SUGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF STAFF MOTIVATION AT INVESTIP

Human Resource Management (“HRM”) is one of the most important activities in business operations of everya company because the development or downturn of the company deeply depends on the labor force. A company with good performance partly reflects the effective management of its human resource. In the context of the economic crisis and high production costs, effective management of human resource shall make a substantial contributions to strong development of the company. If the company has almost all motivated employees who enthusiastically dedicate their time and energy to their work, it means that the future of this company shall be very bright. INVESTIP has been one of the leading consulting firms in Vietnam focusing mainly on intellectual property consultancy services. The top-ten rank of this company is taken part by many employees of great talent. However, the turnover rate of INVESTIP has been increasingly since 2007 from 18% in 2007 to 23% (mainly in IP department) in 2010, and almost employees do not satisfy with the current motivation of this company. The high rate of resignation and lacking of employee motivation have created a challenge to this company, especially the Administration Department (“AD”) during the period. Many employees who are working in INVESTIP revealed that they are searching better job opportunities in other companies and will change to new jobs upon available, even if they have to break down their labor contracts. In other words, they have no mental attachment to INVESTIP while they are still in this company. Whenever an employee leaves the company, the remainders are usually dispirited and they are influenced to seek another job as the soonest. The low working spirit of employees has adversely affected to their work performance, the service quality of this company, therefore, has not been ensured and the business productivity of the company has been reduced as a result. What is the root of these problems? What should be done to brighten the picture of INVESTIP? It is possible that lacking motivation is the main cause for high turnover and low working spirit of employees. Therefore, in this circumstance, the author as the former employee of the company, decides to choose the topic “SUGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF STAFF MOTIVATION AT INVESTIP” for the final project with the hope to apply knowledge obtaining from the course to analysis these issues.

This project is written and completed based on the requirements of the Master in Management Program conducted by Solvay Business School of Belgium and the

National Economics University (“NEU”) of Vietnam.

I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dao Thi Thanh Lam, Ph.D Her wide knowledge and logical way of thinking have been of great value for me Her understanding, encouragement and personal guidance have provided me with a good basis for the final project

It is a pleasure to thank staff of NEU’s Faculty of International Education for their guidance and supports who made this project possible.

I owe my deepest gratitude to my colleagues at INVESTIP’s Intellectual Property

Department (“INVESTIP-IPD”) who support me to fulfill questionnaires, to

take part in my interviews and exchange information

Importantly, I am indebted to my family for the great supports and encourages during my study period of MBM program

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INVESTIP is one of the leading consulting firms in Vietnam, of which the mainservice is intellectual property consultancy Human resource is the most valuableasset that decides the survival, success or failure of the company In four recentyears, the high turnover rate of employees at INVESTIP-IPD is increased from18% in 2007 to 23% in 2010

With the desire to find out the key de-motivators influencing staff motivation thatlead to the current human resource practice, the author chooses and writes this

project with title “SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF STAFF MOTIVATION AT INVESTIP” This research aims at clarifying the practice

and making some solutions to these problems

Definition of motivation and three motivation theories consisting of Equitytheory of John Stacey Adams, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Two-factortheory of Herzberg were used as theoretical foundation of this project

The research was conducted by the combination of quantitative and qualitativemethods Qualitative study was conducted through 8 in-depth interviews with 4existing employees in INVESTIP and 4 employees who have left this company.The quantitative study wa i s based on questionnaires of 48 existing employees

of INVESTIP-IPD According to the survey results, it is found that the reasonwhy employees’ motivation in INVESTIP-IPD is not good is mainly affected

by the following problems: lacking competitiveness in salary, allowance andother benefits, little chance of training and career development, lacking ofappraisal performance system; unsatisfactory recognition of unsatisfactoryachievement, low quality of supervision, inconvenient working conditions,and lacking of interesting and challenging in job, and a big difference betweenemployees and employers in IP job

From the research findings, the author suggests that to improve staff motivation,

it is necessary to take the following actions: establishing a performance appraisalsystem, improving reward and recognition system, creating more interesting andchallenging job, improving quality of supervision, improving workingconditions, and developing training and career, and changing managementpeople

The author hopes the suggestions made in this project would contribute to theimprovement of the staff motivation at INVESTIP in general and INVESTIP-IPD in particular, helping the company to attract talents and retain its good

employees.

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

TABLE OF CONTENT 3

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 5

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 7

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 8

I.1 Rationales of the project 8

I.2 Research objectives 9

I.3 Research questions 9

I.4 Scope of research 9

I.5 Limitation of research 9

I.6 Research methodology 10

I.6.1 Research process 10

I.6.2 Data collection 10

I.6.2.1 The primary data .10

I.7 Structure of thesis 13

CHAPTER II: MOTIVATION THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 14

II.1 Motivation theoretical framework on employee motivation 14

II.1.1 Definition of Motivation 14

II.1.1.1 Motivation-definition 14

II.1.1.2 Satisfaction- definition: there is some confusion between motivation and satisfaction 14

II.1.1.2 The importance of Employee Motivation 15

II.1.2 Theories of Employee Motivation 15

II.1.2.1 The Equity Theory of John Stacey Adams 15

II.1.2.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 16

otivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other needs 16

II.1.2.3 The Two Factor Theory of Herzberg 17

II.1.3 The relevance and indicators of the three motivation theories to the case of INVESTIP 18

CHAPTER III: OVERVIEW OF INVESTIP 20

III.1 INVESTIP at a glance 20

III.2 Scope of business 20

III.3 Clients 20

III.4 Competition 21

III.5 Vision 21

III.6 Mission 21

III.7 Strategy 22

III.8 Positioning 22

III.9 INVESTIP organizational structure 22

III.10 Human resource characteristics 23

III.11 Business performance 24

III.12 HRM practices at INVESTIP 25

CHAPTER IV: UNDERSTANDING KEY EMPLOYEE MOTIVATORS AND DE-MOTIVATORS AT INVESTIP 26

IV.1 Identifying employee motivation at INVESTIP 26

IV.1.1 Opinions of employees about the importance of Hygiene and Motivation factors 26

IV.1.2 Opinions of employees about current satisfaction of motivation 28

IV.2 Understanding the key de-motivators and motivators at INVESTIP 29

IV.2.1 Understanding the hygiene factors 29

IV.2.1.1 Working conditions 29

IV.2.1.2 Supervision 33

IV.2.1.3 Salary, allowance and other benefits 35

IV.2.1.4 Interpersonal relations 41

IV.2.1.5 Company policies and administration 44

IV.2.2 Understanding the motivators in INVESTIP-IPD 47

IV.2.2.1 Work itself interesting and challenge 47

IV.2.2.2 Responsibility 50

IV.2.2.3 Achievement and Recognition 51

IV.2.2.4 Advancement 55

IV.2.2.5 Possibility of growth 57

IV.2.3 Conclusion on research results 60

IV.2.3.1 The de-motivation factors in INVESTIP and reasons thereof 60

IV.2.3.2 The motivators at INVESTIP 61

CHAPTER V: SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING IMPROVEMENT OF STAFF MOTIVATION AT INVESTIP 62

V.1 Establishing a performance appraisal system 62

V.1.1 Appraisal regulations 63

V.1.2 Appraisal guidelines 63

V.1.3 Conducting the performance appraisal 63

V.2 Changing management people 64

V.3 Improving reward and recognition system 65

V.4 Creating more interesting and challenging job 66

V.5 Improving quality of supervision 67

V.6 Improving working conditions 67

V.7 Developing training and career 68

CONCLUSION 69

REFERENCE 70

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Research Methodology 12

Table 2.1: The combination of hygiene and motivation factors 20

Table 32.12 .INVESTIP’s aging structure in 2010 (person) .25

Table 32.23 .INVESTIP’s professional structure (person) .26

Table 4.1 The average scores of important level of each hygiene and motivation factor .29

Table 4.2 The current satisfaction level of employees (person, n=48) 31

Table 4.3 The satisfaction level of working conditions (person, n=48) 33

Table 4.4 The satisfaction level of supervision (person, n=48) 37

Table 4.5 The satisfaction level of salary (person, n=48) 39

Table 4.6 Salary grades at INVESTIP-IPD (VND) 42

Table 4.7 Salary grades of INVESTIP-IPD in comparison with IP companies 43

Table 4.8 The satisfaction level of interpersonal relations (person, n=48) 46

Table 4.9 The satisfaction level of policies and administration (person, n=48) 49

Table 4.10 The satisfaction level of work itself (score) 54

Table 4.11 The satisfaction level of responsibility (person, n=48) 57

Table 4.12 The satisfaction level of achievement (person, n=48) 58

Table 4.13 The satisfaction level of recognition (person, n=48) 59

Table 4.14 The satisfaction level of advancement (person, n=48) 62

Table 4.15 The satisfaction level of growth possibility (person, n=48) 64

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Research Process 10

Figure 2.1 The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 17

Figure 3.1 Client segmentation 21

Figure 3.2 INVESTIP organizational structure 22

Figure 3.3 The relation between growth rate and turn-over rate 25

Figure 4.1 The satisfaction level of office stationery and equipments (%) 30

Figure 4.2 Satisfaction of environmental characters (%) 32

Figure 4.3 Satisfaction level of supervision’s feedback and recommendations (%) 33

Figure 4.4 The satisfaction level of supervision’s fairness (%) 34

Figure 4.5 The satisfaction level of salary (%) 36

Figure 4.6 The satisfaction level of salary in comparison with other employees (%) 37

Figure 4.7 The satisfaction level of duration for periodical salary increase (%) 40

Figure 4.8 The satisfaction level of relation between employees and managers (%) 42

Figure 4.9 The satisfaction level of working atmosphere in the firm (%) 44

Figure 4.10 The satisfaction level of the firm’s administration policies (%) 45

Figure 4.11 The mean scores of hygiene factors (score) 47

Figure 4.12 The satisfaction level of challenging and interesting job (%) 48

Figure 4.13 The satisfaction level of task assignment (%) 49

Figure 4.14 The satisfaction level of job tension (%) 50

Figure 4.15 The satisfaction level of supervisors’ recognition (%) 53

Figure 4.16 The satisfaction level of opportunities to be promoted (%) 55

Figure 4.17 The satisfaction level of clear career path (%) 56Figure 4.18 The satisfaction level of chance for learning and developing career

(%) 58Figure 4.19 The satisfaction level of bright prospect of this firm (%) 59Figure 4.20 The mean scores of motivation factors 60

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

INVESTIP-IPD INVESTIP’s Intellectual Property Department

NOIP National Office of Intellectual Property

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I.1 Rationales of the project

Human Resource Management (“HRM”) is one of the most important activities

in business operations of everya company because the development or downturn

of the company deeply depends on the labor force A company with goodperformance partly reflects the effective management of its human resource Inthe context of the economic crisis and high production costs, effectivemanagement of human resource shall make a substantial contributions to strongdevelopment of the company If the company has almost all motivated employeeswho enthusiastically dedicate their time and energy to their work, it means thatthe future of this company shall be very bright

INVESTIP has been one of the leading consulting firms in Vietnam focusingmainly on intellectual property consultancy services The top-ten rank of thiscompany is taken part by many employees of great talent However, despite the turnover rate of INVESTIP has been increasingly since 2007 from 18% in

2007 to 23% (mainly in IP department) in 2010, and almost employees do not satisfy with the current motivation of this company The high rate of resignation

and lacking of employee motivation have created a challenge to this company,especially the Human ResourceAdministration Department (“AD”) during theperiod

Many employees who are working in INVESTIP revealed that they are searchingbetter job opportunities in other companies and will change to new jobs uponavailable, even if they have to break down their labor contracts In other words,

they have no mental attachment to INVESTIP while they are still in this company Whenever an employee leaves the company (psychology) , the

remainders are usually dispirited and they are influenced to seek another job

as the soonest The low working spirit of employees has adversely affected tostheir work performance, theirthe service quality of this company, therefore, hasnot been ensured and the business productivity of the company has been reduced

as a result

What is the root of these problems? What should be done to brighten the picture

of INVESTIP? It is possible that lacking motivation is the main cause for highturnover and low working spirit of employees Therefore, in this circumstance,the author as the former employee of the company, decides to choose the topic

“SUGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF STAFF MOTIVATION AT INVESTIP” for the final project with the hope to apply knowledge obtaining

from the course to analysis these issues

I.2 Research objectives

The objectives of this research are to find out the key de-motivation andmotivation factors in INVESTIP and then make suggestions to enhance staffmotivation at this company

I.3 Research questions

In order to fulfill the previously mentioned objectives, the following questionsshall be answered:

 How is the current staff motivation at INVESTIP?

 What are the key de-motivators and motivators at INVESTIP?

 How to improve staff motivation at this company?

I.4 Scope of research

- With regard to theoretical foundation, the project will review a number ofmotivation theories which will be used as the guidelines to identify the key staffmotivators at INVESTIP The theories include Equity theory of John StaceyAdams, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Two-factor theory of Herzberg

- As to the survey sample, this project focuses on Intellectual Property

Department (“IPD”) only because it is the key section contributing up to 90% of

the whole INVESTIP revenue In addition, 54 employees of IPD including

non-executive level and non-executive level make up 69% of the total number employees

of the company

- The project is analyzed based on the information and situation of INVESTIPcollected between 2007 and 2010

I.5 Limitation of research

- The project is conducted based on the current motivation problems of thecompany, the recommendations in this thesis will therefore only can be appliedand suitable for INVESTIP-IPD in the current point of time In the long term,continuous research and analysis are needed to respond to the fast changes in thecompany’s internal and external environment Besides, it is unable to apply thesesuggestions to other IP agencies or law firms because of different situations andenvironments

- Due to the limited access to the company financial data, this research cannotshow the close relationships between found de-motivators and businessperformance in some recent years

I.6 Research methodology

I.6.1 Research process

The author uses both quantitative and qualitative studies in this project The

research process is performed gradually in accordance with the following:

Figure 1.1 Research Process

Background on employee motivation

Current status

of motivation

Overview INVESTIP requirement on employee

motivation

Stage 3: Perform in-depth

interview

Stage 4: Design questionnaire

Stage 5: Implement survey

Stage 2: Collect secondary

data

Stage 1: Collect secondary

data, analyze and indentify

the researched problems

Suggestions

Source: Supervisor’s guidance and Author’s implementation, 2011

I.56.2 Data collection

Both secondary data and primary data are used for this research

I.56.2.1 The primary data

TThe primary data was collected from January to February 2011 In order tocollect this data, the author used quantitative and qualitative methods to analyzethe current INVESTIP employee motivation and identify the de-motivationfactors

Table 1.1 Research Methodology

Respondent/Interviewee

and Positions

Data collecting methods

Number Instrument Information

 - 1 supervisor left the firm

 - 3 employees of IPD left the

8 Interview

(telephone,yahoo chatand face-to-face)

Interviewees’opinions andassessmentsabout the keymotivation and

48 Questionnair

e(e-mail)

Respondents’assessment

practice ofemployeemotivation

Source: Author’s analysis (2011)

I.56.2.1.1 In-depth interview

a.I The sample size

The sample size was 8 interviewees in which 4 interviewees are currentemployees and the rest left the company during the period of 2007-2010

b.ii The sample method

All interviewees were willing to answer the questions 4 out of 8 wereinterviewed on yahoo messengers, 2 employees were interviewed on telephonesand the remainders were interviewed face by face

c.All interviewees were pleased to answer the questions 4 out of 8 wereinterviewed on yahoo messengers, 2 employees were interviewed on telephonesand the remainders were interviewed face by face

iii In-depth interview questions

- Interview questions for the current employees: consist of 10 questions that

focuses on what are their motivations on their current work, the interviewees’comments on salary, administration policies, work itself, working conditions andappraisal performancerelation between employees and employers

- Interview questions for employees left the firm: consist of 9 questions that focus

on why the interviewee left the firm and their comments on salary, administrationpolicies, work itself, working conditions and appraisal performanceandinterpersonal relations

I.56.2.1.2 Survey method

aI The sample size

The sample size was 48 employees account for 89% of the INVESTIP-IPDemployees

bii The sample method

The questionnaires were sent to 54 IP employees of INVESTIP-IPD coveringboth non-executive and executive levels in which 48 valid responses werereceived by e-mails

ciii The questionnaire design

The questionnaire consists of 51 questions of multiple choices that are divided

into two main parts The first part is the Assessment on the importance of the key

de-motivation and motivation factors and the second part is the Appreciation of the satisfaction of de-motivation and motivation factors Thisese questionnaires

wereas designed based on the issues found from of in-depth interviews and the

two factors theory of Herzberg to answer the two first research questions “How

is the current staff motivation at INVESTIP?” and “What are the key motivators and motivators at INVESTIP?” Following are the factors based on

de-which the author designed the questionnaires:

- Physical working conditions: equipments and facilities for working such as

office stationery, telephone, computer, air quality, indoor climate, space, lighting,ventilation and other environmental characters

- Supervision: on this research, the category includes the fairness or unfairness of the

supervisors, the feedback and recommendations of supervisors to the work performance

- Salary, allowance and other benefits: on this research, the category includes the

current salary, allowance, benefits, salary range, and duration for salary increase

- Interpersonal relations: on this research, the category includes the relations

between colleagues, between staff and supervisors, and the working atmosphere

- Company policies and administration: on this research, the category includes the

business regulations, administration policies and the performance of appraisal policy

- The work itself: on this research, the category focuses on the interesting or

boring work, the reasonable or unreasonable assignment of work

- Work itself: on this research, the category focuses on the interesting or boring

work, the reasonable or unreasonable assignment of work

- Responsibility: on this research, the category focuses on the responsibility or

irresponsibility to work, freely making decision or dependently making decision

- Recognition: on this research, the category focuses on the supervisors’

recognition and colleagues’ recognition in the employees’ effort in the work

I.7 Structure of final projectthesis

Chapter I: Introduction

In this chapter, the author presented the rationales, research objectives, researchquestions, research methodology, scope of research, limitation of research andthesis project structure

Chapter II: Motivation theoretical framework

The first part of thisThis chapter will present the main ideas of the motivationtheories as mentioned above, as well as create a link between these theories andthe motivation of INVESTIP case

Chapter III: Overview of INVESTIP

This chapter e second part will provide brief information of INVESTIP and itsHRM practices

Chapter IV: Understandings current employee motivation at INVESTIP-IPD

This is the most important chapter of this project, this chapter will present more

details the factors of theories in more details Based on the research results, theauthor shall make deep analysis of de-motivation factors and motivation factors.

Chapter V: Suggestions for improvement of staff motivation at INVESTIP-IPD

In this chapter, the author will recommend some solutions to improve staffmotivation at INVESTIP in general and in INVESTIP-IPD in particular based onfindings in the chapter IV

CHAPTER II MOTIVATION THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

II.1 Motivation theoretical framework on employee motivation

II.1.1 Definition of Motivation

II.1.1.1 Motivation-definition

There are variety ways to define concepts on motivation such as “motivation is a dynamic process, it is not something a person is born with or without but rather something that can be enhanced or developed”1 or “motivation is the driving force behind all actions of an organism”2 However, in this project, the authorchooses the motivation definition of Stephen Robbins to be the theoreticalframework for this research

According to Stephen Robbins, “motivation is the process that account for an

individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a

goal”3 In this project, the author will narrow the focus to organizational goals

instead of any goal in order to reflect the singular interests in work-relatedbehavior There are three key elements in this definition, which are intensity,

direction and persistence Intensity refers to how hard a person tries, which

stands in the focus when people talk about motivation However, highintensity will not lead to the favorable job performance outcomes unless the

effort is channeled in a direction that benefits the organization Finally, motivation has a persistence dimension, which measures how long a person

can maintain his or her effort From the definition, the author can clearlyunderstand how motivation in an organization is In other words, motivationconcerns:

 What urge people to initiate actions;

 What influence their choice of action; and

 Why they persist in doing it over time

The definition of Stephen P Robbins will be an indicator for author during theprocess of research

II.1.1.2 Satisfaction-definition

1 Kleinginna, P., Jr., & Kleinginna A (1981a) A categorized list of motivation definitions, with

suggestions for a consensual definition Motivation and Emotion, 5, 264

2 Source: Definition from website: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Motivation

3 Stephen P Robbins, “Organizational Behavior”, Person Educational International, 10 th Edition, 2003, p 155

According to Susan Heathfield, a Human Resources expert “Employee

satisfaction is the terminology used to describe whether employees are happy and contented and fulfilling their desires and needs at work Employee satisfaction is a factor in employee motivation, employee goal achievement, and positive employee morale in the workplace”4 Although “satisfaction” and

“motivation” are not identical, they are confusingly similar in appraising

employee feeling when they are happy, contented or fulfilling their desires and

needs at work It may be stated that “motivation reflects satisfaction” In fact,

the concept “satisfaction” is more popular and more understandable for readers.For these reasons, the author uses the terminology “satisfaction” instead of

“motivation” in the designed questionnaires to help respondents choose properanswers that are close to their opinions about the problems mentioned in thisresearch

II.1.1.2 The importance of Employee Motivation

Why we do care employee motivation? There is an old saying “You can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink It will drink only if it’s thirsty” It is the same with people They will do what they want to do or

otherwise motivated to do Whether it is to excel on the workshop floor or inthe “ivory tower”, they must be motivated or driven to it, either by themselves

or through external stimulus Motivation is considered the key to performanceimprovement It is one of the most frequently researched topics inorganizational behavior

Improving productivity is of high concern for every organization Improvingproductivity means improving employees’ performance The employees’performance is determined by 3 following factors: o pportunity , abilities andmotivation

In short, Performance = f (opportunity) (ability) (motivation)5

Therefore, motivation of employees in an organization is very important forimproving productivity of such organization There exist a number of motivationtheories introduced since 1950s In this research, the author will focus on sometheories because the author believes that they would help identify the keymotivators and de-motivators at a professional service firm like INVESTIP

II.1.2 Theories of Employee Motivation

II.1.2.1 The Equity Theory of John Stacey Adams

4 Susan M Heathfield, http://humanresources.about.com/bio/Susan-M-Heathfield-6016.htm

5 ow Source: www.accel-team.com : “Employee motivation, the organizational environment and

Equity theory of John Stacey Adams attempts to explain relational satisfaction interms of perceptions of fair/unfair distributions of resources within interpersonalrelationships Equity theory is considered as one of the justice theories Thebelief is that people value fair treatment which causes them to be motivated tokeep the fairness maintained within the relationships of their co-workers and theorganization The structure of equity in the workplace is based on the ratio ofinputs to outcomes Inputs are the contributions made by the employee for theorganization.

An individual will consider that he is treated fairly if he perceives the ratio of hisinputs to his outcomes to be equivalent to those around him Thus, all else beingequal, it would be acceptable for a more senior colleague to receive highercompensation, since the value of his experience (an input) is higher The waypeople base their experience with satisfaction for their job is to makecomparisons with themselves to the people they work with If an employeenotices that another person is getting more recognition and rewards for theircontributions, even when both have done the same amount and quality of work, itwould persuade the employee to be dissatisfied This dissatisfaction would result

in the employee feeling underappreciated and perhaps worthless This is in direct

contrast with the idea of equity theory, the idea is to have the rewards (outcomes)

be directly related with the quality and quantity of the employees contributions

(inputs) If both employees were perhaps rewarded the same, it would help the

workforce realize that the organization is fair, observant, and appreciative Thiscan be illustrated by the following equation:

=6 Therefore, in order to understand how an employee satisfies with his/her job incomparison with another one, the theory will be very valuable for the author inanalyzing the satisfaction level of employees in the case of INVESTIP

II.1.2.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy ofneeds in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" and his subsequent

book, Motivation and Personality This hierarchy suggests that people are

motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is most often displayed as a pyramid The lowestlevels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the morecomplex needs are located at the top of the pyramid Needs at the bottom of thepyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep

6 Adams, J.S 1965 Inequity in social exchange Adv Exp Soc Psychol

and warmth Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on tothe next level of needs, which are for safety and security As people progress upthe pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social Soon, the needfor love, friendship and intimacy become important Further up the pyramid, theneed for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority Maslowemphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growingand developing as a person to achieve individual potential.

Figure 2.1 The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Source: Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory

As a result, for suitable workplace motivation, it is important that leadershipunderstands the active needs for increasing individual employee motivation

II.1.2.3 The Two Factor Theory of Herzberg

Frederick Herzberg is one of the most well known writers on employeemotivation He did the motivation-hygiene theory in the late 1950s and early1960s but it is still relevant today Motivating employees is an ongoing challengeand no one has come forward with any evidence to refute Herzberg, so his ideasare still worth looking at The reason for the two factors was Herzberg’srecognition that there is one set of factors that leads to employee satisfaction atwork and another that leads to dissatisfaction

II.1.2.2.1 Hygiene Factors and Dissatisfaction at Work

This set of factors refers mainly to working conditions They are contextualaspects of the working environment and not intrinsic to the work itself ordetermined by how employees work These factors include lighting, noise levels,

Actualization

Self-Personal, growth, fulfillment

Safety

Protection, security, order, law, limits,

stability, etc.

room temperature and safety But they also include wages, where pay is notbased on actual performance but is hourly or monthly Employee benefits orconditions within the workplace, including organizational culture and leadershipstyle, are considered hygiene factors Typical hygiene factors are as follows:Company policy and administration, quality of supervision, salary, interpersonalrelations-supervision and working conditions.

II.1.2.2.2 Motivation Factors and Satisfaction at Work

The distinguishing feature of motivation factors is that employees can only getthem by the way they work, unlike hygiene factors are just there regardless of howhard anyone works This set of factors includes recognition, bonuses, and a sense

of achievement and intrinsic enjoyment of the work itself Being given extraresponsibility and career advancement are also motivation factors in Herzberg’stheory Presumably, these factors motivate employees to work harder because theycan see a direct connection between their efforts and an outcome that they feel isworth striving for The typical motivation factors include the following:Achievement, recognition for achievement, work itself (interesting andchallenging job), responsibility for task, advancement to higher level tasks andgrowth

II.1.2.2.3 The combination of hygiene factors and motivation factors

The combination of hygiene and motivation factors can result in four possiblescenarios:

Table 2.1. The combination of hygiene and motivation factors

Employees are motivated butthey have many complaints Asituation where the job isexciting and challenging butsalaries and work conditions arenot matched with

High

Employees have a fewcomplaints but they are nothighly motivated

The best situation, employeesare highly motivated and havefew complaints

Source: Federic Herzberg (2008)

II.1.3 The relevance and indicators of the three motivation theories to the case of INVESTIP

Among many motivation theories can be applied to analyze the case ofINVESTIP, the author choose three theories of motivation: the Equity Theory of

J Stacy, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Two Factor Theory of Herzberg to

do the research “improving improvement of the staff motivation at INVESTIP”because due to the following reasons:

The Equity Theory of John Stacey Adams called personal efforts and rewardsand other similar 'give and take' issues at work respectively 'inputs' and 'outputs'.Inputs are logically what we give or put into our work Outputs are everything wetake out in return.These terms help emphasise that what employees put into theirwork includes many factors besides working hours, and that what people receivefrom their work includes many things aside from money Thus, applying thistheory will be very helpful for the author in the process of researching thisproject The theory implicates equity between individual efforts spent and whatreward they received from the organization, the equity among individuals, amongunits, departments, position, especially the equity compared with the market

With regard to Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs: Although Maslow only focuses onmotivation of individuals, this theory is still valuable to apply in researching staffmotivation at INVESTIP because an organization’s existing and development aresubject to the contribution of many individuals Maslow has set up a hierarchy offive levels of basic needs Beyond these needs, higher levels of needs exist.These include needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely spiritualneeds In the levels of the five basic needs, the person does not feel the secondneed until the demands of the first have been satisfied, nor the third until thesecond has been satisfied, and so on Therefore, the application of this theory willhelp they author to understand more clearly about the needs and need levels ofthe INVESTIP’s employees

As to the Two factor theory of Herzberg, Herzberg was the first to show thatsatisfaction and dissatisfaction at work nearly always arose from differentfactors, and were not simply opposing reactions to the same factors, as hadalways previously been (and still now by the unenlightened) believed Althoughthe problems of Herzberg were researched so many years ago and some issuesare no longer suitable to the current situations, the applicability of this theory isstill popular and effective in researching employee motivation For this reason,the author mainly applies this theory to the project with the aspiration to clarifythe current motivation of INVESTIP and then give suggestions to improving theemployee motivation

CHAPTER III OVERVIEW OF INVESTIP

This chapter presents a brief introduction of INVESTIP, its vision, missionstatement, strategies, positioning, clients, competition, organizational structure,human resource characteristics, business performance and HRM practices

III.1 INVESTIP at a glance

INVESTIP was established in 1988 as a joint-stock company The firm currentlyemploys a total number of 78 staffs in which 54 employees, including non-executive level and executive level, belong to IPD and are the main labor force ofthis company

INVESTIP prides of being one of the first professional agencies in Vietnamspecializing in IP matters for both domestic and oversea clients The firm has beenachieving a year–to-year growth in terms of reputation, revenue, and labour force It

is one of the five leading IP agencies in Vietnam (the other four firms areINVENCO, PHAM & ASSOCIATE, VISION & ASSOCIATE and VCCI) Thefirm had recognized an average revenue growth rate of 10% from 2000 to 2007

III.2 Scope of business

As a professional consulting IP firm, the core business of INVESTIP, like the otherfirms, is providing a full range of IP services in Vietnam and other countries.Besides, the firm also provides consultancy services on investment and business.Setting up and developing project services are also a small part of INVESTIPservice portfolio which has been provided to its clients The services of thiscompany consist of consultancy services in: intellectual property, establishing anddeveloping project and investment and business consultancy services

III.3 Clients

The major clients of IPD are IP agencies and law firms in all over the world whorepresent their clients in their countries to protect their IP rights in Vietnam andelsewhere Parts of its clients are Vietnamese companies and individuals invarious industries who directly contact and request INVESTIP to act on their

behalf in Vietnam Up to now, IPD has 2,300 clients in total Although thenumber of Vietnamese clients is bigger than the number of foreign clients,revenue of this company is mainly received from the foreign clients, accountingfor 70% Thus, in order to develop the target market, the company needs aqualified labor force to provide the best advice to these clients The below figureillustrates the structure of INVESTIP-IPD’s client portfolio based on the number

of clients across IP services provided by INVESTIP

Figure 3.1 Client Segmentation

 Market 1, where major players are the long-standing agencies and foreign

law firms

 Market 2, where small local firms compete to gain clients who are mainly

local small and medium sized companies

INVESTIP-IPD focuses on both sub-markets All players appear to be nearlyequal in various aspects, especially in the first market It is hard to determinewhich firm is the dominant market leader Overall, they share relatively the sameamount of the market cake and reputation Nevertheless, one firm may be

stronger than another in a particular business line or in a submarket

III.5 Vision

 To be the leader s in the chosen market

 To be one of the five in term of reputation

III.6 Mission

“ For the prosperous of clients and clients’ success are our success ”

III.7 Strategy

 To go side by side with clients

 Clients are always served in a fair competitive business environment

where clients feel free to make decisions for their future businesses

 Have a professional, flexible and creative team of advisory

 Connect our business services with humanitarian, social and environmentalactivities

 Ready to cooperate, share with partners in business for mutual

development

 Have belief of clients and partners to remain good reputation

III.8 Positioning

The positioning of INVESTIP is “human resource”

III.9 INVESTIP organizational structure

Figure 3.2 INVESTIP’s organizational structure

Board of Directors

Board of managers

Intellectual Property Dept Investment Consulting Dept.

Developing Project Dept

Trademark Division

Patent Division

Source: INVESTIP (September 2010) Comments on the organizational structure:

INVESTIP’s structure is of a centralization type of organization which isreflected in the role of leadership of the Board of Directors, where the mostimportant decisions on the firm’s business and operation come from The Board

of Directors, as the top executive committee, acts as the firm’s strategy andpolicy maker and the final decision maker on important businesses andoperational issues such as marketing strategies, business plans, schedule of fees,compensation and staff benefits, etc

The majority of the staff force are professional employees who are directlyinvolved in provision of services to the clients They are young, well-educated andtrained and career minded who look for a career development and learning curveprospective with the firm This characteristic should be well taken into account bythe top and line management when designing staff related policies and programs

III.10 Human resource characteristics

Table 32.2 INVESTIP’s aging structure in 2010 (person)

Department Numbe r 18-25 Age 26-30 Age 31-40 Age 41-50 Age Age >51

Source: Administration Department, INVESTIP, 2010

In accordance with the employee static data from INVESTIP’s report, it is revealed thatthe employees of this firm are quite young in which 63% is under 30 years of age, 32%

is between 30-40 years of ages and the upper age of 40 years is only 8% The author isaware of the enthusiasm of almost young staff which is in inverse proportion to theolder of their ages As for the staffs under 25 years old who have just graduated fromuniversities, they are willing to work hard as well as take pressure job The young staffsare ready to face challenges on career and wish to learn as much professional skills andknowledge as possible For the older staffs who have good professional skills,experience, high aware of their own values, inspiration of promotion, higher training,the current positions or jobs are not suitable or not their expectation

All employees of IPD were well educated from good universities in Vietnam andoversea, some of whom have MA degrees or PhD degrees

Table 32.3 INVESTIP’s professional structure (person)

Department Number High-school graduate University graduated graduated Higher

Source: Administration Department, INVESTIP, 2010

76 out of 78 staffs of this firm graduated from reputation universities in Vietnamand oversea accounting for 97% They therefore have high demand on fairappraisal and compensation as well as succeed in their objects and obtainachievement

Besides, similar to other companies in the field of legal consultancy services,human resource of INVESTIP has special characteristics other than that of otherindustries such as manufacturing, marketing or unskilled labor Being lawyers orlaw experts, they have a good knowledge of law, legal procedure, and deeplyunderstand legal business activities These employees are also high responsiblefor their job Especially, they need to be respected by colleague and supervisorsand need to be developed in their career and life

Due to the education background and occupational characteristics, employees inthe field of IP services in general and INVESTIP in particular, are often smart,professional and respect themselves Therefore, their needs are not onlybiological, safety, love, affection, belongingness but esteem and self-actualization as well

III.11 Business performance

Since the date of establishment, INVESTIP always got high growth rate in allareas of operations In the context of increasing competition in the IP consultingsectors, INVESTIP has developed steadily and continued to be the top IPagencies in Vietnam Thanks to the sound business operations as well asmanagement and marketing efforts, INVESTIP achieved significant revenue

growth with good results that is mainly focused on IP services The number of IPcases on behalf of clients with the Vietnam NOIP is increasing

However, during the past four years (from 2007 to date), the benefits growslowly because of decreasing numbers new IP applicants/owners and sometraditional customers’ transfer to other IP agencies As estimated, the growth rate

of this company has been reduced from 10% in 2007 to 6% in 2010 According

to the Notice of paying dividend of INVESTIP on November 22, 2010, theearning per share of the year 2010 was sharply decreased from 18% in 2009 to6% in 2010 This gives a signal for the regression of this company

Surprisingly, when considering the growth rate and turnover rate, they authorfind that the trends of these rates are in the opposite direction as below:

Figure 3.3 The relation between growth rate and turn-over rate

Source: unofficial information collected from interview (estimated growth rate )

There are many reasons lead to the low growth rate of INVESTIP during the past

4 years such as economic crisis and fiercer competition However, the authorbelieves that one of the main roots of this problem is the high turn-over rate andlow mental commitment of employees

III.12 HRM practices at INVESTIP

“Human forceresource” is the positioning of INVESTIP In order to attain thisgoal, the Human Resource ManagementHRM has tried their best to do thefollowing activities:

 Establish a favorable environment and equal playground for all staff todevelop their carrier and capability;

 Consider the expectations and needs of employees;

Create a professional working environment and modern working mechanism;

 Create good conditions for all employees to develop their capacities

With the mentioned activities, the HRM hopes that the employees shall derivesatisfaction from their work and then, be able to minimize dissatisfaction

CHAPTER IV UNDERSTANDING KEY EMPLOYEE MOTIVATORS AND

approach resulted valuable and meaningful data for the author to analyze the

research

The questionnaires were designed in English only, the wordings and structure ofwhich are easily understandable for survey The surveyees of this research areemployees in INVESTIP-IPD who all have good reading skill in English, thedesignation of these questionnaires in Vietnamese, therefore, are is not necessary.These questionnaires were sent to 54 employees who are working with INVESTIP-IPD consisting of staff level and managing leveland leaders After a few days making

a following-up activity, the author received 48 valid answers, accounting for 89% ofthe IP employees

IV.1 Identifying employee motivation at INVESTIP

IV.1.1 Opinions of employees about the importance of Hygiene and Motivation factors

Appreciation of answerers about the importance of motivation and de-motivationfactors is reflected on the Appendix 1 Based on this result, the author calculatesthe following summary of mean score of each category in order to easilyunderstand the important level of each factor

Table 4.1 The average score of importancertant level of each hygiene and

motivation factor (score) Hygiene factors Age under 30 Age 31-40 Age 41-50 over 51 Age Total

Working conditions 3.22 3.60 4.33 4.33 3.87Supervisors 4.11 2.93 3.67 3.67 3.59Salary 4.15 4.80 4.33 4.33 4.40

Achievement 3.96 3.67 4.33 3.33 3.82Recognition 3.93 3.73 4.67 4.33 4.16

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

Taking a glance at average scores of levels of importancet levels, it comes to ourattention that all hygiene factors and motivation factors are important, these factorsplay vital roles in motivating the satisfaction of the employees at IPD department.However, the important levels of importance are different in each age group Forthe young age groups, salary, allowance and other benefits may be the mostimportant factor, but recognition factor is the most important forto the elder agegroups age Following are the most important level for each age group based onthe result shown on the above table:

 Age group under 30: The most important factors are growth (4.26), salary andother benefits (4.15) and quality of supervision (4.11)

 Age group 30-40: The most important factors are salary, allowance and otherbenefits (4.80), advancement (4.24) and growth (4.20)

 Age group 41-50 and group over 50: The most important factors are Recognition(4.67), and Salary, allowance and other benefits (4.33) and work itself (4.67)Why quality of supervisors and possibility of growth are the most important factors inmotivating the young age group in IPD? They are under 30 years old Many of themjust graduated from universities and are young in business They have full enthusiasm

to learn and devote them to work Therefore, when working in IPD, these employeesdesire to get experience of career and other soft skills If a supervisor has willingness

to teach and guide his juniors, the probability of adapt to job of these juniors will behigher Salary and other benefits are also their main concerns but earning money isnot the most important target of the young employees

As to the age between 31 and 40, the most important factor is “salary, allowanceand other benefits” At this age group, earning money is the highest prioritybecause they already obtained full experience and other skills Besides, at the ageover 31, these employees usually got married and they need to make money asmuch as possible to support their families Moreover, when entering the beginningages of 30, these employees start to think to promotion prospects in their job.Vietnamese men usually are of the opinion that under 40 years old, if a person hasnot get success in his career, he will no longer have opportunities to be promoted

or be successful Possibility of growth is an important factor for this group This isbecause in order to obtain their targets of income and advancement, they need toimprove their knowledge, professional skills and other soft skills and thus, taking

into training courses will help them fulfill their demands For these reasons,

“salary”, “advancement” and “possibility of growth” are the most importantfactors for this group age, which is very understandable and logical

The age group over 41 consist of leaders and consulting seniors In this department,seniors are usually interested in their job and they wish to spend all working time fortheir professional job Thus, interesting and challenging of work itself is importantfor them Moreover, at this group age, the survey results revealed that they highlyappreciate the “recognition” factor The reason is that they need to be recognized byothers to their efforts and their capacities to their careers Salary is also an importantfactor for this age group when they have full experience and skills In this group,income somewhat reflects their success in their work

In sum, in INVESTIP-IPD, the most important hygiene factor is “salary” and the

most important motivation factors are “advancement” and “recognition” Inaccordance with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, “salary” is one of physiologicalneeds which are strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, thephysiological ones would come first in the person’s search for satisfaction Whenother needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant

“Advancement” and “recognition” are typical two of the esteem needs Whenthese needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person inthe world Therefore, the results of important levels is are conformity with theHierarchy of Needs of Maslow The results of research show that there aredifferent assessments among these groups and in each group Setting up anemployee motivation policy, which satisfies all employees is not simple However,

in order to have the best policy of motivation, the HRM of INVESTIP shouldconsider all expectations of the surveyed employees INVESTIP-IPD

IV.1.2 Opinions of employees about current satisfaction of motivation

Before taking the hygiene factors, motivation factors into consideration and giving recommendations to enhance the employee motivation at INVESTIP, it is essential

to understand the current satisfaction level of employees at INVESTIP-IPD Thiswill be the answer for the first research question “How is the current motivation

of staff at INVESTIP?” The current motivation will reflect the efficiency of

employee motivation policy at this company and the rationale of this research

Table 4.2 The current satisfaction level of employees (person, n=48)

Satisfaction level

Extremel y dissatisfy 1

Dissatisf y2 Neutral3 Satisfy4 Extremel y satisfy5

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

At the age group under 30, among 27 surveyed employees, only 6 employees aresatisfiedy with the motivation policy of this company 9 people have neutral view

on this matter 12 others, accounting for 44% of surveyed employees, do notsatisfy or extremelly dissatisfy with the current motivation policy of INVESTIP

It means that the unpleased psychology dominates the youngest group of thiscompany

The current motivation at the age group between 30 and 40 may be also notgood 60% employees of this group dissatisfy or extremely dissatisfy with themotivation policy Only 7% of employees at this group satisfy only The mostimportant factors of this group are “salary” and “advancement” but it seems thattheir psyochological and esteem needs are not meet fully

The group over 51 years old may be more careful when evaluating their satisfaction

or dissatisfaction ofin the motivation policy of INVESTIP Only 1 out of 6employees at this group dissatisfies with the INVESTIP’S motivation policy, 3employees are pleased with the motivation policy, 2 people do not show their points

of view on motivation According to the surveyed results, motivation of the eldestgroup may be is the best because most of them are pleased with their work.However, this group only makes up 11% of population at IPD and thus, theirpsychology is not the most popular in this company

In summany, the research results reveals that the psychology of dissatisfaction is

dominant at IPD, account for 69%, the rate of employees who satisfy with their joband motivation policy is very low, only 12,5% However, having observed the dailyactivities of employees, the author is aware that the rate of employees who dissatisfywith the company’s motivation policy may be higher than 69% With regard toAsfor the employees, who chosen the neutral level (18.5%), most of them do notactually satisfy with the current motivation but they seem to beare too morecarefully when assessing their satisfaction levels due to some certain reasons As aresult, it can be recognizedappears that the current motivation policy of INVESTIP

is not ideal for all employees he company should pay more attention to th policy toretain good employees and attrach talents from competitors

Why is the current employee motivation at INVESTIP not good? In order to answer

the question, it is very important to understand and analyze the second research

question “ understand what are key motivators and de-motivators of employees at INVESTIP ?”

IV.2 Understanding the key de-motivators and motivators at INVESTIP IV.2.1 Understanding the hygiene factors

IV.2.1.1 Working conditions

According to Maslow, working conditions are the lowest needs of employees.They are not the most important factor but are the strongest needs Thus, working

in a convenient and good conditions, employees will feel happiermore pleasantand satisfy with their job more than working in inconvenient conditions.Following areis results of this survey regarding this factor

Table 4.3 The satisfaction level of working conditions (person, n=48)

Office stationery, telephone,

5

BottomofFormTopofForm

Air quality, indoor climate,

space, lighting, ventilation and

other environmental characters

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

The mean score of this factor is 2.97 Nobody extremely dissatisfies or satisfieswith the working conditions of INVESTIP However, the research results showthat almost all of the surveyed employees lean towards the dissatisfaction orremain neutral When being interviewed about the working conditions in thecompany, Ms Pham Thu Ha, a consultant in of the Trademark Division said, “I

feel uncomfortable during working hours because the office seems to be too narrow for nearly 30 people while the ventilation of the room can be broken down whenever Sometimes, I am very tired of the dense crowd and noise” In

contrast, a few employees are pleased with the working condition of thiscompany, Ms Le Hai Yen, a young staff at of Patent Division took heris view

that “I think all working equipments and facilitates are ok”

IV.2.1.1.1 Office stationery and equipments

Figure 4.1 The satisfaction level of office stationery and equipments (%)

Office stationery, telephone, computer

38%

52%

10%

Dissatisfy Neutral Satisfy

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

With regard to the office stationery, telephones, computers and other officeequipments, the above chart shows that the highest rate is neutral, accounting for52%, 38% of employees choose under normal level and the rate of satisfaction isonly 10%

All office stationery and equipments are managed and distributed by theAdministration DepartmentAD In the beginning of each month, all employees arerequested to order stationery for this month by filling in a standard form of

“stationery request” All requests will be submitted to the AdministrationDepartment AD before being approved by the General Director During this month,

if any employee runs out of stationery provisions for using more than usual, he/she

is not able to order new stationery until the beginning of next month This employee

therefore has to share stationery with other colleagues Besides, INVESTIP employees are usually unpleasant with stationery quality and types The

stationery things mainly have poor quality and types When being interviewed whythe company does not use better stationery and diversify kinds of stationery, theHead of Administration DepartmentAD, Ms Cao Thu Huyen said, “These kinds of

stationery will contribute to minimize business expenses”.

The telephone system is rather good Each employee has a direct line and a telephone

on office desk Employees are freely to make phone calls for business purposes

However, in INVESTIP, there is no mobile phone allowance of mobile phone.

Employees of INVESTIP, IP departmentIPD always have to work with governmentagencies such as the NOIP, the National Department of Copy Right, the offices of

market control, etc, Wwhen working out of the office, if the employee needs to usehis hand phone for business, the phone cost will not be returned repaid to him

Similar to the mobile issue, business transportation of INVESTIP is not good.Everyone use themselves transports for working but the company do not give

any transport allowance to these employees This is the reason why why the

employees of IP department are reluctant to work out of the office

The Ccomputer system is one of the main concerns of IPD’s employees on IPDepartment Almost computers are backward, some of them Some are broken

down but not repaired or replaced timely The situation of vibration on computer

screens is usually appeared aton IPD department that makes the users tired anddifficuldifficultlyt to concentrate on their work

INVESTIP has built up an exclusivea Soft IP for performing using andmanaging work in IP departmentof this company Most employees admit that the

Soft IP is very efficient for their work because employees can directly work in

this software and it covers database relating to IP services The Soft IP helpsemployees save time and well control their work

Other office equipments such as printers, fax, photocopy, scanner, etc at the

INVESTIP are normal and there is no complaint about these equipments

In short, the above analysis is consistent with the appreciation level of the

employees aboutof the stationery and other office equipments Most employeesfeel have neutral opinions or normal or dissatisfaction about this aspect ofworking conditions

IV.2.1.1.2 Air quality, indoor climate, space, lighting, ventilation and other environmental characters

Figure 4.2 The satisfaction level of environmental characters (%)

54%

29%

17%

Dissatisfy Neutral Satisfy

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

The environmental characters have the lowest satisfaction, under “neutral” level.l, i.e

almost employees feel dissatisfaction with the working space and environment From

2009, the office was changed from a French villa to a building including 7 floors In thenew building, the IPD is in the fourth floor dividing into 2 offices The floor covers anarea of about 120m2 and 54 employees sit here Average working space for Eeachemployee has an average of working space of is only 2.22m2, which is lower than thegovernment standards of working space (from 6m2 to 18m2) Therefore, the working space is not large enough for them comfortably working comfortably They Employees

have no private space because each employee has only one small desk, on whichcomputer, telephone, stationery and other documents files are put The general roads inthe room are so small that when a person wants to go out or enjoy tea break, he has toworm his way through working chairs of other colleagues

While the working space is not large enough, IP employees are also unpleased

with the air quality of these officesrooms If the air conditioners run with its

maximum capacity, the atmosphere was not pure Whereas, these conditionersare broken down as usual that lead the employees feel tired, especially insummers

In a noise and crowd room, employees, especially female employees always feelexhausted and are under stress The stress and tiredness often, which result inlacking of concentration As mentioned in the second third chapter of thisproject, IP consulting services require high concentration, brainstorm ofconsultants to give clients the best advice The bad air quality and workingenvironment negatively impacts to their job psychology

Physical security is the besta motivation factor when working in INVESTIP.

The company and employees are protected by professional bodyguards andsecurity cameras during the working time Employees therefore satisfy with thesecurity-working environment

In short, beside some good working conditions such as the soft IP and, office equipments , exclusive of computers, physical working environment, there are many problems of working conditions that make the employees unmotivated: backward computers, narrow working space, polluted working air Many employees said that they would be more interested in work and more enthusiastic to their job if they were worked in more comfortable working conditions .

IV.2.1.2 Supervision

Supervisors are directly responsible for guiding subordinates, trainingemployees, assigning job, solving problems, connecting people, managing joband employees, etc Hence, quality of supervision plays an important role inmotivating employees in every organization On this factor, the research shows

the following results:

Table 4.4 The satisfaction level of supervision (person, n=48)

score

Your supervisors often care about your

You always receive feedback and

recommendations from your supervisors to

Your supervisors have fairness in appraising

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

This factor scores at 2.,65 When asseccingevaluating the statement questionnaire

“your superviors often care about your feelings, health and emotions”, the research

results reveals that staff in IPD Department are rather pleased with the care of

supervision about their feelings, health and emotions during their working time In

this one respect, 35% staff satisfy with the care of supervion, 48 % feel nomal andonly 17% is of employees are under nomal level The supervision levelsupervisors gives good care to employees’ feelings in their work and their private livesfe Forexamples, an employee has been sick, the trademark leader supervisor will beresponsible for the pending work of the sick leave person He can take a phonecall togive the Trademark Devision’s regards to the sick person Supervisors of INVESTIPalso take care family business of their employees, specifically funeral of one's parentsand weddings Therefore, the care of supervision is a small motivator to theeiremployees

Figure 4.3 The satisfaction level of supervision’s feedback and

recommendations (%) Supervision's feedback and recommendations

Extremely Dissatisfy 13%

Dissatisfy 43%

Neutral 25%

Satisfy 19%

Extremely Dissatisfy Dissatisfy

Neutral Satisfy

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

However, 56% of IP employees do not satisfy or extremely dissatisfy the quality of

supervision in workingjob When theThe supervisors assign work tasks to their staffand fix a certain time for them to complete their work After the work tasks is are

completed, the supervisors have neither feedback nor recommendations to

improve the work quality If the work job of their staff is not good, the supervisorsy can revise or edit by themselves without discussing with this staff In many cases,staff cannot know whether their completed work is good or bad Moreover, thesupervision supervisors seldom haves specific instructions, guidelines or

thoughtful recommendations regarding to professional knowledge Most

employees have to difficultly deal with new matters and have to teach themselves orlearn from other staffcolleagues As to young age staff or people just changed to IPfield, they usually meet with difficulties in handling their job

Besides, many employees in IP departmentD commentsed that their bosses donot have the abilityabilities for leading this departmentmanaging because of his

limited capacity in professional knowledge and lacking managerial skills.

The above-analyzed problems of supervision are is the reason why 56% ofemployees in IP departmentD dissatisfy or extremely dissatisfy with the quality

of supervision, particularly because they have no their feedback,recommendations or instructions in work

Figure 4.4 The satisfaction level of supervision’s fairness

Fairness in appraising employees’ performance

Extremely Dissatisfy 10%

Dissatisfy 59%

Neutral 27%

Satisfy 4%

Extremely Dissatisfy Dissatisfy

Neutral Satisfy

Source: Author’s survey (2011)

In respect of appraising employees’ performance of supervision, the situation isalso not bright 69% express their dissatisfaction with the performance appraisal

of the supervisors, only 4% feel satisfaction Many employees are of the opinions

that the supervisors are unfair in employee treatment If an employee has

good relation with their the leaders boss , he can be promoted, increased salaryand received other benefits On the contrary, if the supervisors are unpleasedwith one employee, it is very likely that this e employee will not be supported in

working and performance appraisal When assigning task, t Besides, t hesupervisors dose do not base on employee’s capacity, education or experiencebut mainly base on sentiment in business matters when assigning tasks.

When being interviewed about the quality of supervision, the Head ofAdministration Department AD said, “The turn-over rate of this company recently is so high Expert employees gradually step by step leave the company that make quality of employees in general and quality of supervision in particularly is no longer good as it was It is not easy to hunt experts who have capacity of managing from other IP law firms”.

due to lack of feedback, professional recommendation, fairness in assigning task and performance appraisal as the management people do not have law , they do not recognize the real professional values contributed by IP staff Therefore, it is essential for the company to increase the quality of supervisors

to ensure a fair playground for all employees.an equal treatment for all employees.

IV.2.1.3 Salary, allowance and other benefits

The research results in the first part of this chapter shows that salary is the mostimportant factor that keeps the employees of INVESTIP-IPD stay with thecompany According to many employees, both financial and non-financialincentives directly affect their works and their family lives They work for thiscompany for many needs The first purpose is achieving a worthy compensationfrom the company to support them and their families in term of material side.The point of view is consistent with the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs becausemoney is a physiological need and is ranked in the first level that employees need

to be satisfied before any other needs Following are the results of this factor

Table 4.5 The satisfaction level of salary (person, n=48)

Salary, allowance and other benefits 1 2 3 4 5 Mean score

Your salary paid reflects your ability,

Your salary, allowance and other benefits is

comparable with other employees in the firm 0 9 22 15 2 3.21The firm’s compensation system is competitive

in comparison with that of other IP firms 8 24 11 5 0 2.27The salary gap between levels is big enough

Duration for periodical salary increase is