Effective Reward System and the Motivational Level of Security Employees. ( A Survey of Some Selected Federal Security Institutions in Enugu State

Abstract

In recent times now, Nigeria has been experiencing an unprecedented security challenges virtually all over the states in the country, especially the North East where Boko Haram Islamist group having  been laying siege and the Middle Belt region where the Fulani herdsmen have been killing and taken over of lands.   Government and military authorities having been deploying troops and other military strategies’ are being adopted to tame this ugly menace and to reduce this ugly situation of wanton destructions of life’s and properties by these marauders. This study was conducted to assess the effect of reward system on the motivational level of these security personnel’s deployed to fight this menace and how satisfaction with rewards can reduce the security challenges bedeviling this country. This study was conducted using some selected security employees from Federal security institutions in Enugu State. 202 respondents were selected from the aforementioned security institutions in the State. The design of the study was descriptive statistics. Data collected for this study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, percentage method with frequencies to test the three research questions namely: what are the effects of employee’s motivation on national security? What are the factors that increase motivation of security employees? What is the relationship between employee rewards and organizational performance?. The result obtained from the analysis showed among others that reward and motivation of security employees have significant effect on national security, that not only it gives the security personnel a sense of belonging, it encourages high level of performance even if it means paying the ultimate price. Going by the findings of this study, it can be easily inferred that security men reward package matters a lot and should be a concern of both the military authority and the Nigerian government. The results obtained from the research questions showed that security employees place great value on the different rewards given to them by their military authority. It concludes that when these rewards are not given, security personnel tend to express their displeasure through poor performance and non-commitment to their job. It is therefore imperative for the military authority to consider the needs and feelings of its security men deployed to fight insurgents and not just overlook them in order to safeguard national security and harmony, because “a happy worker they say is a productive worker”.

Keywords: Reward system, motivation, security personnel.

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-26-12

Publication date:September 30^th 2019