The impact of motivation and job satisfaction in Portuguese hotels
Main Aim & Objectives:
The main aim of the research is to assess the impact of Employee motivation and Job satisfaction in Portugal hotels. This will help any hotel to improve its processes.
Research questions:
RQ1: What is the impact of employee motivation in Portuguese Hotels?
RQ2: What is the impact of employee job satisfaction in Portuguese Hotels?
In today’s economy, great store is placed on the abstract values such as knowledge and competence possessed by the workers. A great value in the hotel industry for which customers are willing to pay now, is being created through the human capital or intellectual capital as the product is abstract and the quality of that product is determined by the qualifications of the distributor.
Motivation is the driving force that sets individuals into motion. Motivation directs people to behave in a certain way and is effective in inclining towards aims so that the motivation affects individual behaviour and it encourages individuals to take action to a certain end . Hotels offer products that are abstract and due its nature, it thrusts the behaviours of workers to the forefront. These behaviours leave an impression on consumers’ perception. Job satisfaction has a direct effect on the morale, which in turn affects the turnover, which is a direct measure of organizational commitment. Morale affects the workers' behavior and workers with high morale are more enthusiastic, joyful, committed and productive . Though service quality is determined by the consumers, it is created by the workers. Hospitality industry suffers from significant turnover and job satisfaction contributes hugely in controlling it. Theories such as motivation-hygiene, expectancy, equity, the hierarchy of needs and jobs characteristics have been proven to be valid and reliable theories and have been implicated in many studies.
Key Academic Sources (books and journal articles):
Aksu, A.A., Aktas, A. (2005). Job satisfaction of managers in tourism. Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol 20 (5), pp. 479-488.
Barbee, C., & Bott, V. (1991). Customer treatment as a mirror of employee treatment. Advanced Management Journal, Vol 5 (1), pp. 27.
Chen, C.F. (2006). Short report: job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and Flight attendants’ turnover intentions: a note. Journal of Air Transport Management, Vol 12, pp. 274-276.
Chiang, C., & Jang, S. (2008). An expectancy theory model for hotel employee motivation. International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol 27, pp. 313-322.
Deci, E.L. (1975). Intrinsic Motivation. New York: Plenum.
Feintsein, A.H., Vondrasek, D. (2001). A study of relationships between job satisfaction and organisational commitment among restaurant employees. Journal of Hospitality Tourism and Leisure Science at http:hotel//unlv.edu/pdf job satisfaction.pdf (accessed March 25th, 2010).
Hackman, J.R., & Oldham, G.R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work. Test of a theory. Organisational Behaviour and Human Performance, Vol 16 (2), pp. 250-279.
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Synderman, B.B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York: Wiley
Kovach, K.A. (1987). What motivates employees? Workers and supervisors give different answers. Business Horizons, Vol 30 (5), pp. 58-65.
Lam, T., Zhang, H., & Baum, T. (2001). An investigation of employees job satisfaction: the case of hotels in Hong Kong. Tourism Management, Vol 22, pp. 157-165.
Lee-Ross, D. (1998). A practical theory of motivation applied to hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 10 (2), pp. 68-74.
Locke, E.A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In: Dunnette, M.D. (Ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Rand-McNally, Chicago, pp. 1297–1349.
Lawler, E.E. (1983). Satisfaction and behaviour, in Steers, R.M. & Porter L.W (eds) Motivation and Work Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Maslow, A.H. (1970). Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed. New York: Harper and Row Publishers.
Steers, R., & Porter, L. (1983). Motivation and Work Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tutunco, O., & Kozak, M. (2001). An investigation of factors affecting job satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol 25, pp. 17-30.
Main proposed research methods and how it addresses the Aims and Objectives:
The research methodology will include both primary and secondary data collection and analysis. The primary data will be collected using the interview method. This includes administering a questionnaire to a selected few employees in Portugal hotels, their owners/managers, and customers. The secondary research methods include analysing selected case studies and performing a literature review.
The literature review provides the context for the research, justifies the research, shows where the current research fits into the general body of research done earlier, enables the researcher to know about the theories involved, illustrates the trend of previous research, outlines the gaps and shows how the present research adds to the general body of knowledge in the particular field.
As part of primary data collection, a qualitative, inductive research is conducted by getting answers to questionnaires that are administered. The questionnaires will be pilot tested and finally the corrected questionnaire will be administrated. According to Yin, interviews are targeted and insightful; they focus directly on the case study topic and the perceived casual inferences. Its weaknesses are bias, inaccuracies due to poor recall and poorly constructed questions providing interviewers what they want to hear.
Bibliography
Deery, M. & Iverson, R., 1996. Enhancing productivity; intervention strategies for employee turnover. In: N. Johns, ed. Productivity Management in Hospitality Tourism. London: Cassel, pp. 68-95.
Gallagher, K. et al., 1997. People in organisations: an active learning approach. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Kandampully, J. & Hsin-Hui, H., 2007. Do hoteliers need to manage image to retain loyal customers?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospıtality management, 19(6).
Krathwohl, D. R., 1988. How to prepare a research proposal: guidelines for funding and dissertations in the social and behavioral sciences. Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Press.
Lam, T., Zhang, H. & Baum, T., 2001. An investigation of employees job satisfaction: the case of hotels in Hong Kong. Tourism Management, Volume 22, pp. 157-165.
Mescon, M. H., Bovee, C. L. & Thill, J. V., 1999. Business today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Ponton, D. M., 2010. An analysis of psychological empowerment, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of mid-level managers in hospitality industry, South East Queensland, Australia.: Griffith Business School.
Rudez, H. N. & Mihalic, T., 2007. Intellectual capital in the hotel industry: a case study from Slovenia. Hospitality Management, Volume 26, pp. 188-199.
Şimşek, M. S., Akgemici, T. & Çelik, A., 2001. Davranış Bilimlerine Giriş ve Örgütlerde Davranış. Ankara: s.n.
Yin, R. K., 2013. Case study research: design and methods (applied social research methods). 5th ed. Thousand Oks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
