Reasons For Hardships in Sustaining Motivated Workforce: Ch. 4-5

Dissertation

Reasons For Hardships in Sustaining Motivated Workforce in Qatar

Ch 4-Findings, Analysis and Discussion:

As mentioned in the preceding chapter, the survey questionnaire has been administered to conduct this research. The results of using various descriptive statistical tools via the use of MS Excel have yielded the following information. It is to be noted that as per the nature of each question, a different statistical tool has been used to yield the best result and interpretation of the responses.

The responses of the respondents have been evaluated and gathered on an excel sheet with their answers mentioned against the questions they were asked. Ten employees from each of the companies have answered the questions for the survey. For confidentiality reasons, the names of the companies have been remained confidential as the greatest number of respondents are expatriates in these Qatari Manufacturing SMEs and thus have the threat of losing their jobs if their responses are released. Similar, for the same reason, the individual demographic information has not been revealed in the study as well.

The Survey Questionnaire used has three parts in which a total of 10 questions were asked. As mentioned before 9 close-ended and 1 open-ended question was used in the survey. The open-ended question was used to cater to the various employee responses in case some of the employees cannot find their answers in the listed options. Only 3 of the respondents have used the open-ended question to answer the question with the response which has not been present in the listed available options. The first section records the normal demographic information on the participant while the third part asks about the areas of lacking for their organizations. This third part would help us answer the Research Question 1 which asked for challenges in the sustaining of motivation level of Qatari employees. The second question has been designed to answer the questions which would yield information on the various needed strategies that can help motivate the employees of these Qatari manufacturing SMEs. It would answer the Research Question 2 on finding the strategies that would help these Qatari Manufacturing SMEs in sustaining the motivation level of their employees. The results of the survey Questionnaire are shown in the next section.

Findings and Analysis:

The first part of the survey shows questions to ask them of their perception of motivation level of themselves. The questions are given with the figures of the respondent’s answers in each part.

Part 1: Existing Motivation Level of Employees

Question1: Do you consider yourself a motivated employee?

This question asked how the employees perceive themselves regarding the motivation level. The answers of the respondents were in the form of two given options that were “Yes” or “No.” The respondents who answered with “Yes” were lower than the ones who answered with the answer of “No.” 27 of the 50 respondents have answered with a No answer while 23have answered with an answer of Yes.

Table 3: Q1

Respondents who answered Yes	23
Respondents who answered No	27

We can see from the graphical representation that the majority of the employees of these 5 Qatari Manufacturing SMEs consider itself as not motivated. However, the portion is about just more than half. It is to be noted that about half of the employees considered themselves motivated as well.

Figure 2: Q1-Do you consider yourself a motivated employee?

Question 2: How would you rank your level of motivation?

This second and last question in the first part asks the respondents about their perception of the existing level of motivation or de-motivation with the company. The answers were given by choosing any of the five available options which included; Very much motivated, motivated, moderate, not motivated, and highly de-motivated.

Table 4: Q2

Respondents who answered	Num of Answers
Very much motivated	6
Motivated	8
Moderate	12
Not Motivated	17
Highly De-motivated	7

The answers as shown in the table and graphical representation shows that the highest number of the respondents have considered themselves as not motivated, while the lowest number of respondents consider themselves as very much motivated. Most of the respondents tend to have the perception of moderate or not motivated. Seven of these employees have considered themselves as highly de-motivated.

Figure 3: Q2-How would you rank your level of motivation?

The graphical representation of these answers in the pie chart shows that about two-third chunk of the pie is covered with the respondents who consider themselves as moderate, not motivated or highly de-motivated.

This section shows that the majority of the respondents have the perception of being moderately motivated, or not motivated or highly de-motivated.

Part 2: Strategies for Improving the Motivation Level of Employees

This part is the one which has four questions in all that asks about the perceived or preferred motivating factors for the employees of Qatari Manufacturing SMEs. The type of questions used in this part is also close-ended with two of the questions which ask to choose any five of the alternatives, while one question asks for ranking of the alternative motivating factors in terms of their preference, and the last one asks for the choosing of any of the given 11 alternatives for answering their questions. It has been made sure though restriction filters that the answers are given as per the requirements of the question.

Question 3: Which of the factors do you think are important to you for motivating you to work best? (Choose any five)

This question asks directly to the respondents on what factors in their perception are the best for motivating them in the company to have more productive performance and job satisfaction. The answer can be given by choosing any five of the given 11 alternative options.

Table 5: Q3

Motivating Factors	Num of Respondents
Financial incentives & participation	46
Recognition	39
Training & Career Opportunities	33
Working Conditions	12
Job Enlargement	11
Job Rotation	9
Job Enrichment	14
Job Design	7
Performance Appraisal & Feedback	41
Leadership	21
Workplace Culture	17

We are interpreting the answers by using the measure of the highest number of respondents who chose one motivating factor as the best one to motivate them in the company. The figures show that the highest number of respondents have selected “Financial Incentive and Participation” as the motivating factor. Secondly, the motivating factor of “Performance Appraisal and Feedback” has been chosen 41 times by the employees of the Qatari SMEs. “Recognition” and the “Training and Career opportunities” have been found to be chosen as the third and fourth most selected motivating factor of the employees.

Figure 4: Q3-Which of the factors do you think are important to you for motivating you to work best?

The graph shows the same picture as well. It is important to notice that Job Design, Job Rotation, Job Enlargement, and Job enrichment along with the Working conditions have been selected by fewer respondents. The Workplace culture and Leadership is also important motivating factors for the Qatari employees of the Manufacturing companies.

Question 4: Can you rank these factors in order of your preference (Which factor would motivate “you” the most)

This question asks the same question as the last one. However it also asks for the preference of all the factors mentioned in the question and the respondents have to rank the answers in order of their preference. The answers are measured by looking at the highest number of ranks that has been given to each of the motivating factors within the first five ranks. It is important to understand as each of the motivating factors is going to receive rank from each of the fifty respondents of the survey. However, to know which one of the motivating factors have been considered as the preference by most of the employees within the five ranks would yield information on its importance to the employees in general.

Table 6: Q4a

Motivating Factors	Highest Num of Ranks
Financial incentives & participation	49
Recognition	50
Training & Career Opportunities	48
Working Conditions	13
Job Enlargement	12
Job Rotation	0
Job Enrichment	0
Job Design	13
Performance Appraisal & Feedback	47
Leadership	12
Workplace Culture	6

Looking at the table for the highest number of ranks for each of the motivating factor, it is evident that job rotation, job enrichment does not get any preference from the respondents in the first five ranks. The highest number of ranks for any of the motivating factor can be 50. It shows that the motivating factor with fifty numbers of ranks is the one which has been selected by all fifty employees in the range of the first five ranks. In this perspective, the motivating factor of “Recognition” is the one who has scored 50 in this ranking. On the second rank is the motivating factor of “Financial incentives and Participation.” Thirdly, the motivating factor of “Training and Development also scored 48 ranks from the respondents within the 50 limit. Another important motivating factor was Performance Appraisals and Feedback which was considered 47 times by the respondents as the important factor for motivation within the five highly important factors. We can also see that Job Design, Job enlargement, Working conditions, Leadership, and Workplace culture also received highest ranks in the first five ranks in the mentioned order.

Table 7: Q4b

	1st	2nd	3^rd	4^th	5th
Financial incentives & participation	28	8	9	2	2
Recognition	13	12	13	9	3
Training & Career Opportunities	7	17	15	4	5
Performance Appraisal & Feedback	0	6	9	19	13

The above table shows a different picture of this measure. Even though the motivating factor of “Recognition” was considered as most important enough to be ranked in the first five ranks by all of the 50 respondents, it does not receive the highest number of “The first Rank.” Financial Incentives and Participation has been considered as the first preference by the highest number of respondents, i.e. 28. Recognition comes second with 13 First ranks and Training, and Career opportunity is considered the first important motivating factor by seven employees. Looking at the figures, it is important to notice that motivating factors of “Financial incentives and Participation”, “Recognition “are more concentrated on the first three ranks while the motivating factor of “Performance Appraisal and Feedback” is concentrated more on the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th ranks, while “Training & Career Opportunities” is concentrated more in the 2^nd and 3^rd Ranks.

Figure 5: Q4a–Motivating Factors

This is also represented in the bar graph which shows that financial incentive and participation is most ranked as the first most important motivating factor, While Trailing and Career Opportunity is ranked most as the 2^nd important motivating factor, and 3^rd most important motivating factor, while Performance Appraisal and Feedback is the most 4^th and 5^th ranked motivating factor by the respondents.

Figure 6: Q4b-Financial Incentive

Question 5: Which of the motivational factors do you think that your company is currently working on but needs to improve?

This question was intended to ask to know what motivational factors are being recognized by the respondents in their companies and consider it to have room for improvement. For this purpose, the similar method of asking the respondents to select their choice of motivating factors from the given 11 motivating factors was used. This question did not limit it to five choices neither is restricted the respondents to check all options. It ensured that maximum liberty was given to the employees to choose what they think is the motivating factor that needs the attention of their companies.

Table 8: Q5

Motivating Factors	Motivating Factor Needs Improvement
Financial incentives & participation	89
Recognition	69
Training & Career Opportunities	97
Working Conditions	43
Job Enlargement	0
Job Rotation	11
Job Enrichment	0
Job Design	21
Performance Appraisal & Feedback	36
Leadership	22
Workplace Culture	21

As the results of question 5 shows, the respondents chose the Training and Career Opportunities as the motivating factor which needs the most attention. The Financial Incentive and Participation motivating factor was the second most selected one with Recognition as the third most and the Working Conditions as the Fourth most selected motivating factor by the respondents. Job Enrichment was not selected by any of the respondents showing that either this motivating factor has not been the one in which the companies are not working or that it is not a preference for the workers to have the attention of the company on it. Similar was found to be for the Job Enlargement factor as well. Job Rotation has received the least number of approvals by the respondents while Job Design, Workplace culture, Leadership and Performance Appraisal, and Feedback also were considered as the factors on which the company was perceived to be working on however needs more improvement.

Figure 7: Q5-Motivating Factor Needs Improvement

It is also visible in the graphical representation of the answers of the respondents, showing the tilt of the respondents towards Training and Career Opportunities, Financial incentives, and Recognition to get more attention from their companies.

Question 6: What de-motivates you the most? (Choose any five)

It is a pretty much straightforward question which has been asked along with the liberty of choosing any five of the de-motivating factors. The lacking of the motivating factors here is considered as the de-motivating factors.

Table 9: Q6

De-Motivating Factors	Num of Selection by Respondents
Lack of Financial incentives & participation	49
Lack of Recognition	58
Lack of Training & Career Opportunities	23
Lack of Supporting Working Conditions	3
Lack of Job Enlargement	0
Lack of Occasional Job Rotation	0
Lack of Job Enrichment	0
Lack of Effective Job Design	9
Lack of Performance Appraisal & Feedback	49
Lack of Leadership	32
Lack of Motivating Workplace Culture	27

The above table shows how the respondents have selected the de-motivating factors showing which one is most considered as the de-motivating factor. One can say that this question does not ask a different thing as compared to Question 3 in which the respondents were asked which five motivating factors would be considered as best to motivated them. Even though it looks the same, the answers could be different. As research has shown that financial incentive in comparison with the recognition does not yield long-term motivation and organizational commitment for the employee, however, if not available, or if the financial compensation is less than the expectation of the employee, then it is a very de-motivating factor. It shows that some of these factors may not be considered as motivating for the employees as these are always present. However, their absence can have a significant influence on the motivation level of the employee consequently also influencing on the job satisfaction level and the organizational performance.

We can see the difference in the results as well. Even though the results have been more inclined towards the four motivating factors of “Financial incentive & Participation”, “Recognition”, “Appraisal and Performance feedback” and “Career Growth and Training” We can see that their lacking is more widely concerned over by the respondents as compared to the wish of having them. The center part of the graph below is blank as not even some of the respondents considered the lacking of these factors as the most de-motivating. Lack of Recognition was the most de-motivating factor as it was chosen the most, while the Lack of financial incentives and the lack of performance appraisal and feedback came after it. Lack of supporting working conditions was selected by the least of the respondents apart from the Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, and Job Rotation which was not selected by even one respondent. It shows that when it comes to de-motivating factors, basic needs play an important role as compared to the higher needs of job rotation, enrichment, and enlargement.

Figure 8: Q6-Demotivating Factors

Part 3: Challenges on Sustaining the Motivation Level of Employees

This part is dedicated to finding the information on the challenges of sustaining the motivation level of the employees regarding the Manufacturing SMEs of Qatar. The section holds four questions in which the last question is an open-ended question and also a sub-part of Question 9. The companies can use the information that yields from this section to know in which areas are they lacking and how do they can overcome these challenges by using the information presented in the above section.

Question 7: Which of the motivational factors do you think your company lacks completely (Choose any five)

This question asks for the opinion of the respondents on which of the motivating factors is perceived by them to be non-existent in their company. The usual 11 motivating factors are provided as the available alternate options to check. The respondents have the liberty to select any five of these.

Table 10: Q7

Motivating Factors	Num of times Selected by Respondents
Financial incentives & participation	22
Recognition	21
Training & Career Opportunities	43
Working Conditions	22
Job Enlargement	38
Job Rotation	43
Job Enrichment	29
Job Design	9
Performance Appraisal & Feedback	10
Leadership	8
Workplace Culture	5

This table shows the results of this question. The respondents answered the question by checking any five of their preferred choice which they think is not present in their company. The table shows that Training and Career Opportunities, and Job Rotation is was considered by most of the employees to be the motivating factors which are perceived to be non-existent in their companies. Second, to that, Job enlargement was considered to be entirely non-existent in their companies. Job Enrichment is ranked as the third most selected option by the respondent’s whiles the Financial Incentives and Participation, Recognition, Working Conditions come after these. Even though the Job Design, Leadership, Performance Appraisal, and Workplace culture is selected the least by the respondents, it shows there non-existent in the companies as well.

Figure 9: Q7-Motivating Factor that is Not Present Completely in Company

We can see that even though nearly all of the factors were selected in this question by the respondents, most respondents seem to agree on some of these. These include the Training and Career Opportunities, and Job Rotation, Job enlargement, Job Enrichment, and Financial incentive and participation.

It can also be seen that even though the partisans have selected some of these motivating factors like the ones which they think the company is working on, they have still considered it important to check it here to communicate that it has not been present completely. It might be confusing. However, our best guess would be that employees want to see more work being put into this one.

Question 8: Have you considered switching your job in the last two months

This question is of very important nature as the answers to this question would not only show that the management of these companies has some serious issues to consider which cannot be postponed. The answers by respondents are of very sensitive nature which is why the identity of the respondents has been kept secret and would not be revealed in future as well.

Table 11: Q8

8. Have you considered switching your job in the last two months
Respondents who answered Yes	31
Respondents who answered No	19

The table above shows that 31 of the respondents have considered switching their jobs in the last two months. The reason could be personal as well. However, we are assuming that it has a foundation in the motivation strategies of the company. Assuming this, it can be said that the SMEs manufacturing companies have some serious thoughts to give to their human resource strategies as the result of this question shows that more than 60% of the respondents have wanted to quit their jobs in the current position in the last two months, which is not very far.

Figure 10: Q8-Have you considered switching your job in last two months?

Question 9: Does the reason for considering job switch is listed here? If yes, please mark.

It is a question which leads from the one that has been asked before it. This question is important as it would show if the job switch has been associated with the factors which can be controlled by the management. It would also show that the areas which have been the source of challenge for the employees and hence the source of challenge for the management to sustain the motivation level of the employees.

Table 12: Q9

The reason of Job Switch	No of Times Selected
Lack of Financial incentives & participation	6
Lack of Recognition	7
Lack of Training & Career Opportunities	8
Lack of Supporting Working Conditions	0
Lack of Job Enlargement	0
Lack of Occasional Job Rotation	0
Lack of Job Enrichment	0
Lack of Effective Job Design	0
Lack of Performance Appraisal & Feedback	3
Lack of Leadership	1
Lack of Motivating Workplace Culture	3

The above table shows the figures regarding the reason that the employees consider is behind their consideration of switching the current job. It is important to clarify here that the respondents who selected “No” in the question proceeding to it were asked not to answer the following two questions. Thus the answers to this question were only responded by the 31 of the respondents who selected “Yes” in Question 8. Furthermore, as 3 of the respondents did not find the reason for their job switch in the available list, they used the next Question, i.e. Q10 to answer it. The answers to this question show that most of the respondents who have considered switching job in their last two months found the lack of training and career opportunities as the reason for their consideration. While the lack of recognition was considered the reason by 7 of the respondents who considered job switch in the last two months. 6 of the respondents considered the lack of financial incentive and participation as the source of their consideration for job switch in the last two months. Lack of Performance Appraisal and Feedback and the lack of Motivating Workplace Culture were considered as the reason for job switch by 3 respondents. One Respondent blamed the leadership as the reason on considering job switch.

Figure 11: Q9-No of Times Selected

Similar to the de-motivating factors identified in Question 6, the center part of the bar graph is totally blank, showing that it is the lack of the basic human needs of appreciation, financial incentives, and growth opportunities, motivating work culture and performance feedback and appraisal which cause the workers to consider leaving their jobs. It is a highly important revelation of this study.

Question 10: If the reason of job switch is not listed above, please state your reason here;

As explained earlier, the reason for job switch was asked here again to the ones who could not locate it on the given list.

Table 13: Q10

Q10

Lack of Cooperation from staff

Ignore Complains

No Teamwork spirit

Interestingly, the lack of cooperation of the staff, the ignorance of the complaints of the staff, and the lack of teamwork spirit were written by the three respondents who used this option. It shows that the lack of consideration of the feelings and concerns of the employees, and supportive coworkers are another important de-motivating factor as well.

Ch 5-Conclusion & Recommendations:

We have come a long way from where we started. After conducting a comprehensive literature review on the motivational factors, theories, and articles, we researched the five manufacturing SMEs of Qatar. It was interesting to note the reason for which the Qatar Manufacturing SMEs were selected to be investigated in this study were found to be the reason for the challenges in sustaining the motivation level of the employees in Qatar companies. We knew that the Manufacturing SMEs of Qatar was not giving high productive results as compared to its companion sectors; it was spending more on innovation in the operational procedures and improvement, and however, the budget was not spending much on Human Resource. Even though most of the Manufacturing SMEs in Qatar have dedicated Human resource employee or department, their strategies of human resource have been not very productive. They have not been found to identify the sources of their recruitment and manpower, while the companies were focusing more on just giving their employees the needed on-the-job training. Only the key personnel are selected to have important skill development training. This situation was confirmed by our study. The use of interpretive research aided us in having the liberty to yield most information from the respondents. The results showed that even though Financial Incentives, Participation, Recognition, Training and Career Growth Opportunities, Performance Appraisal and Feedback are the most “selected” motivating factors by the respondents, Companies need to work on all areas to better yield productive results. Another interesting fact was seen repeatedly in the study that the lack of basic motivation factors like Financial Incentives, Participation, Recognition, Training and Career Growth Opportunities, Performance Appraisal and Feedback were considered “highly de-motivating” to the extent that it caused the employees to consider job switch. We are also assuming that the lack of interest in the Job Enrichment, Job Design, Job Rotation, and Job Enlargement motivating factors is more linked to the fact that these motivating factors, even though important, comes after the basic needs of motivation as per the Maslow need theory and hence are not considered important when the basic ones are not even provided. The respondents have recognized that their companies are working on giving them some financial incentives, appraisals, feedback, recognition of their efforts and training but it needs major improvement.

How Research Questions are Answered

We dedicated this study to answering the research questions that.

What are the factors that lead to the hardships in sustaining the motivation of employees in Qatar Companies

Research Question 1 was answered by showing that the challenges that the Qatari companies are facing in sustaining the motivation level of employees is in the shape of lack of improvement or work on the motivational factors of; Financial Incentives, Participation, Recognition, Training and Career Growth Opportunities, Performance Appraisal and Feedback, Supportive Work Conditions, appropriate Job Design, and Motivating Work Culture.

What are the strategies which can help in sustaining the motivation of the employees in companies of Qatar?

Research Question was answered by showing that the companies can work on improving the motivational factors which are related to the basic needs of the employees at first to help sustain the motivation level of the employees. It can be done to work more on providing Recognition, Financial Incentives, Participation, Training and Career Growth Opportunities, Performance Appraisal and Feedback, Supportive Work Conditions in the said order. After working on these factors on a satisfying level, the companies can further work on providing Job Enrichment, Enlargement, Rotation, Effective leaders, and supportive culture for work. An effective plan can be implemented which takes into consideration the opinions of its employees on an occasional basis to have a constantly improving human resource plan. It is important that the identities of the employees are kept secret in this feedback mechanism.

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Appendix:

Survey Questionnaire:

Name: ___________

Gender: ___________

Age: ___________

Nationality: ___________

Level of Job Position: ___________

Company Name: ___________

Part 1: Existing Motivation Level of Employees

Do you consider yourself a motivated employee?
1. Yes
2. No
How would you rank your level of motivation
Very much motivated
Motivated
Moderate
Not Motivated
Highly De-motivated

_________________________________________________________________________

Part 2: Strategies for Improving the Motivation Level of Employees

Which of the factors do you think are important to you for motivating you to work best? (Choose any five)
1. Financial incentives & participation
2. Recognition
3. Training & Career Opportunities
4. Working Conditions
5. Job Enlargement
6. Job Rotation
7. Job Enrichment
8. Job Design
9. Performance Appraisal & Feedback
10. Leadership
11. Workplace Culture
Can you rank these factors in order of your preference (Which factor would motivate “you” the most)
1. Financial incentives & participation
2. Recognition
3. Training & Career Opportunities
4. Working Conditions
5. Job Enlargement
6. Job Rotation
7. Job Enrichment
8. Job Design
9. Performance Appraisal & Feedback
10. Leadership
11. Workplace Culture
Which of the motivational factors do you think that your company is currently working on but needs to improve
1. Financial incentives & participation
2. Recognition
3. Training & Career Opportunities
4. Working Conditions
5. Job Enlargement
6. Job Rotation
7. Job Enrichment
8. Job Design
9. Performance Appraisal & Feedback
10. Leadership
11. Workplace Culture
What de-motivates you the most? (Choose any five)
1. Lack of Financial incentives & participation
2. Lack of Recognition
3. Lack of Training & Career Opportunities
4. Lack of Supporting Working Conditions
5. Lack of Job Enlargement
6. Lack of Occasional Job Rotation
7. Lack of Job Enrichment
8. Lack of Effective Job Design
9. Lack of Performance Appraisal & Feedback
10. Lack of Leadership
11. Lack of Motivating Workplace Culture

Part 3: Challenges on Sustaining the Motivation Level of Employees

Which of the motivational factors do you think your company lacks completely (Choose any five)
1. Financial incentives & participation
2. Recognition
3. Training & Career Opportunities
4. Working Conditions
5. Job Enlargement
6. Job Rotation
7. Job Enrichment
8. Job Design
9. Performance Appraisal & Feedback
10. Leadership
11. Workplace Culture
Have you considered switching your job in last two months
1. Yes
2. No
Does the reason of considering job switch is listed here? If yes, please mark.
1. Lack of Financial incentives & participation
2. Lack of Recognition
3. Lack of Training & Career Opportunities
4. Lack of Supporting Working Conditions
5. Lack of Job Enlargement
6. Lack of Occasional Job Rotation
7. Lack of Job Enrichment
8. Lack of Effective Job Design
9. Lack of Performance Appraisal & Feedback
10. Lack of Leadership
11. Lack of Motivating Workplace Culture
If the reason of job switch is not listed above, please state your reason here.

Click here to read chapter 1-3

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