Trusting Management

By trusting management, does that make “better” employees?

Abstract

The aim of this research report is to find the relationship between �trust in management’ and three variables, �intrinsic motivation’, �organizational citizenship behavior’ and �intent to leave’, as well as to find any impact of cash bonuses on these variables.

Students each had to carry our five surveys. The surveys are filled with questions that can measure the various variables mentioned above. There are 1549 surveys altogether and the participants had to work at least 25 hours, not be a manager and worked in the private industry.

It is found that there is association between �trust in management’ and the three variables. It is also found that cash bonuses do not necessarily affect employees and the three variables.

The results show that the more employees trust their management, the more likely they will perform the three variables discussed. It also shows that employees will not perform the three variables better even if they received a cash bonus.

Each student was required to conduct five surveys. The participants had to answer thirty-five questions in total. These questions had been chosen so that the answers are able to provide an indication of the three variables discussed. Question one in the survey �I work at my current job because I think that my job is interesting’ is an example of the variable �intent to leave’. Question two �If I had my way, I wouldn’t let my manager have any influence over issues that are important to me’ is an example of the variable �trust in management’. Question three in the survey �I help others who have heavy workloads’ is an example of the variable �organisational citizenship behaviour’. Question nine in the survey �I work at my current job because my job is fun’ is an example of the variable �intrinsic motivation’.

Fifty four percent of the participants were male, with fifty four percent of all the participants born in Australia. Most of the participants were in the twenty five or less age group with about forty six percent, with twenty four percent in the twenty six to forty five years old age group and finally twenty nine percent in the forty six to sixty two years old age group. The survey was limited to a maximum age of sixty two.

In the education level criteria, forty nine percent of the participants have completed a university degree or equivalent. Twenty two percent completed a TAFE certificate or equivalent, twenty percent completed a high school certificate and remaining nine completed a school certificate. Thirty five percent of the participants received a cash bonus in the past twelve months. More than two hundred of the surveys had to be discarded due to these not containing any important information, and also because some were from respondents that did not fit the criteria.

The criteria for participants was that they were employed for at least twenty five hours per week, they had to have a manager or supervisor, they worked in a private industry which means they could not be working for the government however excluding teachers, public servants and the military.

Method

Each variable has a scale of its own to measure the participants responds. �Trust in Management’ uses a scale developed by Mayer and Gavin (2005). �organisational citizenship behaviour’ (OCB) is term developed by Smith, Organ and Near (1983). �Intrinsic Motivation’ is measured by a scale from Guay, Vallerand and Blanchard (2000). Finally �Intent to Leave’ by Walsh, Ashford and Hill (1985).

Every student had to have five surveys completed. The participants could be anyone as long as they met the criteria. Students would give the survey to the participant and then take it back once they have answered all the questions. The survey in general takes about fifteen minutes. Once the surveys have been collected, the student then puts the survey in an envelope and is not allowed to see the answers. The surveys are then handed back to the university and results of the surveys are given out at a later date.

For each variable, a mean and standard deviation was found. �Trust in management’ has a mean of 4.12 and standard deviation of 0.68. �Organisational Citizenship Behaviour’ has a mean of 4.45 and standard deviation of 0.54. �Intrinsic motivation’ has a mean of 4.30 and standard deviation of 0.99 and finally �intent to leave’ has a mean of 2.96 and standard deviation of 1.28. The mean score stands for an average score, while standard deviation stands for how far away the score is from the mean.

Two tables have been developed to analyse the results of the surveys. The tables compare �Trust in management’ with the three variables �Organisational Citizenship Behaviour’, �intrinsic motivation’ and �intent to leave’. The tables give a correlation coefficient for each variable, one table just comparing the variables, and the other table compares the variables while distinguishing between whether the employee received a cash incentive or not recently. The correlation coefficient shows how much connection there is between the variables. If the score is a 1, then there is perfect connection, it is 0 then there is no connection at all. Correlation shows that there is some association between the variables, but does not necessarily mean it causes the other to act.

Results

Employees that had received a bonus had correlation scores

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