One of the greatest challenges of the hotel will be the developing of a highly motivated staff because nothing is more powerful than the motivated staff when it comes to services in the hotel. One may assume that money is the motivator factor when it comes to the hotel employees. To some extent, it seems true but the Motivational theories have provided us the understanding of the relationship of money with the motivation.
Herzberg considers money (salary) along with working conditions, supervision, company policy, relationship with supervisor, relationship with peers and security as Hygiene factors (factors that when adequate, may eliminate job dissatisfaction but do not necessarily increase job satisfaction) but money can be a motivator when used in terms of incentives and stock options. 23 . Achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth are factors that can bring job satisfaction to the employees.
McClelland proposed that the needs for achievement, power and affiliation are major motives in work. Management of the hotel will have to see a fit between these motivational factors and the employee’s needs. Findings of unequal pay in service industry (hotel and restaurant industries) in Denmark may cause dissatisfaction at work for the women because according to equity theory employees perceive what they get from a job situation(outcomes)in relation to what they put into it (inputs)and then compare their input outcome ratio with the input-outcome ratio of relevant
others. 24 Equality in giving pay and rewards and especially incentives and giving the employees what other hotels are not giving (some examples below) can help to have a good motivated staff. The diverse employees have diverse needs. Women, singles, senior citizens and physically disabled employees, all have different types of needs to be fulfilled to get motivated. College students look for a flexible work schedules. Similarly, a father may prefer to work midnight to 8A. M shift in order to spend time with his children during the day when his wife at work.
Hotel will have to think in terms of flexibility to understand the diversity of needs to maximize the motivation of its staff. Flexible work schedules, job sharing 25and flextime26 can be a motivating tool to such individuals. It also might include offering flexible leave policies for the immigrants who want occasionally to make extensive return trips to their homeland or allowing employees who are going to school to vary their work schedules from semester to semester. Providing childcare facility for the children of mothers/single mothers can be a highly motivating tool for such employees of the hotel.
Ethnic meal dinners, personal concierge service, telecommuting, adoption benefits and relocation benefits can also be offered according to the individual needs of the employees. 3. 3 Diversity in Teams Customers benefit because we have talented employees. Our teams benefit by the diversity of perspectives and learning that comes from understanding a little bit different way of doing things. And that comes through having people of all backgrounds ,but never reducing the bar on the talent or the capability. (Kevin Rollins,Dell’s President and Chief operating officer)
Teamwork is the key to successful hotel operations. A careful selection of the team members is essential to create a balance of diversity in teams. “Heterogeneous teams bring multiple perspectives to the discussion, thus increasing the likelihood that the team will identify creative and unique solutions. ” 27Management of the hotel will be in need of the employees in their teams who have different backgrounds and histories, different communication styles and different ways of thinking to fulfil all various roles in the teams. C.
Margerison and D. McCann described nine potential roles of the teams i. e. Creator-innovator (initiates creative ideas), Explorer promoter (Champions ideas after they have been initiated), Assessor developer(offers insightful analysis of options), Thruster- organizer(provides structure), Concluder producer(provides direction and follow-through, Controller-inspector(examines details and enforce rules), Upholder maintainer(Fights external battles), Reporter adviser (Encourages the search for more information)and linker(coordinates and integrates).
28Management can choose a fit between these roles to organize the team members having various backgrounds and depending upon the size of the team, individuals may play multiple roles. The concept of diversity will lead managers to a clear understanding of the strengths of every individual employee and to allocate roles to them according to their strengths. The wider the point of view, the more effective the team can be. But for this to happen, people will have to learn see each other as equals, and that not easy.
Though ambiguity, complexity, confusion, miscommunication , difficulty in reaching a single agreement and difficulty in agreeing on specific actions are the problems with diversity teams but teams overcome to these problems with the passage of time by cooperating with others, sharing information and confront differences and become more cohesive. Diversity training will help to increase the group cohesiveness and thus reducing the turnover. endant Corporation developed a comprehensive group of diversity initiatives i. e. (1) Franchise development among minorities, (2)Supplier development,(3) Career development,(4)target marketing.
It helped the Cendant to execute franchise agreements for more than 50 hotels with minority franchisees; receive a B(highest grade awarded to any hotel company)in the NAACP’S1998 grading of minority progress in the hotel industry. 33 Diversity management program can enhance the Four Season’s ability to create better organizational policies in recruitment, retention and development of its team members. Diversity in teams enhance the personal effectiveness and creativity, better interpersonal communication among the team members, speed up the solving of disputes and create a climate of fairness and equality.
Diversity management programs will benefit the “Four Seasons” in the creation of emotions, attitudes, and behaviours and focus of appreciation of differences among cultures among its workforce. Diversity management program will help the “Four Seasons” in the retention of its employees and thus will result in low turnover. The concept of having a diverse workforce can benefit the “Four Seasons” in having a broader pool of candidates to choose from and a broad range of backgrounds of employees results in a more flexible and responsive workforce.
Another benefit is that the mature aged staff can have a steadying and responsible influence on younger staff. Having a diverse workforce that more closely reflects the diverse needs of the clients will better understand to fulfill these needs of the clients and thus will results in increasing sales and client numbers for the “Four Seasons”. Having diversity in Human Resource function can result in benefits, training and policies that are more effective because that are developed by the people who better understand the needs of the “entire” range of workers.
Some of the diversity population may live a different lifestyle (older workers and stay at home parents) that prefers part-time work. This may allow the “Four Seasons” to fill in “spot” needs while at the same time providing this diverse group with additional income opportunities. Providing the equal pay for equal work and hiring the employees closest to the customers will help the “Four Seasons” to make a strong image in its employees and clients.
