The impact of motivation on the productivity of the employees in industrial sector in Oman

Introduction

Motivation is one of the most important tools of human resource management as it can be used to improve the employees' performance and improve the productivity of the business organization. In industrial sectors in Oman, motivation is used in many different ways to urge employees and increase their enthusiasm to do work better and to achieve better desired results.

Industrial sectors in Oman are important to improve the country's economy and strengthen business movement in it. They focus on human resources and try to find effective methods for getting the best outcomes from the human resources that are considered a basic asset that needs to be invested in. This is done through applying motivation that can be monetary and non monetary through rewards, recognition and other means.

The current report is discussing motivation and its impact on employees' productivity in the industrial sectors in Oman. It presents an overview for motivation definition, types and how it can be used by the organization's management to improve productivity. There is a presentation for some managerial challenges that can be solved by implementing motivation such as employees' turnover and change management. The report also discusses how motivation can be used in the industrial sector of Oman and how this can be applied to improve its productivity.

Research questions

1. What is motivation and what are its types?
2. How does HRM use it to affect the productivity of employees?
3. How can motivation face different managerial challenges such as employees' turnover and implementing change in industrial sector in Oman?
4. How can motivation improve the Omani economy through its implications in the industrial sector?
5. What can be done more to motivate employees better in industrial sector in Oman?

Research objectives

1. Understanding motivation and its different types.
2. Realizing how motivation can be well applied by HRM.
3. Investigating the impact of motivation on productivity.
4. Finding out how motivation in industrial sector in Oman can face challenges.
5. Realizing the relationship between motivation and economy.
6. Suggesting ideas to improve employees' motivation in industrial sector in Oman.

Literature Review

According to Al Araimi, (2013) motivation can be defined as moving employees' behaviors towards better performance and higher level of achieving the organizational goals; it can be applied by understanding employees' needs and raising their morale through effective methods and techniques.

Ganta, (2014) discussed motivation and its types referring to Extrinsic motivation which is the motivation that depends on external factors surrounding the employees such as their need to be promoted, the need to have a monetary reward, being known as a good employee or any other material achievements. Milne, (2007) discussed the Intrinsic motivation is that type of motivation that comes from the inside of the individual as employee' enjoyment and happiness to perform well, their feeling of belonging to the work organization, their need to feel appreciated and respected for good work and any other achievements that are not material.

Lai, (2011) discussed how motivation can be applied by the human resource management and confirmed that management has to realize the needs of employees before implementing methods of motivation; he referred to the different needs of employees through Maslow's needs and explained that each employee has to be focused on individually to understand how to raise his morale through motivation. Adair, (2006) confirmed that motivation can solve different problems in the business organization such as turnover as motivation can raise morale of employees and raise their feeling of belonging to the organization which in turn improves their performance and increases their productivity.

The industrial sector in Oman has two main parts which are the public sector and the private one. Both sectors focus on motivation to improve the productivity of employees. This can be regarded through views of authors such as views of Powmya and Zainul, (2014) who discussed how industrial sectors in Oman are facing different challenges related to modernization and urbanization in Oman as these changes lead to new market needs and difficulties in finding market opportunities. Back, (2012) explained that these challenges made employees are in need for more motivation to provide better performance and better business outcomes.

When organizations apply motivation effectively, they can overcome challenges such as turnover as according to Swailes and Fahdi, (2010) voluntary labor turnover rates are very high and are increasing in Public sectors of Oman and Omnization can't solve the problem so there must be serious solutions for facing the problem through providing employees with motivation that can improve their performance, retain them and improve productivity.  statistics from the Omani Civil Service (Ministry of National Economy, 2010) show that there were 8400 new appointments in the year 2008 half of which were women and 4180 employee left the Service. The number of Omani nationals resigning in 2008 was more than 54% on the previous year in spite of the fact that they receive high salaries. Reasons for leaving work included passive effects such as lack of communication, conflicts, stress and being in places where employees are not relaxed or feeling good. Latham, (2012) explained that employees are in need to a work environment that can motivate them to do better and feel belonging to the place they work in. Motivating employees don't mean to raise their salaries only but it means to provide them with the suitable work environment where they can communicate their problems with their leaders and express their feelings that may cause stress in the work environment. This means that non-monetary rewards such as parties, recognition, promotion and developing the work environment physically and psychologically can help motivate employees in order to raise their morale, communicate the organizational goals with them and encouraging them to do better and raise productivity of the business organization. (Swailes and Fahdi, 2010)

Motivation is highly related to change management as according to POHANKOVÁ, (2010) change can be considered a big challenge in many business organizations and motivation can help managers implement change effectively. Many organizations in the industrial sector of Oman are applying change to cope with the local and international changes and developments and to cope with globalization requirements; change may lead to difficulties when management try to implement it so management has to motivate employees to implement change. Motivation can help in encouraging employees, raising their enthusiasm to implement change. They need to understand change to be motivated and to have enough time for being trained to apply such change. McMillan et al, (2009) asserted that change is a main organizational driver for success and this makes motivating employees to apply change very essential for reaching success easily and fast. They confirmed that motivation can be used to encourage employees to do certain required behaviors that can raise the company's productivity such as applying change as they depended on the expectancy theory as when managers try to improve employees' expectations about their future career, they can make them apply changes and improve the company's productivity.

Brown, (2007) explained that motivation is used in the industrial sector in Oman in a way to improve productivity of different business organization as this can return with great benefits on the Omani economy as motivating employees can be involved within the general plan for development initiated by the Omani government to improve the Omani economy. This is confirmed in the views of Al Alawai and Mishra, (2016) as they confirmed that motivational factors can lead to higher economic growth in Oman as the motivational factors can help improve productivity in different industrial fields. They confirmed that there should be specific reward systems and performance appraisal systems to be used for motivating employees and encouraging them to do better. According to International Business Publications, (2009) this can be done with the help of the Omani Industrial Zone and guidance from the government for both public and private industrial sectors. Encouraging motivation can improve productivity through encouraging the local entrepreneurs to develop their businesses which will help the Omani economy. Motivation can be used to encourage business organizations to be more creative and provide new innovations to the local market as such products can be internationalized in order to increase productivity and profitability that can both help the Omani economy.

Al Hakmani and Bashir, (2014) confirmed on the need for training managers of different business organizations in the industrial sector in Oman with the help and efforts of the government and the General Institution for the Industrial Zones of Oman and raising managerial awareness about the different models and techniques that can be used to motivate employees. Shah and Gardner, (2008) explained that these training programs should aim at focusing on managers' perceptions of the motivation factors and training them on different leadership styles that can be better in motivating employees such as transformational leadership style that can encourage employees to communicate well and can be more flexible in applying different motivational techniques and types.

Al-Harthy, (2008) discussed how motivation can represent a challenge for different industrial sectors in Oman as he confirmed that motivation should be based on a deep analysis for employees' needs and ambitions and should address these needs and try to meet them. Ushioda and Dornyei, (2009) also stated that motivation type should be chosen by the managers based on the employees' needs and wishes in addition to stressing the positive ideas and innovative ideas by motivating those employees who present such ideas. Adjei, (2009) confirmed on the need for applying theories and practice for motivating employees in the industrial sector and mentioned the goal setting theory that depends on setting goals that are difficult and need high efforts for achieving the goal and this can improve productivity as all employees will be engaged in teams where they can achieve the difficult goals that are clear and reachable but need creative efforts, time management and cooperation. Mentioned also the equity theory that depends on presenting rewards in a fair way without distinguishing between employees as regarding feelings and perceptions of employees is effective in making them motivated and work hard to improve productivity. Wiseman and Hunt, (2007) mentioned another theory that is the reinforcement theory that depends on controlling the behavior consequences through shaping it as employees' behaviors are very important to be considered when leaders are motivating them, positive behaviors have to be rewarded and recognized, pay rise, promotions and monetary rewards are effective for rewarding positive behaviors.

To improve motivation in the Omani industrial sector, there should be great efforts from the government at first to encourage local and foreigner entrepreneurs to develop and expand their businesses in Oman. This can lead to using different methods for motivation such as monetary rewards, recognition, celebrations, appreciation, promotion and empowerment of employees. Theories should be effectively implemented by managers in order to ensure better motivation. This can help improve productivity and enhance company's competitiveness in the local and international markets.  To improve motivation in the industrial sectors in Oman, there should be deep analysis for employees need, good knowledge about motivation theory and effective application for them. To add changes in the different industries in both public and private sectors, managements in the industrial zone of Oman tries to focus on urging business organizations to motivate their employees to bring in better results. This can be done through different drivers to motivate employees such as focusing on finance issues, knowledge and training of employees, the business strategy, leadership of organizations and opportunities for empowering and retaining employees. Motivating employees can raise their morale and provide them with the needed empowerment for improving their experiences and preparing them for having better positions in the business organization. This can help in retaining employees and reducing rates of turnover that passively affects the organization's productivity and profitability.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to stress the importance of motivation to business organizations such as the organizations of the industrial sectors in Oman as motivation can have a great impact on productivity. Motivation can increase and improve productivity of business entities as it is moving the behaviors of employees towards the better performance which can improve productivity. There are different types of motivation such as intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation and managers should be able to use each of them based on the nature and behavior and needs of their employees. Motivation should address employees' needs. The industrial sectors in Oman try to develop their management systems to focus on motivating employees to improve productivity and they should get enough help from the Omani government. Motivation can help management face challenges such as employees turnover and change management. Motivation has a relationship with economy as when employees are ell motivated, this encourages them to do more efforts that encourage entrepreneurs to have more business locally and internationally which improves productivity and enhances the Omani economy.