Cultural Environmental Influence on Employees’ Perception of Motivation in the Nigerian Polytechnic Education Sector

Abstract

Most HR practitioners today face issues such as low level of motivation resulting in low morale, which bears an impact on performance. Therefore, the Nigerian Polytechnic Education Sector has been considered to see the impact that work culture has on employees’ and managerial motivation and performance. Work culture is essential for maximising the value of human capital, and culture management should therefore become a critical management competence as this has become an important challenge for managers is to determine the most effective culture for their organisation. Therefore, one of the major challenges of corporate organisation and institutions is their adaptation to different socio-economic and cultural contexts of their various available markets, audience and employees. In the light of the above, this paper is poised to look at and address the issues of cultural diversity and their management in the Nigerian Polytechnic Education Sector (NPES) as it affects employees’ motivation and performance and overall organisational behaviour. Utilising a semi-structure interview and focus group discussion with 86 respondents purposively selected from 6 Polytechnics in south-west Nigeria, the study exposed the most dominant cultural factors in employees’ motivation and suggested ideas on how present days managers and practitioners in the NPES can maximise the usage of this socio cultural diversity in enhancing employees’ performance and organisational behaviour. Suggestions were equally made for further studies in this regards.