Page 1 of 16

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 03

April 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 148

Motivation and Employees’ Productivity in Local

Government System in Nigeria: An Evaluation.

Ejue Egberi

Department of Political Science, Federal University, Wukari, P.M.B. 1020, Wukari. Taraba

State. Nigeria. Tel: +234-8034273135

aegberi@gmail.com

ABSTRACT.

Motivating employees towards improving

their productivity constitutes one of the

cardinal objectives of personnel

management. Even in the Local government

system in Nigeria, it has always been the

objective of all Local -government

management philosophy. However,

recurrent challenge in Local government’s

management has being the issue of poor

employee’s productivity. Research studies

have attributed these to the issue of

“unhappy workforce”. A critical assessment

of human resources variables shows that

employee motivation is central to job

productivity. Of all the assets that an

establishment possesses, the human element

can provide the most variability and

therefore require the greatest attention.

Employee’s motivation is important if any

establishment wishes to fully achieve its

objective of increased productivity. This

research paper therefore discusses the

potential productivity of Local government

in Nigeria as it is affected by the

motivational level of her employees. Data

for the study was generated from secondary

sources. The study concludes that

employee’s motivation is important if any

establishment wishes to fully achieve its

objective of increased productivity. The

paper explores the importance of

employee’s satisfaction and team work and

closes with a classification of methods for

management of Local government Areas in

improving employee morale and motivation

for a better employees productivity.

Keywords:

Motivation, Employees Productivity, Local

Government.

1.INTRODUCTION

Employee motivation in Local government

system in Nigeria has always being a

challenge to managers of the system. Studies

have shown that unmotivated workers are

likely to spend little or no effort in their

jobs, avoid the workplace as much as

possible, exit the Local government if given

the opportunity and produce low quality

work. On the other hand, if workers feel

motivated to work, they are likely to be

persistent, creative and productive, turning

out high quality work that they willingly

undertake. Many studies have labour to

arrive at the answer of poor performance of

Local government systems, the likely causes

as well as its implication.

The restructuring and the repositioning of

the Local government system for a better

performance is the place of the human

resources or the personnel working in the

local government systems. Understanding

what makes them work becomes cardinal in

getting to the solution of the problem.

Human resources are considered as one of

Page 2 of 16

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 03

April 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 149

the most important, if not the most important

aspect in an establishment. This is because

of the fact that, the workers or the

employees are the one working in order to

produce the outcome product or services.

Based on this, it is vital for any

establishment to focus on improving the

working environment and situation of the

employees in order to increase their morale

and their satisfaction which will help to

improve their productivity. Employers need

to get to know their workers very well and

use different tactics to motivate each of

them based on their personal wants and

needs. Mitchell (1982) in Re’em (2010)

agrees with this assertion when he stated

that motivation is an individual

phenomenon. Each individual is unique and

has different needs, expectations, values,

history, attitudes and goals. Hence, a

manager cannot assume that what motivates

him/her will also motivate the employee.

And what motivates one employee may not

necessarily motivate another. Inability of

Management to properly handle workers

motivation has often resulted to low

productivity or industrial actions.

Management has to motivate their

employees to higher productivity. There is

very close relationship between motivation

and work which is done by an individual.

Higher motivation leads to higher

productivity and the lower the motivation,

the lower the productivity.

Ghafoor (2011), Lather and Jain (2005) in

Qayyum and Sukirno (2012) explained that

employee’s motivation is the key to

organizational effectiveness and is a

predictor of performance and job

satisfaction. Also Anderfuhren, et al (2010)

in Qayyum and Sukirno (2012) stated that,

motivated employees are the cornerstones of

any organization. Smith (1994) in Qayyum

and Sukirno (2012) agrees with these

authors as he also observed that motivated

employees will help organizations to

survive. Chaudhary and Sharma (2012)

noted that among the factors of production

the human resources constitutes the biggest

challenge because unlike other inputs,

employees management calls for

accomplished handling of thoughts, feelings

and emotions to protected highest

productivity. High productivity is a long- term benefit of employee’s motivation.

Motivated employees are valuable assets

which delivers huge value to the

establishment in maintaining and

strengthening its provision of social goods

and services. The obvious question that begs

for answer in the context of motivation of

employees in Local Government system in

Nigeria is – do these scholarly postulations

fit the facts? Does the situation on ground

conform to these postulations?

The main thrust of this paper then, is to look

at employees’ motivation in local

government system in Nigeria and its

relative effect on their productivity.

Somehow, employees in the local

government are not effectively motivated

into increasing their productivity and this is

a major factor contributing to the decline in

productivity and subsequently to the present

condition of the economy. So there is an

obvious need to investigate this matter.

2. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS

2.1. Motivation

Rainey (1993) in Re’em (2010) states that

the word motivation is coined from the Latin

word motus, a form of the verb movere,

which means to move, influence, affect, and

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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 03

April 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 150

excite. By motivation we then mean the

degree to which a person is moved or

aroused to act. Mitchell (1982) in Re’em

(2010) agrees with the author as he further

asserts that motivation is an individual

phenomenon. Each individual is unique and

has different needs, expectations, values,

history, attitudes and goals. Hence, a

manager cannot assume that what motivates

him/her will also motivate the employee.

And what motivates one employee may not

necessarily motivate another.

Mitchell (1982) also in Re’em (2010) posits

that motivation is about the internal and

external forces that influence individual’s

degree of willingness and choice to engage

in a certain specified behavior and action.

Anyim et al (2012) defines Motivation as

the act of stimulating someone or oneself to

get desired course of action or to push the

right button to get desired reactions. Bruce

and Pepitone (1998) in Re’em (2010) also

opine that Motivation is fundamentally an

inside job. It originates from within the

individual and causes him/her to be

internally stimulated. This type of

motivation is called intrinsic motivation.

Ryan and Deci (2000) in Re’em (2010)

consider intrinsic motivation to be the most

important and pervasive motivation.

Because it is through this kind of natural

motivational tendency that humans develop

cognitive, social, and physical abilities.

Ryan and Deci further noted that many a

time people act not because they are

intrinsically motivated, but rather because

external factors prompt them to take action.

This type of motivation is called extrinsic

motivation and it concerns whenever an

activity is done in order to attain an outcome

that is separable from the activity itself. This

means the desire to satisfy needs or goals

that are not related to the work itself.

Bartol and Martin (1998) and Farhad, et al

(2011) in Mazoor (2011) describe

motivation as a power that strengthens

behavior, gives route to behavior, and

triggers the tendency to continue. Aiyetan

and Olotuah (2006) in their works observe

that, Motivation is an art targeted to getting

people work willingly, and an art of

inducing one to behave in a particular

manner to achieve a task. Mee-Edoiye and

Andawei (2002) in Aiyetan and Olotuah

(2006) also viewed motivation as a human

engineering approach being triggered by the

individual needs. Chaudhary and Sharma

(2012) noted that motivation is an

employee’s intrinsic enthusiasm about and

drive to accomplish activities related to

work. Motivation is that interior drive that

causes a person to decide to take action.

Flippo (1982) in Aiyetan and Olotuah

(2006) also defined motivation as a

psychological process initiated by the

emergence of needs involving a goal

directed action and behavior aimed at

satisfying a particular desire. It is the

inducement given to workers for higher

output. A Motivated behaviour has three

basic characteristics; It is sustained – it is

maintained for a long time until satisfied; It

is goal-directed – it seeks to achieve an

objective; It results from a felt need – an

urge directed towards a need.

2.2 Employees Productivity

Battu (2008) in Anyim, et al (2012) asserts

that employee productivity is the result of a

combination of employee ability,

motivation, and work environment. When

productivity falls off or more positively,

when productivity improves–the change is

usually traceable to enhanced skill,

motivation, or a work environment

conducive to high performance. The authors