Roosevelt University

Management Theories & Practices in Hospitality Industry:

Motivation

A Research Paper Submitted to:

Professor Gerald F. Bober

Manfred Steinfeld School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Hospitality and Tourism Management (BSHTM)

By:

Manerly Salvatore
February 22, 2010

MOTIVATION
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“The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees and to

do this the manager should be able to motivate employees” (ACCEL Team Development, 2010).

Even though it look simple and easy, motivation practice and theory are actually difficult

subjects. According to ACCEL Team Development (2010), “In spite of enormous research, basic

as well as applied, the subject of motivation is not clearly understood and more often than not

poorly practiced” (para. 2)

“Understanding what constitutes human motivation has been a centuries old puzzle,

addressed as far back as Aristotle” (Williams, 2010, para. 2). There are many notable researchers

such as Robert Owen, Jeremy Bentham, Abraham Maslow, Rensis Likert, Frederick Hezberg,

Elton Mayo, Victor Vroom, Clayton Alderfer, David Mclelland, J. Stacey Adams, B.F. Skinner,

and Edwin Locke have tried to solve this puzzle, thus contributed to the many different theories

of motivation. Some of those academic theories about motivation were listed and overviewed by

Changing Mind Organization(2010):

• Acquired Needs Theory: We seek power, achievement or affiliation.

• Affect Perseverance: Preference persists after disconfirmation.

• Attitude-Behavior Consistency: Factors that align attitude and behavior.

• Attribution Theory: We need to attribute cause, that supports our ego.

• Cognitive Dissonance: Non-alignment is uncomfortable.

• Cognitive Evalution Theory: We select tasks based on how doable they are.

• Consistency Theory: We seek the comfort of internal alignment.

• Control Theory: We seek to control the world around us.

• Disconfirmation Bias: Agreeing with what supports beliefs and vice versa.

• ERG Theory: We seek to fulfill needs of existence, relatedness and growth.

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• Escape Theory: We seek to escape uncomfortable realities.

• Expectancy Theory: We are motivated by desirable things we expect we can achieve.

• Extrinsic Motivation: External: Tangible rewards.

• Goal-Setting Theory: Different types of goals motivate us differently.

• Intrinsic Motivation: Internal: Value-based rewards.

• Investment Model: Our commitment depends on what we have invested.

• Opponent-Process Theory: Opposite emotions interact.

• Positive psychology: What makes us happy.

• Reactance Theory: Discomfort when freedom is threatened.

• Self-Determination Theory: External and internal motivation.

• Self-Discrepancy Theory: We need beliefs to be consistent.

• Side Bet Theory: Aligned side-bets increase commitment to a main bet.

• The Transtheoretical Model of Change: Stages in changing oneself.

One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory

put forth by psychologist Abraham Maslow. In 1943, Maslow proposed that, “People are

motivated by five level of needs: physiological, safety belongingness, esteem, and self-

actualization“ (as cited in Williams, 2006, p. 378). However, many other researchers and scholars

does not clearly support Maslow’s theory, although it remains popular among managers.

Thus, although different in their analysis and opinions of the best motivation

management to be applied, most of those researchers agreed that motivation is a very important

aspect in management and also performance is considered to be a function of ability and

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motivation, thus resulted on the formula (ACCEL Team Development, 2010): Job performance

=f(ability)(motivation).

So, what is motivation? and why is it important?. First, we need to understand the simple

definition of the word itself. According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2010), the

meaning of motivation is “a motivating force, stimulus or influence”. Oxford Online Dictionary

(2010) describe it as “tending to initiate motion; power; that which induces a person to act eg:

desire, fear, and circumstance; the reason or reasons behind one’s actions or behaviour;

enthusiasm”. But, Seligman (1990) asserted, “Conceptually, motivation should not be confused

with either volition or optimism” (p. 101). Overall, the basic perspective on motivation looks like

the diagram below:

In other words, people have certain needs or wants (these terms will be used interchangeably),

and this causes people to do certain things (behavior), which satisfy those needs (satisfaction),

and this can then change which needs/wants are primary (either intensifying certain ones, or

allowing you to move on to other ones). Gomez (2004) agreed that, “Motivation energizes,

directs, and sustains human behavior directed towards a goal, in order to fulfill their needs” (as

cited in Honore, 2009, p. 63).

As previously mentioned, the topic of motivating employees is extremely important to

managers and supervisors because effective leaders need to know how to motivate people to do

their best work for them. Williams (2010) wrote,

When Frederick Herzberg researched the sources of employee motivation during

the l950s and l960s, he discovered a dichotomy that still intrigues and baffles
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managers: The things that make people satisfied and motivated on the job are
different in kind from the things that make them dissatisfied. (para. 3)

Furthermore he explained,

It turns out that people are motivated by interesting work, challenge, and
increasing responsibility--intrinsic factors. People have a deep-seated need for
growth and achievement. Herzberg's work influenced a generation of scholars and
researchers--but never seemed to make an impact on managers in the workplace,
where the focus on motivation remained the Jeremy Bentham’s "carrot-and-stick"
approach, or external motivators. (para. 4)

John Baldoni, an author of Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders,

concluded that, “motivation comes from wanting to do something of one's own free will, and that

motivation is simply leadership behavior--wanting to do what is right for people and the

organization” (as cited in Williams, 2010, para. 6). It is the manager or leader job to inspire their

employees to have that free will.

As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation (ACCEL Team

Development, 2010, para. 9-10): Positive reinforcement/high expectations; Effective discipline

and punishment; Treating people fairly; Satisfying employees needs; Setting work related goals;

Restructuring jobs; and Based rewards on job performance/compensation

According to McNamara (2008), the following specific steps can help manager go a long

way toward supporting the employees to motivate themselves in the organization:

• Do more than reading, knowing and understanding.

• Briefly write down the motivational factors that sustain you and what you can do to sustain

them.

• Make of list of three to five things that motivate each of your employees. Simply start to

recognize them.
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• Work with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are taken into consideration

in your reward systems.

• Have one-on-one meetings with each employee which means you care, concern and pay

attention.

• Cultivate strong skills in delegation. Delegation includes conveying responsibility and

authority to your employees so they can carry out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to

your employees to decide how they will carry out the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up

a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also allows employees to take a

stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and motivation in their

jobs, as well.

• Reward it when you see it. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviors

toward goals, not on popularity of employees.

• Reward it soon after you see it. This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the

behaviors that you're currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time

between an employee's action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the

employee that you highly prefer that action.

• Implement at least the basic principles of performance management. Good performance

management includes identifying goals, measures to indicate if the goals are being met or

not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective

actions to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance

management can focus on organizations, groups, processes in the organization and

employees.
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• Establish goals that are SMARTER. SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable,

acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of capabilities, and rewarding to those involved.

• Clearly convey how employee results contribute to organizational results. Employees often

feel strong fulfillment from realizing that they're actually making a difference. This

realization often requires clear communication about organizational goals, employee

progress toward those goals and celebration when the goals are met.

• Celebrate achievements.

• Let employees hear from their customers (internal or external)

• Admit to yourself (and to an appropriate someone else) if you don't like an employee.

In addition, Nelson (2004, p. 59) came up with 6 (six) important key values that

leaders and managers need to apply in order to make better ethical choice everyday on job,

especially in regard to motivating their employees:

• E—Evaluate your decisions through the appropriate filters for you (filters might include

such things as agreements, laws, policies, values, and even religion).

• T—Treat people and issues fairly within the established boundaries. Fair does not always

mean equal; in fact, making adjustments as needed for employees is important.

• H—Hesitate before making critical decisions. Do an ethics check and ask yourself how you

would feel if what you did appeared in a newspaper or magazine. When in doubt, take more

time to consider your actions.

• I—Inform those affected of the decision that you have made. Good ethical deci- sions are

surprisingly easy to justify and explain!

• C—Create an environment of consistency for yourself and your work group. Your measure

of integrity and ethics will be the times that you abandoned both.
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• S—Seek counsel when there is any doubt, but seek it from those who are honest and ethical

themselves, who are not just "yes" people who want to please you.

Nelson further explained, “The rewards for following these values are knowing that you, as a

manager or leader did the right thing and being able to live with yourself and your decisions”

(2004, p. 59). Scofidio (2010) also insisted that in this economic crisis, it is important for

managers to not demotivate the best people/employee, because it will impacted some damage to

sales, morale, and retention.

In conclusion, “all leaders must resolve the conflict between leadership and management”

(Allman, 2009, para. 1). To separate the two, Covey (2000) pointed out, "You lead people, and

manage things". However, Kotter defines the two a bit differently. He believed that,

“Management is about coping with complexity (planning, budgeting, staffing, problem-solving),

while leadership is about coping with change (setting direction, aligning people, motivating,

inspiring)” (as cited in Allman, 2009, para. 2).

References

Allman, S. (2009). Leadership vs. Management. Successful Meetings, 58(11), 12.

Retrieved from Hospitality & Tourism Complete database.

ACCEL Team Development. (2010). Employee Motivation: Theory and Practice.

Retrieved February 22, 2010 from http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/index.html

Changing Minds Organization. (2010). Motivation Theories. Retrieved February 22, 2010
from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/a_motivation.htm

Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (15th Ed.). New York, NY:
Free Press.
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Honore, J. (2009). Employee Motivation. Consortium Journal of Hospitality & Tourism,

14(1), 63-75. Retrieved from Hospitality & Tourism Complete database.

McNamara, C. (2008). Employee benefits and compensation: Basics about employee

motivation. Nuts-and-Bolts Guide to Leadership and Supervision in
Business. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Authenticity Consulting LLC.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2010). Motivation. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation

Nelson, B. (2004). Motivating people is the right thing to do. Corporate Meetings &
Incentives, 23(11), 59. Retrieved from Hospitality & Tourism Complete database.

Oxford English Dictionary. (2010). Motivation. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from
http://www.askoxford.com:80/concise_oed/motivation?view=uk

Scofidio, B. (2010). Don’t demotivate your best people. Corporate Meetings &
Incentives, 29(1), 4. Retrieved from Hospitality & Tourism Complete database.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Learned Optimism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc..

Shipley, D., & Jobber, D. (1991). Salesforce motivation, compensation and evaluation by
Industrial Distributors. Service Industries Journal, 11(2), 154. Retrieved from
Hospitality & Tourism Complete database.

Williams, K. (2006). Management: A Practical Introduction (2nd Ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Williams, R. B. (2010, February 13). How to motivate employees: What managers need to
know. Psychology Today. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201002/how-motivate-employees-
what-managers-need-know-0