2. IMPROVINGORGANIZATIONRETENTION 2
Improving Organization Retention
Motivation within an organization is imperative for growth; however, to improve
the organization, the right motivation must be implemented. At JC’s Casino, we see a
department with untrained, unruly management; also the housekeeping department, a
different environment, is dealing with unruly employees. The same motivation theory will
not work in both departments.
Applying a motivation theory
In the housekeeping department, the staff is performing a mutiny because the
Director of Housekeeping cannot / will not hire enough staff. The first step for the
department is to motivate the current staff to cover the load while hiring efforts are
underway. The salary is already the best in the area, but an equity motivation could
relieve the dread the housekeepers are feeling because of the extra load. Until the new
staff is hired, management can offer incentives based on the employee’s output (meet
goal +2 rooms = early Friday out, meet goal +5 rooms = 1 hotel room for 1 night free or
$50 in free chips). This is referred to as reinforcement motivation.
Mr. Keehn, Director of Housekeeping, has been using local newspapers and
word-of-mouth to hire new housekeepers. The results have been poor; the responses
have been minimal because of the reputation that the staff is overworked. Mr. Keehn
needs a new motivation to formulate a new hiring plan. He will benefit from the two-
factor motivation, which will allow him to concentrate on the job satisfaction separately
from the job dissatisfaction. His new hiring campaign should concentrate on the positive
aspects of job satisfaction, such as:
3. IMPROVINGORGANIZATIONRETENTION 3
Highest salary in the region
Customer satisfaction
Early out days
Team collaboration
Company employee discounts
An open house will allow for applicants to see these features; this will counteract the
negative dissatisfaction rumors.
A bad manager can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best
employees to lose all motivation
- Author Unknown
In 1994, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, conducted research on job
satisfaction among gaming employees throughout the United States. Job satisfaction
was viewed as those areas employees felt they needed training (oral communication,
written communication, technical casino skills, accounting / financial analysis skills,
knowledge of internal control procedures / gaming regulations, human resources /
motivational skills, customer service skills, administrative / management development
skills) (Eade, pg. 44). Another area surveyed was the Perceived Importance of Work
Conditions. Wages and medical insurance had high results, which is not surprising; but
the participants overall wanted to learn more of the technical side of the casino business
and “participate in decisions that directly affected [them]” and to “[be] trusted to do [their]
job without over supervision / ownership of [their] job”.
A similar survey would provide insight into the issues of over supervision that Joe is
displaying, which in causing the staff to leave. The feedback received will allow Joe’s
4. IMPROVINGORGANIZATIONRETENTION 4
team to focus on setting goals for the department, and taking control of the results. This
also allows for a distal motivation because the team is concentrating on their needs of a
better manager and work environment.
Occupational stressors
As mentioned previously, the housekeeping department is feeling a strain to work
harder because there is a shortage in staff, because the Director of Housekeeping is
having difficulty filling the job openings. This means that physical, psychological, and
behavioral problems (stressors) are happening. The physical strain on the employees
would include fatigue, stomach distress, and muscle strains. Psychologically the
housekeepers are envious of the other housekeepers, at the other casinos, because
they are not having to perform as much work (less rooms to maintain); they struggle
with this because they know their pay is better. This causes frustration with
management because they are not filling the job openings. Job comparing is a classic
situation in many workers; Ford (2012) states that “it is expected that workers are
dissatisfied and distressed when they see their job characteristics deviating too much
from those of peers in the same occupation” (pg. 413), such as the housekeepers with
less rooms to clean at other hotels.
The frustrations the housekeepers are feeling are becoming apparent in their behavior
through absenteeism and turnover. Although Mr. Keehn has not demonstrated
absenteeism himself, he is showing signs of dread and exasperation. He is unable to
help his team, and causing a strain on other departments, this stress is leading to him
not eating properly and continuous headaches.
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Joe, the pit boss and owner’s stepson, is causing enough issues because he is
“toxic, overbearing, evil, and incompetent”. Joe is a classic case of being given a
management position because he is family. Joe is not feeling any stressors because he
feels he is protected from any repercussions from foul-ups; however, this is not the
case. JC, the owner and Joe’s stepfather, demands high performance numbers, so he
(JC) does not look bad to other casino owners or his staff. Since Joe has not had
management training, he uses techniques he has seen his stepfather use: intimidation,
threat, overbearing behaviors, and hatred. Joe feels he is caught between the two
forces; this is causing physical strain, such as ulcers and continuous nausea. His
symptoms get worse then another team member leaves. Even though the job is not a fit
to Joe, he is required to stay because he does not have any skills or knowledge to carry
him into another position. “When demands go substantially beyond the work role for
which one is trained or socialized,…may come at a cost to the worker’s satisfaction and
psychological well-being” (pg. 419), as Joe’s situation has demonstrated.
The dealers relived their frustration with Joe by leaving the casino, but have added to
their financial stress. This will lead to depression, bad habits (smoking or drinking), and
anxiety. These individuals dealt with the problem through emotions, instead of practical
communication. Ford, in 2012, in his assessment of job-occupation misfits, agrees with
Bagozzi that” empirical evidence suggests that the usual impact of negative emotions,
especially those that occur in response to undesirable happenings, is reduced
interpersonal communication and impaired job performance [turnover]”, as
demonstrated by the dealers when they left JC’s Casino.
6. IMPROVINGORGANIZATIONRETENTION 6
Job satisfaction
The housekeepers and the dealers chose flight over fight because they were
dissatisfied with their job conditions. Instead of trying to become part of the solution,
they became more of the retention problem. My first of four methods to increase job
satisfaction is a 360 assessment; this is performed within each department. Secondly,
a training program will be implement to train staff in the opposing roles (housekeepers
to Mr. Keehn’s position, Mr. Keehn to the housekeeper position, Joe to the dealer’s
position and the dealers to Joe’s position). This is a good method for both teams to see
the dilemmas both sides are facing. The departments will spend 2 days in the role
training to understand the duties of the respective jobs. At the end of the 2nd day, a
second 360 assessment will be given and the results will be shared with the teams.
The training is a good tool because providing training to another employee allows
a person to show pride in their position, and to show their skills and knowledge in a job.
This exercise also gives them the opportunity to express the positives about the
positions and JC Casino.
Communication training is also a requirement for continued employment. A
creativity team should be organized to ensure that suggestions are treated promptly and
fairly. Finally, two (department and company) team building courses will be scheduled,
to rebuild the trust between employees and management. This will especially be
important for the housekeepers to rebuild trust with the other departments that covered
their work during their absences.
7. IMPROVINGORGANIZATIONRETENTION 7
Counterproductive employee behavior
The housekeepers demonstrated counterproductive work behavior (“behaviors
that harm the organization and other people at work, such as coworkers, supervisors,
and customers…” (Spector, 2012, pg. 263) by being absent at an above normal rate.
This counterproductive work behavior harmed Mr. Keehn because he not only had to
keep hiring staff into a shorthanded department, but he had to plead with, and train,
other departments to turnover a high number of rooms. Because the “substitutes” were
not as efficient and thorough as the trained staff many delays were caused at check-in,
which caused an unnecessary strain on guests of the casino. Many productivity hours
(in multiple departments) and profit dollars were lost because of the absences. The new
employees also were disheartened because the department was not ran as efficiently
as stated in the interview; this caused quick turnover in staff, which in turn began the
hiring process over again.
Joe’s counterproductive work behavior was not making it known that he was not
trained properly for the pit boss position. The dealers counterproductive work behavior
was not speaking to HR earlier; they assumed, although right, that HR Director, Tom
Sneed would not help (Tom’s counterproductive work behavior). Finally, JC participated
by not providing a clear communication line pertaining to his stepson Joe. In addition to
the communication and team building training recommendations above, it is also
recommended that JC, Joe, and Tom attend management training immediately.
Conclusion
Every position within an organization will become stale. It is important for
employees to find challenges, autonomy, and social interaction. Hiring and retaining
8. IMPROVINGORGANIZATIONRETENTION 8
staff is a key element to everyone’s job (from making an employee referral to the
interview process to training the new hire). In a study, Demeronti, Bakker, and
Halbesleben (2015), cited Tims, Bakker, and Derks to say: that seeking resources was
positively related to increased self-reported job resources (i.e., autonomy, feedback,
and social support) over time. The more employees are allowed to have autonomy over
their positions, the more apt they are to find better ways to perform their tasks, want to
share their ideas, and want to invite others to find their same joy and job satisfaction.
This creativity helps build employee referrals, positive reputations in the industry, and
keep good employees.
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References
Demeronti, E., Bakker, A.B., Halbesleben, J.R.B. (Oct 2015). Productive and
counterproductive job crafting: a daily diary study Journal of Occupational Health
Psychology. Volume 20. Issue 4. 457 – 469.
Eade, V.H. (1994) Human resource issues in the gaming industry Gaming Research &
Review Journal, Volume 1. Issue 2. 43 – 53
Ford, M. (April 2012). Job-occupation misfit as an occupational stressor Journal of
Vocational Behavior. Volume 80. Issue 2. 412 – 421.
Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice
(6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
