Global Advanced Research Journal of Educational Research and Review (ISSN: 2315

2315-5132)
5132) Vol. 5(4) pp. 063-070, April, 2016
Available online http://garj.org/garjerr/index.htm
Copyright © 2016 Global Advanced Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Reward and Recognition and its impact on teachers’

Satisfaction and Motivation at university level
Alam Zeb and Waseef Jamal
Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, University of Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Assistant Professor, IM
IM-Sciences Peshawar, Pakistan
Accepted 19 April, 2016

Employee’s satisfaction is contingent upon various factors such as fair pay, promotions, career growth
opportunities, reward, recognition and working conditions. This paper aims to find out those factors of
employees’ motivation and job satisfaction that are more appropriately attracted
attract in public sector
universities’ teachers in Khyber Pakhtunhkwa, Pakistan
Pakistan. This study was conducted in three public
sector universities situated in the north of Khyber PPakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan.
Pakistan Ninety university
teachers were chosen as sample. Data were collected and analyzed by using Pearson’s correlation
coefficient. It was concluded thatt within public sector universities, the most preferred factors for
teachers’ motivation and job satisfaction are identified as recognition, work contents and promotions.
The study concluded that certain factors such as teachers’ relationship with department head and
salary are also moderately related to employee motiv
motivation and job satisfaction.

Keywords:: Employees Motivation and job Satisfaction, Reward and Recognition

INTRODUCTION

Among other resources in organizations, human re resource Ahmad (2009) have found that there is a significant
is the most important one, because, this resource relationship between reward and recognition and
ultimately develops all other resources of the employees motivation that further lead to job satisfaction.
organization. Baron on (1983) argues that job satisfaction If existing reward and recognition system is altered, there
has positive
itive impact on employees’ motivation
motivation. Evidence would be a corresponding change in work motivation and
shows that committed and satisfied d employees lead to their job satisfaction (Ali and Ahmad, 2009).
2009)
achieve organizational goals and objectives where Literature shows that motivation of employees
employ and their
commitment comes through motivation.. W Well-motivated productivity increases by providing them recognition
faculty members remain actively involved in different (Deeprose, 1994). This ultimately leads to job satisfaction
activities of an organization. According to Bishay (1996), and improved organizational
ganizational performance.
performance According to
effective reward and recognition system highly increases Marks (2006) organizations provide reward and
employees’ motivation and job satisfaction
satisfaction. Ali and recognition
cognition to their employees in the form of monetary
and non-monetary
monetary benefits for certain desirable
behaviors such as motivation and job satisfaction.
*Corresponding Author Email: alamzebmbams@gmail.com Factors such as incentives, recognition and rewards are
064 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Edu. Res. Rev.

most important for university teachers’ motivation and job expect to have fair pay, career opportunities, promotions,
satisfaction. Literature shows that employees in various recognition, appreciation and supportive department
organizations in different part of the world prefer different head. But it is observed that the expectations of
factors for employee’s satisfaction and motivation employees vary from organization to organization. For
(Goetsch and Stanley, 2003). However, there is dearth universities to address these expectations an
of literature in public sector universities in Khyber understanding of employee’s motivation is required
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan regarding this issue. This shows (Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Mills, & Walton, 1984).
a clear gap in the existing literature. According to Vroom’s (1964) theory, motivation
On the other hand, it is important for the policy makers depends on individuals’ expectations about their ability to
of public sector universities to know about the priority of perform tasks and receive desired rewards. An
their employees for motivation and job satisfaction. employee’s motivation for better performance depends
Literature shows that success or failure of an on the expectation that the efforts will lead to better
organization depends on motivation and job satisfaction performance which will bring reward and recognition. In
of employees (Carnegie, 1975). Organizations need to broader sense, this theory supports the argument that
inquire their employees before designing factors of there is a strong relationship between reward and
motivation (incentives) schemes for their satisfaction. recognition and employee’s job satisfaction. Danish and
This study attempts to evaluate the different factors of Usman (2010) justify that employees are less motivated if
employees’ motivation and job satisfaction at university organization neglects the aspects of recognition and the
level in public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, employees are highly motivated when there are sufficient
Pakistan. growth opportunities, positive feedback and good
relationship with colleagues. Lundy & Cowling (1996)
argue that human wants have no limits and are
LITERATURE REVIEW insatiable. It means that employees have numerous
needs and wants which they expect that their
Motivation is the inner desire to achieve some goal or organizations will provide. Carnegie (1975) argued that
objectives (Buford, Bedeian, & Lindner, 1995). It is success or failure of an organization depends on the
something that leads to job satisfaction (Higgins, 1994). people working in it. It is the organization’s responsibility
The challenge for each and every organization is to to motivate their employees so that they will ensure
insure that their employees are motivated and satisfied. success. Lindner (1998) found that employee motivation
This goal of motivation of faculty members at the has a healthy consequence upon the process of effective
university level can be archived through an effective teaching and learning at higher level. It is connected to
program of reward and recognition. Bowen (2000) rewards and recognition practices that universities adopt
described that reward is something which is given or according to their policies and procedures. Motivation
received in return for a success or achievement. Reward plays an important role in defining the process of quality
is used as an appreciation of certain behavior in the teaching and learning at higher level. Policy makers and
shape of monetary or non-monetary incentives after the hiring authorities are needed to realize this fact, because
accomplishment or success. Recognition is the sense motivated employees are more productive and help
which is given to an individual that he or she is a valued universities grow as professional organizations.
person of an organization. Recognition is monetary and The following hypotheses were developed on the basis
non-monetary reward offered in the public place or of the above literature
communicated in the work place regarding the success or
accomplishment of an individual (Hellman, 1997).
Reward and recognition can be differentiated by Hypotheses
describing that reward is tangible or intangible incentive
offered to employees after the accomplishment or H1: Pay is significantly correlated with motivation and job
success such as pay, career opportunities and working satisfaction.
conditions, whereas recognition is the public H2: Promotions are significantly correlated with
acknowledgment of an employee’s contribution to the motivation and job satisfaction.
organization such as positive feedback, appreciations H3: Working Conditions are significantly correlated with
and encouragement from superiors. Positive feedback motivation and job satisfaction.
makes people feel more self-determining and competent H4: Department head relationship is significantly
which leads to greater intrinsic motivation (Deci and correlated with motivation and job satisfaction.
Ryan, 1982). At the university level teaching faculty H5: Recognition is significantly correlated with motivation
 Alam and Waseef, 065

and job satisfaction. Regarding dimensions of work motivation assessed

H6: Work Contents are significantly correlated with through the questionnaire, table 4.5shows that the means
motivation and job satisfaction. for areas like payment, promotions, recognition, working
conditions, work contents and department head
relationship ranged from a low of 3.83 to a high level of
METHODOLOGY 4.18. Thus the analysis shows that respondents are
highly motivated for the mean values of work contents,
Sample working conditions, and recognition and department
head.
A sample of 90 faculty members from three universities On the other hand, it appears that the mean values for
was randomly selected. The selected three universities payment and promotion are comparatively low. In this
were University of Malakand, University of Swat and way on the basis of the analysis of the mean values of
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal of Khyber the various dimensions as mentioned above, it can be
Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The faculty members safely concluded that teachers at university level are
selected for these studies are permanent and having more motivated and satisfied when they find recognition
experience more than five years. for their contributions within the university along with rich
work content, safe and secure environment and a
supportive department head’ relationship. And the results
Data Collection Instrument of this study show that university teachers are
comparatively less concerned with payment and
A structured questionnaire was adapted and used for promotions.
data collection. The questionnaire contained two parts For the purpose of determining the relationship
such as Biographical Questionnaire and the Work between various dimensions of job satisfaction and
Satisfaction and Motivation Questionnaire (Roberts, motivation, Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient applied and
2005). The Biographical Questionnaire contained the scores were computed. The results of the computation of
personal information of the respondents, gender, job the various dimensions of motivation and job satisfaction
scale, qualifications and tenure. The Work Satisfaction and its sub-dimensions as explained below are presented
and Motivation Questionnaire consisted of items related in table 4.6.
to job satisfaction and motivation of teachers at university a. Relationship between motivation and job
level (Roberts, 2005). satisfaction and recognition,
b. Relationship between motivation and job
satisfaction and pay,
Procedure and Statistical Methods c. Relationship between motivation and job
satisfaction and work content
Questionnaires were administered to 90 faculty d. Relationship between motivation and job
members. All the questionnaires were received back and satisfaction and department heads’,
thus the return percentage was 100%. The questionnaire e. Relationship between motivation and job
was self-administered. As a result, 100% response rate satisfaction and promotion
was achieved. The data were analyzed through Statistical f. Relationship between motivation and job
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. The satisfaction and working condition.
statistical methods consisted of descriptive (mean and The analysis of various dimensions of the relationship
standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson between all the variables of job satisfaction and
Correlation) for the predictors of motivation and motivation indicates high significant relationship. For
satisfaction of employees. example, the relation between motivation and job
satisfaction and recognition is (r=.72, p<.05). Similarly,
the analysis interestingly reveals that job satisfaction and
RESULTS pay is significantly correlated with (r=.54, p<.05). This is
due to the reason that salary and rewards improve the
Table 4.5 presents the descriptive statistics of the economic and social life of the faculty members. All
responses of the research sample in the form of research studies reviewed for this study support that
arithmetic means and standard deviations for the employees’ motivation and job satisfaction is strongly
respondents. The results were computed for the multiple related to their pays. The results also show that university
dimensions that were assessed through a questionnaire. teachers are more motivated when they get recognition
066 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Edu. Res. Rev.

Table 4.5 Descriptive Statistics for the Dimension of Job Motivation and Satisfaction

Variables Mean Standard Deviation

Work contents 3.83 .457
Payment 3.24 .932
Promotions 3.27 1.002
Recognition 3.41 .978
Working Condition 3.40 .826
Department head 4.18 .828

Table 4.6 Dimensions Correlation with Employees Motivation and Satisfaction

Variables Pearson p-values

Correlation
Work contents .615** 0
Payment .540** 0
Promotions .704** 0
Recognition .728** 0
Working Condition .660** 0
Department head .427** 0
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 4.7 Dimensions Correlations with Job Motivation and Satisfaction

Variables 1 2 3 4 5

1. Work contents

**
2. Payment .329

**
3. Promotions .270 0.202

** **
4. Recognition .367 0.147 .515

** ** * *
5. Working Condition .450 .508 .239 .219

* **
6. Department head 0.171 -.211 0.203 .334 0.104

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2 tailed)

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 4.8 Relationship between Reward, Recognition and Job Motivation and Satisfaction

Job Motivation and Satisfaction(M.S) Significance

**
Reward .540 .000
**
Recognition .728 .000
 Alam and Waseef, 067

which improves their sense of self-esteem as compared significant relationship between the two variables. It is a
to monetary rewards. And research studies also support common observation that teachers at university level are
the contention that employees with strong self-esteem motivated towards their job when they find opportunities
are more satisfied and productive. Maslow’s theory of for promotions. It is because of the fact that promotions
motivation is an example in this connection, as the theory indirectly or directly adds to the improvement of their
explains that satisfaction of lower level needs such as economic and social condition.
food, shelter and dress which in an organizational context
is related to salary leads to the satisfaction of higher
order needs such as self-esteem and self-respect. DISCUSSION
The study found that there is a very strong and
significant relationship between motivation and job The purpose of this study was to evaluate the different
satisfaction and work contents. For example job factors of employee’s motivation and job satisfaction and
satisfaction and work contents is significantly correlated investigate that which factors are more preferred by the
such as (r=.61, p<.05). The high relationship between the teachers at university level. The results of this study
variable shows that university teachers get motivated supported the hypothesis that all the six dimensions of
when they are provided with rich work contents. It may be the job satisfaction and motivation such as promotion,
due to the fact that there is a growing realization among pay, work contents, working conditions, recognition, and
the university teachers to give importance to learning and department head relationship were significantly related to
professional development. Research says that learning motivation and job satisfaction.
and professional growth is enhanced when people are This study also discovered that there is a highly
exposed to new assignment and responsibilities. significant correlation between recognition and
The analysis also found that there is strong significant employee’s motivation and job satisfaction. It means that
relationship between working conditions and employees if university teachers are provided with more respect and
motivation and job satisfaction such as (r=.66, p<.05). public praise, their motivation level will correspondingly
The result concluded that the university teachers prefer to increase. In the view of Dermer (1975).Maslow theory of
work in good working conditions. It is because of the motivation also supports this fact that if the lower order
reason that the faculty members need to work in safe and needs such as food, shelter, dress of the employees are
sound and relax working environment so as to give their satisfied that leads to the satisfaction of high order needs
full attention to their research and academic activities. such as security, self-esteem and self-actualization.
This research study also revealed that there is a strong The study also showed that employees are motivated
relationship between job satisfaction and department when they are provided with good working environment
heads relationship. For example the relationship between which develops their interest and commitment. Freedman
job satisfaction and department head such as (r=.47, (1978) also supports the contention that employees with
<.05) shows that university teachers look for appreciation good working conditions are more satisfied and
and support from their department head. The relationship productive. The study also revealed that the university
between university teachers and department head is faculty members preferred to work in a supportive
highly important because it determines the value of work working condition. It is because of the fact that the
and shared responsibilities in the department. Supportive university teachers needs to work in relax environment so
relationships between the team members and the that they can focus on their academic and research
department head help in the realization of the objectives activities without any disturbance.
and goals of the department. This also affects directly the Similarly, the study also explored that university
promotion and elevation of the department team. teachers get motivated when they are provided with high
Therefore, the respondents have responded positively for promotional opportunities. In the present day it is a
this point. Studies on human relation also support this common observation that teachers at university level are
view. For example, expectancy theory says that motivated towards their job when they find opportunities
employee’s motivation level increases and they attach for promotions. Promotion improves the economic and
more importance to their work when they expect high social condition of an employee.
rewards and favor for certain behaviors or tasks that they This study also postulates there is significant
are required to perform. correlation between pay and job satisfaction. But this
The table 4.6 also indicates that there is significant relation is moderate. It means that if university teachers
relationship between job satisfaction and promotion of the are provided with high financial benefits such as
university teachers. In this regard the analysis of the handsome pay, their motivation and job satisfaction level
responses such as (r=.72, p<.05) shows that there is a will correspondingly increase. According to Porter and
068 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Edu. Res. Rev.

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 Alam and Waseef, 069

QUESTIONAIRE

Adopted from (Roberts, 2005).

Impact of Reward and Recognition on Work Motivation and Job Satisfaction of University Teachers

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Gender Male Female

Educational Qualification: Master M. Phil PhD

Job Title ____________________

How long have you been employed at this University? (in years) ________

Work Satisfaction and Motivation Questionnaire

METHOD FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONS

With each question, you have a choice of three answers.

Choose one of the following:
Strongly Agree =1
Agree =2
Neutral =3
Disagree =4
Strongly Disagree = 5

Mark your answers with a cross (X).

S.# Statements 1 2 3 4 5

Work Contents
1 I am interested in my work

2 My work consists of a variety of work

3 I receive training daily which teaches me something new

4 My work is easy

The amount of work is easy to handle

5
I control the amount of work I do myself
6
I am completely independent of others
7
I regard the content of my work as responsible
8
I know exactly what my mistakes are
9
I am allowed to decide on the methods for doing the work
10
I am proud to say what kind of work I do
11
My work is the way to future success
12
070 Glo. Adv. Res. J. Edu. Res. Rev.

Cont.

I will not be dismissed without good reason

13
I have the opportunity to take part when decisions are made
14
I feel that my work is of value in my department
15
There is not time for idleness
16
I have a certain degree of authority in my work
17
Payment

My salary is satisfactory in relation to what I do

18
I earn the same as or more that other people ina similar job
19
The basis of payment, for example overtime payment is reasonable
20
Salary increases are decided on a fair manner
21
Promotions

I will be promoted within the next two years

22
Everyone has an equal chance to be promoted
23
Staff are promoted in a fair and honest way
24
Recognition

25 I am praised regularly for my work

26 I receive constructive criticism about my work
27 I get credit for what I do
28 I am told that I am making progress
Working Condition

29 My working hours are reasonable

30 I am never overworked
31 I get the opportunity to mix with my colleagues and
to communicate on aspects of our work
My Leader/ Head

32 Is satisfied easily
33 Will support me if there are problems
34 Can be convinced and persuaded
35 Is a warm-hearted person