Abstract
The study set out to investigate into the relationship between work value and employee performance among selected deposit banks in Anambra state. The population of the study consisted of all the deposit banks in Anambra State. Survey research design was the research designed used and a sample size of One hundred and twenty (120) deposit bank staff were randomly selected from to twelve (12) out of fifteen (15) deposit banks in Anambra State. Three (3) research questions guided the study. A questionnaire made up of (4) point rating scale was used to collect data. A mean of 2.50 and above was adopted as a cut off mark for the acceptance of items. The findings from the study revealed that work value is a very important stressor of performance among employees and that there is a significant relationship between work value and employees performance work. Based on this, the researcher recommends that attention should be placed on work values of employees, that a great team work is fostered between members and that staff should start tasking their brains, think outside the box, be creative and dedicate much time to their job in order to have high performance and increase the productivity of the organization
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Background to the study
Work values are essentially a collection of qualities, principles, ideals and beliefs that relate to your workplace. They underpin the motivation, attitude and behavior that influence your working style and the decisions that you make at work and throughout your career. These values can have a significant impact on how you work with others, the personal goals and aspirations that you have and the milestones that you accomplish. Generational differences in the workplace have received substantial attention in both the lay and empirical literature over the past few years (Duffy & Sedlacek, 2010; Gursoy, Maier, & Chi, 2008; Kupperschmidt, 2015; Smola & Sutton, 2012) and research has found that there are differences in work values from different generational groups (Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman, & Lance, 2010; Westerman & Yamamura, 2007). This diversity of work values may influence the level of value congruence (i.e., compatibility between employees’ work values and values held by organizations) because certain work values held by particular workers may be more likely to align with the organization’s value, such as the value of hard work held by the older generation. Duffy & Sedlacek, 2010 has suggested that employee possession of high levels of value congruence is important to organizations as congruent employees are likely to exhibit positive work outcomes.
One fundamental characteristic that both employees and organizations share is “values”. Values, according to Dose (2007) “are evaluative standards relating to work or the work environment by which individuals discern what is “right” or assess the importance of preferences. One can easily generate examples to show that individuals would probably be more comfortable in an environment that is consistent with their values. Simil-arly, an individual who values orderliness and cautiousness is likely to shrink in an environment that encourages experimentation and creativity (Dose, 2007).
Murphy (2010) and Enz (2009) found that individuals with different value systems often have trouble working together and understanding each other’s motives. Matching managerial values with shared values of the organization may also be a key element in successful human resource management (Enz, 2009). Value could slightly be likened to culture but not culture because culture is a part of value. However, just like organizational culture, weak values in an organization are bound to bring about low employee performance and in turn low productivity in such an organization. An organization’s work value could be strong or weak (Robbins, 2010; Kotter and Heskett, 2013; McOliver and Nwagwu, 2014). A work value is considered strong if the set of norms and values are widely shared and strongly held throughout the organization (O`Reilly, 1989; Gordon and DiTmosa, 2012; Kotter and Heskett, 2013; O`Reilly and Chatman, 2006). The strength of work value is determined by the degree of sharedness and intensity. The more members that accept the core value and the greater their performance to those values the stronger the performance. According to Schein (2004) young organisations or those with high staff turnover will have weak culture because they do not have adequate shared experience to create common meanings. To be effective an organisation`s culture, strategy, environment and technology must be properly aligned and the stronger the culture the more important it is that the sevariables be aligned (Robbins, 2010). Since a strong work value increases behavioural consistency, it could be a powerful means of implicit control and can be a substitute for formality (Weick, 2017; Robbins, 2010; McOliver and Nwagwu, 2014; Sorensen, 2012). Therefore, the stronger an organisation`s work value the less is the need for developing formal rules to guide the conduct of employees. A strong culture enables an organisation to achieve excellent performance (Brown, 2008). Deal and Kennedy (2013) believe that the impact of a strong work value on productivity is amazing. In the extreme, we estimate that a company can gain as much as one or two hours of productive work per employee per day.
Meyer and Allen (2007) stated that performance is characterized as an attitude of attachment to an employing organization. Researchers focus primarily on the identification of antecedents contributing to the development of organizational performance and the impact on job attitudes and behavior that performance may have. Employees are those who are under employ to work in an organization for certain defined gains. The performance of an employee revolves greatly around the benefits and securities of his job. These benefits are enshrined as part of the work values of an organization. Kuang (2014) indicated that Work Value led people to a real meaning about the job or specific work, such as reward, diligence, loyalty, interpersonal relationship, social status, and self-actualization, to form the preferable awareness or intention. This research work therefore seeks to examine the relationship between work value and employee performance among deposit banks in Anambra state organizations especially banks.
Statement of the Problem
Just as Deal and Kennedy (2013) believes that the impact of a strong work value on productivity is amazing. . In view of this, it’s very clear that work values make employees and employers to bother about reward, diligence, loyalty, interpersonal relationship, social status, and self-actualization, the degree to which employee performance fosters revolve around organizational work value. Kuang (2014) identified that most organizations now have very low productivity, organizational goals are not been met, there is high rate of low employers and employees performance knowing that level of performance of employee in an organization can help or mar the organizations efforts at achieving its set goals which among others are to pry into the human indices responsible for poor performance standard of most banking industries with a view to reversing them, several research has been conducted as to the exact reason for this poor performance in organizations like, organization culture, job stress etc, but none has looked into the work values of employees
In Anambra state, the work value of certain organizations like deposit banks has regrettably poor and has not provided the satisfaction employees seek hence their poor performance to work and poor outcome at these organizations, researchers has been conducted as to the exact reason for this poor performance in organizations but none has looked into the work values of employees, it is to the end that the researcher seeks to find out the relationship that between work value and employees performance using deposit banks as a case study.
Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this study is on the relationship between work value and employee performance among selected deposit banks in Anambra State.
The specific objectives are;
- To examine various work values practices that exists in deposit banks in Anambra state.
- To identify work values challenges faced in deposit banks in Anambra state.
- To identify the relationship between work value and employee performance
Research Questions
For the purpose of this study, the researcher brought out the following research questions:
- What are the various work values practices that exists in deposit banks in Anambra state?
- What are the work values challenges faced in deposit banks in Anambra state?
- What is the relationship between work value and employee performance?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The significance of this study is particularly in the area of work values and employee’s performance and so, its findings will be beneficial to the employees, employers of labour, management of organizations and other researchers in the following regard;
To the employers of labour: This study will be significant to employers of labour as they are given insights into what values they are to look out for in employing those who will make up their work force.
To the employees: The employee’s will know how to perform well according to the values of their work place knowing that it is a parameter for assessment by the management.
Management of organizations: Management drawing from this study will fine-tune their work place value to suit current trends in organizations so as to elucidate the right amount of performance needed from staff to achieve desired productivity.
Other researchers: For students, scholars and librarians, this study will serve as a basis for further research into work value and employee performance even opening up more areas of interest for future research.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on finding out the relationship between work value and employee performance among selected deposit banks in Anambra State. On the other hand, the geographical scope covers all the deposit banks in Anambra state but the researcher limited the study to only five (5) towns in Anambra state. The selection is based on the peculiarity of the case study.
