The working title of this study is initially drafted as – Non-monetary benefits as an incentive to improve staff performance in public sector.

Research Context

According to Tosi, Mero and Rizzo (2000, pp. 129-130), motivation has psychological and managerial meanings. The managerial meaning of motivation deals with the activity of managers and leaders to induce others in order to produce results desired or outlined by the organization or by the manager. The managerial concept of motivation conforms to a relationship between motivation, ability and performance. Individual empowerment refers to providing them decision powers and sense of ownership as this was perceived to bring higher productivity and higher quality. The key element is to align individual purpose and vision to the organization's culture that could lead to interest, concern, commitment and responsibility.

Rummler and Brache (1990) assert that there are three levels of performance within an organization such as organization, process and individual. In the organization level, strategies, goals and measures are considered as both the drivers and bases of performance. Nevertheless, the main work of the organisation occurs in the second level which is multifunctional. Individuals who often find themselves as part of more than a single process perform in relation to others. These levels and their interplay serve as the vantage points of any organization.

Further, reward systems, most especially, are the considered as forerunners of employee motivation (Caruth and Handlogten, 2001, p1). Since the people and their knowledge, skills and abilities are the most important driving force to the success of any organization, continuing commitment and support to them could be realized through looking for effective ways to reward their contributions, loyalty, dedication and efforts.

Reward systems, for instance, must be created in such a way that employees will be compensated to enhance motivation, growth and productivity while also encouraging them to align their efforts with the company's objectives, philosophies, culture and values. reward and punishment is composed of direct and indirect monetary incentives. The latter consists of pay and rewards received by employees in the form of wages and salaries, incentives, bonuses and commissions whereas the former comprises of the benefits supplied by the employers. According to Sims (2002), these non-financial compensations include employee recognition programs, rewarding jobs and flexible work hours to accommodate personal needs.

Public/government staffs receive fixed/equal pays according to their grades. A study will be carried out to study the importance of non-monetary gains (e.g the management have high concern on staff welfare, recognization of their contributions and willingness to listen to subordinate opinions and views). In this study, how public officials are compensated in non-monetary and based on their performance will be explored.

Research Questions

The key research question that the study will answer is how important are non-monetary benefits relating to performance, as taken from the public/government staffs. With this, the following research questions will be also explored.

1. How public/government staffs are rewarded non-monetarily? What are the common forms of non-monetary benefits that they receive?

2. In what specific ways non-monetary benefits could eventually lead to improved performance?

Research Aims

The main aim of this research to explore the perception of public/government staffs on the extent of importance of non-monetary benefits. In lieu with this, the following research objectives will be addressed.

· Evaluate various non-monetary benefits endowed to public/government staffs

· Analyse the interplay between non-monetary benefits and improved performance

Research Strategy/Methods

The research will be approached based on an interpretivism view. Interpretivism is the necessary research philosophy for this study because it allows the search, of the 'details of the situation, to understand the reality or perhaps a reality working behind them. It is necessary to explore the subjective meanings motivating people's actions in order to understand their actions.

The study will be exploratory in nature because it aims to determine the present facts as well as facts that are not yet explored about the phenomenon. Exploratory research will enable the study to look at the problem in both descriptive and exploratory manner. It will look into the problem by exploring the views of different sets of respondents, as well as by exploring different literatures related with the study.

Primary and secondary research will be conducted in the study. In primary research, the study will survey public/government staffs. Questionnaires will be used as the survey instrument. The questionnaires will be divided into two parts, the first part being demographic profile and the second part on the basis of how employees understand leadership. It is planned that the questionnaire will have a 5 point Likert Scale, as well as ranking questions.

Reference

Caruth, D. L. & Handlogten, G. D. (2002). Compensating Sales Personnel. The American Salesman, 6-15.

Rummler, G. A. and Brache, A. P. (1990). Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart. San Francisco: Brache; Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Sims, R. (2002). Organizational Success through Effective Human Resources Management. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Tosi, H. L., Mero, N. P. & Rizzo, J. R. (2000). Managing Organizational Behaviour. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 129-133.