Introduction
The Nigeria Ministry of education faces problems of good employee performance, motivation and commitment due to its inability to reward its employees adequately. Employees believe they are entitled to rewards (financial and non financial). In absence of reward (pay, recognition, development and training opportunities), employees become unhappy at work and that can lead to a decrease in performance (Saira, Madiha, Sumaira, & Anam, 2014). This is the major problem in Nigeria education as financial reward is seen as the only effective strategy to motivating employees, therefore disregarding non-financial reward. Despite the fact that financial reward is recognized, the Ministry still faces issues of rewarding its employees financially. A literature review on the impact of financial and non-financial rewards on employee motivation will help identify the main problem of reward management in Nigeria Ministry of education. It is argued that pay is the most efficient reward strategy that can be used to motivate and attain good performance, suggesting that non financial reward is not as efficient or rather must come after financial reward.
Overview of Nigeria Ministry of Education
The Nigeria Ministry of Education is a government body which aims to assure the availability of quality and free education for its citizens in partnership with non-governmental organizations, private sectors, parents, stakeholders and competent teachers in a good learning environment (Nigeria Ministry of Education, n.d).
The administration of the Nigeria Ministry of Education is shared amongst some statutory bodies, which are known as commissions. These commissions are created for various sub-sectors of the educational process and are poised with different duties for the sub-sectors.
The different commissions are; the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC), which controls and deals with primary and pre-school issues. Secondly, there is the National Secondary Education Commission (NSEC), which controls and deals with secondary school issues. Also, it constitutes of the National Mass Literacy, Adult and Non Formal Education Commission (NMEC). Finally, there is the National University Commission (NUC), which Controls and deals with the affairs of Universities at large (Taboho, 2000).
There are criticisms that the previous and recent government’s financial support is deficient to attain the millennium development goals (MGDs) with regards to education, talk less of the Education for all (EFA) project. It is troublesome that Nigeria might not attain both MDGs and EFA, not only because government support is low, but also because of underfunding and some allegations that the funds for education are being embezzled (George et al., 2013). Thus, this highlights that the problem of reward management in Nigerian education occurs when there is insufficient funds, whereby workers won’t be rewarded adequately. There have been situations when workers have been owed their remuneration and others their pension, however, they failed to receive them because those funds have been embezzled.
Reward management system
Reward management system comprises of process, practices and policies in which an organization uses to reward its workers with regards to their abilities, contributions and artifice. The reward management tool is based on extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, which are basically called financial and non-financial rewards. Extrinsic rewards can be bonuses, salary increase, allowances etc. Intrinsic rewards can be appreciation and praise, feedback, participation in decision-making, certificate and plaques etc. (Pinar, 2011).
Reward, Employee Performance and Motivation Defined
Schultz, (2006) defined the word reward as a particular remuneration, substance or appreciation that is given to an employee for carrying out his/her work or because he/she has done something well. The above definition of reward simply entails that when an individual is rewarded due to good behavior, the chances of that good behavior reoccurring increases (Pavlov, 1927; Skinner, 1953). For example a teacher gets the best out of his/her students through exams or essay writing and gets rewarded with a car for his/her efforts.
Employee performance can simply be defined as what a worker does or doesn’t do. Employee performance could be quantity or quality of work delivered, presence at work, cooperation and time frame output. Motivation on the other hand is what drives an individual to act because our behavior is poised towards set goals (Pinar, 2011).
Literature review
An employer’s aim when rewarding workers for a job completed is to get employee dedicated, improve, motivate and lure new employees (Pinar, 2011).
Gupta and Shaw (1998) concluded that extrinsic rewards are essential. They stated that it is very important to most people and it inspires them due its iconic and crucial value. Iconic value being our mindset towards money and crucial value being the personal needs we satisfy when we exchange it. While Nelson (2004), opposed Gupta and Shaws stance by stating that the use of money as a reward tool for good performance sends out the wrong signals at times, therefore reducing teamwork and steering employees towards sole gains. He went ahead to illustrate that that recognition and praise are the most important non-financial reward an employee needs to hear, as they want to believe that they are contributing to the organization. Nelson (2004) also highlighted a quote by Elisabeth Ganter in his paper that stated that “compensation is a right; recognition is a gift”. Nelson emphasizing on signals that rewards send to employees said that recognition when showed in the presence of other workers sends a favorable signal to the other workers with regards to the type of behavior favored and desired by management.
Gupta and Shaw (1998) also admitted that signals are indeed sent out whenever money is used as a reward tool but also stated that humans are ‘cognitive processors’ who know the message, which is being passed on from management; the type of behavior which is valued. Amstrong et al (2010) acknowledged that money is the most available and easy tool, which can be used to motivate employees, in short term but can lead to long-term problems in the organization. Kohn (1993) saw financial reward (money) as the best way of actualizing short-term compliance, signifying that money is a strong motivator, provided we get new pay rise. As long as pay is increased it inspires employees for a limited duration until inspiration declines and they yearn for another pay rise. The criticism he highlighted was that money would inspire workers to make extra money. According to (Jensen, Mcmullen, & Stark, 2007), Non-financial reward is what determines why a worker would come work for you rather than the firm next door when the two companies offer the same financial reward. It is how companies really stand out from others.
Total reward however can be defined as the combination of financial (extrinsic) and non-financial (intrinsic) reward that an employee receives. According to Amstrong (2009) “essentially, the notion of total reward says that there is more to rewarding people than just throwing money on them”. It is normal that most organizations believe that one strategy is more efficient than the other meanwhile employee’s percipience of the most important reward may vary due to the reward strategy which management considers as ‘the best’ motivating factor. Nelson (2004) proposed that employers ask workers what they need. However, this conflict of interest could emanate job dissatisfaction and intention to leave their organization.
Practice and Experience
As Amstong (2009) says, reward is not just throwing money on people. In Nigeria education the only reward present is financial or extrinsic reward. During my days in this industry, I was only paid salary (financial reward), in return for my performance and non-financial rewards such as praise or appreciation, certificates or plaques, and recognition were absent.
They believe that pay is the only solution and non-financial reward was not essential. Due to this development, I became demotivated at times because when I perform my duties, I should be recognized or awarded for them. This is a major implication of non-financial reward being absent. In addition, very important intrinsic rewards like training and development were absent. If I received non-financial rewards like training and development, it would have improved my performance and I would have been motivated.
Recently, the Lagos state government in Nigeria practiced non-financial reward by awarding its best teachers with cars as a result of their excellent performance (ekocity, 2017). With regards to Nelson (2004), who talked about signals of non-financial reward, this is a typical example of the signal he talked about; recognition when showed in the presence of other workers sends a favorable signal to the other workers with regards to the type of behavior favored and desired by management. Awarding cars in front of other teachers will best motivate them to perform better so that the state government can also reward them in the presence of other teachers.
Conclusion
Both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are key to motivate and attain good employee performance and organizations should not use one or the other, but rather use a combination of both types of rewards, as long as it fits the organization’s preference. The Porter Lawler model describes that a work effort that yields performance also yields rewards, of which financial and non-financial rewards can derive satisfaction. The choice of reward depends on the employee in the sense that if the employee prefers reward through self-esteem and achievements or through financial assets like money, management should make this possible. This research identified that non-financial rewards are efficient, not disregarding financial rewards, as they are always present in institutional context. Therefore, I recommend that the Nigeria Ministry of education use financial and non-financial rewards as a crucial tool that can be used to motivate and attain good performance from its employees. Similar to Lagos state identifying the importance of non-financial reward, using such rewards will bring about lots of opportunities and the Ministry can emulate this practice at large.