Research Method - Employee Motivation

Question: Describe about the Employee Motivation and Service Quality in the Public Administration in the Republic of Kosovo. Answer: 1. Introduction: In present competitive environment, managing employees has become one of the major issues of human resource management of an organization. Many studies has highlighted the fact HRM is a major key to success, as it allows organizations to keep their employees motivated towards their work. In this research study, the focus will be on the employee motivation and its impact on the organizational performance. The research study will focus on the service quality in the public administration in the Republic of Kosovo. The study will focus on to evaluate the kind of impact that motivational level of the employees will make on the overall service quality. The study will focus on the employee motivational factor, as many organizations are struggling to keep their employees motivated towards their work. Furthermore, every business is looking to utilize all its resources to its fullest, as it can able to help the organization to fulfill its organizational goals. However, many studies have establ ished that employee motivation is not the only factor that can have impact on the service quality in the public administration. Rather, many other alternative factors also can create huge amount of impact as well. Therefore, the research study will focus only on the employee motivational factor and its impact on the service quality in the public administration in the Republic of Kosovo. 2. Problem statement: The lack of realistic assessment and objective regarding the employee performance of human resource can have huge impact on the motivational level of the employees for their achievement during their working at the local government in the Republic of Kosovo. Furthermore, the lack of qualitative assessment and standard norms of the performance of HR management in public administration in the Republic of Kosovo necessitates a need for a research study where generalizations and conclusions will be assess in order to set indicators and standards for the evaluation of the research topic. 3. Research Objectives: From the above stated problem statement it can be assess that the prime focus of the study will be on the motivational level of the employees. Since, the research study will aim to analyze all the major factors related to the research topic so that it can able to fulfill its goals. The objective of the research study describe as follows: To identify the motivating factors that has severe impact on the employee performance in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo To utilize these prime motivating factors so that it can able to enhance the performance level of the employees To identify the standards and norms that can have influence in the human resource performance in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo To evaluate the best possible way to motivate employees so that it can able to enhance the service quality in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo 4. Research questions: The research study will attempt to evaluate the factors related to the performance of motivated employee in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo. The research study will also make a genuine effort to analyze the following general questions of the research study: What are the prime motivating factors that have genuine impact on the performance of the in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo? How these prime motivating factors can be utilized so that it can able to create a greater influence on the performance level of the employees? Are there any standards and norms for evaluating the human resources performance in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo? What are the best possible ways to motivate employees to enhance the service quality in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo? 5. Hypothesis of the study: The hypothesis of the research study is as follows: H0: Motivating factors enhances the performance level of the employees H1: Motivating factors does not create too much impact on the performance level of the employees. 6. Literature review: 6.1 The concept of employee motivation: In 1959, Hertzberg raises a question why managers need to motivate employees? Over the years, different studies have shared different perspectives regarding the concept of employee motivation. As per the article by Dobre (2013), organizations will have to motivate employees, as it can have huge amount of impact on the sustainability of the organization. The article adds to the concept that a motivated employee helps the organization to utilize all its internal resources to its fullest. Therefore, it minimizes the operational cost of the company that helps the organizations to gain competitive advantage in the market. Furthermore, Frederiksen, Knudsen and Magnusson (2014) argue that unmotivated employees will focus very little on the quality of the work and will be very less concerned about the well-being of the company. Therefore, every organization will have to perform several duties in order to maintain the motivational level of the employees. As per the article by Chaudhary and Sh arma (2012), several factors can have huge amount of impact on the motivational level of the employees. In fact, it actually varies from individual to individual. Since, different motivational factor can create different level of impact on the employees. Therefore, Lăzăroiu (2015) highlighted that organizations will have to be extremely careful before implementing any strategies regarding the enhancement of the motivational level of the employees. 6.2 Theoretical framework: As per the article by Sinha and Trivedi (2014) one of the most popular theory, regarding the concept of employee motivation is Hertzberg two-factor theory. In this theory, Hertzberg distinguishes the concept into two factors namely hygiene and motivators factors. The theory mentioned that the entire factor related to employee motivation is included in one of the two factors. Motivators factors included factors like challenging work environment, responsibility and recognition. On the other hand, hygiene factors included factors like salary and job security. As per the article by Rasouli et al. (2013) when motivators factors are present, it allows to increase the satisfaction level of the employees. On the other hand, when hygiene factors are absent, it leads to the increase of the dissatisfaction level of the employees. However, Ghazi, Shahzada and Khan (2013) highlighted that the two factors of Hertzberg theory cannot be treated as opposites from each other. Figure 1: Hertzberg two-factor theory (Source: Yusoff, Kian and Idris 2013) Lester (2013) Hertzberg two-factor theory is highly related to the theory developed by the Maslow regarding the motivational level of the employees. In Maslow theory, five set of goals mentioned that every organizations would have to perform in order to keep its employee motivated towards their work. This theory mentioned that employees have five different levels of basic needs such as psychological needs, safety needs, love needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. Maslow theory also mentioned that organization would have to fulfill these needs in a chronological manner in order to motivate its employees towards their work. Maslow also divided these needs in to two categories such as lower order needs and higher order needs. In the lower order needs, psychological, safety and love needs are included. On the other hand, higher order needs include esteem and self-actualization need of an employee. The theory also mentioned that without fulfilling the lower order needs, no orga nization can able to fulfill the higher order needs of an employee. The psychological needs represented basic needs like proper air, food and home. Safety needs of an employee include factors like job security and job stability. Therefore, Kaur (2013) organizations will have to provide enough benefits to all the employees so that they can able to fulfill their basic needs. The Maslow theory also mentioned that an employee looks for the fulfillment of love and affection need only after the fulfillment of the previous two needs. Taormina and Gao (2013) highlighted that organizations will have to develop proper work environment in which every employee can able to share their opinion. Since, love needs include the factor like work relation among the employees. Furthermore, higher order needs in Maslow theory included factors like self-respect, prestige, dominance, independence and fulfillment of the personal potential. Botana and Neto (2015) highlighted that organizations will have to f ulfill all the needs to get the best out of the available workforces. Figure 2: Maslow theory (Source: Thielke et al. 2012) 6.3 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: As per the article by Reiss (2012), motivation of the employees can be divided in intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Dysvik and Kuvaas (2013) describes that employees are intrinsically motivated when they seek satisfaction of curiosity, enjoyment or personal challenges in the work. Thus, it highlighted that intrinsic motivation depends on the internal factors of an employee. Therefore, no organizational strategy can have influence on the intrinsic motivational level of the employees. Gerhart and Fang (2015) mentioned that individuals high in intrinsic motivation seeks to perform more challenging work so that they can able to test themselves in a greater way. On the other hand, Gillet, Vallerand and Lafrenire (2012) describes employees are extrinsically motivated when they tries to engage in different works so that it can able to achieve some goals, which are not related to the work itself. Studies also highlighted that extrinsic motivation of the employees is highly influ enced by different factors such as reward, recognition, increment etc. However, many studies argue that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation related to each other. Lemos and Verssimo (2014) mentioned that if organizations do not provide proper benefit to its employees, it not only will create adverse impact on the extrinsic motivation of the employees but also will have huge amount of impact on the intrinsic motivational level as well. On the other hand, many studies also argue that these two motivations are completely different from each other. Therefore, extrinsic motivation cannot have impact on the intrinsic motivation level of the employees. 6.4 Literature gap: The above discussion highlighted that motivational level of the employees depends on several factors. Therefore, organizations will have to focus on all the factors in order to keep the employees motivated towards their work. The above study also established the fact that a motivated employee can help organization to improve its quality of product and services. However, as employee motivation is vast factor, many theories and studies highlighted different factors that can have greater impact on the performance level of the organization. Thus, in this particular research topic, the focus of the researcher will be to identify the prime factors that have the potential to create impact in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo. 7. Research methodology: 7.1 Research outline: Research outline helps in depicting all the elements of the research study. The outline of the research includes research design, research approach and data collection method for the evaluation of the research study. Thus, research outline helps the researcher in order to fulfill the objective of the study. In this research study, the researcher will focus on the motivational factors and its impact on the service quality in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo. Therefore, the researcher will select positivism philosophy, deductive approach and descriptive design. The researcher will also consider both qualitative and quantitative method for the data collection. For the effective analysis of the collected data, the researcher will select non-probability sampling technique. 7.2 Research philosophy: Research philosophy is among the most important part of research methodology. The research philosophy divided in to three categories positivism, interpretivism and realism (Cherry et al. 2014). For this particular study, the researcher will adopt positivism philosophy, as it will allow testing the hypothesis of the study. Furthermore, the researcher will implement positivism philosophy to analyze the research topic in a better way. Positivism research philosophy will help the researcher to identify hidden information relevant to the research topic. For evaluating this research topic, the researcher will not consider other philosophies, as it will extend the timeframe for analyzing the research topic. Figure 3: Research philosophy (Source: Baskerville and Wood-Harper 2016) 7.3 Research approach: Traditionally, research approach divided in to two parts, inductive and deductive research approach. Now for evaluation of motivational factor on the service quality, the researcher will select deductive approach. The researcher will consider deductive approach, as it will help the researcher identify all the motivational factors that has influence on the service quality. In addition, the researcher will consider deductive research approach, as it will help the researcher to include several models and theories relevant to the research topic. Therefore, the deductive research approach will help the researcher to gain in-depth knowledge about the research topic. On the other hand, the researcher will not focus on the inductive approach because the researcher does not want to include any new implication about the research topic. Figure 4: Research approach (Source: Gale et al. 2013) 7.4 Research design: Research design is an important part of the research methodology, as it helps the researcher to enhance the information level of the researcher framework. Traditionally, three types of research design utilize by the researchers such as explanatory, exploratory and descriptive design. For evaluation of the impact of employee motivation on the service quality in the public administration in Republic of Kosovo, the researcher will choose descriptive research design. The researcher will also focus on the descriptive research design, as it will help the researcher to define approaches, applications and theories relevant to the research topic. This will help the researcher to improve the outcome of the research topic. Furthermore, descriptive researcher research design will help the researcher to analyze the collected data in an effective way so that the study can able to meet its objective. Descriptive researcher design will also help the researcher measure all the prime factors of the re search topic. Figure 5: Research design (Source: Creswell 2013) 7.5 Data collection: Data collection is arguably the most important part of any research study. Since, it helps the research to gain practical information about the research topic. For this particular study, the researcher will focus on both secondary and primary data collection procedure. The researcher will collect secondary information about the motivational factors of the employees from several books, magazines and other online portals. On the other hand, the researcher will focus on the survey technique in order to fulfill the objective of the study. The researcher will select 80 executive levels of employees from the public administrative department of republic of Kosovo. From these employees, the researcher will develop quantitative questionnaires, which will include only close-end questions. On the other hand, the researcher will select 10 managers from the public administrative department to collect qualitative information about the research topic. Thus, the researcher will develop a separate se t of qualitative questionnaires for the managers. The researcher will select online platform, email, fax and face-to-face conversation for capturing information relevant to the research topic. The researcher will utilize both online and face-to-face survey method in order to complete the research study within the given timeframe. Figure 6: Data collection method (Source: Ritchie et al. 2013) 7.6 Data analysis: As the topic of the research study focus on the impact of employee motivation on the service quality of public administration, the researcher will utilize non-probability sampling technique. The researcher will focus on the non-probability sampling technique, as it will allow the researcher to focus on a particular group for the purpose of data collection. The researcher will also implement several statistical tools like mean, median and mode so that the study can able to depict the actual impact of employee motivation on the service quality. Furthermore, as the study focuses on to collect both secondary and primary data; the researcher will implement regression and correlation technique in order to fulfill the objective of the study. 8. Ethical consideration: While conducting any research study, it is very important to follow a systematic approach where all the ethical issues considered (O'Leary 2013). In this research study, the researcher will consider all the factors related to ethics, as it will help the researcher to validate the research topic and its outcomes. The researcher will make sure that the collected information is only used for this particular study and also will make sure that no other study can utilize the collected information. The researcher will also focus on to remain unbiased at the time of data collection so that it cannot able to affect the responses of the respondent. For this particular study, the researcher will not force any of the respondents to provide information relevant to the research topic. The researcher will also make sure that data collection procedure cannot able to affect the dignity of the respondents. 9. Expected outcomes: From the above discussion about the motivational factors and its impact on the performance level of the employees, it is expected that the outcome of the research will able to depict the kind of positive impact it can have on the overall performance level of the employees. It is expected that the research outcome will also able to highlight the prime motivational factors that can have serious impact on the service quality of public administration of Republic of Kosovo. In addition, as the researcher focuses on the literature review in order to evaluate different perspective of the employee motivation, it can be expected that the outcome of the research study will able to cover all the areas of the researcher topic. Now, the implementation of the research process will also help the researcher to improve knowledge about the research topic, which eventually will create a positive impact on the overall outcome of the study. 10. Conclusion: In the present situation, every organization focuses on to maintaining the motivation level of the employees very high so that it can able to perform its entire task effectively. Therefore, it will not be an exception for public administration in the Republic of Kosovo. 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