With Regards: Archives ~
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With Regards: Archives ~ |
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Jerry Sikes,
RRP / CHA, is President of Professional Resort Operators, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona. He has 35 years in the Hospitality
Industry / 25 years in Timesharing, and is the current Co-Chairman of ARDA Arizona as well as Chairman of the Arizona
Timeshare Management Association. Jerry is a frequent guest speaker regionally and nationally on all aspects of
Timeshare Management and a frequent contributor of articles for industry publications. Email: boyjerry@cox.net
Phone 480-947-3300 Fax 480-947-6853
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lou Holtz - Management is expected to develop a motivated staff. A manager must be able to lead the staff into willing action. Every associate is motivated from a different set of factors, some are external, but most are internal (within the individual). Management must be able to stimulate employees' internal motivational factors, and apply external influence. This process is known as leadership. The Timeshare management types of today are often faced with frustrated, apathetic, and poorly motivated associates. Low productivity, high turnover and absenteeism, and poor quality workmanship are the result of this lack of motivation. Motivation is a complex process and many theories have been developed to assist one in gaining an understanding about how people are motivated. The most widely known of there theories may well be Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. This theory establishes five (5) levels of need and operates on the premise that until each level of need has been satisfied the next level will not come into play. LEVEL 1. PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS: Food, shelter, and clothing. LEVEL 2. SECURITY NEEDS: Physical security and economic security. LEVEL 3. SOCIAL NEEDS: Acceptance, sympathy, understanding, direction, affiliation and friendship. LEVEL 4. EGO NEEDS: Self-esteem, status, recognition. LEVEL 5. SELF-ACTUALIZATION NEEDS: What's best for themselves, creativity, personal development. In its practical application the Maslow Theory indicates that first we must have the level 1. needs met. We have been told that money is not the best motivation because of this theory. Wages, salaries, and payroll, in any amount fully addresses level 1. and begins to address level 2. Just a job which offers pay often opens the door to level 3., because our basic organization structure provides acceptance, affiliation and the possibility for friendship and understanding. Even some poor management provides some level of direction. Applying the Maslow Theory levels 1., 2., and 3., to the actual job goes something like this: The individual who has no job has reverted to level 1., thus they are motivated to find a job and just about any job will do. We have jobs, thus the individual comes by and ask for a job application. Management's first obligation is to not provide just any job, for that will only satisfy the employees level 1. needs. If management does reasonably well at matching the qualities of the individual to the job requirements, the individual achieves a realization that they "can do this job", thus level 2. begins to be satisfied. During the probation period the new employee establishes an affiliation with the company and finds some acceptance, understanding, and friendships among his or her associates, thus level 3. begins to be satisfied. Management can fulfill their obligation by providing some direction during this formative stage, particularly with some basic training and at the first performance discussion and review. The remaining parts of the Maslow Theory levels 4. and 5., goes something like this: After the probation period has passed, and during the next performance discussion and review, the employee gains an understanding as to their status. When management asks for that employees input on how performance can be enhanced, their level 4. or ego needs come into play. Upon successful completion of the improvement objectives which were negotiated, the employees self-esteem begins to achieve some satisfaction. Status, recognition may come from a pay increase and/or inclusion in some team effort. These minor achievements may provide the employee with an understanding that this affiliation could provide a mutually beneficial relationship if they bought into the full program. Level 5. needs take hold and, so long as management holds up it's end of the bargain, the employee becomes self-motivated to achieve personal development and that promotion. That's it folks, it's that simple! Final Thought We began by indicating that employees are motivated mostly by internal needs rather than external ones. Motivation, to a large degree, depends upon the employee's own desire to achieve and be recognized. Management cannot create positive attitudes. Attitude is the predisposition or tendency of a person to react in a preset way toward an object, situation, person or value. Attitudes are usually accompanied by feelings and emotions. An individual's personality and attitudes begin to develop early in life and are influenced by hereditary and environmental factors. By the time an individual reaches the age of employment, his or her attitude are probably quite set. Management is faced with the task of leading people "who are what they are". Rarely can management develop a brand new attitude in employees however, management can provide a workplace environment which can encourage or promote a positive attitude. One of the better ways to achieve this is to insure that all associates fully understand what is the expected behavior. If expected behavior is clear to both management and associates, rewards will have the effect of bringing out the best in employees. They will display good attitudes about work when they find that desirable and valuable rewards accompany the correct performance. |
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