MPC Research Reports
Report Details

Title:	Strategies for Addressing North Dakota Department of Transportation Employee Retention and Motivation
Authors:	Lynn Kalnbach, Gene Griffin, and Dennis Jacobson
University:	North Dakota State University
Publication Date:	Dec 2002
Report #:	MPC-02-137
Project #:	MPC-222, MPC-204
TRID #:	00940577
Keywords:	employee benefits, employee relations, employees, focus groups, human factors, motivation, organizational effectiveness, pay, performance evaluations, work environment

Abstract

The study examined organizational issues that affected employee motivation and retention. To obtain information about these issues that could be qualitatively analyzed and compared from state to state, face-to-face interviews were conducted with two or three individuals at the Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana DOTs. The results of the first phase of this study were primarily used as background information for the next phase of the study, which focused on organizational health in the North Dakota DOT.

The second phase of the study included organization-wide surveys of managers and employees, and focus group discussions to follow up on the survey results. Survey results suggested that employees had positive opinions about the work environment, but more negative opinions concerning some of the policies surrounding pay and performance management. The focus group discussions served to clarify some information from the surveys and to suggest possible improvements for the organization.