Ideal techniques to motivate media practitioners in Nigeria
By Abiola Ayankunbi
It is an understatement to insinuate that the morale of virtually all the media practitioners is very low; this has affected their performances. Rewards that can be used to influence performance positively needed to be put in place in order to stem the trend. Research that was conducted by AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy in 2019 revealed that combinations of pay, achievement, relation with other workers, recognitiin, type of supervision, responsibility, company’s policy, promotion prospects, physical working condition and fringe benefits will spur the workers into higher level of performance or cause disequilibrium in the system.
Further checks by the consultancy outfit revealed that some of the above listed motivators will yield feelings of satisfaction while the presence or absence of some other motivators will not motivate the media practitioners, yet, they must be present. This may sound academical; details are in my latest book: My Sojourn In The Media. Each of the motivators is explained herein on how they can influence behaviour towards better performance.
Salary or pay means more than monetary value. This is the monetary compensation paid by an employer to an employee in exchange for the work done. It represents economic, social, psychological and growth symbols for both the media practitioners and organisations, so this is a motivator. Money reward must be equitable and reflect performance. It must be paid promptly. An employee deserves to earn his pay after performing the tasks expected of him at the end of an agreed period. However, many media firms are in arrears, up to a year, of unpaid salaries.
Media people are motivated when they are recognised and involved in decision making, rather than being alienated from the sphere of activities. It caters for needs of affiliation and acceptance. This can be likened to creation and having a sense of belonging
Quality of working life is a systems approach to job design and a promising development in the broad areas of job enrichment. Job enrichment encourages work challenges, recognition, responsibility and autonomy. It should not be confused with job enlargement which encourages variety and discourages boredom. Presence of this in the work place is a motivator.
Individual’s development on-the-job or off-the-job is also conterminous wih growth needs whch endure forever. Training and development encourages advancements, it means recognition for more future responsibility. This is a motivator. This is however missing in most of the media firms. There is no budget for training; this has made many workers not to be trained in the last ten years and above. The managers who would have been mitigating factors are also lacking in training as no developmental course is being organised for them from time to time.
Leadership style is a motivator. Media practitioners detest autocratic leaders but prefer democratic leaders who can encourage and at the same time give human face to their personal problems and maintaining a mentor- protégé relationship with them. Some of the managing directors/editors-in-chief are guilty of poor management styles. In this instance, progress will surely be retarded.
Promotion prospects in an organisation is a motivator, it means advancement both vertically within organisation and laterally outside the organisation. The idea that one is not a deadwood but a solid is itself motivating. Often times, an employee remains on a particular position for more than a decade, earning the same salary! If the fellow is not good, he should be excused from the job and paid his entitlement without further delay.
In Nigeria, with economic problems such as unemployment, inflation and retrenchment, job security means a lot to people in their performance of duties. With an insecure job, the jobholder looks outside always to the detriment of current productivity. It is common among the journalists whereby they set up personal news websites while still in employment. They make use of the company’s facilities in uploading the news that are, In most intances, variants of their company’s newspapers news.
Housing allowances, loan opportunities, transport allowances, car assignment, free meal, recreation, etc also make a jobholder feel at home and motivated to high level of performance. Journalists are often sent on assignments without transport allowances on the “imagination/assumption” that the news makers will share brown envelopes! There are reports of journalists sponsoring their trips outside the country without receiving stipends from their employers. This is highly unethical and a dissatisfier!. Equally, miscellaneous like altruism, congenital workmates and work itself are regarded as motivators.
Conclusively, most media managers have succeeded in violating all known principles and rules guiding motivation as their approaches have caused disequilibrium in the system thereby creating disgruntled, grumbling and unhappy employees. And in all these, companies suffer, geatly!
……Ayankunbi is MD/CEO at AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy
0802 305 1315
abiolaayankunbi@yahoo.com
