M OTIVATING

STUDENTS

Principles and Practice of Management MBUS 1102B University Of Technology - Mauritius

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Josian Troubat UTM Student ID: 102122 Cohort BTHM/10B/PT

Motivating Students

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section Titles Page Number

1.0 2.0 3.0

I NTRODUCTION O VERVIEW T HEORIES

3.2 E ARLY 3.3 N EED
OF OF

2 T HE M AIN P ROBLEM 3 4

M OTIVATION
OF

3.1 I MPORTANCE

M OTIVATION

APPROACHES OF MOTIVATION OR CONTENT OF THEORIES

4.0

M ETHODOLOGY 6
4.1 M OTIVATING F ACTORS U SED
TO

5 &

B OOST

UP THE

T RAINEES .

5.0 6.0

F INDINGS

AND

C ONCLUSION

B IBLIOGRAPHY 8

Motivating Students

1.0

INTRODUCTION

As a (Head Trainer) Training Officer at Ecole Htelire Sir Gatan Duval, my duties consist mainly of training students of the Hospitality trade at the Higher National Diploma in Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts level

Compared to other Training Centres, the Ecole Htelire Sir Gatan Duval, recruits students that have at least two A-Levels irrespective of any subjects at the Higher School Certificate level for admission to the Higher National Diploma in Hospitality and Culinary Arts. This is because the Hospitality trade requires people of a certain academic background since they will be in direct contact with the clients. However, there are many factors that result in recruiting students with a lower academic background:

High number of vacancies in the hotels that is filled mainly by apprentices, since they are paid less than a full-time employee.

Low number of applicants in certain trades, such as Front Office and Housekeeping

The fees at the Hotel School are not expensive between Rs 2,000 to 27,000 depends of level of course

Motivating Students 2.0 PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE TRAINEES

After a while it was noticed that most of the students at the Higher National Diploma in Hospitality students (HND) lack motivation in their studies and their work. However, all of them when interviewed during the selection process demonstrated a high determination and motivation, and this is one of the major criteria for their selection. The main reasons that resulted in the lack of motivation are: The large majority of the students are paid a meagre sum during their attachment.

Some of them are employed in the hotels because they feel they are cheap labour.

They are asked to undertake all kind of jobs that are not included in their curriculum.

They are required to work for six days a week, very often doing split shifts (continuously 2 shifts in a day) while on attachment.

Very often, they have worked on the eve, till late night, followed by a morning shift.

Lack of monitoring by the Training Officers.

Trainees went under some personal difficulties, which they did not reveal to the Head Training officer.

Trainees also faced exams pressures and were not confident enough to take part in the final exams. Unlike what they had expected before, the students are tired, have no job satisfaction, and are thus not interested in being trained. It is therefore 4

Motivating Students important that these students be given consideration, and motivated so that they become efficient in their work and for the training provided to be successful. The different theories of motivation would be analysed for their effectiveness in bringing up confidence in those students, and the most appropriate ones would be considered for application. Due to the extensive nature of the problem, my contribution alone would not alleviate the cause of the problem. Hence, the Human Resource Managers of the hotels employing the trainees, the trainers as well as the decision makers of the MITD (Industry Based Division) need to be involved. 3.0 3.1 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION Importance of motivation

Motivation is closely related to the effectiveness of employees, besides leading to the achievement of better results and higher levels of job satisfaction. However, absence of motivation is synonymous to low levels of outputs, and can give rise to frustration, poor workmanship, strained interpersonal relations and conflicts. 3.2 Early approaches to motivation

Taylorism Scientific Management Movement, where he stressed on the maximisation of gain as a prime concern in human being. According to Taylor, motivation is achieved through compensation. Hawthorne experiments- He described the importance of social needs, the need for an informal organisation, and informal leadership. Human Relations Movement- It was shown that managers should pay attention to the social dimensions in a work situation that is taking care of the needs of the employee, shared decision making, better communication, consultation in job-related issues, and group incentives. 3.3 Need or content theories

They suggest that motivation is based on the idea that people experience a number of needs to be motivated. To fulfil those needs, they will engage in specific activities. The contributors to these theories include:

Abraham Maslow Mc Douglas Herzberg -

Hierarchy of Needs Theory Theory X and Theory Y Hygiene Theory

Motivating Students

4.0

METHODOLOGY

In order to motivate the trainees, the factors that affect both positively and negatively their motivation need to be considered at four major levels: Individual level (Training Officer v/s trainee) (Head of departments) (MITD) (Hotels recruiting the trainees)

Management level Organizational level Industry level

4.1

Motivating Factors Used to Boost up the Trainees.

One to one tutoring conducted by the main trainer to look into the matter. Providing counseling to the needy trainees by the main trainer and the disciplinary officer. Complicated cases and personal problems are taken care by the MITD full time psychologist. The curriculum was modified by the implementation of excursions and site visits in order to change academic environment. The main trainer adopted a friendly approach with the trainees to understand and solve their problems if there was any. The management team at the Hotel School visited the trainees once every week to get regular feedback in order to solve problems. 6

Motivating Students Regular monitoring of trainers was conducted by the management team to ensure smooth running of courses at the Hotel school for these trainees. At the end of the academic year the trainees gained confidence and the percentage of success for that academic year was above seventy-five.

Hence, the problem had been identified at its source, where each trainee had been asked to provide feedback on the problems he or she encountered during the studies and at the workplace. The trainees are taken up on an individual basis, and are suggested measures to be adopted in order to sort out the problem. If the problem regards difficulties faced by the student in his or her studies, the psychologist is called upon for counselling. Moreover, if the problem is with respect to the workplace, a follow up is done with the tutor of the trainee in industry so as to alleviate the problem. Problems are also identified through the processes of class management and conseil de classe.

The problems identified are then communicated to the management, through the different head of departments. The issues are taken up in the management meetings, appropriate solutions identified, and follow ups carried out at industry level.

All the propositions are then forwarded to the Industry Based Training Division of the IVTB. A brainstorming session was then conducted at the Hotel School of Mauritius to discuss the possible measures that could be taken.

The Human Resource Managers had been invited for a meeting, where they had been exposed to the different problems and the measures that could be taken.

Motivating Students

5.0

FINDINGS & CONCLUSION

After having analysed the different causes of poor motivation, the following solutions had been proposed to motivate the trainees:

The needs of the trainees had been catered for by the following: Improving the infrastructure of the Hotel School.

Since the students had complained about non-availability of toilet and hand washing facilities, the latter would be provided within a time frame of a month.

The classes were shortened so as to allow more time to receive feedback from the trainees, and for their counselling.

The classes were made more interesting by providing a friendly environment to the trainees. 8

Motivating Students

Regular meeting with the Human Resource Managers of the hotels to monitor the progress of measures proposed

Training of tutors.

An industrial attachment training log book is provided to the trainees, to be filled by a supervisor in industry so as to monitor their progress.

Regular evaluation of training is carried out by the trainer.

Finally, a process evaluation is conducted by the MITD.

Bibliography and References

1.

Bartol et al, 1996, Management: A Pacific Rim Focus, Mc Graw Hill, Australia.

2.

Bass,

1985,

Leadership

and

Performance

beyond

expectation, New York Free Press 3. 4. Robbins, 1998, Organisation Behaviour, Prentice Hall. Quote : http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/9884