A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES ON ORGANIZATION PERFOMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

1919 | P a g e S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 4 A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES ON ORGANIZATION PERFOMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA Linet Cheraisi Teacher Education Department, Egerton University, Kenya lynnchera@yahoo.com Kipchumba Simon Faculty of Commerce, Department of Business Administration, Egerton University, Kenya Kipchumba7@yahoo.com Amos Ayuo Faculty of Commerce, Department of Business Administration, Egerton University, Kenya ayuoamos@gmail.com ABSTRACT


Introduction
In today's marketplace, where companies seek a competitive edge, motivation is key for talent retention and performance. No matter the economic environment, the goal is to create a workplace that is engaging and motivating, where employees want to stay, grow and contribute their knowledge, experience and expertise. Organization has to meet its obligations; the performance of employees has a very crucial impact on overall organizational achievement. In a demotivated environment, low or courage less employees can not practice their skills, abilities, innovation and full commitment to the extent an organization needs (Danish and Usman, 2010).
Motivation is the force within an individual employee that affects direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behavior. Institutions have realized the importance of the concept motivation in aligning human capital with management process (Robinson, 2000). Motivated employees are more productive, committed and loyal to the institution. However motivated human capital strives to produce the highest possible levels and they exert greater effort then those who are not motivated. "Motivation and engagement is truly a 50-50 relationship between the employee and employer. Employees are expected to come to the workplace with the intrinsic motivation and desire to be successful, be value-added and contribute to the obtainment of an employer's vision. Conversely, it is incumbent upon the employer to provide resources, opportunities, recognition and a cohesive work environment for employees to be successful." (Nyugen and Neck, 2009) Motivation strategies are the methods of finding and harnessing your motivation in order to achieve your goals. When you keep the repeating the strategies everyday it increases their effectiveness and their ability to draw strength from them. Motivation strategies make a lot of difference in ones success. To some extent, a high level of employee motivation is derived from effective management practices. Danish and Usman (2010) define motivation as an accumulation of different processes which influence and direct our behavior to achieve some specific goal. It is such a dynamic in today's environment that explicitly creates and encompasses a positive impact on job, Within an organization, the best performance is feasible with most committed employees that can only be achieved through employee motivation. The factors like recognition, participative management, career development and effective communication are the most preferred factors for employee motivation strategies. The highly motivated employees serve as the competitive advantage for any company because their performance leads an organization to well accomplishment of its goals. Effective rewards and recognition are implemented within an organization, favorable working environment is produced which motivates employees to excel in their performance. Employees take recognition as their feelings of value and appreciation and as a result it boosts up morale of employee which ultimately increases productivity of organizations (Salleh, 2011).
Today's most progressive organizations in developed countries have moved from treating selected human resource practices for example, motivation, employee participation, flexible work arrangements, and training act as strategic weapons in the battle for competitive advantage (Raja, 2011). Motivational strategies includes;, incentive system, empowerment, treating people as individuals, flexible work place, redesign jobs training, teamwork, decision making involvement, effective communication, compensation, selection, knowledge management and man power supply system. Henson (2009) discusses that, high-performing organizations like Facebook and Apple now move so fast that their product cycles move in months, not years. They have used different motivational strategies in their organization in order to achieve their competitiveness. Their workforce is highly interconnected and shares information instantaneously. People are hired and rewarded for their deep expertise, not their ability to follow instructions. And they work on fast-changing projects and programs which evolve and change continuously.
Ling (2011), states that an institution gains competitive advantage by using its people effectively, drawing on their expertise and ingenuity to meet clearly defined objectives. Integration of the business surplus to the human competency and performance required strategies. Kenyan universities are unevenly distributed across the country, with Nairobi County having the highest number of public and private universities, while Northern Kenya has the least. Universities can achieve their objectives well if they can utilize their own motivational strategies effectively. Nakuru, a rapidly growing town in East Africa is also well endowed with higher education institutions in Kenya. Most public Universities in Kenya have their presence in the Nakuru County. It has recently become one of the most endowed towns in the Rift Valley with higher education institutions which include: Egerton, Kenyatta, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Laikipia-Naivasha Campus, and University of Nairobi public universities. The number of people seeking university education has increased to an extent that universities have established constituent campuses in different towns to meet the demand (Kenya Daily Nation, 2013).
Performance is the key factor for success of every organization and every organization want to perform better than its competitors so it can keep its competitive edge and share of the market (Awan, 2013).The purpose of measuring performance is not to indicate only where things are not going according to plans but also to identify why things are going well so that steps can be taken to build success (Nyaoga, 2010). It is therefore, important for Kenyan universities to constantly review their motivational strategies in order to make them achieve their objectives.

Statement of the Problem
Success does not depend primarily on the size of the budget or the products supporting technologies. It really depends on employee's attitudes, competencies and skills, their ability to generate commitment and trust, communicate aspirations and work in complex relationships. Kenyan universities have set their objectives which have to be achieved by its employees. Despite this, management of human capital have encountered the following ; low level of participative management, inequitable reward system, lack of recognition of good work, lack of communication in terms of career development as a result leads to de-motivation hence affect organization performance (Owino, Ogachi, and Olel 2011). S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 4 Managers have been using motivational strategies as a way of managing HC in organizations. However, little is known about how these motivational strategies affect organizational performance. Most of studies have been done in developed countries and few have been studied in developing countries. This study seeks to determine the effect of motivational strategies on organizational performance in public universities in Nakuru County, Kenya.

Purpose and Objective of the Study
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of motivational strategies on organizational performance in public universities in Nakuru County.

Research Question
What effect do Motivational strategies have on organizational performance?

Motivational Strategies on Performance
Motivation has provided a way for employers to increase employee work performance and commitment to the organization without spending a lot of resources on their employees. Intrinsic motivation is internal and includes the feeling that work is important and therefore motivates a person to perform. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand, is brought about by external factors which include praise, promotion, pay and punishment (Chepkilot, 2005). Armstrong (2000), states that organizations are concerned with what should be done to achieve sustained levels of performance through people and to achieve this, organizations should provide an environment for employees to be self motivated. He affirms that the employees who are motivated work very hard and there is therefore a need for managers to manipulate the work environment to influence human behaviour and harmonize individual goals with those of the organization.
People are your firm's repository of knowledge and skill base that makes your firm competitive and leads to improved performance. Well coached, and highly motivated people are critical to the development and execution of strategies, especially in today's faster-paced, more perplexing world, where top management alone can no longer assure your firm's competitiveness. If the level of motivation among employees is high the quality of service rendered to the stakeholders will be high and if the motivation of employee is very low the level of provision of service will be low (Diriba, 2012). Amstrong (2006), states that, employee career development programmes enhance employee motivation because the career plans provide the basis for a promising, stable and successful future career in the organization. Today's employees are demanding more from their work in terms of fulfillment and personal satisfaction. They use words such as "empowerment" and "self-development" in expressing demands. This tells us much about the changing face of the employment (Merchant, 2010).

Career Development Programmes
According to Manyasi (2011) suggests that, an employee output greatly determines an organizations performance. Employee performance can be defined as the extent to which the employee is contributing to the strategic aims of the organization. It is expected that with enhancement of employees' capabilities through various career development programmes such as undertaking further studies, participating in research, seminars, workshops, conferences and team learning in organizations, employees performance will improve. Robbins and Judge (2005) notes that recognizing employees for the work done is one of the strategies organizations use to motivate employees. He adds that employee recognition programmes express appreciation and approval for a job well done and can be personalized to individuals or groups. Today's employers are constantly finding different methods of recognizing their associates. These methods can range from recognizing productivity gains, to customer service and even putting forth an effort to make a new project or product work (Luthans, 2000).

Recognition of Good Work
A good review of some characteristics which distinguish good employee recognition includes firstly, recognition should be given as first as possible after a desired behavior has occurred. Increasing the time between target behavior and reward devalues the reward and diminishes the reinforcement value. Secondly, recognition should be delivered personally, because time taken by peers and subordinates to recognize the job well done can also be very effective. Thirdly, it should be valuable by doing this by tailoring the rewards to the needs of the recipient is a good idea. Fourthly, recognition should be a direct reinforces of a desired behavior give rewards which positively reinforce desired behavior (Amstrong, 2006).

Rewarding Employee Adequately
In general terms rewards programmes come within the overall concept of compensation strategies which are defined as the deliberate utilization of the pay system as an essential integrating mechanism through which the efforts of various subunits or individuals are directed towards the achievement of an organization's strategic objectives. They are management tools that hopefully contribute to a firm's effectiveness by influencing individual or group behavior (Reena and Ahmed, 2009). S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 4 In exchange for job performance and commitment, an employer offers rewards to employees. Adequate rewards and compensations potentially attract a quality work force, maintain the satisfaction of existing employees, keep quality employees from leaving, and motivate them in the workplace. A proper design of reward and compensation systems requires careful review of the labor market, thorough analysis of jobs, and a systematic study of pay structures (Encyclopedia of Business Finance, 2006) Rewards motivate employees to do work hard. People are motivated to get intrinsic rewards. All employees are motivated by rewards. So if we want to get a success in competitive environment than we must need to achieve high performance of employees. Effective, appropriate, timely, and market-driven rewards can be motivational for managers and employees alike. Experience and research in the science of success reinforces the concept that effective and timely feedback can be motivational for morale and enhanced productivity .The changing workforce requires new and flexible reward practices that can enhance and produce positive situations in the work environment (Mujtaba, 2010).

Effective Communication
Communication fosters motivation in the organization by clarifying to employees what is to be done, how it is to be done, and what can be done to improve performance in the organization. Effective communication plays a vital role in relaying motivation strategies to the desired areas and it is also through communication that feedback is obtained. It is only in a situation where effective communication exists that employees can be effectively motivated (Chepkilot, 2005).
Jiang (2010) states that, improved communication systems encourage employees to take more responsibility for their skill levels and performance. According to Standa (2007) found that, lack of effective communication with stakeholders is a hindrance to effective implementation future plans and projects. This impacted negatively on provision of quality of services which depend on adoption of management decisions by the stakeholders.

Participative Management
Participative management refers to the involvement of employees in decision making by asking all members of the organization to think in a strategic way and to accept full responsibility for the quality of their personal work, animating, helping and rewarding the fact that the employees act in every moment as they feel necessary so as to satisfy the client and to better the functionality of the organization (Manuela, Clara and Salvandor, 2012).
Involving employees especially in decisions that affect them is both respectful to them and practical. People who are closest to the problem or customer typically have the best insight on how to improve a situation. They know what works and what doesn't, yet they are rarely asked for their opinion. As you involve others, you enhance their commitment and increase the ease in implementing changes (Bob, 2010). Hameed and Waheed, (2011) stated that, by letting employees participating in organizations policies or decision making can lead the employee to enhance the performance. They will be able to make more smart decisions.
It is a management style where managers share with the rest of the members of the organization their influence in the decision making process. This means contribution in the decision making process is not limited to those who have formal power positions with specific characteristics with regards to information systems, training, rewards, leadership and organizational culture (Manuela, Clara and Salvandor, 2012).They also argued that the feeling of participation is important to stimulate and address changes in organizations, due to the fact that the uncertainty associated to changes generates a feeling of low self esteem in employees; it is advisable to avoid such feeling of low self confidence through an adequate participative program.
Owino; et al (2011), explains that, effective involvement of staff in decision making leads to ownership of the management decisions and creates conducive environment for effective teaching and learning. Participation helps employees to gain a wider view of the organization. Creativity and innovation are two important benefits of participative management. Studies have shown that employee participation is positively related to performance, satisfaction, and productivity of an employee (Oladipo, 2011).

Organizational culture and Physical Capital
Organizational culture can be viewed as the unique pattern of shared values, norms, attitudes, beliefs, rituals, socialization, expectations, and assumptions of the employees in the organization. As such, organizational culture could be equated with the "personality" of the organization, depicting the manner in which employees behave when they are not being told what to do (Meijen, 2007). She further explains that a fit between the organizational culture and the employees will increase the organizational commitment of those employees and contribute towards improved service delivery. Successful organizations appear to have strong cultures that attract, reward and hold the allegiance of people who are performing roles to meet goals (Syria, 2003).

Customer Satisfaction and Quality of service
Customer satisfaction is based on customer expectations, possible dimensions that one can use in measuring customer satisfaction, are quality of service, speed of service, pricing, complaints, trust in your employees, the closeness of the relationship with contacts in your firm and you positioning in clients' minds. Service quality in the management and marketing literature is the extent to which customers' perceptions of service meet and/or exceed their expectations (Woodwall, 2001). Measuring service quality as the difference between perceived and expected service was a valid way and could make management to identify gaps to what they offer as services (Omboi, 2011). Measuring service quality is a S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 4 better way to dictate whether the services are good or bad and whether the customers will or are satisfied with it. Service quality is described as comprising of three elements: Physical facilities, processes and procedures; Personal behaviour on the part of serving staff, and Professional judgment on the part of serving staff but to get good quality service. (Owino et.al, 2011), presented ten dimensions of service quality namely: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication, and understanding the customer.
Decision making is the procedure of reducing the gap between the existing situation and the desired situation through solving problems and making use of opportunities (Beach, 2009). A decision is simply a conclusion reached after consideration: it occurs when one option is selected, to the exclusion of others-it is rendering of judgment. organizations (public, nonprofit and private) today, world over commit so much resource and are engaged in a very serious competition to capture the right set of people to man their respective units and/or departments to assist in taking efficient and effective decisions.
In the 21st century however, organizations expand, challenges become enormous and the world become a global village sort of with approaches to organizational decisions and activities in variably changing. Managers are now called strategic managers with a big task of coping with the environment as well as working very hard to achieving effective decision making and creativity (Sumirtta, 2011)

Resign Design
This study employed descriptive survey designed. Data was collected using a questionnaire. The design is appropriate in studying the prevalence of a phenomenon, situation, problem or attitude by obtaining the opinion or attitude of respondents regarding a situation at a particular time (Kumar, 2005).The target population for this study was public universities in Nakuru County.

Sample Design
A sample of 1993 managers, academic and non-academic staff was used in the study. A sampling formula developed by Kish 1965 was used to determine sample size, n, for the research given the population size N as shown in the equation below Where n=Sample size N=population (p) e=Probability of error (i.e, the desired precision, e.g; 0.05 for 95% Confidence level)

Data Collection
The structured questionnaire was used to collect the information from the employees of the universities at their work place. Where applicable the questionnaire was in the form of modified Linkert five point scale. A total of 402 questionnaires were returned, representing 92.4% return rate.

Data Analysis
Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to explain results of the findings. These include means, frequencies and percentages. Correlation analysis and a multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between Organization Performance (O.P) (dependent variable) and the variables (which are the selected motivational Strategies), namely; Career development programmes, Recognition of good work, rewards, effective communication and participative management (which are the independent variables) in the Universities.

Results and Findings
Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze motivational strategies used by universities. In reference scaling used in the study design, 5 represented strongly agree, 4 represented agree, 3 represented neutral, 2 represented disagree and 1 represented strongly disagree, therefore strongly disagree (1) was minimum, strongly agree (5) was maximum. The mean was analyzed based on the respondents choices scaled between strongly agree and strongly disagree. S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 4

Source: Field Data (2014)
A mean of 4 represented agree, a mean of 3 represented neutral and a mean of 2 represented disagree. The respondents in the study disagreed that universities in Nakuru guided and encouraged employees to develop career at the university and also that the general management/leadership motivated employees to engage in formal education system to achieve higher levels of education (mean of 4). The respondents were not sure (neutral) whether the universities used such motivational strategies as; recognition for good work, rewards on good work accordingly and existence of effective communication (mean of 3). The respondents agreed on the fact that the universities encouraged participatory decision making (mean of 2).

Source: Field Data (2014)
Based on Likert Scale used in the study mean of 4 represented agreed, a mean of 3 represented neutral and a mean of 2 represented disagree. The respondents in the study agreed that employees in universities in Nakuru County are responsible for quality performance and had sufficient work experience to perform their duties (response mean of 4). The respondents on the other hand, disagreed that decision making in the universities was participatory by allowing them to be part of the decision making process (response mean of 2). The respondents were not sure whether the universities' management and supervisors were willing to delegate and also support the performance process (response mean of 3).

Performance Measurement Indicators
This section analyzes different indicators of university performance; decision making and performance, customer satisfaction as performance and service quality as performance. S e p t e m b e r 1 0 , 2 0 1 4

Source: Field Data (2014)
Based on Likert Scale used in the study mean of 3 represented neutral. The above finding indicated that the respondents were not sure of the following aspects of customer care as indicator of universities' performance; whether the university customers were satisfied, existence of customer satisfaction feedback systems, systems that were used to solicit for customers complaints, existence of appropriate customer care training programmes and existence of strategic plan that would give universities directions.

Source: Field Data (2014)
According to Likert Scale used in the study mean of 4 represented agreed and a mean of 3 represented neutral. The analysis above showed that the respondents agreed that they give quality service to customers and also give willingly serve customers by continuously giving the customers helps their required (response mean of 4). The respondents were not sure whether they universities responded to the customers' requests promptly, existence of adequate service facilities and patience in the due course of service delivery to the customer (response mean of 3).

Effect of Motivational Strategies on Organizational Performance
The first objective of the study was to determine the effect of motivational strategies on organizational performance. The key elements for motivational strategies analyzed were; employees career development, recognition for good work, reward for good work, effective communication, participatory decision making, and motivation to engage in both formal and informal education. All these elements were correlated to establish whether motivational strategies used by universities affected performance The study established a moderate positive relationship of 0.53 and 0.49 between motivational strategies, decision making and customer satisfaction respectively as performance measurement indicator. There was a week positive relationship of 0.37 between motivational strategies and service quality.

Summary of the Findings
Organizations are compelled to change over time by an array of forces, both internal and external, ranging from changes in ownership, executive leadership, and business strategy or customer proposition to evolving economic conditions and regulatory environments. Each change revises performance expectations and, ultimately, creates a shift in what's required of the organization's people. When such change occurs, the new requirements must be reflected in the organization's motivational strategy. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of motivational strategies on organizational performance in public universities in Nakuru County.

Findings on Effect of motivational strategies on organizational performance
First, the established that universities in Nakuru County used the following approaches to motivate the staff; Guidance and encouragement of employees to develop career at the university and to engage in formal education system to achieve higher levels of education. Second, the study established that motivational strategies used by universities in Nakuru town had a moderate effect on both decision making and customer satisfaction but a weak effect on service quality.

Findings on Decision Making, Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality as Indicators of Performance
The study established that employees in universities in Nakuru County were responsible for quality performance and had sufficient work experience to perform their duties. Secondly, employees working in the universities were not sure of the following aspects of customer care as indicator of universities' performance; whether the university customers were satisfied, existence of customer satisfaction feedback systems, systems that were used to solicit for customers complaints, existence of appropriate customer care training programmes and existence of strategic plan that would give universities directions. Third, employees gave quality service to customers and also gave these services willingly.

Conclusion
Based on the findings from the study, motivational strategies used by universities in Nakuru County had a moderate effect on both decision making and customer satisfaction but a weak effect on service quality.

Recommendations
From the findings and conclusion of this study, the following recommendations are very important for the purposes of study; First, the universities should develop effective manpower development strategies that can guide and encourage employees to develop their career in the university, engage both in formal education in order to achieve high levels of education as a mean of encouraging them to look at the universities positively as a place where they can improve their careers. Secondly, the university admission should create awareness of why it is important to recognize and reward good work and also establish effective communication system which employees seem not to be aware of. Second, the study strongly recommends that the universities should create a conducive atmosphere of participatory decision making in order to create ownership. This is important since it will enable employees to see themselves as part of the university system and operations and hence will own its successes and failures for the purposes of improving on the success and correcting the failures. Secondly, the university administration should create awareness through training, benchmarking and exposure on effective delegation and why it is important for the management to support decision making process. This is because the respondents in the study were not sure about these two important elements of decision making process. Third, since the respondents were not sure whether the universities had customer satisfaction tracking systems, it is strongly recommended that the universities should conduct customer care and satisfaction training as a means of exposing the employees on key issues in customer satisfaction. The universities must also develop working customer feedback and satisfaction monitoring systems and also train employees on their importance, how to integrate them in their specific work environment and also directly put them to use in their daily working. The universities must be willing to share strategic plans with employees as a direct means of knowing the take of the plan on customer satisfaction as an important indicator of universities performance. Four, the study recommends that the universities should enhance quality service to customers providing user friendly and exposable help at every service delivery station. This will improve service quality which in turn leads to customers' satisfaction as a tool of competitiveness. Five, in order for the universities to achieve effective decision making process, customer satisfaction and service quality, they should re-evaluate the current motivational strategies in existence, pick the elements that are working well, redesign the elements that are not working well and ultimately implement the whole motivational strategies for better decision making, effective customers services for desired customer satisfaction and improved service quality.

Recommendation for Further Research
There is a need to carry out a study on effect of motivational strategies on other variables in universities in Kenya. The same study should be done in other counties.