Internal recruitment in the hotel industry -A case study of how internal recruiting affect employees' motivation

Abstract

Background and problem: Two years ago, we made a small case about the Hotel Scandic Rubinen. We became very impressed with the manager, who had worked his way from being a doorman to becoming the manager of the hotel. With this in mind, we wanted to examine whether internal recruitment could be a key factor to success, and if it solely could motivate employees to a large extent. This led us into two questions that we wanted to answer: • Is a wellknown internal recruitment strategy sufficient as an incentive compensation system in hotels? • Is there a discrepancy between the managements and the employees’ view of the incentive system in the hotel industry? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to get an insight of the hotel industry, and examine whether internal recruitment solely could motivate employees. Methodology and delimitations: This thesis is based on two approaches. One of them is a qualitative approach based on interviews, and the other one is a quantitative approach conducted through a survey. They are both included in a case study that we made in two different hotels in the Gothenburg area. Results and conclusions: The conclusions that we found two different types of employees, where one type of them were young and eager to do a carrier in the company, and the second one were those mainly concerned about job security and a stabile income. For the first‐mentioned, promotion could solely work as an incentive compensation system. Regarding the second group, they simply did not care about promotion, but would rather appreciate a higher salary, or chances to receive a higher salary. We could see a discrepancy between the managements’ and the employees’ view of the incentive system, where the employees were not aware that an incentive compensation system existed.