Association between employee motivation and employee demographics in the banking industry

166 Pages·2009·1.12 MB·English

Association between
employee motivation and employee demographics
in the banking industry

A Research Report
presented to the
Graduate School of Business Leadership
University of South Africa

In partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the
MASTERS DEGREE IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP,
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

by

M PERUMAL
1 December 2008
Association between employee motivation and
employee demographics in the banking industry
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ABSTRACT
Fourteen years after the demise of apartheid and embrace of democracy, South
Africa as a nation is still undergoing its transformation politically, socially and
economically. This environmental churning has high impact on employee
perceptions within the workplace, which subsequently affects retention rates.
Among the challenges facing people managers in this environment is employee
motivation. However, to thoroughly understand what motivates today’s diverse
employee base, one needs to look further than the current landscape into
historical backgrounds, to build up character models for different demographics.
The study aimed to identify associations between employee motivation and
employee demographics (gender, age, race and organisational level) in the
South African banking industry by also taking into account South African history
to understand these associations and to translate the insights gained into
effective leadership.
A survey questionnaire, based on ten motivation factors, was adapted from
similar studies pioneered by Kovach in 1946, who conducted subsequent
studies in 1987 and 1995. The questionnaire for this study was forwarded via
email to South African banking employees requesting them to provide
demographic data and complete a short questionnaire with two countercheck
questions per motivation factor. The collected data was then analysed to
identify any associations by highlighting differences in means of the responses
to the motivation factors between employee demographic categories. The
means were also used to rank the ten motivation factors for each demographic
category.
It was concluded that there were associations, particularly between generations
and the motivation factors, while gender showed the least association. On the
other hand, similarities were also identified. Deserving of particular mention are
similarities indicative of the Ubuntu concept of African culture across all
demographic categories. Recommendations for retention strategies were
provided based on these conclusions.
Association between employee motivation and
employee demographics in the banking industry
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DECLARATION
I, Mr Marvin Perumal, declare that this research report is my own work except
as indicated in the references and acknowledgements. It is submitted in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Leadership
to the Graduate School of Business Leadership (University of South Africa). It
has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in this or any
other university.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Mr Marvin Perumal (70991081)

Signed at ……………………………………………………

On the …………………………….. day of ………………………… 2008

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Association between employee motivation and
employee demographics in the banking industry
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DEDICATION
To my parents, Krish and Jay Perumal, thank you for the foundation that you
built within me, giving me the strength to believe that anything is possible.
Making you both proud is my drive to succeed - I dedicate this report to you.
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Association between employee motivation and
employee demographics in the banking industry
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am sincerely thankful and appreciative to everyone who contributed to the
presentation of this report. Of particular mention are the following individuals:
• Prof. Lize Booysen, my dissertation supervisor, for your commitment,
accessibility and guidance. Your support was unwavering, your approach
was always professional and your demeanour was one of consistent
encouragement.
• Prof. Riette Eiselen, for your assistance with the statistical analysis of the
results of the questionnaires. I appreciate the time that you spared for me,
albeit that you had your own allocation of students whom you supervised for
the year.
• My family, particularly my brothers, Laren Perumal and Neilan Perumal and
your families for the tolerance of my limited time and attention. I am thankful
for your understanding during the programme.
• My managers at SAP South Africa during the three years of my studies,
Laura King, Brent van Rooyen, Yushaa Abrahams and Bella de Freitas for
your support and accommodating of my study requirements.
•
My study colleagues, Naresh Ashok, Sheleena Govind, Benhilda Moyo and
Prabashnee Naidoo for your support and assistance during this journey that
made my experience of the programme all the more rewarding.
• My friends for standing by me during these three years. I know that I have
asked a great deal in accepting my limited time and attention and remaining
my close friends – thank you.
• My cousin, Kay Naidu, for your guidance from my first year and for allowing
me the opportunity to learn my own lessons and find my own way through
these three years.
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Association between employee motivation and
employee demographics in the banking industry
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................... I
DECLARATION ............................................................................... II
DEDICATION ................................................................................. III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................. IV
LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................VIII
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................... X
CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION .......................................................... 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
1.2 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY ......................................................... 2
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND SUB-PROBLEMS ....................................... 3
1.4 DELIMITATIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS .............................................................. 3

1.4.1 DELIMITATIONS ................................................................................................... 3

1.4.2 ASSUMPTIONS .................................................................................................... 4
1.5 IMPORTANCE OF STUDY .............................................................................. 5
1.6 OUTLINE OF RESEARCH REPORT .................................................................. 6
1.7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 6
CHAPTER 2: DISCUSSION OF THEORY – CULTURE AND
MOTIVATION .................................................................................. 8
2.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 8
2.2 CULTURE THEORY ..................................................................................... 8

2.2.1 DEFINITION ......................................................................................................... 8

2.2.2 SOCIAL IDENTITY GROUP DYNAMICS ................................................................... 11

2.2.3 CULTURAL DIMENSIONS .................................................................................... 13

2.2.4 CULTURAL DIVERSITY ....................................................................................... 17
2.3 MOTIVATION THEORY ............................................................................... 21

2.3.1 DEFINITION OF MOTIVATION .............................................................................. 21

2.3.2 NEEDS THEORY ................................................................................................ 22

2.3.3 EQUITY THEORY ............................................................................................... 23

2.3.4 EXPECTANCY THEORY ...................................................................................... 24

2.3.5 JOB DESIGN MODEL ......................................................................................... 25

2.3.6 ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN ................................................................................. 27
2.4 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 30
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CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF PRIOR STUDIES – CULTURE AND
MOTIVATION ................................................................................ 31
3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 31
3.2 SOUTH AFRICAN CULTURE........................................................................ 31

3.2.1 HISTORY .......................................................................................................... 31

3.2.2 POWER SHIFTS ................................................................................................. 33

3.2.3 SOCIAL IDENTITY CHANGES ............................................................................... 40

3.2.4 GENERATIONS .................................................................................................. 43

3.2.5 MANAGING DIVERSITY ....................................................................................... 49
3.3 EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION ........................................................................... 53
3.4 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 57
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................... 59
4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 59
4.2 HYPOTHESIS............................................................................................ 59
4.3 RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................................. 60
4.4 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 63

4.4.1 SAMPLE ........................................................................................................... 63

4.4.2 MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT ............................................................................. 64

4.4.3 ADMINISTERING PROCEDURE ............................................................................. 68

4.4.4 ANALYSIS OF DATA............................................................................................ 70
4.5 LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................ 71
4.6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................ 72
4.7 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 73
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH RESULTS ........................................... 75
5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 75
5.2 FINAL SAMPLE SIZE .................................................................................. 75
5.3 RESPONDENT PROFILE ............................................................................. 75
5.4 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS AND DATA DISTRIBUTION .......................................... 78
5.5 DIFFERENCES IN MOTIVATION BETWEEN DEMOGRAPHICS ............................. 83

5.5.1 HYPOTHESIS 1: GENDER DIFFERENCES.............................................................. 83

5.5.2 HYPOTHESIS 2: GENERATION DIFFERENCES ....................................................... 87

5.5.3 HYPOTHESIS 3: RACE DIFFERENCES .................................................................. 91

5.5.4 HYPOTHESIS 4: ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL DIFFERENCES ...................................... 96

5.5.5 HYPOTHESES SUMMARY ................................................................................. 101
5.6 RANK OF MOTIVATION FACTORS BY DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORY ................... 103

5.6.1 GENDER RANK ................................................................................................ 103

5.6.2 GENERATION RANK ......................................................................................... 104

5.6.3 RACE RANK .................................................................................................... 106

5.6.4 ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL RANK ......................................................................... 107

5.6.5 RANK SUMMARY ............................................................................................. 109
5.7 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 110
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CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................ 111
6.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 111
6.2 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 111
6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................. 117
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................... 120
6.5 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 121
REFERENCES ............................................................................ 123
APPENDICES ............................................................................. 129
APPENDIX A: SURVEY INSTRUMENT .................................................................... 129

APPENDIX A.1: EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION SURVEY .............................................................. 129
APPENDIX B: COMMUNIQUE ............................................................................... 134

APPENDIX B.1: LETTER FROM SBL CONFIRMING RESEARCHER AS BONA FIDE STUDENT ...... 134

APPENDIX B.2: EMAIL TO PILOT SAMPLE ........................................................................... 135

APPENDIX B.3: INITIAL EMAIL TO NON-BANKING EMPLOYEES .............................................. 136

APPENDIX B.4: INITIAL EMAIL TO BANKING EMPLOYEES ..................................................... 136

APPENDIX B.5: REMINDER EMAIL TO NON-BANKING EMPLOYEES ........................................ 137

APPENDIX B.6: REMINDER EMAIL TO BANKING EMPLOYEES ............................................... 138

APPENDIX B.7: ORIGINAL PROPOSAL LETTER TO SOUTH AFRICAN BANK ............................ 139

APPENDIX B.8: ORIGINAL PROPOSAL PRESENTATION TO SOUTH AFRICAN BANK ................. 141
APPENDIX C: SUPPLEMENTARY DATA ANALYSIS ................................................... 142

APPENDIX C.1: INDEPENDENT TWO SAMPLE T-TEST FOR GENDER ..................................... 142

APPENDIX C.2: ONE-WAY ANOVA FOR GENERATION (SCHEFFE) ..................................... 144

APPENDIX C.3: ONE-WAY ANOVA FOR RACE (SCHEFFE) ................................................ 147

APPENDIX C.4: ONE-WAY ANOVA FOR ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL (SCHEFFE) ..................... 150
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employee demographics in the banking industry
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Key features of mechanistic and organic structures .................. 28
Table 2.2 Comparison of basic motivation categories ............................... 29
Table 3.1 Selected SA demographic statistics (1970s) ............................... 33
Table 3.2 Management employees by race and gender (2007) .................. 37
Table 3.3 Financial Sector Charter performance review (2006) ................. 40
Table 3.4 Examples of characteristics of femininity and masculinity ....... 51
Table 3.5 Manopoulos’ categorization of motivation factors ..................... 53
Table 3.6 Herzberg categorisation of Kovach’s motivation factors ........... 55
Table 4.1 Questionnaire statements link to motivation factors ................. 65
Table 4.2 Demographic variable values ....................................................... 70
Table 5.1 Composition of employee sample by demographics ................. 76
Table 5.2 Kendall’s tau-b for questions linked to motivation factors ........ 78
Table 5.3 Likert scale coding ........................................................................ 79
Table 5.4 Summary statistics per motivation factor ................................... 80
Table 5.5 Selected summary statistics for Gender ..................................... 85
Table 5.6 Independent two sample t-test for Gender .................................. 86
Table 5.7 Selected summary statistics for Generation ............................... 88
Table 5.8 One-way ANOVA for Generation .................................................. 89
Table 5.9 Homogenous subsets for Generation .......................................... 91
Table 5.10 Selected summary statistics for Race ....................................... 93
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employee demographics in the banking industry
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Table 5.11 One-way ANOVA for Race ........................................................... 94
Table 5.12 Homogenous subsets for Race .................................................. 95
Table 5.13 Selected summary statistics for Organisational level .............. 97
Table 5.14 One-way ANOVA for Organisational level ................................. 98
Table 5.15 Homogenous subsets for Organisational level ....................... 100
Table 5.16 Summary view of hypotheses testing ...................................... 101
Table 5.17 Intrinsic/Extrinsic comparisons................................................ 102
Table 5.18 Rank of motivation factors for Gender .................................... 103
Table 5.19 Rank of motivation factors for Generation .............................. 104
Table 5.20 Rank of motivation factors for Race ........................................ 106
Table 5.21 Rank of motivation factors for Organisational level ............... 107
Table 5.22 Summary view of ranking ......................................................... 109

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