9671_Case Study – Extrinsic or Intrinsic – What is motivating our Early Years Educators

Case Study: Extrinsic or Intrinsic: What is
motivating our Early Years Educators?

Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
Masters of Business Administration (HR)
at Dublin Business School

Michelle McGuinness

Masters of Business Administration (HR)

2016

The following Declaration must be included –

Declaration: I, __Michelle McGuinness__, declare that this research is my original work and
that it has never been presented to any institution or university for the award of Degree or
Diploma. In addition, I have referenced correctly all literature and sources used in this work
and this this work is fully compliant with the Dublin Business School’s academic honesty
policy.

Signed: __Michelle McGuinness__________

Date: ____22nd August 2016_____________

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank DBS and all of their supportive staff for the last two years of my
education; I would particularly like to thank my dissertation supervisor David Wallace.
I would also like to thank my family and friends for their support during this time, especially
my mom, my brother and my partner for their unwavering support, encouragement and help.

Abstract
One of the more challenging areas of Human Resource Management is Performance
Management it is viewed as a gruelling chore by many businesses. Despite this there is no
denying the positive impact it can have not only on employee performance but also on the
company performance. The Performance Appraisal is a valuable aspect of Performance
Management. Extrinsic Rewards are management’s way of attempting to motivate their
employees while intrinsic rewards are the experiences of the employees obtained from the
work itself.
The workforce of a company is their most powerful resource and management endeavour to
motivate their employees to superior performance in achieving the organisational mission.
Motivation can too be extrinsic being the completion of an activity to attain a separate
outcome or intrinsic, the completion of a task for the satisfaction it provides.
In the sector of early years education the workforce are undervalued and underpaid. This
research project set out to discover what is motivating our early years educators? It was found
that they are intrinsically motivated while seeing the use of none or very low extrinsic
rewards. The need of a whole sector reform was identified by Early Childhood Ireland; this
researcher agrees and feels research in this particular area of the sector should continue as it
affects the quality of service provided by the crèches.

Table of Content
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………. Page 1
1.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… Page 1
1.2 Justification of the research .……..………………………………………………… Page 3

2. Literature Review …………………………………………………………………… Page 7
2.1 Performance Management Systems ………………………………………………… Page 7
2.2 Performance Appraisals …………………………………………..………………… Page 8
2.3 Rewards …………………………………………………………..………………… Page 9
2.4 Motivation ………………………………………………………..………………. Page 12

3. Research Methodology …………………………………………..………………… Page 17
3.1. Research Philosophy ………………………………………….………………….. Page 18
3.2 Research Approach ………..………………………………….………………….. Page 19
3.3 Research Strategy …..……………………………………….……………………. Page 21
3.4 Research Objectives ……………………………………………………………… Page 23
3.5 Population and Sample …………………………………………………………… Page 23
3.6 Data collection, editing, coding and analysis …………………………………….. Page 24
3.7 Ethical issues and procedure ……………………………………………………… Page 26

4. Data and Findings ……………………..…………………………………………… Page 28
4.1 Presentation of Findings from teaching staff interviews………………………….. Page 28
4.2 Presentation of Findings from management interviews ..………………………… Page 33

5. Discussion of Findings ………………………………………………….…………. Page 38

6. Conclusions and Recommendations ….………………………………….………… Page 45
6.1 Conclusions ..……………………………………………………………………… Page 45
6.2 Recommendations ………………………………………………………………… Page 47

Reflections on learning …………………………………………………..…………… Page 50

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………….…………. Page 55

Appendix 1 – Request to gain access to research material …………………………… Page 65
Appendix 2 – Information and Consent forms ………….…..……………………….. Page 66
Appendix 3 – Interview Questions ……………………………..……………………. Page 69

List of Figures and Tables
Fig 3.1 Research Onion (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015) ……………………. Page 17

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction
The 2013 Prime Time Investigation of crèches “Breach of Trust” highlighted a number of
issues within some childcare facilities in Dublin and Wicklow (‘Prime Time’, 2013). In light
of this exposé we not only need to look to improve quality standards within the early year’s
sector but we also need to support the workforce (Teresa Heeney, no date). This workforce is
described by Professor Greene from Trinity College as being “undervalued and underpaid
(‘Did you miss the Prime Time Crèche exposé? Here’s what happened’, 2013). In order to
enhance quality standards there is a need for a highly qualified workforce, which needs to
receive a wage which reflects their qualifications (‘Prime Time’, 2013). The average hourly
wage of an early years educator with a level 6 qualification is €10.26 however the hourly
wage of an early years educator with a level 7 or 8 qualification is still €10.26 (Early
Childhood Ireland, 2016). Dr. Mary Moloney (‘Prime Time’, 2013) describes the wages of
the early years workforce as being “abysmal” this leads the researcher to ask the question;
What is motivating our early years educators?

Researchers have discovered that individuals find differing reasons to motivate their work
(Jia Hu and Liden, 2015). Motivation is an employees’ willingness to initiate work related
behaviours and invest themselves holistically in their role ensuring a certain level of
performance (Barrick et al., 2015; Stiles et al., 2015). Motivation is the reason for innovation
and production within an organisation (Lamptey, Boateng and Antwi, 2013). As previously
stated the workforce of an organisation is their most powerful resource and when they are
motivated it results in the exceptional performance of the organisation continually (Tampu,
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2015). Managers endeavour to motivate their employees to superior performance in achieving
the organisational mission, that is not to say motivation is manipulation it is rather concerned
with the identification of wishes and desires which cause people to act and finding a way to
satisfy their needs while they satisfy the needs of the organisation (Lamptey, Boateng and
Antwi, 2013).
The research question of this project is “What is motivating our early years educators?”
The objectives of this research project are:
1. Are early years educators satisfied by their pay?
2. Does satisfaction affect early years educator’s motivation level?
3. Are early years educators intrinsically motivated?
4. Are early years educators motivated by extrinsic rewards?
In an attempt to try and answer these questions the researcher has proposed the following
project. In chapter 2 the researcher has analysed the available literature in the areas of
Performance Management, the Performance Appraisal system, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The researcher in Chapter 3 of this project has
analysed the philosophy, approach and strategy which the project has taken. From the
collected literature the researcher then composed a list of questions which she hoped the
management and staff of her selected crèche would answer these answers are presented in
chapter 4 Data Findings. Once the interviews were completed she compared the answers
received from management and staff with the earlier collected literature this can be found in
chapter 5 Discussion. The final chapter of this research project is the conclusions of the
project and the recommendations which the researcher felt should follow on from this project.

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1.2 Justification of the research
Mareesa O’Dwyer on behalf of Early Childhood Ireland in January 2016 undertook a
research project with the aim of investigating the rate early childhood workers are paid, this is
the first stage of a larger piece of research which is to include a number of issues such as
professionalisation within the sector (Early Childhood Ireland, 2016). The fact that this
research is being undertaken by Early Childhood Ireland tells the researcher that this is a
relevant and justified project to complete. Early Childhood Ireland (2016) states there is a
requirement for further professionalisation of the childcare sector as well as scope for the
development of framework to support this, specifically the lack of a consistent and coherent
basis for staff remuneration (Early Childhood Ireland, 2016). Many countries find it difficult
to retain early years educators, this is due to low wages, low social status, heavy workload
and lack of career progression (Early Childhood Ireland, 2016). A study in the US highlights
the importance of the first three years of a child’s life for brain development and yet their
early years educators fall behind practically every other profession in terms of pay, training
and quality (Schulzke, 2016). He states that Kindergarten employees are at the bottom of the
education pay at $25 an hour but the preschool teachers are below that again on $14 an hour
and the child care workers are even further behind on $10 an hour (Schulzke, 2016). This
tells the researcher that the issue of pay in the early years sector is not confined to Ireland.
In order to accomplish their goals organisations require a wide range of specifically and
generally skilled diverse workforce, people are the most important asset of any company
(Lamptey, Boateng and Antwi, 2013). Even mature high performing organisations have
opportunities to improve their management approaches (Evans et al., 2012). It is for this and
other reasons we require a Human Resource Department which is an important competitive
advantage for any organisation, their key function is the alignment of employee performance
with the firm’s goals (Malik and Aslam, 2013; Ciobanu and Ristea, 2015). It is therefore
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important that employees are not only motivated by their leaders to fulfil the organisations
purpose but that this purpose is inferred by all employees in the same way (Carton, Murphy
and Clark, 2015). Performance management is a vital part of human resource practices; it is
the process of evaluating and calibrating the performance of individuals in order to ensure
alignment with the organisational goals (Bos-Nehles, Van Riemsdijk and Kees Looise, 2013;
Malik and Aslam, 2013; Jain, 2014; Ciobanu and Ristea, 2015)

Low staff turnover has been identified as a fundamental requirement in providing high
quality early years’ education, and retention of staff has been attributed to personal situations
and the availability of benefits (Holochwost et al., 2009). Although there has been research
done in the area linking turnover to the quality of the care there has been little research into
what in necessary to incentivise early years educators to remain within their companies and
within the area as a whole (Holochwost et al., 2009).
In recent times reward management has become an indispensable part of Human Resource
Management with the goal of motivation, attraction and retention and skill development for
the employee, as well as benefiting the company by improving business strategy and
company culture (Henderson, 2011). While these valid points make the research topic new
and relevant the researcher was unable to find many journal articles relating specifically to
the motivation of teaching staff in the early years sector it is for this reason the researcher
feels this project is fully justified.

This research project is being completed as part of an MBA placing a lot of time limitations
on the work. Not only does the timeframe allowed by the college act as a limitation the other
academic work which needs to be completed by the researcher as well as their full time
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employment commitments limit the time the researcher can commit to this research project.
While the crèche which is the focus of this case study was selected as it is a typical example
of most crèches it may be viewed as a limitation to the project that the focus is just on one
crèche, however this was a knock on effect of the above limitation of time. Another limitation
of this research project was some of the teaching staff within the crèche refused to take part
in the research as they felt they were incapable of answering the questions, this was before
the researcher provided the questions. Due to this concern the researcher made the questions
available to the staff and management before the interviews still some members of the
teaching staff and a member of management who were interviewed voiced a concern about
the difficulty of the questions. The researcher made herself available by email, phone or in
person to answer any questions they had, or clarify anything that needed it. This was done in
an attempt to make the interviewees as comfortable as possible, in order to minimise drop
out. Each interviewed participant received a participant information sheet as well as a consent
form to sign, this ensured they were fully briefed on the project before the interviews took
place, everybody interviewed gave informed consent for their answers to be used in the
research project.
The researcher decided to do a case study with their place of work being the focus; she
decided to do this as she had a good relationship with both management and staff alike who
were interested and supportive of the chosen research topic. The crèche in question was
deemed suitable by the researcher as it is a typical south county Dublin crèche located in
Dublin 14. The crèche was opened 20 years ago by a woman and her husband. After a
significant amount of time in the hands of someone else the crèche has now been returned to
the family under the management of the original owner’s children. There is one director who
is actively partaking in the running of the crèche on a daily basis, so she has been included by
the researcher under the management portion of the interviews. Of the staff in the crèche the
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researcher limited the research to teaching members in order to gain the most pertinent
information on the research topic; this left 20 members of staff who could potentially be
interviewed. The researcher with some guidance from her supervisor decided to interview
two of the three active members of management. She defined the active members of
management to be the one director who is on the premises on a daily basis, the one manager
and the one assistant manager, she also decided to interview six teaching staff members. She
divided the crèche by the children’s ages into three segments, and interviewed two teachers
from each age range in order to try and get a fair representation of all staff members.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Performance Management Systems
One of the more challenging areas of Human Resource Management is performance
management; it is seen as a gruelling chore by many businesses, however when done
correctly it can have a big difference on the bottom-line (Kalman, 2016). The success of a
company and the relationship of this to the importance of retaining qualified employees is not
a new theory of thought (de Mesquita Ferreira and de Aquino Almeida, 2015). Performance
measurement can be used by management to evaluate, control, budget, motivate, promote,
celebrate, learn, and improve (Behn, 2003). Company size has no major effect on
performance management, as long as resources which are needed to do it effectively are in
place performance management can be executed well in any sized organisation (Kalman,
2016). Over the years the role management play in performance management has drastically
changed, their role was to measure performance against a scorecard and objectives whereas
now the role of management in good performance management has changed to understanding
performance and communicating this with their employees (Kalman, 2016). High performers
are prepared for and expect continuous feedback and expect their management to challenge
them (Kalman, 2016). It appears the newest trend in performance management is to minimise
the use of forms, however Kalman (2016) makes the point that every company is different
and it is important that they do what works for them. There is no suitable technology solution
for performance management, nor will there ever be one (Kalman, 2016). It is important
organisations understand the job characteristics which link to employee engagement in order
to increase it, as being able to do this has become increasingly important to organisations for
their benefit and for the benefit of their employees (Jacobs, Renard and Snelgar, 2014).
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Another factor which influences employee performance is high job satisfaction (Mpembeni et
al., 2015).
The working environment of a company can affect the motivation of the employees within, as
well as this the level of autonomy given to these employees also has an effect on job stress
(Aktar, 2015). It is suggested that autonomy can boost the effectiveness of teams and
teamwork has a significant impact on the level of pleasure felt by an employee which in turn
affects their performance (Aktar, 2015). Aktar’s (2015) study results propose that reward and
promotion, work and work environment, work group, supervisor and supervision are all
related to an employee’s performance or ability to perform within a company.

2.2 Performance Appraisals
The performance appraisal system is considered a very important part of Human Resource
Management (Selvarajan and Cloninger, 2012). It is part of the holistic process of
performance management, it is concerned with a number of things; setting objectives for the
individual, team, department, and organisation, reward strategies, training and development,
feedback, mechanisms for monitoring the effectiveness of performance management system
and interventions (Ciobanu and Ristea, 2015). It is an opportunity for management to engage
staff with the business strategy while giving the employees the opportunity to communicate
their expectations from management (CIPD, 2015).
Once the appraisal system has taken place two equally important subsystems must be
completed they are; the reward system and the feedback system (Jain, 2014). The feedback
which employees receive, is of paramount importance for the alignment of organisational
goals with employee performance, as well as to direct, motivate, and reinforce behaviour
(Jain, 2014; Yun Guo et al., 2014). Over the years researchers have proven the effect of
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different types of feedback, such as performance feedback on employee job performance
however, this traditional feedback provides only evaluative data related to past performance,
and this does not meet the employees’ needs (Yun Guo et al., 2014). Yun Guo et al. (2014)
completed a case study which found that performance evaluation feedback was ambiguous to
increasing job motivation and performance, it is for this reason they suggest feedback be
future development focused as well as supportive, Selvarajan and Cloninger (2012) refer to
this as feedback richness which should be specific, frequent and timely. They also feel the
employees perception of the fairness of the appraisal system will also affect the outcomes of
the appraisal system (Selvarajan and Cloninger, 2012). The performance appraisal system is a
more valuable system to some employees than others, as those with high levels of proactive
personality and high public self-consciousness are less likely to engage in developmental
feedback seeking behaviours than those with high levels of proactive personality and low
levels of public self-consciousness (Kulkarni and Gopakumar, 2014).
CIPD (2015) feel as well as this formal system it is also important to foster a company
culture which encourages employees to take responsibility for the advancement of business
operations as well as for their own skills, behaviours and contributions. Selvarajan and
Cloninger (2012) suggest that the characteristics of the performance appraisal relate to
“perceptions of fairness and accuracy, and, further, these perceptions are related to appraisal
satisfaction and motivation to improve performance”.

2.3 Rewards
Organisations use money, benefits and other extrinsic rewards to attract, retain, motivate and
engage employees (Jacobs, Renard and Snelgar, 2014; Biddle, 2015). However, a big issue
businesses are faced with is how to effectively use the rewards which are available to them to
10

motivate their employees thus improving productivity (Biddle, 2015). Wages, salaries or pay
are thought to be compelling rewards to motivate employees and their behaviour towards the
goals of the company (Chaudhry et al., 2012). Biddle (2015) categorises extrinsic rewards as
benefits provided externally of the job in question, these can be financial such as profit
sharing, performance based bonuses etc. or non-financial such as flexible working hours,
extra training etc. he classifies intrinsic rewards as benefits the employee obtains from the
work at hand such as job satisfaction, companionship etc.
Individual level performance is usually encouraged with the use of performance related pay,
this gives the employee an incentive to pursue the goals set by management (Kallio and
Kallio, 2014). It is however extremely important that the rewards which are offered to the
employee are viewed by them as desirable and valuable, this results in the rewards having the
desired effect of motivating the employee (Rahman Malik, Butt and Jin Nam Choi, 2015).
Bussin and Rooy (2014) confirmed with their study what others had found before and that is
that depending on the generation of the employee they will show preference for certain
rewards. While a pay rise or bonus motivates the employee a certain amount, it is also
imperative for management to acknowledge and appreciate the work an employee completes,
both of these rewards; pay and recognition should be used for increased motivation, retention,
engagement and job satisfaction as it is more likely an employee will become less committed
due to lack of recognition rather than low pay (Jain, 2014).
In their article Ali, Edwin and Tirimba (2015) examine a study which was completed in 2010,
the study was investigating the effect pay factors had on employee satisfaction, it found there
was a positive relationship between the two factors and that the employee’s satisfaction with
rewards also impacted on their motivation this is in contrast to what Ali, Edwin and Tirimba
(2015) found in their study which was no link between pay and job satisfaction.
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Due to the fact that modern organisations are becoming flatter and they are employing fewer
middle management it is more important than ever that employees can take initiative and
direct themselves and their work this means the employees must be capable of working with
autonomy (Jacobs, Renard and Snelgar, 2014). Autonomy is the ability of the employee to
choose their own work and the method of completing this work; this is according to Jacobs,
Renard and Snelgar (2014) an intrinsic reward. Other intrinsic rewards they discuss are an
employee getting the feeling of personal achievement from the work that they complete as
well as understanding how this relates to the company’s overall purpose, and the feeling of
progress if a goal is meaningful which in turn causes enthusiasm and motivation (Thomas,
2009; Jacobs, Renard and Snelgar, 2014). These intrinsic rewards also have positive
outcomes for the organisation as they help foster job satisfaction and professional
development (Jacobs, Renard and Snelgar, 2014). Their study found the strongest link
between intrinsic rewards and employee engagement was when employees found their work
to have meaning they were therefore more dedicated (Thomas, 2009; Jacobs, Renard and
Snelgar, 2014). In their study they found a positive link between intrinsic rewards and
employee engagement which emphasises the importance of companies enhancing intrinsic
rewards for all of their employees, by offering an environment from which employees can
gain intrinsic rewards the company may experience more engaged employees which will
have a positive effect on the goals of the company (Jacobs, Renard and Snelgar, 2014).
Another reward management can offer is training, when through their actions management
show support for training the staff who are being trained perceive training as a higher priority
of the management (Towler, Watson and Surface, 2014). While training is an investment
which is expected to be effective, it is often criticised due to its low level of effectiveness and
poor results (Renta-Davids et al., 2014). Their study found that people, who attend training
for their own personal or work related desire, identify with a higher level of transfer to their
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career (Renta-Davids et al., 2014). Likewise their participants who viewed the training
programme as an opportunity to improve their job in the future showed a higher level of
transfer (Renta-Davids et al., 2014).

2.4 Motivation
Jobs have a variety of components which individuals can find satisfying in one respect and
dissatisfying in another (Vévoda et al., 2011). Motivation and job satisfaction are influenced
by a number of differing factors (Vévoda et al., 2011). An important but complex problem
for companies is how to effectively motivate their employees (Irimie and Armean, 2012).
Motivation, like rewards can also be categorised into two separate orientations; intrinsic
which is the completion of a task because of the fundamental satisfaction coming from its
completion rather than some separate outcome, whereas extrinsic is the completion of an
activity in order to attain a separate outcome (Mirabela-Constanta and Maria-Madela, 2011).
Intrinsically motivated employees tend to be proactive in generating and implementing
creative solutions and their work more innovative (Chen et al., 2013). One theoretical mind-
set is that creativity can be difficult to encourage in employees as they can feel uncomfortable
performing creatively while in the workplace despite the benefits it has to the organisation
(Hye Jung Yoon, Sun Young Sung and Jin Nam Choi, 2015). It is also crucial to understand
employee’s perception of their work and the rewards which they receive for it, Vroom’s
expectancy theory is one which could explain this (Nimri, Bdair and Al Bitar, 2015).
Expectancy theory is one of the most known theories which uses cognitive processes in order
to motivate (Al Araimi, 2013). It suggests that employees will be motivated to work harder if
they believe the effort will result in a good performance, and this performance will lead to a
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reward, and this reward will satisfy a need which is worth the effort (Nimri, Bdair and Al
Bitar, 2015).
Goal setting theory is another theoretical basis for motivating the performance of everything
from individual work behaviours to profitability of multinational corporations, being able to
motivate progress towards goals is a useful tool for managers (Johnson and Wallace, 2011).
The measurement of the performance of the employee should be interpreted as an evaluation
activity to assess the successes and failures of the tasks and functions assigned to them
(Muhlis, 2014). The current standard for the evaluation of goal setting is the annual employee
performance review, or performance appraisal which was discussed above.
A study into the satisfaction levels of nurses was completed using Herzberg’s two-factor
motivation theory, this theory establishes the degree to which individual factors such as
salary, recognition, relationships with peers impact on motivation and job satisfaction
(Vévoda et al., 2011). Herzberg’s theory consists of two categories hygiene factors such as
work conditions, job security, salary, etc. and motivators such as responsibility, achievement,
recognition, the work itself etc. (Vévoda et al., 2011). Vévoda et al (2011) in their study
found that the nurses in question were happy with their occupation despite the fact their
opinion of the motivators and satisfiers were shown to be negative, the largest of which was
in the area of salary. They also found the nurses to value recognition of personal achievement
which they linked to having a positive effect on job satisfaction (Vévoda et al., 2011). Their
study concluded that management should focus their attention on the hygiene factor of salary
to eliminate job dissatisfaction.
Al Araimi (2013) completed a study on banking staff which found that staff motivation could
be positively link to a number of different things, they found when staff motivation increases
they will have a better relationship with their supervisor, also when employees have a
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positive relationship with their co-workers motivation levels increase. It is the role of the
management to encourage these relationships between employees perhaps through teamwork
or by encouraging staff to work together towards common goals (Al Araimi, 2013). They also
found that when employees are given the opportunity to work with autonomy their
motivation increases and finally they found that the motivation of employees was increased
when their salaries were increased (Al Araimi, 2013). While monthly salary in this study was
found to affect motivation levels of employees Al Araimi (2013) makes it clear that it is not
the only factor which has an impact on motivation and so therefore should not be the only
focus of management in order to increase motivation, However Chaudhry et al (2012) make
the point that while all other social factors are significant in enhancing job satisfaction for
employees, pay satisfaction is essential. He goes on to say that some evidence suggests that
pay dissatisfaction can lead to decreased job satisfaction on the part of the employee as well
as decreased interest in work, learning, level of motivation and performance, while
increasing absenteeism and staff turnover (Chaudhry et al., 2012). Chaudhry et al (2012) also
states that the positive influence pay satisfaction has on motivation, performance, and job
contentment is greatly studied, and job satisfaction has more of a link to pay satisfaction than
it does to the length of time an employee is with the company.
Al Araimi (2013) makes reference to equity theory and how it recognises that individuals are
not only concerned with the amount of rewards they receive for their effort but also with the
relationship of this amount to what others have received, this is backed up by another study
based on the Telecom industry in Pakistan which found that perceived fairness is critically
important to the motivation of employees (Malik and Aslam, 2013).
It is believed that public sector employees have less desire to work with autonomy than
private sector employees, and that too many rewards in the public sector could reduce the
intrinsic motivation of these employees, their study in Jordan found that extrinsic rewards had
15

little effect on public employees motivation, which they suggest should be explored further
(Nimri, Bdair and Al Bitar, 2015).
Wang, Yang and Wang (2012) found that public employees in Taiwan have higher intrinsic
job satisfaction but lower extrinsic job satisfaction than private employees do, they feel this is
due to a number of reasons but one they mention is the lower salary paid to public employees.
They feel the public employees are more intrinsically satisfied by their job because of their
strong motivation for public service, However they do recommend that managers study the
cause of low extrinsic satisfaction of the employees, in order to enhance their ability to
motivate their staff thus making them more productive (Wang, Yang and Wang, 2012). This
is not limited to Taiwan and Jordan as Georgellis, Iossa and Tabvuma (2011) using British
longitudinal data found that employees are more inclined to engage in the public sector by the
intrinsic rewards it has to offer rather than the extrinsic rewards. However they also say that
higher extrinsic rewards reduce the intrinsic motivation of employees, which leads them to
ask the question would lowering extrinsic rewards increase the average quality of job
matches and therefore improve performance without the high extrinsic rewards needed to
incentivise (Georgellis, Iossa and Tabvuma, 2011). They also cite Crewson who explains that
employees who are intrinsically motivated tend to be more committed to their organisation,
which increases productivity and improves the performance of the organisation (Georgellis,
Iossa and Tabvuma, 2011).
In recent times in light of the economic downturn the motivation focus has turned from the
theoretical and practical interest such as money and its importance to satisfaction and
performance at work focusing on more non-financial motivation forms, this is partly if not
totally due to the fact that in this day and age a company’s usual way of cutting costs is at the
aim of reducing staffing costs such as wages, rewards and training funds (Irimie and Armean,
2012). It can be difficult for companies to find an effective way of motivating all its staff
16

members due to the fact that not everybody is motivated by the same thing (Irimie and
Armean, 2012). On top of this, what does motivate someone might change when or if their
living or working conditions change, going back to the economic downturn, which affected
many people’s lives worldwide altering their perceptions of what truly mattered (Irimie and
Armean, 2012). However this financial versus non-financial debate is not new, it is rather a
re-launching of the thoughts of many authors over the years; such as Herzberg, Maslow and
Vroom to name but a few (Irimie and Armean, 2012). Irimie and Armean (2012) finish with
four ideas which they advise should be implemented within the company in question which
are; rewarding works better than punishing, recognise and reward everyone’s improvements
not just high performers, common sense should become common practice, with managers
being positive role models for staff to follow suit and finally treat everyone as a professional
when you want them to act with professionalism.
Finding the appropriate way to increase employees effort and loyalty to a company with the
use of motivation has always been difficult to do (Irimie and Armean, 2012). Employees are
motivated by extrinsic rewards such as salary and promotion and intrinsic rewards such as
satisfaction and accomplishment (Nimri, Bdair and Al Bitar, 2015). In order to motivate
employees it is thus imperative that organisations operate using not only a monetary reward
system but also a recognition reward system to ensure employees stay motivated, remain with
the company, engage to their fullest potential and have job satisfaction (Jain, 2014). Used in
conjunction with rewards developmental feedback may promote the improvement of an
employee’s intrinsic motivation by providing employee feedback that is considered essential
for maintaining and improving employee motivation, and helping the enhancement of future
employee job performance, which is beneficial for fulfilling the employees’ developmental
needs (Yun Guo et al., 2014).

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Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Fig 3.1: Research Onion (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015)

This research project took on the assumption of epistemology as it was based on existing
literature in the area of rewards and motivation (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015). It was
the aim that in its conclusion the research project would also add to the current knowledge
base which exists in the area of rewards and motivation with particular attention to the area of
early years education, this is another reason which resulted in the project being of an
epistemology assumption (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012).
This research project can be further categorised as subjectivism under the assumption of
epistemology as the research was concerned with the narrative and opinions of the
individuals who were interviewed (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015). As the researcher
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is also an early years educator it was assumed that she would have an opinion regarding the
research area which would probably influence the writing of the project, this also led to the
categorisation of subjectivism (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012).

3.1 Research Philosophy
Saunders and Lewis (2014) define philosophy as “the critical analysis of the fundamental
assumptions or beliefs held by an individual”. The researcher felt of the five philosophies
outlined by Saunders and Lewis (2015) interpretivism was best used to describe this research
project especially as interpretivism was developed from a subjectivist perspective, and as
stated above this research project took a subjectivist assumption. Interpretivism as a research
philosophy is associated with the studying of social phenomena within their natural
environment, this research project wished to identify what was motivating early years
educators so it was therefore necessary to interview what Saunders and Lewis (2014) refer to
as “Social actors” which in the case of this research project were the teaching staff within the
crèche as well as interviewing the management to get their opinions of the staff member’s
attitudes (Saunders and Lewis, 2014). Interpretivism maintains that theories and concepts are
too simplistic as people; differing in many ways will all have differing social realities based
on the experience (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015). Interpretivist researchers argue that
because social actors within a company depending on their differing roles will have different
experiences thus resulting in differing workplace realities (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill,
2015). Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2015) go on to say that by focusing on the common
experiences of these social actors we lose the richness of the research, it was for this reason
the researcher decided to interview the staff members for their opinions of their position and
to also interview the management to get their opinion of the same staff positions. The
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researcher further categorised this project as phenomenalistic as it focuses on the staff
members lived experiences i.e. their everyday working lives and the rewards they receive for
completing this. Interpretivists recognise that their own interpretation of the data and research
material, and therefore their own beliefs and values have an important role to play in the
research process, it is also crucial to the interpretivist philosophy that the researcher adopt an
empathetic stance (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015). As the researcher of this project is
also an early years educator it is certainly clear that she already possesses this empathy, she
also has the added bonus of understanding the industry and the point of view the staff may
have.
The researcher ruled out the philosophy of positivism as she felt that when dealing with
people it is impossible to make law-like generalisations (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill,
2015). The researcher also felt that realism was an inappropriate philosophy as it emphasises
that objects exist independently of our knowledge of their existence, as this project is based
on opinions of the staff members and management of the crèche (Saunders and Lewis, 2014).
As some of the interviewees voiced their concern about the questions in the interview, the
researcher felt it inappropriate to use the philosophy of postmodernism due to its placing of
such importance on the role of language (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2015). Finally the
researcher felt pragmatism was also an inappropriate philosophy to use as she felt unable to
integrate sufficiently different perspectives when interpreting the data obtained (Saunders,
Lewis and Thornhill, 2012).

3.2 Research Approach
As this research project was based on the interviews and opinions of a sample portion of the
teaching staff members and management of the chosen crèche the researcher felt this project