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Abstract

This mixed-methods study conducted a survey and a follow-up focus group with employees of the Uganda Public Service in order to ascertain the impact of asset retrenchment on job satisfaction. The Uganda Public Service has made a number of organizational moves, especially in recent years, to make non-productive and/or corrupt employees redundant and to bring greater efficiencies to the public sector by directing workers to where they fit best in the organization. Naturally, these retrenchment policies have created a lot of change. However, this study discovered that retrenched workers who remained in the Uganda Public Service was not less likely to be satisfied or motivated than non-affected colleagues. Moreover, job satisfaction for retrenched workers remained constant even when controlling for variables of age, gender, and education.

The Uganda Public Service likely erred in pushing through retrenchment without a formal change management strategy, as this study found that employees who had not been properly informed and/or prepared for the change were substantially less likely to be satisfied than those workers who had been prepared. One plausible reason that retrenched workers were not dissatisfied by the changes brought about by resentment may have to do with Herzbergs (1966) Two-Factor theory, which posits that workers who are laboring for emotional satisfaction are more satisfied than those who strive for money alone. As the qualitative aspect of this study revealed, employees of the Uganda Public Service are highly likely to be providers for others, and therefore prize their jobs for giving them this ability to support others, even though retrenchment may bring change and stress. The conclusion is that Third World workforces may need to be approached via different theoretical means that are more sensitive to the non-hygienic aspects of Two-Factor Theory.

Introduction

Introduction to the Study

Uganda has been undergoing a major strategic shift in terms of its public service as a means of combating the rising corruption of the 1990s and 2000s. One aspect of this strategic shift has been the retrenchment of human assets within the Uganda Public Service, extending to the firing of several employees and the redeployment of many others. The theory behind this retrenchment has been twofold: (a) the Uganda Public Service has been seen by the government as unnecessarily large in terms of achieving its mission; and (b there is a perception that several civil servants are dead weight, and have been dragging down the performance and the image of the public service in particular and the national government in general. This dissertation studies the impact of human asset retrenchment strategies on job satisfaction, physical health, emotional well-being, and motivation in the Uganda Public Service.

The Uganda Public Service is only as good as its personnel, and it is important to know how the retrenchment strategies have impacted the workers who were redeployed. Is it truly the case that such workers feel better in their jobs, now that the department has been rendered more efficient and less encumbered by corrupt and/or underperforming personnel? Have retrenched workers experienced stable emotional and physical health in the aftermath of retrenchment? Has motivation gone up or down? Finally, what are the effects between these variables? For example, is job satisfaction correlated positively with motivations?

These questions must be answered properly, for the Ugandan government cannot afford for its remaining civil servants to become disenchanted or incapable of doing their work properly; such an outcome would lead to another exodus from the civil service, or else end up recreating the old culture of malingering and corruption that the retrenchment was designed to destroy. Thus, measuring the success of the retrenchment strategy of the Ugandan Public Service requires measuring the job satisfaction of current workers in the wake of retrenchment.

This dissertation will draw upon primary research, conducted along quantitative and qualitative approaches, to answer the question of how human asset retrenchment has impacted the job satisfaction, physical and emotional health, and motivation of workers in the Ugandan Public Service. The study will treat job satisfaction as a dependent variable and the following factors as independent variables: individual emotional and physiological differences; change management; and public policy (with each variable described in greater detail in both the literature review and the methodology). By using a combination of statistical analysis and interviewing, the study will assess the interaction of several variables in the success of the Ugandan government in retrenching the public service: The satisfaction, health, motivation, and well-being of the remaining civil servants.

Asset retrenchment is, in itself, a simple phenomenon, but one that sits at the nexus of many other theories. Therefore, this dissertation will pay attention not only to the core phenomenon of asset retrenchment but also to its interactions with organizational theory, worker psychology, change management, and management strategy (particularly performance management). Obtaining a proper understanding of asset retrenchment necessitates understanding the ways in which asset retrenchment impacts, and is impacted by, all of these other theoretical discourses.

Moreover, since the purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of organizational retrenchment on job satisfaction, it is necessary to doubly necessary to venture out of basic asset retrenchment theory and into the diverse literature on job satisfaction. Job satisfaction, just like asset retrenchment, is a phenomenon that is easily described, but one that touches upon many other bodies of theory. For example, it is impossible to properly understand job psychology without understanding underlying aspects of organizational theory and behavioral psychology.

It is important to be aware of these complexities at the outset, because they will structure how the literature review, a core component of the dissertation, is conducted. The literature review will begin at a high theoretical level, with a general overview that uses key literature to explain what asset retrenchment and job satisfaction are, and how they might interact with each other. The literature review will then discuss theoretical and empirical work emphasizing how human asset retrenchment creates (a) emotional and (b) physiological challenges for workers. The purpose of this section will be to demonstrate that asset retrenchment and job satisfaction are not only interconnected, but also interconnected in a way that tends to hurt workers. The next section of the literature review will explore the question of why, when asset retrenchment is a proven harm to human resources, it is necessary in the first place, drawing upon the open systems theory of the organization. Subsequently, the literature review will examine strategiessuch as change management and public policyused to minimize the impact of asset retrenchment.

Research Concepts

Asset retrenchment, which has been defined as a reduction in assets in order to mitigate the conditions responsible for an existing financial distress Schmitt 2009, p. 53), is an ordinary part of the business lifecycle. Both theory and observed empirical reality confirm the recurring and inevitable nature of asset retrenchment. In neoclassical economic theory as first espoused by Smith (1801), businesses acquire assetsincluding both capital assets such as manufacturing plants and human resources assets such as workersin order to maximize their ability to serve market demand. Thus, when that demand flags, businesses no longer require the same amount of assets. Empirical observation confirms this theory; many researchers have confirmed that, when market demand is suppressedfor example, in a recessionasset retrenchment is one of the most frequent responses (Morrow, Johnson, & Busenitz 2004).

Asset retrenchment can also be prompted by a number of factors other than demand suppression. For example, an organization can undergo an internal crisis requiring retrenchment. Pearce and Robbins (1993) have explained that asset retrenchment can therefore be thought of as a common strategy for business turnaround, regardless of whether such a turnaround has anything to do with an external demand crisis or not. Furthermore, Gupta and Sathye (2010) have pointed out that asset retrenchment can take place in government just as in the private sector, and that asset retrenchment in the public sector can be due neither to an external demand crisis nor to an internal turnaround, but simply to a change of political regime. As such, it is clear that asset retrenchment is a common feature of both private and public sector organizational activity, and that it can be prompted by any number of stimuli.

Job satisfaction refers to a workers self-perceived enjoyment of work, enjoyment that can be measured along any dimension that it important to the worker. There are a number of studies on job satisfaction (see Herzberg 1966 and Vroom 1964) demonstrating that the greatest job satisfaction comes from a feeling of emotional fulfillment and self-actualization.

It is equally clear that, when asset retrenchment involves firing and/or redeploying human resources, it can be a fairly traumatic strategy in terms of impacting job satisfaction. The theoretical basis for this conclusion can be found in organizational psychology as well as behavioral psychology. In organizational psychology, a number of theorists have argued that workers draw motivation from understanding and relying upon a specific role in the workplace (see for example). Thus, when workers are fired or redeployed, their worlds are shaken; at least in terms of professional life, they no longer know where they belong. Meanwhile, behavioral psychology suggests that human asset retrenchment is biologically traumatic. Being fired or reassignment generates tremendous change in an employees life, and change has been empirically linked to stress and a number of adverse physiological consequences, ranging from heart attack to diabetes, as the upcoming discussion will demonstrate.

Thus, theories of organizational psychology focus on the emotional impact on the emotional impact of asset retrenchment of human resources whereas behavioral psychology emphasizes the physiological impact. Both of these fields suggest that asset retrenchment is hurtful for the worker, albeit from different perspectives. Additionally, there is a single theory that brings together organizational and behavioral psychology in a unified explanation of how asset retrenchment impacts job satisfaction. Herzbergs (1966) Two-Factor theory, in conjunction with Maslow (1993) and Vrooms (1964) theories of worker satisfaction, predicts that retrenchment hurts job satisfaction along two separate but complementary axes, namely by hurting: (a) what Maslow refers to as the lower rungs on the hierarchy of needs, such as the ability to earn food and win shelter; and (b) what Herzberg has referred to as the emotional satisfaction of work.

However, there are other bodies of theory that explain how the negative impact of asset retrenchment on workers can be mitigated. For example, the theory of change management predicts that, if workers are prepared for and shepherded through the change appropriately, their trauma will be less. Additionally, public policy theory predicts that government resources can be used to minimize stress to workers; for example, laid-off workers can receive benefits and retraining, whereas workers who are still on the job can draw upon free counseling and other possible public services to help weather the changes.

This overview suggests that, according to inputs from numerous theories, it is not a foregone conclusion that asset retrenchment of human resources will lower job satisfaction, as change management and public policy can be used to offset the natural emotional and physiological harms that are generated by asset retrenchment. As such, in any environment in which assets have been retrenched, individualized measurements will have to be carried out to determine whether the organization was able to overcome the negative impacts of retrenchment.

Importance of the Study

The research carried out in this study is clearly of great value to Uganda. However, it is also of value in general academic terms, as it is a rare empirical contribution to the largely theoretical literature on asset retrenchment. As such, the research can be used not only in the context of Ugandan public policy but also by any theorist or business practitioner who wishes to understand the impact of retrenchment on job satisfaction.

The research problem and questions

The study will focus only on public service workers who have been reassigned or whose job descriptions have otherwise altered as part of a retrenchment strategy. The study will not extend to workers who were fired as a result of retrenchment.

Research objective: To gain an understanding of the impact retrenchment on different aspects of job satisfaction of survivors.

Research question: What is the relationship between retrenchment and job satisfaction?

H₀ = There is no relationship between retrenchment and job satisfaction.
H₁ = Retrenchment has negative physical impacts on survivors in the short-term (i.e. six months).
H₂ = Retrenchment has negative emotional impacts on survivors in the short-term.
H₃ = Retrenchment lowers motivation in the short term.
H₄ = Retrenchment lowers satisfaction in the short term.
H₅ = Survivors syndrome has no effect on job satisfaction

Overview of all chapters

This research project intends to measure the relationship between asset retrenchment strategies and job satisfaction for employees of the Uganda Public Service. This research consists of five chapters which will cover the objectives of the research topic.

In this chapter, the introduction outlines the purpose and the scope for the research project, and the main objectives are clearly explained and justified. The research questions were suggested to carry out an empirical investigation into the relationship between retrenchement strategies and job satisfaction. In the literature review chapter, an overview will be given of the context and background to the research problems. The section will include academic learning theories based on job satisfaction with present dimensional measures to measure satisfaction in the workforce. Furthermore, retrenchment strategies that many organisations are using especially in a recession market will be included. a conclusion will be underlined the relationship between retrenchment strategies and job satisfaction in with employees. Chapter three evaluates the relevant research methodology that will be used to obtain the necessary information to be able to answer the research questions. The methodological approach will discuss the operationalisation of the hypotheses and the research instrument to be used to collect the data.

In the critical analysis chapter, analytical discussion will be applied to the sampling techniques using SPSS software version 14.0 to analyze the data and describe the tested hypotheses.

Literature Review

Introduction

The subject of the discussion is not asset retrenchment, per se, but rather the effect that specific aspects of asset retrenchment such as change management approach, leadership style, and impact on workers job descriptions has on workers physical health, emotional health, motivation, and satisfaction. This section seeks a general overview of jobs and circumstances occasioned by the loss of it by retrenchment. An employee is one of the major assets that any employer will have, they act as the principal source of labor that keeps the organization in motion. Their contribution and efforts determine how effective the organizations production is.

The bond between the employee and the employer is mainly held by the exchange between the two, the former provides labor while the latter rewards in form of remuneration, promotions incentives and other benefits. The reward must be commensurate with the effort put. Vroom (1964), argues that there is job satisfaction if there exists a positive correlation between efforts and performance and reward, favorable performance leads to a desirable reward, the reward must be a proportional reflection of the effort and performance. If the employee rates the reward as below expectation, this will lead to dissatisfaction and low performance. This affects the overall production of the organization. There are three major pillars that help in better understanding of job satisfaction.

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction can be divided into three. Valence is what the employees hold emotionally, they are the core reasons for one taking up employment this are factors like remuneration, all employees will look for the most rewarding available employer who will offer the best package. Therefore, it is expected that they will put maximum efforts and in return get maximum benefits. Promotions are necessary as all human beings work for upward mobility, if a worker stays in one position without getting promoted the job gets dull and less satisfying. Job stagnation leads to low esteem and low morale which will lead to poor performance.

Every worker is entitled for a time off, this facilitates the individual to rest and also handle their personal affairs. If this is denied absence the worker will be more dissatisfied and that automatically will impair their production. Apart from the regular payment, workers who get other benefits will be more satisfied as opposed to those who get the regular pay only. Even if the regular pay is huge it might not be as satisfying as a smaller pay which is coupled by several other benefits. Employees will always use this as the yard stick to measure how much the employer values them. If the above are availed, the employees life beyond work gets a shot in the arm, they have better living standards and hence thy have high regard for their employment and this leads to higher productivity.

Expectancy is what the employee expects from the employer, this comes in form of knowledge and new innovations, it is expected that employers provide refresher courses, retreats, and other forms of supplementary training in order to enhance the employees skills and productivity. An employee who benefits from these will exhibit higher signs of job satisfaction as opposed to the ones who get little or none of these. Instrumentality can be described as the perception the employees have on their boss, this manifests its self if promises are kept, if a reward was promised and given, the employee will have a high regard for the employer and this will increase satisfaction and production. However, if a promise is never fulfilled, employees will feel cheated and hence there will be no job satisfaction which will result to low morale and subsequently low production.

Microsofts approach to the issue of instrumentality should be considered a best practice in this regard. When Microsoft sets a ship date for its software, it adheres to that date no matter what transpires. Engineers conducting periodic reviews of the work to date are empowered to cut down functionality requirements if doing so will enable the ship date to be met. This strategy addresses the problem of instrumentality as described above because, when workers realize that they have been given an impossible task, they redefine the task to make it possible. Far from being an admission of failure, such an approach makes it possible for the software development team to work free from the pressure of the impossible, to feel as if it always has the instruments necessary to do the job at hand. This principle can apply to the public sector as well. If all these are well taken care of the employee will feel that the employer understands what they value as well as understand their worth. Once the employer avails this, job satisfaction is achieved.

Job satisfaction is one major factor to determine amongst other factors the employees motivation which impacts heavily on production capacities as well as employees turnover. Employers whose institutions have little or no job satisfaction will always experience high turnovers as employees seek employment in other areas in pursuit of job satisfaction.

Motivation and Job Satisfaction

The discussion of motivation and satisfaction was collapsed into a single section because, according to the theories that will be examined in this section, motivation and satisfaction have the same psychological roots, particularly in organizational contexts. There is strong empirical evidence that there are two separate pathways that determine how people work. Herzbergs (1966) Two-Factor theory established that hygiene and satisfaction are the two separate axes that explain workplace motivation

A human being spends a third of their lives at work, this calls for a very satisfying environment least an employee spends this huge chunk of life dissatisfied and automatically this will lead to impaired production In any undertaking motivation is key as it hold production as well as job satisfaction. Workers needs and wants must be met so as to attain satisfaction. The psychological needs must be taken care of an employee need to be contented in what they are doing the job and tasks must be at per with the qualifications, if one is given a task with a low description, it will lad to a situation of dissatisfaction, on the other hand if the task is way above the capabilities of the employee they might feel overrated and this will also lead to dissatisfaction.

Herzberg (1966), in drafting his theory, argued that someone who is motivated is truly a sight to behold, as they put all of their heart and soul into an activity. Love of work is certainly the strongest motivator of people. He was both a theorist and an empirical investigator and conducted workplace surveys that demonstrated the distinction between hygiene and satisfaction. Hygiene refers to those aspects of a job that are the most basic like salary, physical workspace, security etc. Satisfaction refers to those aspects of a job that generate some form of emotional satisfaction for the worker things like good remuneration, benefits and perks amongst others. This theory has been empirically confirmed by different researchers, including Cenfetelli (2004) described hygiene as inhibitors and satisfaction as enablers in the humans ability to perform. This language is important, as it helps to explain what lies at the heart of workplace motivation. Hygiene is an inhibitor, in that it, when it falls below, a certain standard, it can cause people to quit or become unmotivated. However, merely raising hygiene to a certain level does not automatically translate into satisfaction (in Herzbergs 1966 term) or enablement (in Cenfetellis 2004 term). More money does not mean more happiness.

Nissle and Bschors (2002) empirical study demonstrated that even winning the lottery did not often reverse depression among winners. While paying someone more money may prevent them from leaving a job, the simple fact of a higher salary cannot make a boring job satisfying or translate into automatic emotional fulfillment for the worker. That, in a nutshell, is Herzbergs theory, and its empirical confirmation by a host of researchers (including Nissle & Bschor) has rendered the theory one of the well-confirmed constructs in all of organizational science. Turners (2003) work, which assessed the existing state of compensation theory, came to the conclusion that todays employees are increasingly in search of satisfaction, and there is a marketplace of opportunities for good employees who do not find satisfaction at their current jobs. A cynic might ask: Why is it important to motivate employees?

Aguayo (1991) has provided the answer, based on a survey of productivity, compensation, and quality statistics: intrinsic motivation is the engine for improvement. If it is kept alive and nourished, quality can and will occur. If it is killed, quality dies with it (p. 103). That is why, according to Arthur (2006), HR recruiters tend to look for intrinsic motivation as one of the most important potential employee qualifications. Herzberg (1966), meanwhile, argued for a distinction between what he called movement and motivation (p. 141). Movement is what ordinary employees do in order to give their bosses the illusion that they are active; movement is designed to give off more light than heat, and stay employed. Motivation, on the other hand, is true enthusiasm, the force that allows people to move mountains, in both the professional and personal lives.

Some organizations fail to be able to offer benefits and conditions that can emotionally satisfy employees into being motivated rather than moving because, after all, benefits also cost the business money. Having on-site gyms, no less than providing high salaries, requires deep pockets from the business providing it. However, the literature accepts that existing employees who are asked to give up either hygiene or satisfaction in the workplace may give their assent if five questions are answered form them. These five questions, according to Jensen and Kerr (1995), attempts to explain the following: Why must we change and why is this change important, What one is supposed to do, What are the measures and consequences of change or lack of it, What tools and support will be available to the employee, and what the employee ca expect (p. 411). Based on an empirical study of workers and lower-level managers, Sims (2002) concluded that, if the Jensen and Kerr questions are not answered, then it is likely that the response of employees to requests for change will be one of resistance and cynicism (p. 202).

The literature has many profound implications and few gaps, as there is by now over half a century of dense research on the topic of employee motivation. The first important implication is that emotional satisfaction is the most important component of workplace satisfaction and motivation. Based on the theories put forward by Maslow (1993), and empirically confirmed by Herzberg (1966) and his followers, people who are emotionally satisfied with their work are the more likely to leave employment and the most likely to excel at it. This research should inform the HR manager that the key deliverable of a compensation and benefit strategy ought to be the generation of emotional satisfaction for employees.

There are a number of specific explanations, which are complicated by the fact that, for different people, motivation results from different things. However, what both Maslow and Herzberg found is that factors such as money are fairly down the list in terms of conferring self-fulfillment. More recently, Bandura (1997) has found that self-efficacy is a very important component of self-fulfillment, although one that is difficult to achieve:

Efficacy is a generative capability in which cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral subskills must be organized and effectively orchestrated to serve innumerable purposes. There is a marked difference between possessing subskills and being able to integrate them into appropriate courses of action and to execute them well under difficult circumstances. People often fail to perform optimally even though they know full well what to do and possess the requisite skills to do it (pp. 36-37).

There is no greater pleasure than doing a difficult and rewarding job well. On the other hand, it seems that there is no greater disappointment than failing to do such a job either because the sub skills or the job resources are not present. Bandura argued that it is not enough for the skills to be present; an employee must know that the skills are present.

If one of these factors is absent, the results will be dismal for they are all important and hence should be applied as a cocktail. The working environment must be safe; this assurance helps in motivating the workers as they execute their duties without fear of any risks and eventualities. Workers also need to feel that they belong to an organization; this can be achieved by the employer contributing to aspects outside working environment. If an employer provides medical cover, the employer feels that their plight is of importance and this motivates them. The esteem of an employee is of importance and is a major factor in their motivation. The way issues that arise in the course of duty are handled will determine the levels of motivation.

If an employee makes a mistake and is bashed or unjustly punished by the superiors, chances are that they will feel belittled and that affects their esteem. There are set goals and standards which are supposed to be attained, if an employee is unable to match these standards in the course of their duty dispensation, and the management fails to come up with strategies to help in rising the standards, the employee might not attain their full potential and this will lead to low motivation. In addition to instrumentality, another foundational component of motivation is equity. In equity theory as applied to business, the idea is that workers are not altruistic in their motivation; not surprisingly, they will put in what they think they are getting back from their employer (Adams 1976). In what is known as equity theory, the dependent variables of worker performance, motivation, and satisfaction are all predicted, to some extent, by what the worker perceives as receiving from the employer. The original graphic in Figure 1 depicts equity theory in action.

EQUITY: You get out what you put in — Figure 1. Source: Adapted from Montana and Charnov (2000, p. 250) Equity Theory.

In expectancy theory, motivation is driven by an employees knowledge that a first-order actionlike working hardwill lead predictably (and fairly, which is where equity theory comes in) to a second-order outcome, like a reward (Montana and Charnov 2000, p. 250). Equity theory complicates expectancy somewhat, as different employees may have different ideas about what is fair. A particularly egocentric person working 10 hours a week might expect a giant salary. However, equity theory cant even kick into action until the instrumentality component of expectancy is satisfied. After all, Vrooms theory (1964) predicts that force = first-level valence x expectancy, but expectancy can only take place if instrumentality is present; if we do not expect, or if it is not true in fact, that a first-order behavior will lead to a second-order outcome, expectancy will be nil, thus translating into zero force (meaning that the employee is not at all motivated to work). In the theory of organizational psychology as proposed by Vroom, instrumentality is just the beginning of motivation. It is not enough for workers to feel that they can do their work.

Equity theory and other motivational techniques must now be applied to ensure that workers will do their work. So how should an HR manager company apply the theory? The first step is to understand what theories of motivation have been proposed, which has been the task of this section of the paper. To briefly recap: Frederick Herzbergs Two Factor theory (xviii) has been particularly influential in its claim that job satisfaction is directly related to a class of motivators that includes recognition, advancement, and growth.

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