PROPOSAL ON EFFECTS OF POOR OFFICE ENVIRONMENT ON THE MOTIVATION OF

WORKERS IN AN ORGANIZATION

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of poor office environment on the motivation of workers
in an organization. The past decades have been characterized by unpredictable fluctuations in workers
poor attitude and productivity. Organizations are faced with poor level of attitudes such as erratic
provision of services has become an increasing persistent problem facing the corporation and seriously
affecting the general public, Careless and casual handling of the existing tools and machines and General
nonchalant attitude of staff in the discharge of their duties. What are the causes? This crucial and yet
unresolved questions has been and is still a source of concern to the owners, customers and members of
the community as a whole and is critical for continuous research. Correspondingly, the review of the
literature signifies a momentous shortage in this area of research. This study will empirically analyze the
effects of poor office environment on the motivation of workers in an organization and is enriched by
administering questionnaires to respondents from the manufacturing sector in Nigeria. An aggregate of
150 questionnaires were analyzed.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

In todays competitive business environment, organizations can no longer afford to waste the
potential of their workforce. Many enterprises limit their productivity enhancement of employees to the
acquisition of skills. The type of work environment in which employees operate determines the way in
which such enterprises prosper. According to Akinyele (2010), about 80% of productivity problems reside
in the work environment of organizations.

Motivation is concerned with why people do what they do. It answers such questions as why do
managers or workers go to work and do a good job. This tries to explain what motivates people to act the
way they do, with primary focus on the work place. It is the primary task of the manager to create and
maintain an environment in which employees can work efficiently to realize the objectives of the
organization.

Employees differ not only in their ability to work but also in their will to do so (motivation). To
motivate is to induce, persuade, stimulate, even compel, an employee to act in a manner which fulfills the
objectives of an organization. The motivation of employees depends on the strength of their motives.
Motives are needs, wants, drives, or impulses within the individual, and these determine human
behaviour.

Motivation then is the process of:

Arousing behaviour.
Sustaining behaviour in progress, and
Channeling behaviour into a specific course of action.

Thus, motives (needs, desires) induce employees to act. Motivation, therefore, is the inner state
that energizes, channels, and sustains human behaviour.
 A conducive work environment ensures the well-being of employees which invariably will enable
them exert themselves to their roles with all vigour that may translate to higher productivity (Akinyele,
2007). Employees have attitudes about many aspects of their jobs, their careers, and their organizations;
however, the most focal employee attitude is job satisfaction. Looking at a group of people performing
the same job for some time, we cannot but observe that some people do it better than the others. One will
want to know the factors that account for these differences in performance. One factor is that the
differences reflect varying degree of skills or abilities displayed by individual workers, while the other
factor is motivation. Motivation on the other hand simply refers to the urges, aspiration, drives and needs
of human beings that direct or control or explain their behaviour. Brenner (2004) asserted that the ability
of employees within an organization to share knowledge throughout the system depends on the conditions
of their work environment. Some employees tend to be more motivated to become productive in a well-
facilitated work environment. More so, the quality of comfort variable from work environment
determines the level of satisfaction and productivity of workers. Workers productivity cannot be optimal,
if the conditions of work environment are not favourable. Improved work environment enhances
employees motivation, which enhances a higher productivity.

There are key factors in the employees workplace environment that impact greatly on their level
of motivation which ultimately affects their performance. The workplace environment that is set in place
impacts employee morale, productivity and engagement - both positively and negatively. It is not just
coincidence that new programs addressing lifestyle changes, work/life balance, health and fitness -
previously not considered key benefits - are now primary considerations of potential employees, and
common practices among the most admired companies.

The poor office environment occurs where there is no conducive working condition for workers
to carry out their duties in the office. According to office Act (1963), stated that, the physical office
environment in the context of management comprises lighting, heating, ventilation, noise control,
decoration, floor covering, safety measures and general cleanliness.

This study therefore, sought to find out the effects of poor office environment on the motivation
of workers in an organization using Millenium Plastic Industries located in Awka, Anambra state as a case
study.

1.2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

To improve the motivation of industry workers in an organization, supportive working

environment is needed. This encompasses more than just having sufficient equipment and supplies. It also
includes systems issues, such as decision-making and information-exchange processes, and capacity
issues such as workload, support services and infrastructure (Potter & Brough, 2004). Although it is
logical to link poor motivation to poor working conditions, there is limited documentation showing how
poor working conditions influence health provider productivity, competence and responsiveness.

The work place environment in a majority of industry is unsafe and unhealthy. These includes
poorly designed workstations, unsuitable furniture, lack of ventilation, inappropriate lighting, excessive
noise, insufficient safety measures in fire emergencies and lack of personal protective equipment. People
working in such environment are prone to occupational disease and it impact on the employees
motivation as well as their performance. Thus, morale is low and productivity is decreased due to the
workplace environment. The study examined how working environment affects workers motivation to
work performance and evaluated the extent to which working environment would contribute to
encouraging or discouraging employees of the industry to perform well.

1.3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study aims at suggesting few interactions to provide better work environment in
organizations in Nigeria, which is the outcome of the in depth analysis of the work environment. To be
precise, the research paper would seek to fulfill the below listed objectives:

1. To find out what constitutes motivations and job performance to employee in Millennium
Plastic Industry, Awka.

2. To analyze workplace factors affecting the employees motivation.

3. To know the problem inhibiting the success of the employees motivation in the organization.

4. To suggest the measures to improve the working conditions for better motivation.

1.4 RELEVANT RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Some of the research questions are:

1. What activities constitute motivations and job performance to employee in Millennium Plastic
Industry, Awka?

2. What are the workplace factors affecting employees motivation?

3. What are the problem inhibiting the success of the employees motivation in the organization?

4. What are the measures to improving the working conditions for better motivation.

1.5. STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

In other to attain the goals of this study the following research hypothesis are formulated for
accurate empirical validation of this study:

Ho1: The employees are not satisfied with the motivational and performance techniques
employed by the Millennium Plastic Industry, Awka.

Hi1: The employees are satisfied with the motivational and performance techniques employed by
the Millennium Plastic Industry, Awka.

Ho2: There are factors affecting employees motivation positively in Millennium Plastic Industry,
Awka

Hi2: There are no factors affecting employees motivation negatively in Millennium Plastic
Industry, Awka.
 Ho2: The problems inhibiting the success of the employees motivation in the organization can not
be managed

Hi2: The problems inhibiting the success of the employees motivation in the organization can be
managed.

1.6 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This conceptual framework tries to explain how working environment influences employees
motivation. It assumes that working environment consists of two components that are physical
environment and behavior component. But before they are highlighted, it is important to define and
explain some concepts of the work environment.

1.6.1 Meaning of work environment

The need to provide a safe work environment for employees has had a long history in human
resource management. Spector and Beer (1994) acknowledged that work systems cannot only affect
commitment, competence, cost effectiveness and congruence but also have long-term consequence for
workers well-being, there are some evidences to indicate that work systems designs may have effects on
physical health, mental health and longevity of life itself. Conducive work environment ensures the well-
being of employees which invariably will enable them exert themselves to their roles with all vigour that
may translate to higher productivity (Akinyele, 2007).

Kohun (1992), defines work environment as an entirety which comprises the totality of forces,
actions and other influential factors that are currently and, or potentially contending with the employees
activities and performance. Work environment is the sum of the interrelationship that exists within the
employees and the employees and the environment in which the employees work. Brenner (2004) was of
the opinion that the ability to share knowledge throughout organisations depends on how the work
environment is designed to enable organisations to utilise work environment as if it were an asset. This
helps organisations to improve effectiveness and allow employees to benefit from collective knowledge.
In addition, he argued that work environment designed to suit employees satisfaction and free flow of
exchange of ideas is a better medium of motivating employees towards higher productivity. However,
work environment when appropriately designed, motivates employees toward higher productivity.

Work environment, according to Opperman (2002), is a composite of three major sub-

environments via: the technical environment, the human environment and the organisational environment.
Technical environment refers to tools, equipment, technological infrastructure and other physical or
technical elements. The technical environment creates elements that enable employees perform their
respective responsibilities and activities.

The human environment refers to peers, others with whom employees relates, team and work
groups, interactional issues, the leadership and management. This environment is designed in such a way
that encourages informal interaction in the work place so that the opportunity to share knowledge and
exchange ideas could be enhanced. This is a basis to attain maximum productivity. Organisational
environment include systems, procedures, practices, values and philosophies. Management has control
over organisational environment. Measurement system where people are rewarded on quantity, hence
workers will have little interest in helping those workers who are trying to improve quality. Thus, issues
of organisational environment influence employees productivity.

Kyko (2005) posited that there are two types of work environment. These are identified as
Conducive Work Environment and Toxic Work Environment. Conducive work environment gives
pleasurable experience to employees and enable them to actualize their abilities and behaviour. It also
reinforces self-actualizing behaviour. For instance, an irresponsible employee changing into a responsible
employee in a conducive work environment. Toxic environment according to him brings about unpleasant
experiences and at the same time, deactualize employees behaviour. It reinforces low self-actualizing
behaviours and it leads to the development of negative traits of the employees behaviour. However, in a
toxic work environment, responsible and sensible employee can change into irrational and irresponsible
employee as a survival strategy (Kyko, 2005). He identified six factors, which contribute to a toxic work
environment hence contributing to low productivity of workers. These factors are opaque management,
biased boss, companys policies, working conditions, interpersonal relationship and pay.

According to Yesufu (1984), the nature of the physical condition under which employees work is
important to output. Offices and factories that are too hot and ill-ventilated are debilitating to effort. There
should be enough supply of good protective clothing, drinking water, restrooms, toilets, first aids facilities
etc. Both management and employees should be safety conscious at all times and minimum or
requirement of the organisations act must be respected. These factors may be important; yet believing that
the attitude and management style of mid-level managers are what really influence employee productivity.
Though one of the primary tasks of the managers is to motivate people in the organisation to perform at
high levels (Steers & Porter, 2000; Christensen, 2002).

It is generally agreed that the more manager can answer the question of what motivates their
employees accurately, the more effective they will be at enhancing performance and advancing the notion
of organisational accountability (Chernis & Kane, 2004). Lambart (2005) opines that labour productivity
is rarely measured directly but inferred from changes in employees attitude and behaviour such as
organisation commitment, organisational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction. An effective work
environment management entails making work environment attractive, creative, comfortable, satisfactory
and motivating to employees so as to give employees a sense of pride and purpose in what they do
(Brenner, 2004).
 1.6.2 FRAMEWORK

Physical environment comprises the comfort level (presence of office building and working tools) which
influences employees motivation which affects their availability, productivity and competence. Also there
is an office layout (presence of privacy) which influences employees productivity and competence. The
behavior component of environment (how workers interact with each other and absence of noise) tends to
influence productivity and responsiveness, and in totality they may improve or decrease health workers
performance. (See illustration in figure 1)

MOTIVATION INDICATORS
WORKING ENVIRONMENT FACTORS
1. AVAILABILITY
a) PHYSICAL COMPONENT OF WORK ENVIRONMENT.
Drugs availability.
1. COMFORT LEVEL
Employees availability
Office building space and Infrastructures (water and electricity).
Presence of working tools and medical supplies.
2. OFFICE LAYOUT
Presence of Privacy 2. PRODUCTIVITY
b) BEHAVIOUR COMPONENT OF WORK ENVIRONMENT Employees workload
1. LEVEL OF INTERACTION. Improve/ decrease employees motivation which inadvertently affects the
Work interaction

2. DESTRUCTION
Absence of noise 3. COMPETENCE
Adherence to standard operating procedures
Communication with individuals and customers

4. RESPONSIVENESS
Employees satisfaction

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework: Effects of Working Environment on the Organization employees

motivation

1.6.3 MOTIVATION IN WORKPLACE

 No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.
Andrew Carnegie. Motivation is present in every life function. A common place that we see the need to
apply motivation is in the work place. In the work force, we can see motivation play a key role in
leadership success. A person unable to grasp motivation and apply it will not become or stay a leader.

While the most obvious incentive for increasing employee productivity is often thought to be
based on salary and promotions, this is not always the case. In fact, recent thought on the true nature of
optimal human resource management has concluded that in a large number of cases, salary has to done
with motivation than do other important factors.

In addition, a motivating work environment must be the one in which employees are treated
fairly. No matter what level of input a particular worker has in relation to the business processes as a
whole, it is essential for a manager to give each employee a sense of playing a dynamic, integral role in
something much larger. Indeed, engendering loyalty is a key element of motivating workers and thereby
increasing the overall productivity of operations.

One important tool for motivating employees is praise. Effective project managers must learn
how to cultivate this powerful method of worker motivation. While oftentimes largely ignored by
managers in the workplace, this can be an actual work being done. Praise has in countless examples,
shown productivity.

1.7 MODELS AND THEORIES ON MOTIVATION

A number of concepts have been established to explain the phenomenon of human motivation. It is useful
to classify these concepts into two broad categories, which are Content theories and Process theories.

1.7.1 CONTENT THEORIES

These emphasized reason for motivated behaviour and or what causes it. They explain behaviour in terms
of specific needs or motive (the two terms used interchangeably here). Content theories help to
represent physiological or psychological deficiencies that an individual feels some compulsion to
eliminate. Some of the major content theories are:

Hierarchy of needs - Abraham Maslow

ERG - Clayton Alderfer

a) HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

In 1943, Abraham Maslow in a seminar paper titled, A Theory of Human Motivation proposed that a
persons motivational needs could be arranged in a hierarchical order. Inherent in this hierarchical order
of needs is that once a given level of need is satisfied, it no longer serves to motivate rather the next
higher level of need has to be activated in order to motivate the individual. Maslow identifies five levels
of needs, which are:

Physiological Needs: These are the basic human needs to sustain life as food, clothing, and shelter. Until
these basic needs are satisfied to the degree needed, needs for the sufficient operation of the body, the
majority of a person activity will probably be a t this level and other needs will provide little or no
motivation. But once the physiological needs have been satisfied, other levels of needs become important
and these motivate and dominate the behaviour of the individual.

Safety or Security Needs: These needs are essential, the desire to be free of the fear of physical danger
and the deprivation of the basic physiological needs. This is a need for self-preservation and the concern
for the future. If an individuals safety or security need is in danger, other things seem unimportant.
Maslow stressed emotional as well as physical safety. The whole organism may become a safety-seeking
organism. Yet, as it is true of the physiological needs, once these safety needs are satisfied, they no
longer motivate.

Social or Affiliation Need: In the original version of Maslows theory, he used the word Love to
describe the need for attention and affiliation. This however has been modified by the post Maslow
theorist for the word love may include sexual relationship, which is a physiological need. Social need
include the need to belong and be accepted by people, this also means belongingness, acceptance and
friendship.

Esteem Needs: The esteem needs represents self-esteem and recognition from others. The satisfaction of
these needs produces feelings of self-confidence, prestige, power and control. People being to feel that
they are useful and have some effect on their environment.

Self-Actualization: This is the need to maximize ones potential whatever, it may be as Maslow
expressed it, What a man be, he must be. It is also the desire to become what one is capable of
becoming. These needs as presented by Maslow can be arranged in a hierarchy presented below.

Self
Actualization
Esteem
Social Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs
Higher Needs
Lower Needs

b. THE ERG THEORY OF MOTIVATION

The ERG Theory propounded by Clayton Alderfer is indeed a reaction of Maslows Theory. He argued
that there are three core needs which he classified as Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG).

The Existence need has to do with the satisfaction of our basic material requirements such as
food, water, pay and working conditions, they can be classified as physiological and safety needs.
The relatedness need is similar to the social role needs of Maslows Theory and this includes
social and interpersonal relationship.
Finally, the Growth needs are intrinsic desire for personal development or making creative
productive contribution.

Furthermore, Alderfer argued that if the gratification of a higher-level order need is stifled, the desire to
satisfy a lower level need increase i.e. frustration, regression and dimension. In other words, if a person
fails to satisfy a higher-level need, he/she moves back to a lower-level need, which then acts as a
motivating force.

This frustration regressive dimension can be illustrated below.

Frustration of

Growth Needs
Importance of Growth Needs
Satisfaction of Growth Needs
Frustration of
Relatedness Existence
Importance of Relatedness Needs
Satisfaction of Relatedness Needs
Frustration of
Existence Needs
Importance of Existence Needs
Satisfaction of Existence Needs

1.7.2 PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

These are theories that describe and analyzed how behaviour is energized, directed, sustained and
stopped. While it is true that people work in order to satisfy their needs, some employees want to work
and do good job and in some case, employees may exhibit effort beyond the level where the reward
surpassed their need. It is therefore the duty of management to provide an environment that facilitates
high-level of performance. Because at this point, what motivates the employee is not the desire to satisfy
their needs but rather factors in the environment. This is the basis of the process theories of motivation.

1.8 METHODOLOGY

1.8.1 Research Design

This refers to the set of methods and procedures used in collecting, analyzing and measuring the variables
specified in the research problem. This study centered on the impact of financial innovations in financial
performance of banks in Nigeria.

The strategy for carrying out this study involves the acquisition of relevant data and analysis using
appropriate techniques. The researcher therefore adopted the descriptive survey design, which was
considered the most appropriate for this study.

1.8.2 Population of the Study

Lavrakas (2008) defines a population as any finite or infinite collection of individual elements. Hyndman
(2008) describes a population as the entire collection of things in which we are interested. The studied
population will consists of the manufacturing industries in Nigeria. The selected sample will consists of
all the staff of Millennium Plastic Industry, Awka. The sampled industry was selected because they have
readily available information and have a higher level of information disclosure. These were carefully
selected for the survey in order to achieve the major aim and essence of this study as intended by the
researcher.

1.8.3 Sample Size and Sampling Technique

Sample size according to Eboh (2009) is a fraction or segment of the total population whose
characteristics is used to represent the entire population. A sample is used to facilitate proper
representation of important features of a whole. Gerstman (2003) states that a sample is needed because a
study that is insufficiently precise, lacks the power to reject a false null hypothesis and is a waste of time
and money. A study that collects too much data is also wasteful. Therefore, before collecting data, it is
essential to determine the sample size requirements of a study.

According to Onodug et, al. (2010), sampling technique refers to the strategy or method used in selecting
representative samples from the entire universe or population. Hence, it is very important because it helps
to determine the proneness or otherwise of a research to bias. In realization of this fact therefore, the
purposive or judgmental sampling techniques was used for this study. Lavrakaz (2008) states that a
purposive sample, also referred to as a judgmental or expert sample, is a type of non-probability sample.
The main objective of a purposive sample is to produce a sample that can be logically assumed to be
representative of the population.

The method used in selecting the sample size is random sampling, i.e. where every member of the
population has equal chance of being selected.

The sample for the study was obtained from the population of all staff of the selected Industry which
totaled 240 staff. Yaro Yameni statistical formula was used in determining the sample size.

This is shown below:

n = N

1 + N(e)2

Where n = sample size

N = Population

e = error level of significance (5%)

1 = constant

Substituting the values into the formula,

n = 240
1 + 240(0.05)2

= 240
1 + 240(0.0025)

= 240 = 240 = 150

 1 + 0.6 1.6
Therefore, sample size obtained was 150

1.8.4 Research Instrument for Data Collection

According to Okeke (2008) research instrument are referred to as the various tools for primary data
collection. The major research instrument, which will be used in this study, is a structured questionnaire
titled The effects of poor office environment on the motivation of workers in an organization
(EPOEMWO), and which comprises close-ended and open-ended questions. This is because the
qualitative data for analysis is validated from analysis results from secondary data quantitative analysis.
Close-ended questions were used to restrict the respondents to the option given by the researcher while
open-ended questions allowed the respondents to supply answers in their own words.

The questionnaire was structured on a five point scale with the following response options; strongly
agreed (SA), agreed (A), neutral (N), strongly disagreed (SA) and disagreed (D).

1.8.5 Sources of Data Collection

Primary and secondary data were used in collecting the data. The major source of data was primary data
from the constructed questionnaire designed to obtain responses from the target respondents. While
secondary data are, data collected from library, textbooks, journals, organizations, magazines.

1.8.6 Method of Data Collection

Data will be collected through the questionnaire given to the respondents who are all staff of Millennium
Plastic Industry located in Awka, Anambra state.

It will be administered by the researcher personal contact/interaction to the respondents. 150 copies of
questionnaire were distributed.

1.8.7 Method of Data Analysis

After data will have been collected, they will be presented with the aid of tables and simple percentage.
Pearson moment correlation analysis will be use in testing the hypothesis.

The formular for Pearson moment correlation is given below

r= nxy (x y)

(nx2 (x)2) (ny2 (y)2)

Where r = Correlation Coefficient

x = sum of scores in x distribution

y = sum of scores in y distribution

xy = sum of product of paired x and y scores

x2 = sum of the squared scored in x

y2 = sum of the squared scored in y

n = number of paired x and y scores

Where,

X = degree of responses

Y = response

The degree of responses were given points as follows

SA = 5

A = 4

U = 3

D = 2

SD = 1

Decision Rule

In interpreting the strength of the relationship between the variables, using the guideline given by
Osisioma (2009):

Reject the null hypothesis if the calculated r 0.5 level of significance

Accept the null hypothesis if the calculated r 0.5 level of significance

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