QUESTION Put yourself in the role of the motel maid. What physical changes could

Question

QUESTION

Put yourself in the role of the motel maid. What physical changes could be made to enhance the job?

Personal identity and pride in the job should be given top priority in redesigning the position. What changes would you suggest to enhance the employee's personal identity?

If you are the leader of this organization, what style of leadership do you think would work best and why?

HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE MOTEL MAIDS?

Western Motels is part of a franchise operation with 12 locations in the San Diego area. For the last several years, employee turnover, especially among the lower paid workers, has been a major problem. The turnover, especially among the lower paid workers, has been a major problem. The turnover rate for maids alone reached the level of three employees per month per motel, representing a staggering 45 percent on an annual basis. The maid is probably the most important representative of the motel, even though the maid is seldom seen by the guests. It is the way in which the job duties are performed that determines whether a guest will return to the motel for a second stay. Repeat customers make a motel's reputation-especially through word-of-mouth recommendations, the best and the least expensive kind of adevrtising. Not only are these motels faced with the expense of hiring, processing, and bonding employees, but low morale has produced a low-grade, careless approach to the job. In several instances, a complete refund of room charges has been necessary. In addition, maids have often quit without notice, and the cost to train a new employee has increased. The maids for Western Motels were being paid the top wages for similar employment, even though those wages were still in the bottom quarter of wages in the area. The working conditions seemed good. The maids were allowed one meal per shift at the motel's coffee shops and to use the pool facilities during their off-hours at four of the locations. The managers tried to interview the workers who had left their employ, but they could get no useful information from them. They spoke in generalities, such as "I'm Just tired of working here." Finally, the operators approached the franchise's main office in Phoenix, and a general meeting of the concerned managers was called. You were chosen as the franchise representative to the conference. The meeting was held over a 2-day period at one of the San Diego locations. Only 7 of the 12 motels sent representatives. One manager claimed that the whole thing was "just a waste of time and money." After lunch on the first day, your group sat down to discuss the situation. It was general concensus of the group that efforts should be made to try to increase the commitment of the maids to their jobs and to the company. Personal commitment to and pride in their jobs seemed to be the ingredients most lacking, but how could these feelings be created for the motel maids?

Explanation / Answer

The changes that can be made to enhance the job of motel maids are:

- setting parameters for growth- a low level employee will always be motivated towards his work if he is shown the path to progress in his profile. A defined path which will clear the duties to be performed to get promoted or paid extra for the services will motivate the staff for better performance.

- feedback from guests through guest cards- this is a process of motivating staff by getting reviews about their good work from the customers. A feedback form or guest card can be provided to the guests at the time of checkout and monetary rewards and bonuses can be given to the staff those are appreciated in it. A regular bonus can be fixed for employees getting positive reviews more often. The employees getting negative reviews can be trained and motivated in ways to improve their work quality.

- provide bonus based on the hotel bookings- in a hotel business, a customer make a trip to the same hotel again depends on the service he gets there. And this to a large extent depends on the house keeping department. So the business of the hotel is based on this department hence bonuses should be linked and given to housekeeping staff with the bookings of the same customers in the hotel after the first time.

- allow staff to use the hotel facilities as perks- motivation can be done by relating with the employees personally. They can be given a perk to take the facility of hotel room, pool, gym, restaurant once in a while that can be their birthdays, anniversaries or even completion of a duration in the job. This will motivate them to continue their services in the same job and not switch without information due to lack of interest.

- involve their suggestions in quality improvement- they are the staff that study the customer behaviours on the servies given most keenly. So they should be made a part of the meetings conducted for the service improvement and other suggestions made for quality enhancement.

All the above steps will help the motel maids get the feel of personal identity and pride in the job they do and hence bring good results in their job performance.

If I was the leader of this organisation I feel the style of leadership that will work best may not be any one. Using various styles as per the need of the work environment at a particular time will be a successful strategy. I would imply the participative and transactional type of leadership the maximum. Participative style of leadership will allow me to take decisions and make changes that are required keeping into consideration the views and ideas of all the staff involved in the functioning. It will work two way as it will make the staff feel the importance of their views and get motivated and make me get the correct clear picture of the internal behaviours and aspects that require attention and changes. A active participation of the employees in the decisions makes the work environment healthy and happy and thus bring prospective results in the business. Applying the transactional style will help me to get the employees motivated by attracting them with the bonuses and incentives attached with attaining certain goals. I can clearly define the goals to be attained by the service staff and help them get a vision of how the work can be taken forward to attain those goals. And accomplishments of the goals will provide them additional monetary rewards which will help in improving their work quality in the long term.

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