Employee motivation in international business organizations: the case of PCCW on workplace learning


 


Background of the Study


            PCCW is world-renowned in terms of motivating its staff to perform well. It is said that the PCCW management have blossomed on its local/domestic home country and moved on to internationalize its business operations to some other countries/continents. This corporate successful growth is not only attributed to the financial and managerial capabilities of the executive management but also on its entire labor force. It is acknowledge that employees are the fuels of any profit-generating industry. Their motivation to work and excel on their prescribed job positions and predetermined job responsibilities is rooted on their personal as well as occupational inclinations. It is important to provide outstanding services to the customers in order to maintain the competitiveness power within the industry. This can be acquired through learning. The employees are the biggest asset in every given industry. In order to maintain a competitive workforce and retain employees, the organization’s Human Resources Department (HRD) conducts different kind of training courses as form of learning intended for the employees for the goals of learning and improving their service-related capacities. However, it is very important to identify what motivates employees to learn.


            PCWW recognizes the need to have the best people with the most promising and passionate commitment, drive and desire to learn. They offer a matchless opportunity for career development. Their particularity in career development extends toward leadership, training and professional development. In leadership, developing talent for key operational roles is crucial especially in relation to the growth of the Company’s businesses. At PCCW, there is an apparent opportunity for personal and professional growth and learning. PCCW have outstanding development programs, such as the business associates and trainee engineers schemes, that aim to educate, update, and continuously build up employee skills and exposure. In training, the Company operates an intensive Trainee Engineer Scheme that is accredited by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. This development scheme aims to prepare staff for long-term career in the Company’s engineering and IP departments. PCCW also offers their staff more than 15,000 days per year of business and management training, corporate and business marketing, and outbound, inbound and retail sales. In professional development, PCCW working environment facilitates continuous learning process but only in different classrooms. The dynamics of business environment and staffs’ skills requires the Company to acquire new knowledge and abilities that will contribute to the “forward” movement of the whole Company, business operations and its individuals especially in the 21st century.


Because of their effective methods of motivating their staff, the question on how do they motivate employees in relation to workplace learning is to be illuminated. Granted that there are given employee development programs, do the Company offer other motivational factors to attract employees to participate? This research study aims to find out the employees’ incentive preferences in relation to their motivation to learn. Generally, the study looks on the motivation process exemplified by PCCW. Motivation theories in relation to learning are considered particularly in its incentive system as well as its effectiveness. By understanding these dynamics, HRD and the Company management can implement the most appropriate motivational system to encourage the employees on learning and increase their effectiveness and productivity.


Looking on a variety of sources, the function of HRD significantly influences the employees’ abilities and motivation (1995). This concept has been supported by a number of other authors and analysts (1996;1997). (2000) stated that the HRD plays a key role in leveraging the knowledge of the organization specifically the enhancement of the abilities and skill of the employees. A substantial body of research literatures is present and available yet they generally tackle specific HR practices and performance (1990;  1994; , 2000). Earlier literatures in relation to incentive system indicate that incentive system work for the purpose of motivating employees; drawing and maintaining people with the suitable knowledge, skills, and abilities required in achieving the firm’s strategic goals; and creating an accommodating organizational culture and structure (1973;1989; 1988). In addition,  (1992) assert that the old form of compensation, mainly characterized by pay structures based on job analyses, descriptions, specifications, and classifications, is no longer relevant, applicable, and effective especially when applied in today’s business environment. According to (2004), when organizations value and reward people, those people are committed to performing well. While majority of research studies are conducted on the subject of motivation, they remain to be generic, more likely as motivation itself. In here, there is a need to conduct specific reference to an emerging industry that specializes in telecommunications and operates beyond geographical borders. This research mainly fits the need to formulate focused, specific, and innovative body of knowledge that will increase the awareness and provide a better understanding of the issues and problems concerning most companies and organizations and for the purposes of contributing effective approach in addressing staff motivation problems.


 


Research Questions



  • What are the motivational factors and other related factors that affect employee motivation on learning exemplified by employees of PCCW?




  • What are the incentive preferences of employees of PCCW in relation to workplace learning?




  • How effective are these incentive system when applied to the process of learning?



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    Research Method


    This study is descriptive in terms if its purpose, qualitative in terms of its process, case study in terms of methodology, and applied in terms of its outcome. The descriptive approach is used to describe the nature or condition (1994) of PCCW in relation to its motivational initiatives towards organizational learning. The advantages of this approach include quickness and flexibility and serve as an extension or a forerunner to a piece of exploratory research, a valuable research approach employed to discover what is happening; seek new insights; ask questions; and/or evaluate a phenomenon in a new light (2002). Further, the qualitative approach is used to measure useful data that are not immeasurable, such as feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and others. Qualitative information derived from the research then serves as basis for programme recommendations. Lastly, the case study approach is for the development of full understanding of the case as possible and is not linked with any particular research technique. This method involves the researcher to inquire deeper and examine thorough behaviors of a person or a circumstance. It also includes the discovery and identification of all the important variables which have contributed to the history or development of the chosen subject. This means that the researcher is going to gather data which include the past experiences and present condition of the subject as well as the environment. It will attempt to find out how these factors relate to one another and how they have affected the subject. Case study, like qualitative approach, allows a variety of information and facts to be collected and to be used for development of practical recommendations or solutions to problems identified.


    The participants/subjects of this case are PCCW employees who are purposively chosen. The participants and interviewee are personally selected by the researcher on the basis of position, duties and the recommendation from pertinent individuals as sources. Since the study is deemed to be descriptive, qualitative, and case study in terms of approaches, data gathering procedures are limited to the observations and generalizations obtained in the corporate website of the Company and responses of participants and interviewee as primary data while literatures related to the following key words: employee motivation, incentive system, workplace learning, international business operations, and other related subjects that are collected from articles in journals, research studies, reports, policy documents, theses, papers presented at professional meetings, and documents available to the public on the internet are secondary data.


    In data analysis, descriptive, qualitative, and case study research methods were used to complete the study. The research variables, on the other hand, were first analyzed to provide descriptions of the factors that were relevant to the topic. The variables of the study were researched qualitatively whereas the data, situations, or facts collected were explained or correlated with other information. In sum, in this study qualitative research methods were used because the researcher attempted to construct theories that would explain the relationship of one variable to another. With this method, non-standard elements such as behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs were analyzed.


     


    Timescale and Resources


    The following tasks and dates are targeted by the researcher, yet considered provisional:




    • Agree initial PROJECT OUTLINE with Workshop – November 10-14, 2007




    • Submit your PROJECT PROPOSAL to local office for forwarding to University PROJECT PROPOSAL – November 21-25, 2007




    • Continue work on project – November 19-30 to December 1-20, 2007




    • Receive feedback from University on your PROJECT PROPOSAL three weeks from submission date – January 17-20, 2008




    • Complete the first draft of Final Project Report – January 21-31, 2008




    •  Revise work to produce final draft – February 1-7, 2008




    • Write up Final Project Report – February 8-14, 2008




    • Produce Final Project Report in finished form and bind – February 15-28, 2008




    • Submit Final Project Report to local office for onward forwarding to University Final Project Report by Submission Date to local office – March 5, 2008




    The resources are the following: Computer set and internet connections, Transportation, Hospitality items, Copy of literatures or access to online libraries, Voice recorder, and Papers and other writing materials.


     



    Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com


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