ABSTRACT
The study investigates the influence of motivation on job performance of library personnel in O.O.U and Babcock University, Ilishan- Remo, Ogun State. The populations of the study were 100 workers of the library personnel. The study adopt total enumeration (census). This was because all the library personnel in the study locations were included in the study. The study used descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean, and percentages) to answer the two research questions posed for the study. The regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that guided the study. The result obtained from the analysis showed that motivation have positive and significant effects on job performance of library personnel in the two university libraries. The study reveals level of job performance in the two libraries, among which were staff have a good working habit, regular attendance to work, been sensitive toward other people’s feeling, respect to their fellow staff. The study also reveals the level of motivation among which are staff are strongly motivated by the application given to them when they perform a duty, they always have the desire to work because they are allowed to express their opinions concerning their work. The researcher recommended that the university libraries should make motivation of their staff as part of their priority as this will go alone way of increasing the staff job perform and also libraries are continually challenged to develop pay policies and procedures that will enable them to attract, motivate, retain and satisfy their employees. It was therefore, suggest that more research should be conducted on the relationship and influence of motivation on workers performance using many private and public organizations which will be a handy tool that could be used to provide solutions to individual conflict that has resulted from poor reward system.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to Study
The job performance of library personnel in any library has a significant impact on the service delivery to users. If library personnel discharge their duties efficiently it will encourage library users to make use of the library and resources more often and this will help to improve the quality of their education. Madukoma (2015) stated that the use of library will help students, researchers and other library users to overcome the barrier and discouragement to information access and use to achieve their academic pursuit. This implies that students are required to make use of the available resouces in the library to achieve academic excellence. Whereas the library personnel are there to ensure that students, faculty and other researchers needs are met. If they fail in carrying out their job performance of ensuring adequate availability, access and retrieval of information service in the library, it becomes difficult for students to enjoy the services of the library.
Motivation is either a positive or negative feelings that people have about their jobs when carrying out their duties. Unegbu (2015) identifies the duties of a university library which is carried out by library personnel as to provide and make available adequate information resources to members of the academic community, to provide instruction to students (both new and old) in certain areas of knowledge, to conduct research and extend the frontiers of knowledge, to collect, organize, preserve and disseminate the research findings of academics to the global world. The ability of staff in the library to effectively and efficiently carry out the above listed duties determine their job performance level. Sarasvathy (2013) citing Ahmad et al., (2002) stated that job factors such as the pay, the job itself, promotion opportunities, support from supervisors and relationship with co-workers can affect employee’s motivation to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently.
In today’s rapid changing working environment, job performance has become an important criterion to determine an organization’s reputation, outcome and employees’ job efficiency. Employees need to be motivated in other to enhance their skill and knowledge from time to time in order to perform well and remain competitive and also become knowledgeable workers. Through the enhancement of competency, knowledgeable employees would perform better on each of their tasks as well as moving forward to achieve the organization’s strategy and goals. The relevance of job performance is very crucial to the long-term growth of any occupation in the world. Subuola, Akintola and Adeyanju (2015) ranked job performance alongside professional knowledge and skills, center competencies, educational resources as well as strategies in genuinely determining career success.
Subuola, Akintola and Adeyanju (2015) regarded job performance as the ability to carry out a responsibility in accordance with laid rules. The rate and degree of performance is determined through appraisal which is the systematic way of estimating the worth, quality, importance and relevance of a work activities with a view to rating, correcting, improving or changing the work system. It is frequently expressed that job performance is a function of ability and technology. Fagbamiye (2000) opined that performance can be regarded as almost any behavior, which is directed toward task or goal accomplishment. The importance of job performance can be recognized by many human resource practitioners and organizations today as a significant reason why an organization will continue to exist and motivation can play a role in stimulating high performance.
Obiekwe (2016) stated that in every organization, the decision to elevate, retain or sack an employee have to be made on a regular bases. Performance measurement is defined as “the regular measurement of the results (outcome) and efficiency of services or programs,” this implies the steady measurement of progress towards accurate outcome (it is a fundamental component of any attempts at managing for results), a customer tailored procedure that focuses on maximizing benefits and minimizing negative cost for customers of services and programs(Obiekwe,2016).
Job performance measurement tools are used for strategic maneuvering of the day to day running activities which include planning, implementing improvements and changes within an organization.
The conventional tools for measuring organizational performance were finance and accounting based. Presently, it has developed into modern systems which have many functions. Firstly, the financial measures as a tool were used to control the financial resources of companies in order to support organizational objectives. Secondly, financial performance measures acted as barometers to point at accomplishments against major organization objectives. Thirdly, they also serve as incentive for future achievements (Obiekwe 2016).
Motivation is one of the most significant elements for many organizations including both private and public because it plays a significant role for the accomplishment of any organization. The term motivation is basically derived from the word motive (Chaudhary & Sharma, 2012), meaning wants, desire and needs of the peoples. Employee motivation is the procedures of motivating employees through bonus, rewards, and some of other incentive. Luthans (1998) explained that motivation is the procedure that energies, stimulates, stands, and directs actions and performances. Nowadays, organization can simply transfer their services, goods, needs, and materials to some other organization or to some countries. Human capital is the only one main asset which is not easily replaceable. Similarly, human resources are the most significant or very economical resources that cannot be replaceable by any organization. It is the inner power that pushes employees to achieve the organizational and personal objectives (Reena, Jalilvand, Sharif, Salimi & Khanzandeh, 2009).
The concept of motivation is based on some driving force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfill some need or expectation (Sharma, 2011). For instance, Shah and Shah (2015) pointed out that motivation is aimed at inspiring people to work, individually or in groups in the ways such as to produce best results. It is the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals conditioned by the efforts and ability to satisfy some individual need. In this case individuals are motivated to do something because they want to do it. Library personnel need to be properly motivated and inspired to effectively carry out their work and motivation helps not only in having library service provided but also in the determination to see that it is done efficiently and effectively. Looking at motivation from a theoretical perspective, Maslow states that if all needs are unsatisfied at a particular time, satisfaction of the predominant need will be most pressing. Those that come first must be satisfied before a higher-level need comes into play. Herzberg (1959) reached two conclusions about motivation: some job conditions operate primarily to dissatisfy employees when they are not present, but the presence of these conditions does not build strong motivation and some job conditions build high-level motivation and job satisfaction, but if they are not present, they do not prove highly dissatisfying. Herzberg believed that motivators must be built into the job of an individual. Such motivators include responsibility, autonomy, respect and recognition from superiors, a sense of well-being, and the opportunity to have one's ideas adopted.
Other theories that emphasized motivation include equity theory as popularized by Adams (1965). It posits that perceived inequity is a motivational force. Workers evaluate equity using a ratio of inputs to outputs. Inputs include qualification, experience, effort, and ability. Outcomes include benefits. Inequities occur when workers feel that outcomes are not comparable to inputs. This can affect their level of motivation. Vroom (1966) asserts that employees are motivated to make choices among behaviors. If employees believe that effort will be rewarded, there will be motivated effort, that is, they will decide to work harder to receive a reward. Variables in expectancy theory are choice, expectancy, and preference. Choice is the freedom to select from a number of behaviors. Expectancy is the belief that certain behaviors will or will not be successful. Preferences are the values a person attaches to different outcomes. In the library setting, library personnel compare their pay, work schedules, benefits, or any reward with what is being received by other employees. Unless the reward system is carefully administered, it could result in problems of perceived or actual inequity. Expectancy theory can be used in the development of human resources in libraries. The logic of expectancy theory is that individuals exert effort for a performance that results in preferred rewards. Expectancy can be influenced by selecting individuals with particular skills and abilities, providing training, and providing support to achieve a particular level of performance.
The effect of motivation on job performance can be explained through the observation of Kishore (2008) who opined that when an individual is unhappy about social related issues such as recognition, social interaction with colleagues and many others, his or her efficiency will be affected. Furthermore, personnel whose needs are met will be more effective in his or her work place. It is therefore expected that the work place and its environment should provide a meaningful, satisfying, and challenging atmosphere which will permit personnel to develop their potential to the fullness. It is through this that individual employees would be motivated and increase their level of productivity. Motivation of the librarians may not only depend on financial factors but other non-financial motivators like provision of transport, safety and security, and recognition can affect their level of performance.
Motivation can therefore be said to be at the heart of how innovative and productive things get done within an organization (Bloisi, 2003). Thus, if the library personnel are expected to be high performers in terms of the goals and objectives of the library they need to be motivated with right motivators like reducing workplace stress and increasing self-confidence and providing necessary resources in order to achieve the required goals. Motivation can be looked at from two perceptive which are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivated personnel are employees that are just naturally in love with their job and are always happy carrying out their duties. Extrinsic motivated personnel on the other hand is an employee that is only motivated by the reward he/she will get for doing a job, key indicator of an extrinsic motivation are tangible rewards such pay, fringe benefits, work environment, work conditions and job security (Caroline, 2014) either ways personnel need to be motivated. Therefore, motivation plays an important role in job performance and the influence of motivation on job performance needs to be properly investigated if stakeholders are truly committed to improving the performance of library personnel.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
Job performance has become an important criterion to determine an organization’s reputation, outcome and employee efficiency, even among libraries. However, feedbacks from users continue to leave doubts in the minds of stakeholders about the performance of librarians who work as custodians of information materials for education, developmental and social purposes. Library personnel carry out daily activities at various levels to assists in providing and solving the information needs of various users such as students, lecturers, and other researchers, but observation shows that their job performance is considered to be low. This has created a vacuum for students’ learning in a way and has affected how performance of librarians is perceived. It is possible that motivation to enhance their performance may be lacking. Lack of motivation of library personnel may be responsible for the low level of performance as motivation play a role in intensifying the desire of library personnel to work effectively and efficiently. The benefits associated with motivation of librarians are felt in the provision of services. The work of librarians needs to be enhanced through motivation. If librarians are not effectively motivated there is concern that as library practice evolves their ability to provide essential services to students and researchers may be hindered. It is in light of this that this study seeks to find out if motivation has any influence on job performance of library personnel in Babcock university.
1.3. Research Objectives
The overall objective of this study is to ascertain the influence of motivation on job performance of library personnel in Babcock University, Ilishan- Remo, and Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. The specific objectives are to:
- find out the level of motivation of library personnel in Babcock and OOU, Ogun State.
- Determine the level of job performance of library personnel in Babcock and OOU, Ogun State.
1.4. Research Questions
The study provided answers to the following questions:
- What is the level of motivation of library personnel in Babcock and OOU, Ogun State?
- What is the level of job performance of library personnel in Babcock and OOU, Ogun State?
1.5. Research Hypotheses
The study was guided by one hypothesis at 0.05 significant level.
H3: Motivation has no significant influence on job performance of library personnel in Babcock and OOU, Ogun State.
1.6. Scope of the Study
The focus of this study is to investigate the influence of motivation on job performance of library personnel in Babcock and OOU, Ogun State. Therefore, it is limited to library personnel in Babcock and OOU except cleaners, secretary and security personnel. Motivation such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were considered then job performance such as innovation and creativity, efficiency and effectiveness, team work, quality of work among many others are the only concepts to be considered as relevant for the study.
1.7. Significance of the Study
Job performance of library personnel have been called into questions by users at different points in time in terms of user satisfaction, helpfulness, friendliness and approachability of the library personnel. This study will be of relevant to library administrators, other researcher, NGOs, community users and stakeholders in the educational sector.
This study will also contribute to existing knowledge about roles motivation plays in bringing about higher level of performance by providing empirical and theoretical evidence to upcoming researchers.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
Motivation: This can be defined as an act or process of motivating library personnel. Library personnel having a desire or willingness to act.
Job Performance: This refers to behavior an employee engages in while at work that enables him/her to perform his duties in the best possible way.
Library personnel: This refers to both academic and non-academic staff members who work in the library like professional librarians, para-professionals, library assistants and library attendants.
