Managing Human Resources, Diethelm Travel Sri Lanka

Abstract The research sets out to evaluate the impact of employee motivation, Leadership and fellowship and the organizational culture of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan with regard to employee performance and gaining competitive advantage in its respective market. This research enables me to highlight my time working at Dilemma Travels and to identify problems with regard to the proposed topics and to recognize possible solutions within the frameworks of Human Resource Management.
Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan Dilemma Travels is one of Sir Land’s leading destination management companies which boasts over 35 years of experience. Formerly which is known as Hem Tours, and in 2009 Hem Tours merged with Dilemma Travel Thailand. Their main focus is to provide customize quality driven travel experiences to their valued customers in the world. Their service Includes representing tour operations, handling frequent travelers and group Inclusive tours, transport services etc.
From an Internal point of view they value employees need to learn and grow to reach desired heights and to fulfill career aspirations. To support this Dilemma Travels Sir Lankan provides recognized training programs, career guidance for new employees to develop inherent capabilities and acquire new skills. With an understanding of the fact that continues learning is essential for professional growth for an individual and corporate level the management Invests considerable amount of resources of employees for them to develop their competencies.

The recognition provided for the talented employee group working at Dilemma Travels, handsome rewards, compensation packages that challenges the highest in the country, attractive annual performance bonuses, medical insurances and weekly fitness programs for eligible employees are some of the motivations boosters used by the company. With this level of Importance and considering the current state of Dilemma Travels and their operations with regard to their culture, leadership and the level of motivation provided for employees the difference between current practices and possible improvements must be addressed.
Problem Statement Considering the current working standards of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan it is evident that the majority of the younger employees have considerable room for expansion to better themselves as professionals. But in recent years these professionals seeking other opportunities opt to leave the company In search of career progression. This Issue has given me the motivation to find out the reasons behind this Issue. With this in mind I conducted the research in order to find out the route causes contributing to this problem.
This study will show the level of motivation and employee satisfaction within Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan which will enable me to identify said problems, if there are any with regard to the given criteria. If identified to formulate solutions or to give recommendations accordingly. 1. What forms of motivation are available to employees of the Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan? 2. What factors motivate workforce most in the Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan? . What role(s) does motivation play on employees’ performance in Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan? 4. What is the correlation between motivation and employee performance in the Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan?
Understanding the importance of employee motivation Increased Productivity: With motivated employees from an internal or from an external source shows passion for work which in turn provides better performance. If motivation is provided employees will work hard to set and reach goals. Companies that offers challenging jobs must provide a framework that lets the employee know that the management rusts their abilities to perform which gives them confidence to complete their given tasks. This sort of attitudes of the work force brings forth increase productivity which is very beneficial for an organization. Bimodal Bath, 2011) Improved Employee Morale: In order to boost employee morale continues motivation is necessary. A work force with high morale is ready to take up any challenge without any issue. This high surface team created in the employee’s mindset provides added values for an organization with less absenteeism and employee conflicts. (Bimodal Bath, 2011) Increase Loyalty: Increased loyalty is gained by an organization with employee motivation. Recruiting and training new staff is an expensive task for any company therefore a loyal work force is essential to gain a good reputation in the market and to reduce this added expenditure. Chowder, M. (1997),) Better Creativity: The passion towards their Jobs enables employees to express their views and ideas freely. This fact gives them the assurance and the understanding of their important position within the organization so that they can contribute more towards the betterment of themselves that further brings benefits for the company. Enhancing the creative factor is therefore essential and the manages have to design a motivational structure and a leadership style that facilitates employees in providing new suggestions, ideas and methods of expansion with regard to delivering cost effective performance. (N.
D. Baboon, 2011) Individual growth and Improvement A motivated workforce takes up new tasks regardless of how challenging it might be and would provide best efforts in completing them. For this reason further learning and training programs are essential. The environment created within an organization tit regard to completion is also an added motivational factor for employees to increase performance. All these factors comes together in forming expertise within a workforce of an organization. These experts and their efforts must be carefully evaluated and appreciated by given the appropriate appraisal and promotion opportunities.
Criteria 1: Out of 40 employees, questionnaire has been distributed to 10 males and 10 females as per table 1. 1 below. 1. 1 IP -Increased Productivity MIME -Increased Employability IL -Incrementally SC-Better Creativity GIG -Individual Growth and Improvement years. Most of respondents are found from the age of 18 – 24 range and there are no employees found above 45 years from study area. Table 1. Present the age distribution of employees. 1. BC-Better Creativity 18 years to 24 years category shows tremendous growth of productivity, morale, loyalty, better creativity and individual growth and improvement comparing to other age categories. This category represents teenagers and very young crowd of the company who are mainly working in the operational level and at a trainee level. And according to Abraham Moscow in his Hierarchy of Need, those within this category are preoccupied with higher order needs such as esteem and self-actualization, having had their lower order needs taken care off (Moscow,1943).
Criteria 3: A motivated person has the awareness of specific goals which must be achieved in specific ways; therefore he/she directs its effort to achieve such goals (Nell et al. , 2001). Motivated person has more energy to achieve their specific goals than denominated person. In Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan after observing along the staff categories (Table 1. 3), I have noticed some changes between senior level, tactical level and operational level employees. When productivity and employee morale is considered operational level employees’ progression is higher than others.
Tactical level employees’ shows low values in all the categories. At the same time senior level member are showing progression in individual growth and improvement than others. 1. 3 While assessing above situation, we can identify lack of progression in tactical level employees. This means there are some difficulties in that level and there is less opportunity to move forward from tactical level. Factors that Motivate Employees at Work While considering motivational factors which we discussed earlier, the following is an overall assessment with regard to the employees of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan.
According to Herrings (1959), Hygiene factors relate to satisfaction at work and also e suggest that managers can give their employees more authority to their Job and offer them direct and individual feedback in order to motivate and help employees to connect to their work (Wartime,2007). Productivity, morale, individual growth and improvement are higher than other factors. This means most of the employees are performing well and at the same time they are able to do the work with minimum supervision. On the other hand employee loyalty and their creativity have gone down.
This will affect the company growth indirectly hence employees searching better opportunities for their career development opt to leave the company. Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan” should take necessary actions to build up employee loyalty and their creativity. The Rennin’s Liker Theory could be adopted in such instances where it mainly focuses on high performing managers changing their perspective and addressing key motivating factors which enables these frustrated employees to change their own perspective and helps them to be accepted in a ‘supportive’ group.
Findings Forms of motivation available to workers The motivational packages given to the workforce at Dilemma Travel is considerably inadequate. This situation is substantially worse in the operational level. At the actual level it shows similar trend as to the operational level. The senior management however are entitled to professional allowances, entertainment allowances, as some of the added incentives available to them. The room for improvement and career progression is considerably poor at the tactical level.
Employees at Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan confirm that if the working environment is conductive they will be motivated to give better performance. Some of them perceive efficient work. As stated by Herbert (1959) the hygiene factors effects and concentrate on workplace satisfaction. Employee Job Performance: The Role of Motivation Motivation being crucial factor as presented by Robert (2005) a manager’s Job is to ensure the work done through employee is possible.
With regard to Job performance the evidence show that encouragement is crucial and conferred to the workforce who will help them to expand and deliver. Reward for Good Work Done At Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan monitory rewards in the forms of overtime allowances and in form of bonuses are provided as preferred forms of motivation. According to Broom (1964) “people are motivated by how much they want something and how likely they think they are going to get it” It is advisable for the management to reward employees by understanding their desires and structuring their incentives accordingly.
Leadership and fellowship Effective leadership is a personal role that requires the blending of motivational, strategic and management skills to align focus, energy and drive whilst creating a culture which encourages individual thinking and attainment. Ultimately leadership is about pushing ideas and thoughts forward, bearing responsibility and aspirations to bring out the confidence of others. Leaders are required to have greater project leadership and influencing skills than in the past.
Summary of some key leadership skills: Managerial – keep track of progress against targets and take action on slippage Trustworthy – speak honestly and openly and expect the same from others Aware – understand each individual’s abilities, limitations, motives and drivers Influential – use vision, argument and important stakeholders to sway opinion Visionary – know what needs to be achieved and how to go about achieving it Inspirational – create and bring to life an image of how things can be ASCII (1998) have narrated that ‘Managing People’ a Critical Role for Every Manager, ND when it comes to managing people, all managers must be concerned to some degree.
The leaders at Dilemma Travels must focus on the following, Transparent and innovative system of recruitment and induction of employees. Better and extensive training facilities and chances. Programmed / designated on Job training and courses. Strategies implemented to provide mental relaxation within the environment. Audit and control system is standardized. The ‘time management’ in private organization is implemented. Working under innovative concept of efficiency / effectiveness. Flexibility in ideas and procedure implementation. New Technology is given preference. Effective and prompt means of communications are used. Personal welfare and efficiency of employees leads to better out put. 16. Probability of misuse of power.
At Dilemma Travels, the leaders are mainly chosen by the qualities and traits approach which states certain people have inherited characteristics or personality traits therefore limited training is provided for the managers with regard to managing people. This poses a number of drawbacks as situational factors and employee behavior within the organization is ignored. Almost all of the managers eve an autocratic behavioral style of leadership that often neglect employee input towards decision making. Many tactical level staff believes that a democratic approach by the managers would be beneficial for employee motivation and for the organization as a whole. An argument can be made for an autocratic method at the senior managerial level where quick decisions must be made and team agreement is not always necessary for a successful outcome.
With Linen’s three participatory leadership styles conclude that the most effective style is democratic and extensive alternative styles lead to revolution and denomination. Understanding the situation and formulating contingencies are some key skills that a leader should consider. The three types of forces (situation, follower, and leader) that were identified by Attainment and Schmidt in 1958, understood and used properly could benefit the managers at Dilemma Travels. The main problem that I see is the lack of training provided to the people who considered being leaders of the company. The level of action centered leadership that is needed mainly in the operational and tactical levels of the organization is inconsistent that forces employees to show denominated behavior to work with different managers.
When assessing the qualities with the transformational method a leader is able to examine and search for the needs and motives of others while seeking a higher agenda of needs. Acting as the change agent and a visionary a transformational leader is capable of inspiring people and with a clear vision is able to inject enthusiasm and energy. At Dilemma Travels it is ideal to adopt this method of leadership as transformational leaders show integrity, and they know how to develop a robust and inspiring vision of the future. They deviate people to achieve this vision, they manage its delivery, and they build ever stronger and more successful teams.
However, managers must often need to adapt different styles to fit a specific group or situation, and this is why it’s useful to gain a thorough understanding of other styles as well. A method must be developed at Dilemma Travels in order to provide this knowledge to the managers with a structured training programmer that will enable them to use these theories for the betterment of the organization. Organizational culture – the “personality’ of an organization that guides how employees think and act on the Job – is central to the values, beliefs, inter-personal behaviors, and attitudes to stakeholders that determine how the organization does its Job.
Culture is a key factor not only in achieving organizational goals, but in attracting and keeping desirable employees, creating a positive public image, and building respectful relationships with stakeholders. In his seminal 1992 work entitled Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar H. Scheme, Professor Emeritus in the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered a definition of what he called “an empirically based abstraction”. “Organizational culture”, he said, is “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration.
Culture is important because it shapes: What the organization considers to be “right decisions” What employees consider to be appropriate behaviors and how they interact with each other within the organization How individuals, work groups and the organization as a whole deal with work assigned to them The speed and efficiency with which things get done The organization”s capacity for and receptiveness to change The attitudes of outside stakeholders to the organization In short, an organization”s culture can be supportive of – or hinder – the implementation of new initiatives and the achievement of its overall goals. Does the organizational culture at Dilemma Travels need a change?
As highlighted by the study many employees at Dilemma Travels are unhappy with the working conditions and the environment. To solve this issue the best possible way is to start at the core framework of the organization which is its culture and move on to the leadership styles and employee motivation. When an organization is faced by a changing marketplace or regulatory environment, or has identified the need for a shift in strategic direction, the implementation of a new technology, or the introduction of new processes, the established culture may impede progress unless it, too, is changed. For that reason, the success of major organizational change initiatives are almost always dependent on internal cultural change” Edgar H. Scheme. Circumstances change Stakeholder expectations The demographics of the organization change New technologies are deployed A proactive method must be adopted at Dilemma Travels in order to bring this hanged. A step-by-step top down approach could be beneficial for the organization in this regard. Design and Build phases of implementation Visioning session(s) with key stakeholders and consultation assessment (performance against plan) Leadership coaching & action planning Team renewal (team-building) Change readiness Identification & enrolment of change agents within the organization Identification of impacts of new technology & processes on individuals agent training Employee Workshops Implementation stage Executive briefings on the initiative Change leadership plan Communication plan
Orientation session for project team members Training plan for team members Change leadership training Team building sessions Leadership alignment The deliver and operate face Workforce transition support including related HER policies & programs training performance evaluation compensation reward and recognition career development and planning Skills gap analysis Change The management should ensure that communication process should flow in all directions, upward, downward, in parallel to reach outsiders results. For the operational level staff providing added rewards along with their monthly alarm would be an ideal method to increase motivation. The poorly structured working schedule for all the level of employees is another issue that needs to be addressed. Identifying employees living condition, traveling methods, non-work related commitments and responsibilities an arranging possible methods to create a better scenario is another contributing factor to increase motivation.
Creating new Job opportunities which will help the current employees with regard to career progression is one of the essential steps that could be taken to keep the expertise within the company Leadership needs assessment for improvement. For improvement of behavior skill and traits of personality to perform better leadership roles. Positive reinforcement methods must be taken with regard to new innovative ideas. At the present stage an employees efforts to contribute new ideas to a certain department or the company itself is constantly met with an indulgence but a pathetic approach by the senior management. (Negative Reinforcement) This contributes to discouragement of making further suggestions and may even consider of leaving the job.
In an instance, by comparison if an employee is encouraged to assisting in the placement by providing new ideas (Positive Reinforcement) would benefit and generate better ideas. When considering distribution of rewards the management must understand that each employee idea of an ideal incentive would be different from another. It is prudent for the management to reward workers according to their hearts desires than providing them with something that may not please them. Which intern creates a denominating factor believing that they are not properly compensated for their efforts The research shows that many employees of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan would