PMERS, Environmental Uncertainty, and Managerial Behaviour: An Empirical Investigation of the E-V Theory of Motivation in the Organisational Setting

Kominis, Georgios N (2002) PMERS, Environmental Uncertainty, and Managerial Behaviour: An Empirical Investigation of the E-V Theory of Motivation in the Organisational Setting. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The contribution of Management Control Systems (MCS) in general, and of the Performance Measurement Evaluation and Reward System (PMERS) in particular, to the motivation of the managers who operate at the middle level of the organisation's hierarchy has received relatively little examination up to date. Most of the available empirical evidence in the area of measurement, evaluation and reward of managerial performance tends to focus almost exclusively on executive managers operating at the top level. Using an Expectancy-Valence (E-V) model of job behaviour as a theoretical framework, this study primarily sets out to investigate the impact of the PMERS on middle-level managers' motivation and subsequent performance. At a second level, it aims to examine the relative success of the PMERS to positively influence managerial motivation and performance under all environmental conditions, both certain and uncertain. By means of an analytic questionnaire - which was purposively developed on the basis of instruments previously tested and extensively used in practice by other researchers in the field - a sample of 225 middle-level managers from a large UK-based financial institution provided data for the study. All in all, the analysis of the managerial perceptions gathered regarding the company's PMERS indicate that the managers' motivation is primarily affected by the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards that they perceive to enjoy in the context of their job environment. Motivation is specifically related both to the perceived value and to the performance-dependency of these rewards. The latter seems to suggest that a key issue affecting the motivational effectiveness of the PMERS - and therefore a central design consideration - is the choice of rewards to be included in the company's reward package, as well as the manner through which these rewards are eventually allocated to the company's managerial staff. As to the intervening effect of perceived environmental uncertainty, this research provides evidence to show that the managers' perceptions about how uncertain their (internal and external) job environment is have a significant adverse impact on their perceptions about the accuracy of the performance measures and the attainability of the performance standards that are employed within the PMERS. This result implies that the design of the company's PMERS is better seen as situationally specific, i.e., as contingent on the relevant (actual and perceived) conditions of the organisational environment for which it is intended.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: Clive Emmanuel
• Keywords: Management, Organization theory
• Date of Award: 2002
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2002-76266
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2019 16:12
• Last Modified: 19 Nov 2019 16:12
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/76266