THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION OF HOSPITALITY WORKERS ON THEIR JOB PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Motivation of hospitality workers contributes to a higher quality of human resources and greater job performance in the industry. Motivation in government owned organizations and non government owned organizations is important and needed because it has the power to influence and improve the performance of workers in an affirmative manner (Aarabi et al., 2013). Bateman and Snell (2012) argued that motivation is the strength that invigorates, and guides the work of an individual towards the accomplishment of a task. Hence, motivation is one of the most vital issues and an effective factor on job performance and a necessity for leading the workers towards major goals. Moreover, the main problem facing the industry is the application of suitable motivational factors for enhancing job performance to achieve the main objectives of the hospitality industry (Stella, 2008). The expectations of each approach are different from one organization to another. For classifying and addressing these expectations, the comprehension of motivating employees is required. As a result, the idea of motivation has become a common driving force for the most successful enterprises. Motivation is essential for employee’s performance. It plays a significant function in job performance and other behaviors (Roberts, 2011). The motivation process includes important tools: 1. Enhanced Salary: monetary incentives are important factors in motivational process. Though paying money is not a direct causal element of satisfaction in job, but payment is an external factor which motivates the workers towards their better performance (Akintoye, 2013). 2. Supervision: in addition, supervision can also be a contributor to workers turnover (Buzzle, 2010). 3. Promotion: promotion is an improvement of the recent position. Riketta and Dick (2011) suggested that behaviour of employees in the workplace is related to satisfaction in their careers. 4. Responsibility: responsibility as Medura (2007) stated is one of the most important motivation tools taken by all companies. Responsibility gives more power for decision-making to the workers to execute their given tasks. That intrinsically can motivate the workers to give creative and innovative ideas to the industry. 5. Training: training and development are useful tools to motivate the employees in the companies. Training enhances the skills and knowledge of employees therefore the performance would be improved (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2007). In addition, training the workers of the industry by providing learning opportunities is a significant motivational factor for job performance (Kress et al., 2010). 6. Fringe benefit: Fringe benefits also are one of the monetary incentives that can be used to motivate the workers and increase their performance. Bonuses and fringe benefits are cash awards given to employees who had achieved specific performance objectives (Kinicki & Williams, 2008). Consequently, motivation is crucial to any organization since motivated employees are creative personnel, who contribute the organizations in achieving its organizational goals. So this is seen as a main target in any organization. So, the motivation is an essential need within hospitality workers for achieving organizational goals. Motivation is the most effective means of organizational growth and productivity. The most daunting task of a manager of any organization is how best to put together human and materials resources to achieve the mission, vision and objectives of the organization. One of the postulations of management sciences is that none of the factors of production, no matter how sophisticated it is can replace the input of personnel in an organization. This simply underscores the inevitable need of a workforce that works like “live machines” to make the organization productive. If this statement is true of the staff or personnel of organization, then the manager faces the task of figuring out the best way of getting the staff put in his or her best to propel the organization to enduring or sustainable productivity. The human nature has a lot of roles to play in terms of how committed he will be in the organization he is part of the workforce. Furthermore, human being is a conscious „homoeconomicus‟ whose actions and inactions, more often, are driven by circumstances that benefit him. These benefits might be extrinsic or intrinsic in nature. The individual yields his energy to the organization because of certain incentives that must not be compromised by management (Bernard, 2012, p.12). It is important to note that it is also a working strategy for the organization to see the problems of the employee as that of the organization as this will in turn encourage the employee to commit to the organization (Argris, 2010). The study is therefore bent on investigating the influence of motivation of hospitality workers on their job performance.

1. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Motivation is one of the most important concepts of psychology and vital for the managers who direct subordinates for obtaining worthwhile goals (Ali et al., 2012). In the past, especially for the behavioral disciplines in organizational and individual development, managers concentrated on fully analyzing the organization’s technological and mechanical capacities, and often neglected a vast untapped resource: its human assets. Since increasing the motivation and commitment of the members can improve the job performance (Brown, 2011), therefore this issue be found important for concentration. The current study is to examine the influence of motivation of hospitality workers on their job performance.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major aim of the study is to examine the influence of motivation of hospitality workers on their job performance, other specific objectives of the study include;

1. To examine the level of motivation and job performance among the hospitality workers.
2. To examine the motivational factors that influences workers job performance.
3. To examine the influence of hospitality workers motivation on their job performance. 
4. To examine the impact of training on workers performance.
5. To examine the relationship between hospitality workers motivation and their job performance.
6. To examine the impact of monetary factors on workers performance.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the level of motivation and job performance among the hospitality workers?
2. What are the motivational factors that influence workers job performance?
3. What is the influence of hospitality workers motivation on their job performance?
4. What is the impact of training on workers performance?
5. What is the relationship between hospitality workers motivation and their job performance?
6. What is the impact of monetary factors on workers performance?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

H0: There is no significant influence of hospitality workers motivation on their job performance.

H1: There is a significant influence of hospitality workers motivation on their job performance.

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no significant relationship between hospitality workers motivation and their job performance.

H1: There is a significant relationship between hospitality workers motivation and their job performance.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study would be important to various managers in Nigeria and would help them understand employee behavior better.  The study would also be of immense benefit to students, researchers and scholars who are interested in developing further studies on the subject matter.

1. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to examine the influence of motivation of hospitality workers on their job performance.

1. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview)

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Motivation: According to Re’em (2011) motivation is coined from the Latin word motus, a form of the verb movere, which means to move, influence, affect, and excite. Motivation can also be defined as the act of providing motive that causes someone to act (Shanks, 2012).

Intrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic motivation originates from within the individual and causes the individual to feel stimulated internally (Re’em, 2011). According to Burton (2012) intrinsic motivation is more about an individual’s self-satisfaction and the reward is normally within the action itself and does not need external factors to influence behavior.

Extrinsic Motivation: People sometimes people act because external factors have influenced them or prompted them to act in a certain way, and this is referred to as extrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2013). As opposed to intrinsic motivation where the reward of the action is within the action itself, for extrinsic motivation the outcome or reward is separable from the activity itself (Re’em, 2011).

Performance: is the process through which managers ensure the employees’ activities and outputs are congruent with the organization’s goal.