Reward
system and teachers’ attitude to work in
Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State. (Educational
administration)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Today’s
reality in the global world is that, organizations influence several important
aspects of employees attitude to work in a multitude of ways. They conceive and
implement strategies, while the employees and reward systems determine the organization’s
capabilities. Competencies are required to execute the strategy, and these
competencies are primarily a function of the skills and knowledge of an
organization’s human capital.
Therefore,
if an organization is to treat its employees as its most important asset, it has to be knowledgeable about what
it is that motivates people to reach their full potential (Lawler, 1990). It is
not easy though to know all the things that motivate people in life or at work
but an effort has to be made in each case.
Traditionally,
individual attitude to work in
organizations has centered on the evaluation of performance and the allocation
of reward systems. Organizations are starting to acknowledge planning and
enabling individual performance as a critical approach towards organizational
performance.
Strategic
success for the organization lies in focusing attention at all levels on key
business imperatives, which can be achieved. The planning process is one of the
primary elements of the total reward system. According to Adam, (1964),a
reward system is an reinforcer only if its delivery increases the probability
of a behavior or attitude of the target
indiciduals.
This
study is focused on reward system and teachers attitude to work. It is
important to note that, reward
system is the process that impacts
performance between pay checks and provides the basis on which individuals
results are measured. It is the bonding agent in programmes that direct rewards to true performance. The
primary focus of reward and recognition programs is how organizations define
their rewards system and communicate this in a manner that employees clearly
understand the link between reward and teachers attitude to work (Bassy, 2002).
Rewards
and recognition programmes create environments especially where jobs provide
intrinsic rewards good feelings that people get from doing the work itself. Yet
in many organizations, recognition is reserved for an elite few and rewards are
defined solely in terms of wages and salaries. Effective recognition enhances
employee motivation and increases employee productivity all of which contribute
to improved organizational performance (Bassy, 2002).
1.2
Theoretical framework
This study is guided by;
(i)
Adam Stacy’s Equity Theory of motivation
(ii)
Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory.
(i)
Adam Stacy’s Equity Theory of motivation
The Equity Theory states that employees expect
fairness when being rewarded for the work done. The theory was developed from
the Hertzberg’s job satisfaction theory and linked to the reward system by Adam
Stacy. An important factor in employer’s motivation is whether individuals perceive the reward
structure as being fair. The Equity theory essentially refers to an employee’s
subjective judgment about the fairness of the reward she/he got in comparison
with the inputs which include; efforts, time, education, and experience when
compared with others in the organization.
The Equity theory of motivation
concerns on the people’s perception and feelings on how they are treated as
compared
with others (Armstrong, 1996). The
argument is that people work well in accordance to what they regard as fair.
Employees consider whether management has treated them fairly, when they look
at what they receive for the effort they have made. Maslow (1954) agrees with
this that employees expect rewards or outcomes to be broadly proportional to
their effort. In this regard, Carter (2002) give the formula below to
illustrate the comparison.
Input (A) =Input (B)
Reward (A) =Reward (B)
Employee A compares the ratio of
his/her input to his/her reward to that of employee B. If he/she feels the
ratios are similar, he/she is bound to be satisfied with the treatment
received. If he/she feels inadequately treated, he or she is bound to be
dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction is likely to breed tension and frustration
in such employees and their consequent performance may be negatively affected
and this may perhaps further lower rewards (Carter 2002). Much as Employees
must be rewarded, employers’ perception towards performance-based rewards can
depend on many factors such as politically rewarding someone because of his/her
political affiliation, circumstantial instances like one being in the right
place at the right time and be rewarded with a high office position, it can be
gender sensitivity, strategic, just because someone teaches well mathematics so
it is assumed that he can equally teach physics, it can be ethical, personal,
such as one being rewarded because of the relationship he/she has with the head
teacher.
(ii) Victor
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory.
On the other hand, the Expectancy theory
helped the study to understand how individuals are drawn to make decisions as
regards various behavioral alternatives and perceptual differences among
people. It also suggests that motivation is based on how much one wants
something and how likely he/she could get it (Cascio, 1989). This is because
the motivational force of every individual is influenced by his or her
expectancies, valances all of which depend on a personal way of perception. The
formal framework of expectancy theory was developed by Victor Vroom (1964).
This framework states basically that
motivation plus effort leads to performance, which then leads to outcomes.
According to this theory, three conditions must be met for individuals to
exhibit motivated behavior and these include: effort to performance expectancy
must be greater than zero, performance to outcome expectancy must also be
greater than zero, and that the sum of the valances for all relevant outcomes
must be greater than zero.
The Expectancy theory explains that in
any given situation, the greater the number and variety of rewards that are
available to the employees (teachers), the greater is the probability that
extra effort will be exerted in attaining the set goals or targets in the hope
of getting the desired rewards (Cascio, 1989). Gerald (1986) agrees with this
and explains that Vroom focused especially on the factors that are involved in
stimulating an individual to put an effort in doing something since this
is the basis of motivation.
1.3
Statement of the problem
There appears to be mounting concerns
that high proportions of teachers working in Calabar South Local Government
Area of Cross River State are poorly
motivated due to a combination of low morale and job satisfaction, poor
incentives, and inadequate controls and other deprivations.
Consequently, standards of professional
conduct and performance are low and falling in many schools. Incentives for
teachers in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State to perform
well are frequently weak due to ineffective incentives and sanctions. Very low
pay forces large proportions of teachers to earn secondary income from private
tutoring and other activities. What is expected from teachers which is
their social contract is not pitched at
a realistic level in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State
given material rewards, workloads, and work and living environments. In many
secondary schools, teachers are being asked to take on more responsibilities
without rewarding them. The work and living environments for many teachers are
poor, which tends to lower self-esteem and is generally de-motivating.
Employers use pecuniary rewards for
high levels of performance in schools, usually defined in terms of student
outcomes or teachers skills and knowledge as was observed by (Armsrong,2006). It
is expected that without such rewards, teachers’ attitude to work would be poor. In spite of management efforts
to reward the teachers for better services to students, the teachers seem not
to exhibit signs of well rewarded workers. This has resulted into high labour
turnover, teachers perform part time teaching as a means of topping up on the
basic salary by teaching in two or more schools. The consequence of this on the
formal job include late coming, lack of commitment to the job, dodging classes.
There is no study that has so far been undertaken to establish the reasons why
Calabar South Local Government Area of
Cross River State usually have a negative attitude towards rewarding teachers
for their work. This raises curiosity and hence the need to establish the
effect of rewards system on the attitude of teachers to work in Calabar South
Local Government Area of Cross River
State.
1.4
Purpose of the study
This
research is focused on reward system and teachers’ attitude to work in Calabar South Local Government Area of
Cross River State.
The specific objectives of the study
include:
(i)
To determine how reward system influences teachers attitude to
work in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State.
(ii)
To determine material rewards influences teachers attitude to work in
Calabar south Local Government Area of Cross River State.
(iii)
To determine financial renumeration influence
teachers attitude to work in Calabar south Local
Government Area of Cross River State.
(iv)
To find out how verbal rewards
influence teachers in
Calabar south Local Government Area of Cross River State.
(v)
To
examine how intrinsic reward influence teachers attitude to work in Calabar South
Local Government Area of Cross River State
1.6
Research Question
For the researcher to achieve the
objectives of the study, the following research questions are posed:
(i)
To
what extent does reward system influence teachers attitude to work in
Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State?
(ii)
To
what extent does material
rewards influence
teachers attitude to work in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River
State?
(iii)
To
what extent does financial
reward influence teachers attitude to work in Calabar South
Local Government Area of Cross River State?
(iv)
To
what extent does verbal reward influence teacher attitude to work in Calabar South
Local Government Area of Cross River State?
(v)
To
what degree does intrinsic reward influence teachers attitude to work in
Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State?
1.7 Research Hypothesis
(i)
There
is no significant relationship between reward
system and
teachers attitude to work in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River
State
(ii)
Material
reward does not significantly influence teachers attitude to work in Calabar
South Local Government Area of Cross River State
(iii)
Financial
remuneration does not significantly influence teachers attitude to work in
Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State
(iv)
Verbal
reward does not significantly influence teachers attitude to work in Calabar
South Local Government Area of Cross River State
(v)
Intrinsic
reward does not significantly influence teachers attitude to work in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross
River State
(vi)
There
is no significant relationship between employee psychological readiness result in lower
performance, higher absenteeism, and tardiness among teachers attitude to work in Calabar South Local Government
Area of Cross River State.
1.8 Scope of the study
This research work will focus on reward system and
teachers attitude to work. This study will be restricted to Calabar
South Local Government Area of Cross River State. The researcher will consider teachers from both
public and private schools in the area.
1.9
Significance of the study
The
findings of the study will benefit the ministry of education, future researchers,
school administrators, teachers and students who need to know and learn from
connection between reward system and attitude to work. Teachers and students
will also benefit from the findings of this study in areas of improve work and
academic performance.
1.10
Limitations of the study
Limitations are conditions beyond the control of
the researcher that may place weakness on the conclusion of the study and their
application to other situations. Personal characteristics of the respondents
had an effect on data gathering. Some respondents did not exhaustively respond
to all items. Some concealed information deeming it personal. The researcher
had less mitigating mechanism upon this as respondents were simply not willing
to respond the items at the time of carrying out the interview.
There are some factors that the researcher was not
able to control such as the responses of the respondents which could be
affected by factors such as suspicion and fear of the repercussions of their
responses. The respondents could therefore give socially acceptable responses
in order to avoid offending the researcher
thus resulting in responses that are less reliable and valid. To
overcome this, the researcher assured the respondent’s confidentiality so as to
minimize the effects of these limitations.
1.11
Assumptions of the study
For the researcher to
achieve the objectives of the study, the
following assumptions will guide the study:
1.
Reward
system may connect teachers attitude to work in Calabar South Local Government
Area of Cross River State.
2.
Poor
organizational rewards influences teachers attitude to work in Calabar south Local Government
Area of Cross River State
3.
Poorly
designed compensation package may influence teachers attitude to work in
Calabar south Local Government Area of Cross Ricer State.
4.
Employee
psychological readiness may influence performance, higher absenteeism, and
tardiness among teachers in Calabar south Local
Government Area of Cross River State.
1.12
Definition of terms
Attitude:-The way
one behaves, thinks or feels towards somebody or something.
Influence:- The
power to changeor control something
or somebody. The power to control or change academic performance of pre-school
children.
Ministry
of Education:- A government department concerned with giving
people useful knowledge
Reward
system:- Reward system, a positive stimulus that
can be presented in the process of reinforcing behavior
Teacher:-
also called a school teacher is a person who provides education for students