A study on motivation factors at work for employee what matters and how they affect the employee satisfactions and performance

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES
SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL OF
ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT

MBQPM4

NGO NGUYEN THUY PHUONG THAO

A STUDY ON MOTIVATION FACTORS AT WORK FOR
EMPLOYEE: WHAT MATTERS AND HOW THEY AFFECT
THE EMPLOYEE SATISFACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE

MASTER FINAL PROJECT
MASTER IN BUSINESS QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Ho Chi Minh City
(2014)


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STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION

I certify that all materials presented here are of my own creation, and that any work
adopted from other sources is duly cited and referenced as such.

Ngo Nguyen Thuy Phuong Thao

Date

2

Acknowledgements
I would like to take this great opportunity to sincerely thank a number of people
and the institution who have made it possible for my final project and this master
program to become a reality.
My gratitude goes to Professor Jacques Martin for the useful comments, remarks
and engagement through the learning process of this master thesis. Also, I like to
thank the participants-my colleagues at Room to Read, who have willingly shared
their precious time during the process of survey and interviewing.
My appreciation goes to my manager-the Country Director of Room to Read
Vietnam-Mr. Phong Le for his dedicated encouragement and support and he
provided me opportunities to balance my work and time for completing this paper.
In addition, I would also express my sincere thanks to my closed classmate, Ngan
Ho, who has given me thoughtful discussions and all the fun that we had for the
past one and a half years of this program. Also I thank to my best friend, Anh
Nguyen who have been giving me the motivation all the way.
Lastly, I have so much appreciation and thankful to my families especially my
parents who have given me unconditional love and encouragement in my studies.
My very special thanks go to my younger brother and my sister-in-law for their love
and patience to endure my divided attention between the family and the
demanding studies.


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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 2

List of Tables .............................................................................................................. 5
Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction
1. Subject ................................................................................................................... 7
2. Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 7
3. Significance of the study ........................................................................................ 9
4. Objectives............................................................................................................... 9
5. Main Research Questions ...................................................................................... 9
6. Scope of the Study ............................................................................................... 10
7. Methodology ......................................................................................................... 10
8. Justification........................................................................................................... 11
9. Limitations of the study ......................................................................................... 11
10. The structure of this research paper ................................................................... 11
Part 1: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 12
1.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory .................................................................. 12
1.3 Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of work motivation ............................................. 13
1.4 Motivation theory ................................................................................................ 15
1.5 Conceptual Framework ...................................................................................... 16
Motivation ................................................................................................................. 17
Intrinsic Motivators ................................................................................................... 17
Extrinsic Motivators .................................................................................................. 17
Performance Management ....................................................................................... 17
Part 2: Performance Assessment of RtR and Efforts of
Human Resource Department in Improving Performance
2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 18
2.2 Assessment of employee performance evaluation results ................................. 18
2.3 Human Resource department and its functions.................................................. 19
2.4 Training .............................................................................................................. 19
2.5 Employee Management System......................................................................... 19

2.5.1 Staff benefits and allowances .......................................................................... 20
2.5.2 Staff Programs ................................................................................................ 20
2.5.3 Staff attendance .............................................................................................. 20
2.5.4 Discipline ......................................................................................................... 20
2.5.5 Supervision...................................................................................................... 20
2.5.6 Performance Management .............................................................................. 21
Part 3: Findings and Analysis
3.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 22
3.2 Work Performance at RtR .................................................................................. 22


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3.3 Managers’ responses ......................................................................................... 23
3.4 All employees’ responses ................................................................................... 23
3.4.1 Hygiene Factors .............................................................................................. 24
3.4.2 Motivation Factors ........................................................................................... 28
Conclusion: Summary of the Findings
1. Introduction........................................................................................................... 32
2. Summary of the key Findings and Conclusion ..................................................... 32
3. De-motivating factors ........................................................................................... 33
4. Positive results ..................................................................................................... 33
5. Positive Relationship between Motivation and Performance ................................ 33
6. Alternative Measures for improvement ................................................................. 34
7. Conclusion............................................................................................................ 34
8. Recommendations ............................................................................................... 35
References .............................................................................................................. 37
Appendix A Questionnaires for all employees .......................................................... 40
Appendix B Interview questions ............................................................................... 47
Appendix C Presentation Outline ............................................................................. 48

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List of Tables
1.1 Maslow’s hierarchy of need ............................................................................... 13
1.2 Hygiene and Motivator factors ........................................................................... 15
2.1 Summary of performance evaluation results in three years (2011-2013) .......... 20
3.1 Overall opinion about staff’s performance ......................................................... 23
3.2 Do you feel motivated at your current job? ........................................................ 24
3.3 Do you see your job is secured in the organization? ......................................... 25
3.4 How communication in your workplace is? ........................................................ 26
3.5 Management shows a genuine interest in motivating employees?.................... 27
3.6 Supervisors’ communication.............................................................................. 28
3.7 I feel the job I do gives me a good status .......................................................... 28
3.8 Do you feel that your supervisor recognized you in your job? ........................... 29
3.9 If achieving recognition, credit, and acclaim motivates you to do
your best work? ................................................................................................. 30
3.10 I find opportunities for advancement in the organization ................................. 30
3.11 I am satisfied with the responsibility and role that I have in my work ............... 31


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Abstract
Employers have asked themselves over and over what it takes to motivate an
employee, and there are many studies that have been done to understand the
motivation factors, and yet applications differ from one organization to another.
Room to Read organization (RtR) is not different, we have established some
employee programs and benefits structures in order to put efforts in motivating

employees, but still existing challenges when dealing with motivations. Satisfaction
survey still received certain comments such as no room for advancement,
communication problems still exist, lack of motivation at work.
This study examined the factor structure of the motivation in working environment,
and the main target for this examination is all employees at RtR in Vietnam office.
The participants are comprised of various functions in the organization; they are
from program teams, administration, monitoring & evaluation, and finance team
(N=44). The theories to be discussed are the Hierarchy of Needs theory,
Herzberg’s motivators, and motivation theory. Additionally, we will look into
perspectives between the managers and the staff in regarding the motivation
factors, to see if there is any gap. As a result, motivation strategies and programs
will be recommended by the end of this paper and it will be presented to RtR’s
management team. It thus builds awareness to employer as well as management
to keep employees motivated by creating a positive work environment, and giving
employees opportunities to grow. When employees are motivated there is high
performance and reducing turnover which are most concerns of vary
organizations. Qualitative and quantitative data and direct experiences’ information
were used.
The findings will support the significant measurement toward motivating
employees; this brings a new dimension of boosting employee morale and
performance in the organization. As RtR is considered to have the salary
competitive advantage, this study will not analyze deeply into the salary factor, in
fact it made an overview of all aspects that are linked to create positive and
expected environment where the employees feel motivated. A detailed analysis is
made based on the responses from the questionnaires from all participants.


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INTRODUCTION

1. Subject
It is said that the most valuable asset that an organization has is its employees, as
they are not possible to copy from competitors and each employee is unique from
one to another. Therefore, motivating employees to create loyalty and high
productivity would be considered as an art of the management in the organization.
Motivation in the workplace is affected by several factors as each employee has
his or her own individuality (Honore, 2009).
“Motivating employees requires employers to study the employee’s monetary,
physical and psychological needs, because individuals are motivated by a number
of items namely intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.” Intrinsic reward is the pleasant
feeling an individual gets from doing a good job, while extrinsic reward is
something given to an individual by someone else as appreciation for doing a good
job which consists of salary increases, commendations, and promotion” (Certo,
1998 cited in Honore, 2009, p. 63).
The organization’s cultures and features of each job should determine what best
approach taken to motivate. To build strong foundation for a motivating culture, we
need to understand the power and complexity of the internal factors that motivate
each of employees’ behavior.
This research study addresses numbers of important issues regarding the factors
of motivating employees in the workplace. How importance of determined factors
those lead to employee satisfaction and well-performing job? What are the current
practices that affect the employee motivation, and the study will also look into
applied theories to support the findings and recommendations.
2. Statement of problem
Room to Read is a non-governmental organization that is working on the
educational development in some of rural areas that is less developed and needs
the supports. The office in Vietnam has been operating since 2001. As a non-profit
business, people somehow takes advantages of values through business
processes, people efficiency is neglected because they are not working to create
profits for running the business. They also claimed that NGO working environment

(staff performance) should be taken easy and no need to put any pressure.
Therefore, there are employees’ performance problems, unfortunately managers
just bypassed without finding solutions or resolving the problems. Poor time
management and the failure to meet deadlines for the preparation of important
working documents has become a common practice. This has been observed by
the missing documents during Human Resources assessments and internal audits,
penalties and fines given by Local Government authorities and internal correction
procedures had to be processed every time there was internal audit carried out
annually.


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The staff appraisal exercise has also shown that duties and responsibilities are not
being adequately carried out, with low scores observed in many cases. This is
revealed through the appraisal files that are filled annually and kept in the Human
resource office. Some line managers have shown great weakness in the
supervision of their subordinates with the appraisal assessment not carried out, or
defined review comments. Performance goals have not been set correctly as some
KPIs are not relevant to the staff’s duties and responsibilities. Managers’
perspectives tend to be task-oriented as it is observed that some staff’s behavior
issues are neglected to resolve by the managers, they requested their Director and
HR to solve it for them. Consequently, some managers have ignored their
supervisory roles and have taken to blaming the subordinates for their failures.
This is indicated by the way in which workers manage their own affairs without
superior intervention. Consequently, although there is training budget available,
staffs still claimed that they do not see opportunities to advance their knowledge
and skill in the organization.
Although most of policies and procedures have been managed globally, the
country office has not been well understood and left them unintentional. The

practices are too flexible and they can be changed whenever there are requests
from any manager of the country management team (a group of selected
managers who are authorized to give and suggest certain practices), without any
risk management or considering over operational practices. This have been
experienced in meetings, staff do not care to read policies’ documents and
managers do not mind, and previous applied practices such as poor of time-off
management, inadequate required staff’s own pocket contribution to the office
activities, inconsistent staff benefits applied. In addition, reasons for staff leaving
mostly are looking for better opportunities and advancements.
Poor people management can negatively affect the long term business
perspectives; additionally inadequate staff professional behaviors also are harmful
for the organizational image and environment, especially for the strategies of
retaining and attracting talents. Motivated employees are needed for organizational
survival (Honore, 2009, p.74). Satisfied employees are more productive, and thus
help organizations prosper as a result. So how people are motivated? This
therefore makes it appropriate through research, for the factors affecting staff
performance to be identified and appropriate measures to be taken to revive the
organization, to avoid negative consequences that may affect the future functional
ability of the organization.
“Wright and McMahan's work points to the importance of human resources in the
creation of firm-specific competitive advantage. HRM practices influence employee
skills through the acquisition and development of a firm's human capital. The
effectiveness of even highly skilled employees will be limited if they are not
motivated to perform, however, and HRM can affect employee motivation by
encouraging them to work both harder and smarter” (Mark, 1995, p. 637).


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3. Significance of the study

This research study would benefit to both current employees, especially the
managers and also the organization as a whole. The studies and literature will
withdraw necessary attention to the management regarding the effort of motivating
their staff as well as effective and appropriate ways to do. Efforts need to be made
to ensure that reasons preventing optimal performance are identified. The
research study will help to inform RtR about the motivational problems and
develop strategies to minimize the problems, and help the managers and the
workers, to realize their obligations and responsibility towards, the good
performance of the organization.
The research information can be used to get more value out of the people hiring
and already employed by using effective motivational strategies rather than
monetary incentives. Managers then will have a clearer picture to lead the staff
and work with peer in order to achieve effective leadership practice in the
workplace. The recommendations in this report will enable managers to get the
best performance out of their employees and increase productivity in their
departments. Additionally, employees can use this information to determine what
helps motivate them as well as understand what motivates their peers. If there is a
greater level of understanding and cohesion between employees and managers,
the organization as a whole will prosper.
4. Objectives
The main objective of this study is to identify the employee motivational factors in
the organization, and how they affect the work performance. Specifically, we will
look into:
1) To understand the current motivational measures and the effectiveness of
those
2) To analyze if there is a relationship between motivational factors and
performance
3) To identify effective ways to improve current situations with focusing on
motivation toward employees
5. Main research questions

The main research questions are:
1) What are the causes of the described problems at RtR?
2) Why are the current motivational perspectives and practices not effective
and to what extend they affect the performance?
3) What are the better motivational measures can be identified in order to
ensure improvements?


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6. Scope of the study
This study was completed by using the input of full-time and part-time employees
of the organization in all different departments. These employees were surveyed
for the purpose of discovering what is most motivating to them in the workplace.
Employee motivation is defined as the eagerness or drive in an employee that
directly influences their level of involvement or performance in the workplace.
Motivating factors and incentives are reasons for employee motivation, and in
order to best evaluate and describe which of these factors are most and least
critical to employees, we have split this study up into the following criteria:
communication, management, incomes, long-term incentives, and non-financial
incentives.
7. Methodology
This research is used induction methodology. The approach is to understand
clearly the employees’ perspectives and expectations of their motivational factors
at work, both primary data and secondary data are used. Information was gathered
from two approaches: first approach is the questionnaires provided to all staff
including manager levels, second approach is interviews conducted with managers
or head of departments. There are all total of 44 employees in the organization
have responded to the questionnaires, out of 44 employees there are 10 managers
selected for the interviews.

In gathering primary data, both open and closed questionnaires were used. The
questionnaires were to establish of understanding what motivates the staff at work
and their expectations, at the same time to get understanding of what they feel
about the motivational factors of working environment. In addition, in order to get
an insight on what the managers’ perspectives about motivational factors those
influence their staff, one-on-one interviews with managers were conducted with
open questions with regarded matters. All targeted participants have returned their
surveys and interview questions.
Secondary data have been fully utilized to analyze the motivational measures that
can enhance good performance, past studies and case studies were used and
surveys from all the available internet sources. All possible accessible relevant
books, journals, published and unpublished papers, documents related to
motivation and workers performance were consulted from all the available internet
sources in Vietnam and elsewhere. The organizational documentations and
reports were of most importance to gather the necessary information for this
research. A full reference list is presented at the end of the study.
Additionally, information regarding RtR’s employee satisfaction survey results in
the past together with information in regards to the trend of performance of the
organization was accessed from HR department in the organization. Statistical
data is analyzed using statistical tools such as Excel data analysis, averages, and
percentages.


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8. Justification
The research study is considered as studied experiences and current practices,
therefore information perceived from regular encounters with employees will be an
input in this research. In addition, the research applied various types of questions
such as opened, opened ended and ended questions in order to get more

insightful of the data, and all employees in the organization have participated to get
the most related measurements.
9. Limitation of the study
Not all managers could complete the survey questionnaires because of their
business travels and busy schedule during the surveys distributed. Beside only
some elaborations could be done through interview with the managers.
Some of employees suggested that if the survey provided more elaborated
questions, they could provide more thoughts and explained feelings toward the
motivation at work.
10. The structure of this research paper
This research paper has introduction section and three main parts. The
introduction is to introduce the paper, identify the problems to address in the
research and the significant of the study. The section also indicated the paper
objectives together with research questions, scope of the study, methodology,
justification, and identified some limitations. Part 1 explains the literature review
and the conceptual framework which are related to the topic discussed. Part 2
explores into the assessment of the organization in order to provide an overview in
human resources or staff management in term of employee relations and
performance. Part 3 withdraws the research findings from the data collected and
the interpretations from secondary data sources, and the last section contents the
summary of key findings with conclusions and recommendations.


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PART 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1.1 Introduction
This reviews the literature of four motivation theories: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
theory, Herzberg’s motivators, Motivation theory and the human resource
management paradigm and important concepts of motivation, extrinsic motivators,

intrinsic motivators, performance management approaches, good work
performance and good organization performance. This section brings to light what
can be done in order to motivate workers to perform to achieve organizational
objectives and goals.
1.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory
According to Maslow in his theory of Hierarchy of Needs, “employees have fine
levels of needs: physiological, safety, social, ego and self-actualization” (Wilson,
1995 cited in Honore, 2009, p. 65). The basic assumptions of this theory are that
once a need has been met the motivation behind reaching that need decreases in
importance and another need comes in. The lower level of needs must be satisfied
before the higher needs can begin to be met. If these needs are not met then a
person would fail to develop into a healthy individual. The higher needs are met to
make the person grow and develop into a healthy individual. In line with his
argument is that, for adequate work motivation leaders and managers need to
understand the active needs that create individual employee motivation (Honore,
2009)
It is clear that Maslow’s hierarchy of need makes sense, but it has not been
supported by sufficient empirical evidence. It is observed to be rigid since people
have varying needs and it is therefore difficult to accept that people needs tend to
follow a steady progress up the hierarchy of need.
In Reshaping Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to Reflect Today's Educational and
Managerial from Keil (1999) indicates Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory is
almost fifty years old. In that time, the educational and managerial fields have
changed greatly. His article presents a debate of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
theory to reflect that in today's world, a closed triangle is not a valid representation.
Instead, an open, wide faced structure is needed to better reflect that self
actualization is never ending. And with this never ending self actualization,
individuals can engender lifelong learning, change management, and
boundlessness, all important factors for the 1990's educational and managerial
environments. “Self actualization is defined as a process of becoming, and the

process of development which does not end” (Heylighen, 1992 cited in Kiel, 1999,
p. 167),"the individual doing what he is fitted for – what a man can be, he must be,
and a desire to become more and more what one is” (Maslow, 1954 cited in Kiel,
1999, p. 167), and "being a mature, fully human person in whom the human
potentialities have been realized and actualized" (Mittelman, 1991 cited in Kiel,
1999, p. 167). Given these definitions, the shape of the Hierarchy of Needs must
be changed so as to integrate the 1990's society. Managers, teachers, and parents


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find that encouragement yields greater productivity. Organizational development
concepts have long espoused this (Kiel, 1999, p. 167).
In addition, according to Frame (1996) Maslow's theory of motivation becomes not
a continuum but a discontinuity. The gratification of each lower need is a
necessary but not a sufficient condition for the emergence of the next higher one.
While scientific research fails to defend Maslow’s hierarchy of need, his theory is
very popular and useful for motivation purposes. It has been used as the
introductory theory for many managers around the world.
Table 1.1
Maslow’s Hierarchy of need

1.3 Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of work motivation
Herzberg’s motivators are categorized into two factors "motivators and hygiene”.
The Two-Factor Theory suggests that humans have two different sets of needs
and that the different elements of the work situation satisfy or dissatisfies these
needs (Wright, 1989 cited in Lundberg, Gudmundson, and Andersson, 2009).
The hygiene factors
This set concerns the basic survival needs of a person. The factors are company
policy such as for example reward system, salary, and interpersonal relations.

According to Herzberg, these factors can cause dissatisfaction when not satisfied.
However, when satisfied these factors do not motivate or cause satisfaction, they
only prevent dissatisfaction (Herzberg; Herzberg, Mausner and Bloch, 1971; 2005
cited in Lundberg, Gudmundson, and Andersson, 2009, p. 891).


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The motivator factors
The second set of needs is growth needs, which refers to factors intrinsic within
the work itself, for example recognition of a task completed, achievement,
responsibility, advancement and work itself. These factors are according to
Herzberg, the motivating factors, which implies that humans try to become all that
they are capable of becoming and when satisfied they work as motivators
(Herzberg; Herzberg, Mausner and Bloch, 1971; 2005 cited in Lundberg,
Gudmundson, and Andersson, 2009, p. 891). According to Herzberg, content of
work, (for example, opportunities for responsibility and advancement) is the only
way to increase satisfaction and thereby enhance work motivation. However, when
the growth factors are missing this does not cause dissatisfaction, simply an
absence of satisfaction (Wright, 1989).
The Two-Factor Theory has been criticized for not taking individual differences of
needs and values into account when explaining work motivation (Parson &
Bradbride, 2006; Tietjen & Myers, 1998).
Method dependency is another problem and variation in methodology,
(questionnaires, interviews or behavioral observations) implies that different results
are obtained. Also, when respondents answer critical incident questions, they may
selectively recall situational factors and projecting failures to external factors.
Evidence also questions how well the theory applies to individual variations like
gender, culture and age categories not to mention organizational differences.
However, according to Furnham, Forde, and Ferrari (1999 cited in Lundberg,

Gudmundson, & Andersson, p. 892), the theory and its applications remain
influential within the domain of organizational theory.


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Table 1.2
Hygiene and Motivator factors
Hygiene factors

Motivators

May cause dissatisfaction in the
working environment but they cannot
motivate by themselves
Example:
 Pay and status
 Working conditions
 Company policy
 Security

Factors which motivate and
may make workers more
productive
Example:
 Recognition of effort
 Responsibility
 Interesting work
 Opportunities for selfimprovement

1.4 Motivation theory
A motivated and qualified workforce is crucial to increase productivity and the
quality of the organizational services in order to achieve organizational objectives.
The challenge and dilemma for many managers is how to create this type of
motivation (Dieleman, Toonen, Toure, and Martineau, 2009)
Work motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as
beyond an individual’s being, to initiate work-related behavior and to determine its
form, direction, intensity, and duration (Pinder, 1998 cited in Latham and Pinder,
2005, p. 486).Thus, motivation is a psychological process resulting from the
interaction between the individual and the environment (Latham and Pinder, 2005,
p. 486).
According to White (1959 cited in Fisher, 1978, p. 274) individuals, who are
reinforces by a feeling of efficacy, will behave to exert control over their
environment. The feeling then creates enjoyment which is called intrinsic reward
because the individuals feel achievement and accomplishment (Fisher, 1978).
“An American psychologist named Edward C. Tolman formulated Expectancy
theory in the 1930s. This theory suggests that human behavior will be motivated by
the conscious expectation more than response to stimuli. Expectancy theory can
also be used to explain another phenomenon. That is, an individual worker seems
to adjust his own motivational levels to those of his/her colleagues and his
acceptance by the group within and knows that exceptional output on a unilateral
basis will anger his colleagues and disrupt the group norm of production. But if the


16

individual feels frustrated and unhappy, he will not make the maximum contribution
to either the common task or harmonious relationship in the group, which will
affects job performances as well as individual needs” (Ugah and Arua, 2011)
Motivation theory discussed in this study is a fundamental approach, and different

aspects will be discussed because analyzing the employee motivation factors
requires looking into motivation through work design, management styles, and
performance management approaches.
1.5 Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework explains the key concepts used in the study and how
they are linked to one another to produce the final outcome in the organization.

Employees

Organization

Extrinsic
Motivators:
Hygiene
factors

Intrinsic
motivators

Employees'
performanc
e

Organization
's outcomes

Unsatisfied job
Unsatisfactory performance

Strategic Human Resource Management

Desired Cultures and Behaviors

Working relations, Job security, status,
supervision, communication

Acheivement, recognition, advancement and
responsibility

Motivated at work
Good work performance

Strong and loyal workforces
Good organization performance


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Motivation
According to Hellreiger and Slocum (2004) cited in Honore, 2009, p. 63) motivation
is the forces toward an action of a person that results in the behavior of the person
when he or she is behaving in specific goal. It is the desire to do the best possible
result or contribute maximum effort to perform certain task.
Intrinsic Motivators
Intrinsic motivators are an endogenous part of a person’s engagement in the
activity; they arise from the person’s feelings about the activity, and they are
necessarily bound up with the work itself (Amabile, 1993, p. 189).
Individuals are intrinsically motivated when they seek enjoyment, interest,
satisfaction of curiosity, self-expression, or personal challenge in the work
(Amabile, 1993, p. 188).
Extrinsic Motivators

Extrinsic motivators include anything coming from an outside source that is
intended to control (or can be perceived as controlling) the initiation or
performance of the work, for example: promised reward, praise, critical feedback,
deadlines, surveillance, or specifications on how the work is to be done (Amabile,
1993, p. 189).
Individuals are extrinsically motivated when they engage in the work in order to
obtain some goal that is apart from the work itself (Amabile, 1993, p. 188).
Performance management
Performance appraisals are most commonly undertaken to let an employee know
how his/her performance compares with the supervisor’s expectations and to
identify areas that require training or development. Employees have a legitimate
need to know how their performance is viewed. At a basic level, without adequate
communication between the employee and the supervisor, undesirable work habits
may be formed or good work habits may be modified. The process ensures that
employees understand how their personal job performance contributes to the
overall performance of the organization.


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PART 2: PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF RTR AND EFFORTS OF HUMAN
RESOURCE DEPARTMENT IN IMPROVING PERFORMANCE
2.1 Introduction
This part of the study reviews the employee performance indicators assessed by
HR department from the year 2011 to 2013. The performance ratings are
categorized in five levels, which are Need improvement, Satisfactory, Good, Very
good and Excellence.
This part also provides a review of the effort of human resource functions to
improve the performance levels of the employees.
2.2 Assessment of employee performance evaluation results

The performance evaluation is conducted yearly through a review process starting
in October. 3600 performance review is applied, that includes self-review, peers’
review, managers’ review. At each step, HR department involves in monitoring and
evaluating the outcomes to ensure the reviews are fairness, transparent and
accurate.
Table 2.1
Summary of performance evaluation results in three years (2011-2013)
70%
60%
50%

Need improvement

40%

Satisfactory

30%

Good
Very good

20%

Excellence
10%
0%
2011

2012

2013

There is no “Excellence” rating in three years, although the “very good” rating was
rapidly improved from 2011 to 2012, and stayed the same from 2012 to 2013, the
“good” rating was declined 7% from 2012 to 2013, and “satisfactory” was
increased 6% from 2012 to 2013. “Need improvement” was increased yearly from
2011 to 2013.


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2.3 Human Resource department and its functions
The human resource department practices labor policies locally and other
programs managed by global office. The HR department has full responsibility of
overall HR functions in Vietnam office.
The functions of the office include:







To manage payroll and labor policies according to the local labor policy and
procedure
To handle all staffing issues and consult with the global office when required
To control and monitor staffing code of conducts
To develop staff development and welfare programs
To plan budgets and manage personnel costs

To handle general management of the country office’s HR management

2.4 Training
Annual budget is allocated by percentage of total payroll budget, the training needs
are solely based on requests from the employees, and managers have no
responsibility in identifying or approving the requests, in fact they acknowledge the
training course and dates that the employees are absent for the training. All
requests were sent directly to HR and the Director for approval. Consequently,
relevant training for the employees is not guaranteed and following up
performance after the training has not been taken by the manager. In addition,
training record is not monitored well, the record was not updated.
To remedy the training quality, boost the staff morale, and monitor budget
effectively, HR department has tried to implement the staff development system,
for instance training calendar in place, managing record system by each
department, and managers take actions to consider the requests and are the main
responsibility of approving them; internal training and knowledge sharing are
encouraged and put in the systematic approaches.
After the system was installed, the responses from the managers were not
positive, because they see it as time consumed rather than staff development
activities.
2.5 Employee Management System
The system clearly defines roles, responsibilities and accountabilities in the
process which has the objectives of fairness, realistic evaluation and encouraging
the managers to constantly provide feedbacks on their staff’s performance. The
reviews are carried out through certain periods: after probation, mid-year review,
and year-end review.


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2.5.1 Staff benefits and allowances
Salary and benefits offered to the employees are considered competitive
advantage in the market. In addition, employees are also provided other
allowances such as telephone, per diem, house rental, and travel allowances for
those staff that required going out often as well as commuting regular around the
project areas. Beside the local required social, health and unemployment
insurances, the organization also buy additional accidental and health insurances
for all employees and their two family members to ensure their medical cares are
insured.
2.5.2 Staff Programs
Employees, who have good performance after year-end evaluation, are granted
the performance bonus based certain percentage of their annual salaries. Beside,
HR department also launched Employee of the Year program to recognize
outstanding performance of the year. This is for the purpose of motivating the
employees to achieve better performance.
2.5.3 Staff attendance
The office installed the attendance finger-print machine to monitor employees’ in
and out time. Additionally, as the nature of the business weekend working and
compensatory leaves are controlled and managed by using Compensatory leave
form. HR department monthly collected the forms and checked the attendances
and the compliance of compensation policies. However, there are several wrong
implementations as well as managers signed the approval without considering the
right policies applied. The co-operation of the managers is lacking in monitoring
the staff attendance.
2.5.4 Discipline
All new staffs are introduced and explained the rules and regulations, and regular
reviews of the regulations are conducted by HR department at least once month.
There is weakness of controlling the practices for some staffs in the project fields
where is far away from the main office. This requires closed monitoring from the
managers to improve the situation. In recent two-years there was no disciplinary

action taken due to violated rule and regulation, however there were some
employee had certain negative behaviors. Those issues were reported to HR and
HR person supported the manager to handle the issue. In order to improve the
situation there is the need of manager’s follow up and counseling, however the
actions have not been taken seriously in some cases.
2.5.5 Supervision
Country management team has monthly meetings to discuss and brainstorming of
improve the operation. Several staff’s concerns have been discussed and advised


21

from HR and Director to solve. Supervisory applications have been emphasized
frequently to seek the effective supervision in managing staff. The managers
seemed unaware of staff issues and personality problems, in fact they tend to taskoriented rather than over performance management and they expect that all staff
issues should be solved by either HR or the Director, not to mention the
communications related to performance which they requested HR to communicate
to their staff.
Some leadership training courses have organized for the managers; however the
effectiveness outcomes are come from the attempt to change and practice, in
which it has not been seen from the managers.
2.5.6 Performance management
The performance guideline is rolled down from Global office and carried out to
implement by the country HR office. Beginning of year goal settings are defined by
the individual staffs and their managers; mid-year and year-end reviews are
conducted and coordinated with HR to ensure the process is in line.
Despite the systematic structure and guideline from HR department, some
managers still failed to provide concrete information during the reviews such as not
being able to provide relevant feedbacks for certain set goals, professional
development evaluations were neglected to review. The feedbacks were just solely

based on the agreement of the completed tasks instead of providing quality
evaluation. Consequently, this creates some problems related to staff’s
disagreement after the performance rating was confirmed. This showed the
weakness of the managers in managing and monitoring staff performance.


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PART 3: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Introduction
This part withdraws the findings and analysis based on the results of responses
and interviews to the distributed questionnaires, formal and informal interviewing
sessions. The employee motivation and performance at work that this study
discussed are intrinsic, extrinsic motivators and work performance. The focus is in
comparisons with the management’s perspectives and the organization’s
objectives.
As mentioned in the previous part, it is crucial that the organization should apply
good practices in order to gain the employee’s commitment and motivations so
that there is the good performance for both individuals and the organization.
This analysis will explore four major focuses, first is the perceptions of work
performance at RtR, how the manager responded, and all employees’ responses
and perceptions which are explained in hygiene and motivation factors.
3.2 Work Performance at RtR
The managers were asked about their opinion regarding the work performance of
their staffs, 40% responses are good while 60% ones are just fair. Details are in
table 3.1 below.
They explained the main factors determined their responses were because their
staff currently does not meet certain set of skills required to performance the job
better and more effective, such as training skills, confidence to establish trusting
relationship with partners and English skills. Those limitations significantly affected

their performance at work. Some managers complained that because of the staff’s
short comings, managers had to take over the related tasks and consequently
there were more workloads for them.
The managers also added, during the year-end performance review they often
struggled with determining the ratings between “Good” and “Satisfactory”, and
even sometimes they considered to rate certain staff as “need improvement”.
However, at the end they decided to rate “good” because they did not want to
discourage the staff and result in low morale.
Table 3.1
Overall opinion about staff’s performance
Responses Frequencies Percentages
Very good
0
0%
Good
4
40%
Fair
6
60%
Bad
0
0%
Very bad
0
0%


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3.3 Managers’ responses
When asking the managers about positive factors influencing the motivation on
employees, and requested them to rate 8 factors in 1 to 8 while 8 is the strongest
influence to 1 is lowest influence. The average rate for salary factor was the
strongest one that is 7. When interviewed, their responses referred to monetary
factor such as salary. While other factors such as company social activities,
flexible schedules, training, and performance appraisal were necessary in an
organization but not adequate to encourage or motivate people. Practically,
comparing to NGO organizations RtR’s salaries and benefits are considered
competitive in the labor market.
More than half of the managers felt that recognition and opportunity for
advancement are also important to motivate employees. However, (managers
indicated) normally in NGO environment the opportunity is rare and there is less
chance to have such environment for them to take advancement. Contradictorily,
during the survey managers’ average of rating for training opportunity was only
2.1.
Although they felt that creating environment that makes employees feel part of the
team, increases teamwork, and at the same time motivates them at work; all of the
managers when responding to the survey rated the “company social activities” at
the lowest level (average rating was 2.1).
3.4 All employees’ responses
This section analyzes the responses answered by all employees on the hygiene
factors (job security, working relations, and supervisors’ communication);
motivation factors (achievement, recognition, advancement, and satisfaction of job
responsibility).
Overall responses regarding the motivation that all employees felt as following
table
Table 3.2
Do you feel motivated at your current job?
Female

Male

Frequency

Very motivated

16

6

22

Total
%
50%

Somewhat motivated

11

5

16

36%

Unmotivated

4

0

4

9%

Very unmotivated

2

0

2

5%

Total

33

11

44

100%

Response

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Based on the table 3.2 of the responses, there were major of employees who felt
motivated at work (50% of employees felt very motivated and 36% of them felt
somewhat motivated), only total of 14% felt not motivated at work.
When asked some of employees who felt not motivated, they shared that main
reasons were they did not have chance to maximize their skills, the nature of the
required tasks is very routine and the job is not challenging enough for them.
3.4.1 Hygiene Factors
3.4.1.1 Job security
In order to understand how the employees perceived the feeling and perception of
having a job secured in the organization, they were asked the question: “Do you
see your job is secured in the organization?” Below in table 3.3 are their
responses.
Table 3.3
Do you see your job is secured in the organization?
Response

Female

Male

Frequency

Total %

1

0

1

2%

4

0

4

9%

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Agree

8

1

9

20%

18

7

25

57%

Strongly Agree

2

3

5

11%

Total

33

11

44

100%

Source: Data collected by Author

Table 3.3 shows that 68% of total male and female agreed/strongly agreed that
they feel job secured. However, 20% were not sure and 11% were disagreed
and strongly disagreed that they were having a secured job. The reasons why

they were not sure or disagreed were because the organization’s business
nature is NGO and they would not know if there are funds for coming years.
At the end of the survey, the employees were also asked if they felt motivated
at their current job followed by four choices: very motivated, somewhat
motivated, unmotivated, very unmotivated.
There was strong correlation that is r=0.6 between the responses of “Job
secured” and “motivation”.