EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION MAKING AND WORKER MOTIVATION: A STUDY OF TWO SELECTED BANKS IN GHANA BY DOMINIC ADDAI (10328127) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPhil SOCIOLOGY JUNE 2013 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh i DECLARATION I hereby declare that, except for references to other people‟s work, which have been duly acknowledged, this thesis is the result of my own research work carried out in the Department of Sociology, under the supervision of Dr. Kofi Ohene-Konadu and Dr, Stephen Afranie. I therefore stand liable for any errors and omissions thereof. …………………………….. DOMINIC ADDAI (STUDENT) DATE.................................. ............................................. ................................................ DR. STEPHEN AFRANIE DR. KOFI OHENE-KONADU (SUPERVISOR) (SUPERVISOR) DATE.................................. DATE....................................... University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii DEDICATION I dedicate this work to the author of my life (GOD) and the two most important women in my life (Madam Margaret Nti and Theresa Kaminta) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT There is a popular adage that behind every successful man is a woman. In this instance I will say behind my success in this Thesis are some dedicated and supportive individuals who deserve to be acknowledged. I first of all show my deepest appreciation to my supervisors, Dr. Kofi Ohene-Konadu and Dr. Stephen Afranie for their support and guidance. It is their immense scrutiny and criticism that has pushed me to refine this work to its' current state. They have not only been supervisors but a source of inspiration to me. I will eternally be grateful to them. My gratitude also goes to the management and staffs of Ecobank Ghana (EGH) and Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) for their support in filling the questionnaires which served as the primary source of data for this study. Indeed without their cooperation this research could not have come out with the interesting findings and recommendations which will contribute to both academia and industry. I must not forget to make special mention of Mr. Isaac Awuzah (EGH) and Mr. Akwasi Bobbie (GCB) who personally assisted in processing the permission and assisting in administering the questionnaire. Brother Ike and brother Bobby, God bless you. My sincere gratitude also goes to my mother, madam Margaret Nti, who nurtured me and has shown me love which is comparable only to that of God. I also thank Mr. Addai-Dwuma and Mr. Richmond Druye for their financial support. To my senior brothers, Stephen and Michael (my life long mentors) for charting a good path for me to follow. I finally appreciate all who encouraged and assisted me. Also those whose published and unpublished works helped to shape my thought. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv ABSTRACT Rewarding workers for their effort within a given period becomes a motivation that spurs them on to work harder. Motivation for work is both intrinsic and extrinsic, but with time, individual workers become more drawn towards one of the forms of motivation. This study focuses on examining the relationship between employee involvement in decision making and their levels of motivation. Participation or involvement in decision making constitutes an intrinsic form of motivation while monetary benefits and other material incentives constitute the extrinsic form of motivation. Specifically, the study sought to examine whether giving workers the chance to participate in decision making makes them more motivated on the job. It also sought to find out if employees in private and public banks differ in their motivation preferences. The study again went further to establish which of the forms of motivation are workers of banks more drawn towards. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Interviews were conducted with one human resource officer from each bank and supplemented with survey data gathered from workers of each bank, who responded to both close-ended and open-ended questions. Respondents were workers in two selected banks in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana – one private bank and one public bank. Out of the 120 questionnaires administered, 104 (representing 86.7 percent) were successfully retrieved for analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analyses. The findings revealed that, although bank workers get motivated when given the chance to participate in decision making, such motivation is not strong enough (weak positive correlation). Partaking in decision making makes employees feel satisfied on the job; makes them feel as part of the organisation; and there is reduction in autocracy. Again, workers in the public bank are more motivated when they take part in decision making than their counterparts in the private bank. While managers are more inclined towards non- financial incentives (specifically intrinsic motivation), non-managers are more inclined towards financial incentives (extrinsic motivation). Finally, workers in banks prefer more of financial rewards than participation in decision making. It is recommended that seminars should be organized to educate workers on alternative forms of incentives. This will enable them appreciate other reasons or incentives for work including: inner satisfaction through participation in decision making and recognition.. Future research on the subject should consider a comparison between organisations from diverse industries or sectors of the economy for deeper insight into the dynamics of worker motivation and generalisation to all categories of workers. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION..................................................................................................................i DEDICATION......................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................iv TABLE OF CONTENT........................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.....................................................................................ix CHAPTER ONE...................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................1 1.0 Study Background........................................................................................................1 1.1 Problem Statement.........................................................................................................2 1.2 General Objectives........................................................................................................3 1.2.1 Specific Objectives.........................................................................................4 1.3 Hypotheses.....................................................................................................................4 1.4 Significance of the Study...............................................................................................5 1.5 Theoretical Framework...................................................................................................6 1.6 Scope and Limitation.....................................................................................................8 1.7 Operational definition……………………………………………………………………8 1.8 Corporate Profile of Ghana Commercial Bank..............................................................9 1.9 Corporate Profile of Ecobank........................................................................................11 1.10 Chapter Disposition.......................................................................................................13 CHAPTER TWO...................................................................................................................14 LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................................14 2.0 Introduction...................................................................................................................14 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vi 2.1 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation..............................................................................15 2.2 Theories of Motivation...............................................................................................18 2.2.1 Hierarchy of Needs Theory...........................................................................18 2.2.2 ERG Theory..................................................................................................21 2.2.3 McClelland Acquired Needs Theory............................................................22 2.2.4 Motivation-Hygiene Theory.........................................................................25 2.3 Overview of Decision Making....................................................................................28 2.4 Employee Involvement (EI).........................................................................................32 2.4.1 Determinants of Employee Involvement........................................................32 2.4.2 Methods of Employee Involvement...............................................................37 2.4.3 Conditions for Employee Involvement in Decision Making..........................38 2.4.4 Forms of Employee Involvement...................................................................40 2,4,5 Dimensions of Employee Involvement..........................................................44 2.4.6 Benefits of Employee Involvement................................................................46 2.4.7 Adverse effect of Employee Involvement......................................................47 2.4.8 Four Key Strategies of Employee Involvement..............................................48 2.5 Findings from other studies…………………………………………………………….49 CHAPTER THREE...............................................................................................................52 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................52 3.0 Introduction...................................................................................................................52 3.1 Data Type......................................................................................................................53 3.2 Sampling........................................................................................................................53 3.2.1 Study Population...........................................................................................54 3.2.2 Sampling Technique and Sample Size..........................................................55 3.3 Methods of Data Collection..........................................................................................56 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vii 3.3.1 Sources of Data...............................................................................................56 3.3,2 Data Collection Instrument............................................................................56 3.4 Data Handling................................................................................................................57 3.5 Ethical Consideration....................................................................................................59 CHAPTER FOUR................................................................................................................61 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION............................................................................61 4.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................61 4.1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents..................................................61 4.1.1 Type of Organisation.....................................................................................62 4.2 Study Objectives..........................................................................................................66 4.2.1 Understanding of Motivation.........................................................................66 4.3 Study Hypotheses.........................................................................................................69 4.3.1 Involvement and Worker Motivation.............................................................69 4.3.2 Public-Private Distinction of the Relationship between Involvement and Motivation................................................................................................72 4.3.3 Managerial and Non-Managerial Staff Incentive Preference.........................74 4.3.4 Incentives Preference of Employees of Banks in Ghana................................78 4.4 Employee Involvement Practices..................................................................................84 CHAPTER FIVE...................................................................................................................86 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................86 5.0 Introduction...................................................................................................................86 5.1 Summary.......................................................................................................................86 5.2 Conclusion....................................................................................................................91 5.3 Limitations of the Study................................................................................................93 5.4 Recommendations.........................................................................................................94 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii REFERENCES......................................................................................................................97 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE BANKS.......................104 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR HUMAN RESOURCE AGENT.....................108 APPENDIX C: LIST OF ACRONYMS................................................................................111 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ix LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 4.1 Socio-demographic information of respondents...............................................63 Table 4.2 Involvement and motivation.............................................................................69 Table 4.3 Iinvolvement among workers of public and private banks................................72 Table 4.4 What motivates managerial and non-managerial staff......................................75 Table 4.5 Types of incentives that managerial and non-managerial staff suggest............76 Table 4.6 What motivates managers and non-managers the most....................................77 Table 4.7 Incentive preference..........................................................................................79 Table 4.7a Chi Square test statistics …………………………………………………….79 Table 4.7b Type of organisation and incentive preference ……………………………..79 Table 4.7c Gender of respondents and incentive preference ……………………………80 Table 4.7d Status in bank and incentive preference …………………………………….80 Table 4.8 Satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits........................................81 Table 4.8a Type of organisation and satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits .82 Table 4.8b Status in bank and satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits ………82 FIGURES Figure 4.1 Factors that motivates.....................................................................................67 Figure 4.2 Factors that motivates among Private and Public bank workers....................68 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Study Background It is widely accepted by organizational theorists that human resource is one of the most important assets of an organization because the main activities of the firm are done through employees (Amabile, 1993). Armstrong (2006), in his definition of what human resources are, mentioned that the people who work in organisations are most important resources with which success can be attained. In other words, the success of an organization in realizing its objectives heavily depends on the performance of its employees. Motivation is one such factor affecting the performance of employees. Ivancevich and Matteson (1998) point out that performance is considered to be related with the concepts of ability, opportunity and motivation. Ability is a function of skill, education, experience and training. Opportunity refers to the infrastructure needed to perform a job. Finally, motivation is the desire to achieve a goal and willingness to exert effort for it. Yavus (2004) is also of the view that motivation, like the others, can lead to better performance, but it has an added advantage over the others in the sense that, while opportunity and ability tend to be stable and difficult to change for the personnel, motivation is flexible. It can be changed easily by some means. Moreover it is apparent that in the absence of willingness to perform (motivation), capacity and opportunity will not generate the desired results (as goes the popular adage: “you can take a horse to the river but you cannot force it to drink”). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 According to Page (2008), motivation is defined as the process that accounts for an individual‟s intensity, direction and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. This can take the form of either monetary or non-monetary (Yavus, 2004). Over the years, organisations, especially banks, have placed emphasis on monetary incentives which include: bonuses, commissions, cash rewards, allowances, and many more. Currently, there is a global outcry over the high (unacceptable) levels of bankers‟ bonuses. It has even been cited as the main cause of the world banking crises (www.bbc.com accessed on 22/12/2012). In view of this the researcher explores a non-monetary alternative by which banks can still motivate their workers without necessarily increasing bonuses and monetary rewards. The non-monetary incentive which this research seeks to explore is employee involvement. Employee involvement is also known as employee participation. Thus these two terms are severally used interchangeably in this study. 1.1 Problem Statement Over the years most corporate organizations have placed emphasis on monetary incentives in the form of bonuses, commissions and cash reward (Bogh and Pallesen, 2008). This practice is very prevalent in the banking sector. It has reached a point where some workers are earning over and above what they need to meet their basic needs and wants which would have urged them to work harder (www.bbc.com accessed on 22/12/2012). In consonance with the “backward bending labour supply curve” which stipulates that, increase in wage will lead to increase in the supply of labour (willingness to put in more hours). However this will only go on up to a point but eventually when labour have earned sufficient amount of income, an increase in wages actually leads to labour reducing the number of hours they are willing to work (decrease in the supply of labour). Labour at this time prefers leisure and avenue to spend money that has been already University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 accumulated (Okyere 2002). In this regard, the very thing that was meant to be an incentive has become a disincentive. Kovach (1987) cited in Bowen and Radhakrishna (1991) stipulates that as employees‟ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator and as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator. Currently there is a global outcry against bankers‟ bonuses. This has even been cited as the number one cause of the world banking crises (www.bbc.com accessed on 22/12/2012). Every now and then, new banks are springing up in the Ghanaian banking sector, and this has had an associated movement of some bankers from their current working place to the new banks, basically because of better conditions of work promised. These so-called better conditions are usually financial in nature. Those that remain, although they receive nice offers from the new banks (attempts to poach) probably do so because of the intrinsic satisfaction they have with their current job. This study therefore seeks to find out if there is an alternative non-financial incentive by which workers can still be motivated to put in extra effort. The non-financial incentive proposed for the purpose of this study is employee involvement in decision making. 1.2 General Objective The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 1.2.1 Specific Objectives This research sought to: 1) Explore the relationship between an increase in employees' involvement in decision making and their level of motivation 2) Find out whether a significant difference exists in the relationship between involvement in decision making and worker motivation among employees of Private-owned banks and employees of State-owned banks. 3) Establish the level of significance of the difference in incentive preference between Managerial and Non-managerial staffs. 4) Identify the choice of incentives (monetary or non-monetary) among employees of banks in Ghana. 1.3 Hypotheses Ha1: There is a significant relationship between employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation. Ha2: Employees of private-owned banks are more motivated by involvement in decision making than employees of state-owned banks. Ha3: Managerial and Non-managerial Staffs have different incentives preference. Ha4: Workers of Banks in Ghana generally prefer monetary incentives over non-monetary incentives. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 1.4 Significance of the Study Employees‟ ability to perform their work is different from the willingness to perform that work. Employers may engage highly qualified workers but that does not guarantee them high productivity. As the saying goes: "you can take a horse to the river but you cannot force it to drink". The productivity of the firm therefore depends on the workers‟ willingness to work. This is what is referred to in organization studies as motivation. Motivation of workers is therefore paramount in any organization. In view of the above, this study suggests one of the ways by which workers can be motivated to put in extra effort towards the organization‟s success. It also offers an alternative to the sole use of money in the form of bonuses, commission and other financial incentives to solicit extra effort from workers. This study also enables organisations, especially banks, to know the views of employees with regards to the use of Employee involvement in decision making as a motivational tool. It further establishes the level of significance regarding the difference in public and private sectors workers with regards to the use of employee involvement in decision making as a motivational tool. In the area of academia, this study contributes to sociological knowledge especially in the area of organisational studies. The findings from this study will be useful for further studies into industrial relations and employee incentives schemes. It throws light on the applicability of some of the motivation theories especially Herzberg's two factor theory to the Ghanaian context. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 1.5 Theoretical Framework The aim of most organisations is to produce maximum output and to maximize their profit but this can only be done with the support and commitment of the most important asset of the organisation which is the human resource (Amabile, 1993). The level of satisfaction and willingness among the employees will therefore determine the amount of effort they will put in their work and hence the firm's productivity. Herzberg in his two factor theory (1966) stipulates the factors that gives employee satisfaction at their work as well as those that prevent them from becoming dissatisfied. In his view there exist distinct factors which causes satisfaction (motivators) and dissatisfaction (hygiene). This study adopts this theory to enable it explore the dynamics in the incentive preference of employees to discover what actually motivates the Ghanaian bank worker. Frederick Herzberg‟s study interviewed several hundreds of workers about times when they were highly motivated to work and other times when they were dissatisfied and unmotivated at work. He found that the factors causing job satisfaction were different from those causing job dissatisfaction. He however noted that they must not be treated as opposites of one another (Herzberg, 1966). Herzberg argued that these two factors contribute to an employee‟s behavior at work: hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors refer to the presence or absence of job dissatisfiers. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 When hygiene factors are reduced, work is dissatisfying. They are considered as maintenance factors that are necessary to avoid dissatisfaction but they do not themselves contribute to the job satisfaction and motivation of personnel. That is, they only maintain employees in the job. In line with Herzberg‟s view, unsafe working conditions or a noisy work environment will cause employees to be dissatisfied with their job but their removal will not lead to a high level of motivation and satisfaction. Some other examples of hygiene factors are salary, status, security, supervision, company policy, among others. On the other hand, motivators leads to job satisfaction. They are associated with the nature of the work itself. They are those job-related practices such as assignment of challenging jobs, achievement, work itself, recognition, responsibility, advancement and opportunities for growth in the job. Herzberg argued that when motivators are absent, workers are neutral towards work, but when motivators are present, workers are highly motivated to excel at their work. In contrast, hygiene factors can only work to prevent job dissatisfaction. Thus, hygiene factors and motivators represent two distinct factors (Samson and Daft, 2002). Employee involvement involves given workers opportunity to participate in the decision making process and therefore recognizing their potential and contributions. This participation and recognition is expected to make workers feel good about themselves and their work. The question is that, do workers of banks in Ghana see employee involvement in decision making as a motivator or just a hygiene factor? In other words, will the existence of employee involvement have an impact on workers satisfaction as to motivate them to put in extra effort in their work or University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 it is merely seen as desirable (hygiene factor). Motivation-Hygiene theory is therefore used as a guide in this study in analyzing the contribution of Employee Involvement to worker motivation. 1.6 Scope and Limitations Information for the study was obtained from only workers in banks that have branches in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Not all banks were covered in the study, and even with the banks covered, not all branches took part in the study. Data was sourced from questionnaires administered which had open-ended and close-ended aspects. The study captures most of the diversities in the banking sector as the two selected banks are from the different segments (Private and Public) and they are the leaders in their segment. 1.7 Operational Definition Motivation: the willingness to exert an extra effort towards the attainment of the organizational goal Involvement in Decision making: giving the opportunity to make contribution to the decision making University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 1.8 Corporate Profile of Ghana Commercial Bank Originally Called the Bank of the Gold Coast, Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd. started in 1953, with the aim of providing banking services to the emerging nation for socio-economic development. One of the areas of focus of the bank was on business people, traders, as well as farmers, who could not get support from foreign expatriate banks. In 1957, when Ghana attained independence, Bank of Ghana was established as the Central Bank while the Bank of the Gold Coast was renamed Ghana Commercial Bank to focus solely on commercial banking services. Since then GCB branches have been opened across the length and breadth of the nation tapping the potential of the 10 regions that make Ghana. From the one branch of the 1950s, GCB now has over 150 branches and 11 agencies throughout the country. GCB abounds in high quality human resource. This is remarkable when one considers that the Bank started with a staff of 27. Currently there are professionals of various disciplines who work in tandem to achieve the objectives of the Bank. The growth of the Bank has been synonymous with its customer base. During the first five years of the Bank's operations, their customers were mainly small Ghanaian traders (now termed SMEs) and other nationals who were expected to maintain credit balance accounts because the Bank was then not adequately capitalized. From the small trader as customer, GCB now has a customer profile that ranges from salaried workers through small and medium scale University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 entrepreneurs to large trading concerns, quasi-governmental institutions and corporate customers. GCB provides a wide range of products and services for the benefit of its customers. From the traditional products of the Current/Savings Accounts, GCB now offers specialized products and services including Link2Home for Ghanaians resident abroad, doorstep cash collection, loans and overdrafts. There are also investment products like treasury bills as well as fixed and call deposits. These are cut to suit the individual needs of customers. In addition, GCB has taken advantage of an enhanced information technology system, to introduce Internet Banking (Commernet Plus), Royal Banking, Smart Pay (Fee Payments), Kudi Nkosuo, GCB Inland Express Money Transfer, International Money Remittance Payments, GCB Kidistar Account and MasterCard. All these have been done to increase profits and enhance shareholder value. Today the bank boasts of being the widest networked Bank in Ghana. Mission The mission of GCB is to be the established leader in banking, satisfying the expectations of customers and shareholders, providing a full range of cost efficient and high quality services through the optimization of information technology and efficient branch network. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 For the achievement of this mission, the Bank is committed to: 1. The provision of first class customer service. 2. Focusing on our core business/competencies-commercial banking. 3. Constant improvements in the use of information technology. 4. Ensuring that staff are well motivated and have a conducive work environment. 5. Recruiting and retaining the best human resource to carry out the Bank's mandate. 6. Applying best practices in internal policies, procedures, processes and service delivery. 7. Constant improvement in shareholder value. (Source: www.gcb.com} 1.9 Corporate Profile of Ecobank Ecobank is a Pan-African Banking Group with a presence in more African Countries than any other bank in Ghana. It is the leading independent regional banking Group in West and Central Africa, serving wholesale and retail customers. The Group has a network of over 320 branches and offices established in the last nineteen years. Ecobank Ghana is supervised and regulated by the Banking Supervision Department of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), which is the Central Bank of Ghana. Ecobank Ghana has over 50 branches and customer service points. Return on equity has consistently been over 40 percent in the last five years and return on asset in the range of 4 percent. In terms of revenue Ecobank Ghana has continuously been the biggest contributor to the Group. Ecobank Ghana has experienced steady growth over the past five years. Since 1998 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12 profit before tax has increased three-fold. Customer deposits have increased almost four times as the bank has expanded its reach within the market. Ecobank Ghana, together with subsidiaries, provides merchant banking, retail banking, and investment banking products and services to wholesale and retail customers in Ghana. Its deposit products include current, savings, and deposit accounts. The company‟s loan portfolio comprises personal loans, car and motor loans, home mortgage loans, and business loans. Ecobank Ghana also offers cards, letters of credits and bills for collections, transfer and payments, foreign exchange and Western Union services. In addition the bank offers finance leasing, automated teller machine, internet banking, telephone banking, and Ecobank regional card services. It serves individuals, small and medium-scale companies, large local corporate, Non-Governmental Organisations and multinational companies. Ecobank aims at offering its clients an efficient, reliable and high quality of service delivery. Operating on a One Bank concept, their processes and procedures are standardized across the Group. The group also operates s shared service in the area of technology applications and communications. This has lead to the establishment of a special affiliate called Eprocess International S.A. This affiliate provides technology and communication support for all the thirty-three affiliates. This enables Ecobank to fulfill its one bank policy in all the countries where they operate since they all use the same core University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 banking and support applications. Ecobank also has a group contact centre in Ghana which provides its customers worldwide with 24 hrs helpdesk services Ecobank is focused on establishing a world class pan-African bank. It aims to bring to the African the best of banking services whiles maintaining our African identity. It mostly seek to use African talent as much as possible in its operation. In spite of this the bank is not against importing special talents and technology outside the African continent once that will make the bank operate efficiently. (Source: www.ecobankghana.com, 20/02/2013) 1.10 Chapter Disposition This thesis is structured into five chapters. Chapter One gives the background of the study, as well as the problem statement, objectives and hypothesis. It also presents the scope and limitations of the study. Chapter Two gives a review of previous studies and theories related to the current study. Chapter Three outlines the methodology adopted and followed for this study. In Chapter Four, the collected data is analysed and discussed accordingly in line with previous studies and the study objectives. The final chapter – Chapter Five, gives the summary of the study, draws conclusions, and makes the necessary recommendations for both industry and academia. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 INTRODUCTION The term „motivation‟ has been given several definitions by different scholars across varying disciplines in academia. In the view of Kreitner (1998) in Ramlall, 2004, motivation takes its roots from the Latin word „movere‟ which means „to move‟. Butkus and Green (1999) also mentioned that motivation is derived from the word „motivate‟, meaning, to move, push or persuade to act to satisfy a need. Mol (1992) went ahead to differentiate between the terms „movement‟ and „motivation‟. In his analysis, he described movement as carrying out a task so as to be compensated or remunerated while motivation comes from a voluntary act of the individual to get involved in decision making while carrying out their responsibilities in the workplace. Page (2008) also added to the definitions of motivation as the process that accounts for an individual‟s intensity, direction and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. In the view of Cole (1995), motivation is essentially about what drives a person to work in a particular way and with a given amount of effort. Motivation has again been defined as 'a decision making process through which the individual chooses desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviours appropriate to acquiring them' (Huczynski and Buchanan,1991 ). Lindner (2004) also considers motivation as a psychological process that gives purpose and direction to behaviour. Robbins (2005), in Torraco (2000) defined motivation as the “willingness to exert high levels of effort toward organisational goals, conditioned by the ability to satisfy some individual need”. A need is describe by Robbins (2005) as an internal state that makes certain outcomes appear attractive. Therefore, an unsatisfied need brings about some tension that stimulates drives within an individual. These drives then University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 generate the search for behaviour to search for goals that if attained, will satisfy the need and lead to the reduction of tension (Robbins, 2005). The different definitions of this same subject matter of motivation bring to bear some form of consequences for human behavior. In the first place, there are some needs that trigger to initiate an action, or to behave in certain ways. Again, such behaviours are targeted at some form of goal. In other words, the behaviours are goal-oriented. Therefore, motivation can be seen as an on-going process that begins with the identification of a need, then continues with some goal-oriented actions or behavior, and then culminates into the satisfaction of such needs. At the workplace, the term motivation may be limited to “the degree to which an individual wants and tries hard to do well at a particular task or job” (Mitchell, 1982). Motivation of employees merits some attention because it may be the means through which the actual needs of employees can be identified so as to meet them through various organizational processes. Management may feel it is doing its best for employees, however, there may be some petty issues that may require further attention, such as employee participation in decision making in the organisation. 2.1 INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION Motivation in work is generally described as being “intrinsic” or “extrinsic” in nature (Sansone and Harackiewicz, 2000). In the light of this classification, it is possible to argue that the variables affecting motivation have intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) motivational effects. Intrinsically motivated behavior is said to arise from psychological needs that are within the individual, such as needs for competence and autonomy (Deci and Ryan, 1985; Kasser and Ryan, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 1996). Intrinsic motivation refers to an urge that is self-generated, thereby influencing the individual to behave in a particular way or to move in a particular direction. They are linked to job- related and social incentives such as opportunity to use one's ability, interesting work, recognition of a good performance, development opportunities, a sense of challenge and achievement, participation in decision making, and being treated in a caring and thoughtful manner. For the purpose of this study, focus is on the satisfaction derived by workers through their participation in decision making. The intrinsic motivators are likely to have a deeper and long-term effect because they are inherent in individuals. As an employee takes part in decision making, they get more satisfied in the sense that having taken part in decisions makes them have a sense of belonging to the organisation. These kinds of incentives are largely a result of the worker's satisfaction with his or her job. In Summary, intrinsic motivation originating from within the person or from the activity itself, affects the individual‟s behavior, performance, and well-being positively (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is said to exist when behavior is performed to attain externally administered incentives. Extrinsic motivation is related to “tangible” incentives such as wages and salaries, fringe benefits, cash bonuses, security, promotion, and wall plaques, among others. For instance, an employee may be motivated to come to work on time everyday because of the monetary reward that is attached to punctuality at work, and not because he is interested in coming to work early. One key challenge with extrinsic motivation is that there is hardly any form of long-term effects as compared to the intrinsic motivation that have longer-lasting satisfaction for the individual. The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 use of extrinsic motivators to ginger-up the employees may lead to a situation where such reinforcers -particularly monetary ones – must be increased almost regularly in order to obtain same outcome from employees (McCann, 2000). Luthans and Kreitner (1975) use the term “contrived rewards” to describe incentives that may generate extrinsic motivation, and “natural rewards” to refer to intrinsic motivators. They further mention that although contrived rewards could be positive reinforcers, they also have some challenges. In the first place, they involve costs for the organization. Also, the contrived rewards tend to result in quicker satisfaction too quickly. Thus, employees who get motivated by extrinsic rewards get fed up all too soon because, for instance, one could easily get tired of receiving a paper certificate or wall plaque. On the other hand, Luthans and Kreitner (1975) notes that incentives that exist in the natural occurrence of events (natural or intrinsic incentives) such as challenging task assignments, autonomy, time off, recognition, friendly greetings are of much more value than the contrived rewards. In contrast to extrinsic rewards, they do not generally lead to satiation. It is not common that people get tired of appreciation and attention. Another advantage of intrinsic rewards is that while it is difficult for supervisors to give out extrinsic rewards frequently, they can easily provide intrinsic motivation for employees by recognizing their efforts and addressing their social needs in the work place. To conclude, although their effectiveness may depend on the situation, intrinsic and extrinsic incentives are two important tools in ensuring motivation in the work place. Giving the chance for University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 workers to participate in decision making is one of the forms of intrinsic motivation which makes employees feel a sense of belongingness to the family of the organisation in which they work. This will therefore spur them on to give of their best. 2.2 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION Like any other concept in academia, motivation has been studied from different angles and lenses. Thus, many theorists have sought to explain what motivation is by conceptualizing it into theories. Such theories are discussed in the following paragraphs. 2.2.1 Hierarchy of Needs Theory One of the first theories that describe behavior as being directed toward the satisfaction of human needs is the hierarchy of needs theory by Abraham Maslow. His theory is a theoretical foundation for many of need based approaches to motivation. In his conceptualization of motivation, Maslow (1943) said that people are motivated to satisfy their needs and those needs can be classified into the following five categories that are in an ascending order: Physiological needs, Safety and Security needs, Social and belongingness needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualization needs. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 The first three are characterized as lower level needs while the last two are higher order needs. Physiological needs are the very fundamental or basic biological needs like air, water, food and shelter. In the organizational setting, these are reflected in the needs for adequate heat, air and a basic salary to guarantee survival of workers. Safety needs are the needs for security and protection from danger. In the place of work, safety needs refer to the protection of the employee from risks associated with the performance of jobs, fringe benefits, and assurance of job security. Another important security need for an employee is the protection of the employee from unfair labour practices. Therefore, in Ghana, the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) exists to guide working relations. Social needs are the needs for interaction with other people, belongingness, and the opportunity to be loved. These needs reflect the desire to be accepted by one‟s peers, have friends, be part of a group and be loved. In the work environment, these needs affect the desire for good relationship with co-workers, participation in a workgroup and a positive relationship with supervisors. In Ghana, as in many other countries, there are employee associations that exist to organize programmes meant to improve inter-personal interactions. For instance, on holidays, many companies organize fun games or embark on trips (excursions) that seek to make employees better bond with each other in an informal way. Esteem is the desire for one to be respected in society. It is influenced by one‟s standing reputation, the need for attention, achievement and recognition. Maslow categorized esteem needs into two: lower esteem needs and higher esteem needs. The lower one is the need for the respect of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 others, the need for status, attention, reputation, and appreciation, as well as dignity. The higher form involves the need for self-respect, including such feelings as confidence, competence, achievement, mastery, independence, and freedom. Within organizations, esteem needs reflect a motivation for recognition, an increase in responsibility, high status and appreciation for contributions to the organization. Such contributions include the opportunities to take part in decision making, which reflect a motivation for recognition. Self-actualization refers to the desire for self-fulfillment; it is a drive for individuals self- development, creativity and job satisfaction. They are related to developing one‟s full potential, increasing one‟s competence and becoming a better person. Providing people with opportunities to grow, to be creative, and to offer training for advancement are the means through which self- actualization needs can be met within an organization. Maslow argued that as each lower level need is substantially satisfied, individuals are motivated by the next higher level need. That is, the needs are satisfied in sequence. According to Maslow‟s argument, a person desiring job security would dedicate his or her efforts to ensure it and would not be concerned with seeking recognition. Maslow also claimed that higher levels of satisfaction for a particular need decrease its potential as a motivator. Some authors have come up with some criticisms of this theory (Maslow‟s Hierarchy of Needs theory). One main criticism is that the assumptions made by Maslow have no empirical evidence to support them (Drenth, Thierry and Willems, 1984). Another mentioned that the methodology for arriving at the five levels of needs was not sufficient (Boeree, 1998). What Maslow did was to pick University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 a small number of people that he thought were fulfilled in life (such as Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Jefferson), and then did some reading on their biographies, and other form of information about such individuals. After collecting such data, he developed a range of qualities that were common of these people, and drew conclusions about the concept of self-actualisation. Third, Maslow assumes that human beings will gradually go up the hierarchy, satisfying one need before moving on. But, there are many examples that refute this thought. For instance, many of the people who have attained higher heights in society, suffered from poverty, bad upbringing, neuroses, and depression (Boeree, 1998). That is, they were far from having their lower needs taken care of. Examples are Vincent Van Gogh and Galileo who suffered from mental illness, and yet were able to produce works that made a difference and still influence modern arts and science. To conclude, in spite of the criticisms, Maslow‟s work is important in terms of recognizing the needs being pursued by employees and shedding some light on the social and psychological needs of individuals in addition to material needs. 2.2.2 ERG Theory Clayton Alderfer (1972) reformulated Maslow‟s theory and proposed that there are three basic needs: Existence (nutritional and material requirements like pay and conditions.), Relatedness (need for meaningful social relations, relationships with family and friends and at work with colleagues) and Growth (need for developing one‟s potential, the desire for personal growth and increased competence). The ERG model and Maslow‟s theory are similar. His theory is a simplified form of Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs theory but he added that all these basic needs can motivate behavior at the same University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 time and might not be activated in any hierarchical order. That is, any one need may take precedence over the others regardless of whether the others are fulfilled or not. This implies that some individuals may prefer to have non-monetary incentives in an organization such as having the chance to take part in decision making at their current level of salary or status in the organisation. Alderfer proposed that the hierarchy among these needs is more complex due to the frustration- regression principle (Samson and Daft, 2002). It means that failure to meet a high-order need may activate a regression to an already fulfilled lower-order need. For example, an employee who is not appreciated for contributing to decisions made may not be realizing his self-esteem need. Then, this need may revert to a lower-order need and he may redirect his or her efforts towards making a lot of money. Like Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs theory, Alderfer‟s theory points out the need for organizations to find ways to satisfy belongingness needs of employees through social activities in organization, to recognize employees, encourage their participation in decision making, offer opportunities of development and autonomy in their job. 2.2.3 McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory McClelland (1975) suggests that some needs that individuals have are acquired during the individual‟s lifetime. That is, people may learn them through life experiences rather than being born with these needs. Thus, they differ from individual to individual. He identifies three needs University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 important in the work place leading to motivation, regardless of culture or gender: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power. McClelland noted that early life practices determine whether people gain these needs. If children are promoted to do things for themselves and receive support, they will acquire a need to achieve, if they are reinforced for having strong human relationships, they will develop a need for affiliation. If they get happiness from controlling others, they will acquire a need for power. According to his theory, achievement motivates people to strive to attain challenging goals. They prefer tasks that enable them to use their skills and initiative in problem solving and enjoy doing something not done before. They like to get immediate feedback on how they have done so that they can enjoy the experience of making progress toward objectives. People with a high need for achievement tend to be entrepreneurs. People with a high need for affiliation like joining groups, participating in pleasant social activities (as well as participating in decision making) obtain great satisfaction from being accepted by others. These individuals prefer to work in an environment that provides significant personal interaction and it is likely that they will appreciate social incentives. They are able to establish good working relationships with other employees. Such employees obtain satisfaction from their jobs when their suggestions for decision making are taken seriously and implemented. At this point, they feel that they are appreciated and so strive to achieve more, not only for themselves, but also for the organisations for which they work. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 The need for power may be classified as "personalized power" or "socialized power" (McClelland, 1975). Power motivated individuals like to influence and direct others. They want loyalty to their leadership rather than to the organization. When the leader leaves the organization there is likely to be disorder and decrease of team morale and direction. Socialized power need is usually referred to as effective leadership. These leaders use their power in a way that benefits others and the organization rather than only contributing to the leader's status and gain. They seek power to make sure that tasks are accomplished and to empower others who further the leader's vision for the organization. A high need for power is often correlated with successful attainment of top levels in the organizational hierarchy (Samson and Daft, 2002). This is due to the fact that while achievement needs can be met through the task itself, power needs can be met only by ascending to a level at which a person has power over others. Acquired needs theory implies that the same set of circumstances in a work environment may cause employees to react in different ways as they have different needs. Thus, employees can be motivated differently in the workplace. For example power-motivated individuals can be granted the opportunity to manage others, growth opportunities or greater autonomy in their jobs, which are job-related non-monetary incentives. That is, they can be given the opportunity to represent their colleague employees on management board during the making of decisions that affect all employees. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 2.2.4 Motivation-Hygiene Theory Frederick Herzberg studied the factors in the work environment that caused satisfaction and dissatisfaction among workers. He interviewed several hundreds of workers about times when they were highly motivated to work and other times when they were dissatisfied and unmotivated at work. He found that the factors causing job satisfaction were different from those causing job dissatisfaction. He however noted that they must not be treated as opposites of one another (Herzberg, 1966). Herzberg argued that two entirely separate dimensions contribute to an employee‟s behavior at work: hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors refer to the presence or absence of job dissatisfiers. When hygiene factors are reduced, work is dissatisfying. They are considered maintenance factors that are necessary to avoid dissatisfaction but they do not themselves contribute to the job satisfaction and motivation of personnel. That is, they only maintain employees in the job. In line with Herzberg‟s view, unsafe working conditions or a noisy work environment will cause employees to be dissatisfied with their job but their removal will not lead to a high level of motivation and satisfaction. Some other examples of hygiene factors are salary, status, security, supervision, company policy, among others. On the other hand, motivators, leading to job satisfaction, are associated with the nature of the work itself. They are those job-related practices such as assignment of challenging jobs, achievement, work itself, recognition, responsibility, advancement and opportunities for growth in the job. Giving an employee the chance to partake in decision making also constitutes to hygiene factors, as this makes the employee feel that he or she is being recognized in the organisation. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 Herzberg argued that when motivators are absent, workers are neutral towards work, but when motivators are present, workers are highly motivated to excel at their work. In contrast, hygiene factors can only work to prevent job dissatisfaction. Thus, hygiene factors and motivators represent two distinct factors (Samson and Daft, 2002). Based on the arguments of the theory, adequate hygiene factors should be provided to meet the basic needs of employees and to prevent dissatisfaction with the job. In addition to this, motivators that are intrinsic to the work itself should be integrated to the process to meet higher-level needs and drive employees towards greater achievement and satisfaction. Herzberg (1971, p. 3) stated that "...the factors which make people happy are all related to what people did: the job content... what made people unhappy was related to the situation in which they did their job: job environment, job context..." According to him, employees are satisfied with work that is interesting and challenging and they will be motivated to do work that they identify to be important. Thus, it is possible to motivate employees with the work itself. In fact, Herzberg emphasizes that true motivation comes from within a person, that is, intrinsically, not extrinsically. In line with this view he suggested that jobs can be redesigned and enriched to integrate “motivators” to the job, so that employees will be willing to exert effort in their work. He argued that jobs should have adequate challenge to fully utilize employees‟ abilities and employees who prove to have increasing levels of ability should be given increasing levels of responsibility. Making use of employees‟ abilities and giving them increasing responsibilities involve the opportunity to partake in major decisions concerning the organisation. This task, though University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 challenging, has the likelihood of making them feel that they are really part of the organizational processes, and not mere workers. Accordingly, Herzberg contributed to the idea of “job enrichment”. Job enrichment is adding more tasks to a job to provide greater involvement and interaction with the task. Adding tasks can make the jobs more challenging to the employees and it may enable the employees to use their talents, and to demonstrate their potential. Herzberg‟s theory is commonly criticized because of his methodology and the reliability of the results leading to limitations on the study (Ratzburg, 2004). The original sample population consisted of 200 middle management professionals. There is the criticism that the sample size is small and the theory applies to only middle management professionals. However, numerous replication studies have been conducted to check the validity of the original results. In most of the cases, the results were similar to the results obtained by Herzberg and they indicated that motivators are the primary cause of job satisfaction (Ratzburg, 2004). Another criticism is that the result of the study was two-factor because when things are going well, people tend to take credit for satisfaction but when they don‟t go well they blame failure on their environment (Imperial, 2004). Also, the assumption that practically every employee will respond positively to a job with high motivating factors may not be universally true. Herzberg‟s theory is considered to be valid for employees whose lower order needs are satisfied (Ratzburg, 2004). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 Motivation-hygiene theory has important implications for this thesis study. It constitutes a good framework for the validity of the argument that employee participation in decision making as other incentives that constitute the hygiene factors in the motivation of workers in the banks. Herzberg points out that what really motivate employees are the assignment of challenging jobs, achievement, work itself, recognition, responsibility, and opportunities for growth in the job. They have the power to motivate employees intrinsically. Thus when one is given the opportunity to partake in decision making, the individual is challenged to do something more on the job which makes them feel recognized for such added work. As an external factor, incentives constituting hygiene factors (mostly, monetary incentives) may prevent job dissatisfaction but do not necessarily motivate employees. Likewise, job-related non-monetary incentives such as job with variety of tasks and responsibilities, meaningful work, autonomy, participation in decision making, and growth opportunities address what Herzberg referred in his theory as “motivators”. Thus, Herzberg‟s theory offers insights to support the view that job-related non-monetary incentives may have the power to drive both private and public employees of banks to exert much effort in their job, as much as monetary incentives (and other incentives that constitute hygiene factors). 2.3 Overview of Decision Making Harris (2009) defined decision making as the process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker. Making a decision implies that there are alternative choices to be considered, and in such a case management want not only to identify as many of these alternatives as possible but to choose the one that has the highest probability of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 success or effectiveness and best fits their goals, desires, lifestyle, values and so on. Harris (2009) also continues that decision making is the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them. This definition stresses the information-gathering function of decision making. It should be noted here that uncertainty is reduced rather than eliminated. Very few decisions are made with absolute certainty because complete knowledge about all the alternatives is seldom possible. Thus, every decision involves a certain amount of risk. If there is no uncertainty, one does not have a decision; what one gets is algorithm – a set of steps or a recipe that is followed to bring about a fixed result. Decision-making makes it possible to adopt the best course of action in carrying out a given task. It becomes necessary to find out the best way when there are different ways of performing a task and the action finally selected should produce the best results and should be acceptable to both the workers and management. Satisfied workers put in their best efforts and this results in higher output which satisfies management who may come forward to share the gain with the workers, thus, there is improvement in the overall efficiency of the organization. Torgersen and Weinstock (1972) talk of decision-making as the essence of management. Even though other organizational participants might take decisions, the decision-making capability of the manager will play a major role in the success of the organization. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 Decision-making is defined by Stone and Freeman (1984) as “the process of identifying and selecting a course of action to solve a particular problem‟. Weihrich and Koontz (1993) define decision-making as “the selection of a course of action among alternatives”. Decision making in organizations has been described as a process of behaviour with the economic model at one extreme and the social model at the other extreme (Kimberly and Rotman, 1987). This description implies that only irrational decision making accords human values precedence over economic values. Leaders must find some middle ground between these extremes for it is evident that neither set of values can be ignored. In many organizations, managers have been confronted with the tasks of making severe, undesirable and unpleasant cuts of personnel and services in a hasty manner, because, in part, they failed to heed economic values in earlier decisions. Similarly, organizations have often been forced to retract decision, and to act in confusing manners, in chaotic situations, because they failed in part, to heed to human values in reaching earlier decisions. In a 2003 policy network conference held in Wellington, Reid (2003) indicated that decision- making in public institution policy, in simple terms, is considered with regards to who gets what, when and how. Reid (2003) added that over the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in the use of strategic policy and planning processes in decision-making in governance of state institutions. Such processes are now used widely to develop frameworks for decision-making. The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 key drivers of this increase have been: The increased capacity and strategic capability of many local authorities following the 1989 restructuring; the influence of management practices in the private sector; the influence of the „new public management‟ reforms in central government, and Legislative changes. Decision making falls between policy or plan-formation and implementation; it is best defined by Parsons (2000) as a process in which choices are made or a preferred option is selected. Decision-making in this sense extends throughout policy and planning processes. For example: choices would need to be made about which issues to consider, what options to consider, what options to select, and how a policy or plan could be implemented. Parsons (2000) further explained that decisions that relate to strategic policy and planning processes and frameworks in state institutions are typically: in the first place purposeful (they are linked to an articulated intended purpose or outcome), deliberate (they are made formally and recorded, although they may result from either formal or informal processes), they are future-oriented (they will have an impact on the Council and its community in the medium to long term) and significant (they are about issues that have a wide impact and are of fundamental importance to an organization or a territory). Parsons (2000) adds that decision making takes place in different domains and at different levels. Strategic policy and planning decision making in local government of developing countries occurs in eight overlapping but nevertheless distinct domains. With these domains decision making process range from deliberate, top-down and planned to incremental, emerging or bottom-up processes, and can be either formal or informal. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 2.4 Employee Involvement (EI) in Decision Making Employee involvement as an organizational practice refers to a situation where every employee is regarded as a unique human being, not just a cog in a machine. Each employee is involved in helping the organization meet its goals. Each employee‟s input is solicited and valued by his/her management. Employees and management recognize and cherishes their involvement and its contribution to the success of the business (IPA, 1990). This process empowers employees to participate in managerial decision-making and improvement activities appropriate to their levels in the organization (George and Weimerskirch, 1994). The need to involve employees is clear in McGregor‟s Theory Y in which he brought to managers attention the idea of a participative management style. Employee involvement may take various forms, including the job design approaches and special activities such as quality of work life (QWL) programs (Ryan, 1995). 2.4.1 Determinants of Employee Involvement The determinants isolated by researchers may be divided into organisational-level and individual- level factors. Many researchers have examined the factors influencing successful implementation of EI from organizational supports. Argyris (1998), Hickey and Casner-Lotto (1998), and Purcell (1999) all indicated that serious organisational supports are necessary for successful implementation of EI. The organisational supports include management commitment, an open environment, and integrated business practices including reward strategies, job security, and open channels of communication. According to Lawler (1996), EI exists when employees throughout an organisation have the power University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 to act and make decisions, have information and knowledge needed to use their power effectively, and are rewarded for doing so. Tesluk et al. (1999) proposed and tested a theoretical model on relationships among participative climates existing at top and middle organizational levels, employees‟ attitudes towards participation, and employee behavior. The results indicated that there is the need for distinct and unique participative climates which will guide interaction with one another in influencing work-related attitudes and behaviours. The importance of organizational factors and their effects on EI are also emphasized by Cabrera et al. (2003). The authors demonstrated that, the competition faced by an organisation and the strategies it employ‟s in the delivery of its services have significant effects on the level of EI. All these studies revealed that, macro-organisational variables such as organisational culture, management practices, and organisational structure and systems, have effects on successful implementation of EI programmes. Besides the macro-organisational variables, some researchers have identified individual-level factors. Miller and Prichard (1992) have argued that employees who are interested in participation will be younger, more interested in job advancement, more optimistic about programme benefits, and more active in their union than those who are uninterested. Dawkins and Frass (2005) tested the ability of the theory of planned behaviour to predict employee intention towards EI. The findings show that intentions towards EI are accurately predicted from attitudes towards EI, normative support, and perceived behavioural control. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 The research, however, is limited by no direct measurement of behavior because it took employee intention towards EI as a dependent variable, not EI behaviour. The studies mentioned above examined determinants from either organizational-level or individual-level. There are also studies to identify determinants from organisational-level and individual-level. Using an expectancy theory perspective, Allen et al. (1997) demonstrated that perceived outcomes, social norms in terms of attitudes of friends and family towards EI, individual different variables (locus of control and growth needs) and participative climate have significant positive effects on involvement, while social norms in terms of concern about effects of EI process on co-workers was not significantly related to participation decision. Lin and Lee (2006) explored relationships and effects of individual characteristics of personality traits, organisational climate in terms of sentiment relationship, and internal marketing upon EI. The results show that: High-intensity internal marketing generates positive impact on EI and low-intensity results in negative impact; The effect of sentimental relationship on EI is prominent and positive; Employees with personality traits of internal control reveal higher level of involvement than those with external control. Carmeli and Schaubroek (2007) examined how perceived expectations of leader, customers, and family influence EI in creative work. The examination shows that the perceived expectations of all three reference groups are positively associated with employees‟ self-expectations for creativity which, in turn, are associated with creative involvement at work. Fenton-O‟Creevy (1998) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 examined if the role played by middle managers may mediate success or failure of EI. The examination shows that the middle managers may resist EI in response to threats to self-interest, and shows that positive outcomes of EI are lower in organisations with middle management resistance. From a work value perspective, Ghorpade et al. (2001) examined if involvement in management are related to work value. The findings show that involvement in management is positively related to altruism, pride in craftsmanship, and collectivism, and negatively related to individualism. Heller et al. (1998) have defined employee participation as a process which allows employees to exert some influence over their work and the conditions under which they work. Employee involvement is also considered as a process in which influence on decision making is shared between hierarchical superiors and their subordinates (Wagner and Gooding, 1997, cited in Heller et al., 1998). These two definitions encompass a broad range of activities through which employees can affect decision making, from consultative or communication (employee involvement) mechanisms where individual workers‟ input is asked for and considered by managers who retain responsibility for the final decision, to participative mechanisms involving representative structures where workers are major parties to these decisions (Hyman and Mason, 1995). It is commonly argued that the renewed interest in employee participation in decision-making apparent in management and industrial relations literature is part of a number of corporate organizational changes being trialed by firms in response to increasing competitive pressures arising in international markets during the 1990s (Markey and Monat, 1997). As firms seek to globalize their activities, they encounter competitive and uncertain market conditions. Competitive University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 success depends upon their capacity to improve product quality and productivity within severe, market imposed cost constraints which place a premium on organizational flexibility to respond quickly to market change and on the capacity to develop and implement new technologies as a major competitive asset. At the human resources function, firms have rapidly and simultaneously reduced their work forces and radically changed their skills profile while attempting to retain scarce highly skilled personnel (Hyman and Mason, 1995). Thus, parallel with the movement into international competition, firms introduce a range of organizational changes involving new process technologies (machinery, plant and equipment), new office technology and information systems, reorganization of corporate structures and changes to work practices and the organization of work at the „shop floor‟ level. Such changes often involve radical challenges to traditional job classifications and practices and to command relationships between different levels and functions in the organizational hierarchy. The older mechanized, mass production, hierarchical systems often reduced opportunities for participation and emphasized conflict and adversarial industrial relations. However, the introduction of computer-controlled production and information-based business systems has led to the development of team-based work forces and reliance on workers‟ expertise when introducing technological change. Employees‟ cooperation with the introduction of these changes is needed if the transaction is to occur smoothly and the full efficiency benefits of these considerable investments are to be appropriated. Managers now seek practices which will reduce the degree of conflict in labour relations and provide alternatives to these traditional adversarial attitudes (Heller et al., 1998). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 2.4.2 Methods of Employee Involvement There are several keys to involvement among which are financial incentives job security, Share ownership and profit distribution plans among others. These can help to foster an interest in a company‟s affairs at the competitive level which is often hard to get across in the normal day-to- day routine of workplace activity (Apostolou, 2000). Methods of getting employees involved are many and varied. These include suggestion systems, teams, focus groups, surveys, self-directed work groups, incentive programmes among others. Certain key actions need to take place to be able to implement employee involvement. These, according to Apostolou are: Giving the employee the responsibility, training the employee to accept responsibility, communicating and giving feedback and giving rewards and recognition. Workers are being asked by management to join employee involvement programmes in order to improve the quality of their work lives by making the case that the days of destructive adversary, labour-management relations are over and that a ruthless competitive economic world requires that workers and management cooperate so that both survive. It is therefore in the best interest of both workers and supervisors to increase happiness and satisfaction on the job as happy and satisfied employees are productive employees who ensure the employer‟s profit and continued existence of the company and the worker‟s job. Management, at such programs usually want access to workers‟ knowledge of the job, cooperation in the introduction of new technology without protest, flexibility regarding job classifications, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 work rules, job assignments, the contract for the purpose of greater efficiencies as well as contract changes and sometimes contract concessions. 2.4.3 Conditions for Employee Involvement in decision-making According to Apostolou, (2002) if the employee involvement process is sincere and valid, it should meet the following six conditions where Management involves the Union at the highest levels as an equal partner from planning through implementation, and evaluation of employee involvement; the Union equally selects with management any consultants who are hired to set up and coordinate employee involvement committee. It is a voluntary process for both union and company. The Union selects, elects or appoints its representatives on the committees that deal with employee involvement. Collective bargaining and grievance matters are not a part of the program. These subjects remain outside of employee involvement. Management must also agree to the proposition in writing that no workers can be laid off or downgraded as a result of ideas generated by the workers in employee involvement committees. Money savings of employee involvement are shared with workers through items such as more money in the paycheck, free training, upgrading, a shorter workweek, etc. The union and management jointly determine this. Management encourages a good relationship in its labour relations with the union as it simultaneously seeks to settle grievances at the lower levels. The right hand of management University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 employee involvement co-operations should not be chopped off by the left hand of management hostility and confrontation with the union. Words and actions must be consistent. According to Apostolou (2000), if the above terms are not followed by management, then the workers and union can quite rightly suspect that the program or process is a fraud designed to weaken if not bust the union. If the union believes that employee involvement is not legitimate, it should demand that management accept the six conditions outlined above or expose this program as phony and urge workers not to participate. In the words on of one national union, the union should educate its people that illegitimate employee involvement is “is an attempt to create a shop floor structure controlled by management, and pushing management‟s point of view, aimed at undermining the union steward system and bypassing the union. The ultimate goal is to get rid of the union altogether, or transform it into a totally company union.” (Apostolou, 2000), Lawler (1993) a professor of management at the University of Southern California did a study of Fortune 100 firms on which business strategy offers the highest returns: process re-engineering, total quality management or employee involvement and the winner was employee involvement. Each of these three strategies produces an effect but his studies indicate that employee involvement is a stronger driver of financial performance than total quality management or re- engineering, he said. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40 Re-engineering, Lawler said, is basically a onetime change. You do it once and it has an impact, but it‟s not something you can do time after time. You can only downsize so much. You can‟t downsize your way to growth. In contrast, he said, employee involvement, if well implemented, changes the fundamental relationship between individuals and the organization they work for. It really builds employees in as a business partner, so they know more and they do more to make the organizations successful, particularly in industries where the human component is important that is most knowledge work, high-tech and many kinds of service industries. 2.4.4 Forms of Employee Involvement Involving employees in the decision making process in an organization takes various forms. This includes: 1. Individual Consultation: This involves face-to-face discussion between individual employees and their immediate manager such as regular performance reviews and training and development reviews. It allows employees to express their views through attitude and suggestion schemes. Millward et al. (2000) asserted that, the ability of the employees to influence the action of the employer is the voice of the employee. They opined that the concept of employees‟ voice covers the provision of opportunities for employees to register discontent and modify the power of management. However, in the case of public sector organisations (such as banks) the above concepts may not be effective considering the bureaucratic nature of public institutions in Ghana where decision making structure is top-down in nature. It may however hold for the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 private banks. In the public sector bank under study, face-to-face consultation can therefore not be easily practiced due to subordinates having to take instructions from their supervisors which eventually leave final decision making in the hands of the top management. On the performance review and training which are yearly carried out in the large organisations there is consultations between the subordinate and the supervisor to access the performance and identify training needs of the employee (Robins and Couter, 1999). In most cases employees‟ involvement in issues concerning performance and training needs are always identified but not attended to making the process ineffective in such organisations. These concepts, however, can easily be implemented in private organisations considering their flat hierarchical organizational structure. The suggestion scheme could be feasible and can be an alternative to face-to-face consultation since it is not possible to know the source of the suggestion. This approach may help to avert open confrontations and victimization. Management therefore tends to prefer the suggestion scheme to face-to-face consultation. The problem with the suggestion scheme, however, is that employees may not be sure if their suggestions would be attended to or considered. The resultant consequence may be social apathy among employees to participate to get involved in such processes. 2. Joint or Group Consultation: This is also one of the forms of employee participation in decision making. Management and groups such as unions in the organisation meet to discuss work-related issues (Abrefa-Gyan, 2008). The group must believe in participation as a genuine means of giving them voice and enhancing the interest of their members. The consultation committees should always relate to a defined work unit and only meet where there is something to discuss and always conclude and agree on points which should be University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 implemented quickly. This is a process where management would involve employees in decision making through their representatives in discussion on relevant matters that affect or concern those they represent. This allows employees who are going to implement such decisions to make an input to influence the proposal before management make the final decision. This form of employee participation and involvement in organisation decision making is effective if the union is strong and have good leadership and negotiation skills to be able to enhance the interest of its members in organizational decision making. This means that the existence of unions in organisations without the above qualities would make their existence ineffective as suggested by Farnharm (1997). However, effective unions in organisations would lead to less industrial disputes resulting from better communication between management and staff, lowered stress and increased well-being of workers, and improved decision making process. 3. Individual Delegation: Employees under this form or scheme are granted exclusive rights and responsibilities to carry out their work without constant reference to managers (Abrefa-Gyan, 2008). It is also known as job enrichment. According to Abrefa-Gyan (2008) employees are encouraged under individual delegation to be more committed on their work and be more responsible for every decision they take in relation to performing their work. Employee participation or involvement is a participative style of management and a range of activities that are designed to increase employees understanding of the organisation, utilize their talents, enable them to influence decisions and encourage their commitment to the goals of the organisation. 4. Problem-Solving Group or Quality Circles: This form is sometimes titled task forces, job involvement programmes, labour management production teams or participation meetings. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 Quality circles are a means of worker participation or involvement which organisations can use for improving quality work life of its employees. Kretitner and Kinicki (2007) defined it as small groups of people from the same work area who voluntarily get together to identify, analyze and recommend solutions for problems related to quality production and cost reduction. Quality control as it is usually known has an ideal size of between ten to twelve members who meet regularly for some few minutes to discuss issues about quality of their products and improvement on the conditions in the organisation. Based on the expertise of employees, there could be several quality circles operating at the same time. In the most cases members of the circles are trained to have problem solving skills. Occasionally, monetary rewards are given but this is not the norm; volunteers receive intrinsic motivation due to the meaningful contribution and skills received. Proponents of quality circles have asserted that it tends to increase productivity, lower cost, increase employee development and improved job attitude. 5. Representation on Company Boards: Most companies in the European Union are required by law to include employees or union representatives on their Board of Directors often called supervisory boards (Abrefa-Gyan, 2008). Membership consists of employees or occasionally union members. Work council helps increase productivity through forcing management to articulate its reasons for decisions, asking questions, pointing out problems which management has not considered. They also make suggestions based on employees‟ experiences and suggesting alternatives to management‟s proposals and sometimes drawing on the experiences of work councils elsewhere. 6. Employee Stock Ownership Plans: Organisations embark on this option for the reason of gaining substantial tax subsidies provided by some countries. This also tend to motivate University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 employees through giving them a sense of ownership, identification and commitment with their organisation and to inhibit takeovers. It also permits the transfer of corporate control from one generation of top managers to another without requiring the sale of a company‟s shares to pay death duties. In such firms, profit sharing is more frequent. Stock ownership does not mean control, because on certain occasions, employees or union representatives do not represent on boards. 2.4.5 Dimensions of Employee Involvement The core values are reflected in five different perspectives on the purpose and rationale of worker participation in organizations (Bolle de Bal, 1992). The Managerial Approach, which is inspired by productivity and efficiency goals (participation is organized at a lower level in order to relieve worker dissatisfaction and morale problems). A key issue in this approach is the extent to which management delegates or retains the power to initiate, frame, and terminative participative processes. This is also reflects management‟s view that the direct participation of workers undermines union power. The Humanist Psychology Approach, which is inspired by human growth and development goals, (participation as a way to enhance the well-being of the individual by promoting individual creativity, self-esteem, and ego strength). This approach reflects the movement led by Elton Mayo. It reflects a much more positive view of human nature and emphasizes the need to retrain managers to develop their participative leadership University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 skills and unlearn authoritarian behaviours. It acknowledges the societal function of the workplace and the benefit of participatory restructuring of the workplace, given the central role it plays in the lives of most ordinary people (Pateman 1970). The Industrial Relations Approach, which is inspired by democratic goals (participation is not only a means to an end in itself but also a way to create a strongly democratic society, characterized by active participative citizens). This approach reflects the importance of the external environment (not highly recognized in bureaucratic, hierarchical organization design but more widely recognized in organic, open system designs). Participation in the workplace is seen as contributing to an effective and just society. The workplace is seen as a point of leverage from which to achieve a more egalitarian redistribution of power, leading to a greater democratization of the entire political process (Emery and Thorsrud 1969; Bachrach and Botwinick 1992; Pateman 1970; Matejko 1986). The Political Approach, which is inspired by revolutionary goals (participation as a means to change the overall structure of ownership to a collective base and to educate workers to class consciousness). Advancement toward greater worker participation is seen as very dependent upon a strong labour movement. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 46 2.4.6 Benefits of Employee Involvement It is to be noted that not everyone subscribes to this positive view of participatory democracy or to the benefits of direct participation in the workplace. As literature on participative management and employee involvement accumulated, a wide range of benefits was elaborated, and organizations were encouraged to adopt a variety of participation strategies, and to cultivate a culture of participation (Denison 1990). Kanter (1989), for example, pointed out that a participatory work environment is theoretically more effective at enhancing innovations than traditional bureaucratic structures because it promotes the sharing of product knowledge between managers and workers, who are closest to the products being made and work being done and therefore more likely to develop strategies and suggestions for better quality items. Markowitz (1996) also asserted that giving employees decision-making power boosts their morale and commitment to the organization, which aids productivity; everybody benefits: businesses accrue higher profits and stability because they are more secure in their industry niche and workers are more fulfilled and attached to the companies because they have a voice in decision-making. A summary of expected benefits as listed by Lawler (1990:38-40) are: Improved, more innovative and efficient work methods and procedures (less resistance to new methods may result, and the problem-solving process may produce innovations); better communication between management and workers and across work units University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 It could lead to attraction and retention of employees (improvement results from increased satisfaction and involvement); reduced tardiness, turnover, and absenteeism; greater staffing flexibility (increased flexibility results from cross-training and teamwork); increased service and product quality (higher motivation and better methods increase the rate of output). Reduced staff support and supervision requirements (more “self-management” and broader skills reduce the needs for staff support and supervision); more effective resolution of conflict and reduced number of grievances (better communication and an improvement in union-management relationship reduces the number of grievances); better decisions (better input and decision-making processes improve the quality of decisions); expansion of staff skills (problem-solving as well as technical skills are developed); improved morale and job satisfaction 2.4.7 Adverse Effects of Employee Involvement Some potential negative consequences were identified as salary and training costs (developing new skills and responsibilities for lower-level participants results in increased salaries and additional training cost); support personnel (if the new program creates a new structure that needs support and management, support personnel must increase). Expectations for organizational change and personal growth and development opportunities (any program that talks about participation increases expectations for organizational change and personal growth,) which, if it is limited or fails, results in dissatisfaction and cynicism.. Resistance by middle management and/or staff support groups (if they are not positively affected by the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 48 program, they may resist it). Lost time (participation takes time and can slow decision-making because a number of people have to understand and accept the decision) (Lawler, 1990). 2.4.8 Four Key Strategies of Employee Involvement Though there is no authoritative source or theory that defines participation, Lawler and others (Lawler 1998:197; Lawler et al. 1998; Ledford 1993) provide a good starting point by identifying four key strategies, whose nature and location in the organization are central issues for governance in all organizations and which largely determine the nature and degree of participation available to employees. These are information sharing, knowledge development, rewards and recognition systems and power sharing. Information sharing about business performance, plans, goals, and strategies, about new technologies and competitors‟ performance is very crucial. Without business information, individuals are restricted in their ability to make meaningful contributions, participate in planning and setting direction, understand the effectiveness of their performance and that of the organization. Information sharing includes both information disclosure and open communication processes. Knowledge development and training to provide skills in group decision-making and problem solving, leadership, quality and statistical analysis, an understanding of the business and job skills and cross-training. This knowledge and training enables employees to understand and contribute to organizational performance. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 Rewards and recognition systems that are based on the performance of the organization and that are designed to encourage employees to obtain information, add skills, take more decision-making responsibility, enhance teamwork, and perform in ways that help the business (for example, through the use of individual incentives, work group or team incentives, profit sharing, employee stock ownership plans, stock options plans and non-monetary recognition and awards for performance. Power sharing, particularly in decision-making, either through parallel structure practices such as quality circles, committees, survey feedback, or suggestion systems, or work design power sharing practices such as job enrichment and redesign, self-managing work teams, mini-business units, and participation on decision-making boards and committees that enable employees to use and apply the information and knowledge effectively; key strategies include locating decisions at the lowest possible level in the organization. 2.6 Findings from other studies Quagraine (2010) in his study found out that majority (73%) of employees in `Merchant Bank and for that matter the Banking sector are under the age of forty (40) years. They are mainly (83.5%) university graduates. This makes the Ghanaian banking sector donated by highly educated young men and women who are ready to put in long hours of work and highly motivated to make a mark. Tenure of service for majority (63%) of the staff is short (1 – 5 years). Most of his respondents had worked for at least two banks within the last five year period. Quagraine‟s findings reveal the high employee turnover rate among the banks in Ghana and the active poaching new banks embark on for talent with high remunerations and fringe benefits. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 50 Employee involvement was seen by 96% of respondents in Quagraine‟s study to lead to high worker motivation and increased productivity. Involvement makes the worker feel part of the organization and gives them a sense of belongingness, shared responsibility, high morale and commitment to the successful implementation of decisions. On the other hand, respondents who saw involvement as negative cited delay in decision making and a possible lack of a sense of ultimate responsibility by management for the organizations short comings since they were not the only ones who made the decision. Several empirical studies have also been undertaken in the field of motivation. Some of them have focused on the factors which motivates employees. Ajang (2007) in a study of students (futre employees) discovered five factors that motivates the most. These included: job satisfaction, promotions/expectations, recognition, good salary and organizational/management styles (ranked from 1st to 5th respectively in order of importance). What surprised Ajang (2007) is the ranking of lower order needs among these top five motivational factors and not only the growth (higher order) needs. Hersey and Blanchard (1969) in their studies ranked motivational factors as follows: full appreciation of work done, feeling of being, sympathetic help with personal problems, job security, and good wages/salary as the five topmost factors. Kovach (1987) also came up with a list of factors that motivates employees. This was a follow up to their 1981 study. They listed: interesting work, full appreciation of work done, feeling of being (recognition), job security and good wages/salary (arranged from 1st to 5th respectively). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 51 Several studies have also investigated into variations into motivational preference with reference to gender, age, status in the organization, just to mention but a few. Wiley (1997) discovered that, women placed more importance on: appreciation of work done, interesting work and above all good working condition. Men on the other hand emphasis interesting and challenging work. Kovach (1987) did not find such strict distinction on grounds of gender except with reference to „full appreciation of work done‟. Women tend to put it in first position where as Men place it in second position among the five topmost motivational factors. Harpaz (1990) also supports the gender indifference to motivational factors and adds the similarity of preference even across the different levels of the organizational structure. It is obvious from the above listed studies and several others in human resource management that involvement leads to a sense of recognition and motivation. Motivated employees lead to increased productivity and efficiency. Increased productivity is what many management are seeking for and makes any study conducted in this area a venture of interest to industry players. The next chapter (chapter three), outline in detail the research method use in undertaken this study. It sets the grounds for future researchers who wish to replicate this study to identify the steps that was adopted in the original work. The chapter ends with an overview of the two selected banks for this studies making way for the presentation and analysis of data in the fourth chapter. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 52 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 3.0 INTRODUCTION The present study was designed to explore the relationship between perceived involvement in decision making and motivation among workers of banks in Ghana. Two banks were chosen for the study: one private-owned bank (private bank) and a public-owned bank (public bank). The preceding chapters have considered theories and related issues in employee involvement, participation, decision making, and motivation. In this chapter, the design and method employed in data gathering and analyses are spelt out. Design explains why a particular approach was adopted while method refers to how a stated approach is tackled. The chapter consists of the following sections: - Presentation of the data type - Sampling - Definition of the population of research interest and the mode of sampling or selection of respondents; - Specific sequence of steps; - Explanation of the rationale for particular choices of data gathering approach; - Procedures used in data gathering and analysis are also described. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 53 3.1 Data Type This study adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative data was sourced from the open-ended aspect of the questionnaire as well as the interview with one human resource officer from each of the two selected banks. The closed-ended aspect of the questionnaire also constituted the quantitative data. The questionnaire administration was limited to the branches of the two banks in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data gathering through questionnaire administration produces data that are numerical in nature and can be analysed quantitatively. The use of quantitative methods allows a study to be guarded against potential pitfalls of subjectivity of judgment (Creswell, 1994). It therefore means that conclusions that are drawn from quantitative research approach are more objective than subjective. Information obtained through the open-ended aspect of the questionnaire and the interviews serve to validate information obtained from the quantitative analysis. That is, they serve to ascertain the extent to which the responses obtained from the closed-ended questions are consistent with real life situations. This is because the closed-ended questions are more of forced or restricted choice, but with the open-ended questions and the interview, respondents are expected to give their candid opinions on the issues at stake. 3.2 Sampling Sampling is the act of selecting a part to represent a whole (Kumekpor, 2002). This is necessary especially in social research because most of the populations for such studies are too large to allow for a census. In other instance the total population may be unknown and as such there is no way one can study all of them. In the case of this study, sampling was even more necessary due University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 54 to the nature of academic research where students have a limited time frame to complete the study. The research was also self financed by the researcher limiting the resources available for the study. 3.2.1 Study Population Population is a group of individuals who have one or more characteristics in common that are of interest to the researcher (Best and Khan, 1993). It is also seen by Cardwell (1999) as a group of people who are the focus of a research study and to which the result will apply. This study has as its population, workers of private and public banks in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The Greater Accra Region of Ghana was selected because of the cosmopolitan nature of the region. Ghanaians from all parts of the country work in the Greater Accra Region, and so workers of all ethnic groups, religions and other social orientations are represented in the study. There are also nationals from other African countries as well as other continents. The sample space was two selected banks, one from the private sector (Ecobank Ghana) and another from the public sector (Ghana Commercial Bank). Ecobank is a multi-national Bank with presence in 33 countries across Africa and has Agencies in London and China. This study restricts its focus to Ecobank Ghana (EGH) an affiliate of the Ecobank group. EGH is a limited liability company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and currently operates 52 branches across the country. The second Bank, Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) is a state-owned bank. GCB has branches in most of the districts and towns in Ghana. Currently, GCB operates 153 branches across Ghana. These two banks coincidentally are the leaders in their category. That is, EGH is the largest private- owned bank and GCB is the largest state-owned bank. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 55 3.2.2 Sampling Technique and Sample Size Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for this study. In the first stage, the banks in Accra were stratified into State-owned (example, Ghana Commercial Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, National Investment Bank, and Merchant Bank) and Private-owned (example, Barclays Bank, Ecobank, HFC, CAL Bank, UT Bank, Fidelity Bank) based on their ownership. One bank was selected at random from each of the categories. As a result, Ghana Commercial Bank and Ecobank Ghana were selected to represent the state-owned and private-owned banks respectively. The researcher then purposively selected employees of the Head office and two branches of each bank. This was to capture the nature of employees in the banks who are either in the back office or front office. The Head office provides most of the back office services (support) whiles the branches serve customers directly. At the branch level, the employees were stratified into managerial and non-managerial staff. The selection of individual employees for inclusion was done through the simple random sampling from each of the two categories. The staff list for each branch was obtained which served as the sampling frame. The names were writing on pieces of paper, folded and hand-picked twenty at random from each branch. In all one hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were administered. Sixty (60) questionnaires were administered to employees of each of the two banks. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 56 3.3 Methods of Data Collection 3.3.1 Sources of Data Information obtained for this study was obtained from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources of information included both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data was sought through questionnaires that were administered to employees of both banks. These information was supplemented by qualitative data in the form of face to face interview. The interview was conducted with a senior officer from the human resource department of each of the two banks. This was done to validate some of the responses given to the questionnaires, thereby adding to the data validation effort from the open-ended aspects of the questionnaires. Secondary sources of data were also consulted to provide the foundation and shape the study. These included: books, journal articles, published and unpublished theses, dictionaries and other reference materials. 3.3.2 Data Collection Instrument The main instrument used for this study was a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was chiefly divided into four sections: Sections A, B, C, and D. Section „A‟ collected data on the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents; Section „B‟ sought for information about employees‟ understanding of motivation; Section „C‟ required respondents to indicate their levels of employee involvement; Section „D‟ was on the relationship between involvement and motivation. The questions with the exception of those in section A, required mostly five point likert scale responses. These ranges from strongly agreed to strongly disagree. The information obtained was supported with a face to University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 57 face interview of a senior officer of the Human resource department of each bank using the same questionnaire as the interview guide. These interviews were aimed at getting additional information on workers choice as against the banks current HR policy. It also created room for follow up questions on issues that were not clear to the researcher. In the case of EGH, the researcher had to return to the interviewee (Mr. Awuzah) for further information during the analysis. For the sake of formalization of the entire process of data gathering, a letter of introduction was obtained from the Department of Sociology of the University of Ghana and sent to the two banks in which the questionnaires were administered. With a follow-up on the letters, the researcher was directed to the appropriate officer-in-charge who assisted in several ways in wooing workers to respond to the questionnaires. In situations where cooperation from workers was clearly absent (especially in the Head office), a key individual was identified and trained who administered and retrieved the questionnaires on behalf of the researcher. 3.4 Data Handling Once retrieved, the questionnaires were coded by assigning numerical values and then analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 16. The statistical tool pack for Microsoft Excel was used in some cases for the analyses and drawing of the charts. The variables under consideration were analysed quantitatively. The Likert scale items which are ordinal in nature were converted to interval data and analysed using parametric statistical tests such as the independent t-test. One of the non-parametric statistical tests – Chi Square – was also used for the analysis. Summary description of the research findings and frequencies pointed out University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 58 the nature of observations. The inferential statistics were used to show the relationship between various variables of interest to the research hypotheses and research objectives stated for this study. Hypothesis one (H1) was analysed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. This statistical method was used because the hypothesis sought to establish relationship between two variables (employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation). Two variables are said to be correlated when known values of one variable enables the researcher to estimate the corresponding values of the second variable (Opoku, 2006). In this study both variables were measured on the interval scale with the aim of establishing a linear relationship. Hypothesis two (H2) was analysed using the independent sample t-Test. The independent samples t-test or the student t-test is used in this analysis to compare the mean of the two independent groups (employees of private and public banks) in terms of their involvement in decision making and its relationship with worker motivation. The respondents in these two independent groups (which are nominal in form) were randomly and independently sampled from their respective populations, and the dependent variable is measured on an interval scale. Hypothesis three (H3) was mainly analysed using crosstabulation. This focused on comparing employees‟ status in the bank to their incentive preference. Employee‟s status in the bank was categorized into managerial and non-managerial staff. This was compared to workers incentive preference which had being categorized into monetary and non-monetary incentives. This method was adopted to enable the researcher compare the frequencies which will be generated University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 59 from the choice of each of the two categories of workers (based on status) in term of their incentive preference as necessitated by the questionnaire items. Finally, hypothesis four (H4) was analysed using the chi-square. The general assumption for the use of the Chi-square test is that, subjects or respondents in the various groups or categories are independent of each other. That is, no respondent can choose two options (or response item) at a time. Again, no individual respondent can belong to more than one group at a time. In this study respondent were asked to choose whether they prefer monetary or non-monetary incentives. They were allowed to choose only one option and as such it established unique groups. The data obtained in response to this questionnaire item was nominal in nature, thereby warranting the use of this non-parametric inferential statistical test. The information and responses given during the interviews was recorded and downloaded on to the computer. This was later transcribed and organized into thematic areas. These themes were generated as a result of the content analyses of the transcribed data. The major findings were used to supplement the findings of the quantitative analysis. Specific quotes from the interview are also cited in the analysis when necessary. 3.5 Ethical Consideration The respondents to this study were informed of the purpose of this study through an introductory remark on each of the questionnaires. This was done to solicit for respondent‟s informed consent. The data obtained did not request for any information with which one can trace a questionnaire to a specific respondent. This is to ensure that none of the respondents is victimized for the views University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 60 they expressed. Information obtained from the survey was used only for the purpose of this study and no third party disclosure has been done. It is also necessary to mention that this research does not seek to determine which of the banks is the best but rather it is only to determine their use of employee involvement in decision making and its relationship with worker motivation. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 61 CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.0 Introduction The study sought to explore the organisations use of employee involvement in decision making and how this affects their motivation in their workplaces. The focus was on two selected banks operating in Ghana; one public sector bank and the other, a private sector bank. Five key objectives guided the direction of the study. Through the data analyses and discussions, an attempt is made to address all issues encapsulated in the objectives. Through the inferential statistics, hypotheses for the study are also tested to either retain or reject them at the 0.05 level of significance. This chapter therefore presents the socio- demographic variables or characteristics, as well as findings relating to the objectives and hypotheses stated for this study. 4.1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents Through the administering of questionnaires, a total of one hundred and four (104) respondents were obtained from the private-sector bank (Ecobank) and the public-sector bank (Ghana Commercial Bank). It was necessary to obtain information on the socio- demographic characteristics of respondents because they serve to establish some form of relationship with the other variables of the study in order to draw relevant conclusions and possibly make generalisations from the study. According to Assimeng (1999) the socio- University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 62 demographic characteristics have a relationship with many other parts of human social interaction in the lives of people. Thus socio-demographic variables define relationships with the character of respondents as evidenced in their responses. The following were the socio-demographic variables sought for in the study: gender; age; rank or position; educational qualification; and number of years of work in the current bank. They are further highlighted below. 4.1.1 Type of Organisation Since the study is comparative in nature, that is, comparing banks from two sectors, it became prudent to ascertain the number of respondents that were obtained from each of the banks. The researcher was able to obtain a 50-50 sample size. That is, out of the 104 respondents, 50 percent were from the public bank and another 50 percent were from the private bank. The researcher found it appropriate to do a crosstabulation in order to draw a link between each of the socio-demographic variables and the type of organisation. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 63 Table 4.1 Socio-Demographic Information of Respondents Source: Field Data, 2013 Socio-Demographic Variable Details Public Private Sub- Total Grand Total Gender Male 30 58% 17 39% 47 49% 104 Female 22 42% 27 61% 49 51% No Response 8 Age 20-30 years 16 31% 22 42% 38 37% 104 31-40 years 25 49% 18 35% 43 42% 41-50 years 6 12% 11 21% 17 17% 51-60 years 4 8% 1 2% 5 5% 61 years and above 0 0 0 No Response 1 Status in the bank Managerial Staff 13 25% 6 15% 19 20% 104 Non-Managerial Staff 39 75% 35 85% 74 80% No Response 11 Educational Qualification A/O‟ Level 0 0 0 104 SSSCE and below 0 0 0 Diploma 13 25% 12 23% 25 24% Degree 26 50% 35 67% 61 59% Masters/PhD 13 25% 5 10% 18 17% Number of years of work Less than 2 years 8 15% 8 16% 16 16% 104 2-4 years 13 25% 31 61% 44 43% Above 4 years 31 60% 12 24% 43 42% No Response 1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 64 From Table 4.1 above, it is observed that apart from the Educational qualification where all respondents indicated their levels of qualification, all of the other socio-demographic characteristics recorded incidents of no responses as respondents did not specifically tick their options. Although there were 104 respondents in all, not all responded fully to the questionnaires that were administered. It accounts for the reason why some of the grand totals in Table 4.1 above are not 104 (actual sample size). In fact, some of the questionnaires retrieved were either not responded to at all, or that greater portions were left blank and so were not included in the analysis. Generally, there were more female respondents (51 percent) than male respondents (49 percent). In the public sector, however, there were more males (58 percent) than females (42 percent), compared to the private sector where there was 39 percent male and 61 percent female. This findings was in line with an answer given during the interview by the EGH human resource officer. He pointed out that majority of their staff at the branch level are females. He also said: “it is only in the head office and the group data centre that males dominate”. It became clear from the interview that men usually apply for technical and accountancy related jobs. He further pointed out that only a few men accept appointment as Tellers and to some extent Relationship officers. In terms of age, none of the respondents was above the age of 60 (that is, 61 years and above). The largest proportion of respondents (42 percent) was between the ages of 31 and 40, followed by those between the ages of 20 and 30 (37 percent). Very few found themselves in the ages between 41-50 years (17 percent) and least was those above the age of 50 (4 percent). This age distribution means that the banks have a large youthful University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 65 population. It could further be inferred from this study that the private banks have more employees in their twenties (22) as against the public banks (16). This was supported by an answer given by the EGH human resource agent during the interview. He said "majority of our staff are in their mid-twenties to early thirties as we often take-on new graduates for internship, national service and eventually permanent employment". As expected, there were more respondents in non-managerial positions (80 percent) than in managerial positions (20 percent). The reason behind such expectation is that there are usually more positions at the lower hierarchy of organisations than at the top levels. Therefore, in any organisation, non-managers are more than managers because of the pyramid nature of the organizational charts. The least educational qualification of respondents was the holders of Diploma certificates. None of the respondents selected had Advance(A)/Ordinary(O)-Level or the SSSCE and below qualification. This shows that to a large extent, banks employ workers who have relatively high educational qualifications. It could also mean that employees are constantly upgrading themselves so that they are promoted or at least retained in the bank. Again, competition in the labour market may not permit a bank to employ staff whose educational backgrounds are weak. Most of the respondents (59 percent) were First degree holders, followed by the Diploma certificate holder (24 percent). Respondents who have higher degree (Masters or PhD) were 17 percent of the sample. These findings were further clarified by the responses obtained from the GCB HR agent in the course of interviewing him. He pointed out that even though the bank begun with many Advance (A) Level holders, they put in study leave with pay as a motivation for their staff to improve on their University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 66 qualification. He stated emphatically "that is what enabled me to do my masters degree". This to him has enabled many existing staff upgrade their education. Currently, the bank no longer employ people with any qualification below diploma. In analysing the number of years that respondents have worked in their respective bank, it was observed that generally, most of them (43 percent) had worked between 2 to 4 years, and then more than 4 years (41 percent). Few of the respondents have worked for less than 2 years (16 percent). It was again observed that most of the respondents who had worked for more than 4 years were in the public bank while those who had worked for the period between 2 to 4 years were mostly in the private bank. This supported a general assertion among young graduates in Ghana that, public sector workers usually enjoy high job security than private sector workers 4.2 Study Objective The main objective for the study was to examine the relationship between employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation. In other words, the study sought to find out issues concerning employee involvement in the formulation and implementation of decisions and how such perceived participation affect their levels of motivation. 4.2.1 Understanding of Motivation In order to realize this objective, the research sought to first establish what employees perceived when motivation is mentioned. They were asked to tick from a list of options, what they best considered as their understanding of the concept of motivation. The chart University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 67 below gives a general overview of responses from respondents from both the private and the public banks sampled for the study. Source: Field Data, 2013 The results show that 69 percent of respondents understand motivation as money and other financial incentives. This was followed by 17 percent of workers pointing to involvement in decision making as their understanding of motivation. Indeed, there are many Ghanaians who long to work in financial institutions simply because of the monetary benefits associated with it. This point also came up during the interviews especially from the EGH Human resource agent who made an interesting remark. He said: "mostly when we asked new graduates during interview sessions why they chose Ecobank and not any other firm, they are quick to respond, Ecobank pay its workers well and you have good conditions for your staff". This to him shows that Ghanaian graduates usually take-up a job because of its financial rewards. Largely, many people work in order to ensure their security (as indicated University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 68 by Maslow‟s second hierarchy of needs: safety and security needs), and so the primary reason to work is to get money and even more. Thus they are motivated to work because of money, and they get more motivated when more money or other monetary incentives are given. Just as Maslow added, one turns to social and acceptance needs, only after fulfilling their basic and security needs. This explains why involvement in decision making was ranked second in employees understanding of decision making after monetary and other financial benefits. Participating in decision making means one is recognised and respected (social acceptance and esteem). The rest of the factors did not receive any substantial preference. Figure 4.2 below shows workers preference for each of the incentive options that were given. It also brings out the distinction among the private and public sector workers with regard to their preference for each of the specified incentives. Source: Field data, 2013 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 69 This bar chart makes it clear that a similar pattern of responses exists for workers from both private and public banks. That is, money and other financial benefits motivate employees the most than their involvement in decision making. In addition, the responses displayed in Figure 4.2, also reveals that, apart from monetary and other financial incentives given to employees, their participation in the organizational process through inclusion in decision making is important in getting them motivated. 4.3 Study Hypotheses The study began with four research hypotheses which have guided the formulation of questions and collection of data. These hypotheses are analysed and discussed in the paragraphs that follows. 4.3.1 Involvement and Worker Motivation H1: There is a significant relationship between employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation. Table 4.2 Correlations: Involvement and Motivation Involvement Motivation Involvemen t Pearson Correlation 1 0.142 P 0.151 N 104 104 Motivation Pearson Correlation 0.142 1 P 0.151 N 104 104 Source: Field Data, 2013 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 70 The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was used in the analysis to establish the relationship between the variables constituting employees level of involvement and those other variables constituting employee motivation. The coefficient of correlation (r), showed a very weak positive correlation (r=0.142). The positive nature of the correlation means that as employees‟ level of involvement increases, employee motivation also increases. Practically, if employees are given the chance to partake in the organizational processes, that is, in decision making, their level of motivation is also likely to improve. This positive correlation is however weak (14.2 percent) and non-significant (p>0.05). The nature of this response is evidenced by the responses given by the respondents on the factors that motivate them the most. They cited monetary and other financial incentives as the most motivating factor. This was followed by involvement in decision making, which is being analysed in this hypothesis. This therefore accounts for the very weak correlation observed, and the fact that the correlation was not significant at the 0.05 level of significance. It is obvious that, to some extent, employee participation in decision making relates with improved motivation, but this relationship is not significant and one cannot make a strong inference that if employees participate in decision making they will necessarily be motivated. One of the questionnaire items (open-ended) sought to find out from respondents if they feel there is any relationship between involving employees in decision making and their willingness to put in extra effort (motivation). While some responded in the affirmative, others did so in the negative. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 71 Those that responded in the affirmative gave the following reasons: - “Taking part in decision making makes one feel respected, thereby making one work hard”; - “I will feel some form of ownership and belongingness and so would ensure the success of the decisions I take”; - “Involvement makes decision making not one-sided and would not also make management autocratic. Therefore involving employees in decision making enables the rules and regulations to stand firm and operate”; - “Employees feel a sense of belonging when they take part in decision making, which is a natural source of motivation to all human beings”. These assertions were supported by the two Human Resource top officials interviewed. One re-echoed a statement made by an IT-programmer when he was asked why he willingly come to work on some Saturdays and Sundays. He said, "I recommended this application to the bank so I have to do whatever it takes for it to work well". What stood out from the responses obtained from the questionnaires and the interview with the human resource agents was the fact that, the HR officers seem to attribute a high motivational capacity to employee involvement than what was realized from the analyses of the questionnaire responses. Those who indicated that there is no relationship between involvement and motivation as a response to question 33 (open ended question) of the questionnaire gave the following as their reason: - “There is no relationship … it is all about how the employees plan their work”; University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 72 - “If employees are not happy, they cannot give their best, even if they get involved in decision making”. - "If I take part in decision making it does not increase my pay nor add any incentives so I will not be moved to increase my pace of work". These assertions can also be viewed from the angle of Herzberg's hygiene factors. Especially the second claim; if one is unhappy, it means the person is dissatisfied and therefore lacks the hygiene factors (for instance adequate salary). Such a person will not appreciate participating in decision making which is a motivator. In consonance with Herzberg's two factor theory, even though the salary is not what is expected to motivate the worker, its absence will bring dissatisfaction and hence limit motivation. 4.3.2 Public-Private Distinction of the Relationship between Involvement and Motivation. H2: Employees of private-owned bank are more motivated by involvement than employees of state-owned bank Source: Field Data, 2013 Source: Field Data, 2013 Table 4.3 Independent t-Test: The level of Involvement between workers of private and public banks Private Public Mean 11.173 14.923 Variance 58.734 12.817 Observations 52 52 Df 102 t Stat 3.196 P 0.000 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 73 The independent sample t-test was used for this analysis. From Table 4.3, it is observed that t(102)=3.196; p<0.05, which implies that, a significant difference exists between workers in the public banks and their counterparts in the private banks in terms of their motivation resulting from participation in decision making. It was hypothesized that employees in the private banks will be more motivated by involvement in decision making than their colleagues in the public banks. The results however showed otherwise, as evidenced by the mean scores: Employees of public bank: Mean=14.923 Employees of private bank: Mean=11.173 It is rather the public bank workers who are more motivated by involvement in decision making than workers of private banks. One of the forms of employee participation which is the joint or group consultation kept on coming up during the interviews as one of the most used form of participation among banks in Ghana. This trend was also discovered in Abrefa-Gyan‟s 2008 work during the review of literature. He made this point in relation to the whole industrial sector. In this form of employee participation or involvement, management and workers groups (unions) in the organisation meet to discuss work-related issues. This practice played an important role in the relationship between management and staff in both banks. In Ecobank for instance it was revealed during the interview that, management hold monthly review meetings at departmental level and weekly team meeting by each team leader and their University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 74 members. These meetings are to review performance against targets and to put in new strategies to achieve the targets or revise it completely, if necessary. 4.3.3 Managerial and Non-Managerial Staff Incentive Preference H3: Managerial and non-managerial staffs have different incentives preferences In Abraham Maslow‟s view of motivation, an individual moves from one stage or level of need and aspires for higher order needs, thus his term, hierarchy of needs theory. As employees‟ progress from one stage of the organizational ladder to higher levels, their aspirations tend to differ, with managerial staff expected to have the need for incentive packages different from non-managers. In line with Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs theory, managers will aspire for higher order needs such as esteem and actualization needs, while non-managers may still be working hard to meet the lower level needs such as the safety and security needs. Three areas are considered in analyzing this hypothesis: Firstly, what motivates managerial staff and non-managerial staff? Secondly, what type of motivation will managerial staff and non-managerial staff suggest if given the opportunity? Thirdly, what motivates managerial and non-managerial staff the most? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 75 Table 4.4 What motivates managerial and non-managerial staff. Status in Bank Total Understanding of motivation Managerial Staff Non-Managerial Staff Money and other financial benefits 8 55 63 42.1% 74.3% 67.7% Involvement in decision making/recognition 5 11 16 26.3% 14.9% 17.2% Good working environment 2 1 3 10.5% 1.4% 3.2% Promotion 1 5 6 5.3% 6.8% 6.5% Challenging job 1 1 2 5.3% 1.4% 2.2% Job security 2 1 3 10.5% 1.4% 3.2% Total 19 74 93 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: Field Data, 2013 Missing variable: n=11 The data presented in Table 4.4 above show that 74.3 percent of the non-managerial staff (55 respondents) prefer monetary and other financial incentives while 42.1 percent of managerial staff prefer same. Again, 14.9 percent of non-managerial staff prefers involvement in decision making while 26.3 percent of managerial staff prefer same. This line of responses confirm Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs theory such that the managerial staff are more interested in the higher order needs which involve participation in decision University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 76 making while the non-managerial staff are more interested in the lower order needs, which is given as the preference for monetary and other financial incentives. Table 4.5 Type of motivation that managerial and non-managerial staff may suggest Status in Bank * Incentive preference Crosstabulation Incentive preference Total Monetary Non-Monetary Status in Bank Managerial Staff 2 11% 16 89% 18 Non-Managerial Staff 49 67% 24 33% 73 Total 51 40 91 **Missing variable: n=13 (NB: no response) Source: Field Data, 2013 Respondents were asked to suggest the type of motivation they would want to be used in the banks. The focus here is on managerial and non-managerial staff. The Table 4.5 above summarizes their responses which show that relatively, managerial staffs suggest non- monetary benefits. That is, 11 percent of managerial staff as against 67 percent of non- managerial staff who suggest the use of monetary incentives. On the other hand, 89 percent of managerial staffs suggest the use of non-monetary benefits or incentives as against 33 percent of non-managers suggesting the use of non-monetary incentives. Here again, as seen earlier, there is internal consistency in the responses of both managerial and non- managerial staff on their preference of motivational factors. To further strengthen this line of consistency, a test was run to find out what motivates managers and non-managers the most, whether the job itself or conditions and benefits associated with the job. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 77 Table 4.6 What motivates managers and non-managers the most. Status in Bank * What motivates you the most? Crosstabulation What motivates you the most? Total The job itself Conditions and benefits associated with the job Status in Bank Managerial Staff 14 74% 5 26% 19 Non-Managerial Staff 14 19% 60 81% 74 Total 28 65 93 **Missing variable: n=11 (NB: no response) Source: Field Data, 2013 Table 4.6 shows that 74 percent of managerial staff considers the job itself as the most motivating factor while 81 percent of the non-managers consider conditions and benefits associated with the job as the most motivating factor. Herzberg‟s motivation-hygiene theory applied to this result means that, managers gain satisfaction from the motivator factors (which include the opportunity to partake in decision making) while non-managers are more leaned towards the hygiene factors (which mainly include the monetary incentives and other material benefits that are attached to the job). This may also be attributed to the fact that managers, by their job description, are already part of the decision making process of their respective banks while the non-managers are not. Managers by virtue of their position receive higher salary and have several financial incentives including fuel and rent allowance just to mention but a few. This satisfies their basic needs positioning them ready to aspire for higher level needs. Another reason that can be attributed to this outcome is contained in the finding of Kovach (1987, cited in Bowen and Radhakrishna, 1991), who indicated that as employees‟ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator. They rather aspire for recognition and prestige. Managers in banks earn more than non- University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 78 managers, and thus are more prone to seek for other forms of incentive compared to the latter. In line with this, managers who are by-passed when major decisions are taken in the organisation feel the brunt of such action than the non-managers. In referring to the importance of decision making, Miller and Prichard (1992) mentioned that partaking in decision making is beneficial in the sense that it makes employees feel respected and more interested in the advancement of their jobs. This is what is termed as job enrichment. Herzberg also made some contribution to this term of job enrichment which involves the addition of more tasks to a job so as to provide greater involvement and interaction with the work. Therefore, apart from the normal routine activities of the workers, giving them some other responsibilities to perform on the job makes them more motivated to work harder and contribute towards the general good of the organisation in which they work. 4.3.4 Incentive Preference of Employees of Banks in Ghana H4: Workers of banks in Ghana prefer monetary over non-monetary incentives The study sought to find out what form of incentive employees prefer most. They were given the option to choose between monetary and non-monetary incentives. The results are shown in Tables below. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 79 Table 4.7 Incentive preference Observed N Expected N Residual Monetary 62 51.0 11.0 Non-Monetary 40 51.0 -11.0 Missing 4 Total 104 Source: Field Data, 2013 Table 4.7a Test Statistics Incentive preference Chi-Square 4.745a Df 1 P .029 Source: Field Data, 2013 Table 4.7b Type of Organisation and Incentive preference Crosstabulation Type of Organisation Incentive preference Total Monetary Non-Monetary Private 39 75% 13 25% 52 Public 23 46% 27 54% 50 Total 62 40 102 Source: Field Data, 2013 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 80 Table 4.7c Gender of Respondents and Incentive preference Crosstabulation Gender of Respondents Incentive preference Total Monetary Non-Monetary Male 26 58% 19 42% 45 Female 30 61% 19 39% 49 Total 56 38 94 Source: Field Data, 2013 Table 4.7d Status in Bank and Incentive preference Crosstabulation Status in Bank Incentive preference Total Monetary Non- Monetary Managerial Staff 2 11% 16 89% 18 Non-Managerial Staff 49 67% 24 33% 73 Total 51 40 91 Source: Field Data, 2013 The Chi-Square (χ2) test was used for this analysis. The χ2 value of 4.745 is significant at the 0.05 level of significance (p<0.05). This shows that a significant difference exists in the preference of employees of banks when it comes to monetary and non-monetary incentives. The descriptive statistics shows the observed value of the preference for monetary incentive higher than that of the non-monetary incentive. That is, it was observed that 62 of the respondents chose monetary incentive while 40 of them chose non-monetary incentives. This difference of 22 is significant, taking into consideration the total number of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 81 respondents (n=102) who responded to this questionnaire item. Hypothesis four is therefore retained, meaning that generally, monetary incentives are more preferred than the non- monetary incentives. This distinction was further considered with reference to public- private categorization. It was realized as shown in table 4.7b that employees of private banks are more motivated by monetary incentives than their public counterpart. In relation to gender, it was realized that, men and women tend to have the same level of preference for monetary and non-monetary incentives as shown in table 4.7c above. On the other hand, table 4.7d depicts that, ones‟ status in the bank affects his choice of either monetary or non- monetary incentive. Non-managers are more drawn toward monetary incentives whiles managers favour non-monetary incentives. A test was however run to find out if workers of banks are satisfied with the amount of pay and fringe benefits they are currently receiving. The results are shown in Table 4.9 below. Table 4.8 Satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits Response Observed N Expected N Residual Yes 49 49.0 .0 No 49 49.0 .0 Missing 6 Total 104 Source: Field Data, 2013 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 82 Table 4.8a Type of Organisation and Satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits Type of Organisation Satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits Total Yes No Private 44 96% 2 4% 46 Public 5 10% 47 90% 52 Total 49 49 98 Source: Field Data, 2013 Table 4.8b Status in Bank * Satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits Status in Bank Satisfaction with amount of pay and fringe benefits Total Yes No Managerial Staff 7 39% 11 61% 18 Non-Managerial Staff 33 47% 37 53% 70 Total 40 48 88 Source: Field Data, 2013 The result for the over all picture as shown in the analysis above shows a 50-50 (percent) situation where half of the respondents responded in the affirmative whiles another half responded in the negative. This shows that workers in general are not certain whether they are satisfied or not, with their current salary and fringe benefits. When this satisfaction is viewed from the angel of the type of organization one belongs to, it was discovered that employees of private banks (95%) are more satisfied with their current amount of pay and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 83 fringe benefits compared to their public colleagues (9.62%) as shown in table 4.8b. A conclusive generalization on managerial and non-managerial distinction or otherwise could not be clearly drawn out of this study due to the small size of managerial staff involved in this study. In another vein, this study sees monetary incentives as an example of extrinsic motivation. When respondents were asked to indicate the suggestion they will make to management in terms of the type of motivation to be used, most of them pointed out that they would suggest the monetary incentives. What this means is that such extrinsic motivators must be increased almost regularly so as to obtain the same level of output from the employees as proposed by McCann (2000). In the view of Luthans and Kreitner (1975), contrived rewards (such as monetary incentives) generate extrinsic motivation. They argued that although such contrived rewards could have some positive reinforcement for the employees, they may result in additional cost to the organisation. In this form of reward system also, employees get satisfied too quickly, and may get fed up too soon. Therefore, extrinsic forms of motivation do not have such long-lasting effects as may be required to keep the employees at post for a long period of time. In this case, any time employees feel their extrinsic rewards are delayed, they take some forms of actions, including quitting the job for another one. In Ghana, however, because of the clog in the labour market, workers rather choose to stay and stage industrial actions such as strikes instead of quitting the job. The employees cited different reasons for their response both in affirmative (Yes) and negative (No). Reasons cited for the negative responses mostly revolved around the fact University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 84 that money (salary) and bonuses are not enough, and also the fact that promotions were not forthcoming. Those that responded in the affirmative indicated that the pay was fine with them, and again, the working environment is conducive. 4.4 Employee Involvement Practices This study has focused on analyzing the relation between involvement and motivation, but what constitute involvement and how do the workers of banks in Ghana view it. One of the questionnaire items sought to address this concern. This was a closed-ended question, for which respondents were to choose the most widely used employee involvement practices in their organisation. The outcome of the responses pointed out that 74 percent of the time, suggestion schemes is used as a means of getting employees involved in decision making. The suggestion schemes involve writing of one‟s opinion and dropping it in a staff suggestion box within the premises of the bank. Another way of pooling suggestions is by sending concerns through an on-line system such that all such concerns get into one database and form a queue awaiting resolution by the systems administrator. In the case of Ecobank, they have a complaint database called ‘Remedy’ in which all staff are expected to input their complaint and challenges to be resolved by the service desk and the appropriate agent. The HR officer remarked: "no complaint is addressed by the service desk without a ticket number which you get by logging in remedy. It is like the passport and visa to solutions". The research further sought to find out the ways in which workers are involved in decision making. This was achieved through an open-ended questionnaire item (In what way are University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 85 you involved in decision making in your organisation?). Some of the respondents (39 percent) stated clearly that they are not involved in decision making. These were all non- managerial staff from both banks considered in the study. Another 32 percent of respondents mentioned monthly review meeting as the only way by which they get to make inputs into how things are done in the organisation. Some 6 percent of the respondents indicated that they make comments in reports and give answers to queries as well as determine the prices of the bank products. One of the key ways by which workers get involved is through union activities. However, this is limited only to staff of the public bank as workers in the private banks stated that they do not have such labour unions. Furthermore 10 percent responded that they have opportunity to make direct suggestions to management on regular basis. The next chapter (5), focuses on summarizing the whole study and to bring out clearly the major findings. It also looks at the implications of these findings and makes the appropriate recommendation. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 86 CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.0 Introduction This final chapter of the thesis presents a summary of the findings and draws informed conclusions. Limitations of the study are also mentioned, as well as the recommendations for future research into this area and recommendations for industry, especially, banks. 5.1 Summary This study was conducted with the prime aim of examining the relationship between employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation. Specifically, the study sought to evaluate if employees motivation increases with their an increase in their involvement in decision making in the organization, and to also find out if such relationship significantly differ between employees working in private and public banks. The study further sough to ascertain if a significant difference exists between managerial staff and non-managerial staff in terms of the relationship between involvement in decision making and their motivation levels. Finally, the researcher went ahead to establish the preference of workers in the bank – whether monetary incentives or non-monetary incentives (including participation or involvement in decision making). Four research hypotheses were stated and tested so as to either retain or reject them at the 0.05 level of significance. Hypothesis One posited that there is a significant relationship between employee involvement in decision making and worker motivation; Hypothesis Two stated that workers in private owned banks are more motivated by employee University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 87 involvement than employees of state-owned banks; For Hypothesis Three, managerial and non-managerial staff were tentatively guessed to have different incentive preferences; The last hypothesis (Hypothesis Four) stated that workers of banks in Ghana prefer monetary over non-monetary incentives. For the collection of data, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. The qualitative approach involved responding to open-ended questions in the questionnaire which was aimed at eliciting the personal opinions of respondents on the subject matter. This was supported with data from the interview with HR top official from each bank using the same questionnaire as the interview guide. For the quantitative approach, respondents were required to indicate their degree of responses by ticking against a set of closed-ended questions. Out of the 120 questionnaires administered, 104 were successfully retrieved. Two banks were used in the study – one public, and the other, private. For each bank, questionnaires were administered to three branches; 20 questionnaires per branch. After retrieving the questionnaires, 52 each were obtained from the private and the public bank. These questionnaires together with transcripts from the interviews were analyzed and the results are given as follows: The outcome of Hypothesis One was a weak positive correlation (r=0.142; p>0.05) between involvement in decision making and worker motivation, meaning that as involvement in decision making increases, motivation of employees also increases but at a lower rate. When asked to indicate the factors that motivate them the most, it was observed that participation in decision making was ranked second, after monetary and other financial University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 88 incentives. This means that although employees get motivated when given the chance to partake in decision making, that does not motivate them as much as monetary and other financial incentives do. It can be concluded that, though Herzberg from his study identified that job related characteristics (participation) motivates most than conditions surrounding the work (salary), the case of employees of banks in Ghana base on the findings of this study is different. The open-ended portion of the questionnaire also asked respondents if they think there is any relationship between involvement in decision making and motivation. All who responded in the affirmative explained that partaking in decision making makes them have some inner sense of satisfaction and a feeling of belonging to the organizational processes. It was also noted that by partaking in decision making, autocracy is reduced to some extent. This increases their commitment and desire to go extra mile to ensure the success of the organisation. On the other hand respondents who indicated that no relationship exists noted that other factors must also exist to make one motivated on the job, and that partaking in decision making is just a small aspect of one‟s job description and so cannot lead to significant amounts of motivation. Motivation to them is a function of several factors and not the existence of just a single factor-participation. Hypothesis Two found that a significant difference exists between workers in private bank and workers in public bank in terms of their motivation which arises from their involvement in decision making. Although it was expected that employees of private banks will be more motivated through involvement in decision making, it was rather found that employees in the public bank were more motivated by their involvement in decision making process. Indeed, the public sector has a highly bureaucratic and tough political University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 89 structure and so to be given the opportunity to take part in decision making is highly motivating. Importantly, there is the existence of labour unions in the public sector which allows workers to make meaningful decisions concerning their work life, which is absent in the private bank. Hypothesis Three made a comparison between managers and non-managers regarding their preference for incentive packages, by stating that managers and non-managers have different incentives preferences. Relative comparison indicated that although both managerial staff and non-managerial staff prefer monetary and other financial incentives to other forms of incentives, non-managers were more drawn to the financial incentives than managers. Again, more managers than non-managers are drawn towards participation in decision making. One of the functions of a manager is to take decisions on behalf of his or her unit or department. Therefore, taking part in decision making seems “natural” to the job, and such positions also automatically call for higher remunerations, thereby accounting for their choice of such option – participation in decision making. Non-managers, on the other hand, feel that because it is not part of their job description to take part in decision making, the only preference is for the financial benefits and monetary incentives. When asked the type of motivation they would suggest, managerial staff and non- managerial staff again differed in their responses. That is, while managers suggested more of non-monetary incentives, non-managers suggested monetary incentives. Further, managerial and non-managerial staff were asked to indicate what motivates them the most. Responses pointed to the fact that managers are more drawn to the job itself (which relate University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 90 to the motivator factors of Herzberg) while non-managers are more drawn to the conditions and benefits associated with the job (which relate to what Herzberg described as the hygiene factors). Hypothesis Four suggested that workers in the banks prefer monetary over non-monetary incentives. This hypothesis was stated because one of the basic reasons why many people would want to work in the bank is to have more money. Many Ghanaians especially tertiary students have the perception that once one works in a bank, there is always constant flow of money. Following the data analysis, it was revealed that indeed, workers in banks prefer monetary incentives over non-monetary incentives. A follow-up analysis showed that while one half of respondents are satisfied with the amount of pay they currently receive, another half is not satisfied. This means that there is still more craving from workers in banks for increase in their financial benefits. To link it to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the workers are not attracted to the higher level need of participation (esteem and acceptance need) because their basic and security need of adequate salary have not been sufficiently taken care of. The study further reveal that, even though employee involvement is more of a motivator than hygiene factor, it is very weak in its impact. When it is employed, one should not expect substantial result. Indeed workers only appreciate its impact only after they have adequate financial incentives. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 91 5.2 Conclusions From the foregoing results and discussions, some meaningful conclusions can be drawn from this study. Firstly, the banking industry has in the past, and still, attracting a lot of interest, in terms of the desire to work there. This is basically attributed to the relatively high monetary benefits that workers earn periodically. Workers are seen to be much drawn to the extrinsic forms of motivation, which include the monetary rewards and other financial benefits rather than the intrinsic forms of motivation, including the chance to participate in the organizational processes such as decision making. Although workers of banks regard the opportunity to be involved in decision making as important (thus the positive relationship between employee involvement and motivation), the desire for monetary incentives and other financial benefits seemed more appealing. Therefore, it can be said that what motivates workers in the banking industry is basically the extrinsic forms of motivation. This preference also reflects the nature of the Ghanaian society which is collectivistic. One needs to make more money to take care of himself and the extended family in the phase of high unemployment and rising cost of living. Partaking in decision making constitutes a relatively small factor or variable that contributes to motivation, especially, when the extrinsic factor or hygiene factor of monetary incentives and other financial benefits exist. This is evident by the fact that being given the chance to partake in decision making was ranked second in the order of what motivates workers the most. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 92 The encouragement of labour unions which give workers the chance to partake in decision making, serves as some form of motivation. In the study, it was found that workers in the public bank are more motivated than workers in the private bank in the area of participation in decision making. Therefore, the existence of pressure groups such as labour unions gives employees the opportunity to take part in decision making, which motivates them on the job. Throughout the study, it has been observed that at least, in the two banks, participation in decision making is not a major motivating factor for workers in the banking industry. What serves as a major source of motivation is usually what drives individuals to work in a given organisation. Thus, for instance, someone who wishes to work in an Orphanage may not have monetary and other financial incentives as a major source of motivation; such a person may be motivated because of the love for children. For many workers in the banks, as shown by this study, the basic motivation to work in this sector is because one want to be rich and to have all the pleasures associated with working in the bank – car, house, and expensive lifestyle. This study also concludes that there are other factors that motivate employees, apart from their involvement in decision making. One of them, as mentioned by some respondents is conducive working environment. Such working environment refers to both the physical working environment and the social working environment. The physical working environment include the temperature level of the office, the availability of work machines University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 93 (example, computers, printers, scanners, photocopy machines, and other related working equipment). The social environment refers to the levels of interaction or inter-personal relationships that workers experience while performing their work roles. Thus in a more friendly work environment, one is more motivated to work than in a hostile social work environment which does not encourage any form of interpersonal interactions because of the nature of the work (especially, in the case of Tellers who only have to focus on customers while in their booths or cages). Therefore, apart from employee involvement in decision making, conducive work environment contribute greatly to levels of motivation. 5.3 Limitations of the Study Conducting a social research of this nature comes with some foreseen and unforeseen challenges. For the foreseen challenges, the researcher took steps to address them while collecting data. An example is the anticipation that not all respondents will cooperate with the researcher in filling of the questionnaires. Because of the busy nature of the work of bank workers, it is usually difficult getting their full cooperation in such an academic exercise. The researcher, in light of this foreseen challenge, made most of the questions multiple choice and easy to read. He also took steps to explain the essence of the study and assured the respondents of confidentiality. Although these were done, some respondents did not return questionnaires given to them, citing lack of time and misplacement of the questionnaires. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 94 The unforeseen challenge was the undue delay in returning the questionnaires. The researcher expected to retrieve the questionnaires within three weeks, but it took over six weeks to collect the number of questionnaires retrieved. Another limitation is that the study does not cover all sectors of Ghana‟s economy. The focus was on workers in two banks in the Greater Accra Region. Therefore, the findings may not necessarily reflect what goes on in all banks in Ghana. 5.4 Recommendations The recommendations for the study are divided into two, recommendations for the banking industry and recommendations for researchers. Recommendation for the banking industry is mainly directed towards the strategic decision makers (management team) who determine the various work environments for their staff. It is recommended that throughout the individual‟s stay in the organisation, management must take proactive steps to educate especially new workers on incentive packages available so that they do not feel that the only purpose of work is for financial gains. This will instill in them the determination to work hard. It will also reduce employee turnover as some workers will refuse to leave to different organization even when they are offer higher salary because of the other incentive packages. At least, for the managers, as seen in this study, are more inclined towards the intrinsic forms of motivation. Therefore, through such education and seminars, employees will get to appreciate other motivator factors that can make them satisfied on the job and make them truly motivated. In view of this, the monthly reward of money (salary), should be supplemented by other non-monetary incentives University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 95 including a very conducive social and physical working environment which can enable employees to put in their best. Indeed, such conducive environments are such that it makes employees more committed to the job to the extent that they find it difficult to leave, thereby minimizing employee turnover). Since partaking in decision making is one of the ways that employees feel part of the organisation, some systems should be put in place to give the chance for all levels of workers to make their inputs into the organizational processes. It may not necessarily be a physical meeting of workers to discuss issues of concern; it could be a virtual platform – a website blog or page where all workers in a given organisation can have access to and share information, as well as give their candid opinions as to some major policies in the organisation. The reactions workers make on issues may help to address certain points or factors that were earlier overlooked and to also correct some anomalies. Therefore, having a sense of community living creates the situation of organizational citizenship which makes employees very committed to their work and to the organization's well being. For researchers, some recommendations are as follows: First, this study is not exhaustive in that it does not cover all sectors of industry; neither does it cover all banks in Ghana. For related studies in this area, it is recommended that other sectors of industry are studied so as to enrich the literature on this subject area in Ghana. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 96 Also, detailed qualitative data such as interviews and focus group discussions could be used where it is possible to do so. In this study, it was almost impossible due to the excuse of the lack of time to engage many of the respondents in interviews or group discussions. Therefore, in sectors of business where work is relatively relaxed and less busy, such approaches can be used in order to elicit responses that would allow for more detailed analysis University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 97 REFERENCES Abrefa-Gyan, K. (2008). Industrial Relations, Collective Bargaining Agreement and Labour Law for Professional and Tertiary Students. The Methodist Book Depot Ltd., Ghana Ajang, P.E. (2007). “Assessing the role of work motivation on Employee Performance”. A thesis submitted to Umea Business School. www.europeana.eu/.../203CC72072BE8A41D8CD2812D3B9798456D5 Alderfer, C. (1972). Existence, relatedness, & growth. New York: Free Press. 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A Thesis submitted to the graduate school of social sciences, Middle East Technical University. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12605141/index.pdf?origin=publicationDetail University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 104 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT I am a final year graduate student from the University of Ghana (Sociology Department), Legon and undertaking a research study on the topic “Employee Involvement in Decision Making and Worker Motivation: A Study of two selected Banks in Ghana”. This is in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of an MPhil degree in Sociology. Information is needed from you for the success of this study by responding to the questions below. Kindly be assured that your response(s) would be treated with utmost confidentiality and will only be used for the purpose of this academic research. It should not take you more than twenty (20) minutes to complete this questionnaire. Thank you for your time. SECTION A: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION Please tick where necessary. 1. Gender: Male [ ] Female [ ] 2. Age: 20-30 [ ] 31-40 [ ] 41-50 [ ] 51-60 [ ] 61 and above [ ] 3. Status in the Bank: Managerial Staff [ ] Non-Managerial Staff [ ] 4. Qualification: A/O‟ Level [ ] SSSCE and below [ ] Diploma [ ] Degree [ ] Masters/PhD [ ] Others (specify) ………………………………………. 5. How long have you been in the organization? Less than 2years [ ] 2 - 4years [ ] above 4years [ ] University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 105 SECTION B: EMPLOYEES UNDERSTANDING OF MOTIVATION 8. What is your understanding of motivation? (Tick as many as possible) a) Money and other financial benefits b) Involvement in decision making/Recognition c) Good working environment d) Promotion e) Interesting work f) Challenging job g) Job security h) Others, specify……………………………………… 9. Do you think the company motivates you? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ] (Please tick one) If „Yes‟, how does the company motivate you? ………………………………………….. If „No‟, why do you think the company does not motivate you……………………....... ………………………………………………………………………………………… 10. If you are to suggest to management the type of motivation to be used, what type of incentive will you prefer? a) Monetary incentive b) non-monetary incentive 11. What motivates you the most? Is it: a) the job itself b) conditions and benefits associated with the job 12. I am satisfied with the amount of pay and fringe benefits I receive. a) Yes b) No Please give reason for your answer ……………………………………………………………… SECTION C: EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT Please indicate by ticking 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to respond to the statements what extents you agree or disagree with each. Where: 1= Strongly agree 2= Agree 3= Neutral 4= Disagree 5= Strongly disagree Statements 1 2 3 4 5 13. I take part in formulating procedures and targets for my job. 14. There is a channel for me to forward my suggestions and feedback about new policies implemented to my supervisors. 15. I am an originator of at least one policy or procedure in my organization University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 106 16. My organization uses self management work teams 17. There are work improvement committees (quality circles) in my work place with employees as members 18. I am satisfied with the amount of independent thought and actions I exercise in my job. 19. I am satisfied with the people I talk to and work with on my job 20. I am satisfied with the degree of respect and fair treatment I receive from my supervisor 21. There is both upward and downward communication between management and subordinates in my organization. 22. Employees have representatives on the companies board of directors 23. Employees are offered shares to be part owners of the company (employee share ownership scheme) 24. I exercise complete control over my work. 25. Which of the following employee involvement practices are available in your organization (Please tick as many as applicable) a) Employee share ownership scheme b) Employee representation on board of directors c) Employee participation in collective bargaining d) Suggestion scheme e) Complete control over ones work f) Self management work teams g) Quality circles h) Others (specify)……………………………………………………………………………. 26. In what way are you involved in decision making in your organization? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 107 SECTION D: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INVOLVEMENT AND MOTIVATION Please indicate by ticking 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to respond to the statements what extents you agree or disagree with each. Where: 1= Strongly agree 2= Agree 3= Neutral 4= Disagree 5= Strongly disagree Statements 1 2 3 4 5 27. I put in more effort towards the implementation of policies I participated in formulating than those I did not participate in its formulation 28. Employees in self management work teams are willing to put in extra hours to achieve their target 29. I am motivated to work harder when my supervisor seek my opinion in formulating new policies and targets. 30. I feel my views and efforts are recognized 31. Our representation on the company‟s board of directors spells us on to give our best 32. As a part owner of the company, I am willing to put in extra effort. 33. In your view, is there any relationship between involving employees in decision making and their willingness to put in extra effort (motivation)? Kindly comment: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you!!! University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 108 APPENIX B: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR HUMAN RESOURCE AGENT UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT I am a final year graduate student from the University of Ghana (Sociology Department), Legon and undertaking a research study on the topic “Employee Involvement in Decision Making and Worker Motivation: A Study of two selected Banks in Ghana”. This is in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of an MPhil degree in Sociology. Information is needed from you for the success of this study by responding to the questions below. Kindly be assured that your response(s) would be treated with utmost confidentiality and will only be used for the purpose of this academic research. Thank you for your time. SECTION A: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION 1. Gender distribution in the organisation in general 2. Age: structure of employees 3. The organisational hierarchy and portfolios in the bank 4.Academic and professional qualification of staff 5. Employee turnover and commitment] SECTION B: EMPLOYEES UNDERSTANDING OF MOTIVATION 8. What is your understanding of motivation? 9. Do you think the company motivates its' employee enough? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 109 10. If you are to suggest to management the type of motivation to be used, what type of incentive will you prefer? a) Monetary incentive b) non-monetary incentive 11. What motivates you and other employees the most? 12. Are you satisfied with the amount of pay and fringe benefits you receive.? 12. b. Could you say the same for other workers of the bank? SECTION C: EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT 13. Do you take part in formulating procedures and targets for your job. 14. Are there any channels for you to forward your suggestions and feedback about new policies implemented to management? 15. Have you been an originator of at least one policy or procedure in your organization 16. Does the bank use self management work teams? 17. Are there work improvement committees (quality circles) in your work place with employees as members 18. I am satisfied with the amount of independent thought and actions I exercise in my job. 19. Are workers satisfied with the interpersonal relationship within the organisation. 20. Are you satisfied with the degree of respect and fair treatment you receive from your supervisor 21. Is there both upward and downward communication between management and subordinates in your organization. 22. Do Employees have representatives on the company's board of directors 23. Are Employees offered shares to be part owners of the company (employee share ownership scheme) 24. Do you exercise complete control over your work. 25. What employee involvement practices are available in your organization? 26. In what way are you involved in decision making in your organization? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 110 SECTION D: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INVOLVEMENT AND MOTIVATION 27. Do you put in more effort towards the implementation of policies you participated in formulating than those you did not participate in its formulation 28. Employees in self management work teams are willing to put in extra hours to achieve their target. Do you agree? 29. Are you motivated to work harder when your supervisor seek your opinion in formulating new policies and targets. 30. Do you feel your views and efforts are recognized 31. Do the representation of employees on the company‟s board of directors spells you on to give out your best. 32. If you are a part owner of the company, will you be willing to put in extra effort. 33. In your view, is there any relationship between involving employees in decision making and their willingness to put in extra effort (motivation)? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 111 APPENDIX C: LIST OF ACRONYMS EI Employee Involvement EGH Ecobank Ghana GCB Ghana Commercial Bank HR Human Resource IT Information Technology University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh