The Effect of Working Environment On Employees Performance: The case of MTN Cameroon Buea Municipality

ABSTRACT

Work environment plays an important role in an organization. Nowadays employees may have a large number of working alternatives, then the environment in workplace becomes a critical factor for accepting and/or keeping the jobs, and Most of the problems faced by employees are related to working environment. The study aimed to assess the impact of working environment on employees’ performance. The main objective of this study was to explore the impact of working environment on performance of employees of MTN Cameroon Buea municipality. Specifically, the study sought to; determine the contribution of performance feedback on employees, to assess the physical working environment that react towards employees performance, and finally to examine whether supervisor support affects employees performance.

The Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs and Frederick Herzberg’s two factor theories were used. The research design used was the survey research design. Target population consists of 150 MTN employees, while the sample size is 100 employees. The study findings indicate that, organization working environment had an impact on members as far as respondents are concerned. The study also revealed that employees will improve their performance if the problems identified during the research are tackled by the management. The problems are flexibility of working environment, work noise distraction, supervisor’s interpersonal relationship with subordinates, presence of job aid, the use of performance feedback and improvement of work incentives in the organization so as to motivate employees to perform their job.

In conclusion based on the findings the study recommended that, the organization needs to have periodic meetings with employees to air their grievances to the management and serve as a motivating factor to the employees and Management.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Every organization is required to monitor its internal and external environment for the attainment of specific goals. Organization is the structured entity established to attain specific objectives by  blending  of  different  types  of  resources  (Ahmad, 2010:1-3). Internal environment of the corporate entities is important for the successful survival. The economic  conditions  and  competitive  environment  have  compelled organizations  to  concentrate  on  improving  employee  performance.  Work environment  is  the  combination  of  factors  (social  support,  physical  working conditions,  job  characteristics,  training  and  development  and  communication process) that influence work. The social support means the help that an individual receives  from  his/her  co-workers,  supervisor  and  colleagues  to  perform  his/her work  effectively.  It reveals the structure of relationships (Greenhaus  and Parasuraman, 1994: 13). It can be divided into two categories such as the work related social support and the personal social support. Giga and Hoel (2003:45). Believe that the mergers and acquisitions lead to economic interdependence due to technological changes, globalization and organizational work environment.

Employee performance is multidimensional and essential for organizational success (Campbell, 1990; Dyne et al., 2002:20-23). Job performance is the result of three factors:  skill, effort and the nature of work conditions.  The skills include knowledge, abilities and competencies the employee brings to the job; effort is the degree of motivation the employee puts forth toward getting the job done and the nature of work conditions is the degree of accommodation of these conditions in facilitating the employee’s productivity (Kazmi  et  al.,  2008:25).  The  current  study contributes  to  the  existing  body  of  knowledge  by  exploring employees’ performance in different cultural setting. It aims to investigate the effect of work environment on performance  of  employees  working  in  the  telecommunication sector of Pakistan. It  is  reported  that  organizational  commitment  mediates  the  relationship  between age and work performance (Iun and Huang, 2007:25). The organizational performance could be the outcome of employees’ positive behavioral change that may be linked with  incentive  programs  (Feldman  and  Landsman,  2007:50).  It  may  create  greater feelings  of  belongingness,  esteem,  satisfaction  and  commitment  (Green  and Heywood, 2007:100-102).

 Conducive work environment including friendly human resource policies may enhance employee productivity, organizational commitment and overall performance (Chiang and Birtch 2010:13). The  success  of  any  organization  is  closely  tied  to  the  job  performance  of  its employees. The quality of the employees’ workplace environment impacts on their motivation level and hence performance (Heath, 2006:32). When employees have the desire,  physically  and  emotionally  to  work,  then  their  performance  shall  be increased  (Boles  et  al.,  2004:11).  They  also  stated  that  having  a  proper  workplace environment  helps  in  reducing  the  number  of  absenteeism  and  as  a  result  can increase the performance in today’s competitive and dynamic business world. The working  environment  that  are  set  in  place  impacts  employees’  morale; productivity;  engagement  both  positively  and  negatively  (Chandrasekhar,  2011:11-15). She adds that factors of workplace environment play an important role towards the employees’ performance. The factors of workplace environment give an immense impact to the employees’ performance either towards the negative outcomes or the

Positive outcomes. The study is focused on the Two Factor Theory (Herzberg, 1986:51). Herzberg came to a conclusion that the aspects of the work environment that satisfy employees are different from  the  aspects  that  dissatisfy  them any organizations achievements are strongly linked to its employees work performance. The quality of the workplace setting of the staff affects their amount of motivation and thus results (Heath, 2006:15). When staff has the desire to work physically and mentally, they will increase their efficiency (Boles et al., 2004:51). They also indicated that having a correct workplace atmosphere helps to reduce the amount of absenteeism and can boost efficiency in the competitive and vibrant company globe of today.

Working environment plays an important role towards the employees ‘performance. Working environment is argued to impact immensely on employees’ performance either towards negative or the positive outcomes (Chandrasekar2001:1-4). In the world, there are international organizations who debate the rights of employee. Most people spend fifty percent of their lives within indoor environments, which greatly influence their mental status, actions, abilities and performance (Dorgan, 1994:10-14). Over the last decades, the factors of work environment of the office workers had changed due to the changes in several factors such as the social environment, information technology and the flexible ways of organizing work processes (Hasun & Makhbul, 2005:46). Better outcomes and increased productivity is assumed to be the result of better workplace environment. Better physical environment of office will boosts the employees and ultimately improve their productivity. Various literature pertain to the study of multiple offices and office buildings indicated that the factors such as dissatisfaction, cluttered workplaces and the physical environment are playing a major role in the loss of employees’ productivity (Carnevale 1992, Clements- Croome 1997:51).

In the 1990’s, the factors of work environment had changed due to the changes in several factors such as the social environment, information technology and the flexible ways of organizing work processes (Hasun & Makhbul, 2005:21). When employees’ are physically and emotionally fit will have the desire to work and their performance 6outcomes shall be increased. Moreover, a proper workplace environment helps in reducing the number of absenteeism and thus can increase the employees’ performance which leads to increased productivity at the workplace (Boles et al.2004:45) MTN which is a telecommunication company found itself in Cameroon in the year 2000 and this organization has branches in many parts of Africa and the world. MTN has grown over the years and it’s the leading mobile telecommunication company in Cameroon. There are other mobile communication companies like Orange, Nextel, and CAMTEL. Some renowned products of MTN are:  mobile telephone calls, Mobile Money, and internet services.  It employs almost 250,000 people in Cameroon. On the other hand employees are faced with issues  concerning  their  work  environment  especially  their  working  hours  due  to Shifts and lack of mobility in the workplace in terms of promotions. This is also coupled with other work environment related challenges that might cause them to

Under perform. According to Tripathi (2014:50).  The work environment can  be  defined  as  the environment in which people work that include physical setting, job profile, culture and market condition. Each aspect is inter linked and impacts on employee’s overall performance and productivity. It is  the  quality  of  the  employees’  workplace environment  that  most  impacts  on  their  level  of  motivation  subsequently performance. Work environment can be thought of simply as the environment in which people work  (Briner, 2000:112)  as  such;  it  is  a  very  broad  category  that encompasses the physical setting (e.g. heat, equipment), characteristics of the job itself (e.g. workload, task complexity). He adds that it also encompasses broader organizational features (e.g.  culture, history) and even aspects of  the  external organizational setting (e.g. local labor market conditions, industry sector, work life balance) Employees will always be contended when they feel that their immediate environment states are in LINE with their obligations (Farh, 2012:4-6). Chandrasekhar (2011:45) asserts that the type of workplace environment in which employees operate determines whether or not organizations will prosper. The workplace environment consists of physical factors which include the office layout and design among other factors. Other aspects of the workplace environment are the policies which include employment conditions. A better physical workplace environment boosts employees’ performance. Employees in many organizations are encountering with working problems related to workplace environmental and physical factors. It has been argued by Pech and Slade  (2006:26)  that  employee  disengagement is  increasing  and  it  has  become important  to  make  workplaces  that  positively  influence  workforce.  Employees’ comfort on  the  job,  determined  by  workplace  conditions  and  environment,  has been recognized as an important factor for measuring their  productivity (Leblebici, 2012:10).  In today’s dynamic and competitive  business  world,  a  healthy  workplace environment  makes  good  business  sense.  Managers should not just focus  on  the employees’ pay packet with the assumption that it is proportionate to performance (Heath,  2006:70).  Organizations  deemed  as  a  positive  place  to  work  will  have  a competitive edge over the others.

Armstrong (2006:46) defines performance as the development of quantified objectives.  Performance is not only a matter of what people achieves but how they achieve.  Performance defined by Sultana et al.  (2012:48)  as  the  achievement  of specified  tasks  against  predetermined  or  identified  standards  of  accuracy, completeness, cost and speed. High performance is a step towards the achievement of organizational goals and tasks.  Frese  and  Sonnentag  (2001:40)  opined  that  an individual performance is highly important for an organization a s a whole and the individuals  working  in  it.  Organizations  need  highly  performing  employees  in order  to  meet  their  goals  and  to  deliver  the  products  and  services  they  are specialized in and finally to achieve a competitive advantage. Platt and Sobotka (2010:25) assert that employee performance is the combined result of effort, ability and perception of tasks.  The  factors  that  affect  the  level  of individual  performance  are  motivation,  ability  and  opportunity  to  participate (Armstrong,  2009:40).  He perceives performance as a function of ability and motivation. There are a number of factors that affect employee performance, the workplace  environment  impacts  most  their  level  of  motivation  hence  their  performance.  Setup (2003:20) describes several factors towards the success of employees’ performance. These factors include physical environment, equipment, meaningful work, performance expectation, feedback on performance, bad system among others. He adds that, to have a standard performance, employers have to get the employees task done on track so as to achieve the organizational goals.

1.2   PROBLEM STATEMENT

There are many variables affecting employee efficiency in an organization. The workplace environment plays an essential role in worker’s performance and productivity in any organization (El-Zeiny, 2013:10). The workplace environment in the majority of organizations is unsafe and unhealthy. These include poorly designed workstations, unsuitable furniture, and lack of ventilation, insufficient safety measures in fire emergencies and lack of personal protective equipment. There are many factors as the Economic and Social Council reported in 2007, global economic growth is increasingly failing to create the kinds of new and better jobs that can lead to a reduction in poverty. Despite high and sustained economic growth in many developing countries, unemployment is rising, a large proportion of the labour force is working below poverty level wages, and the majority of non-agricultural employment is situated in the informal economy. It is of little surprise that in recent years there has been a shift of focus from a singular interest in economic growth to an enlarged concern with improving the quality of work. Governments from across Africa have forcefully called for action to overcome these challenges. The African Union Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa (Ouagadougou, September 2004:41) overwhelmingly endorsed the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda with an emphasis on the creation of quality jobs.

Noble (2009:1) states that more attention should be paid in identifying and dealing with working environment because when employee have negative perception to their environment they sometimes suffer from chronic stress. Opperman (2002:2) stated that, working environment means those processes, systems, structures, tools or conditions in the workplace that impact favorably or unfavorably individual performance. The working environment also includes policies, rules, culture, resources, working relationships, work location, internal and external environmental factors, all of which influence the ways that employee perform their job functions. This study is designed to examine the impact of working environment on employee’s performance at MTN Cameroon in Buea municipality. This is a telecommunication company which operates in Buea with so many employees. The problem identified which made the researcher to undergo this research is based on the physical work environment which mostly affect employees’ performance. The organization is located in an area which is small compared to the number of customers and employees. This resulted to lack of enough offices for employees to do their work effectively, noise which causes discomfort depending on the task they are given and the environment of the place they are working.

Through this study the employer will get to know how its work environment impacts greatly on the employee’s level of motivation and performance. A well designed office signals the values and objectives of the organization and the use of design in office interior communicates an organization values and identity. Office design therefore should be one of the factors in affecting employee’s productivity. Employee’s morale is often interrelated when it comes to productivity in the work environment. It is therefore important to find out the impact of working environment on employees’ performance at MTN Cameroon which will provide knowledge and measures to other public institutions in Cameroon.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Research Question

To what extend dos the working environment affect the performance of employees in an organisation?

1.3.2  Specific Research Questions

• What is the contribution to employees’ performance feedback?
• What are the effects on work environments that add towards employees’ performance?
• What extend does supervisor support contribute towards employees’ performance?