Abstract:
Human resources are the most important among all the resources an organisation owns.
To retain efficient and experienced workforce in an organisation is very crucial in
overall performance of an organisation. Apart from the benefit and moral value of a
selfless approach of treating colleagues as human beings and respecting human dignity
in all its forms, research reveal that well motivated employees are productive and
creative. This in turn can make an organisation competitively more value added and
profitable.
Even though there have been various studies on employee motivation, this subject area is
still in primitive stages as far as the IT sector in Sri Lanka is concerned. The present
study is an attempt to find out the major factors that Sri Lankan IT companies use at
present to motivate their employees and how the IT professionals preferred to be
motivated.
A carefully analysed questionnaire was prepared and specially numbered. Out of the 400
questionnaires sent to IT professionals of 15 organizations, 390 responded and 382
responses were complete. The organisations selected vary from small to large scale
having IT services as their primary business. The participation in the survey was
voluntary and confidentiality of responses was ensured.
Results of the study reveal that, all the key notions considered in the conceptual
framework are having positive contribution towards a motivated behavior. The statistical
analysis showed that different dimensions of work motivation are significantly
correlated and have an impact on motivation of the employees. A career path for
promotion and growth in the organization was the most preferred motivating factor of
the IT professionals.
Implications of the study for managers and policy makers, IT professionals and HR
management in the context of human resource practices have been discussed.
Limitations and guidelines for future research are also provided.
