Abstract

The effect of working environment on employees performance, the study had the following specific objectives, To access the effect of external working environmental factors on employees performance, To examine the effect of internal working environmental factors on employees performance and finally Proving Recommendations. The research designed used was the survey research design. Target population consists of 50 MTN Employees, while the sample size is 30Employees

The sample size was randomly drawn from three communities the sampling techniques used was the purposive sampling and simple random sampling, the research instrument used was questionnaire and the method of data analysis used is the descriptive and inferential statistics.

The study recommended that employers should organize more of external working conditions to improve productivity. The limitation identified was that some employers limits the working conditions of their employees.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background Of 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). 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 indivi-dual 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). It can be divided into two categories such as the work related social support and the personal social support. Giga and Hoel (2003) 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). 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).  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). The organizational performance could be the outcome of employees’ positive behavioral change that may be linked with  incentive  programs  (Feldman  and  Landsman,  2007).

It  may  create  greater feelings  of  belongingness,  esteem,  satisfaction  and  commitment  (Green  and Heywood, 2007). Conducive work environment including friendly human resource policies  may  enhance  employee  productivity,  organizational  commitment  and overall performance (Chiang and Birtch 2010).

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). When employees have the desire,  physically  and  emotionally  to  work,  then  their  performance  shall  be increased  (Boles  et  al.,  2004).

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). 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). Herzberg came to a conclusion that the aspects of the work environment tha t satisfy employees are different  from  the  aspects  that  dissatisfy  them.

The  theory  points  out  that improving the environment in which the job is performed motivates employees to perform  better.  The  other  theory  is  Weiss  and  Cropanzano’s  Affective  Events Theory  (AET)  which  explains  the  link  between  internal  influences  and  their

reactions  to  incidents  that  occur  in  their  work  environment  that  affect  employee performance, organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Phua, 2012).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, Nexttel, 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 underperform.

According  to  Tripathi  (2014)  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 employees 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)  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). Chandrasekar (2011) 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)  that  employee  disengagement  is  increasing  and  it  has  beco me 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).

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).

Organizations  deemed  as  a  positive  place  to  work  will  have  a competitive edge over the others.Armstrong  (2006)  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)  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)  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) 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).  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.  Stup (2003)  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 factors that affect the performance of employees in organizations. Workplace environment plays an essential role towards workers’ performance and productivity in any organization  (El-Zeiny,  2013).  Providing  a  good  workplace environment  increases  employee  performance  in  organizations  (Shikdar  &

Shawaqed, 2003). When  people are  working  in situations  that  suit their physical and  mental  abilities,  the  correct  fit  between  the  person  and  work  task  is accomplished.  Employees  are  then  in  the  highest  situation  for  learning,  working and  achieving  .The  business  environment  is  becoming  very  competitive  and complex. For that reason the Management of MTN should therefore find ways to ensure  that  workplace  environment  is  conducive  enough  to  enable  employee’s performance  in  order  to  remain  competitive.

Talking  about  making  the  working environment suitable in MTN, this research in MTN has proven that a significant number  of  workers  most  of  MTN  are  not  very  satisfied  with  their  working conditions. Reasons being that, there is always delay in payment of salaries which pushes them to borrow hence cannot do proper planning, there is little or no bonus, there  is  little  or  no  promotion.

With  regards  to  all  the  complaints   gathered  from individual Employees  working  condition  really  calls  for  attention  and  it  will  be  very important  for  the  management  of  MTN  to  pay  more  attention  on  the  working conditions of its workers (working environment).That is the reason this research  is focused on the working environment of MTN in order  to  provide  necessary  solutions  which  if  ignored  will  likely  affect  the performance of employees negatively.

1.3 Research Questions

The main research question of the study is to what extent does working condition affects organisational performance in MTN Buea?

The specific objectives are;

1. What is the effect of external working environmental factors on employee’s?
2. performance of MTN Buea?
3. What is the effect of internal working environment al factors on employee’s?
4. performance MTN Buea?

Further Readings 

THE EFFECT OF WORK ENVIRONMENT ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF EMPLOYEES IN AN ORGANISATION USING THE CASE OF ALPHA MARINE SHIPPING SERVICES LTD LIMBE.