Empowerment: a study of General Managers of four star hotel properties in the U.K.

Abstract

The 1990s will continue to see more and more hotel companies ‘empower’ their managers and their employees. Pushing responsibility and decision-making down the organization is one way to respond to turbulent environments and increased competition for both customers and labour. This research note describes a project aimed at identifying the extent to which GMs of four star hotels in the U.K. felt empowered now. Eighty-six GMs responded out of a population of nearly 1,000 managers. Early response indicates that there seems to be very little difference in perceptions of empowerment amongst the sample based on individual characteristics of the managers, although well-qualified employees tended to feel less empowered than less well qualified. However the most significant factor that appears to differentiate GMs' perceptions is the company that they worked for. It is clear from these preliminary findings, that more detailed studies into the nature and extent of empowerment are needed.