Abstract

This dissertation is concerned with the effect of money when motivating employees at call centres. The evidence in my writing indicates that the money influences the way employees are motivated at work. The topic area that has been chosen is motivation, as this is the main factor that is important for any employees and employers that are working for any business. This will be carried out and will be explained in detail what is motivation and how is it important for the business. Motivation is an understanding within the business and is expressed in every different level for employees; the researcher will define motivation for the purpose of this. “A state arising in processes that are internal and external to the individual, in which the person perceives that it is appropriate to pursue a certain course of action (or actions) directed at achieving a specified outcome (or outcomes) and in which the person chooses to pursue those outcomes with a degree of vigour and persistence”

Rollinson (2002).

This research shows the expectations of motivation and how peoples needs and their expectations of working in a busy and successful environment and what their role is and how they are motivated.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction

This chapter will introduce the topic of call centres and employee’s motivation in the workplace and set out the aims and objectives of this research paper.

1.1 Call Centers

Call centers provide a service to the public, whether they are inbound or outbound. Nowadays call centers have become very popular in our society, where majority companies have centralized customer service and support functions.

1.2. Aims and Objective

The aim of the writer is to research motivation and the use of motivation in the workplace. The importance of motivation procedures are carried out to ensure that the main focus is to see how effective the monetary policy is and how it may be related to motivation so that the research can see whether money is the key factor. This is known as a reward and incentives scheme in a working environment. To measure the importance of the monetary there are also other factors that will be discussed to see whether the monetary factor in relation to other non monetary factors.

1.3 Research Objectives

A breakdown is given of the two types of research methods, positivism and interpretivism and details are provided of the type of research methods that have been used for this paper, in order to gather specific and accurate details to prove whether or not motivation is the key factor in the working environment. The writer discusses the research methods in relation to the use of a survey they have conducted as part of a case study, which was realistically practical and workable for the researcher.

1.4 Writers and their Theories

The researcher investigates a variety of writers and their theories based on motivation.

F.W Taylor (1911) Scientific Management idea was, and still is influential to today’s organisational behaviours. F.W. Taylor pursued a theory to explain what encourages people of give of their best in the work situation. Taylor put forward the view that people were primarily motivated by money since it lies at the root of most of their problems. Taylor’s key principles encouraged work productivity when the conditions provided gave them a chance to receive a bigger wage package. These are as follow:

• Some form of work measurement. – for example items per shift which could be counted/recorded
• Some standard of performance
• Direct financial incentives – so that the worker gets a fatter wage packet for producing more.
• Taylor’s ethics include the workplace management are constantly watching employees otherwise production will slow down or come to a stop, and employees are money motivated.

The different theories of motivation can be divided into two contrasting groups. Content theories concentrate on what motivates and are concerned with people’s needs and strengths and the goals they pursue in order to satisfy those needs. The theories include:

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model
• Alderfer’s modified need hierarchy model
• Herzberg’s two-factor theory
• McClelland’s achievement motivation theory

Process theories of motivation emphasizes on the actual process of motivation. They are concerned with the relationship between the dynamic variables, which make up motivation, and how behaviour is initiated, directed and sustained.

Motivation may reflect in different ways, in different places with people, this also results to for different reasons. As a result, this research continues to hypothesise that “Is money the main motivating factor at call centres”.

1.5 Chosen Organisation

Various organisations use a selection of reward schemes to motivate their staff to increase performance. The writer will be mainly focusing the research on Central Claims Group (CCG). The organisation is based in Bury and is an outbound call centre. The call centre provides a service to the public to help them claim compensation depending on any injuries that have happened during the previous years. Call centres have a monetary rewards bonus/commission scheme in operation. The objective of the research will be to investigate CCG staff participants in order to identify what motivates these people to go to work.

It is investigated how effectively the reward system in the organisation contributes to the actual motivation of its employees. The research will follow through and find out whether the employees consider that monetary rewards are the key factors of motivation in the business. The writer is only analysing a small area of the employees that are working at CCG so that there is a better understanding of the research.

1.6 Summary

Based on support of scientific theories of motivation with works from Maslow, Alderfer, McClelland F.W Taylor and Herzberg’s theories the researchers own views have been included. Most of these theories can be used in different aspects/points of an individual’s life. But those theories are mainly related to motivation in the working atmosphere. The researcher will review how their research has achieved or hasn’t achieved their objective in finding and illustrating their hypothesis on “is money the main motivating factor at call centres” or not, and reflect on the writer’s research with the aim to identify opportunities for further research.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

2. Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The researcher will discuss the importance of motivation and what are others perception of motivation as well as a number of different factors related to motivation and the working environment. It will be determined that money is the main factor in motivation, this does not mean that this is right or wrong as this can depend on different organisation amongst different business and social cultures. This will be followed by other motivating factors in the workplace and the researcher refers to various experts and their theories of motivation in the workplace. To conclude the researcher will conclude the review with a personal statement on the application of motivational techniques in the workplace.

2.2 Importance of Motivation

Mullins (2004) defines motivation as “some driving force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfill some need or expectation.”

Motivation is essential factor needed in an organisation as it affects the employee and employers performance. The emphasis of this review is looking at the goals of the organisation.

Motivation also has a strong impact on an individual’s job role. It is particularly significant to managers to “motivate” their teams as they have a direct control of, which are;

• Selection Process
• Training and Development
• Skills and Knowledge
• Job Design

Managers will focus on these points to motivate employees by controlling the environment around them and provide the necessary requirements in terms of skills, abilities, enablement, encouragement, empowerment and opportunities to ensure the employee’s needs are satisfied. This will make the employees want to apply their commitment and dedication to their job making the manager’s aims and objectives achievable. Motivation is expressed as the driving force within an individual, which prompts them to achieve a certain goal or target. This will then threefold classification of individual needs and expectations at work is economic, intrinsic and social.

Extrinsic relates to tangible rewards, for example salary, fringe benefits, promotion, contract of service, work environment and working conditions. The important thing to remember here is that such tangible rewards are often decided at organisational level and are therefore outside the control of individual managers.

Intrinsic relates to what has been described as “psychological” rewards. For example, the opportunity to use ones ability, a sense of challenge and achievement, receiving words of appreciation, positive recognition and being treated in a caring and considerate manner. If somebody’s motivational driving force is being blocked in some way before she or he reaches their desired goal then this can result in frustration-induced behaviour which can manifest itself in ‘aggression’, ‘regression’, ‘fixation’, and ‘withdrawal’ (Freudian concepts).

There are many competing theories that try to explain motivation at work, none of which are conclusive and all of which have their critics, however, it is because of the complexity of motivation that these theories are important to the manager. They show that there are many motives that affect people’s behaviour at work. They provide a framework within which to direct attention to the problem of how best to motivate staff so that they work willingly and effectively.

Krech et al (1962) states that motivation can be described in general terms as:

“Direction and persistence of action, it is concerned with why people choose a particular course of action in preference to others, and why they continue with a chosen action.”

Mullins (2004) offers a broad definition for motivation to work:

• Economic rewards (pay, fringe benefits etc) this is an instrumental orientation (Goldthorpe) to work and is concerned with ‘other things’.
• Intrinsic satisfaction derived from the nature of the work itself, for example, interest in the job itself, personal growth and development. This is called a personal (and sometimes bureaucratic) orientation to work and is primarily concerned with ‘oneself’.
• Social relationships cover things like friendships, group working, and desire/need for affiliation, status and dependency. This is relational orientation to work concerned with ‘other people’.
• The important difference here is that the “psychological” rewards can be determined by the actions and the behaviour of individual managers.

2.3 Traditional Motivator

Around the 1800 English philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s developed the carrot and the stick approach. He believed that all people are motivated by desire to avoid pain and find pleasure. Bentham believed that any worker would only work if the reward packet was big and the punishment would be unpleasant. The ‘carrot and stick’ view is still to be found in the older more traditional sectors of the industry. Various leading theories of motivation make reference to the carrot and stick approach. The similarities are using rewards and penalties to encourage behaviour. The ‘carrot’ is recognized to be positive as and the ‘stick’ is seen to be negative. The theory derives from an old story to make a donkey move, one must put the carrot in front and dab him with a stick from behind. Rewards and punishment are still considered to be strong motivators till today.

The encouragement of the ‘carrot’ in motivation results in the worker getting money in form of pay or bonuses. However the problem with the ‘carrot’ approach that regardless of performance through such practices of salary increase and promotion by seniority, automatic ‘merit’ increases, and executive bonuses not based on individual manager performance. The ‘stick’ is a form of fear of losing a job, loss of income, demotion or some other penalty continues to be a strong motivator.

The financial factor has become the secondary factor to motivation as other factors like job satisfaction and personal development seem to be on workers mind nowadays. Many more individuals have a disposable income and do not think about saving as it used to be centuries ago. Resulting in people is able to afford to make career choices which mean less remuneration in order to gain lifestyle enhancements.

More people realise each day how much time they spend at work and ask themselves

“How happy am I in this environment?”