Perceived Motivational Factors Among Allied Health Managers and Subordinates

A Peer Reviewed Publication of the College of Allied Health & Nursing at Nova Southeastern University Dedicated to allied health professional practice and education http://ijahsp.nova.edu Vol. 1 No. 1 ISSN 1540-580X Perceived Motivational Factors among Allied Health Managers and Subordinates A study of motivational factors among occupational and physical therapist managers and subordinates Sandra Barker Dunbar DPA, OTR/L Assistant Professor; Occupational Therapy Department Nova Southeastern University – College of Allied Health United States CITATION: Dunbar SB: Perceived Motivational Factors among Allied Health Managers and Subordinates. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2003. Volume 1 Number 1. ABSTRACT This exploratory study sought to assess the differences in perceptions among allied health managers and subordinates regarding motivation in the workplace due to a paucity of literature in this area. With an increased demand for higher productivity, an everchanging health care system and managed care restrictions, it is also important to understand what may motivate individuals who are functioning within different work environments than in the past. The hygiene and motivator factors from Herzberg’s two factor theory created the independent variables which overlap with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs descriptions. These included Basic (job security, salary etc.), Safety (work conditions, pension), Ego-Status (opportunity for status improvement), and Actualization-Self-Expression (opportunities for freedom and experimentation. Participants included a random and convenience sample of physical and occupational therapists. Data was collected using work motivation inventories. Results from the t-test and ANOVA procedures consistently showed no statistical differences among allied health managers and subordinates regarding their perceptions of what motivates the employee in the workplace. Motivator factor issues were identified as constraints to work motivation more than hygiene factors. The convenience sample identified Categories D and E more frequently as constraint categories (Sig. at.10 level). Clearly, additional research is needed in this area. INTRODUCTION There is a paucity of research in occupational and physical therapy professional literature related to motivational aspects of work. It is with this in mind, as well as the guiding literature in nursing research, that this area was explored. Occupational and physical therapists can function in very similar environments when addressing the needs of people with certain conditions. These helping professions seek to improve the quality of life for a diverse group of children and adults. Allied health managers have been faced with increasing challenges of professional diversity with consolidation of departments, budget cuts and downsizing due to the effects of the shifts in Medicaid and Medicare coverage.1 These economic and political changes, coupled with the continuing forces of the managed care environment, have a direct impact on the delivery of occupational and physical therapy services. Professional role and practice changes, as well as a need to maintain a humanistic approach within the context of organizational financial gain have been cited as particular concerns.2 It is important to establish current perceptions of motivational factors under these changing health-care, economic, and political conditions to improve manager effectiveness in health-care organizations today. Many contemporary authors have defined motivation. Kreitner,3 refers to motivation as a psychological process that gives direction to behavior; Higgins4 defines motivation as an internal drive that is present to satisfy unmet needs. Bedeian5 describes motivation as a will to achieve. © The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 2003 Perceived Motivational Factors among Allied Health Managers and Subordinates 2 Nahavandi and Malekzadeh also associate the concept of motivation with management issues related to organizational performance. They define motivation as a "state of mind, desire, energy, or interest that translates into action.”6 This action is viewed as work performance. The belief is that this performance can be influenced when employee motivation is influenced. Employee motivation can be influenced due to motivation being a flexible state of mind.6 Managerial concerns related to employee motivation are not new but questions concerning motivational incentives, and employees' perceptions of what motivates them in the workplace continue to be discussed and analyzed.7,8 Many motivational theories exist in an attempt to answer these questions related to motivational issues.7,8,9 Process approach theories seek to answer the question "How are people motivated?" Theories in this category include Vroom's Expectancy Theory and Skinner's Reinforcement Theory.8,10 Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman discovered through qualitative studies that a group of factors could be identified as “dissatisfiers”, such as poor working conditions or organizational policies.7 If these situations were present, they could lead to an unhappy employee. However, if they were improved, this did not independently make a happy employee. The term “hygiene” was designated to represent the dissatisfiers that impact one’s attitude towards the job. The analogy to medical hygiene was made with reference to removing hazards from the environment when there are unfavorable working conditions that contribute to low job attitudes. The factors that lead to a positive view about one’s job satisfy a person’s need for self-actualization in his or her work. These factors were labeled as “motivators,” since they contribute to a person’s approach nature to a job. Herzberg’s two-factor theory formed the basis for this exploratory study. HEALTH WORKERS AND MOTIVATION Articles on the application of Herzberg’s theory in healthcare related environments are limited. Among the allied health professional journals, nursing literature has the most on managerial aspects, motivation and job satisfaction. An article by Munro sought to explore the validity of Herzberg's two factor theory.11 The objective of the study was to determine which variables account for the variation in job satisfaction among recent nursing student graduates. The specific research question was: "What is the multiple correlation between overall job satisfaction and set predictors, which include motivators, hygiene, sex of respondent, socioeconomic status, self esteem, and length of time on the job"? The subjects were 329 nurses, including 50 diploma level nurses, 159 associate degree nurses and 120 Bachelors level nurses. This was 2% of the entire national longitudinal study sample. The data reviewed was part of the fourth data collection set for this sample and was collected during 1979 and 1980.11 Each nurse completed a mailed questionnaire dealing with demographic information as w (...truncated)