FACTORS THAT AFFECT EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES; THE CASE OF WOLLEGA UNIVERSITY NEKEMTE CAMPUS EAST WOLLEGA ZONE

MAJOR ADVISOR: DR KANNAN AMBALAM (ASS, PROFESSOR) The study investigated the organizational factors that influence the motivation of employees at Wollega University. The main objective of this research is to investigate the factors affect of employee’s motivation on productivity and the efforts that lead to the productivity of the University as a whole,: To analyze intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence employee’s motivation in staff, Administrative staff and Technical Assistants while purposive sampling was used to select WUNC. A descriptive survey research design was adopted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection from the employees of selected WUNC using convenient sampling technique 36 questionnaires were distributed for 192 employees, from these 187 respondents were replied and these used for further analysis. In this study the researcher used a parallel sampling in which quantitative and qualitative purposeful sampling are combined in this research. Purposive sampling is used to extract qualitative data and stratified sampling is used to draw samples for the quantitative data. Moreover, the researcher used descriptive and explanatory research design with 5 Likert scale to measure variables, and data were quantitatively and qualitatively collected through close ended questionnaires and semi structured interview respectively. Data was analyzed through correlation and linear regressions using SPSS version 20 software. According to the study, it was found out that finical, work condition and co-worker and supervisor relations are the most influencing factors respectively. Finally, the researcher recommends that the University management should build and improve on teamwork and develop the current leadership to maintain the culture; create opportunities for employees to interact with the managers of the University in order to improve on the communication; and encourage employee innovation, increase on their motivation, institute organizational loyalty programs and reward long-serving employees and similar other important recommendations has been given. Key Words: Financial factors, Non-financial factors, Co-worker and Supervisor relations, Recognition, Work condition, job security and Employee motivation