The effect of motivation on employee performance in financial institutions; case study: Diamond Trust Bank (Main Branch)

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to find out the effect of motivation on the employee performance. Research for the study included a literature study of how intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors effect on the performance of the employees in Diamond Trust bank main branch. Motivation is a critical aspect to the performance of employees. Companies have put many resources into it so as to improve on their competitiveness with other companies. However the employees have kept underperforming making companies make losses. This has hence always prompted research in this given area. An empirical study was conducted after the appropriate research tools were made and these were questionnaires. The purpose of these research tools was to identify the importance of these identified factors of motivation and to find out how they effect on the employee motivation in this banking institution. The case study design was used with both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect and analyze the data. A sample was selected from the target population (50 respondents) and this is why the researcher used 35 questionnaires. Of these all of them were returned, data was got from managers, tellers, cashiers among others. The results were examined with the help of Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) computer program, which helped in the computation of responses into frequencies and percentages. The major findings indicated that some of the factors of motivation were provided for to a great extent, while others had serious shortcomings. Majority of the respondents showed that the salary they get is not enough to meet their demands, but also that they are motivated by their managers and there are always fair promotions done and these are done according to performance of the employees. The researcher also found out that the respondents are intrinsically responsible for their actions and that they always want to know how they are performing hence the importance of feedback information comes into play here. Recognition was also found out to be intrinsically important. The researcher concluded that intrinsic and extrinsic plus performance appraisals are very important in the motivation of the employees. Intrinsic is where one is responsible for his or her actions internally (from inside him or her) while extrinsic is where one’s actions can be seen and motivated. The researcher suggested certain recommendations for those areas where findings indicated shortcomings, in an attempt to increase the overall levels of motivation within this specific functional department in the organization. The researcher also recommended that the locus of control should be looked at, and also salary of the respondents should be increased to help them meet their demands.