay, promotion, bonuses or different types

of rewards motivate and inspire high level performances of

employees (Reena et al., 2009). To use salaries as a motivator

effectively, managers need to recall revenue systems which ought

to include significance. Organization attach to every job, payment

in keeping with overall performance, non-public or special

allowances, fringe advantages, pensions and so on (Adeyinka et

al., 2007). And if you want them to believe you and do things for

you and the institute, they want to be inspired (Baldoni. J, 2005).

Theories imply that leader and fans raise one another to better

stages of morality and motivation (Rukhmani. k, 2010).

Motivation is solely and really a management behavior. It stems

from wanting to do what is right for people in addition to for the

organization. Management and motivation are dynamic

techniques (Baldoni. J, 2005).

Including up, they work with a feeling of duty and prefer

advantages of the organization to have benefit for themselves

(Yazdani, B.O. et al., 2011). Trust is defined as the belief of one

approximately others, selection to behave based on speech,

conduct and their choice (Hassan et al., 2010 If a business

enterprise wants to improve and be successful, agree with

performs a massive function so it should continually be preserved

to make certain an organization's existence and to enhance

workers motivation (Annamalai. T, 2010). It is able to make

intrapersonal and interpersonal results and influence at the

relations, interior and out the employer (Hassan et al., 2010).

Regardless of how technologically advanced an enterprise can be,

excessive productivity depends on the level of motivation and the

effectiveness of the group of workers. So a personnel training is

an indispensable method for motivating people. One way

managers can instigate motivation is to present suitable

information on the judgments of their actions on others (Adeyinka

et al., 2007). Research has shown that there are a variety of

significant factors which determines the degree of employee

motivation. Consequently, managers are crucial to the

performance and success of the organization.

Managers are highly involved in the process of modeling or re-

shaping the organizational structure in a manner that inspires and

increases the level of employee motivation. It is widely known

that employees are motivated and stay within an organization for

as long as they feel that the organization is able to provide an

opportunity for self-actualization and personal development. The

fulfillment of such conditions contributes to an improvement of

the employee’s willingness to strive toward successfully

achieving the organizations goals and objectives (Pereira, 2012).

Research shows that job satisfaction is positively related to job

performance, in addition low motivation and low job satisfaction

has negatively affected organizational performance. Therefore,

an employee motivation is likely to have effects on the outcome

of care and performance of organizations.

2. Literature Review

According to Butkus & Green (1999), motivation is originated

from the word "motivate", means to move, push or impact to

continue for satisfying a want. Motivation is a fixed of

publications worried with a kind of energy that enhances overall

performance and directs closer to engaging in a few definite

objectives (Kalimullah et al., 2010). Helliegel, Slocum, and

Woodman describe motivation as the force acting on or within a

person that causes the man or woman to act in a, goal-directed

manner (Hellriegel, 1992). Daft and Marcic explain that

motivation refers to the forces either within or outside to someone

that provoke passion and persistence to pursue a positive path of

movement (Daft, 2004). Bartol and Martin (1998). Consider

motivation is an effective tool that boosts conduct and triggers the

tendency to preserve. In different expressions, motivation is an

internal force to satisfy an unsatisfied want and to attain a certain

goal or objective.

According to (Bartol & Martin et al., 1998) motivation is a

physiological or psychological want that stimulates an overall

performance set via an objective further more motivation has

something to do with someone’s behavior, a reason of conduct,

or the motives of individual conduct, and the reasons of man or

woman behaviors might also vary because of one of a

sympathetic person desires. The perception of the criteria to

managers is that they need to first discover the personality

differences and their needs and develop right fashions to inspire

employees by means of satisfying those different needs to achieve

organizational targets.

Consequently, managers need to not limit themselves to at least

one specific motivational component, as an alternative, they

should consider numerous motivational fashions to grasp the

different wishes of employees (Kim et al., 2006). It additionally

describes the way to inspire humans to apply their efforts and

abilities to achieve the business enterprise’s desires in addition to

satisfy their own needs (Armstrong, 2001).

2.1. Motivation Theories

Employee motivation is an intricate and sophisticated

subject; however, modern managers must face and deal with this

topic to obtain organizational success. To enhance understanding

of employee motivation, managers must recognize the

requirements of employee motivation, its concepts, and

differences in individual needs. According to (Kim et al., 2006)

this understanding of the employee motivation process requires a

systematic approach, and managers must realize that employee

motivation and its process are there to motivate their employees.

Therefore, employee input must be valued and included

throughout this process Maslow was a psychologist who

proposed that within every person is a hierarchy of five needs

(Coulter, 2002).

Maslow argued that each level in the need’s hierarchy must be

substantially satisfied before the next need becomes dominant.

An individual moves up the need’s hierarchy from one level to

the next. In addition, Maslow separated the five needs into higher

and lower levels. Physiological and safety needs were considered

lower-order needs; social, esteem, and self-actualization needs

were considered higher-order needs. Lower-order needs are

predominantly satisfied externally while higher-order needs are

satisfied internally (Coulter et al., 2002).

Another classic Motivational theory is Douglas McGregor's

Theory X and Theory Y. He is best known for proposing two

assumptions about human nature. Very simply, Theory X is a

negative view of people that assumes workers have little

ambition, dislike work, want to avoid responsibility, and need to

be closely controlled to work effectively. Theory Y is a positive

view that assumes employees enjoy work, seek out and accept

responsibility, and exercise self-direction. McGregor believed

that Theory Y assumptions should guide management practice

and proposed that participation in decision making; responsibility

and challenging jobs and good group relations would maximize

employee motivation. (Coulter et al., 2002). Frederick Herzberg’s

two-factor theory (also called motivation hygiene theory)

proposes that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while

extrinsic factors are associated with job dissatisfaction. On the

other hand, when they were dissatisfied, they tended to cite

extrinsic factors arising from the job context, such as company

policy and administration, supervision, interpersonal

relationships, and working conditions (Coulter et al., 2002).

The most comprehensive explanation of how employees are

motivated is a Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory. It includes

three variables or relationships invoked expectancy,

instrumentality, and valence (Coulter et al., 2002). According to

Vroom (1969) expectancy theory, that an employee will be

motivated to apply a high level of effort when he or she trusts that

effort will lead to a good performance appraisal, followed by

organization rewards such as promotion which later satisfy

personal goals.

2.2. Intrinsic Motivation

Deci and Ryan (1985) suggested that intrinsic motivation is based

on the needs to be competent and self-determining (that is, to have

a choice). Intrinsic motivation can be enhanced by assigning

suitable job or role design. According to (Katz, 1964) the job

itself must provide sufficient variety, sufficient complexity,

sufficient challenge, and sufficient skill to engage the abilities of

the worker.

2.3. Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation occurs when things are done to or for people

to motivate them. These include rewards, such as incentives,

increased pay, praise, or promotion; and punishments, such as

disciplinary action, withholding pay, or criticism. Extrinsic

motivators could have an immediate and powerful effect but will

not necessarily last long. The intrinsic motivators, which are

concerned with the quality of working life (a phrase and

movement that emerged from this concept) are likely to have a

deeper and longer-term effect because they are inherent in

individuals and their work and not imposed from outside in such

forms as incentive pay and summarized in Table below The most

significant ones are those concerned with expectancy, goal setting

and equity, which are classified as process or cognitive theories

Armstrong( 2009).

Salary is very important for everyone. Wages must first be

received fairly (Wheelhouse, 1989). As (Bohlander, Snell and

Sherman, 2001, cited in Petcharak, 2002, p. 22) argued pay is a

major consideration in human resource management because it

provides tangible reward for employee’s service. According to

(Wentzel & Wigfield 2009). the connection between worker

motivation and employee productivity is not always well

established. However, the consensus is that motivation ends in

growth of productiveness in the long run. According to (Sara,

2004). major factors that affects employee performances are fair

pay, bonus, reward, promotion, and training.

Dessler (2008) presented that promotion is said to be came about

employee makes a shift inside the upward direction within

organizational hierarchy and movements to a place of more duty

and responsibility. (Armstrong et al., 2009) argue that a

promotion coverage could maximizes the company’s goal by

enhancing employee’s motivation. According to Milkovich

(2011). employee benefit has its own impact on company

performance as well as individual’s productivity. High-

performance teams are characterized by a deep sense of

commitment to their growth and success (Armstrong et al., 2009).

Thus, teamwork plays a vital role on employee performance and

organization productivity. Centers and Bugental (1970)

discovered that at better occupational level, “motivators” or

intrinsic activity elements were extra valued, while at lower

occupational levels “hygiene factors” or extrinsic job factors had

been extra valued. As many researches additionally suggest those

elements have significant effect on the task performance of

employees. According to Negash, Zewude, Megersa, (2014).

there was significant and positive association between

compensation and work motivation. Inconclusion different

variable and statistical measurements had been applied and tested

by several researchers.

2.4. Conceptual Framework

From the literature collected for the study the factors that

increases employee performance are training, promotion,

employee benefits, teamwork and working environment which

leads to better organization productivity. The Researcher was

provided detailed information on the application and results of

motivational factors, so that it can justify the association or the

connection of outcomes of employee motivation on organization

performances.

The below Conceptual model was used in this study.

Figure 1. Conceptual model of study

Source: Constructed from review literature

3. Materials and Methods

This study was employed descriptive and exploratory. It is

descriptive since descriptive data were collected through a

questionnaire and it is also exploratory because the researcher

would explore the effects of motivation on organization

performance so as to meet the research objective. Both primary

and secondary types of data were collected. The primary data was

collected by using structured questionnaires. The Secondary data

was collected from published journal articles, human resource

books, organizational manuals, and any relevant secondary

sources. The populations of the study were the entire region

professional employee starting from regional management level

to lower level employees of the company. Currently, there were

total of 540 employees in the region based on data taken form the

regional human resource department from the total of 540

employees 229 samples were drawn based on Taro Yamane

(1967) formula.

𝐧 =
𝐍

𝟏 + 𝐍(𝐞)𝟐

Where n is the sample size N is the total population size and e is

the level of precision. By using above formula we obtain sample

size 𝑛 =
540

1+540(0.05)2
=229

The researchers used simple random sampling technique to

distribute the survey questionnaires to acquire participant’s

perception towards the effects of employee motivation on

organizational performance.

In order to analyze the data gathered and come up with answers

to the question raised exploratory methods was employed. The

collected questionnaires were analyzed statistically with the help

of SPSS (statistical package for social science) version 20.

Moreover, it was summarized by frequencies, percentages,

means, and standard deviations. Determination of the relationship

between the identified independent and dependent variables, the

researcher use Pearson’s correlation coefficient and to show the

extent of variation in the dependent variable that was explained

by the independent variable, the data was computed by regression

analysis so as to answer the research questions. According to

Creswell (2009) criteria for choosing statistical testes when the

number of independent variable would be more than two and

dependent variable is one multiple regression was statistically

tested. In this regard the following multiple regression models

were used to determine the variation or qualitative associations

between the variables as follows:

Y =𝛼 + β1X1+ β2X2+ β3X3+ β4X4+ β5X5+e

Where: Y dependent variable = Organization performance, 𝛼 =

Constant, β1=is the coefficient of Employee benefit, β2=is the

coefficient of Promotion, β3=is the coefficient of trainings, β4=is

the coefficient of Team work, β5=is the coefficient of working

condition.

When β1= is the change in y for one unit change in X1 and β2 = is

the change in y for one unit change in X2, β3= is the change in y

for one unit change in X3, β4= is the change in y for one unit

change in X4, β5= is the change in y for one unit change in X5. X1

= Employee benefit, X2 = Promotion, X3 Training, X4 Team work,

X5 Working environment and e = is the error term.

4. Result and Discussions

4.1. Descriptive Statistics of Employee

Motivation and Organization

Performance

As described in the research methodology, Likert scale was used

to measure the effect of motivational factors for increasing

organizational performance. The researcher has revealed

employee’s insight towards motivational factors that influences

company productivity.

Table 1. Employee motivation and organization performances

Descriptive statistics

No Variables N Mean Standard

Deviation

1 Employee Benefit 219 2.85 1.42

2 Working

environment

219 2.82 1.43

3 Promotion 219 3.13 1.42

4 Training 219 3.12 1.39

5 Teamwork 219 3.04 1.47

6 Organization

performance

219 3.09 1.41

Source: Own filed survey (2018)

As shown in the above table 1 statistics, results were sorted based

on their occurrence in the questionnaires. The mean value of an

employee benefit package is=2.85 (SD=1.42) this shown that, the

majority of the respondents were averagely satisfied with the

benefit packages of the company. This indicates that employee

benefit has impact employee performance. The average mean

value of working environment is=2.82 (SD=1.43) this indicates

that employees of the organization were also averagely satisfied

with the working environments in which they were currently

working on. This indicates that the working environment has an

effect on employee performances.

As indicated in the above table the mean value of promotion is =

3.13 (SD=1.42) from this we noticed that average of employees

were satisfied and motivated when they were got a promotion

opportunity and fair promotion policy and procedure within the

company. From this we deduce that promotion is the most

important factor that motivates and affects the employees of the

company. Accordingly, the average mean value of training is =

3.12 (SD=1.39) which is shown on the table above indicates that

average of employees were satisfied and motivated by the training

given to them by the company and believed that training is

important to advance their performance, this also leads to increase

the performance of the organization as well. The other

determinants that affect employee motivation is teamwork which

was shown in the table 1 above and the mean value is = 3.04

(SD=1.47) this shows that an average of the organizations crews

motivated when they were working in teams, and believed that

teamwork increases their productivity, this could increase the

company’s performance.

As illustrated in the above table 1 the respondents were requested

to rate or select the effects of employee motivation on the

performance of the company and replied that the mean value is=

3.09 (SD=1.41) this indicates that an average of the respondents

were agreed that employee motivation has an effect on

organizational performance in terms of profitability, employee

retention, productivity and customer satisfaction. Therefore, from

the above paragraphs one can reveal that predictor variables such

as employee benefit, working environment, promotion, training

and teamwork could have averagely affects the dependent

variable that is organizational performance.

4.2. Correlation Analysis

In this section, the direction and degree of the strength of the

relationship among the variables were examined, it is possible to

determine the correlation among all scopes of the independent

variables (Employee benefits, working environment, promotion,

training and teamwork) and the dependent variables (organization

performance) were used to analyze the strength, direction and

statistical significance of the relationship as indicated table 2

below.

The correlation results provide initial indications for further

analysis. In this study Bivariate Pearson Coefficient (r) was used

to determine the relationship between the effects of motivation

and organization performance by using a two-tailed test of

statistical significance at the level of 95% significance, P< 0.05.

The results in Table 2 show that correlation between all variables

and it summarizes the values of the Pearson coefficient of

correlation and their significance. It is quite apparent from the

results that organizational performance is very strong and positive

correlated with promotion as the value of Pearson Correlation

Coefficient .807 and the relation is significant at 95% confidence

level (p<. 01).

The relationship between organization performance and

employee benefit is also positive and strongly significant as

Pearson Correlation Coefficient is .664 and p value is less than

.01 followed by the relationship between organization

performance and teamwork which is positive and strongly

significant as Pearson Correlation Coefficient is .606 and p value

is less than . 01. But the relationship between training and

working environment and organization performance is positive

and moderately significant as Pearson Correlation Coefficient is

.598 and .504 respectively and p value is less than . 01.

Consequently, all five independent variables are positively and

significantly correlated with organization performance. Based on

the results, one can argue that employee motivation has an effect

on organizational performance.

Table 2. Pearson correlation analysis for independent and dependent variables

Correlations

EMPB WENV PR TR TMW ORGP

EMPB

Pearson Correlation 1 .373** .553** .350** .520** .664**