DYNAMIC MOTIVATION OF CHEMES A. S. HUMENNÉ EMPLOYEES

Transcription

1 Journal of Information, Control and Management Systems, Vol. 5, (2007), No DYNAMIC MOTIVATION OF CHEMES A. S. HUMENNÉ EMPLOYEES Miloš HITKA, Mária SIROTIAKOVÁ Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology, Slovak Republic hitka@vsld.tuzvo.sk Faculty of Economics of UMB, Branch Poprad, Slovak Republic maria.sirotiakova@umb.sk Abstract In our work we analyze factors which motivate employees of the company CHEMES, a. s. Humenné, by means of questionnaires. Consequently by the help of cluster analysis we divide the employees into similarly motivated and oriented groups. Resulting information concerning motivational factors can be later utilized in creation of company motivational program. Keywords: Motivation, analysis of motivation, motivational factors, controlling 1 INTRODUCTION Employees motivation is a topic number one in most companies today. There are never enough employees who achieve excellent job performance so we have to motivate all of them properly. Motivation plays on of the most important roles in a system of company human resources management. Managers from the area of manpower management have to deal with and find an answer to the question why some employees work less and why the others are able to achieve excellent results. ( To be motivated means more than just to be happy or satisfied at work, motivated people try to do their best not for you but for themselves, motivation is a feeling hidden somewhere inside a man, something that cannot be forced. Motivation is in hearts of managers and it breaks bounds of praise for well done work. (Heller, 2005) So if we realize that human resources present the base of a company development we can state that that a key to success is also management of human resources. One of the primary tasks of human resources management is assurance of positive employees behavior. We mean the behavior of employees, which will lead to completion of company strategy and effective achievement of its goals. Such effective behavior of

2 174 Dynamic Motivation of Chemes a. s. Humenné Employees employees presupposes their systematic motivation and execution of motivational processes. A lot of different motivational factors have effect on employees motivation. In standard practice the topic of employees motivation is often undervalued and perceived as something generally valid but not actually required in many companies. Its internal basis and depth is not respected on one side and its very frequent utilization is not taken into consideration on the other side. Despite it motivation of employees is one of the most significant tasks in employees behavior regulation. (Bajcura, 1985) 2 OBJECTIVE OF THE PAPER The objective of our paper is to develop an effective system of employees motivation, which would accept actual changes and modifications in the area of human resources management, and at the same time it would respond to particular conditions in a company. This system tool of personnel work will provide an opportunity to know motivational factors of employees, which mostly influence increase of work performance. We plan to achieve the above-mentioned objective through the survey of motivational factors of employees in CHEMES, a. s. Humenné. We plan to do it by means of questionnaires, then we want to divide employees into similarly motivated and oriented groups through a cluster analysis (Hitka, 2004) and resulting information concerning motivational factors will be applied in the development of the company program of motivation. 2.1 Characteristics of current state of motivation in the company CHEMES, a. s. Humenné has an important position in a region and is one of the most relevant companies in the area of power industry. According to the data of a yearbook Trend Top 2003 the company due to its turnover is on the eighth place among the biggest companies of Prešov region and eleventh place in a section of the biggest companies of power industry. The company provides development of an Industrial zone CHEMES and a town Humenné by means of energy and services deliveries. Basic motivational factors, which are currently used, are financial factors of different types, education of employees and social care of employees. Remuneration of employees in CHEMES is carried out in accordance with principles of financial remuneration which concern all the employees of CHEMES a. s. they are partially restricted for employees remunerated through contractual wage/salary. All the above mentioned principles are stated in a collective agreement and they are explained in details there as well. Education and training are provided based on a provision of 141 of a Labour Code and directions of a managing director concerning planning, execution and documentation of employee s education where also requirements for individual levels of managers, specialists and employees as well as forms of training activities that they are supposed to go through are mentioned.

3 Journal of Information, Control and Management Systems, Vol. 5, (2007), No Within the scope of social care plant catering and health care are utilized exceeding the scope of a law, various types of recreational and sport activities, social assistance in serious cases, financial allowances to support culture, sport and services or recreation. 2.2 Formation of a questionnaire We have selected a questionnaire as a method to gather information about the state of motivation in CHEMES, a. s., since it enables within a short period of time obtain a huge amount of information. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Questions concerning basic information about respondents such as their age, sex, completed education, number of years worked in the company and occupation category were included in the first part. The second part contained thirty motivational factors and the employees were supposed to express their opinion on them from the point of view of required and actual state or they could say how they would imagine motivation in the company and how they are satisfied with the current state of individual motivational factors. To assess the factors they were expected to a five grades scale was applied and the importance of individual motivational factors and satisfaction with their actual state went down from number 5 to 1. The questionnaire fulfilled two functions: provided information about an actual state of motivation in the company and at the same time it includes requirements of employees in this area. Based on this information we were able to evaluate the areas in which motivation should increase and also the areas in which it is satisfactory. A target group to find out the state of motivation in the company was a group of workers, supervisors and technical and economic employees (abbreviated to THZ). After we delivered questionnaires to the respondents we got back 123 of them. We consider it to be a success since the questionnaires were anonymous. From the total number of 123 questionnaires 69 were filled in by workers (from the total number of 157 workers in a division), 37 by THZ (total number of THZ in the company is 145) and 17 by supervisors (from their total number equal to 37). So the percentage representation of individual monitored groups is 33,9 % workers, 25,5 % THZ a 45,9 % supervisors. 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Analysis of motivational factors When differences were taken into consideration we selected three positions a worker, THZ and a supervisor. Analysis was based on responses which were provided by the employees in the second part of a questionnaire. As it was mentioned before the questionnaire contained 30 motivational factors which are stated in a table 1. The respondents expressed required and actually perceived level of motivation of individual motivational factors by the means of a point scale from one to five. In all three cases we have calculated average values of all motivational factors and a

4 176 Dynamic Motivation of Chemes a. s. Humenné Employees difference between a required and actual state. Tables 2 and 3 contain required and actual level of motivation of individual job titles of CHEMES, a. s., Humenné employees. Graphs 1, 2 and 3 provide a required and actual state of motivation and a difference between them. On axis x there are individual motivational factors illustrated, in axis y there are illustrated average values of required and actual state of motivation of particular motivational factors. Based on a comparison of individual curves it is possible to determine which areas of motivation are the most problematic and in which areas the employees are satisfied. Table 1 Analyzed motivational factors Seq. n. Motivational factor Seq. n. Motivational factor 1. Atmosphere at place of work 16. Prestige 2. Good working group 17. Attitude of a supervisor 3. Additional financial remuneration 18. Individual decision making 4. Physical intensity of work 19. Self-realization 5. Job security 20. Social benefits 6. Communication at place of work 21. Fair assessment of an employee 7. Trade name 22. Stress /stress elimination at place of work 8. Opportunity to utilize own abilities 23. Mental stress 9. Scope of employment and its type 24. Company vision 10. Acquaintance with working result 25. Region development 11. Working hours Working environment 27. Education and personal development Relation of the company towards environment 13. Working output 28. Free time 14. Working process 29. Acknowledgement 15. Powers 30. Basic pay Table 2 Comparison of required and actually perceived motivation by workers Seq. n. Motivational factor Required Actual Difference state state P - S 1. Atmosphere at place of work 4,57 3,00 1,57 2. Good working group 4,40 3,34 1,06 3. Additional financial remuneration 4,46 1,77 2,69 4. Physical intensity of work 3,83 3,29 0,54 5. Job security 4,06 2,83 1,23 6. Communication at a place of work 4,34 3,14 1,20 7. Trade name 3,74 3,23 0,51

5 Journal of Information, Control and Management Systems, Vol. 5, (2007), No Opportunity to utilize own abilities 3,97 2,86 1,11 9. Scope of employment and its type 4,06 3,26 0, Acquaintance with working result 4,09 2,69 1, Working time 4,20 3,51 0, Working environment 4,23 2,69 1, Working output 4,11 3,54 0, Working process 4,23 2,77 1, Powers 3,86 2,46 1, Prestige 3,83 2,80 1, Attitude of a supervisor 4,46 3,46 1, Individual decision making 4,11 3,14 0, Self-realization 4,17 3,06 1, Social benefits 4,26 2,74 1, Fair assessment of an employee 4,63 2,40 2, Stress / stress elimination at a working place 3,97 2,31 1, Mental stress 4,03 2,60 1, Company vision 4,06 2,51 1, Region development 4,14 2,00 2, Education and personal development 4,20 2,89 1, Relation of the company towards environment 4,20 3,00 1, Free time 4,03 2,91 1, Acknowledgement 4,26 2,51 1, Basic pay 4,77 1,71 3,06 Graphic presentation of motivational factors average values 5 MF importance Motivational factor Požadovaný stav Skutočný stav Rozdiel P-S Figure 1 Required and actually perceived level of motivation by employees

6 178 Dynamic Motivation of Chemes a. s. Humenné Employees The biggest variance between requirements and actual situation can be seen for motivational factors such as basic pay, additional financial remuneration and fair assessment of an employee. It means that a group of workers is least satisfied with the total financial remuneration. Motivationally weak are also factors like working environment, atmosphere at a working place and stress resulting from it. Employees in production consider also acknowledgement, working process, vision of the company or region development. Respondents expressed total satisfaction with physical intensity of work, trade name and working output. 3.2 Creation of groups of motivationally oriented employees We have executed statistic verification of motivational factors by means of cluster analysis. To be able to analyze similarity of motivational profiles of employees for individual job titles worker we applied the method of agglomerate hierarchic clustering. Its principle is that a group of elements gradually flock together, firstly the nearest elements and in next steps more and more far-distant ones. Tree Diagram for 69 Cases Ward`s method Euclidean distances C_1 C_16 C_17 C_23 C_5 C_22 C_20 C_25 C_6 C_31 C_21 C_41 C_32 C_33 C_35 C_34 C_9 C_13 C_14 C_53 C_18 C_19 C_30 C_28 C_29 C_27 C_51 C_47 C_60 C_66 C_58 C_63 C_68 C_2 C_24 C_26 C_7 C_56 C_15 C_8 C_57 C_44 C_54 C_64 C_59 C_10 C_36 C_45 C_46 C_11 C_12 C_49 C_50 C_61 C_43 C_48 C_67 C_65 C_55 C_62 C_37 C_40 C_69 C_39 C_3 C_4 C_38 C_42 C_ Linkage Distance Figure 2 Hierarchic cluster analyses of motivational profiles of workers of CHEMES, a. s., Humenné After we had processed the data resulting from questionnaires we generated dendrograms, which helped to divide employees into similarly motivationally oriented

7 Journal of Information, Control and Management Systems, Vol. 5, (2007), No groups clusters, according the range of importance of individual motivational factors allocated by employees. The result is that employees assigned into individual groups have similar opinions on individual motivational factors and so they are motivated by similar motivational factors. The results of a group of workers can be see in the figure 2, where individual respondents are on vertical axis (C-1 to C-69) and the size of variance of their responses can be seen on horizontal axis. Based on similarity of individual responses we divided the 69 respondents into four groups (table 3). Table 3 Summary of the most motivating factors for workers 1 st group of workers 2 nd group of workers s. n. Motivational factor Average s. n. Motivational factor Average Atmosphere at a place of Atmosphere at a place of 1. 4,60 1. work work 4,75 2. Basic pay 4,56 2. Working hours 4,75 Fair assessment of an 3. employee 4,52 3. Working process 4,75 4. Good working group 4,44 2. Basic pay 4,63 Communication at a lace Acquaintance with 5. 4,40 5. of work working result 4,63 Additional financial 6. remuneration 4,32 6. Prestige 4,63 7. Attitude of a supervisor 4,32 7. Company vision 4,63 8. Region development 4,32 8. Acknowledgement 4,63 9. Working output 4,20 4. Trade name 4,63 Education and personal 10. development 4, Self-realization 4,50 3rd group of workers 4th group of workers s. n. Motivational factor Average s. n. Motivational factor Average 1. Basic pay 4,87 1. Job security 5,00 2. Attitude of a supervisor 4,65 Fair assessment of an 2. employee 5,00 Fair assessment of an 3. employee 4,61 3. Basic pay 5,00 4. Working process 4,58 Atmosphere at a place of 4. work 4,80 5. Acknowledgement 4,55 Communication at a 5. place of work 4,80 Atmosphere at a place of Scope of employment 6. 4,48 6. work and its type 4,80 7. Good working group 4,48 7. Attitude of a supervisor 4,80

8 180 Dynamic Motivation of Chemes a. s. Humenné Employees 8. Job security 4, Additional financial remuneration 10. Working environment 4, Stress / stress elimination at a place of work 4,80 4,45 9. Mental stress 4,80 Education and personal development There are 25 workers in the first analyzed group, they are employees with numbers: 1, 16, 17, 23, 5, 22, 20, 25, 6, 31, 21, 41, 32, 33, 35, 34, 9, 13, 14, 53, 18, 19, 30, 28 and 29. There are 8 respondents in the second group and their numbers are: 27, 51, 47, 60, 66, 58, 63 and 68. There are the most members in the third group of respondents 31, and it contains employees with the numbers 2, 24, 26, 7, 56, 15, 8, 57, 44, 54, 64, 59, 10, 36, 45, 46, 11, 12, 49, 50, 61, 43, 48, 67, 65, 55, 62, 37, 40, 69 and 39. There are only 5 members in the fourth group and they are employees numbered: 3, 4, 38, 42 and 52. Although there are 4 different groups of workers some common features can be found. In each of these groups motivators concerning financial remuneration such as basic pay, additional financial remuneration or fair assessment of an employee can be seen at first positions. We have highlighted them with the green colour. A small exception is a second group of workers in which only a basic pay plays an important role in the area of assessment and remuneration and this motivator is among the first four most important motivators in all the four groups. This situation can be explained because there is a low purchasing power of population and the living standard is low as well. Job security as a motivational factor which can be found in all groups and is one of the most relevant. It results from the actual situation in the region and opportunity to assert oneself with the same qualification in a similar company. Next group of motivators having first positions also in a group of THZ are motivators concerning working environment. Good working group, attitude of a supervisor, communication and atmosphere at a place of work but also working hours and stress elimination at a place of work present a signal of negative influence of disturbing factors which may cause stressful situations in a collective as a whole and it may have impact on total working comfort. It is necessary to realize that if there are bad working relations at a place of work employees do not feel well in their collective and they are stressed, it influences their working performance and finally the business results of the company. Form individual analysis it is clear that it is possible to group all the employees due to their motivational requirements by means of cluster analyses in a company that is being analysed. As we could see it is not such efficient as it could have been 4,80

9 Journal of Information, Control and Management Systems, Vol. 5, (2007), No predicted to create or develop only one motivational program and apply it for all the employees. On the contrary if a company wanted to create individual motivational programs for all its employees it would be very costly and uneconomic. That is why we recommend utilization of the method of cluster analyses where clusters of employees sharing similar opinions about motivational factors can be created and the company can form motivational programs for individual groups. 4 CONCLUSION Surveys concerning motivational structure (structure of working incentives) of employees accept general knowledge and facts of working motivation theory and they present one of the first successive steps when an organization formulates its motivational program. We have to be aware of the fact that range of values is different for almost everyone. They re many people for whom money is the most important thing in their life and money is also the only one motivator and reason why they work. But there are also people who in spite of getting lower wages decide to stay in the company even in the situation when they can be paid better in another company. An important role in these cases is played by a chance of self-realization, nice working environment or benefits provided for employees. That is why it is necessary to determine and then apply different types of motivators for various groups of employees. Survey of employees expectations has an important function in such situation. The tools suitable to do such survey are motivational and evaluating interviews with employees. The aim of our analyses was to find out the requests concerning required and actual motivation of employees for selected motivational factors and consequently point out a chance and opportunity to form motivationally similarly oriented groups. Based on analysis of motivational factors in which we compared requested and actually perceived level of motivation we came to a conclusion that employees due to their requirements do not feel satisfactory level of motivational factors. The results of questionnaire analyses exactly say that employees consider as the most important factors: basic pay, additional financial remuneration and also a fair assessment of and employee. All these factors belong to a group of wage motivators. But job security and factors concerning working environment are very important, too. For these motivators we have found out the biggest differences between actual and by employees required state. Based on the results it is clear that each every employee should feel that he is helpful and conducive to the company and that his work in the company has a future, perspective and that it is equally financially compensated. He should be sure that he can stay in a company for a longer time. We recommend motivate employees through an opportunity to acquire a share in profit, since it can encourage entrepreneurial thinking and lead employees to initiative to fight against unthrift but also to increase profit and earning capacity of the company. Employees participation in profit make them have a feeling of fair results distribution and sharing because they see that the

10 182 Dynamic Motivation of Chemes a. s. Humenné Employees company profit does not belong only to the company owners but that a part of it is divided among employees. The results of cluster analyses showed that not only currently utilized motivational factors must be developed but also it is necessary to create some space for application of other critical motivators. At present the company motivates all its employees in the same way and utilizes motivational factors like: remuneration and assessment, education and communication. By means of our survey we found out that not all the employees have the same needs and that not for all of them the abovementioned motivational factors are important. It resulted from the analyses that also other motivators are relevant for employees: atmosphere and communication at a place of work, good working group, attitude of a supervisor, stress elimination at a place of work, it means motivational factors concerning working environment. The company does not pay enough attention to the last mentioned factors now. Company management should approach employees differently, continuously analyze individual motivational factors through a statistic method and create different motivational programmes for them. REFERENCES [1] Bajcura, A.: Teória a prax riadenia v súčasných podmienkach rozvoja ekonomiky. Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo a nakladateľstvo ROH, 1985 [2] Heller, R.: Príručka manažéra. Ikar, Bratislava 2005, ISBN X [3] Hitka, M.: Metodika analýzy motivátorov v podnikoch DSP. TU Zvolen, ISBN [4] Koubek, J.: Personální práce v malých podnicích. Grada, Praha 1996, ISBN [5] Kolektívna zmluva na rok 2007, interný materiál, odbor personálnych činností CHEMES, a. s. [6] [7] [8] Acknowledgements This work is a result of solution of the project titled VEGA 1/4647/07 Dynamic Model of Human Potential Motivation.