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AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT OF REWARD SYSTEMS ON JOB SATISFACTION IN SINGAPORE (2)
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT OF REWARD SYSTEMS ON JOB SATISFACTION IN SINGAPORE
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)
Individual performance in organizations is in most cases depended on exchanges where inducements of motivation are offered for the productivity of the organization’s employees (Cranny , Smith & Stone 1992). In this case, the utilization of inducements, which in most cases are related to finance, is commonly used on both the agendas of practitioners and researchers in the matters of human resource. There are different kinds of inducements for performance some of which include setting of objectives and goals, paying of incentives, enrichment of jobs, and participation (Locke, Feren, McCaleb, Shaw & Denny 1980). Researchers into the issue have found that paying of incentives is one of the most critical motivational inducements in most associations that desire to amplify the performance of their workers. As it follows, more and more researchers are supporting the need for the use of incentives in increasing productivity in organizations (Fisher & Locke 1992).
However, despite the fact that most studies point to the beneficial effects of incentives, some have argued against it (Kohn 1993). Kohn argues against the basis of the theory that employees at all stages can be satisfied and motivated to perform more by the use of incentive programs or reward systems, arguing that workers who expect external rewards in exchange for performance perform poorly when compared to those who perform without expecting any rewards. Other researchers such as Beer (1995) point out that programs for motivation or reward has a maximum half-life of five years, after which it expires and organizations have to get rid of it.
Other than the issue that the debate on the effectiveness of motivation or reward systems on performance of employees, it has also been noted that other debates exist on the issue of the effects of these incentives or reward systems on the attitudes of the employees towards their job (Greene 1973). Furthermore, there has been little o no evidence at all linking motivational schemes or reward systems to job satisfaction of employees. As a result, this paper will seek to address these issues through the evaluation and study of numerous researches and studies to establish the impact of the motivational scheme on a number of aspects in job satisfaction in Singapore. Through a wide and deep study of job satisfaction of employees, after and before the use of incentives and reward systems, the paper looks at the effects of a number of incentives or reward mechanisms on job satisfaction of a number of employees all derived from studies on employees from Singapore.
The incentive behind this paper results from the need to explore an essential dependent variable that resulted from a recent study that suggested that it is an essential factor for a firm to engage in motivational or reward systems for the success of the organization in the service industry (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand & Meglino 1979). Choosing Singapore as a country of interest in this study does not stem from any special circumstance other than a matter of choice and convenience. As the country, just like many others globally, enter the limiting economic times, more organizations are turning into reward and incentive programs as a way of improving productivity and profitability (Ilgen & Pulakos 1999). The study, therefore, hopes to find out what kind of incentives are used in Singapore to encourage employee productivity, and whether these incentives are effective in improving performance, and whether they are related in any way to job satisfaction of the employees.
To achieve this, the study will adopt a research methodology, which will include an intense and longitudinal survey of the available literature and surveys on the issue to come up with a conclusive comparison and conclusion. Through the study, the research paper will try to come to a conclusive answer to the issues at hand.
References
Beer M1993, Rethinking rewards, Harvard Business Review, December, 37-45.
Article
Cranny J, Smith P C & Stone E1992, Job satisfaction: How people feel about their jobs and how it affects their performance, Lexington Books, New York.
Book
Fisher CD & Locke EA 1992, A new look in job satisfaction research and theory. In C. J. Cranny, P. C. Smith, & E. F. Stone (Eds.), Job satisfaction: How people feel about their jobs and how it affects their performance, Lexington Books, New York.
Chapter in a book
Greene C N 1973, Causal connections among managers’ merit pay, job satisfaction, and performance, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 58, no. 1, 95-100.
Journal article
Ilgen DR & Pulakos D 1999, The changing nature of performance: Implications for staffing, motivation, and development, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Book
Kohn A 1993, Alfie Kohn responds. Harvard Business Review. December, 48-49.
Article
Mobley WH, Griffeth W, Hand H & Meglino BM 1979, Review and conceptual analysis of the employee turnover process, Psychological Bulletin, May, 493-522.
Journal article
Podsakoff P M, MacKenzie S B, Moorman RH & Fetter R 1990, Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on trust, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors, Leadership Quarterly, vol.1, 107-142
Journal article
Podsakoff P M & Todor W 1985, Relationship between leader reward and punishment behavior and group processes and productivity, Journal of Management, vol.11, 55-73.
Journal article
Schofield P 1998, It’s true: Happy workers are more productive, Works Management, December 1998, vol. 51, no. 12, 33-35.
Journal article
Singapore National Employers’ Federation 1992, Survey report on performance-related schemes, SNEF, Singapore.
Survey report
Taylor P 1991, Morale is the main issue, Financial Times, p.12.
Article
Winstanly N 1982, Are merit increases really effective? ASPA Personnel Administrator Berea, April.
Article
Locke EA, Feren B, McCaleb M, Shaw N & Denny AT 1980, The relative effectiveness of four methods of motivating employee performance. In K.D. Duncan, MM. Gruneburg & D. Wallis (Eds.), Changes in Working Life, Wiley, New York.
Chapter in a book
Smith PC, Kendall LM & Hulin CL, 1969, The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement: A strategy for the study of attitudes, Rand McNally, Chicago.
Book
Health, Safety, and Nutrition
Health, Safety, and Nutrition
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Health, safety, and nutrition are essential for a child’s wellbeing and development. Parents, guardians, and other caregivers all have the responsibility to ensure that children are safe and healthy. Children must learn how to cultivate various habits that will promote their wellbeing into adulthood. Examples of these include healthy eating habits, regular physical activity, and awareness of their environment. In the current world, parents may be much busier; hence, children’s responsibility is shared by others, such as educators. Children gain a lot from their learning environment, and for this reason, there are many available resources on areas of health, safety, and nutrition when it comes to children.
Health
Health is a vital part of a child’s growth and wellbeing. A healthy child can easily participate in many activities, while sickly children may face various developmental challenges. One of the most important ways to ensure the safety of children is vaccination. Vaccines allow children to develop immunity or resistance to deadly diseases that pose a serious challenge. However, in the recent past, there has been a growth in anti-vaccine sentiments. Such opponents claim that vaccines can cause problems such as autism in children. However, such claims have been debunked by science that proves that vaccines are safe and essential for children’s health (Hagan et al. 2007).
Another way to promote children’s health is to encourage physical activity as part of daily routines. At young ages, most toddlers enjoy playing around the house, but this might slack off as they grow older. They may begin to concentrate more on watching television or gadgets such as smartphones and iPad. Limiting screentime is vital for a child’s health. To promote children’s physical health, they should be encouraged to take part in physical activities such as walking and other games. Such physical activity will promote their physical development as well as help them avoid problems such as obesity.
Safety
Children face various threats to their safety in various places such as home, school, vehicles, and public spaces. When children begin to crawl around during their first years, parents must take care to keep dangerous items from their path. Some things that pose a threat to the safety of young children at home include fires, poisons, furniture, water, choking, and sleep. Parents must be alert to watch their kids’ movements and keep them out of danger (Stewart, et al. 2016). For example, toddlers can easily walk into a pool into their home unnoticed and drown. To avoid this, parents should fence off pools. Poisonous items and medicines must be kept well out of the reach of children in locked cabinets.
Cars also present a danger to children of all ages. For younger children, their car seats must always be securely attached in the back seat, and the children strapped in as required. This will keep them safe in case of any accidents. Older teens of driving age must be taught how to drive safely and responsibly. For example, some teens may not be aware of the danger that driving under the influence of substances such as alcohol and drugs poses a threat not only to themselves but also to other road users.
Child abuse is another area that educators must look out for in children under their care. Children are usually afraid to speak about the abuse they may suffer in the hands of adults or even fellow children; thus, educators must be on the look-out for signs of abuse and report to relevant authorities.
Nutrition
With the worrying trends in child obesity, managing the nutrition of children is vital. Children develop healthy eating habits if they are taught at a young age. One way to do this is to avoid talking about weight and focus on healthy foods, for example, instead of telling a child that they are fat. Speak to them about the importance of choosing healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables as part of their diet. Diet is a significant contributor to childhood obesity, and instilling healthy eating habits is a way to fight this (Marotz 2014). Many children today tend to consume more unhealthy foods at home and school, such as fries, chips, soda, and pizza, all of which contain high salt, sugar, or fat content.
At home, parents must begin to feed their children balances, healthy, and nutritious food. Schools should also teach children the importance of proper nutrition so that children do not feel like healthy food is a punishment for them. Child hunger is also a real cause of concern, and schools play an essential role in this because some children rely on school feeding programs for their nutrition, such meals should be as healthy as possible. Healthy food promotes the physical and mental development of children of all ages.
In conclusion, health, safety, and nutrition are core areas that protect and promote the welfare of children. Adults tasked with taking care of children must be equipped with relevant tools and information in these subjects. Lack of information could lead children to suffer unnecessarily. For instance, incorrect information about vaccines could lead children to suffer from deadly yet avoidable conditions later in life. Childhood is a time of learning, and therefore children must be taught valuable lessons and habits that will help them make the right decisions in the future. Childhood lessons form a basis for most future habits.
References
Hagan, J. F., Shaw, J. S., & Duncan, P. M. (2007). Bright futures: Guidelines for health supervision of infants, children, and adolescents. American Academy of Pediatrics.
Marotz, L. R. (2014). Health, safety, and nutrition for the young child. Nelson Education.
Stewart, T. C., Clark, A., Gilliland, J., Miller, M. R., Edwards, J., Haidar, T., … & Merritt, N. (2016). Home safe home: Evaluation of a childhood home safety program. Journal of trauma and acute care surgery, 81(3), 533-540.
health workers
Health workers
Introduction
Health workers have been found to be at a rather high risk of acquiring infectious illnesses in the undertaking of their various roles. A health worker with an infectious disease can easily to transfer it to patients or to other members of staff within and outside the health care facility. The high risk of infections among the health workers prompts the need for necessary measures to be taken to prevent occurrence of infections and their spread. Controlling infectious diseases remains fundamental towards enhancing safety of healthcare workers within working environments. Controlling involves educating the employees, initiating protective measures, among other preventive methods aimed at minimizing probability of contracting infectious diseases among healthcare workers.
Undertaken researches have sought to find out the existing relationship between infectious diseases and health care workers with most of the qualitative studies identifying the main forms of transmission of the occupational infections as being airborne, through fluids and droplets as well as through physical contact. The most common infectious diseases include Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and HIV (Nienhaus et al. 2012; Sepkowitz & Eisenberg 2005; Sepkowitz 1996). Majority of the infections healthcare workers get remain airborne which could easily become transmitted without individuals noticing. Diseases contracted through bodily contact can be prevented through minimizing contact; hence they provide minimal infections compared to airborne diseases.
According to Sepkowitz & Eisenberg (2005), the estimated death rate among health workers, per year, as a result of occupational infections is 17 to 57 health workers in every one million care givers. These statistics prompts for action to be taken in the prevention of the various infections. Prevalence of infection increases with laxity in providing preventive measures within the working environments. Lack of proper safety measures significantly increases the probability for infection among caregivers. Providing preventive measures within hospital environments remains the best method for handling and minimizing occurrence of infections within the healthcare environment.
A research undertaken by Nienhaus et al. (2012) to study infectious diseases among health care givers identified TB as an infection that still poses as a great risk to the workers. The rates of infections for Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C virus were found to have reduced though the infections were still frequently evident. Needle stick injuries were also reported to be on the decline, though still frequent, and as those requiring close observation and attention. Data for the study was obtained from a compensation board containing set data for Health workers working in nongovernmental organizations. The information from public healthcare organizations remains limited to government departments; hence remains available to involved departments.
Numerous research studies have focused on the risk of different groups of health care givers getting infected through blood-borne pathogens. The highest infection rates have been found to be among the nurses and those in the surgical rooms (Aiken et al. 1997; White & Lynch 1997; Cloeren & Perl 2001). The researchers are in agreement that each of the occurring infections, most of which are never reported, can be prevented through various ways such as vaccination, TB screening and use of safety devices. Education of the means of transmission and ways of prevention for the various infections has been found to be important, though not very effective (Cloeren & Perl 2001). Individuals working within the healthcare environment remain highly advised to practice safe operation methods, which minimize probability of workplace infections occurring.
The coping theory relates to the reactions and actions of organisms in response to an occurring phenomenon. It involves the development of strategies to solve a particular problem affecting an individual, group of people or the society. This enables individuals to effectively understand the effects of various diseases which could affect them within the working environment. Through such understanding, the individuals become better placed to handle infections, when they occur. Healthcare workers become better informed and properly empowered to cope with challenges brought by infectious diseases (Carver & Connor-Smith, 2010). With regard to this research, the theory will be important in identifying the strategies put in place to reduce the spread of infections among health workers and the effectiveness of those strategies. This process will begin by identifying the various infections, the magnitude of infection among health workers, causes of the infections and the various prevention or mitigation measures available.
Methods
This report was written following collection of information regarding infectious diseases upon healthcare workers within a hospital. The research was undertaken in healthcare workers based in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. A total of four individuals were involved in the research which sought to identify the infectious disease risk presented to health workers while undertaking their daily responsibilities. The individuals who were involved within this research participated voluntarily and those who never wanted to be involved were not included within the interviewees. The information regarding participants was held confidentially to enhance protection for individuals volunteering participation in this research. Participation was based on the willingness of healthcare individuals to participate within the research, through providing researcher with relevant information. Through volunteering and ensuring confidentiality of information, the researcher aimed at ensuring the individuals offer true information regarding infectious diseases.
Discussion
Infectious diseases remain highly prevalent among healthcare workers as these individuals remain susceptible to infection. Handling infected individuals puts healthcare workers at immense danger of contracting diseases, which can be transferred from patients, through different means (Wickstrom, 2004). Majority of infectious diseases affecting healthcare workers remain airborne diseases, as they can become transferred from a different location without the individual’s knowledge. Though protection can sufficiently mitigate prevalence of these infections, the environment where these infections occur presents significant infection risk to healthcare workers. With numerous individuals seeking medical attention from different ailments, it remains difficult to identify those suffering from infectious diseases, before diagnosis. During this diagnosis stage, healthcare workers remain highly exposed to the imminent danger of infection.
While some common occurring infections remain controlled through simple treatment, healthcare workers remain at significant risk of contracting serious ailments, which could ultimately result in death. Tuberculosis, for example, remains a killer infectious disease, which could become contracted by healthcare workers during service delivery. Such infectious ailments, though rare, remain dangerous because of the adverse health effects presented (Ahn, 2010). The rate of infection among healthcare workers remains relatively high at 75%. This indicates that almost every patient seeking treatment from communicable disease presents a high probability of infecting another individual during treatment, or while seeking treatment. Individuals working within specific disease centres remain highly exposed, if the diseases are infectious. Since patients cannot control their capability for infecting others, healthcare workers have the responsibility of protecting themselves from infectious diseases.
References
Nienhaus, A, Kesavachandra, C, Wendeler, D & Haamann, F 2012, ‘Infectious diseases in healthcare workers – an analysis of the standardised data set of a German compensation board’, Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, vol.7 no. 8, pp. 1745-6673.
Sepkowitz, K & Eisenberg, L 2005, ‘Occupational deaths among healthcare workers’, Emerg Infect Dis, vol.11 no.7, pp.1003-1008.
Sepkowitz, K1996, ‘Occupationally acquired infections in health care workers’, Ann Intern Med., vo. 125, no. 826–34
White, M & Lynch, P 1997, ‘Blood contacts in the operating room after hospital-specific data analysis and action’, Am J Infect Control, vol. 25, pp. 209-214.