Introduction

As per international trade administration (2021), Sri Lanka has been referred to as the "Pearl of the Indian Ocean" and the Emerald Isle throughout its long and illustrious history. This comparatively small island packs a punch with its vast diversity of culture, natural beauty, and historic history, as it is home to eight outstanding UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It's no surprise that the country is becoming more popular as a tourist destination with 2.3 million visitors in 2018. However, Sri Lanka's path to renown has not been simple, as the country has been wracked by a nearly 26-year civil conflict. As per Yoong (n.d), tourism has long been the country's third-largest source of foreign currency. Due to the aftermath of the Easter Terror Attacks, Sri Lanka experienced over 1.9 million visitor arrivals in 2019, a 21% decrease from the previous year. In 2019, the industry is expected to earn roughly $3.5 billion.but still the country is popular among tourists due to many reasons such as Sri Lanka is known for its natural beauty and abundant wildlife; in fact, the island has been designated as one of the world's biodiversity hotspots with an abundance of indigenous species. Tourists can access to the entire beach on the island, which offers kite surfing, diving, deep sea fishing, and other water sports. Tourism provides chances for both investment and trade. For tourism development, the government is currently offering beach land and islets. Because the beaches in this area are rated world-class, eastern Sri Lanka has a lot of promise. Pasekudah and Arugam Bay, in particular, are popular surfing sites.

 

As per Mhlange & Oswald (2018), Employees are an important part of providing excellent service in hotels. As a result, encouraging employees can have a beneficial impact on staff performance, which in turn can have a positive impact on service quality. According to Kingir & Mesci, as a result, it is critical for hotel managers to maintain employee motivation at all times. Furthermore, motivating staff can improve employee performance, which in turn can improve service quality and hotel occupancy. As a result, hotel management places a premium on staff motivation. Employees in the hotel business work under difficult conditions due to the labor-intensive nature of the industry. The hotel business has long battled to figure out what genuinely motivates and makes hotel staff happy in their professions. The nature of the work, poor pay, and long working hours are all thought to contribute to high staff turnover in the hotel sector. Employee motivation may thus be an ongoing and crucial issue for hotel management in order to properly address this turnover problem.

According to Ross (2005), Human resources departments of the hotels are playing vital role in this situation as the HR department mainly responsible in maintaining and motivation of the employees. Within the recruitment process of employees, they should be given a clear picture about the job description as per their person specification.  According to Md, Sabiroh & Mutalib, Hasyeilla & Hasan, Nor. (2019), Employee motivation cannot be established from one night as it is a long process, which can be started from the good will of the company, hotel. And from the selection & recruitment process, orientation and training and development processes with in the job. Further performance analysis, training and development are the HR functions which helps the organizations, hotels to establish employee motivation.

Wages and job stability as well as training programs and advancement chances were clearly elements that influenced employee motivation at hotels. It's also clear that hotel staff were motivated by social possibilities, non-monetary incentives, and a sense of duty and appreciation. Salih (2003) identified the following variables as motivators for hotel employees job stability, benefits and recognition. Social opportunities, training programs, immaterial rewards, responsibility and being valued, and cooperation are all variables that influence employee motivation. According to many studies, the following elements influenced employee motivation:

·         responsibility and being appreciated

·         immaterial incentives and teamwork with in the hotel operations

·         being acknowledged is being the most important factor influencing overall employee motivation.

As per Wasike & Ndivo intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation s relay important in Sri Lankan travel and tourism, hotel industry as we are from Sri Lanka, our culture is orientated for appreciations. As per Hesburgh’s Hygiene factors HR managers of the hotel sector of Sri Lanka can be properly guided in identification of the motivational needs of the employees. As per the service industry of Sri Lanka responsibility and appreciation' identified as the most important element impacting hotel employees' motivation under many studies. As well its highly popular immaterial rewards as a trait that has the greatest impact on hotel employee engagement as it is a extrinsic motivation for them. So as per the information’s gathered Every year hotel management should assess the needs of their personnel. Work design such as job rotation or job characteristics, can also be used by management to make a job more engaging. Self-motivation should also be considered by managers. Furthermore, management should continue to empower personnel to help hotel managers meet their goals. Self-motivation necessitates determination and ambition. Employees' motivation to perform improves when they are given more power.

 

 

References

International trade administration. (2021), Sri Lanka - Country Commercial Guide. [Online] Available at: https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/sri-lanka-travel-and-tourism [Accessed date 19th of July 2021]

Kingir, S. & Mesci, M. (2010). Factors that affect hotel employees’ motivation: The case of Bodrum. Serbian Journal of Management, Vol 5(1): pp 59-76. [Accessed date 20th of July 2021]

Mhlanga, Oswald. (2018). Factors influencing employee motivation in hotels. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure. 7. Pp 1-8. [Accessed date 18th of July 2021]

Md, Sabiroh & Mutalib, Hasyeilla & Hasan, Nor. (2019). Elements of Employees' Motivation in Hospitality Industry. 4. Pp 13-23. [Accessed date 20th of July 2021]

Ross, D. L. (2005). Perceived job characteristics and internal work motivation: An exploratory cross-cultural analysis of the motivational antecedents of hotel  workers  in Mauritius and Australia. Journal of management development, Vol 24(3): pp 253-266. [Accessed date 20th of July 2021]

Salih, K. (2003). Managing employee attitudes and behaviors in the tourism and hospitality industry. New York: Nova Science Publishers. [Accessed date 18th of July 2021]

Wasike, C.K. & Ndivo, R.M. (2015). Efficacy of motivation strategies in addressing employee motivation needs in Kenya’s hotel sector. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 4(1):1-10. [Accessed date 20th of July 2021]

Yoong. K. (n.d), Market perspective: Is Sri Lanka South Asia’s hidden tourism gem? [Online]. Available at: https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/sri-lanka-south-asias-hidden-tourism-gem  [Accessed date 18th of July 2021]

Comments

  1. Well discussed Melan Malaka Wijethunga. Above your view, Chiradeep (2020) also explains that employee engagement and employee satisfaction are two different things where satisfaction refers to a state of contentment with regard to the job role while engagement refers to the purpose and passion for work with the self-Investment. The author also makes it a point to highlight that Job satisfaction is the foundation to build the employee engagement.

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  2. Agreed with this statement "Mhlange & Oswald (2018), Employees are an important part of providing excellent service in hotels" because of in this hospitality industry employees are playing excellent role for giving best services to their customers.

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  3. Agreed with the argument relevant to training and development of employees who are engaging in hostel and tourism industry. According the training system of Hilton Hotel, Colombo, they have come up with appropriate recommendation of effective training system while showing importance of training in hospitality industry (Ahammad, 2013). The KM (Knowledge Management) managers and researchers identified that KM is important to maintain quality of product and services, improve job performance and gaining competitive advantage in the field of hospitality and tourism (Cheng, 2010).

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  4. Some researchers emphasize, Employee performances in the hotel industry may be measured by their attentiveness, friendliness, appearances, attitudes, and how they obtain their assigned tasks. Organizations identified the importance of training concerning their work performed. The main factor that brings about a high level of job satisfaction and motivation is salary. (Belling, James and Ladkin, 2004).

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  5. Rao (2008) claims that when employees work to the best of their abilities and do their work with passion, enthusiasm and high commitment the business will grow significantly and continuously. In general, every organization has pretty much the same kind of resources such as land, buildings, materials, equipment, and finance to work with, but the only element that differentiates between business organizations is the HR factor.

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  6. According to Michalos (2017), it is critical to distinguish "needs" from "wants" when examining the need theory, because "needs" are universal regardless of country or culture, whereas "wants" can differ owing to a variety of factors.

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  7. Well discussed Melon, When employees are well motivated, they help the organization to grow and survive in a fast changing workplaces (Lindner ,1998). Any organization can archive better competitive advantage through its motivated employees.

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  8. Yes. Reiterating the same Wong et al. (1999) has stated that employees in the Hotel industry require job knowledge, skills, time management and intelligence however without motivations that employee will not improve in his career.

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  9. yes. In recent years, the tourism industry has rapidly evolved because of technological developments. The spread of ICT has contributed to the expansion of the sharing economy (Bernarda, 2015), changing the structure of the tourism market and influencing the demand for, and supply of, tourism products/services.

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  10. I agree with your point of view. Motivation, according to Bartol and Martin (1998), is a potent tool for reinforcing behavior and motivating the desire to continue. In other words, motivation is an innate desire to make the miserable happy. It's also a process that begins with a physiological or psychological need and leads to a degree of performance that is goal-oriented.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. I agree and motivated employees can tend to increase productivity and allow company to achieve prominent outcomes. Motivated employees can perform their best and help the firm to become more efficient, effective and competitive. In the hotel industry, employees have to work for long hours and stay focused on servicing their customer, thus ensuring that the employees are kept motivated is considered crucial. In order to increase employees' motivation, it is important for firms to understand what the elements that make employees stay motivated (Sabri, 2019)

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  13. Yes Melan,
    There are three basic instincts that control the motivation of all. The desire for power, success, and association motivates an individual. Individuals have a combination of these urges, one of which is typically more dominant than the other two (McClelland, 1965)

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