Research Paper on:
Assessing Employee Motivation; Research Proposal

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
1. Introduction In a competitive environment it is important that a company maximises its use of  resources. Resources can include the physical environment, equipment and access to inputs. An often overlooked resource is that of the employees; without the employees many of the resources would be  of little use in satisfied customer needs. The company relies on its employees in order to provide the goods or services for the customers. Motivated employees are known to be  loyal and committed. Some companies with highly motivated employees have managed to leverage the resource in order to gain a competitive advantage; an example may be the customer services seen  at the Disney World resort hotels. Other companies have leveraged the commitment and productivity in order to increase output or develop innovation; this is seen in companies such as Microsoft  and Hewlett-Packard. The converse is also true, companies with a low level of where the staff have a low level of motivation tend to have low levels of productivity and  a range of associated problems. Literature concerning motivation is well developed, this explains many of the influences concerning employee motivation, allowing employers management to develop an understanding of factors that  may impact on employee performance. The academic approach is interesting, but it is only of value if it can be applied to the real world. To assess the general levels  of motivation within a workforce, for example to improve productivity of the employees or assess the (potential) impact of proposed or recent strategies there is a need to understand the  underlying theories so that suitable questions can be framed and the answers placed in a broader context to gain understanding. 1.2 The Problem