Chapter 1

Introduction

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 Origin of the Study

The system of private universities is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh. Because of the
ever-growing demand for education at the university level, and the fact that existing public
universities could not meet the need, the government passed a Private Universities Act in
1992. Starting with a handful, the number of private universities has grown rapidly and stands
at 54 to date, compared with 21 public universities.

Although some of the universities have come under fire for failing to deliver what they had
promised, it has to be remembered that Bangladesh's whole system of higher education is still
in its development stage. In the US, as well as in many other countries around the world,
private universities and colleges are as good as the public ones, if not better at times. MIT,
Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth are all private institutions. In Bangladesh, many
private universities are also excellent education institutions.

Learning Organizational Behavior (MGT 201) is a must for a BBA student. This course has
been designed with different management theories and applications of those theories in
management activities. As a requirement of this course, students have to prepare a term paper
in group. In line with the requirements of this course, our group (Group 4) wants to prepare
the term paper on the “Motivational factors of BRAC University”.

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 b. Main Objective

As the number of private universities has increased rapidly in the last decade, the demand for
highly educated people also increased. However, the number of highly educated people did
not increase in line with the demand. As a result the universities have to ensure that the
faculties employed in their universities are being motivated.

Our main objective is to understand the Motivational factors and if these motivational factors
are in accordance with different motivational theories provided by the theorists. It will give
us apparent thoughts about the motivation process. It will also help us to understand the
different qualities of a good motivator and what are the key factors of motivation in practical
work.

c. Specific Objective

The specific objective of this term paper is to identify the applications of the management
and behavioral theories in the motivation process of BRAC University. It will help us to
understand if these motivation processes are working for an organization. The term paper will
also evaluate whether these motivation practices are effective and if there are any hurdles in
the motivation process. The term paper will also compare the motivation process of different
universities.

The Specific objectives of this study are-

1. To determine why faculties are not choosing corporate jobs.

2. To find out why faculties has chosen private university than any public university for their
teaching profession.
3. To settle on why faculties has chosen BRAC University without going to other private
universities.
4. What are the motivation incentives for BRAC University for faculties
5. Specify the motivational theories that are applied in BRAC University.
6. Determining faculty’s performance evaluation process in BRAC University by authority

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 d. Methodology

For this report, data is collected by taking interviews of different people related to the
administrative and educational operation in BRAC University, such as, faculties of different
departments and schools, deans, directors, registrars, pro-vice chancellor, accountant and
human relation officers. We have also collected data from annual report and internet for this
purpose. Then we made a content analysis of the collected information from interviews,
annual reports and internet. After that we have recapitulated all the necessary information. By
summarizing it, supplementary information of the study has been imparted to the researcher.
At last we made a conclusion based on the said information.

Data Collection and Analysis

The analysis used information received from interviews of selected BRAC University
Personnel. Moreover, the study has also used preceding revisions and compared it to its
prevailing figures in order to provide conclusions and competent commendations.

Primary Data

The primary source of data came from interviews with BRAC University Personnel. The
primary source of data will give definite rejoinders from people who encounter diverse
classes of things. This kind of data will give a further understanding of the situation.

Secondary Data

The secondary source of data will came from research through the internet; books, journals,
related studies and other sources of information. Acquiring secondary data are more
convenient to use because they are already condensed and organized. This kind of data can be
found anywhere and at any time that is needed. Moreover, analysis and interpretation using
the secondary source of data can be done more easily. However, due to lack of information in
the internet about BRAC University, the term paper mainly relies on primary source of data.

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 e. Scope

The scope of the term paper is limited to the motivational factors of the faculties of BRAC
University. Information has been gathered from different interviews with the faculty and
administration of BRAC University. We have also taken interviews of different faculties of
the top private universities. Secondary data has been collected from the internet. The term
paper has also compared motivation practices with the theories given by intellectuals.

f. Limitations

To make this report, we had to face some confinements. The main limitation is time. Another
limitation is that most of the information regarding this report is collected from interviews.
There is a lack of information about BRAC University in the internet. In addition, there are
some contradictions regarding the information of interviews. We have received different
information from different sources about the same topic. This has been a great problem as we
had to verify all the information repeatedly. . It also needs to be mentioned that the analysis
and the future projection presented here may vary with opinions of experts in this field

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Chapter 2

Overview

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 History

BRAC University was established in April 2001 by BRAC - Building Resources Across

Communities (formerly known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee). From a
modest beginning thirty-five years ago, BRAC has today grown into one of the largest non-
government development organizations in the world. In recent years BRAC has extended its
development activities to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Africa.

BRAC University was established against this backdrop. In its initial consultative process, led
by Professor David Fraser, former president of Swarthmore College in the United States and
Dr. Riaz Khan from BRAC, BRAC University opted to follow the liberal arts tradition of US
universities and colleges.

This decision posed certain challenges for the proposed university. First, as mentioned above,
liberal arts and the humanities had traditionally become the purview of a ‘cheap' education,
where large numbers of Bengali students followed a course of studies leading to a BA at a
college. Even at the universities, such as Dhaka and Chittagong, arts departments were
characterized by huge classes and rudimentary teaching aids. Private universities honed in on
the market needs of the country, concentrating on business and computers as their mainstay.
BRAC decided to address these demands within a liberal arts framework.

A second consideration was how to incorporate BRAC's experience with development and

poverty alleviation into the university curriculum. In the field of knowledge production,
BRAC itself was seen as a huge laboratory from which students could learn and a new
knowledge base could be created.

The third was deciding on a language of instruction. English was ultimately chosen, making
BRAC University a new global hub for education. However, this put a large group of
students at a disadvantage. Given the vision that BRAC was pursuing, these disadvantaged
students were the very people the university would have liked to incorporate into its student
body.

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 b. General Idea

BRAC University finally began its journey in April 2001. It started with the usual
departments of Computer Science and Business Administration. The English department was
also established, but more as a service department than a department in its own right. Courses
clustered under ‘general education' and compulsory courses from outside the major area
remained part of the curriculum. As the university progressed, other departments were
created, such as English and Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences, and Architecture.

As each department developed its own course curriculum and pedagogical practices, the
University as a whole established some defining characteristics. A planning process called
BRAC University Initiative for Learning and Development (BUILD) was instituted. Junior
and senior teaching staff and other BRAC stakeholders debated and discussed the best ways
for the University to progress.

The most significant innovation that came out of this process was the establishment of a
residential semester. General courses were made part of this semester, with a special
emphasis on English. The general courses that students take during the residential semester
include Bangladesh Studies, Computer Science, English, and Ethics and Culture. The
Bangladesh Studies course, for instance, includes field visits to Bangladeshi historical sites
and BRAC projects. During this semester, students live and work together, interact with other
people using the training facilities where the residential dormitories are located, and acquire
more intimate knowledge of the realities of Bangladesh. Living away from home, students
become more independent and acquire a sense of self and purpose.

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 c. Objectives

The goal of the University is to provide an excellent broad based education with a focus on
professional development for students, in order to equip them with the knowledge and skill
necessary for leading the country in its quest for development. Along with this, the university
provides an environment for faculty development in order to ensure a dynamic teaching
environment. Faculty will be provided with an environment in which they can further their
teaching skills and contribute to the creation of new knowledge by developing and using their
research skills. 

The University aims to foster independent thinking habits in students. With this goal in mind,
each department debates pedagogical methods and introduces innovations. The English
department, for instance, emphasizes making the study of English literature relevant and
interesting to 21st-century men and women in Bangladesh. Post-colonial and feminist
approaches are emphasized, so students learn to relate even 19th-century novels to their own
realities. Literary studies are given a practical application through courses on media, language
teaching and linguistics. The status of English in Bangladesh and around the world is debated
in classrooms, term papers and dissertations. The School of Business Studies emphasizes
learning through case studies, and students are encouraged to think on their feet as they
prepare to enter the commercial field in Bangladesh. 

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 Chapter 3

Motivational Factors

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 Motivation in Teaching

Honor

Honor is the valuation of a person's trustworthiness and social status based on that
individual's espousals and events. Now-a-day’s honor is a very significant factor for any
one in case of career and job. However honor also works as a great factor for motivation. For
an example, the earning of a taxi driver and a government employee might be same but in
their society the honor or the status is different. Exaction of a society is also different from
them. In the same way the honor of a university teacher is not equal to a corporate officer.
Everyone knows that a teacher is a nation builder. With their effort the new generation is
built. With their help hidden talent of a human is brought out which helps to build a society.
A teacher deals with the backbone of a nation which is known as education. So we can say
that a teacher is a nation builder. Maybe a corporate official gets higher salary than a teacher
but the potentiality of this corporate is unleashed by the help of a teacher. Moreover there is a
huge influence of university teacher in every sector of our country. Many things are done
with the suggestion of our teachers. They are contributing a huge part of our intellectual
society. These factors motivate them to join in teaching profession

Flexibility

In today’s job, flexibility is a vast aspect. Everyone wants to do the job with more freedom
and time flexibility. In university teaching profession there is more flexibility than the
corporate jobs. A university teacher may have to spend highest 40 hours in a week where as
in a corporate job a person may have to spend 50 or 60 hours in a week. Another thing is that
the part time job facilities are enormous in university teaching profession compared with the
corporate jobs according to the situation in Bangladesh. Moreover, in most cases the
flexibility of study leave is present in university teaching profession which is absent in many
corporate jobs. Main reason behind the flexibility of a job for a teacher is the lack of
sufficient university teachers in Bangladesh. If a teacher is not given flexibility in his
teaching profession, it becomes very much tough for him to deal with students and do the
research work simultaniously.

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High Salary

At present days salary is a vital matter. The peace in mind of a person depends on the amount
of salaries. If an employer cannot satisfy a person by salary, he/she cannot motivate the
person to do the job properly. So salary is very important. In the past the salary of a
university teacher was low and many talented students did not want to take teaching in the
university level as a profession. So they tried to join in corporate jobs or to manage
scholarship in abroad and leave this country. After completing their higher education they
would serve the foreign country or they used to join in different corporate jobs. As a result
our country Bangladesh was suffering a lot because of lack of good university faculties.
However the development of private university sector has changed everything. They are
recruiting talented students as faculty and giving very high salary to them. As a result, the
tendency to leave the homeland and staying in abroad has reduced. Now-a-days many
scholars of our country is returning to their motherland and serving her. The tendency of
joining in teaching profession by leaving corporate job is also increasing. Amount of salaries
of some private universities is higher compared with some multinational companies. For that
reason many faculties are not choosing the corporate jobs.

Pursuing Higher Education

Another reason for not choosing the corporate job is pursuing higher education. We know if
someone wants to be a faculty, he or she has to be a good student and a good student always
try to pursue higher education. If a good student joins in a corporate job it becomes very
tough for him to manage enough time to pursue higher education because of high amount of
pressure in corporate jobs. Another thing is that if someone is involved in university teaching
profession, he or she is not only teaching a student but also learning something from his or
her students which is not possible in a corporate job. Moreover, it is always possible for a
university teacher to get scholarship for pursuing higher education is very vast compare to a
corporate officer. There are different types of scholarships in different criteria for the
university faculties in home and abroad. Some are provided by the government, some are
given by the university and some are given by different research institutions.

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Emotional Involvements

Another factor is the emotional involvements. University teaching is the only profession
where we can see higher level of emotional involvement with different people. University
teaching profession is not only for the salary but also to make someone aware about society,
economy, business, science etc. There is a happiness not only learning by own self but also
make other learn by teaching. In a corporate job you just earn money, interact with some
people and lead your life. Corporate life is a kind of life where you are serving a boss and
your own self but you cannot do something for the real betterment of people. You are not
getting the fun of teaching something other. However a university faculty is doing a great job
not only for a nation but also for whole humankind. Another matter is that a faculty has to
interact with different students of different kinds of personality. As a result it gives them vast
experience about human mind which helps them to adjust themselves in other profession.

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 b. Motivation in Private Universities

Environment

According to the present situation of Bangladesh, environment is a great factor for higher
education. An education friendly environment is not only significant for the students but also
for faculties. We know that educational environment of public universities is totally wrecked
because of dirty student politics in Bangladesh. The dirty politics not only infects the students
but also infects the teachers. If we see the daily newspapers, we can find the evidence of this
muted reality. Faculties cannot take their classes properly. As a result, session jam is created
which puts a great burden on the heads of the faculties in future. Moreover sometimes due to
political fighting between students, faculties of public universities are also attacked and
injured. It is a great threat for their security. Student politics was introduced in public
universities for better purposes. The motto of introducing student politics has totally failed.
However private universities are totally free from politics. For an example, if we think about
BRAC University, there is no politics and the environment of BRAC University is totally
education friendly. Students are very much communicative and friendly with faculties;
faculties are also very much friendly with students. There is no political clash that hampers to
provide lectures of faculties in the class. There is no session jam so that faculties do not have
to bear any extra burden in future. This is another reason for faculties of BRAC University to
choose the private university for teaching profession.

Salary

Salary is another factor if I think about comparison between public and private universities.
Salary of a private university teacher is very high compares with a public university teacher.
For an example- the salary of a BRAC University faculty is three or four time higher
compared with any public university faculty. Although a question may arise that “Are the
faculties becoming too much money oriented rather than higher education?”. However the
reality is that the amount of salary is given to a public university teacher is too low with
which it is very tough for anyone to lead a better life according to present market condition in
Bangladesh. For that reason faculties of BRAC University have chosen this private university

without choosing any public university.

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Lack of Complexity

Another benefit for private university is lack of complexity in every process. For an example,
if we think about the teacher recruitment process in BRAC University, it is very much fair
and contemporary with beyond complexity. There is no political or other influence in faculty
selection process. The most reliable and suited person can be the faculty in BRAC University.
There is no problem regarding salary providing process in BRAC University also. If we think
about a public university, there is a huge complexity in teacher recruitment and salary
providing process. If someone wants to be a faculty in any public university, he or she must
need the political influence and also the influence of government. As a result, the most
suitable person cannot be the faculty in a public university because of lack of political
influence. Recently there has been news that a large number of faculties in a well-known
public university have not got their salary for two months because of government and
political student leaders’ influence. This is not a good situation for any faculty. To remove
these complexity many people has chosen private university for their strong teaching career.

Responsibility

Another big factor is responsibility. In a public university there is problem of accountability.

As a result, problems like lack of responsibility are created in public university. As a result if
a faculty does not do his job properly, he or she does not have to be accountable to anyone.
So the good faculties who are doing their job well become de-motivated. Actually faculties
are not responsible for this, the overall scheme of public universities are mainly responsible
for this. However, if we think about private universities like BRAC University, the level of
accountability is higher compared with any public university. For an example, if a faculty
fails to come into classes in time, he or she has to be accountable for this action to the
administration. As a result the tendency of responsibility is also created into the mind of a
faculty. It helps the good faculties to get their actual reward also. It also helps them to show
their responsibility characteristics to the administration and administration also appreciates it.

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Goodwill

Another big factor for any faculty of any university is goodwill. Many people of middle
income group are now showing interest in private universities like BRAC University. In only
nine years BRAC University has managed to achieve enough goodwill compared to any
public university. Today, BRAC University is fighting with leading public universities.
Recently we have seen a rank published by webometrics in which BRAC University got the
second position among all Bangladeshi universities. Many well-known public universities are
behind BRAC University. It is not only great news for BRAC University but also some
faculties who are now feeling proud of this. It proves that BRAC University has enough
goodwill. Moreover it is another significant factor for the faculty of BRAC University in
choosing private university for their career.

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 c. Cash Incentives

BRAC University has a strong HR culture in the organization. Being a well known private
university in Bangladesh it has its own way of daily evaluation. Through different formats of
evaluation they measure their faculty’s performance. Peer evaluation and student evaluations
are used to evaluate the faculties every semester. After evaluation the performance appraisal
of faculties comes out.

BRAC University continually evaluates and reviews its faculty’s benefits to ensure that
benefits are competitive and in line with the faculty’s needs and to manage their diverse life.

Attractive salary package

BRAC University offers one of the highest salary packages among all the private universities.
The salary is not only competitive comparing with other private universities but it is also
considered competitive with corporate jobs.

Cost of living adjustment

BRAC University is the only university that adjusts the salary with the inflation every year.
Whereas the other universities adjust salary with inflation every 4-5 years, BRAC University
stands out different in this area. This is very exceptional as the average cost to living
adjustment time for all the corporate jobs is also 4-5 years.

Other Cash Incentives

BRAC University also gives incentives to the faculties to make them more motivated for
future work behavior for example; if a faculty arranges a seminar then he/she is given points.
These points are then converted into monetary value and adjusted with their salary.

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Benefits

Benefits are defined as indirect and direct cash paid to a faculty. Some benefits are mandated
by law (such as social security, unemployment compensation, and workers compensation),
others vary from firm to firm or industry to industry (such as health insurance, life insurance,
medical plan, paid vacation, pension.)

BRAC University continually evaluates and reviews its faculty benefits to ensure that
benefits are competitive and in line with their faculty’s needs. Employee benefits include:

 Paid leave for research

 An active Sports and Social Club.
 Development opportunities and career support.
Group Insurance

BRAC University provides group insurance for the faculties. This facility is provided through
“Progoti”. However, the university has a plan to abolish this group insurance as this does not
seem to be very effective.

Provident Fund

Faculties are provided 10 percent provident fund. Among this 10 percent, 5 percent is taken
from monthly salaries each semester and another 5 percent is provided by the university. So,
10 percent of their monthly salary is adjusted to their provident fund each month. However,
this is lower than the amount allocated for the administration. The staff in the administration
enjoys 20% provident fund.

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 d. Non- Cash Incentives

Job security is very much vital when somebody is choosing a job for their career. In case of
job security, BRAC University is very much reliable for any faculty. We know that BRAC
University is an educational sister organization of BRAC which is the best NGO of the world.
BRAC is the only NGO which is not very much dependable on foreign aids now. In the same
way, BRAC University is a university who bears its every expense from its own earning
which is given by the students. It only takes money from different foreign research funding
institutions for research purpose. Another thing is that BRAC University has made enough
renown because of its quality education which is a major problem for any private university
of Bangladesh for which it is almost impossible for anyone and also for the government to
stop this top level private university of Bangladesh by showing any usual cause. So about this
factor almost all faculties are very much aware. So for that reason they feel enough safety
about job security. Another thing is that BRAC University is a non-profitable educational
institution of BRAC. Therefore if BRAC exists, BRAC University will also exist.

Favorable Working Condition

Another factor is nice and favorable working condition. If someone sees that there is not
enough resources in his or her own office and office is not decorated reliably, he or she may
be de-motivated. All most all offices of BRAC University is decorated nicely and enough
resources is present in every office. Recently all the offices of every department, schools,
centers and institutes of BRAC University has nicely organized in such a way that almost
every faculty will be motivated to do their work.

Extol

Another factor is extol or praise. In BRAC University, there is no problem regarding praise
which is a great motivational factor as non cash incentives. If a faculty can show enough
performance in his profession, he or she must get the praise from other senior faculties,
deans. Praise is enough can encourage any person to do his or her task properly.

Medical

BRAC University has got a professional medical team to cope up with the faculty’s needs.
The medical team is always there to respond to any emergency.

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 e. Application of Theories

After analyzing the motivational factors of BRAC University we came to realize that here a
number of motivational theories are applied.

Theory X and Y

Theory X and Y describe two very different attitudes toward workforce motivation. Although
BRAC University does not follow theory X or theory Y to the extreme, some hints of theory
X exists. For example, the faculties of East-West University must stay 18 hours in the
university. In the case of BRAC University, it is 40 hours. Moreover, the faculties of BRAC
University are also strictly regulated compared with other reputed private universities.

Expectancy Theory

Expectancy theory predicts that employees in an organization will be motivated when they
believe that:

 Putting in more effort will yield better job performance

 Better job performance will lead to organizational rewards, such as an increase in
salary or benefits
 These predicted organizational rewards are valued by the employee in question

BRAC University also follows expectancy theory to some extent. Evaluations are taken from
students, colleagues and boss to find out if a faculty is underperforming or not. Discussions
are held if a faculty is found to be underperforming. As a result, if a faculty tries to

Reinforcement theory

Reinforcement theory is a theory that says that behavior is a function of its consequences.
BRAC University also follows reinforcement theory. For example, if a faculty participates in
extra-curricular activities, he/she will get points and later he/she will be rewarded. So, a
faculty can expect greater pay for greater effort

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 Chapter 4

Conclusion and Recommendation

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 Conclusion

It can be said that a unique motivation process is followed by BRAC University.

Motivational factors of BRAC University are good enough compared with other public or
private universities. BRAC University is providing enough salaries for both stuffs and
faculties. In addition, BRAC University is providing an environment where there is no
political clash which is very much helpful for the faculties to operate their educational
activities. As we know that student politics has become a great threat regarding the
manipulation of better educational environment in public universities. This politics free
better environment is better to motivate the faculties and stuff. Another factor is friendly
interaction within staffs, colleagues and students. Today, this friendly environment is very
much erratic in any public and other private universities which are great barriers for those
institutions to motivate their staff and faculties to create a better education oriented
environment. Moreover, BRAC University also gives paid leave for higher education in
abroad for faculties which is really a positive motivation factor.

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 b. Recommendation

We have some recommendations regarding the motivation process of BRAC University, such
as-

1. Build a permanent campus for BRAC University.

2. Faculties should be given a dedicated elevator facility.
3. For the faculties, the motivation is very much salary oriented but they should be given
some incentives such as more transportation facilities and bonus regarding
motivation.
4. Fixed faculties should give the facilities of scholarships to study in abroad to
encourage them.
5. Faculties should be given more freedom as a result it will be very much helpful for
them to do their research work which can motivate them more to do their task
properly.
6. Differences between part-time and full-time faculties should be removed.
7. Application of student evaluation should be increased.

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 c. References

1. Dr Sanaul Mostafa
Director
BRAC Business School
E-mail: sanaulmostafa@bracu.ac.bd

2. Mr Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury

Registrar
BRAC University

3. Muhammad Intisar Alam

Lecturer
BRAC Business School
E-mail: intisar@bracu.ac.bd

4. Organizational Behavior, 13th Edition, Robbins, Stephen P. and Judge, Timothy A.;
Prentice Hall Publishing Company, 2009

5. Annual Report 2008, BRAC University

6. http://www.bracu.ac.bd/

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