Factors Influencing Motivation of Garments Worker

Factors Influencing Motivation of Garments Worker: A CaseStudyMd. Mohibul Islam*, Khan Md. Ariful Haque**, Md. Mosharraf Hossain*, Md.Idris Ali* and Md Azizur Rahman*Motivation is a set of processes that stimulate and create willingnessof the organizational employees to do something to attain a particulargoal by doing better performance on the job. In today’s world, thebiggest task of the human-resource manager is to motivate andretain employees. Businesses today have entered a new era in therelationship between the companies themselves and theiremployees. In this new era, employees need to be respected andlike to be treated as valuable human capital, as even more importantthan the company’s financial capital. Employees are now becomingthe main source of a company’s competitive advantage. Employeesmay be motivated on the job by many things, such as a sense ofachievement, recognition, enjoyment of the job, promotionopportunities, responsibility, and the chance for personal growth.Employee motivation and performance are lead directly to the styleof management that is applied and to principles of positive ornegative reinforcement. Garments industry is labor incentive. Theproductivity as well as financial success of this field depends on theworker’s performance. To increase the worker’s performance on theirworking areas motivation is crucial. The aims of motivation are toincrease productivity and job satisfaction. Highly motivated personstend to work harder and perform more effectively in their jobs thanless motivated individuals. Under this study various motivatingfactors are find out in garments industry of Bangladesh and try to findout how motivation occurs.Keywords: Motivating factors, Garments, Competitive business environment.1. IntroductionIn an industry workers performance is very important because it provides products andservice, which represent the basis for a company's success. Employees are a valuableresource that may contribute in several different ways to a company's activities, providedthat the company gives them an appropriate chance. For achieving the success importantkeys are, how productive people are at work, their skills, motivation and commitment. Inorder to be successful, a company needs employees who act toward the goals of theorganization and have a strong desire to remain in the company.*Md. Mohibul Islam, Email: mohibul05ipe@yahoo.com**Khan Md. Ariful Haque, North Carolina A & T State University, U.S.A. Email: arif99ipe@yahoo.com*Dr. Md. Mosharraf Hossain, (Corresponding Author), Email: mosharraf80@yahoo.com*Md. Idris Ali*Md Azizur Rahman*Department of Industrial & Production Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology,Bangladesh

2Such loyalty and commitment may be generated by motivation. Managers who need to beaware of factors that motivate workers to make them perform well, ending up with HRprofessionals who have to understand motivation to effectively design and implementreward structure and systems. However, because of a complex nature of human behavior,motivation is not easy to understand and to use. Although, some of research suggestedthat money is not as potent as it seemed to be, many companies tried to implementmonetary incentives as their main tool to motivate employees. The literature on a subjectof motivation shows that there are several other ways to motivate employees. The mostwell know and often cited theories can be divided into two categories: content theories andprocess theories. The first group is focused on what motivate people. It is represented byauthors such as Maslow, McClelland and Herzberg. The second category – processtheories, try to find out how motivation occurs. Vroom, Adams, Locke and Latham createdthe most influential process theories. The points of view presented by authors of thosetheories in some aspects are complementary but in others are totally opposite. Thatpossibly was the reason for other researchers’ inspiration to conduct own studies onmotivation. It resulted in a number of possible suggestions about motivators that couldplay a crucial role in increasing employees’ performance. In this multitude of possibleoptions it is not easy to answer the question – what in fact motivates employees. Theeasiest way to find out is simply to ask them. The garments manufacturing industry is alarge and most export oriented field of Bangladesh in terms of output, export andemployment. At present these manufacturing industries are earning foreign currencyabout three quarters of total exports and the industry is a symbol of the country’sdynamism in the world economy. As it is labor incentive field so there is little chance toimprove these fields by technological change rather than there are vast scopes ofimprovement by improving employee’s performance by motivating them on their job. It isseen that most of the garments workers are less motivated because the management donot apply any motivational packages of the workers. Though some of the garmentsmanagement tries their little best to do it but it is not sufficient for the workers. Under thisenvironment the employees do not get interest to show their real performance in their ownorganization. So management does not get the expected performance from their workers.For this reason garments management are financially losing day by day. But this losesmay be recover if the management apply the motivational approach to their workers. Asthe garments industry is now the major sector of Bangladesh to earn the foreign currencyand a lot of different types of highly educated, semi educated and illiterate people aredirectly and indirectly involve with this sector as their major occupation. So improving thissector can play a great role in national economy. Under this situation the authors feelsgreat interest to work in this area. After observing practical scenario of this area theauthors are settled the following objectives of this study. Investigate and analyses of the factors for employee motivation consideringindividual characteristics. Assessing the factors that motivate employees to perform best at work.2. Literature ReviewIn today’s world, the biggest task of the human-resource manager is to motivate and retainemployees. Rob H. Kamery (2004) emphasis that there is no single theory of motivationthat works effectively all the time; he has mentioned that respect and participation are twokey items that employees tend to appreciate. Oftentimes, the existence or nonexistence ofthese two factors can determine how productive an employee will or will not be. It isimportant to note that these two factors are almost always more important than monetarycompensation. Devadass R 2011 reviewed various journal published in English on

motivation. After reviewed these journal mentioned some characteristic of variousmotivating factors such as Job characteristics, Employee characteristics/ experience ofoutcomes, Management practices and Broader environmental conditions. This paperprovides only theoretical ideas that contributes theoretically by providing a rich descriptionof many different factors that contribute to work motivation but practically measured valueof any specific factor or some of motivating factors that should be management practicefirst not strictly emphasis. Sharma (2006) has mentioned that motivation is a company’slife-blood. Businesses today have entered a new era in the relationship between thecompanies themselves and their employees. The companies can no longer see theiremployees as either their loyal family members or as easily replaceable companyresources. In this new era, employees need to be respected and like to be treated asvaluable human capital, as even more important than the company’s financial capital.Employees are now becoming the main source of a company’s competitive advantage.Therefore, how a company treats its employees increasingly determines whether acompany is going to thrive or even to survive. Lawler (2003) has mentioned that twentyfirstcentury, treating people right is not an option; it is a necessity. Employee try to findsatisfaction in what they do and as a result the manager should be able to understandthe problems faced by his workers and find a way of satisfying their needs and aspiration.The general assumption is that an adequately motivated worker will in turn give in his orher best towards the attainment of a general consensus. when a worker is motivated thequestion of poor performance and inefficiency will be forgotten issue in anorganization. A well-managed company can retain and motivate its employees, and hencehas the following advantages: reduced turnover; increased productivity; reducedabsenteeism; increased revenue; and improved performance. Pittorino (2005) mentionedthat Companies need to attract and retain talented employees therefore understandingwhat motivates employees has become an essential requirement for today’s managers.3. Research MethodologyEach research problem is in some way unique, and therefore requires a tailored researchprocedure. The first step in doing this research was the formulation of the problem and thecreation of the research questions. Thereafter, identify the methodology which would bestfit the problem under research. After that, gathered secondary data in the form of booksand articles in order to improve understanding of the research problem. Next create thequestionnaire about motivation and work based on the knowledge of the theoreticalresearch. Thereby, several decisions such as the form of the questions, the languageused in the questionnaire, as well as the procedure in performing the mail questionnairehad to be made. The questionnaire was tested and several days later sent by mail or byhand to each employee of the company. One week later the questionnaires were collectedand a period of editing and analysing the data. These results were used for carrying outinterviews with several employees in order to get a deeper understanding of thequestionnaire results. After carrying out the interviews, a period of writing down the resultsof the mail questionnaire and interviews in connection with the theoretical frameworkfollowed. During the entire time between determining the methodology and the end ofwriting down the analysis the frames of reference was created. Finally, the research reportwas completed by adding the conclusion and the closing comments.4. Mathematical StatementTo obtain the valid result of this study Weiman Occupational Stress Scale Graphicalanalysis and statistical analysis are done.3

4.1 Statistical Analysis (Chi-Square Distribution)4Chi-square used to test the hypothesis of independence of two variables of classification.The two variables are null hypothesis H₀ and Alternative hypothesis H 1 . In this study thisimportant tools has been used for two purposes Firstly it has used for the purpose oftesting independence between factors that needs to be concerned for visited garments.Either the factors are dependent on the garments or applicable for all garments. Secondlythe major factors dependent on various departments of the garments or independents.In probability theory and statistics, the chi-square distribution (also chi-squared or χ²distribution)with k degrees of freedom is the distribution of a sum of the squaresof k independent standard normal random variables. It is one of the most widelyused probability distributions in inferential statistics, e.g., in hypothesis testing or inconstruction of confidence intervals. When there is a need to contrast it with the noncentralchi-square distribution, this distribution is sometimes called the central chi-squaredistribution. The chi-square distribution is used in the common chi-square tests forgoodness of an observed distribution to a theoretical one, the independence of two criteriaof classification of qualitative data, and in confidence estimation for a population standarddeviation of a normal distribution from a sample standard deviation. Many other statisticaltests also use this distribution, like Friedman's analysis of variance by ranks. The chisquaredistribution is a special case of the gamma distribution.4.1.1 DefinitionIf Z 1 ... Z k are independent, standard normal random variables, then the sum of theirsquares,is distributed according to the chi-square distribution with k degreesof freedom. This is usually denoted as. The chi-square distributionhas one parameter: k (also denoted as ν); a positive integer that specifies the numberof degrees of freedom.4.1.2 Statistic of Chi Square DistributionThe statistic also can be written as-(i=1 to k), Where X i = O i = observed frequency, µ i = e i = expected frequency4.2 Weiman Occupational Stress ScaleThe Weiman Occupational Stress Scale (WOSS) was first introduced in 1978. TheWeiman Scale is a fifteen question instrument that it scored on a 3 point Likert-typeinstrument that measures important motivational factor. Answers on the scale range from1-3 points, with 1 = yes, 2 = sometimes, 3 = no. To determine the highest rank ofmotivational factor, five condition are selected those are mostly responsible for motivatingthe workers such as salary & payment, working condition, working environment, reward &bonus, safety. Using Weiman Occupational stress scale rating, the score for all factor

choosing are determined for every selected worker. The score of 150 workers is thensummed for every factor. The average score then determined dividing by number ofworkers. The individual score is obtained dividing by number of questions three for everyfactor. The factor which are responsible for motivate the workers are then ranked basedon individual score.5. Result Analysis5.1 Chi Square TestsIn this segment, hypothesis test has performed for showing whether or not the major fivefactors are garment dependent (test for independence1) and whether the factors areDepartment dependent or not (test for independence 2).5.1.1 Test for Independence 1Table1 5.1.1: 3×5 contingency table for observed frequency of the factors in the garments5FactorIndustrySalary&PaymentWorkingConditionEnvironmentalConditionSafetyReward&BonusTotalComfit 40 9 14 10 25 98Standard 35 12 11 7 20 85EcomaxLimited40 7 15 8 17 87Total 115 28 40 25 62 270FactorsIndustryTable 5.1.2: Observed and expected frequency of the factorsSalary&PaymentWorkingConditionEnvironmentalConditionSafetyReward&BonusTotalComfit 40(41.74) 9(10.16) 14(14.51) 10(9.07) 25(22.50) 98Standard 35(36.20) 12(8.81) 11(12.6) 7(7.87) 20(19.51) 85EcomaxLimited40(37) 7(9.02) 15(12.88) 8(8.05) 17(19.97) 87Total 115 28 40 25 62 2705.1.2 Sample calculationχ2actual =∑ (oi −ei) 2/ei, ei = expected frequency= (column total) × (row total)/grand total,Expected Frequency for Comfit Composite Knit Ltd.e1 = (115*98)/270 =41.74, e2 = (28*98)/270 =10.16Expected Frequency for Standard Groupe1 = (115*85)/270 = 36.20, e2 = (28*85)/270 = 8.81χ2 value For First Column: (40−41.74) 2 /41.74 =0.0725, (35−36.20) 2 /36.20 =0.0397,(40−37) 2 /37=0.243

χ 2 actual=0.0725+0.132+0.018+0.095+0.277+0.0397+1.15+0.2+0.096+0.0123+0.24+0.45+0.35+0.0003+0.44=3.43Result analysis for segment 5.1.21. Null Hypothesis, H₀ = data is garment independent2. Alternative Hypothesis, H 1 = data is garment dependent3. α = 0.05,0.0054. Degree of freedom: ν= (r-1) (c-1) = (3-1) (5-1) = 85. χ 2 actual =3.436. χ 2 0.05,08 = 15.507 > χ 2 actual7. χ 2 0.005,08= 21.955 > χ 2 actual8. Decision: do not reject H₀That means factors are Garments independent.5.1.3 Test for independence 2Table 5.1.3: For observed frequency of factors respective to different departmentsDepartment : Printing Dyeing Cutting Sewing TotalSalary &Payments10 5 9 9 33WorkingCondition2 1 3 5 11EnvironmentalCondition5 8 4 4 21Safety 2 5 1 1 9Reward &Bonus2 9 7 7 25Total 21 28 24 26 99Table 5.1.4: For observed and expected frequency of factors respective to differentdepartmentsDepartment Printing Dyeing Cutting Sewing TotalSalary &Payments10(7.90) 1(7.64) 9(5.6) 9(6.85) 29Working1(4.72)7(5.45) 9(5.27) 3(4.54)Condition20EnvironmentalCondition5(5.72) 8(5.53) 4(4.77) 4(4.96) 21Safety 6(4.09) 2(3.95) 2(3.40) 5(3.54) 15Result analysis for segment 5.1.31. Null Hypothesis, H₀ = problems are Department independent2. Alternative Hypothesis, H 1 = problems are Department dependent3. α = 0.05, 0.954. Degree of freedom: ν= (r-1) (c-1) = (5-1) (4-1) = 125. χ 2 actual =24.846

χ 2 actual=(0.558+5.77+2.06+.67)+(0.44+2.64+0.52+2.9)+(0.09+1.10+0.124+0.1858)+(0.89+0.96+0.54+0.6)+(3.4+0.87+0.3+0.2)=24.846. χ 2 0.05,12 = 21.026< χ 2 actual7. χ 2 0.95,12 = 5.2526

8Figure 5.2.2: Motivating factor (from table 5.2)6. Findings In general respondents in this thesis place high emphasis on Salary & Payments. Financial motivational factors may be one of the problems and major concernsfacing organizations before, today and even in the foreseeable future. Promotion and bonus to be very important motivators. Furthermore, this thesis concludes that the important motivational value placed oneach factor may vary according to age and gender. Finally, the guideline mainly dependent on organization policy.7. Summary and ConclusionsIt is a truism that the world is going through enormous changes. The advancement oftechnology has brought changes to the way business is done in every aspect. Employeesare no longer just one of the inputs companies use to produce; they are important assetsthat generate profits for the company. To adapt to these changes, managers need newways to manage their employees. Since employees are a company’s most importantresource, satisfying and retaining employees has become a major focus for managers. Todo this effectively, managers must keep their employees motivated, so that valuableemployees stay in the company and perform at their best. To motivate employees is notan easy task. Motivation of employees has to be built up over a long time, and it can bedestroyed in a day. There are many different ways of motivating employees. Everymotivation theorist comes up with a different approach. Motivational factors differ fromemployee to employee, and also differ according to the business sector. To do their jobeffectively, managers need to take time and effort to understand what their employees arelooking for in their work and try to meet these needs and wants to the best of their abilityReferencesRob H. Kamery, 2006 ‘Employee motivation as it relates to Effectiveness, efficiency,productivity, and performance’ Allied Academies International conferenceProceedings of the Academy of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, Maui, Volume8, Number 2, pp 139-144.

Sharma, S 2006, A right way to motivate an employee is to win his heart,

2. Are you have any attendance bonus?a) Yes b) Sometimes c) No3. Are you happy company reward system?a) Yes b) Somewhat c) No■ Safety:1. Have any safety instruments in the industries?a) Yes b) Somewhat c) No2. Are you given any compensation for accident?a) Yes b) Sometimes c) No3. Are you have medical treatment from the company?a) Yes b) Somewhat c) No10