If implemented, will the privatisation of

the NHS impact on staff motivational

levels within the finance team at

Cambridgeshire Community Services

NHS Trust?

Ryan Gill

129070612

International Business & Economics

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust

5428

2

1 – Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... 3

2 - Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 4

3 – Introduction .................................................................................................................... 5

4 - Privatisation in the United Kingdom ................................................................................ 6

5 - Analysis on the privatisation of the NHS ......................................................................... 7

6 - Staff motivation throughout the NHS .............................................................................. 9

7 - Staff motivation within the finance team at Cambridgeshire Community Services ....... 10

8 - Ideologies on what can impact and influence staff motivation ...................................... 13

9 - A method finance managers can use to motivate employees ...................................... 22

10 - Recommendations to improve employee motivation .................................................. 23

11 - Evaluation of sources used ......................................................................................... 25

12 - Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 27

13 - Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 28

14 - Appendix ..................................................................................................................... 31

3

1 – Acknowledgments

I would like to express my appreciation to Michail Karoglou for his valuable suggestions

throughout the preparation of this placement report. His enthusiasm to give his time so

open-handedly has been much respected.

I would also like to thank the staff at Cambridgeshire Community Services for enabling me

to observe their daily operations:

- Louisa Ellington – Head Of Finance

- Paul Spencer – Senior Management Accountant

4

2 - Executive Summary

The report will be based on how staff motivational levels will be affected when an issue

such as privatisation is present. The NHS emphasises its core values on providing good

quality of care to its patients but if an issue like privatisation is implemented within the NHS

this can create change positively and negatively. Primary and secondary research was

conducted to measure how motivated employees with the NHS and the finance team at

Cambridgeshire Community Services are. To evaluate what managers within the finance

team could do to improve employee motivation, an in depth analysis of two motivational

theories was conducted. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory describes motivation through

a hierarchy system of five needs, physiological, safety, loving, and self-actualisation

whereas Herzberg two-factor theory explains the factors in the form of hygiene and

motivators in regards to satisfying and dissatisfying employees. Aspects of both factors

play an important role in increasing employee job satisfaction, which is particularly

important when such issues like privatisation surround the NHS. Once applied,

organisations will see a rise in productivity levels, positive staff morale and improved

communication amongst colleagues. Having a motivated workforce is a valuable asset,

which creates value for any organisation in terms of strengthening its position and net

worth. Managers can use various tools in alliance with the two motivational theories to

motivate staff such as social events, weekly team lunches and flexible working hours. The

report also explores the limitations of the two motivational theories, which is key in

deciding which theory to use with the Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team.

5

3 – Introduction

I am currently a placement student at Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust,

located in St Ives, Cambridgeshire. It forms one of many Trusts part of the NHS that looks

after health services across East Anglia. All of the finance operations are conducted

through one office, which is based in St Ives and is responsible for the running of smooth

processes in a variety of health services and health centres associated with the Trust. The

Trust employs 3500 staff and has a turnover of £151m. Employees range from doctors in

health centres, nurses in the community to management accounts in the finance team.

The finance team consists of 25 people comprising of a finance Director, finance

managers, and management accounts all of who are involved with the financial logistics of

the Trust. Since joining the Trust, it has been growing at a steady rate. As a result positive

actions have occurred such as the radius of where the Trust provides services to has

expanded, although during my time the Trust has lost out on bids it placed for services it

currently provides leading to some employees being transferred to other organisations.

Teamwork and positive staff morale play a pivotal role in dealing with the efficiency of

everyday operations at Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. As my time has

passed here I began to notice how staff morale could be interrupted. This is due to the

Trust trying to achieve a cost efficiency saving because of reduced funding from the

Government. We hear on a regular basis, how privatisation has been beneficial to many

companies but also how it has made them worse off. As a result I have decided to look

into how staff motivational levels within a finance team can be affected by such an issue of

privatisation.

6

4 - Privatisation in the United Kingdom

Privatisation can be defined as the transfer of assets from a public sector organisation to a

privately owned organisation (Sloman, 2012). In the UK, many large firms once belonged

to the Government, however in the 1980s the conservative Government decided to sell

publically owned organisations such as British Airways, British Telecom, British Gas and

this period was called Thatcherism (Johnson, 1988). An example of a successfully

implemented privatisation in the UK was British Telecom. This was because it benefited

from improved efficiency due to competition within the telecoms industry as many firms

embraced competitive pricing strategy. However an example of an industry where

privatisation didn’t work was the rail industry. This is because efficiencies existed through

competitive prices but for successful competition to occur there had to be an open market,

which didn’t in this industry thus a monopoly, was created.

7

5 - Analysis on the privatisation of the NHS

The NHS is the only major publically owned organisation belonging to the Government and

on several occasions been considered to be privatised. The first advantage that

privatisation would bring to the NHS is improved efficiency. This is because efficiency in

public sector organisations relates to hierarchal structure and general expenditure, which

is poor, as it isn’t making a profit. An example was in 2014, where the NHS was quoted for

wasting “£2bn on unnecessary treatments” (The Guardian, 2014). This fuels the argument

for privatisation as the first thing a profit incentive firm would do change the structure of an

organisation to create savings. Secondly, privatisation would bring better quality of service

through competition, as patients would have choice. Currently within the NHS, quality of

care is criticised regularly by patients for poor treatment and in certain hospitals poor food

being offered. In 2014, a report found that “poor quality NHS care kills 10,000 people a

year” (The Guardian, 2014). If privatised the market leader in the healthcare industry is the

one who provides the best quality of care, which will attract customers, as the organisation

will be operating for profit. Thirdly, privatisation would bring raised revenue from the sale. If

the Government sells the NHS it could raise a significant amount of revenue from it, which

can be used to fund aspects of the UK economy to improve its current economic position.

Privatisation also has its disadvantages. Firstly a natural monopoly could transpire which is

when the number of firms in a particular industry is just one. Privatisation can negatively

impact the healthcare industry because if there is no competition it will lead to a monopoly

being created because within the healthcare sector internal competition exists between

Trusts but if a privatised firm takes over it has the ability to charge a high price for the

service being provided. Secondly the Government will lose out on future dividends

8

because once it sells a public organisation, any revenue made by the private firm after the

sale belongs solely to them. If taken over, the NHS will raise large amounts of revenue, as

the nation is dependent on healthcare. Finally industries such as healthcare are not

usually profit driven because employees work to help people. However privatising the NHS

this could change meaning profit incentive firms will alter employee mind-sets as they will

want to work for money and not to help people which questions if quality of care will

actually improve.

9

6 - Staff motivation throughout the NHS

To be motivated, employees have to be listened to, acknowledged and recognised. An

article by Belinda Finlayson (2002) showed motivational levels of staff within the NHS. The

article shares an example of how employees were motivated through the chairman of a

NHS Trust spending time with employees by asking questions about their role and offering

advice, which made them feel wanted. Next, the main concern within the NHS is staff

shortages which had left staff feeling stressed, overwhelmed and as a result, quality of

care began to drop. Another issue within the NHS is workloads are constantly changing

due to the variance in decisions made by the Government. A nurse stated the amount of

work “to be covered in a given time had increased in every clinical area she knew”

(Finlayson, 2002. p5). Staff said that with increased workloads they expected a reward but

in fact they were, “inadequately rewarded” (Finlayson, 2002. p6). Also some staff left

private sector organisations to work for the NHS and had taken a drop in wages with the

hope of advancement in their respective NHS organisation, which had rarely been the

case. Whenever pay related issues surrounding the NHS were mentioned, the main

reason staff felt unmotivated and decided to leave the organisation was due to the lack of

recognition by managers (Kaur, 2014).

Figure 1 – results of a NHS survey on staff wanting to change jobs whilst working within

the NHS. (Finlayson, 2002).

Staff wanting to change jobs

Yes  

No  

10

7 - Staff motivation within the finance team at Cambridgeshire Community Services

To understand how motivated employees are in the finance team at Cambridgeshire

Community Services, I devised a short questionnaire, which is in the appendix of this

report. The results are displayed below:

The first question I asked was to get a sense of how employees within the finance team at

Cambridgeshire Community Services felt within in their job role. The results showed that

all 10 of the people asked enjoyed working at Cambridgeshire Community Services, which

led me to believe they were all happy and motivated within their job role.

0%  

20%  

40%  

60%  

80%  

100%  

Yes   No  

Do you enjoy working at CCS?

Do  you  enjoy  working  at  CCS?  

Within your job do you feel as if there is job advancement?

Yes  

No  

11

Job advancement was the topic for the second question. I felt this was important to ask

because it is a pivotal aspect of motivation. This time 70% felt like they had some sort of

job advancement opportunity whereas 30% felt they didn’t.

The first two questions were asked to understand how employees felt at present so I

reversed the topic area in the third question to get an understanding of how motivated

employees felt if privatisation was to be implemented. The results were as I expected

because 80% felt they felt unmotivated about their job role and the final 10% felt neutral on

this and 10% still felt motivated.

0  10  20  30  40  50  60  70  80  90  

UnmoCvated   Neutral   MoCvated  

How motivated would you feel if privatisaton was implemented?

How  moCvated  would  you  feel  if  privaCsaton  was  implemented?  

Would you be affected by change that privatisation would bring?

Yes  

No  

12

Prior to asking these questions I had an idea that the results of the fourth question would

be how they were purely because of the general negativity around privatisation. Some

people like change whereas others don’t and the results of the fifth question showed this

as 90% of employees felt they would be affected by change and 10% felt they wouldn’t.

Relationships with colleagues are an important part of life at work. At Cambridgeshire

Community Services the work environment is very friendly and all employees get along

with each other and the results reflect this because 70% of staff said they would feel

unhappy if their colleague lost their job, 20% said they would be unaffected if someone lost

their job and 10% said they were happy.

I then decided to come back to the job advancement topic again with the seventh question

but with the issue of privatisation added to it. This time the results were split 50/50 proving

that staff feel like they wont have chance to advance in their job due to privatisation.

How would feel if one of your colleagues lost their job?

Unhappy  

Not  Affected  

Happy  

0  10  20  30  40  50  60  

Yes   No  

Would  you  feel  as  if  you  have  job  advancement  if  changes  due  to  priva8sa8on  took  place?  

Would  you  feel  as  if  you  have  job  advancement  if  changes  due  to  privaCsaCon  took  place?  

13

8 - Ideologies on what can impact and influence staff motivation

Sadri and Bowen defined motivation as “the physiological processes that guide an

individual towards a specific goal and causes that person to pursue that particular goal”

(Sadri and Bowen, 2011. p45). Conversely, French said motivation is “the forces within an

individual that account for the level, direction and persistence of effort expected at work”

(French, 2011. p158).

Within the Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team; each employee is different

in regards to their personality or work ethic hence they are motivated in different ways.

This means aspects of one strategy cant be used to motivate all employees. On the other

hand if managers don’t implement any motivational strategies they could lose staff all

together. To see which strategies works best for the finance team at Cambridgeshire

Community Services, a critical analysis of two motivational theories, Maslow’s Hierarchy

Of Needs and Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory has been conducted.

Maslow (1954) outlined five basic needs that contribute to motivation in the workplace;

physiological needs, safety needs, loving needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation

needs. He said that individuals are always becoming, not always stationary within

themselves and when one of the needs is met they drive to fulfil the next one.

Physiological needs are at the bottom of the hierarchal structure and include employees

having access to food, water, shelter, air and sleep. Kaur (2013) said if a hungry employee

were present within an organisation they would not be able to make an adequate

contribution within their job. For example currently within the Cambridgeshire Community

14

Services finance team physiological needs aren’t being met because there isn’t enough

funding to employee staff on the full time basis meaning employees are having work

longer hours to complete work causing them to have less sleep. Maslow also said that

monetary value plays an important role within physiological needs, which Sadri and Bowen

backed up by stating, “80% of what companies spend is due to employee wages” (Sadri

and Bowen, 2011. p45). This proves employee’s work for money and companies have to

spend their earnings to keep their workforce motivated through providing reasonable

wages. If privatisation occurred, the Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team

would feel demotivated because private firms strive to make a profit by minimising costs,

which would affect employees, as redundancies will occur.

Safety needs are the need for employees to feel safe and secure. Kaur (2013) said for

employees to feel safe, organisations have to provide acceptable salaries that will allow

them to live reasonably. Furthermore, the less income they receive the more likely they are

to live in an area with less safety and vice versa. Privatisation will again impact on this

need because of the profit motive, as jobs will be cut leading to redundancies. Employees

will lose out, as they know they wont feel safe and secure both internally and externally

within their job.

Loving needs is the wish to be loved and have a sense of belonging within an

organisation. This is seen as a major motivator for employees and one that employers

have to target when devising plans on how to motivate their workforce. Kaur said for loving

needs to be met organisations should “encourage social events such as picnics and

bowling” (Kaur, 2013. p1062) as employees will feel accepted by others. Sadri and Bowen

took this further by saying “individuals who are looking to satisfy their loving needs are

15

more likely to join or continue working at a company based on relationships” (Sadri and

Bowen, 2011. p47). Privatisation can impact on this need because cost cutting will lead to

job losses, friendships broken and employees will not feel like they have a sense of

belonging.

Maslow’s esteem need includes the need for responsibility, reputation, recognition and

respect from others. If met it leads to the increase in self-confidence and improves an

employees motivation. Sadri and Bowen (2011) said the lack of recognition towards

employees is one of the fundamental reasons why employees leave their job, which; if this

need is met the opposite occurs. Privatisation can impact on this need because currently

within the Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team there a lot of managers who

oversee staff and compliment staff for good work. The main goal of a private company is to

change the hierarchal structure to cut the amount of managers there are. As a result this

can lead to more senior staff, such as directors not recognising good work from lower lever

employees.

The final tier of Maslow’s hierarchy is self-actualisation, which is the need for self-fulfilment

and for an employee to become the best in what they are capable in becoming. Self-

actualisation needs are described as “reaching one’s full potential, and it is self-

perpetuating because it has no predetermined end point” (Reid-Cunningham, 2008. p15).

Currently within the Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team, senior managers

push staff to attend courses to build knowledge and skills set so they understand their job

role better. Privatisation can impact on this because the change it brings through for

example job losses will interrupt the goals of motivation an employee may have.

16

Maslow’s theory has proved popular which means it does have its benefits but also some

criticisms. The first beneficial aspect of the theory is that it recognises potential in different

employees. For example highly paid employees are not exempt from needing to be

motivated at some stage of their career therefore higher needs from this theory can be

used to do so. Another benefit is the theory focuses solely on individuals and doesn’t get

side tracked from this. It is a benefit because when managers come to applying the theory

in the work place they will be in the mind-set of motivating individuals and have no reason

to use external factors to assist them.

Moving on to criticisms, the first is that some employees, as they move up the managerial

hierarchy begin to ignore lower order needs and focus on higher order needs as

employees feel these motivate them more in pursuing career goals. This is a criticism

because Maslow assumed that all employees start from the bottom and work their way up

to the top but he didn’t take into account that each individual is different. This also shows

when Maslow devised his theory he didn’t place enough significance on lower order

needs, which as a consequence, employees are able to easily skip them and apply ones

relevant to them. French (2011) supported this as he recognised employees base their

needs on their career stage and geographic location, which are factors Maslow didn’t

analyse. Another criticism is based on Maslow’s assumption that everyone is the same, as

he stated an individual’s behaviour relates to all needs. This is a false conjecture because

individuals are different in terms of their performance levels therefore it cannot be

assumed everyone is the same. The second criticism of the theory is that it doesn’t apply

to one particular culture. This is because in western culture employment is readily

available meaning employees focus on higher order needs as they want to pursue career

paths, but ignore lower order needs as these are already in place due to laws and

17

regulations. However in developing countries they appreciate lower order needs, as they

are harder to come by because things such as clean water and food are not as accessible

as they are in the west. Finally a criticism made by Reid-Cunningham outlined self-

actualisation as a need that didn’t exist because she stated, “self actualisation is

considered to be nothing but a romantic notion based on hopeful wishes about human

nature” (Reid-Cunningham, 2008. p23) which shows Maslow’s theory is too adventurous.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory is another of many motivation theories and was devised by

Fredrick Herzberg. The two-factor theory focussed primarily on job satisfaction of

employees in a workplace. Herzberg started by asking a range of questions to understand

what motivates employees but also what doesn’t motivate employees. Hyun & Oh (2011)

suggested within the two-factor theory there were two factors driving employee motivation,

one, motivation factors and two hygiene factors. Hyun & Oh (2011) also said motivators

are purely for personal growth, passion for the job and an opportunity for personal

advancement whereas Herzberg himself said that the role of hygiene factors were to avert

employee discontent and didn’t lead to higher levels of motivation but without them

employee dissatisfaction would exist.

Motivators are known as satisfiers and relate to job content, which is what an individual

does in their job (French, 2011). To improve employee job satisfaction, employers must

use a range of motivators, which include methods for analysing achievement, recognition

of good work, type of work offered and level of responsibility given to an employee.

Herzberg’s theory stated that if any of the motivators were missing then employees weren’t

satisfied and wouldn’t perform well in their job. If privatisation was implemented within the

NHS, the motivators would need to be reviewed and analysed. This is because as shown

by the questionnaire results, staff at would feel demotivated if privatisation occurred,

18

therefore to keep staff satisfied managers would need to carefully implement the a range

motivators to keep productivity levels high.

Hygiene factors are known as dissatisfiers and are linked with job context, which refers to

a persons work setting (French, 2011). These factors don’t associate with a person’s job

but include conditions surrounding the job such as company policy, relationships

colleagues and relationships with managers (Gibson, 2000). Having hygiene factors

prevent people from feeling dissatisfied at work. For instance, if there are good

interpersonal relations within the team, Herzberg said these don’t motivate employees

alone it keeps them satisfied within their job. In regards to the issue of privatisation,

hygiene factors would need to be considered because employees wont be motivated with

just motivators they need to feel satisfied but also not dissatisfied with their job which

comes from hygiene factors, meaning managers must use both factors. An argument by

Simons and Enz (1995) said that hygiene factors such as job security were more important

than motivators like interesting work when satisfying hotel employees. I agree with this

based on my questionnaire results because job security was seen as a tool of stability that

employees want within the finance team at Cambridgeshire Community Services.

Table 1: How employees feel when both motivators and hygiene factors are combined.

Low Hygiene Factors High Hygiene Factors

Low

Motivators

Unmotivated workforce with

lots of complaints.

Employees have few objections

but are not highly motivated.

High

Motivators

Employees are motivated but

still have a lot of complaints.

Employees are highly motivated

and have no complaints.

19

The two-factor theory has been used globally by organisations due to the benefits it

presents. Firstly it is beneficial because it recognises extensive issues that need to be

tackled in the workplace. For example, if employees feel unconvinced about their job

security, managers can try to diminish the demotivating effect by being accessible and

reassuring employees about the situation. Another benefit is in terms of pinpointing factors

that motivate and demotivate employees as some are in the control of managers whereas

others are outside their control. The clear distinction between motivating and demotivating

factors allows managers to focus on ones within their control meaning outside factors will

not impact on employee performance negatively. For example if a manager provides an

employee with more responsibility, something in their control, they will be happy within

their job role and this will positively impact on their personal life, something out of their

control.

There has been much debate about the validity of the two-factor theory, which has

generated the following criticisms. Initially the theory is criticised through the unclear

differentiation between motivators and hygiene factors. This is applicable to money

because some individuals say this is a motivator factor whereas others say it is a hygiene

factor. French (2011) stated employees who have low salaries felt dissatisfied but by

paying them more doesn’t actually motivate them, it is other surrounding factors that

improve job satisfaction. He elaborated this further by saying that money is a motivator, in

return for hard work. Dartey-Baah on the other hand identified money to be a hygiene

factor by saying “economic conditions and family members make money a big issue for

employees” (Dartey-Baah, 2011. p6). By having this misunderstanding between what is a

motivator factor or hygiene factor means people have different opinions so no one knows

whose is accurate. Another criticism of the two-factor theory is Herzberg didn’t take into

20

account factors such as age, sex, social status and occupational levels. Such factors

impact on what level of importance is placed on motivator and hygiene factors in regards

to job satisfaction. For example in respect to a persons age the younger they are the more

likely they are to want recognition from their manager for good work whereas the older

they are the more likely they are to want job advancement. Lastly the two-factor theory is

criticised as there is no balance between motivators and hygiene factors. Nowadays

employees strive to want responsibility within their job but if managers give too much of

this it keeps employees happy but they may not be prepared for such responsibility leaving

them feeling overwhelmed and eventually demotivated. With no clear balance identified

between the factors in Herzberg’s theory managers can be mislead into thinking they are

doing good for their workforce but in actual fact to much good can be bad.

Both theories are content theories hence they are alike. Firstly they link together as both

stress on the needs of individuals. Maslow identified needs in a hierarchical structure

whereas Herzberg outlined needs through motivators and hygiene factors. French (2011)

said that hygiene factors are associated with a persons work setting, which compliments

Maslow’s physiological, safety and loving needs as they include elements of an individuals

work setting through food, water, safety, and relationships at work. Another way in which

these two theories compliment each other is in the criteria as to how individuals are

motivated. Maslow does this through stating what each of the needs compromise of and

Herzberg did this through stating what hygiene and motivators consist of, which is

beneficial to managers at Cambridgeshire Community Services as they can easily apply

either of the theories to issues within the company.

21

The models also have their differences. Maslow said that each stage is seen as a

motivator when employees move up the hierarchal scale, whereas Herzberg said the

hygiene stage only results in a employee being satisfied in their job not actually being

motivated as this comes from the motivator stage in the theory. This shows that Maslow’s

theory is clearer for managers as they can easily distinguish between types of employees

in regards to how they are driven to go to each stage whereas with Herzberg’s two factor

theory, the cross over between hygiene factors and motivators are unclear meaning

managers will find it harder to implement this ideology. A final difference is that Maslow

developed the model based on personal experience whereas Herzberg based his theory

on empirical research. This therefore proves Maslow’s theory is more valid whereas with

Herzberg creating it on based research generates an argument as to how accurate it is.

22

9 - A method finance managers can use to motivate employees

Having done an analysis on two commonly used motivational theories; I believe the most

suited one for the finance team at Cambridgeshire Community Services is Maslow’s

hierarchy of needs theory. The reason I have chosen to use this theory is because of the

more in depth emphasis it places on the needs of individuals over Herzberg’s two-factor

theory. By placing an importance on individuals needs it allows managers within the

finance team to easily tailor each stage of the theory to employees depending on their job

role. For example a general employee within the Trust like a administrative assistant,

managers are able to focus on correcting lower order needs to keep them motivated

because these are more important to them whereas management accountants seek more

promotion opportunities which allows managers to place emphasis on higher order needs.

It is this easy distinction between the needs of the theory and how they are applicable to

an employee that makes it so attractive to use.

23

10 - Recommendations to improve employee motivation

In the tough and unknown times ahead for the Cambridgeshire Community Services

finance team, it is important managers act as leaders and role models to their staff. As a

result this will provide staff with assurance within their job role, which will then positively

reflect on their performance. Below I have provided four recommendations for the

Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team to keep staff motivation levels high

based on what I feel is missing from the team.

The first recommendation I have outlined is for managers to take the finance team out of

weekly Friday lunches. I see this as a good motivational strategy because not only will it

be held on a day every employee looks forward to, Friday, it get employees out of the

office. It also allows the whole team to bond together, discuss issues and relax but

additionally it enables them to feel like they are on the same level. I also see this as a

good strategy because it gives employees something to look forward to so they are driven

to complete their work by Friday.

The second recommendation is for free food to be provided by managers. Offering free

food and snacks goes a long way in motivating employees because it makes them feel

happy about their job. An example of how this recommendation can be taken further is

every fortnight, the finance management team at Cambridgeshire Community Services

providing lunch. By doing this, employees will feel as though they are part of the team but

also it is something for them to look forward to.

24

Newcombe, T. (2012), said that an employees voice is important to a successful business.

I agree with this because employees that make their voice heard regarding issues within a

business, makes a business aware of this and it can be eradicated. This ties to my third

recommendation, which is monthly mentoring of employees. It is essentially a manager

within the Cambridgeshire Community Services finance team assigning themselves to an

employee, meeting with them one to one, and allowing employees to raise any issues they

may have. By doing this on the monthly basis, managers can see what issues exist within

the team and then they can try to eliminate them. From an employee’s perspective, by

managers doing this they will feel assured and confident to talk about anything they want,

as they know the manager is listening to them.

Barton, T. (2013), said it is important for employees to have a work life balance. Kaur took

this further by stating “socialisation is one of the factors that keep employee feel the spirit

of working in a team” (Kaur, 2013. p1063). The final recommendation is to introduce social

events outside of work because it is proven to reduce stress levels, encourages team

bonding and boosts overall health and wellbeing. In regards to Cambridgeshire

Community Services I recommend a weekly five a side football match or netball match

being held. By doing this, again it gives employees something to look forward to, it allows

them to unwind from work, but more importantly it is a topic of conversation within the

office, which encourages the team to communicate with each other.

25

11 - Evaluation of sources used

Throughout this whole report I have used a range of varied studies. Some have allowed

me to understand the foundations of privatisation along with the theories of Maslow and

Herzberg whereas others have allowed me go deeper and look at the issue of privatisation

both positively and negatively.

Some studies I researched allowed me understand that privatisation isn’t new in the United

Kingdom. Johnson, C (1988) backed this up because his report was written when major

industries were being privatised. This consequently allowed me to recognise how the

telecoms industry was privatised which enabled me to understand what goes into the

decision making for this process to privatise an industry and why it is being discussed for

the NHS.

To get an understanding of motivation throughout the NHS I used a report by Finlayson

(2002). This report was useful as it linked to my questionnaire results. Kaur (2014) allowed

me to understand employee motivation within the NHS more recently which enabled me to

compare it to how it was in 2002 in reference to Finlayson’s analysis. By doing this I was

able to build up a broad analysis of motivational levels within the NHS so that when it

came to applying the theories of Maslow and Herzberg to Cambridgeshire Community

Services, it could be done easily.

On the other hand some studies were conducted internationally. For example Hyun (2011)

was conducted in Korea but this article allowed me to understand the Herzberg two-factor

26

theory from an international perspective. As a result I was able to stretch my knowledge of

how this theory has been used both nationally and internationally.

I found it very difficult to find various studies relating directly to the NHS and privatisation.

This was surprising because such an issue has been around for a very long time and if

these sources were available it would’ve given me a clearer and direct understanding as to

why the privatisation of the NHS has not taken place.

27

12 - Conclusion

Many clashing views have been discussed on the issue privatisation and how staff

motivation levels will be affected if it was implemented. There is an evident and underlying

reason why the Government today hasn’t taken this decision purely because it isn’t viable.

To have a successful workforce, techniques to motivate staff have to be carefully applied

because each individual is motivated differently. Strategies to do so must be prioritised

within the finance team at Cambridgeshire Community Services because the future of the

Trust remains uncertain and this uncertainty impacts on employees. From my personal

experience within the finance team at Cambridgeshire Community Services, uncertainty

doesn’t agree with employees as they begin to feel anxious and stressed, meaning

motivational measures to eradicate this need to be considered.

Privatisation is an issue of much debate. In my opinion I think it shouldn’t even be

considered because the NHS has been providing a service funded by tax payers money

for many years which has been relatively successful therefore this shouldn’t change. By

shifting the way the NHS is run, in the short term there will be implications such as job

losses but looking long term it would turn the NHS into an unproductive monopoly.

For managers within Cambridgeshire Community Services to enjoy good productivity

levels, accurate financial results and deadlines being met they have to ensure the correct

motivational methods are implemented because a motivated workforce leads to low staff

turnover and a loyal workforce.

28

13 - Bibliography

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2-bn-on-unnecessary-treatment. Last accessed 10 February 2015.

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people-a-year-cqc-head-david-prior. Last accessed 10 February 2015.

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Hyun, S and Oh, H. (2011). Reexamination of Herzbergs Two Factor Theory of Motivation

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14 - Appendix

Appendix A - Questionnaire on motivation in Cambridgeshire Community Services

1) Do you enjoy working in the finance team here at Cambridgeshire Community

Services?

Yes No

2) Within your job role do you feel there is a chance for job advancement?

Yes No

3) If privatisation were implemented within the NHS how motivated would you feel within

your job role? (1= Not Motivated, 2= Neutral, 3= Motivated)

1, 2, 3

4) Would you feel affected by the change that privatisation would bring?

Yes No

5) How would you feel if a work colleague lost their job due to privatisation changes?

(1=Unhappy 2=Unaffected 3= Happy)

1, 2, 3

6) Would you feel as if you have job advancement if changes due to privatisation were

took place?

Yes No