Assessment of employee motivation in local government authority in Tanzania: a case of Temeke municipal council in Dar es Salaam

This study aimed at Assessing Employee Motivation in Local Government Authority in Tanzania: A Case of Temeke Municipal Council in Dar es Salaam. To collect the requisite data, questionnaires, interviews and documentary reviews were used. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 120 respondents, who yielded 91.6% return rate. The data collected were analysed with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0, particularly in cross tabulation. In consequence, the findings were tabulated and summarized, with percentages obtained. The study findings show that the motivational factors used by the Temeke municipal council in Dar es Salaam city include the recognition of employees’ efforts, including their creativity and innovations, provisions of medical and insurance benefits, communicating goals, roles and responsibility to employees and provisions of the required employee support and safe working conditions as well as enabling the employees to speak their minds freely. The findings have also shown that the employees under study were not satisfied with the organisation’s way of enabling employees to balance work and life; availability of financial assistance and loans in case of emergence; organisation’s reward system; and institution’s provision of transport and allowances. Moreover, the employees were not satisfied with opportunities available for them to attend seminars within and outside institution, their salaries, the recognition they get in the community, in-service training opportunities, and the organisation’s promotion practices. The implication is that the institution does not work hard enough to motivate employees. The findings have also shown that employees in local government generally have positive attitude towards their job. The study results shows that a positive attitude influences someone to stay in an institution for the long haul provided it has policies and procedures, incentives, challenging jobs, good supervisors and a conducive environment. Based on the study findings, it is recommended that to create effective motivational factors policy-makers should develop a human resource policy that caters for both financial and non-financial benefits, in addition to developing a corporate culture in the institutions. Furthermore, Temeke Municipal Council, also need to address the issues of housing and transport allowance, financial assistance and loans for emergency cases. In addition, there is a need to strengthen the socialisation environment for members and employees’ involvement in matters affecting their jobs.