Case study : extrinsic or intrinsic. What is motivating our early years educators?

Abstract

One of the more challenging areas of Human Resource Management is Performance Management it is viewed as a gruelling chore by many businesses. Despite this there is no denying the positive impact it can have not only on employee performance but also on the company performance. The Performance Appraisal is a valuable aspect of Performance Management. Extrinsic Rewards are management’s way of attempting to motivate their employees while intrinsic rewards are the experiences of the employees obtained from the work itself. The workforce of a company is their most powerful resource and management endeavour to motivate their employees to superior performance in achieving the organisational mission. Motivation can too be extrinsic being the completion of an activity to attain a separate outcome or intrinsic, the completion of a task for the satisfaction it provides. In the sector of early years education the workforce are undervalued and underpaid. This research project set out to discover what is motivating our early years educators? It was found that they are intrinsically motivated while seeing the use of none or very low extrinsic rewards. The need of a whole sector reform was identified by Early Childhood Ireland; this researcher agrees and feels research in this particular area of the sector should continue as it affects the quality of service provided by the crèches. Author keywords: Motivation, early years education