THE IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON WORKERS PERFORMANCE IN AN ORGANIZATION

(A CASE STUDY OF GUINNESS NIGERIA PLC, BENIN CITY)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1            BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The issue of motivation of employees is of great importance to both management and workers in the organization. In spite of its importance, not every one appreciated its importance. Perhaps the reason for this is because it is difficult to define and apply in organizations.

          Right from the beginning, management of organizations have been facing the problem of how to motivate workers to greater performance with a view of increasing productivity, more so, and job efficiency. Even up till now, the problem still persists in some public and private organizations. Although much has been said on this subject but the fact is that, motivation has received attention from practicing managers and organizational researchers in recent years.

          Efforts have been made to get workers to come on time and work maximally for their pay. However, workers alone should not be held responsible for low productivity. There is need on the part of management to motivate workers.

          When workers are properly motivated, then they will be in a position to put in their best in their various organizations.

          In the word of Atkinson (1964), motivation has no fixed meaning in contemporary psychology.

          The word motivation comes from a Latin word ‘Movere’ meaning to move, moving camber. Consequently, many researchers and workers have defined motivation in various ways. For example, (Peteromode 1991) defines it as a proponent state that energizes and guides behavior. It is rarely measured directly but it is inferred from changes in behavior or even attitudes.

          The encyclopedia of management refers to motivation as the degree of readiness of an organization to pursuer some designated goals and implies the determination of the nature and focus of the forces including the degree of readiness.

          However, staff motivation started in Nigeria in 1950. It has also started in many other Africa countries with the introduction of wage employment. Before this time, forms of motivation also existed. The major occupation of Africans was faming. The father, who is the head of family affairs, controls the entire farming activities. He uses his immediate family members on the farm hence needs no formal motivation. But in order to ensure more productivity, he provides for the basic necessities of his households physiological need such as food, shelter and clothing, as well as care for them with his best.

          In the 19th century, commercial activities were introduced, that is people were being paid for services rendered. Therefore, many left the farm and engaged themselves in the commercial activities and were motivated by the payment of wages. Some of the non-performance criteria on which organizational benefits are bases include: length of service, godfatherism, religious and local state government affiliation and organizational politics.

1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GUINNESS NIGERIA PLC

The firm Guinness Nigeria Plc came into existence in year 1950 with the sole aim of importing and distributing Guinness stout from Dublin for eventual sales in Nigeria. Due to the success of the product in the country it gave rise to a decision to establish a small brewery in the year 1962.The foundation stone of Guinness was laid at Ikeja on the 31st January 1962, by Arthur Benjamin Francis Guinness now the Earl of Irish to which titles he succeeded on his grandfather’s death until 1967 in active services during the 2nd world war.

Guinness Nigeria is a subsidiary of the prestigious Diageo Plc of the United Kingdom. The brewery was the first outside of Ireland and Great Britain. Other breweries have been opened over time – Benin City brewery in 1974 and Ogba brewery in 1982.

Guinness Nigeria produces the following brands – Foreign Extra Stout (1962), Guinness Extra Smooth (2005) Malta Guinness (1990), Harp Lager Beer (1974), Gordon’s Spark (2001), Smirnoff Ice (2006), Satzenbrau (1995).

Guinness Nigeria Plc is a company that believes in enriching its communities. This it has achieved by embarking on laudable Corporate Social Responsibility projects in several communities in Nigeria. These projects are Water of Life initiative, which currently provides potable water to over 500,000 Nigerians spread across several rural communities, from Northern to Southern Nigeria; scholarship and Guinness Eye Hospitals in three cities in Nigeria.

Nigerian Guinness is said to be twice as strong as Irish Guinness. In the 1800s, the Irish brewed the Guinness twice as strong, due to a fear of evaporation on the long voyage to Nigeria. However, the alcohol did not evaporate, and to this day Nigerians brew their Guinness twice as strong.

Guinness became a public company in 1965 and was one of the first companies to be quoted in Nigeria stock exchange with shares being offered to Nigerian shareholders, 1200 Nigerian held 20% of the equity.

In 1971, a decision was taken to build a new Brewery at Benin at a cost 12million to brewery larger beer, this was the biggest brewery ever built in Nigeria.

The company believes that investment in the training and development of its staff are wise investments. This has resulted in the establishment of training centers in Benin and Lagos (Ikeja).

Following the ban on importation of methods barely the company has conducted research into the use of maize and sorghum in place of malt in production of the different brands of beverages.

In the Nigerian market, Harp lager beer gained a remarkable success alongside Guinness  stout, due to its good quality too hence received a wide patronage and now known as Guinness Nigeria PLC.

It was merely up to a decade of the brewery and marketing of harp that its brand loyalists started shifting their interest to the other hand. The complaint raised by Harp patronizes for gradually changing preference was as a result of the carelessness on the part of the brewers to eradicate particles discovered in the final product and these were major set-backs suffered by Guinness Harp.

In the year 1995 a new product line “satzenbrau” was in the market and it received attention in Lagos and west Ibadan to be precise for now.

In 1990 another product line “Malta Guinness”, was also in the market and it has received attention all over the country and outside the country.

It indeed received acceptance and as such requires effective management system, to guide against the future of all lines of product carried out by Guinness Nigeria Plc. (www.Guinnessnigeria.com).

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

The effective motivation of workers is a problem in most organizations; this is probably because there is no implementation of the necessary procedure or techniques of motivation. 

Lack of qualified personnel who are well oriented in term of motivation of workers in organizations is another problem. Those who are responsible for workers motivation are supposed to be psychologically minded to be able to study workers to know what motivate them most. Achieving such goals of motivation of workers by non-professionals is even more problematic.

There is also the problem of the ability to identify what stimulates the employees to work more efficiently. Most organizations are not willing to go on research in such area.

There is a question of how to instigate employees to be more productive and efficient when they are not properly motivated in every aspect in their job.

The word ‘Motivation’ sounds interesting, but achieving its goal and objectives can be a problem in most organizations.

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1.     The main objective of the study is to examine and determine the process of modern motivational strategy in an organization like Guinness Nigeria Plc.

2.     Also, to present detailed principles and process of motivating people to work effectively.

3.     How motivation of workers enhances individual and organizational growth

4.     How motivation of workers improves productivity and job performance

5.     How motivation of workers enhances quality but not just quantity in an organization

6.     How motivation of workers also enhances group dynamism and good labour management relations.

7.     To also know how to select and apply motivational tools.

1.5            SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

At the end of this study, most organizations will understand that basic principles and process of motivating people to work effectively by highlighting the problem facing motivation before and at present.

          It will educate those who are studying Business Administration and management as a course in tertiary institution and it will serve as reference for researchers.

1.6            SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research is mainly based on the effect of motivation on workers performance as it affects job performance and productivity in organizations with particular attention on such organization as Guinness Nigeria Plc, Benin.

1.7            RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study aims at motivation on job performance in Guinness Nigeria Plc, Benin City as case study.

Research Question 1

-         Are you motivated to work?
Research Question 2

-         Are the incentives in Guinness Nigeria Plc good enough to motivate workers?
Research Question 3

-         Do you think that the provision of these incentives can improve performance?
Research Question 4:

-         Are there enough facilities in Guinness Nigeria Plc?
research Question 5:

-         Can those training facilities in any way increase productivity?

1.8            LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

One of the major problems encountered by the researcher is the monetary problem. There was no sufficient money to make the purchasing of all necessary materials for the research work. There was also the problem of meeting some personalities to get information from them. Because of that, the researcher fined it difficult to collect all the necessary information. However, the researcher made do with the resources available for her research work.

1.9            DEFINITION OF TERMS

i.                   Organizing: this is determined of activities that need to be done in order to reach the activities to the proper personnel.

ii.                Incentives: these are provision, which encourage one to do the best.

iii.             Motivation: this is an inner state of minds satisfaction which energizes or encourages someone’s behavior towards the entailment of the objectives.

iv.              Productivity: this can be defined as efficiency with which work is done, the amount of work done in a certain work.

v.                 Responsibility: this is the duty to perform certain assigned tasks in a satisfactory manner.

vi.              Delegation: delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to other sub-ordinate in order to carry out certain assignment.