Motivating IT professional in Sri Lanka : expectations and current practice

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.