CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Man wherever he is, be it at home, school or even the company he keeps is always influenced by his internal environment. The reason being that he is easily assimilated into the totality of his environment.

Generally, non-financial refers to one’s immediate surroundings including water, air, land in which one lives that influence one’s life. But for the purpose of this research, internal environment here shall be referred to as elements within the work environment, such as working environment, management style, inter- relationship amongst staff and motivational factors – incentives, salary increase and opportunity to develop oneself. These have effects on the overall performance of an employee.

An improved work environment will result in a reduction in a number of complaints and absenteeism and will bring an increase in productivity, Roelofson (2002).

Employee makes critical difference between success and failure. The effectiveness with which organizations manage, develop, motivate and engage the willing contribution of the employees will enable them to capitalize on their expertise most efficiently. There is a link between people management and business performance. According to Roelofson one of the fundamental human requirements is work environment that allows people to perform their work optimally under comfortable condition.

People are beginning to be conscious of the fact that to be happy and cheerful in one’s work place, some conditions must be present even with little pay. For example, not withstanding whatever is provided for a seamstress for her job, if there is no machine, all that is provided comes to naught. Again, when a librarian is provided for a noisy environment, he will not carry out his work effectively because the environment suitable for effective library function is quietness and orderliness. Similarly, an Accountant who deals with figures will be annoyed if he is sharing a calculator with four staff members. Also, the secretary is looked upon as human machine, trained with the responsibility of taking note of what others may regard as minor and making suggestions based on records available. To effectively carry out these and other functions, the secretary needs a ‘hightech’ office where some electronic machines will complement his/her human ability.

In an employment situation, the employee promises to live up to expectation. The employer expects nothing less. But the point is: has the employer provided a work environment that will facilitate the effective discharge of the employees’ assigned duties? Most employers keep complaining of poor returns from employee without taking out time to find out why the new employer has not performed beyond what the former one was able to do.

If an organization provides its employees with better work and most conducive working environment they can perform exceptionally well, and companies can capitalize on their enhanced productivity in the shape of cost reduction, which will ultimately contribute awards rich profits. The relationship between employee attitudes and company performance, as suggested by Patterson et’ al., (1997), is highly correlated. They suggested that managers of organizations who are eager to promote productivity and Profitability should pay close attention to the attitudes of their employees in order to make them more positive.

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