Staff Motivation and Productivity at the Local Government Level

Staff Motivation and Productivity at the Local Government Level

Chapter One of Staff Motivation and Productivity at the Local Government Level

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The need to motivate workers in an economy like ours is the concern of manager of both private and public established. There is the need for managers to understand and accommodate various people that work in one organization for the purpose of increasing productivity and for them to induce personnel to do their job, the manager’s needs to understand different behaviours that workers exhibit in an organization.

The motivation of administration personnel of local education Authority, Dutsin – ma is not an exception as their performance behaviour is akin ti that up others organization in Nigeria.

It is this premises that we intend to take a look at the situation with a view if finding solution to them, or at least reduce the incidence of low productivity. It is also my hope that at the end of this exercise, the picture would be clearer in the area of motivation and increased productivity in the organization.

An organization is composed of people who interact at different levels toward achieving a certain goal. Management therefore creates and maintain an environment which individual work together in-group towards the accomplishment of the set objectives Fadeyi (1976).

The success of an organization is contingent on the performance or effective ness of workers in that organization. The management in that organization. The management has the responsibility to study how best to induce or motivate the employees to put in their best. This could be done through the management study, the organization adopts to increase productivity.

The management also ensures that the rate of staff turnover is highly reduced to the best barest minimum. This study revolves around the techniques of motivation employed by the management of Local Education Authority Dustin – ma and whether the techniques when properly planned and applied could increase productivity of such organization. Any organization that does not recognize the importance of motivation could hardly increase productivity and retain staff for quite long.

It is determination of this work of researcher to examine the various component of motivation, which are essential to establishing and sustaining productivity through effective performance, as workers are most valuable assets in an organization that is service oriented. The local government is the third tier of government after the federal government and the 36 state governments. The local government was actually very active during the democratic dispensation but was actually conceived and marginally practiced during the military era. The main concern before the establishment of local governments was the inability of the federal and state governments to carry development to the rural areas. Local governments are the government that is closest to rural dwellers and the majority of Nigeria as the populace can see and be able to interact with their leaders. The local government administration is constitutionally headed by the local government chairman who is constitutionally mandated to stay 2 years in office and then either seek re-election or leave office. The local government is majorly financed by the state governments. The primary aim of the creation of local councils was for interaction with the local masses.

Local government constitutes the most essential level of government at which the momentum to sustain national development can be created. To some countries in the third world, it is the only semblance of authority known beyond the tradition. (Bello 2007:1)

Statement of the general problem

The concept of staff motivation at all levels in Nigeria has overtime been misconstrued. Companies, organizations and establishments pay little or no attention to the motivation of their staff in relation to their productivity level and still these organizations expect nothing short of top performance in terms of productivity

Objectives of the study

The following are the aims and objectives of the study

• To examine the effect of lack of staff motivation in local governments in Nigeria.
• To know if there is a relationship between staff motivation and productivity of staff in organizations.
• To investigate the extent to which the local government authorities has neglected staff motivation.
• To find out the motivational differences that exists among the various levels of management.
• The research will offer useful suggestions on how to improve the work situation in an organization.

• To Make conclusions and provide adequate recommendations

Significance of the study

This study is essentially significant in that it is directed towards evaluating the effect of lack of motivation on the productivity levels of staff or employees. It also significant in that if focuses on the actual reason for lack of staff motivation in the local governmentlevel and it effect on the nation’s economic landscape.

Scope of the study

This study is centered on staff motivation and productivity at the local government level using ovia-south west local government area delta state as a case study.

Limitations of the study

It is important to define the scope and limitation of this research work with respect to coverage and time dimension.

The reactions of such boundaries are usually necessary due to the problems posed by the organization of large data.

This study is therefore confirmed to impact of motivation on staff performance as it relates to staff of ovia south-west Local government council. Time and money has been the constraint in the exercise.

The time given for this research was too short to warrant intensive research work and financing of the work also contributes. The amount of money required will not be easily sourced.

Any attempt to estimate time and money make the exercise unattainable. It is hope that the study will serve as a representative sample to other local government councils in delta state whose inductive finding will be generally applicable.

Finally other scholar will undertake similar researcher in the future to put the organization in its true perspective for the entire state

Research hypothesis

H0: staff or employee motivation does not influence productivity in an organization.

H1: staff or employee motivation influences productivity in an organization.

Definition of terms

• Local government: defined as the people who have the authority to make decisions or pass laws in a small geographic area near to them. An example of local government is the town council.

• Economic development: this can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base.
• Motivation: This can be defined as an internal zeal, which activates ones behaviour towards achieving a goal others see motivation as a process of inducing an individual to perform a given task in order to achieve his as well as the organization objectives.
• Job Satisfaction: It is the attitude feeling, sentiment which employees has towards his/her work. It is determined by the job content. Such as responsibility and advancement as well as job conditions
• Morale: This simply means an individual state of mind, which in the event of any given activity affects performance of any given task. Good or high morale produce confidence optimum, enthusiasm and inner drive to succeed. Lower morale produces negative attitude towards job performance.