Motivating the Egyptian worker

Graduate School of Business

Business Research

Motivating the Egyptian Worker

Presented to: Dr. Mona Kadry

Researched By: Mohamed Samy Abdel Sadek

Contents

1. Title

2. Abstract

3. Introduction

4. Research statement

5. The objective of the research

6. Research questions.

7. Literature review

8. Research Hypothesis

9. Research design

10. Research results

11. Comments and recommendation

12. References

13. Appendix

1. Title: Motivating the Egyptian Worker,

A Study of Three Private Sector Organizations in the industrial sector.

2. Abstract:

Worker motivation is sophisticated subject; however, contemporary managers must face and deal

with this topic to obtain organizational success. To enhance understanding of worker motivation,

mangers must recognize the imperativeness of worker motivation, its concepts, and differences in

individual needs. Subsequently, managers need to be aware of a variety of worker motivational

factors and the changes in priorities of these factors over time.

This research examined the ranked importance of motivational factors of workers at three private

sector companies in the industrial field in Egypt. The hand-delivered descriptive survey addressed

ten motivating factors in the context of motivation theory.

The research results indicate that the factors that motivate workers are more extrinsic than intrinsic.

Although workers differ on how they rank these factors, they overwhelmingly selected “good

wages” as the top motivator. A good wage is an extrinsic reward. On the surface “good wages” seem

to be purely extrinsic. monetary rewards communicate what the company values and affect workers’

emotional.

3. Introduction.

Workers were considered as an input into the production of goods and services. What perhaps

changed this way of thinking about workers was research, referred to as the Hawthorne Studies,

conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 (Dickson, 1973). This study found workers are not

motivated solely by money and employee behavior is linked to their attitudes (Dickson, 1973). The

Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs and

motivation of workers become the primary focus of managers (Bedeian, 1993).

Motivation is the driving force behind human behaviour. Motivation represents the forces within a

person that affect his behavior (Pinder, 1998). People are motivated to arrive at work on time, finish

a project a few hours early, or aim for many other targets. Many studies have evolved around various

motivational techniques for directing Workers towards desired goals.

However, the challenge to management is to recognize and understand the impact of various

motivational systems on individual and group behaviour within an organized work endeavor. The

success or failure of motivation rests not on the technique itself but on management's ability to

match the needs of people with appropriate rewards” (Todes et al., 1977).

Motives are needs, which force people to move towards goals, or point they define. Studies of

motivation have tried to respond to the "why" of the human behaviour, which is directed towards a

goal and the need for that goal. Hersey and Blanchard (1977) noted that motives can be defined as

needs, wants, drives, or impulses within the individual which are directed towards goals which may

be conscious or subconscious.

Freud long ago discovered the importance of subconscious motivation; in order words, people are

not always aware of everything they want (Hersey and Blanchard, 1977). Dickson (1973) stated that

Workers are not motivated solely by money but by other factors, which is linked to their behaviour

and attitudes. The factors that can influence an individual’s motivational processes at work have

been categorized into two namely: Intrinsic and Extrinsic rewards.

Intrinsic rewards are positive emotional experience resulting directly and naturally from the

individual’s behavior or results. This includes the enjoyment of learning a new task, a feeling of

accomplishment from performing a job well and a sense of flow or engagement when work is

performed smoothly.

Extrinsic rewards on the other hand, are anything received from another person that the recipient

values and is contingent on his or her behavior or results. Extrinsic rewards include paychecks,

performance bonuses, praise, or some other form of recognition. Extrinsic rewards don’t occur

naturally with the behavior or result; instead someone introduces these rewards.

4. Research statement and problem identification

Motivating the Egyptian worker in the industrial field is a very important issue which didn’t get

the attention of the researchers before, and it is very important to focus on the main factors

motivating the Egyptian worker to help organization management to understand and deal with the

motivating factors of their workers.

5. The objective of this research is to draw the attention of the companies’ management to the

importance of certain factors in motivating workers in Egypt. Specifically, the study sought to

describe the ranked importance of the following ten motivating factors (Wiley (1997)

1) Job security,

2) Sympathetic help with personal problems,

3) Personal loyalty to workers,

4) Interesting work

5) Good working conditions

6) Tactful disciplining

7) Good wages

8) Promotions and growth in the organization

9) Feeling of being in on things

10) Full appreciation of work done.

The research should give clear ranking of the motivating factors that motivate the Egyptian worker,

and compare the results with one motivation theory (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) to see if it

applicable to the Egyptian worker.

6. Research questions.

1. What is motivation?

2. What are the main theories of motivations?

3. Why do we need motivated worker?

4. What are the most important factors motivate the Egyptian worker in the industrial field?

5. Are there big differences between Egyptian worker motivating factors and Maslow hierarchy

of need?

7. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework

Theoretical Background

What is Motivation?

Many contemporary authors have defined the concept of motivation. Motivation has been defined as

the result of the interaction between the individual and the situation (Decenzo, 2001). Certainly,

individuals differ in the motivational drive, but an individual’s motivation varies from situation to

situation, from culture to culture.

Lawler (1986) defined motivation as a conscious process that results from individual choice about

what will and will not be in a given situation. Kreitner (1995) defined the phenomenon as a

psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction. . Motivation has been defined as: a

predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian &

Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to

achieve (Bedeian, 1993). For this paper, motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that

drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.

Key Theories of Motivation

Motivation and human management

Motivated people are those who have made a conscious decision to devote considerable effort to

achieving something that they value. What they value will differ greatly from one individual to

another. There are a variety of ways to motivate people, including the fear of losing a job, financial

incentives, self-fulfillment goals and goals for the organisation or groups within the organisation.

The traditional view - finds some of its origins in the work of Taylor and the school of scientific

management. At its most extreme, this view postulates the following:

people dislike work

people will only work for money

people are not capable of controlling their work or directing themselves

simple, repetitive tasks will produce the best results

workers should be closely supervised and tightly controlled

extra effort must lead to greater reward

people will meet standards if they are closely controlled

firm but fair supervision will be respected

Taylor took the view that there is a right (meaning best) way to perform any task.

It is management’s job to determine the right way. Workers gain from this approach because the

‘right way’ is easier and pay is enhanced as a result of increased productivity.

The human relation view

Originates in the work of Mayo, known as the Hawthorne Studies. The series of studies essentially

concluded that the strongest motivational force behind most workers’ behaviour at work was the

preservation and nurturing of social relationships with their colleagues. The main tenets of this view

are as follows:

people want to be made to feel valued and important

people want recognition for their work

people want to be controlled sensibly

managers must discuss the plans they make for staff

they must take any objections on board

they must encourage self-regulation on routine tasks

Mayo’s work leads to an approach towards people which encourages contribution and self-direction,

advocating full participation on matters of significance in order to improve the quality of decisions

made and the nature of supervision.

Theory X and Theory Y managers

Douglas McGregor proposed a Theory X and Theory Y model to explain basic human traits.

Theory X assumptions are:

The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.

Most people must be coerced, controlled, directed or threatened with punishment to get them

to expend adequate effort towards the achievement of organizational objectives.

The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively

little ambition, and wants security above all.

On the other hand, Theory Y makes different assumptions about the nature of people:

Expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest.

The average human being does not inherently dislike work, which can be a source of

satisfaction.

External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means of bringing about effort.

People can exercise self-direction to achieve objectives to which they are committed.

Commitment to objectives is a result of the rewards associated with their achievement. The

most significant of those rewards is satisfaction of the self-actualization needs.

The average human being learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept, but to seek,

responsibility. Avoidance of responsibility, emphasis on security and low ambition are the

result of experience and are not inherent in man’s nature.

Capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in the

solution of organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.

Under conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potential of the average human

being is only partially utilized

Needs and goals

These various needs can be categorized in a number of ways e.g. Physiological and social

motives or intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation is related to tangible rewards such as salary and fringe benefits, security,

promotion, contract of service, the work environment and conditions of work.

Intrinsic motivation is related to ‘psychological’ rewards such as the opportunity to use one’s

ability, a sense of challenge and achievement, receiving appreciation, positive recognition

and being treated in a caring and considerate manner.

Goals also influence motivation.

CLASSICAL AND MODERN THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Content theories focus on the question of what arouses, sustains and regulates goal directed

behaviour i.e., the particular things that motivate people. They offer ways to profile or

analyze individuals to identify their needs.

Often criticized as being static and descriptive they appear to be linked more to job satisfaction

than to work effort. Maslow, Herzberg and McGregor take a universal approach whereas

McClelland and Argyris list forces and drives that will vary in relation to different individuals.

Process theories attempt to explain and describe how people start, sustain and direct

behaviour aimed at the satisfaction of needs or the reduction of inner tension. The major

variables in process models are incentive, drive, reinforcement and expectancy. The best-

known work in this area has been concerned with Vroom’s expectancy theory, Handy’s

motivation calculus and Adam’s equity theory.

Herzberg’s theory of motivation

One set of factors are those which, if absent, cause dissatisfaction. These factors are related

to job context. They are concerned with job environment and are extrinsic to the job itself.

They are called ‘hygiene’ factors and include such elements as:

Company policies and administration

Supervision

Working conditions

Interpersonal relations

Money, status and security

The other set of factors are those which, if present, serve to motivate the individual to

superior effort and performance. These factors are related to the job content of work. They

are ‘motivators’ or growth factors. Motivation factors include:

Achievement

Increased responsibility

Challenging work

Recognition for achievements

Growth and development

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow advanced the following propositions about human behaviour:

Man is a wanting being.

A satisfied need is not a motivator of behaviour, only unsatisfied needs motivate.

Man’s needs are arranged in a series of levels - a hierarchy of importance. As soon as needs

on a lower level are met those on the next, higher level will demand satisfaction. Maslow

believed the underlying needs for all human motivation to be on five general levels from

lowest to highest, shown below. Within those levels, there could be many specific needs,

from lowest to highest.

Physiological - the need for food, drink, shelter and relief from pain.

Safety and security – once the physical needs of the moment are satisfied, man concerns himself

with protection from physical dangers with economic security, preference for the familiar and the

desire for an orderly, predictable world.

Social - become important motivators of his behaviour.

Esteem or egoistic - a need both for self-esteem and the esteem of others, which involves self-

confidence, achievement, competence, knowledge, autonomy, reputation, status and respect.

Self-fulfillment or self-actualization – is the highest level in the hierarchy; these are the individual’s

needs for realising his or her own potential, for continued self-development and creativity in its

broadest sense.

The assumptions of Maslow’s hierarchy:

Individuals have multiple needs

Needs are ordered into levels, creating a ‘hierarchy’

A need, once satisfied, is no longer a need

To be of use, Maslow’s basic theory needs qualification to include the individual as a determining

factor in motivation and behaviour. These include:

Levels in the hierarchy are not rigidly fixed; boundaries between them are indistinct and

overlap.

There are individual exceptions to the general ranking of the hierarchy. Some people never

progress beyond the first or second level (for example, many inhabitants of the third world),

others are so obsessed with the higher needs that lower ones may go largely unnoticed.

Variables apart from individual needs may motivate eg, social standards and a sense of duty.

An act is seldom motivated by a single need; any act is more likely to be caused by several

needs.

The same need will not give rise to the same response in all individuals.

Substitute goals may take the place of a need that is blocked.

David McClelland

David McClelland (Studies in Motivation, 1955) identified three basic types of motivating needs

present in people. He shows that all three needs can be present in a person but the weight

attached to each can vary. The three needs are:

1. Need for achievement - where this is high then people have an intense desire to succeed and

an equally intense fear of failure.

2. Need for affiliation - where this is high people tend to seek acceptance by others, need to feel

loved and are concerned with maintaining pleasant social relationships.

3. Need for power - people with a high need for power seek opportunities to influence and

control others, seek leadership positions and are often articulate, outspoken and stubborn.

Expectancy theory

The common themes in expectancy theories are:

conscious decisions by individuals to behave in certain ways individual values with

regard to choosing desired outcomes

individual expectations concerning the amount of effort required to achieve a specific

outcome

individual expectations concerning the probability of being rewarded for achieving a

desired outcome

Motivation is a function of the relationship between:

Effort expended and perceived level of performance

The expectation that rewards (desired outcomes) will be related to performance.

There must also be the expectation that rewards are available. These relationships determine the

strength of the motivational link.

The strength of the individual’s preference for an outcome

The belief in the likelihood that particular actions will achieve the required goal

Adams’ equity theory

When people sense inequities in their work they will be aroused to remove the discomfort and

restore a state of felt equity to the situation by:

changing work inputs

changing rewards received

leaving the situation

changing the comparison points

psychologically distorting the comparisons

People who feel overpaid (feel positive inequity) have been found to increase the quantity or

quality of their work, whilst those who are underpaid (feel negative inequity) do the opposite.

Feelings of inequity are determined solely by the individual’s interpretation of the situation - the

fact that a manager feels that the annual pay review is fair is immaterial.

Why motivated workers are needed? Motivation is a very important for an organization because of the following benefits:

Motivated workers help organizations survive.

Motivated workers are more productive.

Motivated worker Leads to stability of work force.

Motivated worker Builds friendly relationship.

Motivated worker Leads to achievement of organizational goals.

Motivated worker Improves level of efficiency of employees.

Literature survey

Philip Cheng -Fei Tsai, Yu-Fang Yen b, Liang - Chih Huang, Ing - Chung Huang in their study

on “ motivating employees’ learning commitment in the post-downsizing era: Job satisfaction

perspective” Published in Journal of World Business 42 (2007) 157–169.

found that 68% of the unit managers considered ‘‘salary and benefits’’ as the most important factors

motivating employees to learn; 63% for ‘‘education and training’’, 57% for ‘‘career development’’,

52% for ‘‘performance evaluation’ and 47% for ‘‘the nature of the job and working pressure’’

meanwhile, ‘‘direct managers’ management style’’, ‘‘family relationship’’ and ‘‘interpersonal

relationship with colleagues’’ were the least important elements. In contrast, the union leaders

recognized that‘ ‘family relationship’’, ‘‘interpersonal relationship with colleagues’’ and

‘‘management style of immediate managers’’ would be the critical factors motivating employees to

learn, and the top five elements which were ranked by unit managers were considered as less

important. This was quite different, even contrary, to the unit managers’ opinions.

Faheem Ghazanfar, Shuai Chuanmin, and Muhammad Mahroof Khan.in their Study of Relationship

between Satisfaction with Compensation and Work Motivation, signifies that the relationship is

significant between the satisfaction with compensation and work motivation

Dongho Kim in his study “Employee Motivation: “Just Ask Your Employees” found that there is a

measurable relationship between incentive plans and improved organizational performance. In the

area of manufacturing, productivity will often improve by as much as 20 percent after adoption of

incentive plans. And that incentive plans are major motivational programs.

8. Research Hypothesis.

1. The higher Income and monetary incentives of the worker , the higher will be their work

motivation

2. Egyptian worker motivating factors are matching with the motivation theories specifically

Maslow hierarchical needs theory.

9. Research design

The research design for this research employed a descriptive survey method. The target

population of this research included workers at Arma group of Companies. Arma group is

composed of three companies (Arma Food Industries, Arma Soap and Detergents and Arma

Oil Industries) working in food industries and chemical industries. The total population is

1200 Workers.

The sample size included 120 workers of the target population divided into 3 groups of 40

workers of each company. Add 31 persons from the low level and middle level management

to compare.

A survey questionnaire was developed to collect data for the research. Data was collected

through use of a written questionnaire hand-delivered to participants. Questionnaires were

filled out by participants and returned to the researcher The questionnaire asked participants

to rank the importance of ten factors that motivated them in doing their work: 10= most

important . . . 1= least important.

Total Points of each factor have been summed to give the factor weight.

10. Research Results

10.1 Worker Results (Workers and technicians)

Factor Points %

Good wages 1049 15.89%

Job Security 940 14.24%

Promotions & growth in organization 855 12.95%

Feeling of being in on things 720 10.91%

Full appreciation of work done 702 10.64%

Good working conditions 647 9.80%

Personal loyalty to employees 522 7.91%

Interesting work 477 7.23%

Sympathetic help with personal problem 430 6.52%

Tactful disciplining 258 3.91%

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Tactful disciplining

Sympathetic help with personal problem

Intresting work

Personal loyality to employees

Good working conditions

Full appreciation of work done

Feeling of being in on things

Promotions & growth in organization

Job Security

Good wages

10.2 Managers Result.

Factor Points %

Good working conditions 251 14.44%

Interesting work 234 13.46%

Good wages 206 11.85%

Personal loyalty to employees 196 11.28%

Sympathetic help with personal problem 192 11.05%

Feeling of being in on things 166 9.55%

Job Security 164 9.44%

Full appreciation of work done 152 8.75%

Promotions & growth in organization 97 5.58%

Tactful disciplining 80 4.60%

11. Comments and recommendations.

The research results indicate that the factors that motivate workers are more extrinsic than intrinsic.

Although workers differ on how they rank these factors, they overwhelmingly selected “good

wages” as the top motivator. A good wage is an extrinsic reward. On the surface “good wages” seem

0 50 100 150 200 250 300


Promotions & growth in organization


Job Security



Personal loyalty to employees

Good wages

Interesting work


to be purely extrinsic. Monetary rewards communicate what the company values and affect workers’

emotional.

• Workers results are matching with Maslow Hierarchy of needs theory.

• Job Security come in the second order, the researcher can explain this in term of the short

term contract system applied in the three companies under study.

• Manager results slightly differ from Maslow Hierarchy of needs theory, As also all

motivating factors are explicit factors and all implicit factors come in late order in the results.

Recommendation for future researches.

Studying the motivation factors of Egyptian worker in different sectors and expanding the

population to cover bigger number of worker to get more accurate results.

References

Roy F. Baumeister and Mark R. Leary “The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal

Attachments as a Fundamental Human Motivation. Psychological Bulletin 1995, Vol. 117, No. 3,

497-529.

James R. Lindner “Understanding Employee Motivation”, Journal of Extension, June 1998 / Volume

36 http://www.joe.org/joe/1998june/rb3.php

Jacquelynne S. Eccles and AllanWigfield “MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS, VALUES, AND GOALS”,

Annual Rev. Psychol. 2002.53:109-132, www.annualreviews.org

Allison Ruby Reid-Cunningham, “Maslow’s Theory of Motivation and Hierarchy of Human Needs”,

MSW, December 3, 2008

Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci, University of Rochester. “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations:

Classic Definitions and New Directions” available online at www.idealibrary.com

Philip Cheng -Fei Tsai, Yu-Fang Yen b, Liang - Chih Huang, Ing - Chung Huang. study on “

motivating employees’ learning commitment in the post-downsizing era: Job satisfaction

perspective” Journal of World Business 42 (2007) 157–169.

Faheem Ghazanfar, Shuai Chuanmin, and Muhammad Mahroof Khan. “A Study of

Relationship between Satisfaction with Compensation and Work Motivation” International

Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 1; January 2011.

Dongho Kim “Employee Motivation: “Just Ask Your Employees” Seoul Journal of Business

Volume 12, Number 1 (June 2006).

Allison Ruby Reid-Cunningham, MSW ”School of Social Welfare University of California –

Berkeley” Maslow’s Theory of Motivation and Hierarchy of Human Needs. PhD Qualifying

Examination December 3, 2008

A. H. Maslow (1943) “A Theory of Human Motivation” Originally Published in

Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.

http://www.joe.org/joe/1998june/rb3.php

http://www.annualreviews.org/

http://www.idealibrary.com/

Appendix

Motivation Factors Questionnaire

رتيب هذه العوامل ترتيبا تنازليا بحسب أهميتها بالنسبة لك لتحفيزك ألداء عملك بطريقة أفضل

للعامل األقل أهمية بالنسبة لك 1للعامل األكثر أهمية بالنسبة لك و 10ضع

Job security


Personal loyalty to employees

Interesting work


Good wages

Promotions and growth in the organization




Motivating the Egyptian worker

Documents