Employee Performance and Retention: A Comparative Analysis of Theory X, Y and Maslow's Theory

Khizar Hayat Khan Tahir,Khalid M Iraqi

doi:10.20547/jms.2014.1805106

Abstract

This study aims at examining the relationship amongst motivation theories applied by universities on employee retention and their performance. It is an interesting insight in the current era in terms of realizing that motivation theories still have their impact on management practices. Retaining employees and managing their performance to the best level has always remained a dream for managers. The methodology adopted is quantitative using a closed ended questionnaire which helped in response generation from 219 teaching and non-teaching university employees. Results revealed that managers who used theory X approach to manage employee retention and performance had weaker outcomes than the ones using theory Y and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. The results are beneficial for university management in terms of motivating employees as majority of employees are well qualified and tend to rise using their own skills and capabilities rather than guiding themselves using strict compliance.

Highlights

The organizations are confronted with several challenges in which employee retention and performance are the important ones
The main purpose of this study is to examine the factors that have an influence on employee retention and their performance in the context of private sector universities
The results of correlation analysis show that the “theory X approach” adopted by the private sector university leaders have negative relationship with employee retention (r = -0.814, p = 0.000) and their performance (r = -0.957, p = 0.000)

Summary

Introduction

The organizations are confronted with several challenges in which employee retention and performance are the important ones. The ever changing environment demands (Fatehi, Veliyath, & Derakhshan, 2008) that the universities develop programs that are market oriented and have the capability to attract students and act, as clients to fulfill their job related requirements; providing them the competitive edge over others (Parakhina, Godina, Boris, & Ushvitsky, 2017). To fulfill these requirements, the universities need to have a pool of employees that can be relied upon and this can be achieved by motivating the talented employees. It has been found that HR policy like fair performance review, job contentment, employee apprecia-

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Conclusion