Background
Etihad Airways
is the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates and among the largest
airlines in the world. The company was set up by the Royal decree in July 2003
and started operations in November of the same year. The company subsequently
grew to be among the largest carriers in the world with a workforce of about
8,000 employees who reflect not less than 120 nationalities. Etihad is located
in the capital of United Arab Emirates- Abu Dhabi. Etihad grew steadily to
reach a customer base of 6.3 million passengers in 2009 with their revenues
exceeding $ 2.3 billion in the same year. The main service offered by Etihad is
provision of commercial flight services. However, the airline also offers
Etihad holidays, crystal cargo, and it also offers a global contact centre.
These services are further enhanced by the provision of ground services such as
chauffeur services and provision of premium lounges. In every organization, the
question of employee motivation comes to the fore from time to time. This is in
recognition of the crucial role that employs play in the realization of
organizational strategies outlined. With a human resource base of 8,000
employees, it is expected that Etihad Airways should be paying a substantial
level of attention to the productivity of their employees and subsequently
their level of motivation. This study seeks to identify the measures taken by
Etihad airways in ensuring their employees are motivated as well as the impact
of the measures taken.
Research title
The title for
the research shall read as follows: how effective are the motivational factors
practiced at Etihad Airways in enhancing employee satisfaction and
productivity?
Aims and Objectives
The study will
mainly evaluate human resource practices at Etihad with the aim of identifying
factors that are likely to motivate or de-motivate the employees. In so doing,
the study shall expound on the philosophies adopted by Etihad in respect to
their human resource management and the extent to which HR is factored in designing
of the airline’s generic strategies. The study shall also establish the levels
of motivation exhibited by the employees and shall seek to establish a
relationship between the motivation levels and the motivation factors adopted
by the airline. The study shall also establish the relative ranking of Etihad
airlines in the industry and the whole economy. The research shall therefore
seek to answer the following questions:
·
What is the prevailing
Human Resource Management philosophy and dominant motivational theory at Etihad
airlines?
·
How has this philosophy
translated into provision of motivating factors to the employees?
·
What is the level of
satisfaction exhibited by the airline’s employees?
·
How can Etihad be
ranked in the industry and in the economy in relation to the motivation levels
of its employees?
·
What motivating factors
are being provided at Etihad?
·
What is the relative
importance of these factors to the employees?
·
What objections/ if any
do the employees have about the human resource practices?
·
What theoretical
weaknesses can the study reveal about the human resource practices?
·
How can these
weaknesses be corrected to ensure higher levels of employee motivation?
The research
shall seek to prove the correctness of the hypothesis that: motivational programs
adopted at Etihad Airways have been very successful in enhancing employee
motivation levels.
Rationale of the study
The importance
of employee motivation in organizations has generated its fair share of debate
with an overwhelming majority holding the view that staff motivation leads to
better organization performance. The study is designed to highlight current
practices at Etihad since the bulk of reliable studies conducted at the same
organization are at least three years old. The business environment and the
socio-cultural changes taking place in the face of rapid globalization have
rendered the business environment so dynamic that information is rapidly being
rendered unreliable if not updated in a timely manner. This study shall seek to
draw fresh findings based on current goings on in the airline. This research is
expected to make valuable input into the wealth of academic research conducted
on employee motivation and may serve as an important guide for researchers
seeking to conduct such studies in other organizations or industries. The study
shall also be conducted solemnly in order to generate reliable interpretations
and recommendations that Etihad and other industry players can draw from when
designing or updating the Human resource management practices.
Definition of terms
UAE – United
Arab Emirates
The airline –
Etihad Airlines
Limitations of the study
The study will
not be able to gather views from a large majority of the workers due to time
constraints. This study recognizes that even though due care shall be taken to
ensure the employees surveyed are representative of the whole group the issues
of motivation are usually so personal that it is inaccurate to assume any
commonness. However, it is expected that the findings would broadly be reflective
of the whole staff. Secondly, the research shall be conducted by an independent
party who is not known to the staff. The lack of familiarity with the research
may lead to reluctance to release information on the innermost feelings of the
employees hence there is danger of the study leading to misleading conclusions.
This shall be corrected by making an effort to ascertain the willingness of the
employees to be sampled to take part in the survey. This solution will equally
be applicable in overcoming the time constraints associated with filling out a
detailed survey questionnaire.
Literature Review
The research
topic touches on the importance of the various factors at work environments
that contribute to employee motivation and their subsequent impact on employee
productivity. Motivation may be broadly described as the inner force that
drives employees to desire to achieve personal and organizational goals. The
dominant theories relating to employee motivation were formed rather recently
and were as a result of the analytical and descriptive skills of some of the
management gurus such as Dr. Abraham Maslow in 1943, Fredrick Herzberg in 1959,
Prof. Victor H. Room in 1960, John Stacey Adams in 1963, and Burrhus Fredric Skinner.
These five distinguished theorists were instrumental in the development of
several theories relating to employee motivation. These theories have mostly
been named after the theorists as follows: Adam’s Equity theory, Maslow’s Need-Hierarchy
theory, Vroom’s Expectancy theory, Herzberg’s two-factor theory, and Skinner’s
reinforcement theory. Maslow held the
view that the greatest motivator for human needs is unsatisfied needs and that
these needs would need to be satisfied in such a way that recognizes the
hierarchy that he designed. Lower needs would have to be satisfied before the
higher needs for any motivation programs to have their desired effect. He
identified these needs as physiological needs (water, air, food, and sleep),
safety needs (financial reserves, job security, safety of residence and medical
security/ insurance), social needs (friendship, giving and receiving love, and
belonging to a group), esteem needs (attention, recognition, self-respect,
social status, and accomplishment), and self-actualization (meaning, wisdom,
justice, and truth) respectively.
The Maslow’s
need- hierarchy theory states that the needs of the employees shift to the next
level upon satisfaction with one level of needs and their desire to satisfy
their needs progress until they reach the level of self-actualization. However, the self-actualization needs do net
get fully satisfied unlike the other levels of needs. This is because people
graduate into new psychological realms from time to time and requiring an
adjustment of the actualization needs. Experts argue that the knowledge of the
employee’s needs help the management to significantly raise their motivation
levels more effectively and efficiently. The emergence of subsequent theories
was as a result of the weaknesses observed in the need-hierarchy theory. These
weaknesses stemmed from the inadequacy of the theory to cover cultural
backgrounds where some cultures would tend to put social needs above other
needs and the fact that there was little evidence to prove the need to satisfy
one level of needs before attempting to satisfy the others. The Herzberg’s two
factor theory can also be called the motivator-hygiene theory. It concentrates
on identifying the motivating factors and the hygiene factors where the two
terms refer to factors that enhance satisfaction and factors that prevent
dissatisfaction respectively.
The two-factor
theory identifies some of the hygiene factors as reasonable wages; offering of
fringe benefits such as medical insurance; job security; flexible and
reasonable administrative and company policies; safe, clean and hygienic
working conditions; and recognition and retention of status within the
organization. The motivating factors have been identified as recognition of
employees’ achievements; responsibility and ownership of work; meaningfulness
of work; and a sense of achievement promoted by the organization. Job-enrichment
is the thrust of this theory. Advocates for this theory advise that an
organization should ensure the promotion of motivating factors to heighten motivation
levels while keeping an eye of the hygiene factors to guard against erosion of
any gains that may have been achieved as a result of good application of the
motivating factors. Vroom’s expectancy theory states that the level of
motivation a person has is dependent on their perception of how an action would
lead to the attainment of a given result and their desire to realize the
identified result. This theory factors in an equation which makes it easier to
derive comparative analysis that would enable a management team to provide
motivational factors more decisively. This theory adopts the formula:
motivation = Valence x Expectancy x instrumentality, where valence refers to
the level of desire for a perceived reward; expectancy refers to the
probability that the action to be taken may lead to the identified reward; and
instrumentality refers to the level to which an employee believes that
attaining the identified task could lead to the identified reward.
This theory has
received praise from many scholars as a breakthrough in identification and
recognition of individual differences within the same staff clusters in an
organization. This theory also tends to provide the link between the
organizational goals and individual employees’ goals hence offering a platform
for the harmonization of the two variables. The theory further gives the
management teams to recognize the level of importance that the employees attach
to the various components of their work reward systems enabling the
organization to lay emphasis on the most critical areas to ensure higher
productivity. Adams Equity theory advocates for a balance between the input an
employee puts into an organization and the output (reward) that they get from
the organization. The inputs include factors such as skills, loyalty,
tolerance, determination, personal sacrifice, trust in superiors, adaptability,
commitment and hard work while outputs include salaries, financial benefits,
job security, growth opportunities, praise, recognition, responsibility and
sense of achievement. The equity between the inputs and outputs for employees
motivates the employees to work more diligently as it also raises their
expectation that further inputs are likely to lead to higher levels of outputs.
Skinner’s reinforcement theory states that humans’ actions are a function of
the perceived consequences of such actions. This theory concentrates on
creating understanding on how to ensure effective control over people’s
behavior and completely ignores their internal states of mind.
This theory
identifies positive reinforcement tools as the granting positive responses to
an employee’s desirable behavior and negative reinforcement as giving negative
responses in reaction to an employee’s undesirable behavior. This theory also
advocates for punishment to discourage repetition of undesirable behaviors and
possible lack of response for employees that are yet to learn their lessons. Proper
understanding and application of this theory ensures that the employees learn
desirable behaviors leading to higher motivation levels in the long-run. These
motivation theories are critical in examining the level of employee motivation
in any organization as they enable researchers to identify the critical areas
for examination when carrying out the analyses. A 2008 Study on the UAE national carrier-
Etihad airways was able to reveal some of the expectations that the employees
had on their organization, citing promotion and career development with an
impressive 68% of the employees interviewed stating that they were impressed
with their employer and were highly motivated. This had also coincided with the
introduction of online training programs that had significantly ignited
employee satisfaction due to the realization of their knowledge needs. However,
a 32% disapproval rating among their employees indicated that there was a
substantial unexploited potential that could be attained by moving the one
third of the employees into a highly motivated and satisfied category. A survey
of several organizations in 2010 revealed that most of the organizations
surveyed continued to exhibit various symptoms that led to employee
dissatisfaction in their companies (Abu Dhabi University, 2010).
These factors
included a perceived lack of career growth and personal development; inadequate
teamwork and collaboration or its lack thereof, inadequate performance culture,
negative manager behavior, unfavorable working conditions such as unfriendly
and rigid shifts, unrealistic promotion expectations, and inadequate coaching
and mentoring culture. Some of the suggestions made to counter these
inadequacies were as follows: placing emphasis on employees’ career
development, realigning organizational practices to cultural structures
considered crucial by the employees, creating clear performance indicators and
management of expectations, offering mentoring and coaching support, increasing
employee autonomy in execution of their duties, and encouraging open and candid
communication between employees and between them and their bosses. These recommendations
seem to be inconsonance with the recommendations of Samuel (2001) in his
article in the Journal of the American Chiropractic Association when he
emphasized the importance of proper staff training, conducive and safe working
environments, clarity of objectives and management of staff expectations, fair
management practices, and the recognition of employees’ contributions and
efforts. Griffin and Moorhead (2009) concur that fairness and adequate reward
systems are crucial in ensuring employee retention and enhanced motivation in
organizations. Studies have also provided ample evidence that link employee
motivation with productivity levels in any organizations.
Strategy
scholars are of the view that in the increasingly competitive business environment,
the idea of using human resources are a source of competitive advantage is fast
becoming the most convenient card that organizations are likely to use for
survival and market dominance. Employee motivation is especially critical in
service-oriented organizations such as Etihad airways. Surveys have revealed
that satisfied employees are ten times more likely to generate high levels of
customer satisfaction than unmotivated employees. Staff motivation is therefore
at the heart of any growth or survival strategies that organizations may come
up with. This calls for the according of enhanced importance to the human
resource management functions of the organizations which have in many cases
been left out of strategy planning in many organizations. The inclusion of
Human resource functions in strategic planning brings in the useful insight on
how the employees can be motivated in realizing the organization goals. The
fitting the motivation factors and human resource practices into the overall
organizational strategies is also very critical. The motivating factors need to
bear some level of synergy and sequence centered on the organizational generic
strategies in order to achieve the desired results. The theories reviewed above
are expected o help with analysis and criticism of the motivational factors
being implemented at Etihad airways as well as making recommendations on how
the motivational programs at the company can be improved.
Methodology
The research
shall be conducted using both primary and secondary methods. The secondary data
sources will be useful in providing the theoretical background and analysis
intelligence needed while the primary data will form the bulk of the study by
providing insight into the subject matter at hand. The secondary data shall
mainly be obtained from academic sources such books, journals. Data on
employment statistics relating to motivation shall be obtained from industry
publications relating to the same topic. Secondary data presents the challenge
of incompatibility where the information provided does not fit into the
research objectives as outlined. This can however be solved by using deductions
necessary to convert data into formats and figures that fit into the research
objectives. The primary data shall be collected using surveys or written
questionnaires. The written questionnaires give the respondents ample time to
respond to the issues after carefully considering their answers since the
nature of the research requires substantial internal reflection. However, the
written surveys allow little room for clarifications hence opening room for
misconceptions and wrong conclusions. However, this weakness can be corrected
by ensuring the survey questions are clearly phrased and easy to understand.
Population and Sample
The target
population is the 8,000 employees of the airline. This research shall endeavor
to conduct a survey on 200 employees. The choice is informed by the view that a
sample size of 200 is large enough to give a reliable reflection of the general
trend while at the same time manageable due to the fact that the data
collection process shall not involve extensive use of the researcher’s time. The
sampling shall be judgmental where the various job categories shall be
allocated numbers commensurate with their relative numbers in the organization.
This is in recognition of the fact that different employees need different
motivating factors depending on their level in the organization. The survey
shall therefore interview 120 lower level staff, 60 supervisory staff, and 20
middle level managers.
Methods
The research
shall employ strategies that would be geared at ensuring data reliability by
securing maximum cooperation with the respondents. The researcher shall
establish an inside link preferably at the management level to inspire the rest
of the respondents to answer candidly and in a timely manner. The employees to
be sampled shall also be contacted before the administering of the surveys in
order to secure their cooperation before hand. This will ensure they take the
survey seriously and attend to it in a timely manner. The surveys shall be sent
to the respondents through email and they will in turn respond and send the
answers on email. This will sufficiently save on time and cost of movement.
Data Analysis
Analysis shall
be a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Use of spreadsheets
shall be used to derive the percentages in relation to the satisfaction levels
as well as the proportions of employees that hold certain views. These shall be
reflected on pie charts and graphs to enhance clarity. Quantitative analysis
shall take into account the views of the respondents in order to present them
in academically- acknowledged formats.
Research ethics
The question of
non disclosure of sensitive information is central to any research. Most
respondents would mind having their criticism of their employers publicized in
a manner that can be traced to them. The research shall ensure anonymity is
respected. The right of respondents to abstain from various questions of the
survey must also be respected. The researcher shall not coerce or attempt to
pressure the respondents in any way where the latter have been observed to be
reluctant in that sense.
Timescale
The activities
involved in this research shall be as outlined in the table below:
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