The role of workers' motivation and commitment in educational management:the case of a Brazilian higher education institution

This work investigates how the motivation and commitment of people at work influence the management of educational institutions. Additionally, the role of the manager in the context of school administration is also studied. To achieve the objectives of this work, the case study method was applied to a Brazilian public higher education institution (HEI). The data were obtained through a questionnaire survey, which included three scales: (a) motivation for work, following Herzberg's conceptual framework; (b) organizational commitment, following Meyer and Allen's conceptual framework; and (c) management roles, following Mintzberg's conceptual framework. A sample of 61 workers was obtained, corresponding to 65% of the population of the higher education institution. Among all the respondents, 38 (62%) were women, 31 (51%) were under 40 years of age, 42 (69%) were married, a large majority, 59 (97%), had higher education qualifications, and 29 (48%) were professors. Regarding motivation at work, the professionals of the HEI studied feel professionally fulfilled, consider their work challenging and interesting, have professional growth, have been promoted, and have a good interpersonal relationship with the management. However, they do not feel that their work gives them status, nor do they feel that their work is recognized by managers. The three items that generates the greatest professional satisfaction are professional achievement, professional recognition, and salary. Regarding organizational commitment, HEI employees have a high affective commitment, moderate normative commitment, and low continuance commitment. As far as the roles of the manager are concerned, the roles most frequently played are those of figurehead, liaison, disseminator, spokesperson, entrepreneur, resource allocator, and negotiator. The case study carried out allowed to identify areas for improving the management of educational organizations, particularly in the human resources management domain. Clues for future research are also identified.