杰啊教你说闽南语,北海赶集网,中直工委
激励员工是公司高效的本质，从而保证了公司的竞争力，在当今世界，全球竞争激烈，特别是中国的经济增长。在欧美国家另一方面的表现不佳，使得他们更难与中国竞争。这些都是极为强大的工会确保雇员就业保护的后果。就业保护立法，这是规则的设置上有火或雇佣员工，经常被研究说明其效果是高失业率的焦点。然而，没有关于雇佣保护立法对雇员的态度和行为的影响的研究。另一方面，代表中东的黎巴嫩很少关心就业保护，工会对公司的影响微乎其微
Motivation of employees is the essence for high performance in companies, which in turn ensures the competitively of a company, in today's world where global competition is fierce especially with China's growth. The poor performance of the European & American countries on the other hand, makes it more difficult for them to compete with China. These are probably the consequences of extremely powerful labor unions that ensure employment protection of employees. Employment protection legislation, which is the set of rules on how to fire or hire an employee (Zientara, 2006), has often been the focus of studies explaining that its effect is high unemployment. However, no studies have been done on the effects of employment protection legislation on the attitudes and behavior of employees.
On the other hand, Lebanon representing the Middle East is rarely concerned with employment protection and labor unions have very minimal influence in companies.
So the purpose of my paper is to determine whether employees in a country where employment protection legislation are more motivated than a country with lenient regulations on employment protection. In order to achieve this study, I have conducted some in-depth interviews and prepared a questionnaire for companies of Lebanon & Italy.
In the end, the results of my study show that in fact employees that are highly protected by employment protection legislation are less motivated than employees where employment protection legislation is more lenient.
Employees are the most important asset a company has, therefore motivating them is the best way to ensure high performance of a company and in turn increase the companies' competitivity. Yet, Western Europe is facing a period of crisis where productivity is low and competitivity is decreasing. This is why, it is essential to ensure that all employees are motivated, which will ensure an increase in productivity. Indeed, between 1980 and 1995, Europe had an average labor productivity growth of 2.33% and in 1995 to 2001, it fell 1.37% (Evans, 2004). This causes delocalization of many companies to cheaper and more flexible countries or major labor cuts increasing the already heavy unemployment rate which is at 7.8% in Europe, against 4.6% in the US and 4.2 in Japan, according to the European statistical agency. This crisis also affects on employee motivation at work, where work loads increase to avoid employing new workers and therefore, avoiding all the complications of regulations. The actual situation in Europe is the consequence of powerful unions and very strict employment protection legislation. On the other hand, in the Middle East, the labors have very low employment protection legislation and labor unions have very miniature influence. While the Middle East differs from Western Europe regarding labors' conditions; it also faces problems regarding employees' behavior. Performance isn't at its highest rate either and often companies face the problem of employees working a minimum throughout the day. Both regions need to find a way to motivate employees in order to increase productivity. Yet, since companies in Europe accept and adapt to the employment legislation protection, the best way of ensuring productivity and therefore competitivity is by motivating employees to perform at the optimum level.
A Cross-cultural study is necessary in order to understand better the causes and effects of low motivation. Therefore, I chose a region that could be considered quite different from the Western Europe (Italy): The Middle East. Indeed, as depicted by Hofstede's 5 cultural dimensions, the 2 regions have different values. However, few studies have been done on the rate of motivation and worker's condition in the Middle East. One study entitled Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance in a Lebanese Banking Staff (Abou Zaki & Crosssman, 2003), analyzed job satisfaction of employees in a Lebanese bank, but it didn't include an analysis of employee motivation. However, studying whether or not employees in the Middle East are motivated and how to increase their motivation is crucial in order to understand how to increase performance.
According to Nicoleth (2000), Italy, which is the Western European country I will be studying, has been rated as the third strictest country in terms of employment protection legislation. Like other countries in Western Europe, Italy's problem today is that it is losing its competitivity because laws of employment are too strict and wages are high. Since companies in Europe cannot change laws and cannot decrease wages, their only way of ensuring competitivity is by increasing productivity to a maximum. However, because employees in Western Europe are extensively protected, they perform just enough to guarantee that employer has no legal reason to lay them off. Therefore, productivity isn't at a level high enough to ensure competitivity. The only solution to encourage employees to be more productive would be to motivate them at work.
On the other hand, Lebanon is the center for the Middle East with an opening to the Mediterranean. Being a modern country with both local and international companies, it is interesting to study this country. Furthermore, even though there are a few employment protection regulations, protection is applied and respected to a minimum level in Lebanon. Within this context, it is normal that employees, especially part timers, aren't motivated to perform at their best, knowing that they could be fired at any moment.
The actual motivation level of employees in both countries will be studied by using the Herzberg's Hygiene Theory. This theory will help me first of all to determine if employees at work are satisfied or dissatisfied, from these results I will determine if employees need intrinsic or rather extrinsic motivation. I am expecting to find that Italians aren't dissatisfied but are not satisfied either. Therefore, they have a neutral attitude toward their jobs, whereas Lebanese employees experience dissatisfaction. According to these expectations, it is probable that Italian, lack intrinsic motivation whereas Lebanese lack both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The logic behind these conclusions will be discussed furthermore in my paper.
H1: Italians need to be intrinsically motivated.
H2: Lebanese need to be extrinsically motivated.
The Job Design Theory will help me determine how jobs in each of the 2 countries should be designed in order to motivate employees. In order to do so, I will rank some characteristics that should be present in a job, according to the most motivating to the least motivating. The ranking will be based on the different intensity of motivation felt towards the different job characteristics. The final part of my paper will include recommendations on the best way a job should be designed in Lebanon and Italy, in order to ensure motivation.
It is important to add that I am considering only these 2 theories because they respond best to the needs of my paper. Indeed, Maslow's theory is not valid in theory and the ERG theory, is more valid than Maslow's hierarchy, yet it also focuses on the needs of the employees only. The Goal Setting theory includes the motivational aspect of needs, yet is doesn't focus on the characteristics of the job. Herzberg's theory and the Job Design Theory best respond to the needs of this paper because both of these theories focus on characteristics within the job itself that can lead to motivation of employees.
Jumping to the definition of employment protection legislation, according to Zientara (2006), it is the set of rules on how to hire and/or fire rising from both the labor legislation and the collective bargaining agreements. Its aim is to ensure a secure job for employees. Zientara explains that as employment protection legislation is stricter, firing an employee becomes more costly and therefore it damages the labor market performance.
Therefore, the Italian legislation is very detailed in the 3 components of the employment protection legislation as the employer has limited power in withdrawing from the contract. Contrary to the Italian legislation, the Lebanese legislation is very vague and minimal as there are written laws concerning the protection of regular employees against dismissal and against collective dismissal. Yet there are no regulations concerning temporary employment, which already reduces the strictness of employment protection legislation. The only condition for an employer to dismiss an employee in Lebanon, is to give a compensation which is determined according to the nature of the work, the employee's age, tenure, family and health conditions. When comparing the conditions imposed to employers for individual and collective dismissal and for conditions of temporary workers, it is clear that Italy is much stricter than Lebanon. It is important to add that: "in Italy, appeal to the court is likely to see the judiciary take such a favorable view of the employee's social or family problems that dismissal is commonly judge to be practically impossible". (Emerson, 1988, p.787). Whereas, in Lebanon, court costs a lot and labor unions power and effectiveness are so low that chances for an employee to win a case are little. |
