Motivational factors influencing employee performance: the case of the DCS Leeuwkop Management Area

Abstract

This study was aimed at revealing motivational factors that are essential in influencing employees’ performance in the Department of Correctional Services (DCS): Leeuwkop Management Area with the purpose to propose motivational interventions and strategies. Therefore, employee motivation and performance are central constructs of this study. The statutory and regulatory frameworks that underpin the motivation and performance of employees were explored to reveal the legal and regulatory obligations that the South African Public Service in general and the Department of Correctional Services, in particular, have towards ensuring efficient and effective public service delivery. To accomplish this goal, a robust literature review was completed based on numerous theories and approaches applicable to employee motivation and performance. Principles of motivation and employee performance were also outlined. An empirical investigation was conducted to determine which motivational factors are influential in employee performance. The empirical study also explored the dimensions of motivation in the public service and recognised the motivational strategies that were, during the time of the study, being used by the DCS: Leeuwkop Management Area. The study attempted to discover the ways of enhancing employee motivation in DCS: Leeuwkop Management Area. On the basis of the synthesis of a literature review, an analysis of practical approaches, as well as an empirical investigation, an integrated model for enhancing motivation in the DCS: Leeuwkop Management Area was developed. The study suggests that the integrated motivational model ought to be adopted and implemented by the Department of Correctional Services in South Africa in order to improve the dimension of motivation and performance among the employees and for the accomplishment of efficiency and viability in public service delivery.