Motivation And Job Satisfaction At Airlines Commerce Essay

On 23rd October 1946, a new airline was born. Initially registered as a pilot project in Calcutta, Orient Airways Ltd. had at its helm Mr. M.A. Ispahani as Chairman and Air vice Marshal O.K. Carter as General Manager. The new carrier’s base remained in Calcutta and an operating license was obtained in May 1947.

Four Douglas DC-3s were purchased from Tempo of Texas in February 1947 and operations commenced on 4th June 1947. The designated route for Orient Airways was Calcutta-Akyab-Rangoon, which also happened to be the first post-war international sector to be flown by an airline registered in India. Within two months of Orient Airways’ operational beginnings, Pakistan was born. The birth of a new nation generated one of the largest transfers of population in the history of mankind.

Orient Airways, along with the help of BOAC aircraft which had been chartered by the Government of Pakistan, started relief operations and transportation of people between Delhi and Karachi, the two capitals. Subsequently, Orient Airways transferred its base to Pakistan and established a vital link between Karachi and Dacca, the two capitals of the two wings of Pakistan. With a skeleton fleet of just two DC-3s, three crew members, and twelve mechanics, Orient Airways launched its scheduled operations in a fairy-tale manner. The initial routes were Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar, Karachi-Quetta-Lahore and Karachi-Delhi Calcutta-Dacca. By the end of 1949, Orient Airways had acquired 10 DC-3s and 3 Convair 240s which were operated on these routes. In 1950, it had become increasingly apparent that additional capacity would have to be inducted to cater to the growing needs of the sub-continent.

Research Objective

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Job Satisfaction and Motivation of the employees employed by PIA (Pakistan International Airline). The idea of this study is to investigate and identify those factors which are causing high motivation and job satisfaction among the employees.

This is a descriptive study based on the impact of motivation and jobs among employees employed by PIA. In today’s fast paced era environment of the management is to how the managers can improve the level of motivation and job satisfaction of employees. So that the company attain a reliable and efficient workforce. The questions that are to be answered by this study are:

How some employees are satisfied from their job as compare to others.

How some employees perform better than others

What are the ways through which management can improve the motivation of its employees

Attracting, rewarding, awarding and motivating customers are a challenge. It requires better service, realistic performance, expectations and a supportive work environment

Literature Survey

Theories of Motivation

Motivation theories are of two types i.e. Content theory and Process theory

Basically content theory of motivation focuses on those factors which are involved with the individuals that energizes, directs, sustains and stops behaviour. To motivate people they determine the actualized and specific needs. On the other hand process theory describes and analyzes that how the behaviour on individual or person is stopped by those factors which are external i.e. energized, directed and sustained. Both theories have important impact on managers who are involved in the motivational process as per their job nature (Gibson et al, 2000).

Kini and Hobson (2002) agreed with the distinction explained above between content and process theories which suggested that the theory of content is associated with the importance of internal elements which are identified and the prioritization involved with the individual’s explanation of these elements. While process theory imposes on particular psychological processes underlying action and emphasized on explaining the functioning of individual decision system in order to relate it to the behaviour.

Process theory of Motivation

Process theory of motivation tries to explain and describe the factors which are external to the individual, that energize, direct, sustain and stop behaviour. The major theories of motivation are discussed above includes the following theories which are as follows:

Social learning theory

Operant conditioning

Expectancy theory

Equity theory

Goal setting theory

Job design theory

Social learning theory

Learning is typically the fundamental processes which are based on the behaviour and in turn, motivation. In organizations almost every individual’s behaviour is learnt. Perception, attitudes, goals and emotional reactions are learned. Skills – e.g. programming a system or counselling de-motivated employee can be learned. Basically meaning and uses of language used are learned. Learning is an ongoing process by which the relatively occurring changes in the behaviour as a result of practise (Gibson et al, 2000).

Operant conditioning

In another point of view learning occurs as a result of behaviour, and this learning is called operant conditioning. Late world famous behaviourist B.F.Skinner is the person closely associated with this type of learning that is operant conditioning. Many principles of this theory can help managers who attempt to influence behaviour. An important principle of learning is enforcement. Generally internal cause of behaviour is motivation while external cause is reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement occurs when a positively valued incentive’s follows a response to a stimulus. Positive reinforcement can be anything that both increases the strength of response and induces repetitions of the behaviours that preceded the reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement occurs when the performance of the behaviour is increased or diverted due to undesirable situation immediately after the response.

Expectancy theory

The real explanation of expectancy theory was developed by Victor Vroom. Early studies (about 50) tested the implication tested the accuracy of expectancy theory in predicting employee behaviour. The expectancy theory defined in vroom’s concept is that motivation as a process governing choices among the alternatives forms of voluntary activity. From his point of view mostly behaviours are under control of the individuals and are persistently motivated. Expectancy theory is generally explained in four concepts:

First and second level outcomes- the outcomes of the first level are resulting from behaviour that is linked with doing the job itself which includes turnover, quality of productivity, absenteeism and productivity. The outcomes of the second level are those events such as punishments and rewards that the outcomes of the first level are likely to produce such as group acceptance or rejection, merit pay increment and promotion.

The reference to the individual’s perception that the outcome of the first level is related with outcomes of second level is instrumentality.

As seen by the individual the preference of the outcomes is valance e.g. a person mar prefer a 10% increment in the pay over a transfer to another branch. The outcome is that the in positively valent the offer is preferred and in negatively valent it is avoided.

The individual’s belief refers to the expectancy is concerned with the likelihood or descriptive possibility that a certain behaviour will be followed by a certain outcome such as; level of performance (Gibson et al, 2000:160-161).

Equity theory

Equity theory of motivation was tested and developed by J.Stacey Adams. The basic concept of equity theory of motivation is that the efforts and rewards of the employees are compared with others in similar work situations. Basically the theory of motivation is based on the assumption that individuals, who work for rewards from the firm, and are motivated with a perception to be equally treated at work. The maintenance of the employee’s perception of equity in the working environment is administered by the management. There are four terms on which the theory is based i.e.

Person: the individual for equity or inequity is perceived

Comparison with others: any individual(s) or group used by person as referent regarding the ratios of inputs and outcomes.

Inputs: the individual characteristic brought by person to the job this may be achieved (e.g. skills, experience, knowledge and learning) or ascribed (e.g. age, gender, race).

Outcomes: what person received from the job (e.g. recognition, fringe benefits and pay).

The ratio of the inputs (efforts) to their outcomes (rewards) is equivalent to the ratios of other similar employees is the perception of the employees where the equity exists. When an individuals own ratio of inputs to outcomes could be greater or less than that of others, the ratio aren’t equivalent, inequity exist (Gibson et al, 2000: 164-165).

The proposition of this theory is that the individuals are motivated to stabilize fair or “equitable” relationships between themselves and to change those unfair “inequitable” relationships (Kini and Hobson, 2002: 605).

Goal setting theory

Edwin Locke proposed that goal setting theory was a cognitive process of some practical utility. Edwin’s view was that an individual’s intentions and conscious goals are the primary factors of behaviour. A goal is the action of an object i.e. it’s a person attempts to achieve. Locke also carefully determined the characteristics of the cognitive (mental) processes of goal setting which are as follows:

The degree of quantitative precision (clarity) of the goal refers to the goal specificity.

The degree of proficiency or the level of performance sought is goal difficulty.

Goal intensity pertains to the process of setting the goal or determining how to reach it.

Higher effort and performance results when people commit to difficult and specific goals rather than to vague commitments.

Monetary incentives will affect performance only to the extent that such incentives influence the choice of goals and the extent of goal commitment.

Goal commitment will interact with goal difficulty to determine performance.

Goal setting is rather complex and difficult to sustain

Goal setting works well for simple jobs (clerks, typists, loggers, and technicians), but not for complex jobs. Goal setting with jobs in which goals aren’t measured has posed some problems

Goal setting encourages game playing. Setting low goals to look good.

Goal setting is used as another check on employees. It’s a control device to monitor performance

Goal accomplishment can become an obsession. In some situations, goal setters have become so obsessed with achieving their goals that they neglect other important areas of their jobs (Gibson et al,2000)

Job Design Theory

Task characteristic theory (job design) (JD): Seek to identify task characteristics of jobs, how these characteristics combined in order to form jobs that are different, and their relationships to employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance (Kini and Hobson, 2002: 605). The Hackman-Oldman job characteristics model, a derivative of this theory developed in Japan which contends that providing employees with task variety, task identify, task significance, task autonomy, and feed back, will lead to three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness of the work, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results) which, in turn, will lead to high internal motivation, high quality work performance, high work satisfaction, and low absenteeism and turnover (McAfee, Quarstein, and Ardalan,1995).

The impact of this theory for management is in order to keep the employees satisfied and motivated in their jobs, so managers must:

Employees should be provided with a variety of skills on their workplace

Employees should be given independence and freedom to schedule and plan their tasks

One on the most important part that managers must provide constant feedback as to how employees are measuring to set goals.

Content theories of Motivation

Employees on their work bring their feelings, beliefs and perceptions which determine their modus on daily operation and daily tasks. It is the reason that managers constantly seek to understand, explain the nature of employee’s behaviour is being predicted by the managers. Content theories of motivation explain and describe factors within the person that energize, direct, sustain and stop behaviour. The major theories of motivation are explained as under:

Maslow’s need hierarchy

Aderfer’s ERG theory

McClelland’s learned need; and theory of needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The widely cited and discussed motivation theory i.e. the need hierarchy model is presented by Abraham Maslow. In this model the lowest level needs are the physiological needs, and the highest -level needs are for self-actualization. Maslow defined human needs as under:

Physiological: the need for water, food, shelter and relief from pain.

Safety and security: the need for freedom from threat and safety of life.

Belongingness, social, and love: the need for friendship, affiliation, interaction and love family etc.

Esteem: the need for self-esteem and for respect from others

Self-actualization: the need of fulfilling oneself by maximizing the use of abilities and skills.

Maslow’s theory assumes that an individual attempts to satisfy the more basic needs i.e. the physiological needs before directing the behaviour towards satisfying upper level needs i.e. self-actualization.

Lower order or level needs must be satisfied before a higher order need such as self-actualization begins to control an individual’s behaviour. According to Maslow, a satisfied needs leads motivation or it motivates.

Aldersfer’s ERG theory

Alderfer agreed with Abraham Maslow that needs are arranged in hierarchy. His proposed hierarchy of needs involves three sets of needs which are follows:

Existence: the needs which are satisfied with such factors as water, air, pay, food and working conditions.

Relatedness: the needs that are satisfied with the love of family, friends, social and interpersonal relationships.

Growth: the needs which are satisfied by an individual making productive and creative contributions.

Three needs presented by Aldefer’s – existence (E), relatedness (R), and growth (G), or ERG relates or correspond to Maslow’s in the existence needs are similar to Maslow’s physiological and safety categories; the relatedness needs are similar to the belongingness, social and love category; and the growth needs are similar to the esteem and self-actualization categories. Maslow proposed that unfilled needs at one level are most of the importance and that needs on the next higher level aren’t activated until the currently need s are fulfilled or satisfied. In contrast to Alderfer’s ERG theory says that in addition to satisfaction-progression process that Maslow proposed, a frustration regression process is also at work by the same time. Alderfer and Maslow need theories of motivation have been criticized. Need theories have been regarded as simple, very easily expressed views of human behaviour (Gibson et al, 2000).

McClelland’s learned theory of needs

Learned theory of motivation was proposed and presented by David C. McClelland and this theory is closely related with learning concepts. David believed that many of our needs are acquired from the culture of a society. There are three learned needs which are the need for achievement (n Ach), the need for affiliation (n Aff), and the need of power (n Pow).

It was suggested by McClelland that when need is strong in an individual, the effects that arises is to motivate him or her to use behaviour leading to satisfaction.

Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Based on perceptions, attitudes, personality and learning motivation plays a very important role in understanding behaviour. Job satisfaction is a result of employees thinking that how their jobs provide them what is important. According to (Mitchell and lasan, 1987), it is recognized that in the field of organizational behaviour that job satisfaction frequently and most studied attitude.

Motivation and job satisfaction can be studied through several approaches content theories and through reinforcement theories. Specifically the term employee motivation is complicated and difficult to define. The liveliness of an organization whether it’s private or public, comes from the motivation of their workforce and their abilities plays crucial role in their work performance (Lewis, Goodman and Fandt, 1995).

Reinforcement Theories

Reinforcement is explained as any effect that causes behaviour to be repeated which can be either positive or negative (Naylor, 1999, p.540). Skinner (1939, 1971) conducted several studies and came up with the idea of conditioning model which proposed that if pleasant consequences follow a behaviour, the behaviour will tend to continue whereas, if unpleasant behaviour will tend to continue then the behaviour will tend to continue whereas, if unpleasant consequences follow a behaviour the behaviour tends to stop. (Luthans & Kreitner, 1985). Reinforcement theory relies on two assumptions: first, behaviour of human is determined by the surroundings and environment and second, human behaviour is subject to observable laws. The “Law of effect” is the foundation of the reinforcement consequences whether are negative or Positive behaviour will be repeated (Lewis et al, 1995).

Job Satisfaction

The work motivation theories that have been just explained have been used for centuries just to explain that what motivates individuals to work. And the same theories can be used to find out that how other people are satisfied in their jobs. For example as Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs explains that if people are happy and satisfied o their jobs if there needs are met. And learning theories proposed that by seeing others rewarded for certain standards of performance people would be motivated. And on the other hand if people will see their co-workers are being punished for not meeting the standards of the organization or not fulfilling the requirements of the organization they will try to work harder to avoid the pain or insult of being punished and so on.

Some people say that job satisfaction is simple that how people feel regarding their jobs and different phases of their jobs (Sector, 1997). This assumes that employees will be satisfied or happy if they like their jobs. Another view of Job Satisfaction is that happiness is associated with doing a particular job as expressed by the job-holder (Gibson et al, 2000). The feelings and attitudes one has about one’s job whether positive and negative, good and bad are likely to contribute for the development of feelings of satisfaction (Riggio, 2000).

Methodology

The methodology that has been adopted for the related subject study is precisely described below:

Industry

The industry which I select for the research is the Airline Industry.

Population and Sample size

The population of the industry was very large therefore convenience sampling has been done for this study. The sample consists of individuals who are working in PIA’s human resource department and Information technology department on middle level and lower level employees.

Respondents

Sample drawn from this industry is 60 respondents. From them 30 are working as a middle level and 30 are working as lower level employees. The respondents belong to department’s i.e. human resource department and information technology department.

Data collection method

For the purpose of data collection an instrument (i.e. questionnaires) will be used.

Data Analysis

Data will be analyzed on the basis of the employee’s response to the questionnaire, in which bar and pie charts are a part of analysis