Masters

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Working on this research has been a great source of learning, but this would have been high difficult without proper support and guidance. Therefore, I would like to thank my supervisor forthe valuable suggestion and guidance provided to me throughout my thesis. Whenever, I needed help, my supervisor came up with the solution which helped me in writing my report and assistme whenever I needed the help and provided the sources of valuable literature regarding my thesis. I would like to thank all the respondents for helping me in the questionnaires. Without their help I would have not been able to complete my thesis on time. I am thankful to my family for their support and all friends who helped me in my report and gave valuable suggestions whenever I needed. I would sincerely thank my friends, who helped me conducting the survey for the analysis. Without them the data collection would have been impossible

ABSTRACT

This dissertation aimed to identify and develop an effective incentive mechanism for the medium and small – sized technology – based companies in China through comparing different incentiv e theories and factors. The required data of this research is obtained using various sources, mainly primary and secondary data signifies the type of data. In order to test the assumptions made in this research, questionnaire has been used as the quantitat ive data collection tool. For qualitative data, interview method has been used. Moreover, a number of secondary data sources have been used in this research such as, EMERALD, EBESCO Host, and Google Scholars. For this study, all medium and small – sized tech nology – based companies are said to be the population and every company operating under this specification has been considered as the population. However, the sample has been selected by narrowing down the topic even further. As in this study, Science and I nnovation Center in Suzhou, China has been selected as the case organization and the sample is selected from the employees who work in the companies located in this area. The sample size decided for questionnaire survey is 260 employees, whereas interviews will be conducted from 20 employees. To analyze the gathered discourses analysis is used especially for the qualitative data. Furthermore, since this research also comprises of quantitative data, hence separate analysis methods have been used to analyze n umeric data obtained as a result of questionnaire. After the collection of data, analysis methods like descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, variance analysis and regression analysis will be used to analyze the data. The overall analysis of the data concludes that work motivation significantly impacts the employee performance in small and medium sized organizations that are operating in the information technology business sector of China. In addition, the analysis of data also highlights that, compens ation, rewards/ recognition and medical benefits impacts the work motivation of the employees that are working below the managerial level. On the other hand, the interview analysis concludes that, employees that works at supervisory level feels more motiva ted, when the organization provide them training programs, career growth opportunities and work life balance.

1.1 Introduction

The chapter of introduction in this research focused on some important elements of the research such as, background or overview of the research, the problem of the research, aims and objectives of the research. Th is chapter is highly crucial, because if the research work is introduced effectively; it creates the interest among the readers to read out the whole research work. The chapter of introduction also highlights the research hypotheses and the significance of the research. Overall, this chapter provides a brief overview to the readers about, what issues this research is going to address and the significance of conducting this research work.

1.2 The overview of research

Recently, with the increasingly fierce c ompetition in almost all of the business areas, it is important for companies to develop their competitive advantage. Moreover, one crucial part encompassed in the competitive advantage is the human resource management. Effective human resource management can’t only help the company reduce costs and increase the source of service and product, but also help the company attract new talented workers and retain the existing ones (Lengnick – hall, 1988). It is significant for companies to attract and retain talent ed workers, especially for the medium and small – sized companies. It is undeniable that every worker expects the rewards, so the company needs to focus on developing motivation and incentives to attract the new talented workers and improve the effectiveness and productivity of the current workers (Hong et al., 1995). However, for some medium and small – sized companies in China, there are some problems and defects in their incentive mechanism of talents, so most of them face the problems about high bankruptcy rate and the shortage of talented workers (He and Chen, 2012). Accordingly, an effective incentive mechanism and system is eagerly needed.

1.2 Problem Statement

It has been identified that, even though the organizations in the current competitive business environment have been giving due priority to enhance the performance of the organization through investing huge amount in human resource development, yet the org anization is facing lots of issues in managing employee performance effectively. It has also been found out that, in

H3: Medical benefits provided by the organization positively impact the employee motivation
H4: Highly level of work motivation positively impacts the employee performance
1.5 Significan ce of the Study

Conducting this research has been significant due to number of reasons. Such as, the findings of this research define the role of different factors like compensation, rewards or recognition and medical benefits offered by the small and medi um sized organization in influencing the work motivation among the employees in China. Apart from this, the study results and findings of this research also clarified the impact of work motivation on the employee performance in the small and medium sized o rganizations of China, particularly in context of information technology business sector. In addition, to effectively study the impact work motivation on employee performance, the current motivation level of the employees of small and medium sized organiza tions in China is measured, which helps the organizations to develop the strategies accordingly in order to sustain or increase the employee motivation level effectively. Furthermore, the findings of this research not only contributes in existing literatur e, but it also provides an avenue to the future researchers to explore more ideas that might play a crucial role in enhancing work motivation and the job performance of the employees in small or medium sized organizations in China.

2.1 Employee Motivation

Motivation is defined as a psychological feature, which drives people to accomplish personal and organization goals (Lindner, 1998). In the area of human resource management, it is regarded as the incentives that induce the employees to get better job performance and contribute larger efforts. The motivation can be classified as intrinsic motivation and extrinsic one. The latter is in terms of the interest of employees themselves into the tasks or job, while the extrinsic motivation stems from the external pressure or rewards. The author will take it as an instance that if the employees believe they can get more autonomy in a company, they are more likely to be intrinsically motivated. In comparison, the extrinsic motivati on mainly includes payment, rewards and so on (Weightman, 2008; Schacter, 2011). Motivational theories such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s two – factor theory and Vroom’s expectancy theory are often referenced to support the importance of the rel ationship between motivation and employee performance. The reason why HR managers generally focus on motivating their employee is to improve their productivity, which in turn increases the overall performance of the company, because the quality and efficie ncy of the workforce is the foundation of a company, especially for SMEs. 2.2 Strategic Human Resources Management As well as this, Lengnick – Hall (1988) reviewed three approaches related to human resources management and business strategy. These approaches are matching with human resources management and personnel activities with corporations’ business strategies, fore casting manpower requirements in the condition of certain strategic objectives or environments, and presenting the means of incorporating human resources management into the business’s strategy and structure. Lengnick – Hall (1988) summarised the difficultie s in the process of integrating human resources management and business’ strategic choice and the ways to deal with these difficulties. The paper used the “Growth/Readiness” matrix to illustrate its special views about the strategic management of human re sources. Lengnick – Hall (1988) listed four attributes associated with

organisational strategic human resources management models. First of all, strategic human resources management models emphasise implementation over strategy formulation. Secondly, traditi onal models focus on matching people to strategy, but not on matching strategy to people. Thirdly, many models rely heavily on organisation or product life cycles as single or uncontrollable catalysts of change. Finally, most of strategic human resource ma nagement models emphasise fitness, or congruence, and don’t recognize the need for lacking of fitness during organising transitions, and when organizations have multiple and conflicting goals. In addition, the “Growth/Readiness” matrix can be used to explo re the complex, multivariate relationships in a systematic fashion. It also further examines the relationship between strategic human resources management and organisational choices.

2.3 HRM Practices in Chinese SMEs

With the great economic reforms in rec ent years, China has undergone reforms in the HRM practices as well. In the past, the employment system was monitored by state agencies to enterprise – based recruitments. Chinese companies have shifted their focus from traditional HR practices (such as the emphasis on social and economic egalitarianism) to the motivation and compensation with the aim of improving organisational efficiency and performance (Zheng et al. , 2008). There is no doubt that Chinese SME has found it easier to adopt innovative HRM prac tices due to their size and flexibility. The need to improve employee performance and enhance organisational efficiency, as the productivity is a key factor in achieving a competitive advantage against competitors.

In the study conducted by Zheng et al. , on the effect of HRM practices on the performance of Chinese SMEs, three major areas of HR practices were common among the Chinese SMEs in the research, which were strategic selection and recruitment, performance based remuneration, and employee involvemen t in decision making. At the same time, the study also showed that the motivation factor in HRM practices had a significant impact on the HRM outcomes, while the factors such as social benefits and staff development had insignificant effects.

2.4 Motivati on Theories

2.4.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Abraham Maslow, one of the famous scholars studying how motivation works, proposed his Hierarchy of Needs Theory in 1943. The model explains that human beings have a set of instinctual needs, which push them forward to self – fulfillment and personal satisfaction. Maslow came up with five different levels of these instinctual needs. Human beings have to fulfill the need at the bottom of the pyramid before they can move up to the next stage (Vroom and Deci, 1970).

Firstly, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs Theory, the bottom of the pyramid is the Physiological need, which is the most basic need of human beings, such as food, water, shelter and warmth. When this need is fulfilled, human beings will mov e to the next stage —- Safety need, which is expressed as security, stability and freedom from fear. The third stage can be classified as Belonging – love need, in which human beings will focus on friends, family, spouse and lover. The fourth stage is Self – E steem need, which is the need for acceptance and to be acknowledged by others. Finally, the last stage is the Self – Actualisation need, in which human beings will seek for personal growth and further fulfillment.

Figure 1 : Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

However, Graham and Messner (1998) mentioned three major criticisms of this theory which are illustrated as follows:
(1) There is scant empirical data to support their conclusion;
(2) They assume employees are basically the same;
(3) It is not a theory of motivation, but rather a theory of job satisfaction
Although there are criticisms of Maslow’s theory, it is still useful in the contribution of the further research to employee motivation and performance. 2.4.2 Herzberg’s Two – Facto r Theory
Herzberg’s two – factor theory is developed by Frederick Herzberg. He has claimed that in the workplace, employees are influenced by two factors —- motivators and hygiene factors. Motivator factors contribute to job satisfaction, while hygiene facto rs lead to dissatisfaction. Just as Hong et al. (1995) have noted, motivators of responsibility, recognition and challenging work stemming from the intrinsic conditions of the work can bring positive satisfaction to employees.

However, hygiene factors, suc h as fringe benefits, status, work conditions and job security, cannot bring positive satisfaction to the employees, unless these factors are acknowledged by themanagers and have sufficient standards. In fact, lacking of hygiene factors can lead to dissa tisfaction. The hygiene factors, which include company policies, wages and supervisory practices, are found to be extrinsic (Furnham, Eracleous, and Chamorro – Premuzic, 2009). In this paper, the benefits program is proved to be sufficient working conditions . In addition, such hygiene factor would have an impact on work – motivation and productivity of employees. When applying the stimulus – response behaviour theory to this research, the work – motivation of employees is regarded as the response. In addition, the variables, which includes absence rate, staff turnovers, get – to – work speed and leave rate, can be used to assess it.

2.4.3 Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

The expectancy theory, developed by Victor Vroom, showed an expectancy approach to explain motivation. It indicates that every employee expects some rewards according to his (her) work performance, which include tangible and non – tangible rewards. Welfare is one of the most important rewards. Rewards have a great impact on the productivity of employees. It has great significance to explore how to provide stimulus with employees to improve their motivation and productivity.

Motivation is based on how eagerly a person wants to receive something and the probability of effort – reward that they will receive it. Moreover, the expectancy theory also provides an explanation to the phenomenon that some workers cannot be motivated, whereas the other workers can, because the latter are always expecting some rewards. Porter and Lawler (cited in Steers et el., 2004) expl ained that the relationship between performance and the subsequent satisfaction is determined by the quality of reward they expected to receive, in exchange for their excellent work performance.

Therefore, Vroom’s expectancy theory can be explained with th e following three beliefs: (a) Expectancy, (b) Valence and (c) Instrumentality. Expectancy is the belief that each employee has different levels of self – confidence and performance to achieve a certain goal, and so it is the

2.5 Balancing “Wants” and “Gets” of Employees

2.6 Payment and Employee Motivation

management’s job to identify the se levels and attempt to improve the expectancy. Valence is the value or emotional orientation employee’s hold for an outcome or reward, which is often linked to extrinsic and intrinsic wants of an employee mentioned earlier. Finally, instrumentality is th e perception of employees, which is used to identify whether the reward they were promised is fulfilled if they managed to achieve the required performance level. Therefore, it is important for managers to ensure that employees are rewarded as promised. To gether, these three key factors form the motivational force of employees (Vroom and Deci, 1970). management’s job to identify the se levels and attempt to improve the expectancy. Valence is the value or emotional orientation employee’s hold for an outcome or reward, which is often linked to extrinsic and intrinsic wants of an employee mentioned earlier. Finally, instrumentality is th e perception of employees, which is used to identify whether the reward they were promised is fulfilled if they managed to achieve the required performance level. Therefore, it is important for managers to ensure that employees are rewarded as promised. To gether, these three key factors form the motivational force of employees (Vroom and Deci, 1970). (1) To take employees’ payment related complaints seriously; (2) Be sure not to fall too far be low the level of pay in the market; (3) To understand that most of the best employees want to relate their performance with pay; (4) To evaluate and assess the current pay system by considering the pay – performance relationship. In addition, Rynes et al. (2004) also gave two suggestions for evaluating the effectiveness of the current pay systems: (1) The employers need to track both the behaviour and the attitude of the employees, (2) The employers should apply the surveys year on year to focus on how the employees’ management’s job to identify the se levels and attempt to improve the expectancy. Valence is the value or emotional orientation employee’s hold for an outcome or reward, which is often linked to extrinsic and intrinsic wants of an employee mentioned earlier. Finally, instrumentality is th e perception of employees, which is used to identify whether the reward they were promised is fulfilled if they managed to achieve the required performance level. Therefore, it is important for managers to ensure that employees are rewarded as promised. To gether, these three key factors form the motivational force of employees (Vroom and Deci, 1970).

2.7 Incentive Rewards and Employee Performance

Regarding the investment of the incentive programs, Miline (2007) critically analysed whether it wa s worth for an organisation to spend a large amount of money on incentive programs. Miline (2007) pointed out that there are an increasing amount of rewards and recognition programs aiming at encouraging employees to enrich and share their knowledge within the organisation. However, there is not enough evidence to determine whether the effects of these programs are positive or negative in the aspects of employee motivation, job performance, and interests within an organisation. It is also difficult for most of the organisation to afford a large sum of money on incentive programs. Cameron and Pierce (cited in Miline, 2007) pointed out that there are several conditions for the rewards to increase performance, including: (1) Rewards are made contingent on per formance and quality, or the rewards are given to meet the performance standards; (2) Rewards are contingent on the activities which are challenging; (3) Rewards are given when some complex skills are mastered; (4) Rewards are delivered for the high activ ity and effort. The idea of team – based rewarding programs is also mentioned in this paper. There are several reasons which result in the increasing popularity of team rewards. One of these reasons is the increasing interdependence among different tasks, wh ich makes it harder to separate the performance and contributions of all the employees. He also pointed out some other important factors needed to be considered when establishing a team – based reward programs, including: (1) Reward characteristics (2) Orga nisational characteristics (3) Team characteristics (4) Individual differences Based on all these theoretical backgrounds, Cameron and Pierce (2007) drew a conclusion that incentive programs have positive impact on motivation, performance and interest within a company. One must admit that team – based incentives are problematic. However, they still can be used to generate a range of positive outcomes in an appropriately designated condition. Further research is needed to confirm the influence of such ince ntive programs on employees to sha re knowledge or learn knowledge ( Bukovinsky, 2013). Whether the investment of organisations on such incentive programs of sharing knowledge or learning knowledge is cost – effective still needs more studies to confirm. In a recent study conducted by Klor, Kube, Winter and Zultan (2013), they state that rewards may trigger an phenomenon called incentive reversal, which is where an increase in promised rewards to all team members results in a lower performance from each individ ual in the team. Klor et al. revealed that even though employers introduce rewards with good intentions, problems occur when individual team members do not contribute evenly, since the under achiever in the team will be overcompensated for his efforts, whi le other members who put more effort into the project are undercompensated (Bukovinsky, 2013). However, this phenomenon is highly dependent on the exact characteristic of the environment at hand. On the contrary, a study conducted by Garbers and Konradt ( 2013) showed that financial incentives often correlate positively with employee performance, and in their research, team – based rewards showed a far better increase in performance in contrast to individual rewards, albeit this effect was only based on nine studies. The results collected by Garbers and Konradt showed that team – based rewards motivates and reinforces individual performance and through cooperative behaviour improves team performance (Beersma et al. , 2003; DeMatteo et al. 1998 cited in Garbers an d Konradt, 2013).

2.8 Mentoring and Employee Motivation

Mentoring is defined as the process where the managers provide the particular subordinates with informal support, help on individual basis and assistance leading to a better performance in the company (Orpen, 1997). Many companies established the formal mentoring program, because the mentoring system is regarded as an important element for a company to improve the qualities of its employees and the benefits the employees may bring to the company (Carvi n, 2011; Kochan and Green, 2013). Most of these mentoring programs follow a similar structure where senior managers are assigned to be the mentors. The company carefully chooses particular subordinates, who are most likely to bring benefits for the company , and then mentor them. The mentors then decide how often they will meet their assigned subordinates. Finally, by using various methods, the effectiveness of the programs is assessed. Figure 2.1 represents a brief review of a model for the formal mentoring process. According to this model, there are two main determinants for the mentor – mentee relationship. Those are the opportunities of interaction between mentor and mentee, and their mutual attitudes.

Figure 3 : The formal mentoring process (Data source: Orpen, 1997) Orpen (1997) used stepwise multiple regressions to quantify the effects of mentoring variables, such as “opportunities to internet”, “closeness of relationship” and “job performance”, and the “closeness of relat ionship” is on dependent variables, such as “work motivation” and “organizational commitment”. It also demonstrated the influence of work motivation on “closeness of relationship” (CLO) and on “opportunities to interact” (OTI). As a result, the conclusion indicates that the better the relationship between the mentor and mentee in the formal program of mentoring is, the more the mentees are motivated to improve their performance and contribute to their company. Moreover, the result also indicates that the mo re mentor – mentee interactions mean the better relationship between the mentor and mentee in the formal program of mentoring. There are numerous valuable suggestions for the management of mentoring programs that can be concluded from the previous research. Firstly, the mentoring program is necessary for a company, because it can improve the work motivation and the commitment of the mentees. Secondly, when establishing the mentoring program, the importance of the mentee – mentor relationship should be highlight ed, as it can determine the effectiveness of the program. The research conducted by Zheng et al. (2008) showed that Chinese SMEs rarely adopted HRM practices, such as training and development, performance evaluation and provision of social benefits, becau se it seems to have no effect on better HRM outcomes. However, compared with other researches stated by Zheng et al. (2008) and above, there are contrasting results for the ‘Staff Development’ factor, which are generally affected by the size and nature of the SMEs. In the case for Chinese SMEs, it was seen that there is only limited use of staff development HRM practices. It is due to the time and cost, which is needed to sustain the mentoring or training. However, it is important to realize that the resear ch is not sufficient enough to say staff development practices should be entirely ignored by Chinese SMEs.

2.9 Summary

In summary, the nature of the relationship between work motivation and employee performance can be seen as a straight line growth, meani ng that the more motivated the employee is, the more effective his performance will be. However, the nature of motivation and the diverse differences

between employees indicates that this linear relationship is not entirely true, but instead the relationsh ip will peak at a certain limit and then slowly decrease, implying that under high levels of motivation, employee performance may drop (Vroom, 1970). This literature has brought together the popular theories used in understanding motivation and performanc e, and also gave research examples of the most common HRM practices adopted by enterprises to motivate its employees. So, it is important for companies, especially for SMEs, to pay attention to employee motivation as it frequently determines the performanc e of the company. Therefore, a mixture of HRM practices that best cover motivation factors and affect employee performance should be carefully selected by Chinese SMEs, if they wish to outperform competitors.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Questions

What is impact of work motivation on employee performance? How incentives are the major factors of motivation for Medium and Small – sized Technology – based companies in China? Is the perception of employee incentives positively related to employee motivation?

3.2 Overall Methodology

The chapter of methodology introduces the techniques and methods required to reach to the desired outcomes. It defines a direction to the researcher to follow as it will not be needed to execute every task accurately. Re searcher in this chapter decides on the data collection strategy, method, approach, and analysis in order to find the outcomes of research questions (Kumar, 2010).

3.3 Data Collection

The data is obtained using various sources, mainly primary and secondary data signifies the type of data.

3.3.1 Primary Data

Primary data is the information that is achieved for the first time. This data is not present anywhere or in any research done in past. As qualitative as well as quantitative method is selected as the research strategy, then means of obtaining primary data will also differ in each method. The qualitative data, the primary sources are executive interviews, telegroups, in – depth Intervi ews, focus groups, and expert panels. However, qualitative data is obtained from using tools like questionnaire and interview (Creswell, 2008). In order to test the assumptions made in the research, the researcher has selected questionnaire as the quantit ative data collection tool. For qualitative data, interview method has been used. Questionnaire is chosen because primary data collected through this is easy to compile and

3.3.2 Secondary Data

Secondary data is said to be the data that is already present in the literature. This can be the information related to the topic of study or the decided organizatio n (Creswell, 2008). A number of data sources have been used in this research such as, EMERALD, EBESCO Host, and Google Scholars. Online databases like these carry a huge collection of publications, articles and journals that can be essential for the resear ch study to be conducted effectively. This information is mainly used to formulate literature review and support the description of the findings. 3.4 Justification of Sample Size The term population signifies a wide range of people without any count. Ever y research is based on a certain population, but it is unrealistic to collect data from such huge population. Because of this reason, the population is divided into samples that may represent the whole population. There can be certain criteria to select sa mple, or in other case several techniques can be used. A researcher fined ease in obtaining data from a sample rather than the whole population (Cochran, 2007). For this study, all medium and small – sized technology – based companies are said to be the popula tion and every company operating under this specification can also be considered as the population. The sample can be selected by narrowing down the topic even further. As in this study, we have selected Science and Innovation Center in Suzhou, China as th e case organization and the sample have been selected from the employees who work in the companies located in this area. The sample size decided for questionnaire survey is 260 employees, whereas interviews will be conducted from 20 employees. The question naire is formulated and distributed to all of the companies in this area. The sample techniques used in this study is the convenience sampling. The researchers waited outside of the companies at the time before and after the working hours. It is the approp riate time to attract participants as during this time, there is a large amount of employees are going to work or leaving the companies for home. The researcher asked them to spend a few minutes filling the questionnaires with their consent.

3.5 Research Paradigm

Allen et al, (2008) stated that the research can be conducted using two strategies broadly, qualitative and quantitative strategy. Both of these strategies are different from each other, hence only one or combination of both can be utilized in a s ingle research. Qualitative research is incorporated when the research requires developing an understanding of a problem. On the other hand, quantitative strategy is used to propose a last course of action. Qualitative research determines a variety of feel ings and ideas about something, while quantitative strategy determines whether a particular issue has some consensus. Qualitative research is all about understanding and exploring distinctive perspective between different people. Quantitative strategy prov ides result based on the large population. Qualitative research reveals hidden factors and motivations that impact on opinion and decision making. However, quantitative strategy examines particular relationship and test hypothesis (Keegan, 2009). This rese arch study involves qualitative and quantitative research design both as the problem needs to be assessed from every end. For collection of data from the management interview method will be used as part of qualitative strategy. However, qualitative methods will be used to identify and evaluate the impact of work motivation on employee performance.

3.6 Ethical Issues

There are various ethical issues that arise as a result of research process. These issues require consideration from researcher in order to ach ieve correct outcomes. Before demanding for respondent’s participation, informed consent is achieved. They are well informed about the risks associated with it before participation. An information sheet is formulated which can be used for potential partici pants with related information. The data storage will comply with University’s Data Protection Code and Data Protection Act. No pressure is exerted on people to participate. Besides, no incentives were provided to them in order to complete a questionnaire. Participant’s freedom is respected throughout the data gathering process, as even after signing the consent form, they are free to leave the study whenever they want. The data provided by the participants is kept confidential. This information means somet hing that can identify people like gender, age, job title etc (Grinyer, 2002).

3.7 Interview Method – Setting, Timings, Frequency

An interview conducted as part of qualitative research is not similar to everyday conversation in many ways. A qualitative inte rview is a research tool used in many researches. A good interviewer gathered information using structured set of questions, analyze and report outcomes. Reflection and practice is required for good interview skills. Finally, it is a learning philosophy be sides a set of interview skills. Various researches have stood against the use of structured interviews as part of the research because its outcomes are restrictive and natural. However, informal interview accesses information that is believable and consis tent. In this way, person is allowed to change his/her response after understanding what the question actually meant (Keegan, 2009). Interviews have been conducted in a structured setting. It means structured questions have been asked from every respondent . Timings would be after office, as they get free from their professional commitments. They have been requested to participate in a five minute interview comprising of brief questions that can be answered specifically. Besides that, telephone interview has been conducted for those who are only available through this medium. Each individual has been interviewed one time only.

3.8 Data Analysis

The qualitative data can be analyzed in four ways. First method is content analysis, which actually is the method di viding behavioral or verbal data for tabulation, summarization and classification. The content or the data obtained using qualitative approach can be analyzed in interpretive or descriptive manner. Narrative analysis is done when the experiences of the par ticipants are recorded as a mean of data. Every observation or interview has narrative aspect attached to it. Hence, researcher has to organize it properly. The researcher may also have to enhance the data, and present it in an understandable manner. The m ajor function in narrative analysis is to rearrange the participant’s experience in the context of research topic. Discourse analysis is a way to determine a spoken interaction that occurred naturally. It depends on normal people ways of obtaining informa tion and adding logic to everyday life. Framework analysis undertakes reading and transcribing the data. It also represents coding, charting, and mapping of the data. Lastly, grounded theory begins with a single case examination to make a general statement and later examine one more case to determine whether the statement fits there (Jackson, 2010).

3.8.1 Coding

When the data is obtained using qualitative means, then analysis of such data requires specific methods to be applied. Coding speech in order to analyze qualitative data is a major step. The speech is divided into several meaningful categories. In this way , a researcher is able to manage a large amount of data and find patterns within them. Reading a transcript and listening to audio recording and analyzing them directly is difficult. However, it is recommended to keep transcript in an original copy. Chrono logically order the transcript of interview or other type of information. Other criteria can also be selected to order them. It is essential to read the whole transcript or listen to audio at least twice. In the next phase, initial coding is conducted usi ng various categories as determined by reading data. In this number of categories has no limit as researcher is allowed to make as many categories as come across. Formulating some notes may also help in exploring relationship, listing ideas, and find some specific vocabulary. Codes may not be new every time, hence the data can be assigned to already present category. Lastly, focused coding is done to subdivide, combine, and eliminate coding categories. There must be some categories repeating or similar to a nother. By combining several codes, one large categorycan be constructed in order to make analysis easy for researcher. There should not be more than30 – 50 codes, so it is easy to assign a code to a certain category (Keegan, 2009).

3.8.2 Discourse Analys is

Discourse analysis can be described as a way of thinking and approaching an issue. Assuming that, Discourse Analysis cannot be categorized into quantitative or qualitative research method. It is just a way of questioning the basic phenomenon of qualita tive and quantitative research method. Researcher will be able to get access to epistemological and ontological assumptions behind the problem, research method, and statement with the help of Discourse Analysis. However, a tangible answer is not obtained t his way. In other words, it can be said that Discourse Analysis will disclose hidden motivations behind using certain research method or text interpretation. Discourse Analysis is basically related to deconstructive reading and interpreting a text or probl em. However, this is done taking into account postmodern theories visualizing reality. Hence, Discourse Analysis is not capable of providing solutions to a problem, but understanding the reason behind the problem. Several assumptions can be made after know ing the conditions behind the issue. Discourse Analysis allows researcher to see the problem from a broader perspective to gain a widespread view of the problem (Norman, 2003).

3.8.3 Selected Analysis Method

Collected data using above mentioned methods h ave been analyzed using Discourse analysis method. In this way, interview coding has been done which is analyzed based on the interpretation of the researcher. This research also comprises of quantitative data, hence separate analysis methods have been use d to analyze numeric data obtained as a result of questionnaire. After the collection of data, analysis methods like descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, variance analysis and regression analysis will be used to analyze the data.

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction

The fourth chapter of this research is based on the analysis of the gathered primary data, which helps in deriving the useful results of this research. This chapter is highly critical, because analysis of data leads towards the research conclusion and any carelessness during the data analysis may destroy the efforts of executing the research if it leads to inaccurate results. Hence, to analyze the gathered quantitative data of this research different statistical tools including; descriptive analysis, graphs, tables, regression, correlation and variance analysis are used in this section of the research. Apart from to analyze the qualitative data, which is gathered through conducting the interview, is analyzed thro ugh discourse or content analysis.

4.2 Reliability Analysis

The most important aspect of the research work is to highlight the reliability and validity of the gathered data and the instrument used in the research to collect the required data, because the d ata and instrument reliability and validity ensures the accuracy of the results of the research. Hence, to provide assurance of the reliability and the accuracy of the results of this research, a reliability of the gathered quantitative data is tested. The results of the reliability, which is highlighted in the table below indicates that, the data gathered for this research from the respondents is reliable and valid, because the reliability value of Cronbach alpha is 0.839, which higher than standard value 0.7. The obtained results of reliability analysis also indicate that, the instrument used in this research reliable and well understood among the respondents.

4.3 Analysis of Questionnaire

based survey is conducted to collect information from total 260 emplo yee respondents of small and medium sized organizations in China, particularly those organization that belongs to the information technology sector. The questionnaire used in this research is divided into three sections, the first section of questionnaire is based on demographic information, the second section highlights the information about the motivation factors and the third section of the questionnaire highlights the motivation level of the respondents. The analysis of the gathered information is as fo llows;

4.3.1 Demographic Information

The given below pie chart mainly provides the information about the ratio of male and female respondents of this study. Hence, it can be clearly seen that, majority of the respondents who took part in the survey are male employees, as they represent nearly 63% of the total sample of the study, while 37% of this research are female employees. Thus, it can be said that, the results of this research reflects the views of the male respondents more than the female resp ondents.

Figure 4 : Gender

Age The next question that was asked from the respondents in the demographic section is about the age of the respondents. The responses provided by the responses are mentioned in the pie chart 37.31% 62.69% Female Male Gender

below, which illustrates that, majority of the respondents nearly 42%, comes in the age bracket of 33 – 39 years followed by 21% respondents who belong to age group of 40 – 46 years, while 20% respondents of this study are of 47 years and above. Nevertheless, around 17% respondents of this research belong to the age group of 26 – 32 years. Hence, it can be argued that, the results of this research highlights the views of the respondents that falls in the age range of 33 – 39 years more than other respondents. Fi gure 5 : Age Number of years served at Current Organization The last question that was asked from the respondents related to demographics is about the number of years they have served in the current organization. In response to thi s question, 42% respondents replied that, they have been serving this organization for last 2 – 5 years, while the 26% respondents responded that, they have 6 – 10 years in the current organization. Moreover, around 18% respondents have been working in the cur rent organization for less than two years and nearly 14% respondents have been serving the current organization for more than 10 years. 20.0% 21.54% 41.92% 16.54% 47 years and above 40 – 46 years 33 – 39 years 26 – 32 years Ager

4.3.2 Motivation Factors

In order t o determine the major factors that contribute in work motivation, which in turn increases the employee performance at work, some statements have been asked related to different motivation factors. The analysis of the statements is given below; Statement 1 In the first statement of the motivation factors, the respondents have been asked, whether their compensation is appropriate with respect to the nature of their job. In response to this question, 38% respondents showed extremely positive responses, similar ly, other 37% respondents also agreed to the given statement. However, around 13% respondents neither agreed nor disagreed, while only 12% respondents disagreed to the given statement. 13.85% 26.15% 42.31% 17.69% 10 years or more 6-10 years 2-5 years Less than 2 years Number of Years Served at Current Organization

.Statement 2

In respond to the second statement related to motivation factors, nearly 33% respondents strongly agreed that the compensation and the benefits policy of their organization match with industry practices. Like wise, other 45% respondents also agreed to the provided statement. On the other hand, around 9% respondents disagreed to the give statement and rest 13% respondents responded neutrally to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree My compensation is appropriate with respect to the nature of my job. 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 38.46% 36.54% 13.08% 11.92%

Statement 3

To determine the role of incentives on work motivation, it has been asked from the respondents during the survey that, whether the organization offers them, wide range of health related benefits to its employees. In response to this statement, around 65% r espondents gave a positive response, while around 10% respondents gave neutral response and rest 25% respondents responded negatively to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree The compensation and benefits policy of my organization is at par with industry practices. 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 32.69% 44.62% 13.46% 9.23%

Statement 4

The responses mentioned in the bra chart below clearly illustrates that, 71% respondents agreed that the medical facility offered by the company is pro employee. However, 23% respondents disagreed to the given statement an d around 5% respondents neither agreed nor disagreed about the pro employee medical facility offered by their company. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree The company offers a wide range of health-related benefits to all its employees 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 25.38% 39.62% 9.62% 21.92% 3.46%

Statement 5

To find out the whether the career growth opportunities offered by the company increase the work motivation, the respondents were asked, whether the company offers them good careers prospects. The responses provided by the respondents are graphically illus trated below, which highlights that, 67% respondents highly agree to the given statement, 19% respondents gave neutral response to the question. In contrast to this, around 14% respondents disagreed to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree The company has a pro employee medical facility 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 31.15% 40.0% 5.38% 16.92% 6.54%

Statement 6

As mentioned in the graphical illustration below, nearly 81% respondents gave positive response to the statement that, the career advancement in the organization is merely based o n the abilities and skills of the individual employees. However, 9% respondents neither agree nor disagreed to the given statement, while around 10% respondents disagreed that, the career advancement in their organization is based on the individual’s abili ties and skills. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree The company offers good career prospect for its employees. 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 41.15% 25.77% 18.85% 13.46% 0.77%

Statement 7

The next statement that was asked from the respondents about motivation factors is related to rewards or recognition. The responses provided by the respondents for this statement are highlighted in the graph below, which depicts that, 76% respondents agree d that, the management of the organization pays adequate attention on immediate performance recognition. On the other hand, 17% respondents disagreed to the given statement, while nearly 7% respondents neither agreed nor disagreed to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree In this organization advancement is merely based on the individual’s abilities and skills. 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 51.92% 29.62% 8.85% 9.62%

Statement 8

In response to the next statement related to reward or recognition as a motivation factors, the respondents gave varied response s, which are mentioned in the given below bar charts and which indicates that, 69% respondents agreed that, the management of the organization practices the immediate feedback in order to effectively manage expectations of the employees. Nevertheless, aro und 20% respondents responded negatively to the given statement, while rest 11% respondents gave neutral response to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree The management pays due attention on the immediate recognition of performance 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 40.38% 36.15% 6.92% 15.0% 1.54%

Statement 9

The given below graphic presentation depicts that, 56% respondents agreed that, the employees in their organization are encouraged to participated in different training programs to improve the abilities and skills. Contrastingly, 37% respondents disagreed to the given statement and remaining 7% respondents neither agreed nor disagreed to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree The management practices immediate feedback to manage employees’ expectations 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 31.92% 37.69% 10.77% 18.46% 1.15%

Statement 10

In the last related to the motivation factors, the respondents have been asked, whether their organization provide adequate training programs for the employees. In response to this question 51% respondents gave a pos itive response to the statement, while 10% respondents neither agreed nor disagreed and around 39% respondents gave negative response to the given statement. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree Employees in my organization are encouraged to participated in the additional training to enhance their skills and abilities 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 15.0% 41.15% 6.92% 29.62% 7.31%

4.3.3 Employee Motivation Level

To effectively study the impact of work motivation on the employee performance, it has been essential to determine the employee motivation level. Hence, in this regard, the respondents have asked five statement s related to motivation. The detailed analysis of each statement is descriptively analyzed and the summarized results are highlighted in the form of graph below. However, the detailed analysis can be seen in Appendix A. The given below graphical illustrat ion clearly indicates that out of 260 respondents who participated in this research, 75% respondents feel motivation in their current organization, while 7% respondents are found neither motivated nor de – motivated and 12% respondents responded that, they d o not feel motivated in the current workplace. Thus, it can be said that, majority of the respondents of this study are motivated. Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree This organization provides adequate training programs for its employees 100 80 60 40 20 0 Count 16.54% 34.23% 10.0% 30.77% 8.46%

4.4 Correlation Analysis

To determine the relationship between reward or recognition practices of the organization and the work motivation, the Pearson correlation analysis is applied on the gathered set of data. The results of Pearson correlation analysis are highlighted in the t able below, which indicates that, there is a positive relationship between reward and work motivation, because appeared Pearson correlation value is .267. In addition, from statistical perspective the relationship between the two variables can be considere d statistically significant, because obtained significant value 0.000 is less than 0.05, a standard p value. Hence, based on the 2 – tailed significant value 0.000, the hypothesis of this research which states that, “there is a positive relationship between employee motivation and rewards/recognition,” is accepted. 74% 7% 12% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Motivated Neither motivated nor de – motivated Not motivated Employee Motivation Level

4.6 Analysis of Interview

To compare the difference between the works motivation of the employees working below the managerial level and the employees work at the supervisory position in the same organization an interview has been conducted to gather relevant information from the managerial employees. The analysis of the gathered interview re sponses is as follows;

Question 1

The first question asked to the managers of small and medium-sized organizations operating in the information technology sector of China was whether their work gives them a feeling of personal accomplishment. In response, the majority of the respondents replied positively, stating that their work does give them a sense of personal accomplishment. However, a few respondents mentioned that their current work does not make them feel personally accomplished.

Question 2

In the ne xt question, when respondents have been asked about what motivates them most to do their best. The respondents gave mixed responses, some respondents indicates that, the compensation and benefits offered by the company motivates them to do their best, whil e other respondents replied that, the practices of reward and recognition in the organization motivates them to give their best at work. Nevertheless, rest of the respondents replied that, career advancement opportunities in the organization mainly motivat e them to work at their best.

Question 3

In the next question, when respondents were asked about what motivates them most to do their best, they gave mixed responses. Some respondents indicated that the compensation and benefits offered by the company motivate them to perform at their best, while others stated that the practices of reward and recognition in the organization encourage them to excel at work. Nevertheless, the remaining respondents said that career advancement opportunities within the organization are the primary motivators that drive them to give their best.

Question 4

In response to the fourth question of the interview, most of the respondents stated that non-cash awards play a crucial role in increasing work motivation and enhancing their level of productivity. However, a few respondents disagreed, mentioning that while non-cash rewards may boost motivation to some extent, they do not significantly impact their overall work productivity.

Questi on 5

In the second last question, the respondents have been asked about the condition in which they give their best. In response to this question, the respondents replied that, when the top management encourages them to participate in the decision making, increases the level of interest and motivates to give their best. While, other respondents responded that when the organization provides different training programs to enhance their skills and abilities and when their efforts are constantly and immediately recognized by the organization, helps them to give their best at work.

Question 6

In response to the last question, the respondents gave mixed responses, as some respondents think that the environment in which they are working is highly lucrative, while other respondents think, their workplace environment is neither highly attractive nor highly poor. However, few respondents think that, their current working environment is not at all lucrative, which reflects in their job performance at times.

4.7 Chapter Conclusion

The overall analysis of the data concludes that work motivation significantly impacts the employee performance in small and medium sized organizations that are operating in the information technology business sector of China. In addition , the analysis of data also highlights that, compensation, rewards/ recognition and medical benefits impacts the work motivation of the employees that are working below the managerial level. On the other hand, the interview analysis concludes that, employe es that works at supervisory level feels more motivated, when the organization provide them training programs, career growth opportunities and work life balance. The detailed discussion of the results derived from the analysis of the data is highlighted in the subsequent chapter of discussion.

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction

The chapter of discussion is the second last chapter of this research, the discussion chapter is another part of the research, because this chapter highlights the discussion o f current research findings with respect to the past research findings. The discussion chapter provides explanation about the extent to which the current findings support the past research findings. The discussion chapter of this research defines the findi ngs about work motivation and its impact on the employee performance derived in the past and illustrates the similarities in the current findings of this study.

5.2 Discussion

This research is conducted to analyze the impact of work motivation on the emplo yee performance of the small and medium sized organizations of information technology sector in China. The findings of this research illustrates that, the management of human resource in the organization has become one of the most significant paradigms of the management due to the drastic increase the in the competition level across the world. As a result, it organization finds it necessary to used different tools and techniques that increases the level of employee motivation in order to successfully meet t he set organizational goals and objectives. In regard to this Weightman (2008) illustrates that, as per the organizational psychology the job performance is the most crucial variables that should be constantly observed in order to identify the different wa ys that positively enhances the employee performance at the workplace. The focus of this research has been on the China based small and medium sized information technology organizations. Therefore, through working on this research, it is identified that, in last few years, the reforms that China has undergone includes the human resource management practices. The past research studies highlighted, previously China’s employment system was usually monitored by the state agencies and the recruitment agencies. However, in last couple of years, the companies in China have shifted their emphasis from the traditional human resource practices to the contemporary practice that emphasizes more on the employee motivation than the economic and social egalitarianism in o rder to the enhance the organizational performance and efficiency (Zheng et al. , 2008). employed at the supervisory level in the same organization believes that, work life balance, rewards/recognition and training and development are the most important factors of work motivation that encourages them to give their best at the workplac e. However, Gerhart and Fang (2013) conducted a survey from the human resource managers and found out that, compensation is ranked as sixth most important factor of motivations for the managers, while the employees ranked these factors at number one. This clearly depicts that compensation is indeed one of the most important factors of work motivation but not only important factors and ranking of this factor by the employees depends on the perception of individual employees. Moreover, regarding rewards/rec ognition it is identified that, there is a positive relationship between rewards and work motivation, which means that, the more employees receives the rewards/recognition for their efforts the better they perform in the workplace. In support to the curren t research findings, the results of the critical analysis conducted by Miline (2007) indicates that, it is essential for the organizations to spend more on the rewards/recognition programs, as it encourages the employees to perform well and strive to accom plish set organizational goals and objectives. In addition, the findings of this research points out that, the employees that work below the managerial level, gets motivated by the medical benefits offered by the organization. The studies that have been conducted in last six to eight years highlighted that, medical benefits have become one of the most lucrative work motivation factors, due to increased cost of medical expenses across the world. Hence, providing the medical benefits to the employees indica tes that the organization is concerned about the health of its employees, which in turn influences the employees to perform well in the workplace ( Cameron and Pierce, 2007) . In contrast to the current findings, Garbers and Konradt (2013) elucidated that, a s per their findings the financial incentives offered by the organization more positively correlates with the employee performance than other incentive. Moreover, the results of the interview depict that, the employees that are working at the supervisory p ositions in the small and medium sized organizations of China believes that work life balance, training and development programs, career advancement opportunities and the rewards/recognition mainly motivates at the workplace to perform better. However, som e studies have been conducted, which concludes that. In Chinese small and medium sized organization, very few organizations provided training and developed programs for the employees to enhance their skills and abilities, which in turn impact their perform ance outcomes at the workplace (Beersma et al. , 2003; Carvin, 2011; Kochan and Green, 2013).

5.3 Chapter Conclusion

The discussion of the current research findings with respect to the past research findings helps in concluding that, the relationship betwee n work motivation and employee performance is very strong. However, the different motivation factors motivate the employees differently at different hierarchal positions. Moreover, the discussion chapter concludes that, it is the responsibility of manageme nt of the organization to identify the major factors that motivate the individual employees in small and medium sized organizations of China, in order to ensure effective organizational performance. Furthermore, the discussion chapter also helps in conclud ing that, the most important factors of motivation for the employees working at the supervisory position are; work life balance, training and development, career growth opportunities and rewards/recognition. On the other hand, the employees that work below the supervisory level at the small and medium sized organization of China are motivated on the basis of compensation, rewards/recognition and medical benefits.

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

6.1 Introduction

The last section of the research represent the most key findings and conclusion derived from the findings section shown previously in former sections. This chapter carries its significance since it closes down the whole research while summarizing all the e ssential aspects of the research along with pointing out the limitations and the recommendations which can be presented to the concerned company in this research. The last section of a research is critically important since this depict the main purpose fo r which the whole research was being conducted and the outcomes which were expected out of the study.

6.2 Conclusion

The research objective was to find out whether the employee’s motivation and incentive system is effective among the small and medium size d companies and if the employees get motivated through the incentive systems implemented by the organization. The findings of the research were that there is strong influence of the incentives and benefits that employees receive at their workplace on their motivational level and their level of performance. It was found out that employees who are stationed at the officers level on tactical and front line level are greatly influenced by the benefits like medical facilities and compensations. Since, the resear ch gathered information through the triangulation of the data interviews were also conducted and it was found out that the employees who worked at the top level or the supervisory roles, were more inclined towards the motivating factors like training progr ams etc. Hence overall it was concluded that motivating factors are of different types and keeping the nature of the employees work in view, each employee gets influences and motivated through different factors but on whole the most effective ones are the medical facilities, monetary compensations, and training sessions. The research had four hypotheses; the first hypothesis was to find out if Compensation exerts stronger influence on employee motivation. It was found out that the hypothesis was accepted a s the significant value was found to be lesser than 0.05. Hence it was proved that Compensation does exert a stronger influence on employee motivation. Another hypothesis was to analyze if Medical benefits provided by the organization positively impact the employee motivation was also accepted since the value was found to be significant. Last hypothesis was to assess if high

6.5 Future Research Suggestions

Researchers in future can study various aspects like the effects and differences of effects of monetary and non – monetary benefits on employees’ turnover while a similar research might be carried out by identifying a gap in the field based on the Employees intelligence and autonomy at workplace and its effects on the motivation among employees. In future same research as this research topic can be studied with altered methodology. A bigger sample size may be considered while a bigger sample of the companies must be considered along with the shift of interest from small and medium sized companies to the large multinational organizations.

Routledge Orpen, C. (1997) The effects of formal mentoring on employee work motivation, organisational commitment and job performance , The Learning Organisation , 4(2), 53 – 60 Rynes, S. L., Gerhart, B. and Minette, K.A. (2004) The Importance of Importance of Pay in Em ployee Motivation: Discrepancies Between W hat People Say and What They Do , Human Resource Management , 43(4), 381 – 394 Steers, R. M., Mowd ay R. T., Shapiro D. L. (2004) The Future of Work Motivation Theory’, The Academy of Management Review , 29( 3 ), 379 – 387. V room V. H. and Deci E. L. (1970) Management and motivation , H armondsworth, Penguin Books Ltd Zheng C., O’Neil, G., Morrison M. (2008) Enhancing Chinese SME performance through innovative HR practices , Emerald Group , 38( 2 ), 175 – 194. 14. I am proud of the work that I do. 15. I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties small and medium sized organizations, the employees working at supervisory level failed to maintain adequate level of motivation, satisfact ion and job performance of the employees. Nevertheless, in regard to overcome the issues related to employee motivation and the job performance, lots of research studies have been conducted in context of large organizations and in developed countries. Mor eover, very limited findings available that highlights the factors that motivate the employees in small and medium sized organizations that positively impacts the performance of employees particularly, in the small and medium sized technology based compani es of China. Thus, the identified issues have provided a reason to conduct a study to find out; “The impact of work motivation on employee performance; a comparative study of Chinese small – medium enterprise”

1.3 Aims and Objectives

This dissertation aims t o identify and develop an effective incentive mechanism for the medium and small – sized technology – based companies in China through comparing different incentive theories and factors. According to the aim, the specific objectives are listed as following:  C ritically review the previous research relating to incentive mechanism and system.  Compare the incentive factors put forward by the previous research, and identify how these incentives affect employee motivation.  Collect data relating to the effectiveness of different kinds of incentive factors in for medium and small – sized technology – based companies in China.  Critically analyze the collected data through empirical analysis.  Make suggestions about how to develop an effective incentive mechanism for the med ium and small – sized technology – based companies in China. 1.4 Hypotheses To provide the empirical evidence, the following hypotheses are tested while executing this study; H1: Compensation exert stronger influence on employee motivation H2: There is a posi tive relationship between employee motivation and rewards/recognition

4.5 Regression Analysis

H1: Compensation exert stronger influence on employee motivation In the given below model summary table, the value of R 0.049 depicts that 4.9% variation on employee motivation occurs due to compensation.

Table 3 : Model Summary

The significant value mentioned in the ANOVA depicts the acceptance or rejection of the stated hypothesis of the study. Hence, the given below table illustrates that, the above stated hypothesis is accepted because the significant value is less than 0.05. Correlations 1 .267 ** .000 260 260 .267 ** 1 .000 260 260 Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N The management practices immediate feedback to manage employees’ expectations My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment. The management practices immediate feedback to manage employees’ expectations My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishm ent. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). **. Model Summary .221 a .049 .045 1.060 Model 1 R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Predictors: (Constant), The compensation and benefits policy of my organization is at par with industry practices.

Table 4 : ANOVA

The coefficients table defines the impact of independent variable on the depend ent variable. Thegiven below table highlights that, compensation significant impacts the work motivation becauseobtained significant value 0.000 is less than 0.5. Furthermore, the positive beta value 0.262points out that changes in the compensation fac tor by one unit or so, will cause equal changes inthe work motivation.

Table 5 : Coefficients

H3: Medical benefits provided by the organization positively impact the employee motivation The given below model summary table indica tes that, 6.8% variation in work motivation occurs due to medical benefits offered by the organization. ANOVA b 14.865 1 14.865 13.239 .000 a 289.689 258 1.123 304.554 259 Regression Residual Total Model 1 Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Predictors: (Constant), The compensation and benefits policy of my organization is at par with industry practices. a. Dependent Variable: I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties b. Coefficients a 3.118 .296 10.521 .000 .262 .072 .221 3.638 .000 (Constant) The compensation and benefits policy of my organization is at par with industry practices. Model 1 B Std. Error Unstandardized Coefficients Beta Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Dependent Variable: I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties

Table 6 : Model Summary

The significant value 0.000 in the given below ANOVA table indicates that, the hypothesis which states that, ‘medical benefits provided by the organization positively impact the employee motivation’ is accepted because appeared significant value is less than 0.05.

Table 7 : ANOVA

The coefficients table highlights that, the pro emplo yee medical facility offered by the company creates a significant impact on work motivation, because obtained significant value 0.000 is less than standard p value 0.05. Moreover, the beta value 0.226 also illustrates that, one unite increase or decrease i n medical benefits offered by the company, will cause equivalents increase or decrease in work motivation.

Table 8 : Coefficients Model Summary .260 a .068 .064 1.049 Model 1 R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Predictors: (Constant), The company has a pro employee medical facility a. ANOVA b 20.578 1 20.578 18.695 .000 a 283.976 258 1.101 304.554 259 Regression Residual Total Model 1 Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Predictors: (Constant), The company has a pro employee medical facility a. Dependent Variable: I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties b. Coefficients a 3.329 .205 16.246 .000 .226 .052 .260 4.324 .000 (Constant) The company has a pro employee medical facility Model 1 B Std. Error Unstandardized Coefficients Beta Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Dependent Variable: I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties a. H4: Highly level of work motivation positively impacts the employee performance The value of R square 0.756 highlighted in the given below model summary table indicates that 75.6% variation in employee performance occurs due to work motivation.

Table 9 : Model Summary

The table of ANOVA given below indicates that, application of regression analysis on the gathered data is applicable. Along with this significant value 0.000 indicates, the above stated hypothesis is accepted because obtained significant value is less than 0.05.

Table 10 : ANOVA

The table of Coefficients given illustrates that, work motivation significantly impacts the employee performance, because significant value, which is mentioned in the table below is less than 0.05. Furthermore, the beta value 0.896 indicates increa se or decrease in work motivation by one unit or more will cause similar changes in the employee performance. Model Summary .869 a .756 .755 .537 Model 1 R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Predictors: (Constant), I am enthusiastic about my job. a. ANOVA b 230.251 1 230.251 799.491 .000 a 74.303 258 .288 304.554 259 Regression Residual Total Model 1 Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Predictors: (Constant), I am enthusiastic about my job. a. Dependent Variable: I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties b. Coefficients a .523 .133 3.926 .000 .896 .032 .869 28.275 .000 (Constant) I am enthusiastic about my job. Model 1 B Std. Error Unstandardized Coefficients Beta Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Dependent Variable: I am motivated to work beyond the usual call of duties a. The findings of this research illustrate that, Chinese small and medium sized organization has no doubt found it effective to adopt the new innovative human resource m anagement practices because of their flexibility and size. However, the findings of Schacter (2011) research, disputed that, even though small and medium sized organizations in China have adopted new human resource management practices, yet there is a need to enhance the organizational efficiency and the employee performance, as employee productivity is the most critical factor in order to sustain a competitive advantage in the market. The findings of past research studies highlighted that, the three most important areas of the human resource management that are commonly found among Chinese small and medium sized organizations are strategic recruitment and selection, providing remuneration based on the performance and the involvement of the employees in key decision making ( Furnham, Eracleous and Chamorro – Premuzic, 2009). Nevertheless, the results and findings of this research depicts that motivation is also a significant part of human resource management practices that significantly impact the outcomes of t he human resource management in a positive way. The results and findings of the current study illustrates that, the work motivation has the ability to influence the individuals to give better performance at the workplace through exerting the substantial efforts. On the other hand, he found out that, the work environment mainly contributes in creating appositive attitude among the employees towards the achieving the set objectives and enhancing the overall performance of the organization ( Steers et a l., 20 04) . Furthermore, as per the expectancy theory, it has been identified that, it is imperative for the managers in the organization to understand about how individual employees are motivated at the workplace in order to focus on the important factors of wor k motivation ( Gerhart and Fang, 2013; Garbers and Konradt, 2013 ). However, the derived results of this research depicts that, to enhance the relationship between employee performance and work motivation, the management of the organization needs to focus on the system that effectively bind rewards to the organizational performance. The main focus of this research regarding work motivation has been on some important motivation factors including; compensation, medical benefits, career growth, rewards/recognit ion, training and development. The results of this research highlights for the employees working at below managerial level considers, compensation, medical benefits and rewards/recognition as the most important work motivation factors, while the employees that are level of work motivation positively impacts the employee performance, it was found that high level of work motivation does affect the employee performance in a positive way. Hence all the hypotheses set by the researcher were accepted in this study depicting that motivating factors play a very essential role in the employees’ performance and their level of motivation. 6.3 Research Limi tations It is the attempt to make a research as coherent and reliable as possible yet there are certain aspects that limit the research findings and the scope of the research. These factors are called as the limitations of a research. The limitations in t his research are;  The sample size for interview was very limited due to which the data gathered might not represent the whole population and might be skewed.  The scope of the research is only limited to small and medium sized companies in China, hence th e generalizability of the results is compromised. 6.4 Recommendations The recommendations that are presented to the Chinese companies are; 1. Plan a career path with the employees in the start of their employment and take constant feedback regarding the wor k progress and development of their careers. 2. There must be a proper grievance control system through which employees may be able to direct their opinions and thoughts to the top level management. 3. There must be a maintained feedback system and monthly or quarterly reports from the employees must be taken which should assess the level of motivation among the employees. 4. Performance appraisal systems should be maintain to give employees full confidence that their performances are being assessed and compensat ed accordingly. 5. HR practices to induce employees motivation to commit to the organization should be induced. 6. Training programs should be planned with proper objectives set with employees’ consent and a constant check and balance on the effectiveness of those training programs should be introduced.

Hong, J .C, Yang, S. D, Wang , L. J, Chiou , E. F, Sun , F.Y and Huang , T. L. (1995) Impact of employee benefits on w ork motivation and productivity , The International Journal of Career Management , 7(6), 10 – 14 Jackson, S.L. (2010) Research Methods: A Modular Approach , 2nd Edn, Cengage Learning. Jiao, H. (2011) A conceptual model for social entrepreneurship directed toward social impact on society , Social Enterprise Journal , 7( 2 ), 130 – 149 Johnson, B. and Christensen, L. (2010) Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches , 4t h Edn, SAGE Publications, Inc Jurkiewicz, C.L., Massey, T. K. and Brown, R.G. (1998) Motivation in Public and Private Organisations: A Comparative Study, Public Productivity & Management Review , 21( 3 ) , 230 – 250

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The overview of research

1.2 Problem Statement

2.1 Employee Motivation

2.3 HRM Practices in Chinese SMEs

2.4.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Figure 1 : Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

2.4.3 Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

2.5 Balancing “Wants” and “Gets” of Employees

2.6 Payment and Employee Motivation

2.7 Incentive Rewards and Employee Performance

2.8 Mentoring and Employee Motivation

2.9 Summary

3.1 Research Questions

3.2 Overall Methodology

3.3 Data Collection

3.3.1 Primary Data

3.3.2 Secondary Data

3.5 Research Paradigm

3.6 Ethical Issues

3.7 Interview Method – Setting, Timings, Frequency

3.8 Data Analysis

3.8.1 Coding

3.8.2 Discourse Analys is

3.8.3 Selected Analysis Method

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Reliability Analysis

4.3 Analysis of Questionnaire

4.3.1 Demographic Information

Figure 4 : Gender

4.3.2 Motivation Factors

.Statement 2

Statement 3

Statement 4

Statement 5

Statement 6

Statement 7

Statement 8

Statement 9

Statement 10

4.3.3 Employee Motivation Level

4.4 Correlation Analysis

4.6 Analysis of Interview

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Questi on 5

Question 6

4.7 Chapter Conclusion

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Discussion

5.3 Chapter Conclusion

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Conclusion

6.5 Future Research Suggestions

1.3 Aims and Objectives

4.5 Regression Analysis

Table 3 : Model Summary

Table 4 : ANOVA

Table 5 : Coefficients

Table 6 : Model Summary

Table 7 : ANOVA

Table 9 : Model Summary

Table 10 : ANOVA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The overview of research

1.2 Problem Statement

2.1 Employee Motivation

2.3 HRM Practices in Chinese SMEs

2.4 Motivati on Theories

2.4.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Figure 1 : Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

2.4.3 Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

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