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Attitudes and WorkMotivation of Subgroups ofSeasonal Hotel WorkersDarren Lee-Ross aa City College Norwich , Norwich, UKPublished online: 20 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Darren Lee-Ross (1995) Attitudes and Work Motivation ofSubgroups of Seasonal Hotel Workers, The Service Industries Journal, 15:3,295-313, DOI: 10.1080/02642069500000036

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Attitudes and Work Motivation of Subgroups of Seasonal Hotel Workers

DARREN LEE-ROSS

Labour turnover is a strong feature of of' hotels in the UK. especially in the seasonal seaside sector.. Ho~levet.. the litlk hetween job mobility and job sati.$action is comp1e.t ut7rl cutrtlot hr adequately explained by 'traditional' thenr.ies of motivuriot~ It7 utr attempt to account for the iml~act of indi~iduul worker drjjer.erzces on job attitudes, Hackman and old ham'.^ [1974. 19801 job diugnostic survey was distributed to 163 hotel workers. The results su,qgrst that hotel cc~orkers can he divided into subgroups, churuc~teriserl by both residential status and work preference. Furthermore, these addifional climension.~ expluin work attirudo.~ u t ~ d nlotil~utioti n1ot.e effectively than Hackman and Olrlhum's or.igincr1 'gr.o~)th treed s~r-ength' clinzension.

INTRODUCTION

Worker attitudes and behaviour have been a popular theme for investigation over the last several decades. Over this period, many models linking job characteristics, personality and outcomes have emerged and received con- siderable attention, for example, Activation Theory [Scott, 1966; Scott and Erskine, 19801; Self-Actualisation Theory [Maslow, 19541; Two-Factor Theory [Herzberg, 19661, and Social-Information Processing Theory [Salancik and Pfeffer, 19781. Reasons for this range from purely academic interest to more practical business considerations such as how worker efficiency and staff turnover affect organisational profitability.

It would therefore be expected that this type of research could be important to industries which are labour intensive and/or experience high levels of labour turnover. However, many writers merely recommend ideas which may engender worker motivation, none of which are supported empirically [see Levin, Clarke and Layton,l970; NEDC, 1991; DeMicco and Reid, 1988; and Mill, 19851.

Darren Lee-Ross is at City College Norwich, Norwich, UK.

The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3 (July 1995), pp. 295-313 PUBLISHED BY F R A N K CASS. LONDON

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206 T H E SERVICE I N D U S T R I E S JOUKNAL

Both of the above are characteristics of the hotel industry [HCITB, 1984, HCTB. 1988. IMS, 1989; and Johnson, 19801 but are especially prevalent in seasonal hotels [Lee-Ross, 19901. It is surprising. therefore, that few attempts have been made to study either scaxonal employment or hotel workers' utti- tudes and behaviour, given the rclationsliip between the latter and labour turnover [see Argyle. 19741.

In their study of regional employment statistics, Allen and Yuill point out that 'infomiation on part-year working is hard to come by, even at the national level' [Allen and Yuill. 1977: 2571. Existing studies of seasonal work (which arc few) are nearly all pre-1950 and none is hotel industry based. For example, Munby 1195 1 j studied the clothing industry ant1 its seasonal hiring practices. Ford 119341 examined seasonal work in port industries. Webb [ 19 12 1 studied seasonality in the building trades, Popplcwcll 1 19 1 I ] on the gas supply industry, 2nd Brierley and Carter I I9141 studied the seasonal hiring practices of the woollen industry.

Ball notes that seasonal employment is usually identified as a factor complicating comparison between data series rather than as an important issue in its own right IBall, 1988: 131. He 'tcases out the evidence' from official Employment Department statistics (and from assembling data from url hoc studies) and shows that 'hotels and catering clearly dominate the picture. . . the peak quarter for this group . . . reflects the importance of summer season labour hirings with an average expansion of 27,000 . . . but that over- all, seasonal employment. . .probably amounts to at least 200,000 jobs or 1 % of total employment each year' [Ball. 1988: 1631. Applications of his approach appear below.

Figure I shows the pattern of employment in U K hotels using quarterly employment data (1984-91). A clear trend is shown with average seasonal employment in the hotel trade accounting for around 12,000 jobs, peaking in hotels between June and September of each year. Figure 2 shows the number of quarterly claimant unernployed in Great Britain (1990-93). Although unemployment has increased o\rerall, less of the population tend to be unemployed between March and September. A picture of regional seasonal unemployment in East Anglia is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 shows a similar pattern of unemploynlent as for Figure 2. Figure 4 shows the seasonal patterns of unemployment in Great Yarmouth (1990-93). A coniparison of the above with Figures 2 and 3 reveals a more significant seasonal trend for Great Yarmouth, with unemployment peaking in the first and final quarters of each year. Tables 1 . 2, and 3 show the corresponding unemployment data for Figures 2, 3 and 4. Furthermore, using June of each year as the base, per- centage changes of uneniploytnent in each quarter are shown.

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WORK MOTIVATION OF SEASONAL HOTEL WORKERS 297

FIGURE I

QUARTERLY FLUCTUATIONS IN EMPLOYMENT: PERCENTAGE CHANGE PER QUARTI3. HOTEL TRADE (665) JUNE 1984-JUNE 1091

J u S e D e M a J u S e D e M a J u S e D e M a J u SeDeMa J u S e O e M a J u S e D e M a J u S e D e M a J u n - p - c - r - n - p - c - r - n - p - c - r - n - p - c - r - n - p - c - r - n - p - c - r - n - p - c - r - n -

84848485858585868686868787878788 888888 89898989909090909 I9 I

Adapted from: Eniplo~~nierit Gazerre, historical Supplenien~ no. 3, Enrplo~ttrc~r~r Srori.sric,s. Vol. 100, No.6, 1992, Etnploynrenr Gaz~tre, historical Supplement no. 2, Er~rplopr~~c~rrr Srori.sric.~ Vol. 97, No. 1 1 , 1989.

FI(;URE 2

QUARTERLY CLAIMANT UNEMPLOYEI) 199IL93 GB SUMMARY ('000s)

M a r J u n Dec

Adapted from: Ernploynter~t Gazerre, Vol. 10 1, No. I 1, 1993, p. \ 3 1, Enrploynret~t Gazerrr, Vol. 101, No. 8, 1993, p. s35, E~~rploynrenr Gu:et/e, Vol. 100, No. I I, 1992, p s 3 1, Etnplo~~?r,rc~trr Gazerre, Vol. 100, No. 8, 1992, p. s 35, Er?~p/o!~~i~cnt Gr~zerte, Vol. 100. No. 5, 1992, p. '; 31, Enlployment Gazette, Vol. 100, No. 2, 1992, p. s 31.

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7'1-IE SERVICE INDUSTRIES JOURNAL

1:IGUKt: 3

QLIAKTERLY CLAIMANT UNI~b1PI.OYF.D EASI' ANGLIA 1990-93 ('O(K)s)

March J u n e Srpt Dec

S O U I ~ C ~ : See Figure 2 .

QUARTERLY CLAIMANT UNEhlPLOYEII GREAT YARhlOU~I'I-1 I.OCAL AUTHORITY IIISI'RICT A1.L W0RKI:RS ('000~1

March J u n e Sept Dec

Soiir.c.r: See Figure I!

1'AHI.E I

QUARTERLY CLAIMANT UNEMPLOYEII SllhlMARY 170K Al,lk WORKERS IN GKEAT BRITAIN ('000s 1

March % .lti~tc, Sepr. h Dec. C/o

Average fluctuation of unet~iploytnetil: 8.4';11

Sorir.r.e: See Figure 2

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WORK MOTIVATION O F S E A S O N A L HOTEL WORKERS

TABLE 2 C L A I M A N T UNEMPLOYED S U M M A R Y FOR A L L WORKERS I N

EAST ANGLIA ('000S)

March % Jut~e Sept. % Dec. C/o

1990 36.9 9 33.8 37.2 10 45.4 34 1991 56.3 -2 57.2 62.1 9 67.0 I9 1992 76.2 3 74.1 78.9 6 86 16 1993 89 20

Average fluctuation of unemployment: 12.4%

Source: See Figure 2.

TABLE 3 C L A I M A N T UNEMPLOYED S U M M A R Y FOR A L L WORKERS I N THE G R E A T

YARMOUTI.1 LOCAL AUTHORITY DISTRICT

March % June Sepl. % Dec. %

1990 3604 37 2630 2737 4 3959 50 1991 4328 17 3699 3786 2 5181 40 1992 5529 20 4606 476 1 3 6246 36 1993 6237 25 5005 4993 -0.2

Average fluctuation of unemployment: 21%

Sourre: See Figure 2.

The above suggests unemployment has increased generally since 1990 arid that the economy of Great Yarmouth is significantly more dependent on seasonal employment than either East Anglia or the economy as a whole. I t may therefore be argued that although seasonal jobs represent I per cent of total UK employment, in Great Yarmouth they account for a much larger pro- portion and are of paramount importance to the local economy. This notion is supported by the findings of a local study [Great Yarniouth Borough Council, 19881. It concentrates on the affect of tourism on the area rather than detailing the characteristics of seasonal hotel workers. Based on the level of tourism expenditure, approximately 8,000 non-year-round jobs were created in the Borough Council area, and that 77 per cent of direct employment in tourism was seasonal, roughly half was part-time, and 7 1 per cent of this was unskilled and undertaken by women.

These and other local economic characteristics are also identified in a more recent regional report [Great Yarmouth Borough Council, 19921 for the Great Yarmouth Travel to Work Area (GYTTWA). A working party reported that the economic base of the GYTTWA is narrow and relies heavily on tourism. Also, the stability of the local economy is affected by the seasonal nature of employment in tourism, Furthermore, Great Yarmouth's serious unemploy- ment problem is exacerbated by the inward migration of workers who are

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300 T H E S E R V I C E INDUSTRIES J O U R N A L

attracted by the area's lively image as a seaside resort.' This confirms the presence of seasonal work in the region and also provides information about other characteristics of the local economy.

Although seasonal employn~ent data can be inferred from the above data sources. studies of the UK hotel industry provide little insight into the occurrence and nature seasonal working, which is surprising given the impact of seasonality on tourism activity (Baron, 1975: 21. For example. it is extremely likely that statistical surveys [see British Tourist Authority and English Tourist Board, 1991. and the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board, 19851 exclude many seasonal hotels. Their surveys are usually under- taken in April and only hotels which are open during that time are considered. Evidence suggests that smaller hotels account for a sizeable proportion of all hotels in seaside resorts [Stallibrass, I98 1: 24, and Great Yamiouth Borough Council, 1988: 291. Given that many do not open until late May !British National Travel Survey, 1990: 63; English Hotel Occr~pancy Survey, 1991: 71 they will continue to be excluded from surveys of this kind.

Unfortunately, other sources of information about seasonal hotels and their workers are few. Many smaller studies of hotels either exclude the seasonal sector altogether, or infer tha: seasonal seaside hotels are not important enough to warrant separate discussion, preferring to include them with others else- where [for exiimple. Hotels and Catering NEDC, 1974. Archer, de Vane and Moore, 1977, Jameson 1987. and Kufuor, 19871. At the time of writing, this is also true of the few hotel-based studies of employee motivation and altitudes to work [for example, see, Chivers, 197 1 , Shamir, 1975; Mars and Nicod, 1984; Chitiris, 1986; Perrewe, Brymer and Stepina, 1991; and Riley and Dodrill, 19921.

Furthermore, even these studies show contlicting findings. There are two possible reasons for this. First, investigations may have failed to classify hotel workers in a sufficiently meaningful way. Second, the models on which the investigations were based were flawed. Need-satisfaction niodels of motivation assume that attitudes and employment needs of workers are stable and shared by all. They also assume that jobs have easily identifiable characteristics relevant to the employees' needs. After reviewing some studies which used this type of model, Salancick and Pfeffer conclude that they are based on questionable assumptions which almost guarantee successful results [Salancick and Pfeffer, 19781.

Inconclusive results of empirical research led to a spate of revised versions [see Turner and Lawrence, 1965, Hulin and Blood, 1967; Vroom, 1964; and Hulin, 197 1 1. The main difference is that these models recognise that workers themselves influence their own working environments, and thus may affect their own work attitudes. Revisions by Hackman and Lawler enlphasise the importance of a worker's individual need for growth and development

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WORK MOTIVATION OF SEASONAL HOTEL WORKERS 30 1

[Hackman and Lawler, 1971'1. Hackman and Oldham developed this idea into the Job Characteristics Theory (JCT) from which a standard questionnaire has been derived: The Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS)[Hackman and Oldham, 19741.

The Job Characteristics Model (JCM) recognises the potential effect of both job and employee characteristics on workers' attitudes. It is less pragmatic than earlier need-satisfaction models and can be modified to include variables which are deemed important for study, thus improving its accuracy. Hotel work appears to be characterised by low job security and low pay, but factors, including unsocial hours, shift work and limited opportunities for promotion [Byme, 1986; Knight, 19711, seem more extreme in the seasonal sector [Ball, 1988; Lee-Ross, 19931. Jobs have minimal scope for 'intrinsic' aspects such as recognition by employer, achievement , and responsibility, advancement and the growth of personal competence. Hackman and Oldham, JCM was chosen for this study (see Figure 5) [Hackman and Oldham's 1974, 19801. It was considered suitable because it takes account of all of these aspects of the hotel work itself and also considers the differences in personality and back- ground between individual workers.

FIGURE 5 A MODEL RELATING CORE JOB DIMENSIONS. CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL STATES.

A N D ON JOB OUTCOMES (MODERATED B Y EMPLOYEE GROWTH NEED STRENGTH) WITH RESIDENCY A N D VOLUNTARY/INVOLUNTARY WORKING. AS ADDITIONAL

MODERATORS

CORE J O B D I M E N S I O N S CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL P E R S O N A L A N D WORK STATES OUTCOMES

Skill Variety

Task identity Task significance

Autonomy

Job Feedback

Experienced meaningfulness of the work

Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work

Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities

Agent feedback Dealing with others

E M P L O Y E E GROWTH N E E D STRENGTH

R E S I D E N C Y

High internal work motivation

High general satisfaction

High growth satlsfactlon

Source: Adapted from Hackman and Oldha~n 1974, 1980.

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This is particularly important in service industries as jobs are often 'role' rather than 'task' based [Draper, 1982, McHalffey-Hoffman, 19831. In other words, job attitudes may depend, in part, on social aspects as well as job characteristics. This is important because evidence suggests that there is a 'hotel worker culture' or 'occupational community' among hotel workers which may be important in determining their work attitudes and behaviour [Shamir, 19751. This may have a great effect on hotel workers as many hotels provide worker accommodation. Another characteristic which appears to affect seasonal hotel workers (especially seasonal) is whether or not they deliberately choose that form of work. Also, some enlployees have little back- ground or interest in hotel work [Lee-Ross, 19901. Knight presumes that all seasonal employees prefer year round employment [Knight, 1971 1. Ball found that many workers chose seasonal work as a matter of preference and viewed it as a chance for a holiday [Ball, 19881.

The JCM focuses on the interaction between three classes of variables: psychological states of employees that must exist for internally motivated work behaviour to develop ('critical psychological states', CPSs), characteris- tics of jobs that can create these psychological states ('core job dimensions', CJDs), and those attributes of individuals that determine how positively a person will respond to a complex and challenging job irrespective of their psychological state (employee 'growth need strength', GNS).

'Experienced meaningfulness' of the work is enhanced primarily by 'skill variety', 'task identity' and 'task significance'. 'Experienced responsibility' for work outcomes is linked to the presence of 'autonomy' in a job, and 'knowledge of results' is increased when a job elicits a high level of feedback. According to the JCM, positive 'personal and work outcomes' are the result of all three psychological states being engendered in the job incumbent, due to a job containing 'core job dimensions'. It focuses on the actual work which people perform in organisations. There is a general assumption that the problenls which stern from poor person-job relationships can, in many instances, be remedied powerfully and permanently by restructuring the jobs that are performed. The concept of 'internal work motivation' assumes that the more effort expended by workers on their jobs, the more motivated they will become, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of motivation.

Other model specified outcomes are 'growth satisfitction', and 'general satisfaction'. When a job is high in motivating potential, jobholders have enriched opportunities for personal learning and growth at work, and they tend to report that they find those opportunities personally satisfyiiig. Employees on enriched jobs also express relatively high general satisfaction.

Individual worker differences are conceptualised and measured by GNS and may affect how people react to their jobs at two points in the model shown in Figure 5: first at the link between the objective job characteristics and the

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WORK MOTIVATION O F S E A S O N A L HOTEL WORKERS 303

psychological states, and again between the psychological states and internal motivation. The first link specifies that people with high growth need strength will experience the psychological states more strongly than their low GNS counterparts. The second link means that individuals with high GNS will respond more positively to the psychological states, when they are present, than will low GNS individuals. Individuals' job motivation therefore depends on their desire to 'achieve and grow'. This (the key departure from earlier models) is known as a worker's GNS and according to the JCM moderates the relationship of model specified variables. However, while the desire to 'achieve and grow' may be present among workers, other issues seem impor- tant for hotel employees.

Given the working conditions prevalent in seasonal hotels [Lee-Ross, 1990, 19931, the idea of employee 'culture' [Shamir, 19751, and how seasonal work is perceived [Ball, 19881, it may be appropriate to divide them into groups. One (usually live-in) may prioritise surrogate family2 and social relationships within the workplace or socialising with work-based friends during off-duty periods; the other (primarily live-out) may prioritise family and social rela- tionships outside the workplace, undertaking work duties which do not impinge on family commitments. These workers may also be influenced by their willingness to accept seasonal hotel work as their ideal form of employ- ment.

The above should therefore be incorporated into the JCM as new modera- tors of employee work attitudes, linking with the JCM similarly to GNS (others have used the 'Protestant work ethic' and 'degree of urbanisation' of an organisation in a similar way) [Knoop, 1981; Wanous, 19741. However, in addition, the new moderators should predispose employees to perceive the CJD content of their jobs differently, thus becoming 'active' in the JCM earlier than those of the above authors and GNS (see Figure 5).

METHODOLOGY

In order to assess hotel workers' job attitudes 180 questionnaires were distri- buted to six, two and three star, medium-sized seasonal hotels (April to September). All had similar operational structures and between 39 and 65 bed- rooms. One hundred and sixty three questionnaires were completed and collected, that is, a sample comparable to that of an earlier study of work atti- tudes and motivation of hotel workers [Shamir, 19751.

The questionnaire consisted of 83 randomly arranged positively and negatively worded, Likert-type questions, with a scale of 1-7 (1 being the low- est, and 7 being the highest). It was developed by Hackman and Oldham according to the rationale of the JCT, and designed to elicit information about the perceived presence of 'core job dimensions', 'critical psychological

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304 THE SERVICE INDUSTRIES JOURNAL

states', 'affective outcomes' and the moderating affect of employees' 'growth need strength' [Hackman and Oldham, 1974, 19801. Questions about hotel residency, and work-preference were also included, forming the basis of the proposed new moderators. Hotel workers and their jobs were therefore analysed in terms of the above. The results were compared with those pre- viously established for other non-seasonal worker groups [Oldham, Hackman and Stepina, 19791 and the effectiveness of 'growth need strength', 'resi- dential status', and 'work preference' as moderators of employee work attitudes were considered. Accordingly, completed questionnaires were divided into four subgroups depending on whether respondents lived in or out, and whether they preferred seasonal or year-round working.

RESULTS

Table 4 shows the cell sizes and totals of these four subgroups of workers.

T A B L E 4 1iOTEL WORKERS B Y RESIDENCY A N D WORK P R E F E R E N C E

Live in Live out Totals Seasonal 36 (SI) 54 (SO) 90 Year-round 13 (Yl) 60 (YO) 73 Total 49 114 163

Thirteen were received from year-round live-in workers (YI), 60 from their live out counterparts (YO), 54 from seasonal live-out workers (SO), and 36 from the seasonal live in (SI) group. Although the YI group may be consid- ered small, its size is comparable with a similar group identified in an earlier study of seasonal workers [Ball, 19881. Furthermore, the statistical validity of cross-group comparisons were tested and confirmed using both non-paramet- ric ( Mann Whitney U-test) and parametric (1-test) analyses. The results for both of these tests were the same.

Figure 6 shows to what extent employees perceived certain CJDs present in their work. 'SI' workers scored the majority of all CJDs higher than any other worker group, but generally their scores were similar to YO workers. However, 'skill variety' was appreciably higher for the latter group and showed the largest range of scores amongst all worker groups. The SI group scored all CJDs higher than SO. SO hotel workers scored all CJDs lower than all other other groups. YI hotel workers scored CJDs similarly to SI although, in the main, they were slightly lower. They also scored a majority of CJDs lower than their 'year-round live-out' counterparts. Both 'live-in' and YO groups scored 'job feedback', 'agent feedback' and 'dealing with others' higher than 'seasonal live-out', with significant differences between both 'seasonal' groups.

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WORK MOTIVATION O F S E A S O N A L HOTEL WORKERS 305

FIGURE 6 'CORE JOB DIMENSIONS' OF ALL HOTEL WORKERS

5

\ /

4 \ /

V

, - - Seasonal live-out workers. (n-54)

- , , Year-round Ilve-out workers. (n''60)

Seasonal live-in worken. (n"36)

3 - Year-round live-in workers. (n"13)

S k i l l Task Task Auton. Job Agent Dea l i ng V a r i e t y Iden. ' S ig. Feed. Feed, w i t h

O the rs

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FIGURE 7

'CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL STATES' FOR HOTEL WORKERS AND NON-SEASONAL TECIiNICAL* WORKERS

Ex. Respons.

Know ledge

Technlcal Seasonal Seasonal Year-Round Year-Round

W o r k e r s * ~ ~ v e - I n L lve -Out L ~ v e - I n L l v e - O u t

' Oldham. Hackman. and Stepina, 1979.

FIGURE 8

AFFECTIVE OUTCOMI5S' FOR I-IOTEL WORKERS AND NON-SEASONAL TECIiNICAL WORKERS

Technlcal Seasonal Seasonal Year-Round Year-Round W o r k e r s . L i v e - I n L ive -Out L l v e - I n L tve -Out

I n t Work N o t .

G r o w t h Sat.

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WORK MOTIVATION O F S E A S O N A L HOTEL WORKERS 307

FIGURE 9

'GROWTH N E E D STRENGTH' OF HOTEL WORKERS A N D NON-SEASONAL TECHNICAL* WOKKEKS

Year-Round ~ l v e - O u t 1- 5 56

Year-Round L ive- in

Seasonal Live-Out

Seasonal Live-in

Figure 7 illustrates the extent to which jobs create Hackman and Oldham's three 'critical psychological states' among workers.

All groups of workers seemed to experience the 'critical psychological states' to a similar extent in their work. SI experienced slightly less 'responsi- bility' in their work than other groups, with YO experiencing the most. YO also experienced 'meaningfulness' more than others, with SI scoring 'know- ledge of results' higher than any other group. Figure 8 shows three 'affective outcomes', that is, how motivated and satisfied employees are with their jobs.

All workers scored 'internal work motivation' similarly except the SO group who were significantly less happy with this aspect. All hotel groups scored 'growth satisfaction' higher than technical workers. YO scored i t high- est of all hotel groups and YI, marginally lower. The highest 'general satis- faction' of all groups was experienced by YO workers. SI, SO, and YT all experienced general satisfaction in descending order (albeit marginal). Overall, YO were the most satisfied group of workers, and SO were least satisfied. Figure 9 shows 'growth need strength' levels of all worker groups.

Non-seasonal, technical workers clearly have a greater 'growth need strength' and thus more desire to 'achieve and grow' in their jobs, than hotel workers. YO workers have the highest GNS of all hotel groups, but that of their 'live-in' counterparts is closer to the lower scores of both 'seasonal' groups.

DISCUSSION

Figure 6 illustrates that all groups of hotel workers showed a similar pattern of

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CJD scores. In temis of job profiles, seasonal work is low in skill content but workers seem to identify with their tasks and view them as being important overall. There is perceived to be relatively little autonomy in seasonal work. This conflicts with findings of other studies of hotels. Many hotel workers have been found to possess a strong entrepreneurial approach to their work [Leinster, 198.51. Mars and Nicod suggest that hotel culture rnay be classified by characteristics such as 'high' and 'low' autonomy, which indicates the extent to which workers are permitted to interact with customers. They identilj~ high autonomy as a characteristic of some seasonal hotels 1 Mars :uncl Nicod, 19841. However, it could be that the frenetic pace of work mitigates opportunities for social interaction with customers more than in other hotels.

The most important source of feedback is from the job rather than from managers and co-workers. Employees interact with others to a large extent.although this is more important for the 'SI group.

In descending order, SI, YO, and YI groups scored CJDs higher than SO workers. The latter group scored 'skill variety'. 'task significance', 'autono- my', 'job feedback', and 'dealing with others' significantly lower than all other groups. These differences may be accounted for by actual objective job differences. or perceptual differences of jobs dependent on worker group membership. YO hotel workers are employed throughout the 'off- season' period on a full-time basis. Much of their 'winter' work consists of redecorating/refurbishing, plus occasional catering. Nearly all are supervisors and have opportunities to discuss and plan strategic and coordinative plans for the forthcoming 'season' with employers. Typically, their jobs have a broader scope than 'seasonal hotel workers'. This is presumably why CJDs such as skill variety were scored highly by this worker group

SI hotel workers scored CJDs consistently higher than SO workers, with significant differences for 'task identity', 'job feedback', 'actual feedback' and 'dealing with others'. This may be explained by objective job differences. For example, residential workers will have rnore opportunity to speak to customers (not just in their work areas), co-workers and managers. The increased informal contact that these workers have with customers and each other may engender a sense of well-being, resulting in higher scores for the remaining CJDs . It may be argued that S1 employees experience and value a sense of community in their work. This orientation is quite different to other seasonal workers who may not value lion-work aspects as much as their counterparts, preferring instead to keep work and home life completely separate.

YI hotel workers would have preferred year-round work but had to be content with seasonal work as this was all that was available. They therefore experience similar work sti~nuli as the other live-in group. Their CDJs are all higher than SO workers but lower than the SI group. The evidence suggests a

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shared value of non-work issues but an unfulfilled desire for year-round working.

Seasonal seaside hotels demand more from their staff (in terms of speed, rather than technical skill) than non-seasonal organisation?. Many deal with coach parties and clubs whose members usually require similar services at the same time and gear their operations accordingly. For example, they have shorter mealtimes, simpler food production and service techniques. This exerts extreme pressure on operatives to meet multiple simultaneous customer demands, thus reducing the content of Hackman and Oldham's 'critical job dimensions' in their jobs.

Seasonal hotel workers tend to be of two distinct types: older married females and young unattached people. The first group choose hotel work because it suits family commitments and generates extra housekeeping money. Young unattached workers tend to view work and leisure together. Social non-work aspects may therefore become more interesting and moti- vating than job related factors [Ball, 19881. Some of these workers require accommodation in the hotel, and some do not. Some members of both groups deliberately choose seasonal work, and some only choose it in the absence of year-round employment.

A majority of live-in staff appear to have experienced an unstable or unhap- py family background and have 'drifted' into hotel work [see, Shamir, 1975, 198 1 ; Wood, 1992); they receive cheap (sometimes free) food, accommoda- tion, and can usually rely on colleagues for loans of money and on manage- ment for wage advances (in some cases, loans for which no interest is incurred).

Relationships with management may be informal, because managers tend to work alongside them much of the time. It may be argued that non-work factors such as community and surrogate family' relationships have an impact on residential seasonal hotel employees' attitudes to work. Non-residential, seasonal workers are usually settled in the area, and although they may benefit from some of the above they tend to experience strong family and social relationships outside the organisation. For this reason they do not view their workplace in the same way. These workers appear to fit hotel jobs around family commitments.

Apart from non-seasonal 'technical workers', Figure 9 shows that both groups of 'year-round' workers have a higher GNS than their 'seasonal' counterparts. This was expected since many 'seasonal' workers appear to have important priorities other than work-based ones.

In Figure 7 all worker groups experienced 'critical psychological states' to a similar degree, but YO workers scored 'experienced meaningfulness' and 'experienced responsibility' marginally higher than all worker groups. This adds only limited support to the idea of GNS as a moderator. For example,

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technical workers had the highest GNS but experienced CPSs marginally less strongly than YO workers! Also, 'year-round live-in' workers experienced CPSs similarly to both 'seasonal' groups yet the former had an appreciably higher GNS. Indeed, the 'SI' group experienced 'knowledge of results' more than any other group despite their relatively low GNS. This cannot be adequately explained by GNS but instead suggests that residential status and work preference may be important as moderators.

Overall, Figure 8 shows YO workers to be more satisfied with their work than any other group, despite the higher GNS of technical workers. Also, the SI group has a higher internal work motivation than YO workers despite the higher GNS of the latter group. Further, both seasonal groups have similar GNS scores yet internal work motivation for the live-in group is noticeably higher. YI workers' GNS is significantly lower than YO and marginally higher than the SI group but the internal work motivation for all is similar. This suggests that the supposed effect of GNS may not be of singular importance, and that residency and work preference also have a role in terms of hotel worker job attitudes.

CONCLUSION

It would seem that seasonal hotel workers can be divided into four groups. The Sl group undertakes hotel employment, but values (hotel-based) non-work factors linked to a desire for relationships and social needs. Work is viewed in this 'total' way; an opportunity to earn and benefit from non-work events. Group members regard their work more favourably than live-out groups because of these extra dimensions. Another group SO needs employment which provides extra money but does not interfere with family commitments. In other words work and family, or social life, are entirely separate from each other. Also, given the frenetic activity in seasonal hotels, potentially moti- vating characteristics of their work are absent. This results in commensurate 'affective outcomes'.

YO workers have jobs whose characteristics change every six months (summer-catering, winter-redecoration, refurbishment and so on). Also, during the winter they liaise with employers at strategic and coordinative lev- els, planning for forthcoming events. During the summer they usually super- vise, and therefore seem to have jobs which are enriched and enlarged. Their aspirations are more akin to 'traditional' non-seasonal groups. They also appear responsive to interaction with live-in hotel workers and thus may react even more favourably given the extra dimension of seasonal hotel work.

YI hotel workers express a desire for year-round work but out of necessity work seasonally. In the main, they have little background in hotel work but surprisingly are only slightly less satisfied with work than the other live-in

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WORK MOTIVATION OF SEASONAL HOTEL W O R K E R S 31 1

group. This group obviously place value upon non-work issues, so far associ- ated with SI workers.

SO workers expressed a low GNS and were the least satisfied of all the groups. However, even though YO workers had a high GNS (but not as high a technical workers), the benefits valued by live-in workers could also help explain their higher degree of job satisfaction than the control group (technical workers). Both 'live-in' groups had a significantly lower GNS than their 'year-round live-out' counterparts (although the YI group was higher than SI), yet both were similarly satisfied with their work.

The effectiveness of GNS alone as. a moderator of hotel employee work attitudes seems doubtful from this study. It does not fully explain group differences of 'critical psychological states' and 'affective outcomes'. Additional moderators of 'residential status' and 'work preference' have been shown to render the JCM more accurate amongst workers in seasonal hotels and also to dramatically affect perceived presence of 'core job dimensions', thus becoming active earlier in the JCM than GNS, particularly amongst both live-in groups.

NOTES

I. This was also noted earlier although his study was based around coastal areas of north and nonh west Wales [Ball, 19881.

2. The term 'surrogate family' is used here to represent a complex set of worker needs and expectations, which may be satisfied by co-workers and management. It does not correspond to the concept of the 'nuclear family' [Parson's, 19491, although it may be viewed in a similar way to the 'extended family' without biological ties [Goode, 19631. Despite this, the term does not lose validity as a convenient point of reference. It has been used in a similar imprecise way by others. For example, juvenile justice couns and delinquency assessment [Cicourel, 1968; Emerson, 19691. After reviewing evidence. Gubrium and Holstein conclude that people proceed in their everyday lives with an imprecise 'sense' or 'feeling' of what a family is [Gubrium and Holstein, 1990: 1501. Indeed. Shamir discovered that live-in hotel employees perceived a sense of family in their occupation. In this sense, the 'family' classification is presently used [Shamir, 19751. For the purposes of the proposed study, Bemarde's [I9851 definition of family serves as a summary for live-in hotel workers, 'The essence of family as iin ideology encompasses the many processes by which individuals construct a sense of familial reality' [Bemarde, 1985: 1331. This definition is open to interpretation, but (at least) must include a desire for belonging and forming relationships of some kind.

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