Assessing Employee Motivation's Impact on Firm Performance: Proposal

This research proposal investigates the impact of employee motivation on the performance of a firm, specifically focusing on the Hotel Marriott in the UK. The proposal outlines the rationale, aims, objectives, and research questions, emphasizing the significance of employee motivation for organizational success. It includes a comprehensive literature review, analyzing various methods to motivate the workforce, such as monetary and non-monetary incentives, and assessing their impact on employee performance. The review also suggests different ways to increase employee motivation, including training and development, career planning, and a combination of incentives. The proposal highlights the importance of job satisfaction and regular motivation to improve both individual and organizational outcomes, providing valuable insights for leadership and management in fostering a productive work environment. This research aims to provide practical recommendations for enhancing employee motivation and, consequently, improving firm performance.

PROPOSAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Section 1.......................................................................................................................................3
Introduction and Background......................................................................................................3
Rationale......................................................................................................................................3
Aims and Objectives....................................................................................................................3
Research Question.......................................................................................................................4
TASK 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................4
Section 1: Introduction.................................................................................................................4
Section 2: Main Body..................................................................................................................4
Section 3: Conclusion..................................................................................................................7
PART 3............................................................................................................................................8
Section 2: Research Methodology...............................................................................................8
PART 4 .........................................................................................................................................10
Section 3: Data Analysis............................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
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PART 1
Section 1
Introduction and Background
Employee motivation basically described as the level of energy, commitment and
creativity which a staff member of a firm brings into their work. Management is always
concerned about finding the way to motivate their employees in order to improvise the
performance of an organization (Panagiotakopoulos, 2013). This research proposal is based on
assessing the impact of employee motivation on the performance of a firm. This research will
help in identifying the importance of employee motivation. Further, this report is an interesting
topic for the researcher as it helps in gaining knowledge at both academic and practical
perspective as managers may find several ways to motivate the staff members. This research
proposal is mainly emphasized on the Hotel Marriott of UK (Introducing Marriott reward,
2016). This hotel is US based and is working in more than 80 countries. Therefore, one of its
most flourishing branch is in UK.
Rationale
The problem behind this research proposal is that how employee motivation can impact
the performance of the organization. Further, the reason for the preparation of this research
proposal is that if employees will be motivated then their will be effective performance carried
out by them (Gignac and Palmer, 2011). Furthermore, the manager must analyze several ways to
motivate the employees so that they can improve the performance of a hotel. The research can be
carried out about the level of motivation among employee, through which employees get
motivated and a motivate employee can produce more or not (Bhatti and et. al., 2016).
Aims and Objectives
Aim
To assess the impact of employee motivation on the performance of Marriott Hotel.
Objectives
 To analyze various methods to motivate workforce
 To analyze the role of employees motivation on performance of Hotel Marriott
 To suggest different ways to increase the employee motivation in Hotel Marriott
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Research Question
 What are the various methods to motivate workforce?
 What is the impact of employees motivation on performance of Hotel Marriott?
 How the different ways can be utilized to increase the employee motivation in Hotel
Marriott?
TASK 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Section 1: Introduction
Literature review is basically an evaluative report of information which are found in the
literature related to any selected area of study. This review mainly describes, summarize,
evaluate and clarify the literature (Literature Reviews, 2014). The main aim of LR is to provide
theoretical base for the whole research and thus helps out the researcher to determine the nature
of the research. In this LR, main emphasize has been made on the impact of employee
motivation on the performance of an organization. Further, in respect to this, various views of
authors has been taken about the several methods which are used to motivate the staff members.
Moreover, the critical analysis has been made about the role which is played by the employee
motivation in order to improve the performance of the company (Bruce, 2012). In addition to
this, suggestion has been provided for the utilization of several ways to increase the workforce
motivation.
Section 2: Main Body
Analysis of various methods to motivate workforce
According to Skudiene and Auruskeviciene (2012) motivation is a term which is derived
from the word motivate which has meaning to move, push or influence in order to proceed
further for fulfilling a want or need. Motivation is mainly used in the organizational context in
order to motivate the employees so that employee can achieve the goals and objectives of the
company in an effective manner, with this regard, the performance of the firm get improvised.
Wirsching and et.al., (2015) states that motivation is a internal strength which drives the
individual to pull off personal as well as organizational goals.
Furthermore, Darós (2013) has describes that there are several methods which are used
by the managers of a company to motivate their staff members. Those methods can be bifurcated
into monetary and non-monetary incentives. Therefore, the management can use either method in
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order to motivate the workforce. The monetary methods includes rewards, bonuses, incentives,
etc. On the other hand, non-monetary includes recognition, promotion, training and development.
As per the expert views of Stringer, Didham and Theivananthampillai (2011) if the company
uses monetary methods to motivate their employees then the employees will be motivated
extremely because every individual work in order to earn money. Further, it is an easier method
to influence the behaviour of a worker at workplace. Moreover, this kind of invective is helpful
in gaining the short-term goals for the business. Furthermore, this also assist the manager to
provide same level of motivation at all levels of staff. However, Inauen (2014) criticized that it is
not necessary that in all situation monetary methods fits. Some times the higher positioned
employees may not get motivated through the monetary incentives. Along with that, the theory
of Maslow also reveal that the higher needs in the pyramid is for the non-monetary benefits and
thus they get highly motivated with them. Furthermore, Richardson and Watt (2010) also cited
that in Herzberg two factor theory the other factor motivators determine that intrinsic factors
motivates more to the employees as this is the major way to create competitiveness among the
employees. On the contrary, Cossette and Hess (2012) argued that while giving non-monetary
rewards such as recognition, promotion, etc. that time manager may grant wrong gift which leads
to the demotivation among the employees. In addition to this, employees also possess unrealistic
expectations and if they does not get fulfill then individual get dissatisfied which lower down
their performance. Similarly, this method is also not attractive because there are some staff
members who does not like to come in the limelight which act as a demotivator for them.
Therefore, in non-monetary method, management may not realize which can be the better way to
motivate the employees at highest (Cossette and Hess,2012).
Analysis of the role of employees motivation on performance of an organization
As per the view points of Michael (2013) motivation plays an essential role in improving
the performance of an employee in an organization. It is because the motivated employee works
in a better manner and at faster pace while compared to the demotivated person in a company.
Furthermore, it can be said that employees must be motivated all the time so that there morale
remain boosted and this way the company can improve their performance on a timely basis.
Furthermore, Rijn, Yang and Sanders (2013) also stated that the role which is played by
employee motivation is that the company can generate output in a better manner and also more
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output will be generated as compared to the usual output. It is because the employee of a
company is satisfied with its job (Bonny, Goode and Lacey, 2015). Moreover, the motivated
employee also maintain good relations with the management and other co-worker so it can be
analyzed that employee motivation leads to the reduction of conflict at the workplace which is a
good sign for the company and this way company can create competitive advantage in the
market and industry. Furthermore, Word and Park (2015) also cited that employee motivation
will help the organization to create competitive environment where every employee seek to
acquire competencies and skills among themselves. This way company can generate more and
more competencies in the marketplace. On the contrary, Aufi and Kalbani (2014) commented
that although employee motivation plays an important role in improving the performance of a
company but it seems to have a costly process. While carrying out the motivational process
organization has to incur heavy cost. At the time of providing monetary rewards the organization
requires to do handsome amount of expenses (Meijerink, 2014). Further, by providing promotion
to the individual, management has to raise their salary which is again leads to the levied of cost
on the company. The employee performance raises the company's profit but at the same time it
also reduces its profitability because the organization has to face these cost incurment. However,
Sarangi and Shah (2015) argued that employee motivation may leads to the incurment of heavy
cost at initial stage but in a long term this process will prove to be highly effective and this will
lead to the generation of high profitability. Along with that, this also helps in attracting large
pool of talented employees in the company as the motivation process in the organization is
highly effective. Therefore, Wood and et.al., (2015) explained that employee motivation plays a
crucial role in the performance of any organization.
Suggesting different ways for increasing the employee motivation
Mozes, Josman and Yaniv (2011) have explained that motivation must be given to the
employees in order to boost their morale which in turn will leads to the increase in the
performance of employees for the achievement of individual as well as organizational goals.
Furthermore, the motivation must be provided to the employees on a regular manner so that
employee remain motivated all the time and this way company reap maximum benefit out of it
(Bruce, 2012). Along with that, management must provide job satisfaction to the employees so
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that the motivational technique can easily hammer on their head which leads to the increase in
better performance of the workforce of a company.
Cossette and Hess (2012) have suggested several ways through which motivation of
employees sustain for loner term and also it get increases among the employees. The
management can adopt the method such as combination of both monetary as well as non
monetary incentives so that both lower and higher needs of the individual get fulfill. For
instance, in Hotel Marriott, manager can provide bonus to the employee by recognizing their
efforts at a grand event. Thus, it fulfills both kind of demand that is the employee's performance
got recognized publicly and also he got monetary benefits. Furthermore, Michael (2013) stated
that management can also provide training and development to the employees as this is one of
the method which helps in raising the motivation of employees. Furthermore, in training and
development session, employees must be provided with the training of self motivation so that
employee remain motivated at the time of workload when manager would be unable to apply
motivational tool on the staff members (Sarangi and Shah, 2015). In addition to this,
development of employees also leads to the motivation among them because an individual will
start building the personality and professionalism which will enhance their growth prospects.
This will also help in the reduction of employee absenteeism and employee turnover. Therefore,
employees will remain committed towards the organization. Along with that, Inauen (2014)
explained that career and succession planning helps the individual to grow in the organization
and by viewing this other employee also gets motivated because they will think that higher
performance will also bring such growth opportunities for them. This way, performance of
employee will get better and also this leads to the enhancement of employee motivation in an
enterprise.
Section 3: Conclusion
After carrying out the literature review it has been concluded that every authors has
distinctive views because about the employee motivation. In first part, several methods have
been analyzed which helps in the employee motivation. Some authors have supported the
monetary incentives as a good method and some have criticized it and suggested non-monetary
incentives. Along with that, in second part it is concluded that employee motivation plays an
essential role in the success of organization and thus the workforce must be motivated on a
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regular basis. Lastly, several strategies have been suggested by various for motivating the
employees at workplace where combination of monetary and non-monetary incentives and
training & development have been recommended.
PART 3
Section 2: Research Methodology
Research Design
Research design is generally a document of a study and there are primarily 3 types of
research design that are descriptive, exploratory and explanatory. Descriptive design is one
which depict the aim of research to the participants in an accurate manner (Garland and Garland,
2012). Furthermore, exploratory research design is one helps in gaining insights and familiarity
for further investigation and lastly explanatory design can be defined as the attempt to connect
the ideas for understanding cause and effect and the explanation of the meaning of the research.
In this present study, descriptive research design will be used. It is because the researcher
will be able to define the aim and objectives to the participants in an better manner and through
this knowledge would be increased in a selected field. Further, this design will help the
management to identify the impact of employee motivation on the performance of the
organization (Plowman, 2016). Along with that, this design will help in collecting data in an
easier manner. Furthermore, confidentiality of data would be maintained and most importantly
life experience will get enhanced by using this research design.
Research Approach
There are mainly two types of research approaches that are inductive and deductive
approach. The researcher can use either inductive or deductive approach based on the nature of
the study. Deductive reasoning moves form more general part to the more specific area and is
known as top-down approach. On the other hand, inductive approach works in other way and
moves form specific observation to broader generalizations and various theories (Massingham,
Massingham and Diment, 2012). In a present research study, inductive research approach will be
used it is because the aim of the research moves from more specific to the generalization
concept. This approach will prove to be beneficial because this is used when the information
with the researcher is incomplete and through this complete research study could be made in a
better manner. Along with that this approach will assist the researcher in drawing essential
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conclusion in a quick manner. Thus it is justified on the ground and this way researcher can
achieve the aim of the research study.
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is a kind of belief about the way where phenomenon data will be
gathered, analyzed and utilized as well. There are generally two types of research philosophies
that are positivism and interpretivism (Hughes, 2014). Positivism is generally regarded as the
scientific approach and in the methods which are used in this philosophy are highly organized,
measurable and are based on the approaches involved in the research. Whereas, interpretivism
are the based on the collection of qualitative data and integrates the human interest into a study.
The desired information collected in this philosophy is about the human nature that is what
human thinks, what kind of problem they face and how the people deal with them. Furthermore,
this makes the interactive, cooperative relationship with the researcher. Whereas, positivism has
rigid separation with the researcher.
In the present study both kinds of philosophies will be used because the present study
will be based on the employee motivation therefore, interpretivism will be used. It is justifiable
because the interpretivism is mainly concerned about the human study so this philosophy will
help in achieving the aim of the research in an efficient manner (Bruce and et.al., 2014). Along
with that, through interpretivism a researcher will be able to gather the information about the
people's thinking, the issues faced by them and how they tackle them. In a similar manner
positivism philosophy will also be employed by the researcher in the present study because the
researcher will be able to find the information regarding the number of thinking of people and
the specific done by them. Further, this study will also require a rigid structure in order to carry
out the research in a set format (Guercini, 2014).
Data collection
Data collection is done by using two sources that are primary sources and secondary
sources. Researcher can collect the data using primary data and under which sources are included
as questionnaire survey method, interview method and observation method (Hansen, 2011). On
the contrary, researcher can also use the secondary data which can be collected using books,
journals, online websites, government reports, business reports and many more.
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The two sources that are primary and secondary sources will be used by the researcher in
a present study. It is because the aim of the research is to assess the impact of employee
motivation on the performance of Hotel Marriott. For this aspect, researcher will require the
primary as well as secondary data. The primary data will be collected using the questionnaire
survey along with the structured interview. The reason behind this is that every human being
interprets the stimuli in different perspective so the questions designed in the questionnaire also
leads to the different perspective (Flick, 2015). In order to avoid such confusion structured
interview will be carried out. Furthermore, the past experience and several theories will be
require to understand by the researcher that is why the present study will also require secondary
data. Therefore, the researcher will collect secondary data using books, journals and business
reports of Marriott Hotel so that earlier facts can also be used while achieving the aim of the
study that is impact of employee motivation on performance of a company.
Sampling
Sampling is done in order to apply the research study only on few people so that
behaviour of complete population can be known. It is not easy to apply the research study on
whole population as this will become time consuming costly process. For this aspect sampling
from the population is done. There are basically two types of techniques which are used to do the
sampling that are probability and non-probability techniques. These two techniques also have
some other method included in them (Hussain, 2011).
In a present study, probability technique will be used because this will assist the
researcher to avoid the biasness in the study. Further, population of the study is all the employees
of Marriott Hotel UK out of which 20 employees will be selected for the research study. This
sample will be selected using the probability technique and under which simple random
sampling will be used (PANNEERSELVAM, 2014).
PART 4
Section 3: Data Analysis
Data Analysis Methods
There are mainly two methods which are used by the researcher in order to analyze the
data that are qualitative and quantitative method. The quantitative research is that where
systematic empirical investigation is done about the observable phenomenon. It is done by using
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statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. Whereas, qualitative research involve the
deep research of the non-numerical data in which in-dept quality look of phenomenon is done. At
this present research, qualitative techniques will be used in order to accomplish the aim and
objectives of the study (Guercini, 2014). Furthermore, in qualitative techniques data analysis will
be done through thematic technique were themes will be made and accordingly collected data
will be analyzed.
Ethical Issues
While carrying out the research study, researcher may face the ethical issues which get
arise during the research study. Further, these issues must be dealt with prior the research study
in order to carry out the study in a smooth manner. There are some of the ethical issues arises
while collecting data from both primary as well as secondary sources. These are discussed as
follows: Issue associated with the prior permission: At the time of carrying out the study at Hotel
Marriott, the researcher has to take care about the ethics that the participants or
respondents must be informed about this research. Furthermore, their permission must be
taken before the research has been carried out. This has to be done so that genuine replies
from the employees could be taken. Until they allow, the researcher must not conduct
their study. Thus, to avoid such issues researcher will ensure that they have taken prior
permission from the employees of the Marriott Hotel. The researcher will also assure that
while taking permission, he will also inform about the nature and aspect of the research
study being carried out in this hotel. Issues associated with the privacy and confidentiality of data: While filling the
questionnaire and taking interview, respondents will provide their personal information
and also the other information related to their job. Along with that, the data will be
available from the business reports which is highly confidential. Thus, it is an ethics of
research study that such information should not be leaked out as it may hamper the
performance of the company. Moreover, researcher will assure that such data should not
be leaked out and the confidential data will be stored in a secured manner.
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 Plagiarism of content: While taking the data from the books and journals the researcher
may face the issue of plagiarism. Therefore, it is the duty of the researcher and he will
take care that data will be rephrased and will not be copy pasted directly. Proper Citation: At the time of taking data from the books, journals and business reports
the researcher may forget to mention the citation of the authors which will be an
unethical practice. However, researcher will ensure that proper in-texting of data will be
done by them.
Validity and Reliability Issues
Validity can be described as the entire experimental concept which determines the test
that will be applied in the research report will be able to meet all the requirements or not.
Moreover, reliability means the surety that data which is collected is consistent and that will
generate the same result in the later in future. Along with that, researcher may face the validity
and reliability issues. However, researcher will assure that it has been properly considered that
such issues will not arise. Thus,, the study will be conducted by viewing the aspects of validity
and reliability.
Time Plan
The time plan of this dissertation have been described as Gantt Chart. It is because this
will help in availing the detail information about the utilization of available time that will be
require to complete the research project within the 12 weeks. The below mentioned activities
have been bifurcated and this way research will be carried out.
ACTIVITY/WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Formation of research proposal
Access to literature sources
Designing of objectives
Assessment of secondary information
Selection of research approach
Writing of research methodology
Drafting of literature review
Secondary data collection
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