He Amo Model By Purcell Business Essay

Human Resource Management can be defined as the set of techniques, procedures or processes used to control the manpower of an organization which is mentioned in the AMO Model (Purcell et al. 2003).

Well being according to Ryan and Deci (2000) is where the employee is fully engaged, fully functioning and focuses on self-actualization. CIPD (2006) defines well-being as creating a good working environment to promote the employee state of mind that allows the employee to form and attain the full ability for the benefit of themselves and the organization. Having this in mind, the managerial procedures in organizations tend to have an impact on the workforce of an organization because of the way they are followed and in turn can have an effect on the performance outcome of the organization and the workforce AMO Model Purcell et al. (2003) using the HR practices.

Researchers suggest there may be a significant correlation between HR management and the performance outcome of the organization (Becker and Gerhard 1996; Huselid 1995). However, the relationship between employee well-being and organizational performance has been ignored. According to Pfeffer (1998), the encounter facing human resource management should not be, having the idea of how HRM practices enhance the outcome of an organization but instead understanding how it affects employee well-being, performance and engagement which if present increases productivity.

In the light of this research, employee well-being and performance would be discussed using human resource practices, such as organizational commitment, training and development, ability and skills, motivation and job satisfaction and discretionary behaviour, which help to promote a good work life balance in an organization (The AMO Model, See figure 1.1)

Purcell et al., (2003).

All these might influence employee well-being if taking into consideration can continuously develop and increase performance and productivity. If the management of any organization can actually generate a good working environment, the workforce would in turn respond with high motivation and satisfaction which can help the company attain high performance and enhance productivity.

Despite the fact that organizations vary, ways of motivation also vary. The aim of most organizations is to make profit in one way or the other be it profit making organization or non profit making organization and this can be achieved if only organizations take into consideration the well-being of their employees thereby using the HR elements mentioned by Purcell et al., (2003) to improve well-being and performance.

It is important to consider the organization used in this research work. The Nigerian Premier League (NPL) is a professional football body which consists of 40 staff and 20 premier league clubs that is spread all over Nigeria and it is in line with the international best practice for the benefit of its stakeholders. Due to the fact that the football body (NPL) is a non-profit making organization, there might be significant impact on the well-being of its workforce having in mind that they are working for an organization that generates no profit and how they are motivated would be at stake unlike a profit making organization whereby the desire of the organization is to make profit. In a country like Nigeria where most of the workforce works not for the experience but for the money would also affect organizations that are non-profit making. As money is known to be an extrinsic motivational factor in Herzberg 2 factor theory and by paraventure the company experiences a downturn in finance and it is not able to meet the financial expectation of its workforce, productivity will fall to its minimum as employee performance will be reduced due to lack of no financial benefit or extrinsic motivation. Also in Nigeria, most organizations are of the opinion that most employees work for the money and if not put into consideration, the managers will not know what intrinsically motivates the employee. This is why the purpose of this research would benefit the Nigerian Premier League on how to motivate the employees thereby using the elements from the AMO Model by Purcell et. al., (2003) mentioned in this study to intrinsically motivate the workforce, which in turn can lead to career progression.

RESEARCH STUDY

This research aims to examine the ability of the AMO Model by Purcell et al., (2003) which is Ability, Motivation and Opportunity, in order to explain employee well-being and performance in the Nigerian Premier League.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

In order to carry out this research study properly, there are objectives lined out to achieve the aim of this study. The objectives are:

To assess the levels of skills/ability, motivation and incentives and opportunity to participate, measures levels of organizational commitment, motivation and job satisfaction and identify discretionary behaviour and performance.

To identify significant relationships between these variables

To evaluate the employee perceptions of conditions of service and work in relation to AMO to participate in the Nigerian Premier League.

Recommendations and conclusions based on my findings.

In the light of this research study, the well-being and performance of the staff of the Nigerian Premier League would be reviewed thereby using some of the HR element listed in the black box to examine how well-being and performance of employee and the organization can enhance productivity forgetting the fact that it is a non-profit making organization.

RATIONAL FOR THE STUDY

To achieve positive outcome in an organization, the well-being of employees need to be taking into consideration because they are seen as the most valuable assets of an organization Armstrong (2008) and the way they are managed has a significant impact on the organization’s performance.

The duty of the HR is to engage employees, this is why they are of great importance in any organization despite this long contention between HRM and the organizational performance Guest (2011) due to the fact that regulations and procedures of the HRM is in connection to a recent act in strategy (Brockbank and Ulrich 2005).

The aim of this research is to better understand well-being and performance of employees to enhance productivity in organizations especially those facing difficulties like low performance and high turnover etc. using the AMO Model (Black Box) by (Purcell et al., 2003). The research would in turn have a positive impact on the workforce and organization if the well-being and performance of the workforce are seriously taking into consideration.

For the purpose of this study, the concept of employee well being is measured using training and development, ability and skills, organizational commitment, discretionary behaviour and it is an attempt to close the gap between employee well-being and performance with the performance of the organization thereby explaining a bit more on the importance of HRM practices which promotes employee well-being at work and is linked to organizational performance.

The study of this research on employee well-being and performance in the Nigerian Premier League would be important to the organization because it will enable the organization to understand better the concept of employee well-being and performance and how it can be managed to enhance productivity in and outside the organization. According to Bujai, Cottini and Nielsen (2008), having an insight on the impact of employee well-being and performance in an organization with regards to engagement and other HR Practices is important in having a working environment that is productive.

In order to build a productive workforce, the well-being and performance of the organization either large or small organization should be taking into consideration because most organizations feel its time and money consuming and end up abandoning their workforce. Most managers pay less attention to their workforce and this on the other hand affects the performance and well-being of the organization. This is why it is suggested by Purcell et al., (2003) in the black box (AMO Model) that managers should be careful with the way they manage their workforce.

CHAPTER 2 LITRATURE REVIEW

DEFINITION OF WELL-BEING

Well-being is a vast concept and has been defined differently and seen differently by various authors and organizations and how it should be managed is entirely up to the managers of the organization (AMO Model).

The CCMD (2002) describes well-being as nurturing a good state of mind that helps the employee to have a good sense of purpose, feelings and fulfilment that is alert and open to new experiences. The theory of well-being by Waterman (1993) indicates that it is way above happiness but the actualization of human potentials or abilities which help in fulfilling the true nature of an employee.

There is this belief that well being is a psychological state which Ryan and Deci (2000) argues that it is in its best when an employee is fully functioning, fully engaged and shows self actualization and vitality. This has been termed as Eudaimonic well-being. Though there is another form of well being which is Hedonic well being, this is the subjective well-being that involves life satisfaction, the presence of positive mood and absence of negative mood.

Employee well-being has been a great issue and concern in the minds of employers which they believe now is affecting the performance of the workforce. Researchers have carried out a research on human resource practices and the well-being of employers.

Employee well-being has been linked to employee engagement because of its similarities and for as long as there is engagement in the workforce, there would be increased well-being and performance.

According to Watson (2010) employee well-being can destroy the engagement level and performance in an organization which shows the connection between engagement and well-being. It further states that employee engagement and well-being either work in isolation or work together. To explain this further, see diagram 1 below.

The above diagram explains that when employee well-being and engagement strongly work together, there would be sustained performance, but when engagement and well-being work in isolation, there would be defaults in the organization’s performance. Example, an organization that is finding it difficult to be at its best, their employees try hard to get things working for the organization. Therefore, forfeiting their personal life issues for the organization, may only take the organization for a short period of time which is not going to be sustainable. However, this would lead to employee burnout and disengagement where turnover and under-performance becomes the agenda of the organization (Maslach and Leiter 2008).

An article by Gallup (2012), suggests that employee well being has a straight significant impact on the bottom line of an organization. This is the reason organizations are engineering new strategies for gaining a sustained workforce. In as much as an organization is active, it is already in the business of managing employee well being.

Employee engagement is a vital aspect of an employee to achieve its objectives and is another way of motivating employees to enhance internal and external performance index (CIPD 2011). Employee engagement has been defined by different authors, still, it cannot be managed, (Ferguson 2007). The world is changing and ways to meet up with the demands of the environment which Porter (1987) suggest that they would surely occur is the utmost priority of most big and small organizations despite the industry or sector.

According to Cooper and Robertson (2001), employee well being when on the positive, is an advantage to any organization which indicates that the organization’s workforce is healthy. For an organization to be healthy, it means that it is fit to survive in the competitive environment where it operates. Currie (2001) is of the opinion that if organizations want to be competitive and be positively sustained in the environment; it must keep the health and well-being of its employees as its core which is vital for performance enhancement and future survival and development of any organization. Moreover, from an organizations point of view, the positive correlation between well-being and performance of the workforce, has been considered by Wright and Cropanzano (2004) and according to Samman (2007), Page and Vellla-Broadrick (2009), it has been reviewed that the importance of well being and its measurement has troubled the hearts of researchers and how it can be tackled. Ortiz (2006) agrees with Armstrong (2008) that employees are assets of an organization while Hermanson (1964) described human assets so as to measure and quantify the value to the workforce. Additionally, Roselender et al., (2006) supports the argument that the well being of an employee when fit is an organizational asset.

DETERMINANTS OF WELL-BEING (GENERAL)

The concept of employee well-being by Macey and Schneider, 2009; Macleod and Brady, 2008; Bakker et al. 2008 states that employee well-being in recent times both in practice and in research has been creating a lot of interest in the minds of managers. Though employee well-being has been defined differently by different authors, and there are determinants that impacts on well-being. According to an article by Watson (2010), employee well-being can be seen as a physical, psychological and social health of an individual. All these must be complete in an employee and this is why the management of many organizations are so concerned about the well-being of their employees because it is of great benefit to the organization and the employee. For the workforce, they would feel a sense of balance between their lives at work and at home and for the organization, high level of sustainability and engagement which will reduce turnover (Watson 2010). In essence, its advantage is entirely having the workforce on the job and imputing high level of sustained engagement.

With reference to the definition of well-being by different authors which in summary states that without well-being, there is a significant impact on the organization’s performance or the workforce, many organizations tend to neglect this concept due to the fact that they think about the financial aspect of engaging the employee.

According to Gall-up (2012), organization’s that strive hard to succeed in an environment, are implementing new ways for achieving sustainable competitive advantage which is employee well-being because it impacts on the performance of the organization. There are various determinants of well-being. In general, there are different factors that can influence well-being. The Gall-up (2012) listed 5 different areas of well-being that can affect performance which are: career well-being, social well-being, financial well-being, physical well-being and community well-being. All these in one way or the other affects each other and in turn affects performance because they don’t work in isolation. Contrary to these elements mentioned above, Grawitch (2010) suggests that mental well-being should have been included to all 5 mentioned above because without any of the 5 mentioned above, the mental well-being of an individual would be in jeopardy which would affect organizational performance.

DETERMINANTS OF WELL-BEING AT WORK

In an organizational context, the term employee well-being according to Cooper and Robertson (2001) impacts on the performance of the employee and can lead to high productivity or outcome which is an added advantage to organizations that encourages a workforce that is healthy. For an organization to be active and healthy, it then shows that it can survive in its environment or industry where it operates because for an organization to be able to survive in its sector, it is unavoidable to ignore promoting the well-being and performance of its employees which in this case is vital to increase employee performance and this can lead to future organizational development (Currie 2001). In line with this research topic, when employee well-being is introduced into any organization, it is likely to change the environment and pave way for innovation which can create positive organizational performance especially for organizations that are under-performing. Research has shown that it took ages for organizations to create a relationship that has to do with employment due to the fact that the well-being of an employee is seen as their responsibility (Guest 2002; Cooper and Robertson 2001). According to a survey by WERS (2004), it purports that the agility of employees in their work environment has been a disturbing research of interest to concerned employers with regards employment relations (Kersley et al., 2006). The following determinants of well-being at work are listed and discussed below. They are as follow:

Organizational Commitment

The main aim that differentiates HRM from other managerial roles is that the organizations commitment is the main reason why they exist, which according to Guest (1998) is the core purpose of the human resource management. Organizational commitment has been defined by different authors which makes its definition versatile. Some researchers see organizational commitment as the behaviour of individuals because tey give their best to ensure the organization achieve its purpose (Becker 1960; Gechman and Weiner, 1977). Others like March and Simon (1958) see it as the attitude of the individual whereby they engage themselves to the organization so as to get rewards and incentives from the organization. Meanwhile, Cook and Wall (1980) refers to organizational commitment as the individual’s mood in relation to its employing organization which is related to achieving the aims and objectives of the organization. Usually, in the past, organizations pay little or no attention to well-being and performance of employees, making them feel de-motivated, but organizations like Cadbury Family and Lever Brothers made sure that well-being and performance of employees were their main aim which made them generate HR practices that helped enhance employee performance and well-being (Newell 2002). In comparison, Currie (2001) is of the belief that yes most employers where in favour of employee well-being and performance but worried about the financial aspect. According to Armstrong (2008), employees are the most important asset of any organization no matter the circumstance and must be engaged and valued at all times, in addition the McGregor X and Y theory (1961) states that motivating the employee in the organization should be important in order to improve performance because they help in promoting the organization towards achieving its aims and objectives. In other to assess the level of organizational commitment, it can be measured.

Training and Development

Most organizations lack the skills to relate with their workers which means they tend to ignore the most important part of their business which is the employees. As organizations try hard to measure up with other competitors in the same environment, they must prove that they have the drive, experience, motivation of the employees to compete. According to Goldstein and Ford (2002), training is the efficient approach in relation to learning and development so as to gain ideas, experience and enhance the performance of the workforce and the organization. Vemic (2007) argues that the argument that the training and development of the workforce does not really apply to only gaining new ideas and experience but also to introduce the workforce to change, assist the workforce to also change their behaviour and encourage the workforce to make decisions in the organization which on the other hand makes them feel valued and motivated. Armstrong (2008) supports Vemic (2007) which he state that employees are the most important asset of an organization and if they are not motivated and also allowed the opportunity to show their ability, employee turnover would be increased. Furthermore, to solve the problem of staff turnover and de-motivation, the performance in the organization needs to be increased and this is why, training and development is essential thereby helping to acquire new skills (Hill and Lent 2006; Hughes & Satterfield 2007). This would act as a predecessor on the performance of the job (Kraiger 2002).

Ability and Skills

Heneman and Judge (2003), shows evidence that the ability of an individual impact strongly on the performance of the individual. Ability can be seen as the practice that allows employees who are experienced with the necessary skills needed to undertake the jobs with a view that the jobs will be highly skilled. According to Huselid, (1995); Appelbaum et al., (2000), there are 2 main processes in which organizations can ensure the suitability of their employees are recruitment and the process of selecting them for the right role.

Discretionary Behaviour and Performance

Organizations that involve decision making has hurled from telling their employees what to do which brings in discretionary behaviour and it promotes excellence due to the fact that and its criticality is vital for the success of any organization. Mathematically, it is seen as Discretionary Behaviour = Ability X Motivation X Opportunity (AMO) which automatically promotes well-being. Purcell et al (2003) is of the notion that when there is commitment and motivation, there is discretionary behaviour. This is to say that employees act in such a way that they are satisfied with their jobs. Research have revealed that the decisions of line managers and how they implement, enact, control and lead their employees impacts positively or negatively on them which form the basis of how they relate with customers. Furthermore, Purcell et al (2003) in understanding the link between people and performance argues that employee discretion that goes the extra mile is linked to managerial discretion by managers.

HRM PRACTICES THAT MIGHT SUPPORT THIS.

The HRM practices that might support the well-being of an organizations workforce are as follows: Employee involvement, performance compensation, proper training, learning and development.

Employee Involvement: When an employee feels involved in the activities going on in the organization, then it is accepted that these employees would not want to leave the organization. Marchington and Wilkinson (2005), states that managers should give employees the opportunity to get involved in the organization, open communication about issues going on in the organization, and allow some form of decisions to be made by the employees. With this, they would feel involved and would not want to leave the organization.

Proper training, leaning and development: According to Armstrong (2008), employees are the most valuable assets of an organization and the way they are managed impact on the performance of the organization (Amo Model). This is why Barney (2003) suggests that after recruitment and selection, organizations should ensure their employees are appointed in the right role, so that when necessary training and development is carried out, they would have an idea of what is going on in that particular aspect they are trained for.

Performance Compensation: In some organizations, they compensate their workforce after a job well done. This is because it would boost the employee’s working spirit and also would make other employees to do well and would engage them in carrying out their jobs properly.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING AND PERFORMANCE

Research has confirmed that well-being and engagement, leads to higher performance and states that with well-being and engagement in an organization, there would be high financial performance, high customer satisfaction and employee retention (Cooper and Robertson 2001). Employee well-being by different researchers and organizations has been seen to be employee engagement because without engagement, there would be no well-being. Engagement leads to well-being. Bakker et al;, (2004) reviewed that there is a correlation between employee well-being or engagement and performance either in the organization or outside the organization and argues that it has been linked to business performance while Salanova et al;, (2005) argue that it is linked to customer satisfaction in the organization, Xanthopoulou et al;,(2009) argue there is a link between employee well-being/engagement on the financial aspect of an organization. In all, well being and engagement, affects the overall performance of the organization this is why Nahrgang et al; (2011) suggest that without a good working environment, there would be no organizational performance. Therefore, it is advisable for the line managers of an organization to be conscious and cautious of how they manage their employees. This according to Schuster (1998) suggests that there should be an existing vital correlation between the well-being of the workforce and the performance of the organization. Before employee well-being can be introduced into the organization, there should be an overview that it would bring change into the organization and would create room for positive HR practices that would be able to re-instate the performance of the organization. In this case, the performance of the employees and the organization would be assured.

CHAPTER THREE: Research Methodology

Introduction

According to Oates (2006), the idea behind this chapter is to carry out the aims and objectives of this research and procedures that would be followed for the aims and objectives to be achieved. In order to ascertain and perform an in-depth analytical data, appropriate research strategy and ways of generating data would be used.

Research Aim

To identify significant relationships between these variables

To evaluate the employee perceptions of conditions of service and work in relation to AMO to participate in the organization.

Recommendations and conclusions based on my findings.

Research Philosophy and Approach

Philosophy

According to Saunders et al., (2003), there are 3 approaches when writing a research study which are as follows: the interpretivism, positivism and realism. In the light of this research study, the positivist approach would be used because it would facilitate the act of describing the research phenomenon, support quantitative research, examine the correlation between the variables and closely inspect the cause and impact of the research study on the organization (Thompson 1998). In addition, the positivist approach entails standard scientific investigation, thereby gathering systematic and quantitative data in a scientific routine in as much as the data can be put into extrapolative codes (Burns 2000). The power of the positivist approach support the use of a deductive procedure and it positions its capacity to rheostat the data through sampling and design thereby sustaining the accuracy through a quantitative measurement (Burns 2000).

Quantitative research is the gathering of information that typically involves larger, more representatives’ respondent samples and the numerical calculation of results (Parasuraman et al., 2007). It also seeks numerically different views and opinion of people. However, the idea behind the use of quantitative data is the superiority of data that can be obtained. This report deals with people’s attitude and perception about their jobs and feelings.

This research project takes a positivist philosophy in order to analyze the study under which it takes a deductive approach which will also be cross-sectional. This would be used to gather perceptions of the study and possibly, provide ways of improvement if any (Creswell 2009).

Bell and Brayman (2007) criticised the inductive approach due to the fact that it lacks the necessary theory on which this study is carried but it is still used in this study because it is exploratory as it seeks to find out the importance of employee well-being and performance thereby giving the room for different options in understanding the issue on ground (Myers, 2009).

This is to say that with the aim of this study which is to examine the ability of the AMO Model by Purcell et al., (2003) is to explain employee well-being and performance in the Nigerian Premier League and using a deductive approach will assist the researcher to know how employee well-being and performance can be managed and improved in an organization which would enhance productivity. For the aim to be achieved, there are various objectives that need to be followed thereby getting the perception of participants involved, assessment of variables in the AMO Model and the relationship between the variables which can be of help to the cause and effect or impact on the organization.

In order to have an absolute understanding of the key word in this study which is employee well-being and performance, a primary and secondary data would be used which according to Blackburn and Curran (2001) would be through the use of questionnaires. Although the use of questionnaires has been criticised for being unreliable and has its limitations which argues that it is unsuitable for some people, without personal involvement, there would be low responses and misunderstanding if any cannot be corrected. However, the opinion of using questionnaires to collect data is because it will enable the researcher target a large number of people, respondents can be widely reached or dispersed in different locations, easy to get information quickly from people. Most importantly, it is relatively it is easy to analyze when using numeric data.

A deductive approach would be used in this research because it helps in developing theories, hypothesis and design of a research strategy Saunders et al., (2003) which is mainly associated with positivism and it is a theoretical framework used in assessing real data.

Research Sample

The population sample in this research study is the staff of Nigeria Premier League. This sample was restricted only to staff in the HR Department due to the fact that the scenario of this research corners around the activities used by the HR to improve well-being and performance of employees. The questions being asked in the questionnaires were closed-ended derived from the research objectives and has a total of 20 questions which were structured properly to address the information needed for this particular study and they were structured in line with some HR activities such as commitment, training and development, the use of discretionary behaviour, the use of ability and skills and what the HR department of the organization should assist its organization in achieving.

Data Collection.

Generating data are means of providing evidence that can be made suitable for the research study (Oates, 2006). According to Saunders et al., (2007) and Oates, (2006) quantitative and qualitative data can be seen as the two main categories of generating information.

The quantitative method would be used to carry out this research which is the use of questionnaires i.e. generalised samples in order to effectively analyse numeric data and also it would be done using a triangulation method to increase the credibility and validity of the results or research (Saunders et al., 2003). Based on the measurements, questionnaires would be used and this is because AMO variables and employee perception is involved. The justification for using questionnaires is due to the fact that it is descriptive and exploratory (Saunders et al., (2000). In addition, is it easy to get straight forward answers and responses can be coded. The questionnaire is made up of open and closed ended questions. Another reason for the use of questionnaires is that is explanatory and descriptive.

Sampling and Sample Selection

The method of collecting information from a small or large group of people is called sampling (Gates and McDaniel, 2005). In the light of this research work, a list of population from which area to be sampled can be chosen (Gates, 2005). Probability and non-probability are 2 aspects of sampling. The most suitable sample for this research is the non-probability sample because it is cost effective, it is easy to use, and it is quick and convenient and if properly chosen, results would be sound and accurate. Though it has its disadvantage where the measurement of its certainty is unknown but it is backed with the basic supporting structure i.e. the research approach and strategy because they increase the authenticity and consistency of this research.

Data Analysis

Quantitative data analysis can be descriptive and inferential (Wheeler, 2002). In the light of this research, inferential statistics would be the appropriate method of putting together larger amount of data (Gates and McDaniel, 2005). Therefore, inferential statistics i.e. correlations and regression analysis is used to represent data gathered from the survey. Taking a quantitative approach to analysing the information transcribed from the questionnaire is paramount and data collected would be used to understand themes, pattern and relationships in regard to the research objectives. After transcription, important themes will be coded and made easy for people to understand e.g. employee well-being could be EWB, training and development could be T.D, motivation and job satisfaction would be M&JS, ability and skills could be A.S, organizational commitment could be O.C and discretionary behaviour could be D.B. After this is done, results will be carefully outlined to show the outcome of the research.

Independent and Dependent Variables

This research comprises of different variables i.e. independent and dependent variables that affects in a positive or negative way the well being and performance of employees. The independent variables are the Human Resource Management Practices which can be seen in figure 1.1 above that is the AMO model and the effect of evaluating employee perception in relation to the HRM practices that influences employee well-being and performance. It is seen from figure 1.1 that the line managers are responsible for HRM Practices, processes and procedures in an organization which help them to know the validity of raising a committed and consistent workforce in the organization. This is concerned with the Human Resource Management theory which states that managers should be aware of the importance of employees in an organization (Guest, 1998). In addition, Armstrong (2008) supports the fact that employees are the most important assets in an organization and must be treated well in order to improve employee performance and building trust between the employees and employers. This trust can be measured which focus on the employee perception to know if the employers care about their well-being and performance.

In line with this research, the dependent variables are organizational commitment, training and development, ability and skills, discretionary behaviour and well-being.

Resources

The resources used in this research study is the secondary research which is a vital part of this research and it include the use of articles and journals, academic sources, company journals and reports, books, newspapers and other relevant literature.

Ethics

Researchers in one way or the other, usually face ethical issues. In this research project, compulsory procedures and processes were followed so as to show the authenticity and consistency to the participants that their confidentiality is assured. To show ethical acceptance, there must be an informed consent from the organization. However, involved participants were made known of the scenario and purpose of this research and given the opportunity to pull back if need be at any time before issuing out their consent to participate in this research and were assured of their information to be kept safe.

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