MOTIVATIONAL IMPERATIVES IN SERVICE INDUSTRY (A CASE STUDY OF BENIN ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY – BEDC)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The National Electric Power Authority was established by the NEPA Act of 1972. The Act authorized the merger of the activities of the Niger Dam Authority and the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria. The operative object clause is among other things: “to develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical system of electricity supply to all parts of the federation or as the Authority may direct, and for this purpose:

·        Generate or acquire supply of electricity,

·        Provide bulk supply of electricity for distribution within or outside Nigeria, and

·        Provide supply of electricity for consumers in Nigeria from time to time as may be authorized by the authority”.

A close scrutiny of NEPA performance over the years reveals that the above provisions of the Decree are not efficiently observed. It was estimated, according to a World Bank Report, that inefficiency in power sector alone created losses of over US$800 million annually in Nigeria (World Bank 1994).

Today, investment costing stands flawed without imputing the cost of self-provision of electricity whilst the affluent make provisions for private electricity generators for domestic use.

Bedeviled with gross inefficiency and inappropriate investment strategy, NEPA record transmission loss of 15% - 20% owing to inadequate distribution expectant. Between 15%-20% of its output is not metered and hence no revenue is earned on it. This means between 30% - 40% of NEPA output does not yield revenue. The expected loss by international standard is 5% - 10%. It is a common knowledge that due to poor operational practices and inadequate management tools and skills, sharp practices are very rampant in the system. (World Bank 1995).

Managerial success to a great extent entails working with and through people to achieve organizational objective. When management has the unrealistic and narrow outlook that labour is primarily an adjunct to the machine and is to be bought at the cheapest market, its organization will be inefficient, human resources will be wasted and the workers will consider the organization undesirable to work. This leads to industrial strikes and places the organization at a great disadvantage in its drive to recruit and retain the right caliber of personnel necessary for its operations. Human resources are the most important assets an organization has, and any attempt to sideline the human resources in development purpose will spell doom to the organization. 

A human oriented management recognizes that fact that individuals join organization with varied drives and motives both economical and psychological. Such management therefore designs and maintains an organization in which employees meet their wants and needs by contributing to the overall interest and aims of the organization at the same time. While meeting his personal needs, he also needs organization’s objectives.

In the light of this, one sees motivation as those drives which enable an employee to have increased morale and psychological stability, required for increased productivity. The study therefore, centers on NEPA, in order to determine the extent, to which the company appreciates the overriding benefits outlines from employee motivation because all these benefits have appendages (positive or negative) towards organizational output.

Apart from political instability, a major setback for improving the economic fortunes and development of the West African sub-region is the state of the power industry in the sub-region. Typical West African countries like Nigeria, Benin, Gambia, Mali and Togo have power consumption per capita of less than 150Kilo-watt hour.

Energy consumption in selected African countries vs Industrialized Nations.

Countries

Energy Consumed in KWH

Ghana

420

Nigeria

85

Cote D’ Ivoire

180

Industrialized Nations

1900-6000

Source: NEPA (1991)

This is appreciably low if compared with an average of 1900-kilowatt hour and 6000 kilowatt hour for industrial nations.

          The low pace of development of the West African Power sector is due to the form of ownership and control of the institution that produces and distributes electricity in this region. Generally, electricity industry within the sub-region in under State Control with utility boards or agencies given full monopoly for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity.

          Because of this from of control and monopoly status, the operating environment does not encourage any form of competition and foreign capital investment. The resultant effect is decline, not only in the power sector, but industrial development.

          Specifically, a nation like Nigeria whose chief source of foreign exchange in crude oil exploration and exportation and which remains the largest oil producer in the whole of Africa with about 1.88 million barrel per day and whose estimated 124 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of proven gas reserves and huge Hydro power reserves, its potential for becoming an industrial giant and main exporter of electricity to the West African sub-region is great. However, due to long years of uneconomic planning, regulation and control of the power sector by government, requisite attention has not been paid to these important levers of the economy.

MOTIVATION

Historically, motivation developed in 3 main streams:

1.      Traditional Model

This model rests on the assumption that people come to work only because of money. The task of management therefore is to clearly define the job and develop system of wage and punishment in order to get best from workers.

2.      Human Relations Model

This is based on the assumption that people come to work because of social interaction. The role of management therefore is to design the job in order that employees achieve an optimum level of social interaction. This is expected to create social harmony and by extension, optimum performance from workers.

3.           Human Resources or Behavioural Model

This is based on the assumption that people come to work in order to fulfill higher level need such as responsibility, achievement, work content etc. this school of thought believes that a manager that focuses on the areas of job enrichment and enlargement world create an enabling environment for superb performance.

          Having said all this, motivation could be explained as a process of stimulating people to action to achieve desired goals or to accomplish given tasks. It is within a person to achieve a goal or objective, everything being equal. Motivation could also be regarded as the function which managers perform in organizational goals. It is one of the most enigmatic aspects of management. It refers to the way in which urges, desires, needs, aspirations which are basically tension symptoms occurring within individuals are harnessed and channeled towards smooth, constructive and co-operative behaviour towards the achievement of organizational goals. All human behaviour is motivated in that it is directed towards the satisfaction of physical, emotional, social conditioned or psychic needs. In the jargons of the theoretical and experimental psychologist, a stimulus acts upon the organism to produce behaviour response. Making use of the concept of homeostatic, this means that when a need is felt or perceived, a tension is crated in the individual, which leads to activities intended to reduce the tension created.

          Motives induce that will to act and so result in behaviour. Motivation generally refers to the factors that influence people to act. It is viewed as the process of action.

          During the past few decades, the quest for better ways of motivating people at work has caused some researchers to concentrate more on the psychological factors that stimulate workers than the development of incentives of financial reward because of its significance. It is known that people possess certain needs to be satisfied. When their satisfaction is frustrated or blocked in one way or the other people react against this in various ways according to circumstances.

          If you want to motivate people for greater productivity, you must find out what their needs or wants are their desires and aspirations, why do people seek employment and what would they actually expect from their work environment. The physiological needs which s innate in human being must be satisfied, otherwise employees are not motivated for better productivity. Some elements of a job give people a chance to satisfy their higher level needs, which are called motivators, this should not be overlooked. Although, individuals and group vary to some extent in the particular job element that they find satisfying or motivating, but generally they refer to the content of the job. Therefore, if motivation is to be effective, workers should be provided with opportunity to be happy and do interesting job enthusiastically.

          It is not the interest of the organization for management to have the unrealistic motion that labour is primarily an adjunct to the machine and that the employee-employer relationship is purely contractual, suggesting the right to command and the right to obey because the workers are there to satisfy their economic needs. This type of attitude is demotivational and very much dis-functional and will have on alienating effect on the workers and consequent immensely reflect on their productivity. Productivity measures the fruitfulness of human labour under varying circumstance, it is also a measure of the efficiency or resources as a whole including manpower employees in production. To achieve effective motivation for greater productivity, there should be proper blending of the corporate needs with the individual needs.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In the recent times, the Nigerian economy has witnessed a steady and rapid decrease in productivity in almost all the areas of the economy, the energy sector inclusive. The industrial sector probably the worst hit by this intractable ugly trend of event. The preliminary investigations carried out by this researcher has shown that NEPA also experience similar problems of the study and rapid decrease in productivity was due to lack or inadequate motivation following from this, the researcher has decided to find out whether the problem arose because of lack of motivation, if so, what could be done to ensure efficiency and enhance productivity. In doing this, an attempt will be made to expose the motivational technique already being employed by the management of NEPA. The reactions of the workers to these techniques and whether they were understood as expected.

PRIVATIZATION    

          Privatization is associated with sale of public sector Assets usually held by Governments to private investors. It is distinct from commercialization which could mean Government still retains its holding and controls while ensuring that the utility is run efficiently and on a commercial basis and with a view towards making profit.

HOW DID PUBLIC SECTOR INVESTMENTS BECOME SO HUGE?

According to a survey by the defunct TCPC in 1991, Nigeria has about 1,500 Public enterprises-600 owned by the Federal Government, and the rest States and Local Government.

Estimates of Vision 2010 Committee indicate that Federal Government Investments in public enterprises stood at over U$$100Billion in 1996. Reliable Government sources also claim that Public Enterprises consume about N200Billion of national resources annually by way of grants, subsidies, import duty waivers, tax exemptions, etc.

DEVELOPING WORLD (NIGERIA)

In addition, a strong public sector was considered an indispensable vehicle for propelling economic development in Nigeria, as was the case in other developing countries. In the African content, moreover, and in relation to the post colonial era, state control of enterprises through nationalization was a politically expedient process of gaining some degree of macroeconomics independence as well as protecting their economics from continuing to be completely controlled by foreigners.

Succinctly put successive Nigeria Government Invested huge sums of money in the economy to amongst other things:

·                    Correct market failure in infrastructure and utilities sectors

·                    Control the “commanding heights” economy

·                    Supplement what was perceived to be a weak private sector

·                    Complement the need for capital, which was deemed to be in short supply.

THE NEED TO PRIVATIZE WORLD

The Tory Government of Margaret Thatcher popularized the privatization concept. Besides, Information technology turned the world into a global village with attendant cutthroat competition, which made it, imperative for firms to be efficient or perish.

IN NIGERIA

As a result of the collapse of the world oil market in the 1980s, the expenditure level of public service became incompatible with available resources. The only solution in the circumstances was to cut public expenditure through various ways. Therefore while the conditions which led to the wide engagement of the government in entrepreneurial functions were understandable, the imperatives of the changing circumstances called for a redefinition of that role in the direction of greater selectivity and efficiency in its engagement in such operations.

          Privatization was therefore seen as one of the means of reducing public expenditure in view of the fact that most public enterprises had constituted an unnecessarily high burden on government resources. They had grown too large and unwieldy highly politicized and operating generally at a loss with a consequent heavy reliance on government subventions and subsidies. It was generally viewed that government created a situation whereby financial indiscipline was rampant in public enterprises. The position was that since public enterprises acquired their capital either directly from government budgetary allocations or from the capital market under government guarantee, they were immune to bankruptcy and were not confronted with the possibility or takeovers. This made for indiscipline and the inability of public enterprises to pay back the capital invested in them as the government that set them up itself, was in dire need of funds.

          In comparing the performance of public and private enterprises, there also exists a general understanding that public enterprises, in both developed and developing countries have performed below expectation. It has been argued that excessive political interference and bureaucratic failure are responsible mainly for the inefficiency associated with the public sector Privatization has thus become a vital element of the liberation process. Liberation has become imperative in response to global competitive pressure and the intense drive limited local and internal capital.

          Furthermore, foreign donors and creditors expect that the country’s scare resources would be directed to attacking poverty, through investments in health, education and rural development-social programs that will benefit the teaming masses.

Privatization was thus seen as means for correcting:

·        Abuse of monopoly powers

·        Defective capital structures resulting in heavy dependence on the treasury for funding

·        Bureaucratic bottlenecks

·        Mismanagement

·        Corruption

·        Nepotism

·        Fiscal deficits imbalance

·        Underdevelopment of the capital market and private sector

·        In-efficient economic growth.

1.3       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the root causes of worker negative attitude at work, especially in relation to motivation. The workers reactions to motivation and motivational techniques employed by the management to enlist the cooperation and support of the workers. The study also intends to look into the punitive or regard system or both and their applicability, because, it is the belief of the researcher that most times, the problem with a given techniques depends to a large extent on the applicability.

For this reason, some of the areas this study intends to accomplish are as follows:

1.           To show the motivational factors employed by the management of NEPA aimed at inducing overt actions for the enhancement for the workers productivity.

2.           Probe and find out what may be the likely management problems with motivation in NEPA.

3.           Show the effects motivation has on the productivity of the workers.

4.           Proffer solutions to identified management deficiencies in the management of motivation.

5.           Finally, document the findings for interested researcher in the future.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTION

1.           To what extent do you think motivation determines employee output of work?

2.           Does bureaucratic process prevent a company from formulating and implementing effective staff motivation techniques?

3.           How do you think an employee can be properly motivated?

4.           How can you establish a relationship

5.           How can you establish a relationship between you and your boss?

6.           How will your salary commensurate to the services you offer to the organization between you and your boss?

7.           How will your salary commensurate to the services you offer to the organization.

1.5       HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION

The study of the impact of motivation towards organization productivity the case of NEPA Enugu will seek to test the following hypothesis.

(1)     Ho     Promotion as a way of motivating workers at NEPA is not         a factor of educational, qualification and hard work.

         Hi       Promotion as a way of motivating workers at NEPA is a factor of educational qualification and handwork.

(2)    Ho      The worker-boss relationship does not affect the overall productivity of the organization.

        Hi        The worker-boss relationship affects the overall productivity of the organization.

(3)    Ho      Bureaucratic processes does not prevent a company from formulating and implementing effective staff motivation techniques.

Hi       Bureaucratic process prevents a company from formulating and implementing effective staff motivation techniques.

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is expected to be of immense importance in management decision making in NEPA as well as other top researchers and consequently to the nation in general. The study will specifically be beneficial in the following ways:

i.             It will make the management of NEPA to appreciate fully the importance of motivation in large organization its kind.

ii.            It will enable managers in the employment of NEPA to identify the causes of how productivity in relation to levels of motivation.

iii.           This will inculcate in workers the essence of dignity of work and increased morale, which will enable them understand the concept of service.

iv.          The result will help in the enhancement of efficiency and consequently productivity at NEPA when properly addressed.

v.           It will be of immense guide to future researchers who intends to explore and understand further concepts of motivation especially in service organization like NEPA {PHCN}.

1.7       SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY

For the purpose of clarity, the subject of this research work focuses on the study at a comparative assessment of the experiences in similar or related organization. The study intends to cover the activities of NEPA.

To pretend that a research work of this nature suffered no impediments would be academically deceitful. Consequently, financial constraints, time factor and other things posed formidable hurdles the course of this research work.

The dearth of relevant textbooks and the exorbitant cost of available ones consequent upon the prevailing economic situation in the country also serve to limit this research work.

All said and done, the research intends to ensure that the effects of these limit factors on the production of this work is brought to the dearest minimum.

1.8    DEFINITION OF TERMS.                                          

ECN:          Electricity Corporation of Nigeria

NDA:          Niger Dams Authority

NEPA:        National Electric Power Authority

NESCO:    Nigerian Electricity Supply Company

TCPC:        Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization

PHCN:       Power Holding Company of Nigeria

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