Performance appraisal on employee motivation

Performance appraisal on employee motivation

Table of contents

Abstract

Employees must be the driving force dictating the success of any firm, thus critical to analyze how motivation will work to improve their performance. The study systematically reviews the various ways in which motivating an employee has contributed to upheaval in the performance of firms.  It states the multiple ways in which contemporary firms motivate their employees, and these include pay rise, job security and improvement in work conditions. Additionally, the piece focuses on various kinds of literature to determine how previous researchers have tackled the motivation subject.

To achieve these objectives, the proposal identifies questionnaires and interviews as viable techniques to obtain primary data from the employees. This will include the identification of the appropriate respondents willing to participate in the study. Data analysis will follow, and these will show how the variable is related to one another.

Keywords: Performance, motivation, company improvement, performance appraisal, job satisfaction, motivation, firm effectiveness, job security

Performance appraisal on employee motivation

Introduction

Human resource management in most global organizations cite employee motivation as a very critical parameter when assessing performance.  Performance shows how well a company is doing concerning achieving its objectives as per the company goals. However, it is worth determining how well there is a transformation in service delivery based on the changes in the motivation of employees (Ali et al., 2019).  This process will consider departmental changes as it organizes employees in various departments and basing on the level of motivation, assess how well a particular department is carrying on. Employees are often subject to numerous benefits that a given firm can cite as a motivational reward and they include increased salary, improvement of working condition and rewards for high performers (Breevaart & Bakker, 2018). In this regard, employees’ reactions will determine whether they are contented with the conditions or not. Previous researchers have shown that motivation tends to increase performance as there will be reduced employee turnover, grow in their commitment, job satisfaction, increase in morale and feeling of equity.[unique_solution]

Gallup survey on the topic ‘state of the American workplace’ asserts that 70% of the employees lack engagement of particular form in the organization and this leads to high levels of dissatisfaction In the employment industry( Heisler & Bandow,2018). Gallup adds that this activity costs the US economy significantly with an estimated $ 450 billion to $550 billion lost per year to minimal productivity. The employment industry is not utilizing the expertise in employees sufficiently to bring about an increase in economic output. It is, therefore, of the essence for employers to put more attention on employee engagement (Belle & Cantarelli, 2018). This topic builds on the various ways to use in assessing how motivation brings about performance. This topic will not only highlight the impact of motivation but will also show the different parameters that can improve performance rather than the techniques often used in promoting employee satisfaction.

Employee performance is similarly dependent on the behaviours, therefore essential to gauge how behavioural change will influence employee performance. The major drivers that influence the behaviour of individuals are the drive to defend, to bond, to learn and to acquire (Bennett & Levinthal, 2017). Once an organization is cognizant of such drivers, they will initiate policies, practices and procedures to define a motivational pattern adequately for the type of employees they have (Bohlmann et al., 2018). Additionally, the employment environment has to put the requisite guidelines for assessing how a change in employee motivation is likely to improve the overall performance of the firm. This research proposal will, therefore, analyze some of how they. Performance of the company is dependent on motivational techniques initiated by a company.

Research question

This study aims at understanding how there can be shifts in company performance based on an increased level in employee satisfaction. The study will examine the changes in human behaviour, which human resource managers can employ to initiate changes in company performance.  In this regard, we will analyze three main research questions that will gauge the performance of a company concerning employee satisfaction. These include

• How will employee motivation result in increased performance?
• What are some of the factors that will influence and define the motivation of employees?
• How important is employee motivation concerning company performance?

Research importance

It is of essence that the human resource managers have the requisite knowledge on how to deal with employee conditions.  Additionally, the performance of a company s dependent on several factors with employee contributions often neglected.  Improving employee conditions to translate to productivity may be more straightforward in comparison to other policies that may be costly to a particular firm (Mone et al., 20180. Knowing the exact metrics on how motivation affects performance makes the firm to prioritize on employee conditions.

Secondly, employees are the backbone of any company; thus, employee’s conditions must be improved to the betterment of the firm’s economic upheaval (Bradley et al., 2016).  Performance appraisal thus isolates critical parameters concerning the employee that warrants improvement.  In this regard, leadership will increase their commitment to the building of enduring and robust cultures, engaging and retaining teams for improved employee engagement.

Finally, an appraisal determines the various means that show an employee’s satisfaction (Wilczyńska et al., 2016). Employee turnover, for example, shows that the company is incapable of retaining relevant expertise to effect changes in a company. Satisfaction works to minimize such activities, thus the creation of a realm of opportunities for a company to harness more expertise from its workforce (Islami et al., 2018).  Finally, the study will help in maximizing the potential in employees that companies do not utilize due to failed engagement.  The research indicates that the workforce does not explore the potential in the expertise available in the employees; the study shows the importance of employee engagement.

Research model

H₁

Our approach will take such a pattern; the model indicates how the parameters in employee motivation have effects on employee performance. The model highlights five central interrelationships

• Performance appraisal is worth considering when employees are motivated
• Employee motivation results in an improvement in job satisfaction
• Employee motivation results in increased commitment to a particular obligation
• Employee motivation results in n increase in firm performance
• Employee motivation tends to affect job security

Performance appraisal is a critical activity that forms undertake to gauge the level of progress as a company, is done continuously (Dhania, 2016).  However, when companies motivate employees through any means be it salary increment or improvement in working conditions, it is worth determining whether the change translates to an economic benefit for the company. It is particular because employees are the backbone of any organization and any change directed to them by management should always translate to a tangible improvement.

The study identifies four factors that are directly dependent on motivation. One is job satisfaction; a motivated employee will automatically be contented worth the nature of the task they perform; thus, this factor directly depends on motivation (Sattar et al., 2015). Commitment will follow suit, as a motivated employee will most likely feel recognized by the employer thus would perform the tasks with the ultimate motive of achieving the best out of the company. For job security, it is the assurance that an employee will keep his job at all costs. This is part of motivation as it gives the employee an opportunity to give his or her best since the relationship is likely to last long (Kochian et al., 2017). For example, an employee who has a ten-year contract will most likely perform his or her best for the growth of the firm since the reward will translate to them in the course of their employment period. Finally, we have firm performance; firms depend on the expatriates and experience of their employees to bring about change meaning that nothing can advance if employees are not engaged fully.  Motivation improves engagement and commitment, thus ultimately translates to an increase in the performance of the company.

Research hypothesis

From previous researches, it has been recognized by firms worldwide that incorporation of motivation as a culture in human resource management brings about an improvement in the performance of a company. in that regard, our hypothesis for the study will include

• Performance appraisal is required in motivated employees
• Employee motivation brings about commitment. Jain (2015) on employee conceptual framework asserts that an employee who is motivated is likely to be committed in their activities, and this would bring about an improvement in employee performance.
• Employee motivation guarantees job security. Li et al. (2018) assess how a creative program of motivation affects employee performance.  Job security assures that employee’s opportunities are protected against possible loss and would initiate easy compliance with the job.
• Employees’ motivation improves company performance. A company is considered performing when it can meet the objectives within the stipulated time utilizing minimal resources.

Literature review

Performance appraisal

This is the capability of a company to achieve goals based on the laid out objectives. It involves companies putting down metrics that would be used to gauge the performances based on changes in employees induced by motivation.  Performance appraisal will depend on the changes in job satisfaction, commitment, reduction in employee turnover, among others.

Employee performance

This is the ability of an employee to generate an output commensurate with the task assigned. This involves factors such as quantity, quality and work effectiveness seen in an employee while in a workplace setup. Ashley Donohoe asserts that employee performance depends on the work environment and motivation effected by employers. Therefore, in assessing performance, companies should always check for employee goals at individual levels, efficiency in employees and quality of work done by a particular employee.

Employee engagement

This is the involvement of employees in the day-to-day running f a firm; this is the driver of performance. The employee engagement survey states that engagement is key to innovation and growth; therefore, companies should consider this parameter as key while defining the nature of motivation technique to employ.  It also adds that the key components of engagement include engagement with management and that with the organization.

Employee motivation

Samisksha  (2018), in his article, illustrates the nature of motivation that employers need to be conscious of before motivating employees. Firsts, he recognizes that motivation is a psychological phenomenon meaning it cannot be a force on people. Secondly, motive induces behavioural changes thus can initiate a firm in achieving some goals.  Besides, motivation can be either positive or negative. Negative motivations such as demotions, warning, issuance of memo, and stopping of increments can be essential tools in inducing an individual to behave in a particular manner (Konya et al., 2016).  Finally, motivation s dynamic and continuous process; thus, human resource managers need to be aware of changes in employee setups that will be used to inform motivation.

The article also cites the importance that motivation brings about that can be useful in dictating the performance of a firm.  First, there is an initiation of a change in attitude that is from positive to negative.  Motivation builds in the desire of individuals to perform their best in an organization. This will also inform the best use of resources for a particular firm.  Second is the initiation of achievement of organization goals; a motivated employee always direct their effort to the attainment of the goals set by an organization (Tu & Lu, 2016).  In this regard, a company that achieves its set goals automatically improves in performance.  The third is the reduction in employee turnover; turnover arises when employees always do not consider staying in a given profession creating a burden on continuous training of new employees and loss of the relevant expertise to drive changes.  Controlling such changes in pattern translates to retaining more employees with a committed working spirit to improve performance for a particular organization.

Motivated employees ease the ability of employees to introduce changes to a particular organization as they will be less resistant to any changes. They tend to share a common philosophy with a organization as they cite the changes as essential not only to the company but also to their wellbeing (Dalmas & Pekovic, 2018).  Finally, the article accords motivation to an improvement in a supportive working environment (Kampkötter, 2017).  In many spheres, the relations between employees and superiors tend to increase when they are recognized, or their needs are satisfied by the organizations. Additionally, the team spirit develops, and employees can work in unison.

Job satisfaction

Principles of management on the importance of employee motivation shows that the ration of engaged to disengaged employees is 1: 2, meaning that majority of the workforce in use are not exploiting the potential of their employees fully.  The book also affirms previous researches that companies with a higher ratio of engaged in disengaging employee’s often-record higher earnings per share (Principles of management, 2020). The book categorizes motivation in two different categories being intrinsic and extrinsic; Intrinsic covers the internal sources of motivation and includes beliefs, interests, social status, personal enjoyments and pleasure (Anitha, 2016). Extrinsic, on the other hand, are the stimuli emanating from the outside of an individual. These include the rewards, promotions and bonuses.

Job security

This is the assurance that the job one involves in is safe, and management values an employee’s presence. In most cases, employees are often vulnerable as they can lose their jobs at any time citing lack of security. Mohapatra et al. (2017) Job security ensure that an employee can keep track of their career paths. They will, therefore, relax as they plan their future with the company thus will tend to do their best at work.  Job security initiates commitment, and automatically performance will improve. Job security is, therefore, an extrinsic motivation pattern that can be employed to contain employees within an organization.

Employee turnover

The book focuses on the job characteristics that affect motivations that companies should be aware of when performance appraisal is relevant and may work to minimize employee turnover.  Firsts, there is job rotation; this involves shifting of an employee from one job to another in an attempt to reduce boredom. Boredom can result in laxity and can adversely affect the performance of a firm, thus adhering to favourable rotation plans will contribute significantly to performance (Shah  & Asad, 2018). Secondly, there is job enlargement; this is the increment in the variety of tasks that an individual performs. For example, using a modular work pattern rather than an assembly provides a range of opportunity for workers.  Finally, there is job enrichment; this includes the expansion of jobs vertically. This involves increasing the employee’s capability to control the evaluation and planning of the work they execute.  This is important as it increases responsibility and independence that makes it possible for employee evaluation and improvement on performance.

Organizational effectiveness

Jorge Morales defines organizational efficiency as the efficiency with which an association can meet its overall objectives, that is, the ability to spearhead productivity without providing waste.  It involves every employee doing what he or she is supposed to do and doing it well (Steers & Lee, 2017). In other words, efficiency can be taken as the ability of an organization to achieve the results desired on time with minimum energy, human, materials and energy. Active organizations typically have strengths in five significant areas being decision making, structure, systems, work processes and people (Duck, 2018). These are indicators of excellent performance for a given firm.  The factors are also people-oriented showing that change n employees’ behaviour is an essential factor dictating performance (Heffernan & Dundon, 2016).

Commitment

This is the ability of employees to remain dedicated to the course, which in this case is the firm’s objective (Meyer, 2016).  In explaining commitment, we focus on goal setting theory and reinforcement theories are also some critical theories in employee appraisal that the book covers. In the former, a company sets goals that it sorts to achieve and gauges the performance on how well the employees work to achieve such objective. With motivation principles incorporated, the company gauges the performance based on each employee activity. Reinforcement theory, on the other hand, accords that enforcers control behaviours thus focuses on what happens to individuals when they work.  With relevant enforcer acting as a motivator, the firms can gauge performances based on the changes in behaviour induced by the particular enforcer.

Methodology

The research aims at interacting with employees in diverse workforce systems to assess how the nature of motivation affects how they deliver their mandate. In this regard, we will employ two convenient methods being interviews and questionnaires as the primary sources of information to rely on. In particular, we will use open-ended questionnaires since this will give an avenue for many responses from the different experiences of employees. We chose questionnaires for this prospective study since they permit an intensive depth in response.  Secondly, the questionnaires are easy to formulate as we will not labour in coming up with various categories of response. Additionally, questionnaires initiate respondents who in this case, employees to give an insight into their hidden motivations, feelings, interests, decisions and background drivers.  Finally, they can stimulate an individual to think about his or her feelings, thus providing only essential things for the study.

Secondly, we will employ interviews in the collection of primary data.  This is because it provides information, which a questionnaire would not provide.  Additionally, the interview enables the researcher to elaborate on the purpose of the research on the people.

Preparation of the contact list will require the identification of possible respondents who wish to participate in the study.  In this identification, there will be an assurance of privacy in the names who have the zeal to participate in the study.  We will begin by contacting the employees of the university and identifying any who may want to participate in the study.  Thereafter, we will identify the appropriate mode of administering the questionnaire appropriate for each interviewee.  This will include self-administration, use of internet and researcher administered questionnaires.  Additionally, we will be gender-sensitive in the selection of the correspondences ensuing that both genders are included in the interview, so that gender patterns guide our analysis.

In the preparation of questionnaires, we will ensure that the questions are short and objective. Additionally, we will ensure that the statement of the items is as positive as possible, we will also ensure that we avoid biases in question as much as possible as biased questions tend to hint that one answer is preferred to the other therefore failing to provide a comprehensive solution on the subject matter.  Likewise, we will ensure that simpler questions are used so that the respondent gives meaningful answers to the question at hand.  Additionally, we will ensure that we avoid questions that are psychologically threatening so that the respondents give the actual stature of the workplace motivation parameters.  Finally, we will ensure the definition of words that have several meanings, so that there is clarity in the way such questions are formulated.

Questions for the interview question

• Does your company have motivation plans for you as employees?
• What type of motivation does your firm initiate?
• Have you ever experienced a change in zeal based on motivation technique that your company initiates?
• Does your company perform appraisals to show the level of improvement based on the motivation technique they initiated?
• How does motivation change your perception of your job as an employee?
• Do you consider motivation as a crucial factor in the improvement of performance in a firm?

Analysis

Once we have collected raw data from the respondents, the process will be to clean, code, keypunch in a computer and analyzed.  The research will begin with data pre-analysis,  which will involve an organization of the data in such a manner that facilitates analysis.  Since the analysis will be quantitative, that is, it will involve quantification of scores and measurements in numbers, the questionnaires will have been assigned numerical values that would initiate an easy analysis.

Since the analysis will not be qualitative and quantitative, we will have to convert the values in numerical codes to represent the measurement of variables.  To ensure consistency in our coding technique, we will ensure that we are conscious of the code that we chose for the study. In addition, we will have to ensure that only one code is assigned to a particular response category. The data will be categorized based on the different parameters that we want to study. For example, a relationship between employee motivation and job satisfaction will fall in one category as that between motivation and commitment falls in a different category.   Interpretation of data will involve the use of histograms, bar charts and frequency polygons that will help in showing the variability in the data collected.

Discussion

This section will explain the truths that we have obtained from the analysis charts. From previous research by Gallup, the 7272 US adults who participated in the study revealed that one in two left their job in an attempt to avoid their manager for an improvement of their overall life ( Heisler & Bandow,2018). The study asked the respondents to rate their employers based on engagement, performances management, individual strengths and communication. All these parameters proved unsatisfactory in the current American workforce setup. It would, therefore, be appropriate for management to communicate consistently as this imbues a feeling of engagement in the activities of the firm by the employees (Nabi et al., 2017).  Secondly, firms should base performance on clear goals as poor clarity on the roles and objectives to achieve by an employee is likely to bring about frustration in employees and a reduction in production.

Conclusion

The research proposal highlights the various n which motivating an employee warrant appraisal in the performance of a company.  Companies rely on the expertise of employees to meet the overall objectives; therefore, improvement in employee conditions is the basic form that an organization can spearhead changes.  The study design highlights five parameters whose relationship will warrant analysis for this research and these include the relation of employee motivation to performance appraisal, job satisfaction, commitment, job security and firm performances. Similarly, it highlights the various approaches that organizations utilize to motivate their employees and may include pay rise or improvement in job condition.  I believe that this proposal is essential, particularly for firms who want to improve their human resource techniques. The project will imbue firms with the appropriate cultural change on the employees that would ultimately steer performance.

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