Motivation in the Hospitality Industry - Essay Example

Any motivated act could be good or bad with regard to social and legal aspects in society. But the definition indicates that there should exist a force that can motivate an individual or group to act in a particular manner. In other words, without motivation, all activities in the human world continue in a static manner. There would be no improvement or advancement in any area of human activity. This is also true for the hospitality industry.

This paper reviews the concept of motivation in the hospitality industry and will look into the mindset of both employees and employers. In the process, the paper will review relevant theories of motivation and will apply them to the aspects mentioned above.

The concept of motivation:
As mentioned earlier, motivation is based on “an inclination to do something” (Baumeister &Vohs 2007, p. 115). The authors state that any motivating factor has the ability to overcome any ego issue that is present in an individual. It can be said that ego could be a factor that could come in the way of motivation. An employer, as the authors suggest could play a role in motivating an individual to overcome this ego factor. They state that needs and wants could play a crucial role in this regard. Hence theories like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Expectancy Theory, and other related theories are worth considering here in this paper. Ego is not a major factor in this regard and other theories mentioned above can be applied by managers in the hotel industry to bring about motivation within employers and employees.

Motivation can also be categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic without taking into consideration the concept of ego (Vallerand 2004, 428). Extrinsic motivation is a feeling that comes from external rewards (Tileston 2004, p 4). It could be monetary and other non-monetary rewards like praise and recognition.

On the other hand “Intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence. When intrinsically motivated a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external prods, pressures, or rewards” (Ryan & Deci 2000 p. 27). In other words, motivation can result in a variety of reasons and it is up to the managers and employers to make use of it to form a symbiotic relationship with the employees.

Specific theories are discussed here in order to understand the concept of motivation. One of the most important in this regard is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

According to this theory, needs are based on the hierarchy as can be seen by the wordings. In other words, motivation is dependant on individual feelings of achievement. The problem is to define whether an individual is motivated to perform for his or her individual needs or for a common good.

According to Maslow, there are several steps that motivate individuals to perform in a certain way. They include basic and psychological needs ranging from physiological needs to self-actualization (Fiore 2004, p 62).

(Maslow 2012)

Physiological needs pertain to basic survival and individuals will go to any extent to survive in a particular environment (Allen & Gilmore 1998, p. 35). These needs are necessary for basic survival and hence no other considerations will be deemed necessary at this stage. A person just needs an environment for food and other basic necessities for survival. 

Once the physiological needs are met the next motivating factor is safety needs. In this stage, a person looks at a long-term aspect of survival which pertains to the aspect of safety for the self and the family (if there is one). It can be assumed that the basic physiological needs are met before moving on to the safety aspects of an individual (Bergin and Bergin 42).  Then comes the social needs where a person feels a sense of belonging whether it is in a familial or social setting (Wahba & Bridwell 1976, p. 213). Once this is achieved, a sense of esteem or ego is needed to be accomplished (Wagner & Hollenbeck 2010, p. 87). The final stage in the life of a human being after achieving all the above levels is self-actualization. “For Maslow, self-actualization was the ultimate goal of human life and he proposed it appears at a peak of the hierarchy of needs or motives” (Worth 2010, p. 4).

Process-based motivation:
The above-mentioned aspect of motivation can be classified as individual-based. In other words, it is up to the individual employee to satisfy the needs as expounded by Maslow. The process-based concept focuses on managerial ability to obtain the best of ability from employees. It involves a host of parameters like job design, employee participation, the flexibility of working hours, individual and team goal setting, and rewards (Griffin & Moorhead 2010, p. 125).