Factors Influencing Work Motivation of Development Agents: The Case of Lume District Agricultural Office, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Employees working towards organizational goals and having a strong desire to accomplish his/her duty in the organization are very important for the success of an organization. In order to generate such motivation and organizational commitment of the employees, the knowledge about what motivates and demotivates them is essential. The purpose of this study is to investigate & analyze the factors which influence work motivation of DAs. The rationale of the study was an observation that some DAs reflecting low moral, absenteeism, work stress, low performance and inability to cope well with the demands of the working environment while others are not. Another observation is that management seems not to be aware of what motivates the DAs and to strategically utilize those motivational tools to maintain preferable level of work motivation thereby increasing productivity. Age, sex, marital status, service year, placement distance from home place, and personal life were among the personal factors examined in this study. Achievement, Advancement, Recognition, Responsibility, & The work it self were analyzed under work related factors (motivational factor). Under the organization related factors (hygiene factors), Interpersonal relations, Perception about salary, Supervision, Organizational administration, Working condition and Job security were examined in this study. For data analysis, descriptive statistics like percentage, and Chi-square test were used. The work motivation level of DAs was observed as 57.1%, 22.1 % and 20.7% with medium, low & high work motivation respectively. The overall motivational-level score was 3.212 on a scale of 1 to 5 (1=lowest and 5=highest). The study was concluded with implications of the findings and recommendations to give more attention to design fair, transparent, continues, & appropriate recognition system in the organization. In addition to that it was recommended that trained individuals for supervisory and managerial position on management related issues and to minimize some assignments which have no relation with DAs actual job description are crucial. Finally, work motivation was dependent on a number of different factors and was subject to change, administrators should conduct periodic needs assessment to determine the level of motivation of DAs, identify factors influencing their work motivation and identify methods for reducing factors which demotivates, there by increasing the level of work motivation among DAs in Lume district.