Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Jorge Maximiliano Fernandez de Cueto
Committee Member
Verona McCarthy
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
Belize, employee recognition, employee recognition programs, faculty management, focus groups, higher education, lecturer morale, lecturer performance, lecturer recognition, lecturer turnover, management practices, morale, organizational effectiveness, policies and procedures, positive correlation, Purdue Teacher Opinionaire, qualitative research, quantitative research, recognition, recognition programs, social sciences, teacher morale, teacher turnover, university faculty, University of Belize, workplace motivation, workforce retention
Abstract
This study investigated the level of morale and the nature of the current recognition program/policies at the Faculty of Management and Social Sciences (FMSS) at a major university in Belize. The main objective of the study was to answer the following research questions:
1. What is the overall level of lecturer morale at the FMSS as well as the components of morale?
2. How adequate is the current level of recognition received by lecturers for their contributions to the FMSS?
3. What is the relationship between lecturers‘ recognition and morale?
4. To what extent do lecturers believe that a comprehensive employee program is capable of boosting morale?
5. What techniques/tools do lecturers believe are required to recognize their performance?
The research findings were then used to inform the development of a comprehensive employee recognition program that could be adopted and implemented as a tool for boosting lecturer morale within the FMSS. This program consisted of policies and procedures in terms of established criteria and guidelines for acknowledging and recognizing lecturers.
This study utilized mainly a quantitative research methodology with some qualitative tools being used to probe deeper in order to get a better understanding of recognition. The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was adapted and used to collect data on overall lecturer morale as well as the 10 components of morale. An employee recognition survey was developed and used to measure the various dimensions of recognition. Additionally, three focus groups were conducted to solicit qualitative information on recognition.
The research literature revealed that there is a positive relationship between employee recognition and level of morale in organizations. However, an analysis of the data for this study divulges that there was a weak positive correlation between lecturers‘ recognition and morale at the FMSS of the University with lecturer recognition only explaining 12 % of the variability in morale.
Practice implications are for the management team at the FMSS to adopt and implement the recognition program that was developed using the data gathered in this study. However, such a program must also take into account the other factors that significantly contribute to lecturers‘ morale in order to effectively deal with the issue of morale on a realistic and holistic basis.