Coercive Management Behaviour and Employees’ Satisfaction in The Hospitality Sector. (A Study of Selected Hotels in Warri Delta State)

Abstract

In recent times, managers have adopted and exhibited some forms of behaviors in leading and dealing with employees in the course of ensuring that the organizational objectives are met. It has been observed that every behavior or leadership style has one effect or the other on the employees as well as the organization. This study examined the influential relationship between coercive management behavior and employee satisfaction using the hospitality industry as a case study. The study looked at salary reduction, suspension, rest period withdrawal, and giving extra work for none compliance which are forms of coercive behaviors exhibited by management as the independent variables, and their relationship with employees satisfaction as the dependent variable. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and was guided by five research questions and five hypotheses raised by the researcher in line with the study objectives. Four (4) major renowned hotels with a population of 216 employees were randomly selected within the Warri metropolis and a sample size of 140 which was derived from the Taro Yamane formula was used as participants for the study and used a questionnaire that was duly validated by the supervisor who is an expert as instruments to collect data. Of the 140 copies of the questionnaires distributed, only 135 were returned and used for the analysis. The data gathered from the questionnaire administered was analyzed using mean and simple percentage in order to provide answers to the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (PPMCC) at 0.05 alpha level to test for the influential relationship between variables. The study revealed findings that: Autocratic leadership styles of management have a significant influence on employee satisfaction in hospitality organizations, Management behavior of use of salary reduction has a significant influence on employee satisfaction, Management behavior of giving extra work for noncompliance has a significant influence on employee’s satisfaction and Management behavior of using withdrawal of rest/off period have a significant influence on employee’s satisfaction. Management behavior of using suspension from official duties have a significant influence on employee satisfaction and Coercive management behavior has an influence on employee satisfaction since all variable underpinning coercive behavior have an effect on employee satisfaction. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that coercive management behavior, though used by management to coerce compliance from employees, it is not favorable to employees because of its coerce nature which in the long run has some level of effect on the employee's satisfaction and it was recommended among others that organizations should adopt a minimal level of coercive style in dealing with employees and not be too coerce in their behavior. This will make employees feel a sense of respect for their personality.