LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTE AND EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION OF RESTAURANTS

LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES AND EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION OF RESTAURANTS

The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between Leadership Attributes and Employee Motivation of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

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CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

• Background of the Study

Motivation refers to an internally generated drive to achieve a goal or follow a particular course of action. Highly motivated employees focus their efforts on achieving specific goals (Mohsan, Nawaz, Khan, Shaukat & Aslam, 2004; Warsi, Fatima & Sahibzada, 2015). It’s the manager’s job, therefore, to motivate employees—to get them to try to do the best job they can. Motivated employees call in sick less frequently, are more productive, and are less likely to convey bad attitudes to customers and co-workers. They also tend to stay in their jobs longer, reducing turnover and the cost of hiring and training employees (Geomani, 2012).

Motivation, leadership, and empowerment are inextricable parts of employees’ everyday performance (Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2017). First of all, people need a reason to wake up in the morning—and ‘‘they pay me’’ is hardly the ideal alarm clock. Motivation is a goal-oriented characteristic that helps a person achieve his objectives. It pushes an individual to work hard at achieving his or her goals (Tella, et al, 2017). This can only be achieved when a manager or executive has the right leadership traits and attributes to influence through motivation. However, there is no specific blueprint for motivation as this has to be tied up to individuals’ needs (George & Sabapathy, 2011).

The motivation-hygiene premise of work inspiration put forth by Herzberg (1968) was an element of the experiential basis of the investigation (Herzberg, 1968). Recently, Molander (1996) showed that, if a firm desire to be successful, it requires personnel who will help to attain the aims of the firm and who have a strong inclination to stay with the firm (Molander, 1996). In the opinion of Schultz and Schultz (1998), work inspiration (motivation) is the driving power required to attain enhanced productivity and work contentment and this can only be achieved if the leader understands the needs of subordinates (Schultz & Schultz, 1998).

Motivation as defined by Nelson and Quick (2013) “is the process of arousing and sustaining goal-oriented behavior.” The authors posit that “the word motivation comes from the Latin root word ‘movere’ which means “to move” (ibid). Wesson et al., (2010) posit that formally, motivation can be defined as the energetic forces which originate from within and outside the employee and which initiates an effort related to work hence determining the intensity, persistence, and direction to be taken, and is therefore very important because job performance is believed to be related strongly to both motivation and ability (Wesson et al, 2010). Wesson et al. (2010) go on to say that motivation determines what an employee does at any given time and where their efforts will be channeled (Wesson et al., 2010). There are two different ways that managers can use to motivate different employees at the workplace namely; using extrinsic motivators (those that are visible to others and are tangible) such as promotions, pay and benefits; and intrinsic motivators (those that are internally generated and associated with the task itself) such as performing meaningful work, feelings of achievement, responsibility, competitiveness, and accomplishment (Luthans, 2011).

There are a large number of terms that define leadership attributes, but these can be categorized into three broad categories, namely “who leaders ARE” (values, motives, personal traits, characteristics), “what leaders KNOW” (skills, abilities, competencies) and “what leaders DO” (behavior, habits, styles) (Ulrich, Zenger, & Smallwood, 1999).

Studies as indicated by Champoux (2011) therefore show that managers have a major function at the workplace of endeavoring to enhance and sustain employee’s motivation. As further noted by Cole and Kelly (2011), motivation is the driving force that encourages individuals to behave in certain ways as they try to achieve a certain goal(s) (Cole & Kelly, 2011).

For thousands of years, leadership has been studied and has been the fascination of academics and business people alike (Kotterman, 2006). Yet, despite all this research very little is known about the defining characteristics of effective leadership ( Dulewicz, Young & Dulewicz, 2005).

If leadership attribute is important for organization always plays out in the minds of business owners. It has been seen in recent times that the development of effective leaders concentrated on identifying and upgrading leadership attributes (Hough & Schneider, 2009). These attributes of a leader define and shapes the level and extent of employees been motivated. An autocratic leadership attribute is seen to lower the morale of the employee as compared to the paternalistic attributes of a leader (Hough & Schneider, 2009).

Factors of leadership attributes play an important role in the employee’s performance. Having a proper leadership trait helps in increasing morale and thus can increase the employees’ performance which will lead to an increasing number of productivity at the workplace (Lardner, 2015; Luthans, 2011)). Therefore, it is so important to find what best leadership attributes cause the employee’s motivation in an organization (Kendrick & Funder, 2012).

Good leadership attributes have been argued to be very important to the organization as a whole (Nelson & Quick, 2013). This is so because an organization needs to learn how to understand individual differences (which comes from the attributes possessed by the leader), manage a diverse workforce, and retain qualified and skilled manpower by way of motivating them (Nelson & Quick, 2013).

• Statement of the Problem

Achieving operational excellence is increasingly becoming a key area of focus in the hospitality industry.  According to Kinicki and Fugate (2012), effective employee motivation is and has been one of the most important yet difficult duties of management, and, that its success has become more important now than ever especially in light of the global competition for organizations to produce lower-priced yet better quality products while still managing a diverse workforce (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012).

The authors further note that to motivate and satisfy employees, managers should first consider each individual’s differences and not use just one general approach especially considering that motivation is just but one of the other factors that could influence performance (Gully & Phillips, 2012). Employees tend to feel more motivated when they are involved in making effective strategic contributions in their organizations and are also committed to the achievement of major objectives when they are involved.

Therefore, well-motivated employees are bound to influence the efficiency of an organization towards achieving its goals (Martin and Thompson, 2010). Previous studies have been carried out on motivation and further research has been recommended on factors affecting employee motivation at both the public and private sectors of employment. One such study is by Gichure (2014). Another study was done by Soud (2014) also recommends further research to be done on factors influencing employee performance and these are usually factors that will also motivate employees.

In the opinion of Meyer and Herscovitch (2001), a given incentive, incentive worth and the attempt-incentive likelihood merged ascertains the inspiration of the person. The workers must notice that good performance on the work will result in sentiments of attainment, development, and morale. It was reported by Gagne and Deci (2005) that admiration, acknowledgment, and incentives are crucial in successful work associations of the job.

• Operational Framework

Fig. 1.1: Operational framework Model for Leadership Attributes and Employee Motivation of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

Source: Adapted from (Whitely 2002; Baldoni, 2005) and Juliana & Luiz (2012).

• Aim of the Study

The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between Leadership Attributes and Employee Motivation of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

Specific Objectives include:

1. To examine the relationship between Goal Clarity and Promotion.
2. To examine the relationship between Goal Clarity and Bonuses.
3. To examine the relationship between Goal Clarity and Job Rotation.
4. To determine the relationship between Effective Communication and Promotion.
5. To determine the relationship between Effective Communication and Bonuses.
6. To determine the relationship between Effective Communication and Job Rotation.

• Research Questions

Based on the objectives of the study, the following research questions were formulated:

1. To what extent does goal clarity affect promotion?
2. To what extent does goal clarity affect bonuses?
3. To what extent does goal clarity affect job rotation?
4. To what extent does effective communication affect promotion?
5. To what extent does effective communication affect bonuses?
6. To what extent does effective communication affect job rotation

• Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated from the research questions:

HO₁: There is no significant relationship between Goal Clarity and Promotion of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

HO₂: There is no significant relationship between Goal Clarity and Bonuses of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

HO₃: There is no significant relationship between Goal Clarity and Job Rotation of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

HO₄: There is no significant relationship between Effective Communication and Promotion of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

HO₅: There is no significant relationship between Effective Communication and Bonuses of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

HO₆: There is no significant relationship between Effective Communication and Job Rotation.

• Significance of the Study

This study is significant theoretically and practically.

The practical significance of the study is such that the findings of this study would help the management at restaurants in Port Harcourt to identify areas that need to be improved as far as motivating their employees is concerned and the factors that they can identify and use in giving them a competitive edge over other players in the industry. This will help them strategize their leadership attributes towards motivating employee since motivated employees are bound to give better service to customers thus ensuring continued and repeat business.

Scholars of different disciplines will also benefit by the contribution to the general

knowledge of the area of ‘motivation’, hence enhancing their understanding of factors that affect employee motivation as well as the importance of good leadership attributes in organizations. Finally, it is believed that the findings of this research work will stimulate further research in this area, and would ensure more contributions on the issue under the study.

• Scope of the Study

Considering the scope of a research study, Trochim (2006) opined that it should be premised on three main dimensions of geographical, contents, and level of analysis.

Content scope: This study focuses on the nexus between Leadership Attributes (LA) and Employee Motivation (EM).

Geographical scope: This is simply the area of coverage of the study. Hence, this study will be carried out in Rivers state, which will be narrowed down to Port Harcourt Metropolis.

Unit of Study/Level of analysis: The level of analysis for the study is micro-level of analysis. Hence data would be solicited from both the employees and management staff of the firms.

• Limitations of the Study

The limitations of this study include the following;

This study is limited to Port-Harcourt Metropolis; the study could show a slightly different result if carried out in another geographical zone from the result this work will produce and this is a major limitation to this study. The necessary information needed by the researcher might not be adequately provided due to some classified information by the organizations to paint a good image. Employee respondents were mixed with bias due to fear of victimization from the management of the restaurants considering the unemployment state in the country. The time factor also served as a constrain in this research.

• Definition of Terms

ORGANIZATION: A business organization is an individual or group of people that collaborate commercial goals.

LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES: Leadership attributes are the inner or personal qualities that constitute effective leadership. these attributes include a large array of are-know-do characteristics such as vision, values, character, motives, habits, traits, competencies, style, behaviors, and skills.

GOAL CLARITY: Goal clarity can be simply described as your ability to set a clear and specific objective that all affected parties understand and can work towards achieving.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: Effective Communication is a communication between two or more persons wherein the intended message is successfully delivered, received, and understood.

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION: Employee motivation describes the actions which propel or gives the employee some level of satisfaction within the organization which could be internally or externally driven. Such include; promotion, incentive, bonuses which are internal and training, and development which are external.

PROMOTION: In terms of a career, promotion refers to the advancement of an employee’s rank or position in a hierarchical structure.

BONUSES: a sum of money added to a person’s wages as a reward for good performance.

JOB ROTATION: the practice of moving employees between different tasks to promote experience and variety.

• Organization of the Study

Chapter one of this study dealt with the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the research question, hypotheses, and the conceptual framework which guided the work. This was followed by the significance of the study, the scope of the study, the definition of terms, and the organization of the study. Chapter two reviewed relevant literature to the study. Chapter three provided details of the methodology used for the study. Chapter four focused on the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data. Thereafter, chapter five discussed the findings, drew conclusions, and finally made recommendations based on the findings.