me siruov or THE ORIGINS, EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION or Hem MANAGERS AS RELATED TO CAREER PATTERNS I I I ' or SECURITY AND success Thus. ID. the Doom of Ed. D. ‘;I ‘ I ‘ ‘ » MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY I. 7 Wesley i. Schmidt 1: . j ' 19‘61 . 4'-.__“ L‘ ..... WI! . - - . . _ - -—- r - :" ... '5‘. Irv-3F“? [LIKIIIHLJ ”.1 ,-,-- I’m m ”WWW'fi “shew we» L A-. ~: . -I :w‘v 1; .5165: ”NEST-S IIII'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I 3 1293 00981 4207 This is to certify that the thesis entitled 'H'IB STUDY OF THE ORIGINS, EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION (F' HOTEL MANAGERS AS RELATED TO CAREER PATTERNS OF SECURITY AND SUCCESS presented by WESLEY IRVIN SQ'iMIUI‘ has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for “27/1/72? 77; 2:51ch Major prQl/essor 5/ Date February 17, 1961 0-169 LIBRARY Michigan State University PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or bdoro date duo. MSU Is An Affirmative Action/Equal Oppommlty lnctltwon Wipes-9.1 ABSTRACT THE STUDY OF THE ORIGINS, EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION OF HOTEL MANAGERS AS PELATED TO CAREER PATTERNS OF SECURITY AND SUCCESS by Wesley I. Schmidt There is need in current social science for studies of mobility within the life spans and occupational histories, not only of the typical, but of the more and less successful worker. Most previous investigations of managers and execu- tives have studied them as a broad class without regard to the particular nature of their industries. Moreover, these studies have viewed success as the achievement of a certain level of management, rather than by differential criteria uf success within that occupational level. The present study is a search for formal and informal factors in the career patterns of hotel nanagers. This longitudinal study is focused on such variables as social origin, education, Sponsorship, occupational definition, and mobility patterns as they relate to several criteria of success. A random sample, stratified by number of hotel rooms, was selected from {our midwestern states. Sixty Operating managers, representing hotels of'all sizes from the member- ship of the American Hotel Association, were interviewed. Twenty interviews were conducted within each size classifi- cation-csmall, medium and large hotels. Wesley 1. Schmidt The method chosen for studying the subjects was the anonymous, retrospective, personal interview. The interview schedules were deveIOped and standardized in a pilot study. The criteria of success are identified according to the number of years required to reach the first top manage- ment position, personal income, OCCUpational security, size of hotel, hotel quality ranking, and the business activity index. The major findings and conclusions are as follows: 1. The socio-economic origin of this sample of hotel managers is superior to that of managers in general, even as contrasted with the executive elite. Those of the preprietary heritage were less likely to achieve the essential attributes leading to success; namely, Sponsorship and an ”executive" occupational definition. 2. There is a significant relationship between years of formal education and a rapid rise to the Operating managers position. 3. Formal education and "sponsorship" were found to be significantly related. h. The search for an executive versus a lower level self-image in the definition of OCCUpation uncovered three differentials; the executive, fitting the ac- cepted administrative role; the Operator, having a production, facility, and guest orientation; the greater, assuming the classic "grand host" stereotype. Wesley I. Schmidt 5. The preportion of managers who defined themselves as ”executive" managers and who possessed a collegiate background was not significantly different from the non-graduates. Keither did college graduates distinguish themselves to a significant degree as leaders in civic or hotel organizations. 6. The use of continuing education is related to evi- dences of a positive attitude toward learning, personal growth, new ideas and the future of the hotel business. Those managers pursuing continuing education adapt the "executive" view of hotel management to a significantly greater degree than others. Continuing education is not significantly related to formal education, the pro- prietary heritage or sponsorship. 7. Two factors were identified as deterrents to parti- cipation in continuing education programs and to a greater deveIOpment of the ”executive” definition--the apprenticeship philosophy toward the management trainee and the low level of management security which pervades the industry. 8. Sponsorship, the initial and/or career-long assoc- iation of a key hotel manager and his protege, is identified as one of two keys to success in hotel management. Fponsored managers tend to deveIOpe an "executive" definition, rise more rapidly and Wesley I. Schmidt "consistently" to the tOp, and are found in better hotels doing an above average business. 9. "Executive" hotelmen are associated with larger hotels, with higher quality hotels (regardless of size), with hotel chains, with more secure careers, with higher personal incomes, and with positions of leadership in civic, fraternal, and hotel related or- ganizations. 10. Hotel managers' careers are found to be less secure than those of managers in general industry. The per- centage of managers found in the less stable career categories approximates the general industry pattern of the semi-skilled and Operatives. 11. Hotel management is apparently closed to managerial migration from unrelated industries. THE STUDY OF THE ORIGINS, EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION OF HOTEL MANAGERS AS RELATED TO CARRER PATTERNS OF SECURITY AND SUCCESS By '0 .J' Wesley 11 Schmidt A THESIO Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION College of Education 1961 (73 .7 / /é_3f/ Zf/é/ Copyright by WESLEY 1. 1961 SCHMIDT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Christian, in the classic story of filgrim’s Progress, was guided by Faith amid the distractions of this world to the Eternal City. The trek of the researcher to find es- sential facts, data, and truth amid the siren songs of our economic society is not unlike the travail of Christian. The achievement of this research work was largely due to the genuine cooperation and guidance given by each of the following: Dr. Walter F. Johnson, College of Education, Michigan State University; Dr. William H. Form, Sociology and Anthropology, Michigan State University; Dr. Donald M. Johnson, Psychology, Michigan State University; The Schlitz Academic Achievement fund; The Board of Trustees of the American Hotel Association Educational Institute; and sixty midwestern hotel managers. A special kind of tribute is due to Carol, Kay, Colleen, Kevin, and their mother, for their implicit faith in their writer-father. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I 0 IN’IRODUCTIOK e o e o o o e o o e e e o The Problem in Historical Perspective. Statement of the Problem . . . . . . Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assumptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . Definition of Terms. . . . . . . . . Scope and Limitations. . . . . . . . Organization of the Thesis . . . . . II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . . . . Related Studies in Hotel Management. Related Studies in General Business Manage- ment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III. RESEARCH PROCEDURE AND METHODOLOGY . . The Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Interview Schedule . . . . . . . The Interview Contact. . . . . . . . Data Processing. . . . . . . . . . . IV. THE ORIGINS AND CONTEMPORARY POSITION OF WESThRN HOTELMEN . . . . . . . . . Origins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contemporary Status. . . . . . . . . Summary. 0 e e e o o e o o o e o o 0 PAGE 19 20 23 26 1‘5 145 1&9 5’4 56 57 57 73 78 CHA PT ER V. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNUS OF HOTELMEN . . . . . . Formal Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Continuing Education . . . . . .I. . . . . . . Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI. THE OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF HOTELMEN. . . . Occupational Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . Generalized Attitudes of Executives and Non- executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Significant Variables Related to Occupational Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII. CAREER PATTERNS--SECURITY . . . . . . . . . . . Number of Years in Present Position. . . . . . Number of Different Employers. . . . . . . . . Trial Stable Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hotel Ownership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Career Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Management Definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . The Operators and Greeters Attitude Toward Job Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Executive Attitude Toward Job Selection. . Sponsorship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIII. CAREER PATTERNS-~SUCCESS. . . . . . . . . . . . Number of Years to Tap Management. . . . . . . iv PAGE 82 82 92 10b 10? 108 112 11a 122 125 126 127 131 135 136 139 1h? CHAPTER PAGE Business Activity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 IX. CONCLUSIONS AND THE HYPOTHESIS . . A. . . . . . . 163 The Origin of Hotelmen . . . . . . . . . . . . 16h Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16h The Educational Challenge. . . . . . . . . . . 165 Continuing Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 The Continuing Education Market. . . . . . . . 169 Barriers to Continuing Education . . . . . . . 170 Occupational Definition. . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Sponsorship and Occupational Definition. . . . 17U The Dynamic Interplay of Forces. . . . . . . . 176 Suggestions for Continuing Research. . . . . . 178 81 BLIOGRAPHY e o o o o e o o o o o e e e o o e o . e o 0 19C- LIST OF TABLES TABLE A PAGE 1. Per cent Distribution by Major Occupation Group for Employed Males 22 to 7h Years Old, by Years of School Completed, for the United States, 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . 3“ II. Distribution of American Hotel Association Members in Four Midwestern States Ac- cording to Number of Rooms. . . . . . . . . . U6 III. Distribution of Midwestern Hotels in Cross Categoried by Number of Rooms . . . . . . . . #7 IV. Percentage of Gross Income Attributed to Conventions According to Hotel Size . . . . . “8 V. where Horn and Raised, by City, Population Size 58 VI-A. Per cent Aspirations of Respondents on Enter~ ing the Job Market as Compared to the Distribution of Fathers' Occupations. . . . . 60 VI-B. Per cent Respondents' ASpirations After Enter- ing Hotel Field as Compared to Fathers' Occupational Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 VII. Relationship Between Father's Occupation and Extent Of 50".! Ownership 9 o e o o o e o o o 63 vi TABLE VIII. IX. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. The Contemporary Generation of Hotel Managers and Proprietors as Compared with Their Fathers' Primary Occupations. .V. . . . . . . The Relationship Between Father's Occupation and Extent of Son's Formal Education. . . . . Per cent of Managers According to Years of Education . .'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hotel Background Compared to College Prep- aration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Relationship Between Occupational Origin and Sponsorship During the Apprenticeship Period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Origin Compared to Hotelmen's Occupational Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Correlations of Selected Business and Personal Variables to Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship Between Hotel Manager's Religious Affiliation and Hotel Size. . . . . . . . . . Relationship Between Hotel Size and College Curriculum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hotelmen's Years of Formal Schooling Related to the Number of Years Required to Reach Top Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Correlations Between the Number of Years Spent in Each of the Hotel Departments and Years or SCh0011ngo O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 0 O 0 PAGE 67 67 68 71 73 76 8h 86 87 TABLE PAGE XIX. Relationship Between Management Definition and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 XX. Years of Formal Education as Related to Selected Low Order Variables. . . . . . . . . 90 XXI. Relationship Between Years of Education and the Achievement of Career Sponsorship . . . . 92 XXII. Relationship Between Manager's Financial Inter- est in the Hotel and His Use of Continuing Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 XXIII. Relationship Between Kind of Hotel Ownership and the Manager's Use of Continuing Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9h XXIV. Relationship Between Continuing Education and Goals in Hotel Management . . . . . . .r. . . 95 XXV. Relationship Between Participation in Con- tinuing Education Activities and Management Definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 XXVI. Relationship Between Participation in Con- tinuing Education ActiVities and Association with Above-Average, Average, and Below- Average Hotels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 XXVII. Continuing Education Participation as Com- pared with the Number of American Hotel Association Offices Held by Managers. . . . . 99 XXVIII. Relationship Between Continuing Education and Career Plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 viii TABLE PAGE XXIX. Relationship Between Continuing Education and Evaluated Expectations. . . . . . . . . . 101 XXX. Relationship Between the Manager's Occu- pational Definition and Hotel Size. . . . . . 115 XXXI. Relationship Between Occupational Definition and Evaluated Expectation . . . . . . . . . . 116 XXXII. Relationship Between Manager‘s Occupational Definition and the Hotel's Quality Ranking (1 = Best, 5 = Poorest) . . . . . . . 117 XXXIII. Relationship Between Manager's Occupational Definition and the Type of Hotel Ownership. . 118 XXXIV. Hotel Manager's Occupational Definition and the Mention of ”Contacts” and ”Pull” in Achieving Success . . . . . . . . . . .1. . . 119 XXXV. Relationship Between Management Definition and Sponsorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 XXXVI. Relationship Between Number of Years in Present Position and Types of Ownership . . . 127 XXXVII. Relationship Between the Number of Employers in the Hotel Manager's Work History and the Type of Hotel Ownership . . . . . . . . . 131 XXXVIII. Variables Having a Significant (from Zero) Correlation with the ”Trial-Stable Period Under Twenty Years" 9 e o o o o e o o o e e o 13“ ix TABLE XXXIX. XL. XLI . XLJI. XLIII. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVII. Relationship Between Type of Hotel Ownership and Size of Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Percentage Comparison of Career Families of Hotel Managers with Other Occupational Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship Between Career Families and Manager's Definition of His Position. . . . . Relationship Between Career Family of Security and Hotel Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type of Sponsorship as Related to Several Career Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Size of Hotel with Number of Years Required to Reach the First Top Management Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship Between Business Activity and Significant Numerical Variables . . . . . . . Relationship Between the Business Activity Index and Occupational Definition . . . . . . Relationship Between Business Activity Index and Career Sponsorship. o o o o o o o o e o 0 PAGE 137 138 11.0 1&2 1&9 lSl 156 158 159 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Career Patterns of Twelve Managers Spending Majority of Careers in Private and Inde- pendently Owned Properties. . . . . . . . . . 128 II. Career Patterns of Twelve Managers Spending the Majority of Their Careers in Chain Hotels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 III. Career Profiles of Two Large, Chain-Owned, Hotel Managers, Illustrating Consistency (A), and Inconsistency (8). . . . . . . . . . 153 IV. Relationships Among the Significant Career_ Variables and Their Association with the Success Criteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 xi LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX PAGE A. IntOrV1ew SCthUleo o o o o o o o o o o o e o e 185 Be QU.5t10nnaire e o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 9 leg. Co Letter or IntrOdUCtion. . O 9 Q 0 O o o o o o o {7 D. Introduction of Career Study to the InterV18W°e o o o o o o o o o o o e o e ‘0 o o 17-3-3 E. All Variables Examined-~According to Numerical and Qualitative Factors . . . . . . 191 F. Measuring the Occupational Security of Hotel Manager: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19: xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. The Problem in Historical Perspective The occupational title “hotel manager" denotes a po- sition which has not only had a variety of meanings historic- ally, but also is one eluding definition currently. Historians believe that the innkeeper was among the first vestiges of civilisation, closely following the advent of trade and trans- portation. Maschal believes that the innkeeper was a re- sourceful person responding to the traveler's desire for survival. ”At first, the traveler stopped wherever dark- ness overtook him, seeking bed and board by the wayside. Its hospitality was sometimes of a dubious nature for the wayfarer might find himself with a slit purse the next morning and, if he were really unlucky, he might have a slit throat as well. Alert and enterprising souls soon recognized a new, easy and constant source of income. They went into the hotel business--in a small way, to be sure, for the first inns were crude affairs.“ Thus, the earliest hotel managers were ”enterprising souls,” offering minimum lodging facilities and, in rare circumstances, food service. The Romans had an extensive and well-kept system of roads which included post houses for traveling officials. They also had hotels for the traveling public. Innkeepers were frequently women. Syrian 1Henry T. Maschal, ”Opportunities in Your Chosen Field,” Mid-Vest Hotel Reperter, Kansas City, January 1958, p. 3. women were well known as innkeepers and promoted their establishments with impromptu and often- times lewd dancing. . . . The ancient inns were often located close by the Temples, and for practical reason.' The official sacrificer in the Temple would direct the devotee with his freshly sacrificed animal to the nearby inn where the worshipper would find the sacrificer's wife ready to serve him the newly killed animal. . . . During the Middle Ages, the Monasteries and Con- vents took over many of the functions of the inn, the porters of these establishments acting as host to the weary traveler. . . . During the 1700's large and elaborate mansions were built in France by the nobility, some es- pecially fine ones near the Kings' Court at Versailles. These were the first hotels. . . . In Colonial America, wayside taverns and inns were the town meeting places and centers of con— viviality . . . providing food and shelter for the traveler and his beast. . . . In 1829, the Tremont House of Boston opened its doors to become the first modern hotel with 170 rooms, a room clerk who also served as bartender, porter, and helped carve the meat; and with 10 public rooms it was the wonder of the age . . . The 1920's saw thousands of communities and private companies building hotels. . . .2 These brief excerpts suffice to show that the historical role of ”hotel manager" has ranged from a sensual dancer to bartender, from an Abbot to a castle keeper, and from livery- man to the manager of a modern, transient facility. 2Donald E. Lundberg and C. Vernon Kane, Business Manage- ment--Hotels, Motels and Restaurants (Tallahassee, Florida: University Bookstore, Florida State University), pp. l-3. The complex, multi-story hotel, offering a score of food, beverage, and other personal services to the transient, is essentially a late Nineteenth Century phenomenon. During this period, nearly every major city in America built multi? story, down-town hotels and vied to boast the finest “grand hotel."3 During the early Twentieth Century, another great hotel building boom took place. During the 1920's the greater proportion of contemporary down-town hotel properties were built. The first of the great hotel systems or chains were also developed during this period by Ellsworth M. Statler, Eugene Eppley and Ralph Hits.“ Along with the rise of the multi-service, multi-story, complex hotel came a demand for a new kind of manager. No longer were the skills of the portly and convivial grand host sufficient to cope with the multi-departmental and business management problems of the new era.5 A way of developing hotel managers and their assistants, who were especially trained in the methods, knowledge and techniques of modern business management, had to be found. In l92h, Cornell University opened its doors to the first class of hotel management students, as a result of the 35151. L. Latnrop, Early American Inns and Taverns, (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 19335, p. 365. “Gerald w, Lattin, Modern Hotel Hana ement (San Fran- cisco: V. B. Freeman and Company, 1958 , pp. , 152. 5Conrad Hilton, 22.!2 Guest (New Jersey: Prentice- H‘ll. InCe. 1957). De 198. 1.; personal interest and the financial endowment of E. M. Statler and Eugene Eppley.6 Cornell became the first and dominant school in the professional hotel management field. In the late 1920's William H. Klare, Vice-President of Statler Hotels and General Manager of the Detroit Statler, and John K. Wiley, Publisher of the H2321_Monthlz, generated interest in beginning a similar program in the midwest, preferably Michigan. In 1928, the second major program in hotel management became a reality at the Michigan State College in East Lansing, now Michigan State University.7 In recent years, eight other university level programs, leading to a Bachelor's degree in Hotel Management, have begun on campuses across the nation.8 So it is that the profession of hotel management has had a long, diverse, and slowly evolving history. As a result, it is imbued with a unique tradition and an occupational ethic that is quite highly institutionalized. Little attention has been given to fundamental research into the differential functions, the career patterns, or educational backgrounds which give rise to success in the hotel management occupation. It has, rather, evolved. 66era1d U. Lattin, Factors Associated with Success.gg Hotel Administration. A doctoral dissertation, Cornell Uni- versity, 1959, p. 13. 7 PO 380 8National Council 22_Hotel and Restaurant Education. Directory of Schools and Colleges Offering Courses for the Training of Managers, Supervisors and Workers in hotels, res- taurants and institutions (Washington 5, D.C.:r 1960), p. 36. Michigan State College Catalog (East Lansing: 1928), 8. Statement of the Problem The purpose of this study is to describe the career patterns of selected hotel managers and to discern the edu- cational, social-personal influences to achieving vocational $000055 e Since this study seeks to discover a set of broad un- knowns (the significant educational and personal-social forces), its general objectives are: 1. To obtain from managers their current definition of occupation. To determine the socio-economic and educational backgrounds of hotel managers. To determine whether a definable educational and occupational career pattern leading to top- level management exists; and if it exists, its nature and differentials. Some of the sub-questions which arise about this sample of hotel managers are: l. 2. What are their socio-economic origins? What are their educational backgrounds? What is the nature of their career patterns as especially related to mobility and stability? What are their occupational definitions and aspirations? 5. What are their success differentials? From the framing of the controlling statement, the general questions and the specific questions of this study, it becomes increasingly apparent that such an analysis of the careers of these hotelmen should not only contribute to the scope of literature available in the sociology of oc- cupation, but should also have considerable guidance value for:‘ 1. Young people entering the field. 2. The administrators and faculty of hotel manage- ment programs at the various levels of sephisti- cation. 3. Thetotal educational efforts of the state and national hotel associations in their continu- ing education programs. Ce N..d A study of hotel management careers, the role of education, and the occupational expectancies within those careers is of especial contemporary significance. Hotels represent the seventh largest service industry in the United States in total sales volume, now grossing approximately $2,5so,ooo,ooo a year.9 The sale of hotel rooms and public 9Selling to Restaurants and Hotels (Kev York: Ahrens Publishing Co., Inc., l9h6), Fifth Revised Edition, 1957, p. 3. 7 space accounts for approximately one-half of the gross sales volume, while food and beverage sales and store rentals ac- count for the greater part of the remaining portion.10 The hotel industry, exclusive of proprietors, employs approximately one-half million people with two per cent of that number, 11,000 paid executives, in managerial or sales management roles.11 The hotel business and its employees find themselves in an acute economic position. The 27th Annual Study by Horwath and Horwath, Hotel Accountants and Consultants, reveals that: 1. Average rooms occupancy decreased for the second consecutive year. The figures re- corded for 1958 were the lowest since be- fore World War II with small hotels suffering the greatest decline. 2. Profits from Operations not only dropped once again below the level of the preceding year but were the lowest in hotels generally since l9h1. Decreases were sharpest in the small, transient hotels but were evident in all three groups. 3. The drop in room occupancy effected a decrease in room sales from 1957 despite the fact that average room rates were the highest ever re- corded. Total sales were also lower than the preceding year. 9. The ratio of payroll to total sales was the highest ever recorded for the smaller transient hotels. The payroll also increased in the lolbid. ’ p. u. 110.5. Bureau of Census, Census of Hotels, 1930. (Washington, D.C.: 0.5. Government Printing Office, 1931), pp. 76-83. residential hotels but decreased slightly in transient hotels with over 500 rooms. Re- duction in the payroll of the larger transients was due to the greater ability of these hotels to adjust payroll to variations in the flow of business.1 The plight of the small or rural transient hotel with its competitive disadvantages in style and location may be readily inferred from the Horwath and Horwath summary above. Coupled with these facts confronting hotels in their economic struggle is the relatively static economic position of the total commercial hotel industry. Since 1939 total hotel sales have increased little more than sufficient to keep pace with dollar value changes through inflation.13 The hotel industry is expressing grave concern with regard to the role of education in meeting the need for im- proved employees and managers to enhance its competitive position in the economic and personnel market. "The present concern of hotelmen as to the educational opportunities of their industry at both the skilled and managerial level are well summarised in a statement by Weems in March, 1960. Present efforts on behalf of hotel education are the most serious ever undertaken. They promise within a short while an overall program designed to provide educational opportunities and faciligies on every level and in practically every skill. 12Hotel Qperations in 1258, 27th Annual Study by Hor- wath and Horwath, Hotel Accountants and Consultants (New York: #1 E. h2nd Street, 1959), p. 2. 13Sellin 22 Restaurants and Hotels, op. cit., p. 5. 1“Robert C. Weems, Jr., The American Hotel Institute, ts Role in Hotel Education. A special report prepared for he American Hotel Institute, unpublished document, 1960, p. 5. H 9 The American Hotel Association has long diSplayed an interest in the education and training of industry personnel, including managers. Its first effort dates back to Decem- ber 20, 1920, when it asked Layton s. Hawkins, then Assistant Director of the Federal Board of Vocational Education, to make an analysis of the need for and possibilities of es- tablishing a system for hotel and restaurant training.15 He foresaw and proposed the creation of a hotel with a school attached for the practical training of hotel person- nel at all levels. He felt that the young persons interested in hotel management should probably complete a four-year college program, but gather practical experience in the hotel school while enrolled in college. It is highly probable that his preposal is the basis of the approach used by contemporary university level programs in hotel management and their re- quirement of an apprenticeship or in-service training period for students as a part of their academic curricula}6 The second of the great "needs” studies was conducted by John B. Pape, United States Office of Education. In pre- paring his report of 19h8, Pope used a detailed set of qucs» tionnaires, interviews and business research data. In his 1SLayton S. Hawkins,‘ Vocational Education 12 the Hotel Business. (A Report to the American Hotel Association of the United States and Canada.) p. 6. 16Michigan State Universigi Catalog (East Lansing: 1960), p. 111. School g£_uote1 Adminitfratlan 1960-1961, Cornell University Announcements. Tithaca, A.Y.: Cornell University, JUly 15, 1960), V01. 52, NOe 2’ De QB. 10 opinion, hotel education and training, except at the college or university level, was "pitifully inadequate,” due to a lack of support from management.17 At the annual convention and meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Hotel Association in 1958, a reso- lution was adopted calling for ”a thorough study of the hotel industry's employment needs, pre-employment training and total training needs."18 The study was conducted by the Industrial Counselors Service, Inc., J. W. Tower, Consultant. His report is a re-emphasis of the Pope report with re- gard to the apparent lethargy of hotelmen to be concerned with on-the-Job training for lower skilled peeple and for manage- ment development of his middle level executives and department heads. His report expresses concern with the vocational accent being given to college and university management prep- aration programs and the extendedapprenticeship philosophy prevailing among hotelmen in the complete rounding of the experience background of the college graduate. It is an understatement to say that the American tax- payer is today scrutinizing the expenditure of the educational tax dollar very carefully. Each of the major management training programs at the collegiate level is conducting care- ful and thorough-going appraisals of their respective programs. 17John B. Pepe, The Report and Recommendations 22_Hotel Education 222 Training.——TA report to the Joint Educational Planning Committee of the American Hotel Association and the Hotel Greeters of America, October, 1908), p. 27. 18Weems, 22. cit., p. 16. 11 However, as in the days of the establishment of the Cornell and Michigan State University programs, heavy reliance is made on the judgments of management, educators and hotel industry leaders as to the nature of the experiences requisite to becoming a hotel manager. Hotel management curricula. both at the collegiate and vocational levels, today are a marriage of and borrowing from many disciplines of formal learning, with a curious mixture of the operating procedures and manuals of the early, suc- cessful business operations. Valid research data as to the nature of the hotel management career is currently unavail- able. Each year, approximately b20 young people graduate from service industry management training programs at colleges or universities, with nearly two-thirds of that group special- ising in hotel management (as distinguished from restaurant and institutional management).19 These graduates are pri- marily oriented toward the upper echelons of management. The career information available to these young people is indeed sparse and is limited to booklets describing the various departmental positions within the typical and larger hotels.20 Although acceptance has greatly improved from the founding era, graduates of university programs in hotel 19National Council on Hotel and Restaurant Education, 22. cit. zoflill,§2£gl_!2£§ Q: Your Career? American Hotel Association, New York, 1959, p. 21. 12 administration continue to encounter difficulty in becoming assimilated by the industry, with a corresponding reluctance and unwillingness on the part of many graduates to remain in it.21 The nature of the occupational blocks and impediments for the collegiate management trainee bear investigation and description. Valid information regarding the actual routes to top management, the nature of the apprenticeship period for the management trainee, the mobility patterns of the successful and less successful managers--this critical type of infor- mation regarding careers in the hotel field has not been gathered.22 In addition, it has been the experience of the American Hotel Association Educational Institute,23 many university conference programs, and many hotel association efforts, that training and educational programs find slow and reluctant acceptance among hotel men.2u The underlying reasons for the general apathy to the industry's continuing education efforts for hotel managers and their employees have not been researched. 21J. W. Tower, Educational and Recruitment Needs of the Hotel Industry, A Pilot Study for the American Hotel Assoc- iation (New York: Industrial Relations Counselors Service, 100., April 30, 1959,. p. 1e 22Lucius Boomer, Hotel Management Principles and Prac- tice (New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1938), p. 168. 23This Institute has been the American Hotel Assoc- iation's official home-study and classroom extension program since 1953. The writer is its director. quOQES’ 22e Cite. ppe 1-17e 13 This study, then, seeks to research a previously un- explored field, searching for clues as to the nature of the hotel management occupation and the impact of education on the total career of the modern hotelman. Its implications are vital to the creation of formal education programs, to the design of association-sponsored educational programs, as a guidance tool for those interested in pursuing a hotel management career, and as an extension of the data available in the sociology of occupations. D. Assumptions Implicit in this study are two apparently conflicting sets of rationale. However, examination will reveal them to be correlaries, if confirmed by evidence. The first assumption is that hotel managers do comprise a unique occupational group and that this uniqueness will form a sustained vein of evidence throughout the study. A uniqueness, or lack of it, will emerge from the variables explored in the chapters describing the hotel managers' socio-economic origins, their education, their career pat- terns, their mobility, their occupational definitions, and success differential. The second assumption is that this sample of hotel managers' careers and socio-economic histories are suf- ficiently akin to those of general business management so as to be amenable to similar research techniques, methods, and lines of occupational inquiry, socio-economic backgrounds, 1h career histories, educational antecedents, and occupational definitions--all these have been found to be among the more discriminating features of other managerial-occupational roles. It is assumed, therefore, that a parallel approach to the occupation of hotelmen will prove to be equally fruit- ful. E. Definition 2£'13£21 1. Sgcio-economic origin. This ascribed character- istic is inferred primarily from father's primary occupation. It is described along the modified Edwards scale of seven occupational levels and fitted to the occupational classifications used in the hotel industry. A description and defense of the Edwards scale for this purpose is well stated by Davidson and Anderson. Yet since a better classification is lacking, this scale will have to serve the purposes of the pre- sent study. It has the merit of having been ar- ranged by an authority of the Census Office and has been used in classifying the gainfully employed in the country-at-large in 1930 (and also in 19h0 and 1950). . .ideally, the data of the present study should have been analysed with respect to both occupational and socio-economic status. As a matter of expediency, a scale of level has been used which is ostensibly socio-economic but really occupational; or, rather it is both to an unknown degree. This is the Edwards scale, the main head- ings of which are: 1. Professional persons. 2. Proprietors, managers, and officials a. Farmers (owners and tenants) b. Wholesale and retail dealers c. Other proprietors, managers and of- ficials 3. Clerks and kindred workers 15 h. Skilled workers and foremen 5. Semi-skilled workers a. Semi-skilled workers in manufacturing b. Other semi-skilled workers 6. Unskilled workers a. Farm laborers b. ,Factory and building-construction 1a- borers c. Other laborers d. Servant classes The socio-economic origin of each manager was analyzed from the point of view of the father's pri- mary lifetime occupation and years of schooling. 2. Educational background. This variable was drawn primarily from the respondent's highest year of formal education. Secondary sources were his on-the- job training experiences, organized experiences of a continuing education nature, and number of hours spent reading for hotel and general business information. 3. Hotel. Historically, the word “hotel” has been variously defined according to the traveling needs of the public in a given era. As the emphasis of the mode of travel has changed from foot to beast, from railroad to automobile, from waterways to airways, so has the definition of "hotel.”26 Courts of law are not agreed as to a common defi- nition of ”hotel,” especially with the recent emergence 25Percy E. Davidson and Dewey H. Anderson, Occupational- Mobility i2_22,American Community (California: Stanford Uni- versity Press, 1937), p . 7-9. 26William Zelermyer, Legal Reasoning (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1960), p. 29. 16 of a new kind of transient facility--the motel and motor hotel.27 State laws also vary as to the definition of ”hotel“ for licensing purposes. The U.S. Bureau of Census included any facility having six or more trans- ient rooms in its enumeration of hotels.28 As an alternative to the legal and quantitative definitions, an operational definition was decided upon. This study deals only with managers whose hotels have been investigated and approved by a group of their peers. These hotels are listed in the member- ship roster of the American Hotel Association 329 B225, indicating that the hotel has been accepted by hotelmen themselves as offering ”transient hotel facilities,” a basic criterion of acceptance. In addition, each selected hotel (and the manager inter- viewed) was verified to the writer by the respective state hotel association executive as meeting these conditions. The membership of the American Hotel Association represents the businesses accounting for 75 per cent of the total available hotel rooms in America.29 It is 27Hendrik Zwarensteyn, Hotel Law (East Lansing: Michi- gan State University, unpublished work, 1959), pp. 1- 18. 280.5. Bureau of Census, 22. cit., p. 76. 29American Hotel Association Directory Corporation, Hotel Red Book (New York: American Hotel Association Direc- tory Corporation, 1960--annually), p. 11. 1? reasonable to assume that the hotels of sufficient size, complexity, diversity of services, and tradition to develop an evolving managerial occupation are well represented in the American Hotel Association member- ship. For the purpose of this study, the concept of ”hotel” has been confined to that type of institution having (1) two department heads or more, (2) year around services, and (3) membership in the American Hotel Association. h. Managers. In each hotel, the study was directed to the individual who was the top operating executive. Non-opermging owners were not considered. Their counterparts, operating-owners, were interviewed. In most cases, the individual whose name appears in the £23.§22§’ the annual listing of the American Hotel Association members, was interviewed. 5. Occupational definition. The manager's definition of his role and responsibility in the present situ- ation was analyzed according to the general framework developed by Coates and Pellegrin30 in studying in- dustrial supervisors and executives and adapted to the hotel context. The categories of "greeter," 30Charles H. Coates and Roland J. Pellegrin, "Execu- tives and Supervisors: Contrasting Self Conceptions and Conceptions of Each Other," American Sociological Review, vale 22, NOe 2’ April, 1957’ ppe 506‘5170 18 ”operator" and ”executive" used in this study are defined fully in Chapter VI. 6. Sponsorship. Career sponsorship refers to the personal interest and long-term assistance of a key hotelman during the management apprentice period and/ or the lifelong friendship of an outstanding hotelman who materially abetted his protege's career. 7. Security. The relative security of hotel managers will be measured along four continua of occupational permanence: a. The relative stability of the total career pattern of occupational security as measured by Miller and Form's criteria31 and modified to fit the unique mobility pattern of the hotel systems. b. The number of years in present position. c. The number of different employees. d. The ratio of years spent in ”trial” positions to years spent in “stable" positions in the total career. 8. Success. The success of careers will be measured against two major criteria: a. The number of years required to reach the tap management position. b.- The relative business activity of the manager's hotel as measured by the occupancy and food- beverage percentages. 31Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, Measuring Patterns of Occupational Security (New York: Beacon House, Inc., 1957), pp. 3 2-37 . 19 The genuinely unsuccessful careers, men who aspired to hotel management but did not achieve it, are not considered in this study. This study includes only those who are new hotel managers and seeks to dis- tinguish between managers achieving greater versus lesser degrees of success. F. §£222_;gg Limitations 1. The geographical sample. The geographical base of this study was four midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. This region contains hotels which are generally representative of the kinds, sizes, and services found throughout America's primary commercial hotel market. 2. The numerical sample. Numerically, the sample was extended to 60 inquiries of operating managers to allow a base of 20 interviews within each of three strata by hotel size. Twenty cases were considered desirable so as to achieve the numerical minimum necessary for statistical applications seeking significant like- nesses and differences.32 326. Milton Smith, A Simplified Guide to Statistics, For Psychology and Education (New York: Rinehart and Com- pany, Inc., Revised and Enlarged Edition, October, 19b6), p. 78. 20 3. Limitations in Interpretation and Applicability. Because of the geographic, membership, multi- departmental, and managerial level restrictions which were imposed in the definition and sample of hotel managers studied, great caution should be exercised to refrain from attempting to interpret and apply the results of this study to all hotel managers. G. QEggnisation gfnthg Thesis This study is organized around its introductory.con- cepts and rationale, followed by the five significant ques- tions it asks. Chapter II reveals the scarcity of literature available concerning hotel managers and their careers. It also surveys the outstanding career and occupational mobility studies in general management which focus attention upon managers' origins, educational backgrounds, career patterns, and aspir- ations. Chapter III describes the procedure and methodology used in the design of this study, the design of the interview schedule, the selection of the sample, and the conduct of the study. Chapter IV relates this sample of hotelmen meaning- fully to their socio-economic origins. Chapter V shows the impact of formal and continuing education on the careers of these hotelmen. Chapter VI discusses the hotelman's occupational defi- nitions and its relationship to other career variables. 21 Chapter VII presents an analysis of hotel careers according to various measures of security. Chapter VIII discusses the career patterns of the more successful managers as measured by the number of years to top management and the hotel's gross business volume. Chapter IX reviews the major results of this study and meaningfully relates the dominant themes sustained by the significant variables. Suggestions for continuing re- search of the hotel management occupation are also presented. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A. Related Studies in Hotel Managgment Studies available in hotel management are Sparse, es- pecially when reference is narrowed to occupational and/or personal data about the manager. The researcher's primary reference to the field of hotel management is "Hotel Manage- ment and Related Subjects,” published by Cornell University. It is an annual, annotated bibliography of publications and source materials in the broad field of tourist, resort, hos- 1 Perusal of the pital, hotel, and restaurant management. bibliography reveals that the preponderance of studies done in hotel management are concerned either with trends of busi- ness activity or with operating problems. Two major studies of business activity in the industry are prepared annually. One is published by Horwath and Hor- 2 wath, Hotel Operations. . . and the other by Harris, Kerr, Forster, Trends 12 the Hotel Business.3 These companies are 1Hotel Management and Related Subjgcts, No. 18. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, June, 1959), pp. 6-9. 2Hotel Operations $2 1958, 27th Annual Study by Horwath and Horwath, Hotel Accountants and Consultants. (New York: #1 E. h2nd Street, 1959), p. 65. 3Trends 52 the Hotel Business, 23rd Annual Review, pre- pared by Harris, Kerr, Forster & Co. (Chicago: 1958), p. “5. 23 the principal accounting and management consulting firms in the hotel, restaurant, and club management field. The sig- nificant questions used to identify the various sizes and kinds of hotels in this study follows their general pattern of information gathering. Two studies have been conducted of students and gradu- ates of four-year hotel curricula--one at Michigan State University, and the other at Cornell University. The Michigan State study“ was concerned primarily with the present occuo‘ pations of alumni, the number of positions held, and years spent in various hotel and restaurant positions. However, these data do not lend themselves to comparison here since the distributions are presented as aggregate data and are not amenable to further statistical analysis. The Cornell study5 concerned itself with two sets of factors: those Yflich relate to success in the hotel curricu- lum and those which are related to success in the hotel busi- ness. Lattin's definition of business success departs from the usual economic criteria and is solely occupational--that of remaining in the hotel business (successful) versus not remaining in the hotel business (unsuccessful). The factors which are related to success in hotel manage- ment training as measured by college grades are: high school “Careers 32 Hotel and Restaurant Management. (A Survey of Michigan State College Alumni), Research Report No. 9. (East Lansing: Michigan State College, February, 195D), p. 22. 5Lattin, 22. cit., p. 183. 2h rank, mother's education and mother's hotel employment, a preference for history and English studies, a dislike for mathematics, science and the languages, a high principal's rating, psychological test scores, and attendance in public school versus private school. The factors which were not significantly related are: age on entrance to the program, father's occupation, father's education, geographical resi- dence and number of siblings. The factors which relate to success in hotel management (success meaning continued employment in hotel work) have more meaning for this study of educational and career patterns. Lattin found the strongest relationship between "hotel suc- cess” (occupational tenure) to Egbert's scale of choices.6 Egbert's value scale strongly suggested that those that leave the hotel field are discontented with it as a way of life rather than lacking any inherent ability to perform well in the field and to conduct its business. The unsuccessful hotelman tended to desire personal and family comfort, regular hours, leisure time, intellectual pursuits, and evidenced a tendency toward introversion. Successful hotelmen, however, seemed to be strongly ex- troverted, show a desire for power, control and recognition, and have a strong interest in high society life. 6R. L. Egbert, The Effect 2f Some Childhogd_and Adoles- cent Egperiences 22 the Develgpment 2: Values, School of Edu- cation, Cornell University, Doctoral Thesis, 1909, p. 218. 25 From a review of the literature in the field of hotel management, it is evident that the present study is being con- ducted in a relatively uncharted field. Conducting a thorough- going study in this area of management with few landmarks for research guidance has a number of hazards. The first difficulty is that of gaining a research and directional foothold so as to attack the problem at productive and fruitful points. The second hazard to be encountered in a study of the individual hotelman or any other position possessing a similar degree of tradition and custom, is the very nature of its occupational-professional ethic. The role of the hotel manager is steeped in the tradition of the small businessman, of the independent entrepreneur and of the individual asla purveyor of direct and personalized service. The role of the innkeeper has become idealized and is, in most cases, a pervading and all-embracing way of life.7 Therefore, for many incumbents, the role is shrouded with a halo of tradition and a number of sacred axioms about which, if discreet, the researcher does not attempt to probe its logic and rationale. This may well be the primary reason that studies of the manager himself have been skirted previously. Suffice it to say that this study of hotel managers must be viewed as exploratory in nature--seeking significant vari- ables as an opening wedge to a battery of studies which may 7C. Wright Mills, White Collar (New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1956) pp. 55-5“. 26 more adequately answer “why" the results and relationships of the present study are true.8 This study is a sociological case study in hotel management careers and will search for educational implications. These may well serve as beginning points for continuing research in hotel management careers. As has been true of hotel management curriculum building, perhaps the best approach to an inquiry into hotel management career patterns is to borrow the pertinent techniques and knowledge available from other fields of learning. The social sciences, especially sociology and its studies in the occu- pational and professional structures, may well prove to be the most beneficial. 8. Related Studies in General Business Management Of prime importance are the career studies in general business management which have focused on management, business leaders and executives. They provide the researcher with a source of tested suggestions concerning the kinds of items which provide the information needed to complete an occupational- educational case history. The studies selected for review here are representative of a host of those concerned with success variables at the management level, with especial emphasis here on longitudinal studies which trace the influence of signifi- cant career variables upon the total management career. A 8For a complete statement and rationale of ”fact-finding“ research, see Robert K. Merton, et a1, Sociology Today; Prob- lems and Prospects (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1959) p. xiv, as apposed to theory-testing research. ' 27 comprehensive survey of management career studies is not in- tended nor appropriate to this context. 1. gignificant variables. An early study searching for antecedents and career variables which correlate highly with managerial and professional attainment is that of J. F. Thaden, in 1930.9 Among the significants that he found highly related to success were: 1. College education 2. Specialised education 3. Diversified organizational affiliations and memberships h. Membership in some religious denomination In exhaustive studies of over 1,000 business execu- tives holding responsible positions in business firms in the years 1870, 1900, and 1950, Suzanne Keller con- cluded that business leaders constitute a highly select group according to parents' occupations, religious backgrounds, academic preparation, constancy within an industry and company, and in obtaining a non-manual po- sition on entry into the job market.10 In IEE.§£E Business Executive, Mabel Newcomer studied the key officer (president or board chairman) 9John F. Thaden, Leaders, 5: Recorded in "Who's Who in America,“ 222 in"R.U.S.” and Their Grou ‘and Intergggoup Relationships (K Doctoral Dissertation . (East Lansing: Hichigan State College, 1930), p. 185. 1°Suzanne Keller, The Social Origins and Career Lines of Three Generations 2f American Business Leaders (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). (New York: Columbia University, 1953) p. 206. 28 of 860 major American businesses. The key items of in- quiry in her study were: religion, father's occupation, father's education, personal education, education re- lated to size of corporation and the kind of business, educational institutions, professional training, edu- cation related to family status, education as a short cut to promotion, education related to the way in which the top position was obtained, education related to corporate growth and size, family assistance in getting started, the entire work history, tenure in various po- sitions, principal factors in obtaining the executive office.11 The foregoing studies were especially helpful in the initial drawing of items and the design of the inter- view schedule upon which this study is based. The occu- pations and general total objectives of the studies cited approximated those of this study and contributed substantially to this researcher's confidence that an investigation of hotelmen concerning their origins, education, careers, and goals would prove fruitful and worthwhile. ' 2. Socio-economic origins of managers. The influence of socio-economic factors as measured by father's occu- pation upon the occupational status of sons has been 11Mable Newcomer, The Big Business Executive, 1900 to 1950 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955) pp. 21-53. 29 analyzed repeatedly since the 1927 study of Pitirim Sorokin.12 The theme of his study, as well as those by Centers,13 Taussig and Joslyn,lu and Davidson and Anderson,15 is well summarized in the study of Natalie Rogoff. Her studies of occupational mobility over a thirty- year period analyzed variables such as: age, education and nativity, and their influence on mobility. Rogoff concludes that: '1. From 60 per cent to 75 per cent of the popu- lation are engaged in occupations other than those followed by their fathers. Thus, occu- pational mobility is more prevalent than occupational immobility or inheritance. 2. A11 sons are more likely to engage in their father's occupation than in any other single occupation. This is true no matter what the son's occupational origin may be. 3. Mobility is more likely to take place between 'adjacent' occupations than occupations of great 'distance' from one another. The terms 'adjacent' and 'distance' are loosely defined in terms of broad social or economic classes. 0. There is somewhat more upward mobility than downward mobility in the population as a ".1010 e I 12Pitirim Sorokin, Social Mobility (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1927), pp. 525-580. 13Richard Centers, The Psychology of Social Classes (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1909 ), pp. 76- 101. 1hr. V. Taussig and C. S. Joslyn, American Business Leaders, 1932, p. 319. 1’f'l’ercy E. Davidson and H. Dewey Anderson, Occupational Mobility in an American Community (California: Stanford Uni- versity Press, 1937), p. 192. 161~Iata1ie Rogoff, Recent Trends in Occupational Mobili_y (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1953), p. 131. 30 These conclusions are focused directly on the manag- erial and professional levels of occupational activity by Taussig and Joslyn. They conclude that: “It does not seem too much to say that whether the field of endeavor be business, the professions, the arts and sciences, or letters, about 70 per cent of the persons of superior talent in the United States have been drawn from classes constituting hardly more than 10 per cent of the population. The manu- al laboring classes, on the other hand, constitute nearly half of the total gainfully employed popu- lationi and have contributed no more than 10 per cent.” 7 Centers further validated and specified this finding in his 19U5 study of a representative cross section of adult, white, American males.18 He showed that for all occupational strata, except the unskilled, approximately 70 per cent of sons move into an occupational strata relatively similar to their fathers'. In a replication of the Taussig and Joslyn study of 1928, Warner and Abbegglen discovered in 1952 that cer- tain similarities and differences had transpired.19 They concluded that significantly more vertical mobility was taking place, with decreased occupational succes- sion. More sons from the lower ranks were achieving business leadership, while smaller proportions of higher ranked sons were achieving distinction. 17Taussig and Joslyn, pp. cit., p. 202. 18Centers, gp. cit., p. 198. 19w. Lloyd Warner and James C. Abbegglen, Occupational Mobility in American Business and Industpy, 1928-1952 (Minne- apolis: Minnesota University Press, 1955), pp. “-35. 31 James David20 found a significant statistical re- lationship between the parents' social position and the amount and type of education their children re- ceived in a New England city. His research is a strong link in the chain of evidence showing that education has become an added hurdle to occupational mobility since children's interests, opportunities, and their academic abilities21 are strongly related to their socio-economic origin.23 3. Educational backgppund of the managprs. A number of investigations have been cited giving evidence of the strong relationship of socio-economic origin to the socio-economic status and education of the succeeding generation. Studies were accented which related these factors primarily to proprietors, managers, and offi- cials, as a separate occupational class. Among the studies defining the role of education in career mobility, is that of Lipset and Bendix. 2°James Stewart David, A Study of the Amount and Type of Education of Children as Related to the Social Position of Dissertation, Yale University, 1951), p. 33?. 21Anne Roe, The Psycholo 2f Occupations (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 195 , p. 52; Gardner Murphy, Lois B. Murphy, and Theodore M. Newcomb, ggperimental Social EEZf chology (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937)} p. 3. 22Har1an Updegraff, Inventory of Youth in Pennsylvania, American Youth Commission, American Council on ”Education, 01936, p. 233; Helen B. Goetsch, Parental Income_and Collggg O tunities, Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. r795. Columbia University Press, l9h9; p. 151; w. Lloyd Warner, Robert J. Havighurst, and Martin B. Loeb, Who Shall B2 32 "The evidence indicates that educational attain- ment is a major determinant of career patterns, a fact which provides the strongest and most direct statistical link between family background and the assets and liabilities with which indi- viduals enter the labor market. The nature of this link may be shown by a summary of the most relevant findings. . . "When we compare respondents whose educational attainments were the same, but whose family back- grounds differ, we find that the sons of manual workers most often enter the labor market in manual jobs, while sons of non-manual workers usually enter the labor in non-manual jobs. Only college education enables manual workers'.sons to enter the labor market in a middle-class occupation."23 Lewis and Anderson studied the backgrounds of busi- ness executives in Lexington, Kentucky. Their study further sharpens the power and influence of education on the potential executive's career. "The most important single factor favoring busi- ness success was education. . .Its influence is asymmetrical in that men of high education rarely head small firms yet considerable proportions of those heading large enterprises had few years of schooling. The relation between vocational and business training and business success was in part an indirect reflection of total years of education. However, specialists' training typi- cally prepared men for service industries in which most enterprises remain small. . .The sons of professional fathers had a decided advantage over all others. . .Family background appears to have been important largely through its impli- cations with respect to schooling and to the degree of urbanization. . . Educated?, Harper & Brothers, l9hb, p. 72: Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, Industrial Sociology (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951), pp. 727- ~736. ZBSeymour Martin Lipset and Reinhard Bendix, Social Mobility in an Industrial Society (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1959), p. 309. 33 ”In many respects the traits (educational) of men operating different sizes of enterprises form a continuum from the smallest enterprises up through the locally large establishments, to the execu- tives in national corporations. There are, how- ever, two distinct exceptions: a. Most of the smallest firms are in the service categories. b. While business remains exceptional in that unusual men with little schooling may be highly successful, this is pri- marily through independent business. In general, business success like suc- cess in public careers is coming to depend on education to a far greater extent than formerly.”2 From the evidence of Lewis and Anderson, the hotel business may be expected to depart from the correlation between business size and extent of education, since the hotel business falls into the service industries category. It is made up of comparatively small busi- ness enterprises, except for the very largest of hotels, and is usually conceived as requiring special education and know—how. Table I shows the median school years completed for several major occupational groups. The data for each group was drawn from the United States parameter. The proportion of preprietors, managers and officials in the pepulation who have completed a college education stand second only to the professions. According to ZhGordon F. Lewis, and 8. Arnold Anderson, ”Social Origins and Social Mobility of Businessmen in an American City," Transactions 2f the Third World Congiess 25 Sociolo , 3h TABLE I PER CENT DISTRIBUTION BY MAJOR OCCUPATION GROUP FOR EMPLOYED MALES 22 TO 7h YEARS OLD, BY YEARS OF SCHOOL COMPLETED, FOR THE UNITED STATES, 195025 Major Occupation Number College Median Group (Thousands) (a years School Years or more) Completed Professional workers 2,77“ 55.0 16+ Managers and Proprietors U,055 17.9 12.2 Clerical and Sales Workers U,h63 15.1 12.3 Craftsmen and Foremen 7,00h “.5 9.5 Service Workers 2,122 1.“ 8.7 25Paul C. Glick, Educational Attainment 222 Occupational Advancement (U.S. Bureau of the Census), Transactions 2£.£22 Second World Congress of Sociology. Computed from Table II of special report of 1950 Census entitled ”Education,” pp. 183- 1930 . ' 35 Table I, 17.9 per cent of the managerial group had com- pleted college in 1950. Warner and Abbegglen report that ”whereas in 1952 only u out of every 100 business leaders had less than a high school education, 27 did in the 1923 group; and only 32 per cent were cOllege graduates in 1923, com- pared with 57 Per cent in 1952."26 Little seems to be known about the extent of prepa- ration of managers for their specific industrial field. Whether they should have some kind of Specific or vo- cational preparation for managerial roles is a question for another study. Since specific vocational and ”professional level” education is available in hotel management, it may well be important to discern how they compare with other managers as to the amount of specific preparation for their occupational endeavors. Davidson and Anderson discovered in the San Jose study that: ”Among all respondents, only 21 per cent reported having drawn upon vocational schooling for occu- pational competency. . .PrOprietors, managers and officials depended little upon vocational schooling, only 12 per cent reporting such train— ing. But 90 per cent of the professionals and one-fifth of the clerks had vocational araining in preparation for their occupations."2 26'. Lloyd Warner and James C. Abbegglen, Big Business Leaders ig_America (New York: Harper Brothers, 1955). p. 3 . 2 7Davidson and Anderson, gp. cit., p. 69. 36 An important distinction between managers and the established professionals is the extent of specific preparation at some level of education for the role they are performing. With regard to the less formal means of education, Davidson and Anderson found that the ”proprietors, managers and officials" category ranks among the lower percentages of those who have attended either night school or part-time day school.28 Less than 20 per cent of persons in this occupational level have attended night school with an average attendance of 18.9 months. Those who have attended part-time day schools account for less than 5 per cent of the total group with an average attendance of 27.h months. There is a tendency for occupations toward the lower end of the socio- economic ladder to make much greater use of night school and part-time day school Opportunities. Comparative data regarding the extent of continu- ing education activity by various industrial groups at the management level do not seem to be generally avail- able. h. Management definition. Based on his study of 50 highly successful and 50 moderately successful persons in similar executive environments, Coates concludes 281bid., pp. 60-61. 37 that there are many variables to achievement of success at the managerial level. "1. Although the two samples differed fundamentally in social origins, socio-economic backgrounds, educational attainments and Occupational oppor- tunities, these are not the sole determinants of differential occupational mobility and career success. 2. Differential and occupational mobility and career success result, not only from differen- tial opportunities, personal attributes, abili- ties and capacities, but also from differential definitions of career situations and life goals, differential motivations and levels of aSpir- ation and differential social and community participation patterns. 3. In addition to the technical skills associated with the ability to manipulate ideas and ma- terials, social skills associated with ability to manipulate peeple are important determinants in career success.” In addition to the established variables of origin and education, the present study seeks to examine the concept of ”definition" of occupational and career po- sitions with a view to differentiating the successful and unsuccessful, and for its meaning and interpre- tation to the education endeavors of the hotel industry. Of particular interest is a later study of Coates in conjunction with Pellegrin.30 After discussing both the social causation and equilibrium theories of career 29Charles H. Coates, ”The Achievement of Career Success in Executive Management: A Community Study of Comparative Oc- cupational Mobility,” reprinted from Dissertation Abstracts, Vol. XV, No. 11, 1955. pp. 170-175. 30Charles H. Coates and Roland J. Pellegrin, ”Executives and Supervisors: A Situational Theory of Differential Occu- pational Mobility,“ reprinted from Social Forces, Vol. 35, No. 2, December, 1956, p. 1. 38 causation, he defines the situational theory of career causation as follows: ”. . .The individual's career progress is greatly influenced by his 'definition of the situation,’ which in turn is primarily determined by (1) his occupational experiences following initial occu- pational placement, and (2) the attitudes, values, and behavior patterns he acquires as a member of his occupational group."31 In describing the industrial supervisor versus the executive, Coates reports that the supervisor's career suffers from a self-imposed lowering of aSpirations. In defining his occupational situation, he adopts the attitudes, values, and behavior patterns of his work group, constantly making himself less promotable in the eyes of his management. "Thus he suffered from self- imposed mobility blockage."32 5. Career patterns of magggggs and executives. Scores of studies have been conducted seeking the variables (e.g., origin, education, marriage, sponsorship, organi- zational affiliation, etc.) which influence occupational mobility and career patterns. The studies of Lipset and Bendix,33 Reiss,3u Martin and Strauss,35 Warner and 311hid. 321bid. 33Lipset and Bendix, 22, cit., p. 309. 3“Albert J. Reiss, “Occupational Mobility of Profession- al Workers," American Sociological Review, Vol. 20, December, 1955. p. 696. "”‘-" 35Norman H. Martin and Anselm L. Strauss, “Patterns of 39 Abbegglen,36 Warner, Havighurst, and Loeb37--each have drawn certain distinctions. Among the more definitive studies is that of Lipset and Malm relating the impact of father's education, subject's education, and subject's first job to current occupational status. Through the use of these three variables, they found the following statistical rela- tionships to the present job: ”Holding constant the other factors mentioned (father's occupation and son's education), the partial correlation coefficient between first job and present job is about+35. The partial between present job and education while holding constant first job in father's occupation is r.l5; and the partial between present job and father's occupation, while holding constant first job and education, is+.12. Combining the effect of the three factors mentioned as predicators of the present job gages a multiple correlation coefficient of+.63.“ Their results are based on careers at all occupation- al levels when studied longitudinally. There are no separate statistics given for the managerial level. Davidson and Anderson in their study of the San Jose, California population, charted career patterns on the basis of "four elements": Mobility Within Industrial Organizations," Journal 25 Busi- ness, Vol. 29, No. 2, April 1956, pp. 101-110. 36\Varner and Abbegglen, 2p. cit., p. 176. 37Warner, Havighurst and Loch, pp. cit., p. 72. 385. M. Lipset and E. Theodore Malm, "First Jobs and Career Patterns,” American Journal 2f Economics and Sociology, Vol. 1h (1955), p. 25 . no ”1. Regular occupations of fathers, which indi- cates roughly the environment in which sons are reared. 2. The amount of schooling obtained by sons. 3. The level of first permanent occupation of sons. h. The ultimate or regular occupational level on which sons are employed.” Through the use of a gross lumping method, they plotted these variables along an Edwards vertical scale. Their configuration of the managerial classification represents the central theme of the careers and only includes 27 per cent of the management sample. Few studies have been conducted, however, tracing the entire individual career so as to discern other than normative trends and data. Career resistances and idiosyncracies are not always adequately reflected in cross sectional studies of careers at various points in time. Therefore, the classification device developed by Miller and Form is of especial interest.“o Their tech- nique makes possible the classifying of complete careers along a longitudinal time scale (horizontal axis) as well as an occupational scale (vertical axis). Each career is drawn on this scale so as to show initial, trial, and stable work periods. Figure 3 shows the 39Davidsonand Anderson, gp. cit., p. 121. “ODelbert C. Miller and William H. Form, 2p. cit., pp. 705-71ue hl career patterns of two large hotel managers. Through this method, they have been able to present a composite and graphic picture of careers and to draw meaningful generalizations about the various occupation classes. Regarding the managerial level, they believe that these careers: '. . .show histories of much vertical mobility in the initial and trial periods, but show surprising stability in the stable period of their work lives. Here the time period is defined as temporary or exploratory work of less than 3 years while stable work has over a 3 year tenure and is characterized by a feeling of permanency and long term expectancy in the position. . .' 1 From the career significants defined and established by the graphic method, Miller and Form develOped a scale for measuring occupational security. Six career fam- ilies were defined according to relative security and ordered along a continuum of degrees of security as follows: Career Job Sequence Major Defining Family Associated Characteristics Stable Stable Early entrance in- Initial-Stable-Trial- to stable job Stable Stable-Trial-Stable Initial-Stable Conventional Initial-Trial-Stable The “normal” and Initial-Trial-Stable- "socially expected" Trial-Stable job progression to Trial-Stable a stable job #1 Ibid., p. 708. Unstable Single Trial Dis- established Multiple Trial Trial-Stable-Trial Initial-Trial-Stable- Trial Initial-Trial Trial Stable-Trial Initial-Stable—Trial Trial-Trial-Trial U2 Return to a trial job after attain- ing stability through the con- ventional pattern Beginning of trial work period-- mostly younger workers Return to a trial job after quick attainment of a stable job Consecutive trial jobs with no stableu job as yet attained 2 Through this method of measurement, Miller and Form were able to associate varying degrees of security with specific occupational levels. "The professional workers are the most secure with 88 per cent in the stable families, while the un- skilled workers are the most insecure with only 2h per cent in the stable categories. Almost a linear relationship is noted,the higher the occu- pational level, and vice versa. tgg greater the security patterns, 00 As for owners, managers and officials, they found 78 per cent falling into the patterns of the stable and conventional career families. Since the career families derived by this method of analysis are differentiated by qualitative criteria, statistical comparison is limited to preportions of workers found in the respective career families. “zihid., p. 712. u3De1bert C. Miller and William H. Form, ”Measuring Patterns of Occupational Security,” Sociometpy, Vol. X (New York: Beacon House, Inc., 19h7), p. 371. ‘43 6. Summary. The field of occupational sociology is replete with studies showing the importance of certain career variables and themes in the occupational his- tories of men in the broad managerial classification. The highlights of the literature reviewed are as fol- lows: 1. 2. 3. A few well selected items of parental and personal information may serve as the indices for a broad range of generalizations concern- ing socio-economic status, expected values, and general occupational orientation. Socio-economic status as measured by father's occupation is closely related to an individual's occupational level at maturity. Sixty to 75 per cent of managers have origins in or bordering the managerial classification. Socio-economic origin is the strongest single determinant of educational availability and uses Regardless of origin, education is the most im- portant, single factor leading to business suc- CGSSe For the most part, there is a correlation be- tween size of business and amount of education. 7. an This appears to be true for all except the service industries. Managers and proprietors 88‘3 group utilize continuing and adult education opportunities less than do occupations at the lower end of the scale, while the unskilled and Operatives tend to use continuing education most of all groups except professionals. An individual's present definition of his oc- cupation (work position) serves as an over- riding mobility determinant. As measured by an index of occupational security, managers are second only to professionals and distinctly more secure than those of all other white collar and/or manual positions. CHAPTER III RESEARCH PROCEDURE AND METHODOLOGY This study was conducted according to a pattern of stratified sampling and by means of a structured interview technique. A. The Sample The problem of achieving an adequate sampling of the various sized hotels was immediately evident. Table II indi- cates that a direct random sample of Midwestern hotels would result in approximately one-half of the interviews being con- ducted in hotels of 100 rooms or less. Conversely, only one- fifth of the interviews would be drawn from managers in hotels having 300 rooms or more. These hotels account for more than 65 per cent of the hotel business.1 Furthermore, the larger hotels can probably be considered on face validity to have more management career opportunities within each given unit than the smaller hotels. Therefore, it was necessary to devise a method of strati- fying the total population of hotels so that the various hotel sizes would be more nearly represented equally in the study. 1Selling £2 Restaurants and Hotels (New York: Ahrens Publishing Company, Inc., 1946), Fifth Revised Edition, 1957. p. 109. h6 It was also desirable to stratify hotels according to somewhat similar degrees of managerial complexity and to study each strata sufficiently to appraise the uniqueness, if any, of the reSpective career patterns within that strata. TABLE II DISTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION MEMBERS IN FOUR MIDWESTERN STATES ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF FOOMS' Number of 0-99 100-199 200-299 300—399 hOO-h99 500-599 Rooms Illinois 67 b7 21 1h 16 9 Indiana 32 2h 13 6 3 2 Michigan 96 32 12 5 1 h Ohio 79 33 12 12 11 5 Total 27h 136 58 37 31 20 Per cent or Tatal u6e2 22e9 9e? 6.2 5.2 303 Number of 300'399 700-799 800-899 900'999 1000 Total Rooms Illinois h 1 9 188 Indiana 2 82 Michigan 3 l 3 1 2 160 Ohio 3 l 1 5 162 Total 12 3 h l 16 592 Per cent of Total 2 .5 .6 .2 2.7 ';Eitracted by tabulation from the Hotel Red Book 1959430 (New ‘York: American Hotel Association DirectOry Corp., 1959), p. 1056. Accordingly, all Midwestern hotels were divided into categories by hundreds (Table 11). After study and consul- tation with hotel-industry Specialists, a three-level U7 stratification was adapted, as shown in Table III, illustrated below. TABLE III DISTRIBUTION OF MIDWESTERN HOTELS IN GROSS CATEGORIES BY NUMBER OF ROOMS Classification. Number of Number of Per cent Rooms Hotels of Total Small Hotels 000-199 U10 69.2 Medium Hotels 200-599 1&6 2b.? Large Hotels 600 or more 36 6.1 Table III is a compromise between the natural, numerical clustering of hotels (as shown in Table II) and the similarity of management complexity and service orientation within each of the following groupings: Small hotels. Hotels having 0-199 rooms usually attract a transient and resort business, may or may not have food service, and represent a relatively simple organizational structure. 1 Medium hotels. Hotels having 200-599 rooms tend to at- tract some group and convention business, along with a large transient business. They have a relatively complex organi- zational structure and nearly always have a food and beverage service. £2553 hotels. Hotels having 600 rooms and over are found to have relatively similar multi-departmental charac- ‘terdstics and attract large groups and conventions as a major QB segment of their business. Their organizational structures are usually complex, with a score or more of personal services available. The validity of the assumption that the relative amount of convention business increases with hotel size is shown in Table IV. TABLE IV PERCENTAGE OF GROSS INCOME ATTRIBUTED TO CONVENTIONS ACCORDING TO HOTEL SIZE Hotel Size in Average Percentage of N Number of Rooms Convention Business 0-199 12 20 200-599 27 20 600-above M6 _ 20 Mean per cent 8 28 per cent Pearson r = +.56 This distinction and division of hotels by size is not discrete, but its application to the majority of hotels of each group is apparent. Whether or not career and educational differentials would appear according to size of hotel managed was problematical. However, such a device was necessary to obtain a reasonable sampling of other than the small hotel career pattern. Within each strata of hotels by size, twenty interviews were.held with tap Operating managers. Thus, a total of sixty interviews, twenty in each strata, were conducted. The U9 managers interviewed were selected by random sample, random- ness being achieved by use of a table of random numbers. For example, the th hotels in the Midwest (see Table II) in the smaller hotel strata were listed and serially numbered. Hotels were drawn from that group by use of Kendall and Smith's Table of Random Numbers2 until twenty hotels (plus alternates), fitting the criteria of the study, were found. The opinion of the executive secretary of the state hotel association was followed as to whether each hotel fit the criteria of ”two or more department heads.” Approximately half of the hotels in the "small” classification were thus re- jected, and one from among the ”medium" hotels. Random selection, as described for the small hotels, was 'applied to the other strata of hotels as well. In six cases, alternate hotels were used where the hotel manager by first choice was not available (vacations, conflicting appointments, out-of-town business engagements, etc.). Only on two occasions, not included in the previous six, did the manager appear un- willing to be interviewed. Here again, alternates were used. 8. The Interview Schedule3 On the basis of the defined purposes of the study, a list of topic areas for inquiry was drawn as follows: 2M. G. Kendall and B. B. Smith, Tables of Random Samp- ling Numbers, Tracts for Computers XXIV (London: Cambridge University Press, 1939). PP. 2-5. 3See Appendix A. 6. 7. The The The The The 50 hotel, identifying data manager, personalosocial data manager, socio-economic background manager, educational-work history manager, occupational definition and aspir- ations The manager, educational practices and views Tepics of concern to hotelmen These areas of inquiry were broken into a number of specific questions and items, each designed to elicit an as- pect of the information required. 1. The hotelj its identifying data. Here, sufficient information was desired to ensure that the hotel fit the study criteria, to identify its ownership, and to ascertain its relative business status, as follows: a. Size b. Kind of ownership c. Level of business activity d. Rooms department income versus food and bever- age department income e. Size of supervisory staff f. Residential versus transient rooms available 3. Ratio of convention business to total business h. Pepulation of city 1. Interviewers estimate of hotel quality The mangger and his Eggsonal-social data. a. Age b. Marital status 3. hotelmen? h. 51 c. Number of children d. Income range and non-cash benefits e. Church affiliation f. Location of residence 3. Social-fraternal memberships Socio-economic background. What are the origins of From what strata of our society do they spring? a. Home town, location and size of community b. Father's primary occupation c. Father's and mother's formal education Educational-work history. What is the complete pattern of formal education, informal training, and work ex- perience comprising these managers' careers? 5. a. Number of years of formal (degree or diploma oriented) training; if collegiate, where and what curriculum b. Length and kind of less formal training-~short courses, correspondence, night school, etc. c. Informal training, on-the-job d. The complete work history according to: (1) Job title (2) Work tenure e. Occupational goals at end of formal schooling Educational practices and views. What importance do hotel managers attach to the various kinds of training Opportunities? a. Continuing education pursued since entering the hotel business b. 52 Number and kinds of business and professional magazines read, as well as average time spent in that reading Requirements for a good hotel manager Advice to a young man aspiring to hotel manage- ment Opinions as to the critical influences or fac- tors to success in hotel management careers 6. Topics of concern to hotel managers.“ When not placed in an educational context, what fields of hotel keeping are of primary concern to hotel managers? This information was obtained by means of a forced choice series of items on three cards as follows: b. Problems of departmental skills and know-how5 (1) Accounting (2) Food and beverage (3) Sales (U) Maintenance and engineering (5) Housekeeping (6) Front office Problems of management6 (1) Sales and public relations (2) Human relations and personnel management (3) Management controls and policy “See Appendix B. 5Peter Dukas, Hotel Front Office Management and Oper- ation (Dubuque, Iowa: Hm. C. Brown Company), p. 181. 6 S. E. Thompson and Wesley I. Schmidt, ”What do Hotel Managers Do?” Hotel Monthl , December 1958, pp. 91-95. 53 (h) Long-range planning and market analysis (5) Real departmental level know-how (6) Financing and capitalization c. Problems of an external and industry-wide impact7 (1) Governmental regulations and restrictions (2) Motel and other competition (3) Labor and unionism (h) Hotel public relations and hotel prestige These major questions and their sub-questions were restructured for subtlety and oblique inquiry on the basis of the experience and counsel of researchers at Michigan State University, the sociological studies cited in the Review of the Literature, and the writing of Merton.8 The interview schedule9 was adopted for use after a pilot study of six hotelmen, not included in this study. The interview schedule was in nowise followed ac- cording to its numerical and item sequence; but was, rather, used as a guide to conversation and an orderly framework of recording. In most cases the interview began with the interviewer making a general request for 7Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, Industrial Soc- iology (New York: Harper & Bros., 1951), pp. 829-857. 8Robert K. Merton, Social Theogy and Social Structure (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1959), p. 5. 9See Appendix A. 5b a recounting of the subject's early family life, formal training, and the events leading to his entry into the hotel career. The remainder of the information fol- lowed with relatively few specific questions necessary. C. The Interview Contact The interview sample and interview schedule having been drawn, the investigator developed a travel itinerary of the selected hotels by geographical areas. A letter was sent to each hotel manager from the Director of the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management, Michigan State University,10 announcing a research project to study success- ful career patterns, emphasizing the study's worthwhileness, and introducing the interviewer. It solicited the inter- viewee's c00peration when the interviewer called for a specific appointment. Each interviewee was then contacted by telephone and specific appointments made. The interviews began in August, 1959, and concluded in March, 1960. Throughout the process of contacting the manager inter- viewed, in presenting the purpose of the study, and in con— ducting the interview, questions and discussion of education and training concepts were carefully avoided. The phrase, “management career and success patterns” was adhered to care- fully. The researcher prepared an approved Opening11 for each 10See Appendix C. 11See Appendix D. 55 interview-~not only to avoid slanting for or against education- al emphasis, but also to standardize the interview approach and increase its reliability. From this point forward in the interview, the thinking of the interviewee and the trend of conversation guided the order of discussion on the schedule topics. Direct questions were kept to a minimum to extend the range of reSponses and information.12 Great care was also taken during the interview not to infer, suggest, or imply the educational process. The inter- view items were drawn so as to allow the individual to reSpond with educational or other influences as key career factors, success factors, or personal aspiration factors. For this reason, the interviewer elected to begin each interview with the subject's early life history and work history so as to further shift the frame of reference away from the interviewer's own educational identification. The typical interview lasted from an hour to one hour and a half, with the longest about three and one~half hours. In the majority of cases, genuine rapport was achieved on identification of the interviewer as a faculty member of the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management, Michigan State University, as well as Director of the American Hotel Institute. Only in a very few cases was a reluctant spirit or lack of genuine c00peration felt. 12Robert K. Merton, Marjorie Fiske, and Patricia L. Kendall, The Focused Interview (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1956), p. 5. 56 D. Data Processigg From the interview schedule, lh9 separate variables were analyzed, coded, and recorded on IBM cards.13 Of the 1&9 variables, 63 variables were metric or ranked data, 86 variables were attributes or qualities. All numerical and rank--ordered--variables were cor- related simultaneously through the use of MISTIC, Michigan State University's computer. Thus, 1953 separate correlations were obtained to aid in the search for significant relation- ships. Qualitative variables were tabulated and cross-tabulated through IBM tabulating machines and contingency tables were formed as necessary. ApprOpriate statistical techniques were employed to determine association and significance of vari- ables related in these tables. 'All interviewing, coding, statistical computation (ex- cept the correlations, means, and standard deviations provided by MISTIC), and interpretations were made by the writer so as to ensure maximum reliability for the study. 13A complete list of the 1&9 variables analyzed in this study are presented in Appendix E. CHAPTER IV THE ORIGINS AND CONTEMPORARY POSITION OF MIDWESTERN HOTELMEN A. Origins Evidence has been reviewed showing the impact of origin, especially as related to socio-economic status, upon the expectancies education and occupational determination of children in our society. These relationships, as well as the relationship of origin to "sponsorship” and "occupational definition,“ will be examined for their effects in the careers of this sample of hotelmen. 1. Place of origin. This variable will be discussed in two dimensions--that of size of community and geo- graphic region. From Table V, it is evident that the majority of hotelmen come from relatively small com- munities with a fairly even distribution of hotelmen over the remainder of the population size range. The size of home community is apparently related to the size of community of present employment. There is a Pearson correlation of +.33 between these two vari- .bles e l 1For Ho (9 = 0) when r) .33, then P< .01. See Helen Walker, Elementagy Statistical Methods (New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1937): p. 2&8. TABLE V 58 WHERE BORN AND RAISED, BY CITY, POPULATION SIZE Population Number Per cent 0-2h,999 2b no.0 25,000-“9,999 7 11.7 50,000-99’999 7 11.7 100,000-h99,999 8 l3.h 500,000-999,999 6 10.0 1,000,000-2,u99.999 2 3.3 2,500,000’5’999g999 b 6.7 6,000,000 or more 2 3.3 60 100.1 The evidence regarding the geographic region of origin indicates that the majority of hotelmen have found employment in the region of their birth, the mid- west. Migration from the south and east accounts for most of the immigration to midwest hotelkeeping, with very little mobility from the west. The success of the foreign-born in hotel management does not seem to differ appreciably from that of gen- eral business management. As in this study, Warner and Martin report about 5 per cent of executives were found to be foreign born. 59 ”While it is true that immigrants do not often ac- chieve the highest status positions in American business, their disadvantage is less than might be assumed, for 5 per cent of the business elite were foreign-born, while about 10 per cent of the U.S. papulation were born abroad." In further discussions, Warner and Martin contend that territorial mobility is correlated with occupation- al mobility. "The relationship between these two forms of social movement is an intimate one: those men who are mobile through social space are also mobile through geographic space. . .The physical mobility of Americans is a pro-condition to the changes in social position that have been found to be taking place increasingly in America.” The majority (six) of the eleven managers whose origins were below the managerial level were from other than midwestern stock. (See Table VIII). 2. Socio-economic origin. Socio-economic status is usually measured by sociologists and will be associated here with father's occupation. Rogoff believes that: ”Occupation of father is widely accepted as the most usable single index of the social anduecon- omic status of all members of the family.“ The hotel managers and proprietors of the sample are a well born group, with approximately 82 per cent of them having fathers in the professional, preprietary or managerial level occupations (see Table Vl-A). Similar 2w. Lloyd Warner and Norman H. Martin, 22. cit., p. 103. 31bid. “Natalie Rogoff, Recent Trends in Occupational_hobility (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1953):TP. 9. 60 studies of managers, in general, report 60-73 per cent of managers' fathers from the managerial occupational level or adjacent to it.5 These hotelmen may be con- sidered as coming from a socio-economic heritage which is above that of managers in general. On the basis of origin alone, hotelmen's aspirations, education, and opportunities might be expected to be superior to their general management peers. TABLE VI-A PER CENT ASPIRATIONS OF RESPONDENTS ON ENTERING THE JOB MARKET AS COMPARED TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF FATHERS' OCCUPATIONS 16ccupational Levels Occupational aspir- Father37_0ccu: ations by pational Level Occupational Level _ Professional (in- 25.0 6.7 eluding teaching) 35.0 6.7 Proprietors-- Business and Farm 3.3 31.7 Hotel 11.7 21.7 15.0 53.3 Managers-- General Business 6.7 15.0 Hotel 11.7 6.7 18.3 21.7 Not Managerial-- Just to make money 26.7 18.3 No plans 1.7 Not ascertained 2.1 21.7 18.2 100.0 (N=60) 100.0 (N260) —-—-— 5Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, Industrial Soc- iology (New York: Harper & Bros., 1951), p. 720. 61 3. Origin compared to ocCUpational aspiration and realization. Table VI-A reflects some generational shift upward from the occupation of fathers to the occupation- al aspirations of sons as they entered college or the job market, whichever was earlier. Thirty-five per cent aspired to the professions, with 15 per cent aspiring to business proprietorship. It is of prime importance that at this stage only 18 per cent of the hotelmen foresaw their future in the manage~ ment ranks. Most of the remaining 30 per cent were undecided as to a specific area and level of endeavor, but were certain that they ”wanted to make as much money as possible.” This response may well be con- sidered to be largely a depression reaction. In gen- eral, the son's generation reflects some upward occu- pational shift in aspirations. An era of occupational awakening and economic reality occurred for many hotelmen some time after entering the job market or the period of ”working my way through college,“ and is reflected in Table VI-B. Whereas Table VI-A shows hotelmen's early Job aspir- ations were similar to or above their fathers' level collectively, their reported aspirations after entering and deciding upon the hotel field, shown in Table VI-R. denote a decided shift of interest from professional and proprietorship attainments to that of employment 62 as a hotel manager. Their aspirations were much closer to the level of reality and ultimate omployment.‘ TABLE VI-B PER CENT RESPONDENTS' ASPIRATIONS AFTER ENTERING HOTEL FIELD AS COMPARED TO FATHERS' OCCUPATIONAL LEVELS Occupational Level Aspirations by Oc- Fathers' Occu- cupational Level _pational Level Proprietorship 20.0 53.3 Professional 6.7 Management 68.3 21.7 Total (8860) 100.0 100.0 The 35 per cent who had initial aspirations in the professions shifted to hotel business interests. A total of $0 per cent of the hotelmen were born into the professional or proprietary families and 50 per cent of all sons had initially aspired to these levels themselves; however, only 20 per cent sought to achieve a proprietary interest after they had entered the hotel business and observed its realities. Whereas only 18 per cent initially aspired to an employed management position (Table VI-A), nearly 70 per cent did so after being in the business for some time (Table VI-B). 6Tho writer is aware of the psychological research show- ing the distortion and accommodation processes of memory, os- pocially when dealing with information as closely related to the individual's self concept as occupational choice. (Anne Roe, IE£_Psycholo‘z 2£_0ccupations. New York: John Wiley and 63 Table VII shows the relationship between father's occupation and the current level of son's ownership in complete tabular form. The extent of proprietary dis- onfranchisoment during the last generation is clear. TABLE VII RELATIONSHIP BETvEEN FATHER'S OCCUPATION AND EXTENT OE SON'S OWNERSHIP? Part A __¥ Son's Ownership Father's Occupation Owner Lessee Minority None Total Stockholder Professional 1 3 h General Proprietor 1 3 ll 15 Farm Proprietor 2 2 h Hotel Proprietor 3 2 3 5 13 General Manager 9 9 Hotel Manager 1 3 h Non-managerial __ _l _l. _2. ‘11 Total h h 10 #2 60 Part B Fathers Sons Some Ownership None Total Preprietary & Professional 15 21 36 Non-Preprietary _2' £1. 32 Total 18 “2 60 x2- u.6 .05) P) .01 Sons, Inc., 1956, pp. 1h3-2h8). This interpretation of occu- pational “awakening" and the reality of objectives is, there- fore, carefully limitod and reported. 7The complete set of data presented in Part A, and com- bined to form Part B, illustrates the manner in which succeeding tables in this study were reduced so as to make the data amen- able to chi-square computation. (See J. P. Guilford, Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education, New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 19QET: p. 137. 6h Of 32 fathers, who were preprietors, only 1“ of their sons are new preprietors. Of the 13 fathers who were ”hotel“ proprietors, only eight of their sons are preprietors to some degree. ‘ Three hotelmen achieved a limited preprietary interest (lessee or minority stockholder in a privately owned hotel) without proprietary heritage. The one preprietor whose father is shown in Table VII, Part A, as a professional,is also a multiple preporty hotel owner. The data in Table VII, Part B, substantiates a statistically significant relationship between father's and son's prOpriotorships.8 Sons having fathers who are preprietors, regardless of field, are much more likely to achieve some proprietary interest in the hotel business than sons from a non-preprietary hori- tago. This conclusion is sustained by a chi-square value which is significant at the .05>P).01 level of confidence. Table VIII compares the distribution of occupa- tional levels achieved by both father's and son's generations. Whereas 53 per cent of all fathers were proprietors, only 13 per cent of sons (hotelmen) have achieved or are striving to achieve sole preprietorship 8The 5 per cent level of confidence will be accepted as ”significant” in this study. The l per cent of confidence will be referred to as “highly,” or very significant. For all other probabilities, the null hypothesis will be accepted. 65 through options or increased ownership of company stock.9 TABLE VIII THE CONTEMPORARY GENERATION OF HOTEL MANAGERS AND PROPRIETORS AS COMPARED UITH.THEIR FATHERS' PRIMARY OCCUPATIONS Father's Occupation Per cent Statis of Sons Per cent Professional 6.7 Proprietors-- ProprietOrs-- General 25. Solo owner 6.? Hotel 21.6 Lessee 6.? Farm 6.? Minority stock 16.6 Total 53.3 Total 30. Managers a Officials—- , General 15.0 Hotel 6.2 Hotel Managers 70. TOt‘l 21oz Total 81.7 Non-managerial 18.3 Total (N860) 100.0 Total 100.0 Among fathers, about 22 per cent were employed managers and officials; among contemporary hotelmen, approximately 70 per cent are employed managers. Looking at the hotel proprietorship factor specifically, 13 of the 17 fathers engaged in the hotel business (76 per cent) 9This category does not include managers having some ownership of chain corporation stock. It has reference only to managers who hold stock in a private or independent hotel corporation and who have aspirations of increasing their stock holdings to a majority level. 66 were majority proprietors. In this sample of sons, less than 7 per cent are primary owners. Although the initial professional proprietary and aspiration ratios were high, occupational roalizatiOn among those hotel- men shows a marked inter-generational decline. h. Origin and son's education. In contrast with studies in general management cited earlier, this study did not reveal a significant statistical relationship between father‘s occupation and son's education. When comparing proprietary and non-prepriotary fathers to college versus non-college trained sons, the chi-square test in Table Ix yields .ho) P)».30. This association may be spuriously low because of the relative homo- geneity in the occupational distribution of the fathers, and the method of combining categories. Similarly, the Pearson coefficient of correlation between father’s years of schooling and son's years of schooling was found to be +.22. The data and their derived statistics are inconclusive as to the relation- ship between origin and son's education. Table X shows the formal, educational achievement of the sample of hotel managers, as compared with the managers in the Glick study, reported in Chapter II, Table I. This group of hotelmen has a higher than aver- age education--13.9 years of education versus 12.3 years for managers in general. Their superior education and 67 TABLE IX THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FATHER'S OCCUPATION AND EXTENT OF SON'S FORMAL EDUCATION Father's Occupation Son's Education Not College College Total Graduates Graduates Proprietary 18 18 36 Non-proprietary l5 9 2h 33 27 60 TABLE X PER CENT OF MANAGERS ACCORDING TO YEARS OF EDUCATION Years of Education Number Per cent Less than 12 years 8 13.3 12 years 11 18.3 13 to 15 years lb 23.3 16 years 2h “0.0 17 or more years __3 __2;2 Total 60 100.0 Mean years of education 8 13.9 their superior socio-economic origin reflects the gen- eral and established relationship between a high socio- economic heritage and educational advantage. 68 The proportion of college graduates in this sample is considerably higher than the general pOpulation of managers. Glick's census data for 1950 reported 17.9 per cent of managers in the United States as having four years or more of higher education, well below the D5 per cent college graduates obtained in this study. It is commonly assumed in the hotel industry that hotelmen's sons attend hotel school in greater pro- portions than do the sons of other occupational classes. There is an apparent lack of relationship, however, be- tween hotel origin and attendance at hotel school versus non-hotel school, illustrated in Table XI. The likeli- hood of the chi-square value from the data in Table XI 13 o8°> P) o90e TABLE XI HOTEL BACKGROUND COMPARED TO COLLEGE PREPARATION Father‘s Occupation Son's Education Hotel School No Hotel School TotET Hotel h 13 17 Non-hotel __2 _2& _£Q_ Total 13 U7 60 x2 . .09 .80) P) .70 5. Origin and sponsorship. It is part of the expec- tancy of the hotel management occUpation that its candidates and recruits will spend a period of years 69 at the working and supervisory level in the various departments.10 It will be developed in succeeding chapters that those who enter the apprenticeship period with the ”right” kind of start or “sponsorship," ex- perience a career pattern having distinct advantages over those who are 'unsponsored.'11 Sponsorship in this context is defined somewhat differently from Orvis Collins in his study of ”Ethnic Sponsorship in a New England'Factory.'12 It is, rather, as described by Martin and Strauss,13 as well as by Jennings.lu As used here, it emphasizes the long-term assistance of a key hotelman during the intial train- ing period and the life-long friendship of an outstanding 10Gerald W. Lattin, Modern Hotel Managem mnt (San Francis- co: W. B. Freeman and Co., #1958), p. 17h. uSponsorship was an unanticipated career variable both from the viewpoint of the research design and anticipated career variables. Unplanned and fortuitous discoveries are integral part of social science research and have been des- cribed by Morton: ”The serendipity pattern, then, involves the unanticipated anomalous and strategic datus which experts pressure upon the investigator for a new direction of inquiry which extends theory.“ Robert K. Morton, Social Theor and Social Structure (Glencoe, Ill: The Free Press, 19595,_ pp. 95-101 o 12Orvis Collins, “Ethnic Behavior in Industry: Sponsor- ship and Rejection in a New England Factory,” The American Journal of Sociology (Chicago, 111.: University of Chicago Press, January 19h6), pp. 293-298. 13W. Lloyd Warner and Norman M. Martin, Eds., Industrial Man, Businessmen and Business and Business Orga anisations (New York: Harper & Bros., 1959’: PD. 9 '9 1“Eugene E. Jennings, 5_ Anatomy of Leadershi Princes, Heroes, and Sup_rmen (New York: Harper & Bros., 1950), p. 256. 70 hotelman who materially abetted his protege's career. Sponsorship here is epitomized by "the manager who made something of me and has helped me find the breaks through the years.” Table XII illustrates the extent of relationship between the father's occupation and hotel career spon- sorship. Table XII, Part A, indicates that those who have come from a professional-preprietary background show significantly less reliance on making the right contacts and securing a more advantageous apprentice- ship than the more mobile sons from the managerial and below-managerial (non-preprietary) classes. This finding is the more striking since, by definition, many hotel prOprietor's sons enjoyed the benefits of family sponsorship. Table XII, Part B, gives evidence that hotelmen's sons evidently do not enjoy a significantly greater advantage in securing sponsorship during the apprenticeship period than those of the general group. The overriding importance of sponsorship as a career variable will be develOped in Chapter VIII. Origin displayed the greatest impact on the eight sons whose families were able to transmit their pro- prietorship to their sons to some extent. For these sons, having the advantage of ”hotel-family sponsor- ship” the mobility rate is markedly different. Whereas their peers will spend an average (mean) of 9.1 per cent years in reaching their first managerial 71 positions, those for whom preprietorship is inherited will spend an average of two years in work experience before becoming the hotel manager. TABLE XII THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL ORIGIN AND SPONSORSHIP DURING THE APPRENTICESHIP PERIOD A. Proprietary Origin Differential Occupational Origin §ponsorship_, Experience Sponsored Total Only and Formal Prepriotary 20 16 36 Non-proprietary __Z .12. _g& Total 27 33 60 x2 . u.u .05“Pfi>.02 B. Hotel Origin OITTErontlol , Occupational Origin Experiencesp;:::::::g_ Total Only and Formal Hotel 6 ll 18 Non-hotel .2l. _gg _flg Total 27 33 60 x2 . .86!» .uo>l>>.3o These sons had the initial advantage of being born and reared in the hotel occupational ethic and technol- ogy. For the most part, their training was inherent in and a part or their early life. It seemed to limit their mobility, opportunities and to establish a pattern 72 of work and thought that inhibited their adaptation to a changing technology and economy. These proprietors now find themselves in smaller preperties doing an average to below-average business in seven out of the eight cases, seeing their lifetime of hotel management experience being slowly negated by recent changes in transportation routes, modes of travel, changes in public taste, and the encroachment of competition. 5. Ogigin and Managgment Definition. One of the criti- cal variables in this study is the manner in which a hotelman views his position and defines his role. It was found that hotelmen view themselves as 'greeters," ”Operators,” or “executives” (see Chapter VI). From Table XIII, Part A, it is evident that there is an apparent lack of relationship between a hotel versus non-hotel background and an executive definition of the management position. Table XIII, Part 8, indicates that those with a pTOprietary heritage may tend toward a non-executive (greeter and operator) definition of their position, but not at a statistically significant level. However, seven of the eight proprietors who in- herited their preporties directly, see themselves as an “Operator“ or "greeter' and lack an administrative orientation. As’moasured by occupational level of origin, hotel- men of this sample are above their general management 73 contemporaries. Proportionally, more men have stepped down the occupational ladder from their father's gener- ation than have stepped up, especially with regard to TABLE XIII ORIGIN COMPARED TO HOTELMEN'S OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITIONS ::t;e:'s Occupation Management Definition of Hotglgon Non-executive Executive Total Hotel“ 9 8 l7 Non-hotel ‘ _33 .32. _22 Total 32 28 60 x2 . .00015 P) .99 Part B Father's Occupation Management Definition of Hotelmen Non-executive Executive Total Preprietary 22 1h_ 36 Non-proprietary _lg, _lg _32 Total 32 28 60 X2 = 2.16 .20) P ).10 proprietorship. Having described the social genesis of these hotelmen, attention is now turned to their con- temporary setting. B. Contemporary Status The typical hotelman in this sample is a mature busi- nessman with work history averaging 29.1 per cent years of experience in the hotel field. Except for the sons of hotel 7h proprietors and the family financed, he has worked himself up through the ranks, through a series of highly competitive and rather unstable job classifications. He is now 50 to 51 years of age and has been in his present place of employment from six to eight years. However, one-fourth of these hotel- men have moved within the last year. Most hotelmen have spent the majority of their working lives living in hotels. Five out of six have held no other top management positions other than hotelkeeping. The re- maining one-sixth were in either food management or preperty management, closely allied occupations. Two-thirds of these hotelmen reside in the hotel itself and have business expenses as well as their meals provided by the hotel. Of the remaining one-third (20 hotelmen), who do not live in the hotel, only three do not have both their meals and business expenses fully covered. Of the ho hotelmen who reside in the hotel, two-thirds of them are managing larger properties on a non-proprietary basis. One-third of the ”live-ins" are in the individually owned or smaller hotel groups. Cash salaries for these managers were determined and kept distinct from the foregoing benefits. The majority of hotel managers are in the income bracket of $15,000 per year or above. These receiving incomes of $10,000 or below are in smaller hotels and/or in hotels of marginal quality. No hotel manager with an income below $10,000 a year was found in a 75 hotel over 600 rooms, or with a third class hotel evaluation or lower.15 Table XIV illustrates clearly that a manager's income is directly related to his ability to perform. Once on the job and having arrived at the management level, socio-economic factors and education become relatively less important and moasureable results become the criterion. The manager's in- come is related to: (l) the quality of the hotel, (2) the business activity of the hotel, (3) leadership exhibited by the manager, and (h) length of management experience. Among these hotel managers, education is not signifi- cantly related to income. Neither is education significantly related to any of the other variables listed in Table XIV. Hotelmen are not known for being family and domestically oriented, especially in the larger properties. .The average number of children for a hotelman in this sample is 1.“ per cent, with an inverse correlation of -.29 prevailing between 15All hotels visited in this study were given a subjec- tive evaluation on a rank order scale, l--5. This rating was based on the writer's general impression of the hotel's physi- cal condition, cleanliness and location. The criteria estab- lished for the ratings were: (1) All excellent to luxurious hotels; (2) All hotels having essential facilities in reason- able and clean condition; (3) All hotels having the minimum in facilities and cleanliness which the writer would consider for his family; (h) All hotels below acceptability for family use but which the writer might consider if necessary; and (5) All hotels found personally unacceptable. This rating and codification has no absolute values, but does afford a means of ranking for comparative purposes. Hotels of lower rank tend to be found among the smaller hotels, and vice versa. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the factors of size and quality rank was -.36. 76 size of hotel and size of family. Only the smaller hotel managers and proprietors appear to have large families. Those who manage large hotels and usually live in them do not attempt to raise large families. Sixty per cent of those living in large hotels have one or no children per family. TABLE XIV CORRELATIONS OF SELECTED BUSINESS AND PERSONAL VARIABLES TO INCOME Variable Correlation to Income Quality-- Interviewor's hotel evaluation +.69* Business Activity Factors-- Number of department heads +.h6 Per cent convention business to total gross revenue +.h6 Per cent of food sales to total revenue +.hh Leadership factors-- Number of American Hotel Assoc- iation offices held +.3b Civic and fraternal membership +.hl Civic and fraternal Offices held +.33 Experience-- Number of years in top management +.23 Education-- Number of years of formal schooling .0072 ’For no (7&- = 0), when r) .32, then r <.01. (See Hole; Walker, 22. cit., p. 298). Hotelmen frequently expressed themselves as feeling they had sacrificed family life for their business, but also felt young men worthy of management positions should be willing to postpone family life and privileges. 77 It is an occupational expectancy for the hotel manager to adjust his private and family life to the vicissitudes of the business. Lattin's study corroborates that those having strong domestic values do not remain in the hotel business.16 However, wives who are deeply interested in the hotel business may be a great asset to a manager, not only in informal, soc- ial contacts but in hotel operations as well. Several small proprietors and managers have wives who direct housekeeping functions,assist in room decorating, or in menu-making and banquet planning. With the increased organisation and ration- alisation of hotel units, the demand for wives to participate in hotel Operation is decreasing, but it is found to be re- curring in the independently-owned motor hotel business. As churchmen, hotelmen reported a 76.7 per cent member- ship. Over two-thirds of the hotelmen are Protestant; over one-sixth are Catholic. Four hotelmen (one-fifteenth) are Jewish, and four had no affiliation or were not ascertained (see Table XV). The gamma association of +.62 between hotel size and religious affiliation (the Protestant-Catholic dichotomy) indicates that smaller hotel managers and owner-managers tend to be Protestant, whereas larger hotels, primarily metro- politan, tend to have a larger preportion of Catholic managers. 16Gerald W. Lattin, Factors Associated With Success i2 ggtel Administration. A Doctoral dissertition (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University, 19b9), p. 183. 78 TABLE XV RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOTEL MANAGER'S RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND HOTEL.SIZE Religion Number Of Managgrs by Sig: Of Hotel ‘ Small Medium ngge 'Total Per cent Protestant‘ 15 17 9 bl 68.3 Catholic‘ 2 1 8 11 18.3 Jewish 1 2 1 h 6.7 None 2 0 2 h 6.7 *For these two categories, Gamma = +.62:17f Jewish managers were all found in either personally owned or family owned preperties. There were no employed Jewish managers. Two Jewish managers expressed their aware- ness of the resentment on the part of employees and local communities to their presence and expressed interest in em- ploying a ”gentile” manager as a ”front man.” C. Summary This sample of midwestern hotelmen is an especially well born and highly educated group as compared with the general managerial and proprietorship classification. They entered the world of work with high expectancies of success in preprietary or professional endeavors. The vast majority, however, have accommodated themselves to the role of ”pro- fessional" or employed managers. 17Morris Zelditch, Jr., A Basic Course $2 Sociological Statistics (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1959), p. 181. 79 They came primarily from smaller communities and were born and reared in the midwest of Protestant, upper-class families. With this heritage, these midwestern hotelmen entered the job market imbued to a great extent with the con- viction of the Protestant business ethic18 and believers in the ”rhetoric of personal competition.”19. For the careers of many hotelmen, this very set of professional and propri- etary ideals served as an initial barrier to career accom- modation in a rapidly rationalizing and bureaucratizing industry. The sons of prOprietors and professionals appear to have been less able and perceptive than their peers in learn- ing the importance of ”significant others" in their initial career orientation and in later develOpment. In launching their career, they struck out on their own, less willing to bend their wills and to acclimate to the needs and demands of superiors who could be of material assistance to them in their search for success. In addition, the sons of pro- prietors were apparently somewhat less able to shift from the small businessman's "operator” point of view to the adminis- trative orientation demanded by the successively larger units of business enterprise. This latter hypothesis was not sus- tained by a significant statistic. 18William H. Whyte, Jr., The Organization Man (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1957), pp. 6-2h. 19C. Wright Mills, White Collar (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 35-59. 80 Those of the proprietary heritage who did "succeed” in achieving a degree of hotel proprietorship today stand dis- illusioned and dismayed by the growth of large hotel organi- rations all about them and are seeing their lifetime dreams . depreciate in both psychic and economic value. On the contemporary scene, these midwestern hotel managers live primarily at their place of business and enjoy a large variety of fringe benefits in prestige, authority, personal comfort and advantage. These are the benefits which the manager has grown to idealize and admire in his apprentice- ship years. For these, he must sacrifice much in the way of family life, regularity of hours, and normal social inter- course.20 The demands of business, its irregular hours, the whirl of conventions--all these pressures must be cared for immediately, cannot be postponed or filed, and are seen as requiring the manager's immediate attention. ' Many hotel managers expressed apprehension with the in- flux of Jewish ownership of hotels. This concern was expressed primarily by the less secure managers of hotels held by prop- erty management companies, real estate development companies, or investment companies. They have experienced the vicissi- tudes of rapid prOperty turnover, frequent job changes, varying philosophies of financial management and property care. They also expressed apprehension over the alleged trend toward speculative ownership for capital appreciation or 20A: do other occupations; e.g., the railroad conductor. See William Fredrick Cottrell, The Railroader (California: Stanford University Press, 19U0), pp. 12-59. 81 taxation purposes rather than profitable Operation in a long- term, patron-use market. Of the eleven Catolic managers, all except one were employed managers, and in metropolitan centers. Larger hotels, primarily chain owned, tend to have a greater pro- portion of Catholic managers than do smaller hotels. This is the setting and background for an array of evidence in a career study which presents both a challenge and anomaly to the comprehension of an occupational pattern. CHAPTER V EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNDS OF HOTELMEN Although hotelmen come from backgrounds of nearly every socio-economic level, the data have shown that four-fifths Of them came from non-manual occupational origins. Stemming from a superior socio-oconomic plane it might be expected that hotelmen will possess superior formal educational back- grounds and secure more informal learning opportunities than their managerial counterparts. Formal and continuing education are the two variables analyzed in this chapter. A. Formal Education It has been established in Chapter I, Review of Liter- ature, that managers possess educational histories which are superior to all other Occupational levels except professionals. In this context, educational status was measured by mean years of formal training, or the percentage of college graduates in the occupational class. The ratio of college trained hotel managers in this sample (“5 per cent) compares favorably with that of the busi- ness elite, studied by Warner and Abbegglen in which 57 per cent of their sample were college graduates.1 These are in 1W. Lloyd Warnflhnd James C. Abbegglen, Big Business Leaders ;2 America (New York: Harper Bros., 1955), pp. 65-79. 83 contrast with the national average for the managerial classi- fication, as previously cited, which places the percentage of college graduates at approximately 20 per cent in 1950.2 In most businesses there is a relationship between the size of business and the prOportion Of better educated managers.3 There is little or no apparent tendency for hotel managers' years of education to correlate with the size of unit managed (r = +.OOO9). Neither is education significantly related to type of hotel ownership-~corporate, independent, and dependent ownership (defined fully in Part B of this chapter). The chi-square for this relationship is .639, which is signifi- cant at the .80) Pj>.70 level. 1. Curriculum. The question well may be asked as to whether or not the college curriculum of.pr03pective hotelmen was a differential factor in their occupation- al careers. Table XVI, Part A, depicts the percentage distribution of subject matter pursued by hotel managers according to hotel size. About one-fourth studied general business administration, and one-fifth hotel administration. The nine managers (15 per cent) who came into hotel management after pursuing a law degree represent a rising and increasingly important trend in 2Ibid. 31bid. 8h hotel management, since lawyer-managers were seldom noted prior to the World War II era.” TABLE XVI RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOTEL SIZE AND COLLEGE CURRICULUM Part A College Curriculum Size of Hotel ___ Small Medium Large Total Per cent Hotel Administration h 7 2 13 21.3 University, Business Administration 0 2 6 8 13.3 Non-University, Business Administration 2 h 1 7 11.7 College Preparation 3 1 0 h 6.7 No College 8 h 7 19 31.7 Total 20 20 2O 60 100.0 Part B —— -‘ College Curriculum Size of Hotel Small and Medium Large Total Hotel Administration 11 '2 13 Business Administration 2 13 15 Total 13 15 28 x2 s lh.h p< .01 l“ = +o625 There is a highly significant tendency for managers trained in hotel administration to manage medium and “From an interview September 10, 1960, with Bernard L. Proulx, Professor, Hotel Administration, Michigan State Uni- ‘versity, East Lansing, Michigan. 5The notation r is to be read ”the Pearson r estigate bared on phi.” The translation is by the formula rd = “" when a dichotomous variable is correlated with a continuous variable that is artificially reduced (see Guilford, 22. 313., p. 2 2). 85 smaller houses, while those trained in general business administration at the collegiate level tend to become managers of large hotels, as shown by the data in Table XVI, Part B. The chi-square test of independence between the variables of college curriculum and hotel size yields a value such that P<(.Ol. Those who attend hotel schools apparently aspired to early management opportunities which are more prev- alent in the smaller hotels and motor hotels. Those who attend general business administration programs evidently aspire to become members of larger organi- zational units and are willing to spend the necessary time in the departmental and middle-management goals. The correlation between hotel size and time in the middle management ranks is +.3h. Of the nine notelmen who pursued a law curriculum, only one foresaw, while a trainee, an increasing nec- essity for legal knowledge and ability in both property and labor negotiations. The remainder of this group were divided between those who became disillusioned with a law career and those who came into hotel manage- ment via real estate management. 2. Years to the top. Apparently the most meaningful impact of formal education upon the hotelman's career is its influence upon the length of time required to reach a top management position. Table XVII shows the inverse relationship between the number of years 86 required to reach top management and the years of formal schooling. It required the average hotelman in this sample 9.1 years to reach the top with an inverse cor- relation of -.h9 prevailing between years of education and years to the first top management.position. TABLE XVII HOTELMEN'S YEARS OF FORMAL SCHOOLING RELATED TO THE NUMBER OF YEARS REQUIRED TO REACH TOP MANAGEMENT Years of Schooling Mean Years to Top Number of notelmen Less than 12 years 15.8 8 12 years 11.9 11 13-15 years 7.9 1h 16 or more years 6.5 27 When high school graduates and those with less than high school education were combined (to increase the class n), a mean education of 13.75 years was obtained. The mean years to the first tap management position for college graduates is 6.5 years. The significance of the difference, using Fisher's ”t" ratio, between these means yielded a value such that P<:.Ol. The remaining difference between educational categories did not prove significant, primarily due to the small numbers involved. 3. Apprenticeship period. College education does not, however, obviate spending a period of years of apprentice— ship in the various departments. It merely tends to 87 shorten the apprenticeship period and assure that the management candidate will spend some time in a greater variety of departments to achieve a better rounded working experience. Years of schooling correlates to the number of years in middle-management positions -.h$. This statis- tic confirms hoteldom's point of view regarding education-- that college training is profitable but not necessary. Its primary function is to abbreviate the apprentice- ship period and make it more valuable but to in nowise replace it. When considering years spent in each of the depart- ments, years of schooling correlates with them as shown in Table XVIII. TABLE XVIII CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF YEARS SPENT IN EACH OF THE HOTEL DEPARTMENTS AND YEARS OF SCHOOLING6 Correlation Area of work -.38 to number of years front-office work -.187 to number of years food and beverage work -.11 to number of years accounting -.325 to number of years engineering +.19 to number of years sales work 6 The housekeeping and personnel departments were not mentioned by any of the interviewees as a part of their ap- prenticeship. 7The correlation of +.l9 between years of education and number of years in the sales department is probably spur- iously low, since only 20 of the sample of 60 hotelmen have 88 Education reduces the number of years spent in each of the departments except sales. The better educated hotelman tends to spend more time in the sales depart- ment than his less educated colleagues. This is one of several indications in this study that sales work is becoming the new, primary training route to top management, as opposed to the long apprenticeship period in the rooms division and food and beverage department. h. Reading habits. The more education a hotel manager has, the more time he tends to spend in business and professional reading. The correlation between these two variables is +.38. In addition, the better edu- cated manager tends to have a preference toward the prestige business Journals such as Forbes, Fortune, and the Egll_5treet Journal; whereas those of the less formal education tend to rely more on the local news- paper and general business magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and 22313 Report. 5. Job definition. Managers having a college education or above tend to define themselves as executives rather than operators, and in no case as greeters. Table XIX shows the extent of relationship between the definition of management and college education. spent any time in the sales department. The numerical contri- bution of these 20 is seriously offset by the remaining two- thirds who had no experience in this department at all. 89 TABLE XIX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGEMENT DEFINITION AND EDUCATION -ducition Greeter6 Operator Executive Total Not graduates 7 1h 12 33 College graduates __2_ _ll_ _l§_ .32. Total 7 25 28 60 X2 = 3.37 .10 >P> .05 r0 = +.379 —— The low correlation and lack of statistical signi- ficance in this regard may be attributed to two factors. A surprising portion of college graduates defined them- selves as operators. Conversely, a number of ”sponsored and chain” careerists who had less than collegiate training, defined themselves as executives. 6. Low relationship variables. Of special interest is the low statistical relationship between formal edu- cation and the variables shown in Table XX. There is little or no apparent relationship evident between education and the trial-stable ratio,10 income, 8To perform the chi-square test and obtain phi, it was necessary to combine the ”greater and operator" categories so as to observe the rule of minimum cell theoreticals. See J. P. Guilford, Fundamental Statistics is Psychology and E23’ cation (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1955), p.173. 9The computation of a Pearson equivalent based on the phi coefficient assgmes two continuous distributions and uses the formula r¢ = .337. See Guilford, Ibid., p. 2&7. 10The trial-stable ratio is quotient produced by divid- ing the number of years in trial periods of employment by the 9O continuing education activity, gross business activity, and leadership variables. TABLE XX YEARS OF FORMAL EDUCATION AS RELATED TO SELECTED LOW ORDER VARIABLES Variable Measure of Independence to Education Trial and stable ratio r = +.00bl Trial and stable ration under 20 years of work experience r = -.0013 Income +.007 Continuing education X2 value = .98) P) .95 Business activity index X2 value = P) .98 Number of offices in professional hotel associations r = -.OOlh Number of offices in trade assoc- iations r = -.009h Number of civic and fraternal Offices 1" 8 .0000 The lack of relationship between education and con- tinuing education is of vital interest. The well- trained individual appears to be no better prospect for participation in continuing education (short courses, seminars, and other management development activities) than the less well trained. years in stable periods of employment, and provides a useful numerical index of Job stability. See Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, ”Measuring Patterns of Occupational Security,” Sociometry, Vol. X (New York: Beacon House, Inc., 19h7), PP. 532-375e 91 The better educated hotelmen fail to evidence more leadership roles in the various kinds of organizational activity related to their work. Collegiate training, it is commonly assumed in the hotel industry, is de- signed to produce the individuals capable of leadership in the industry and its organizations. On the basis of this evidence, the well educated are failing to provide leadership to any greater extent than their less edu- cated colleagues. 7. Sponsorship. Education has been established in the related sociological literature as probably the most important single factor to upward mobility. It appears to be a necessary bridge to the achievement of socio- economic goals of a higher order. How education serves as a mobility vehicle, is frequently obscure. However, in this study, a closer relationship was found between education and the achievement of ”sponsorship” than with any other probable causative variable. The data in Table XXI indicates a significant relationship be- tween formal schooling and the achieving of sponsorship by a key individual. It will be shown in succeeding chapters that the “sponsored” individuals achieve a smoother climb to the top, arrive more quickly, and locate themselves in better hotels doing more business than their colleagues ' who obtained their apprenticeship experiences in the “school of hard knocks” only. Hence, special importance 92 is attached to this finding at this juncture. A measure of formal training seems to open the doors to sponsor- ship. TABLE XXI RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YEARS OF EDUCATION AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CAREER SPONSORSHIP Training Years of Education 12 and under 13-15 16: Total Experience only 13 6 8 27 Sponsored 6 8 12 22 Total 19 1h 27 60 x2 a 6.66 .05) p >.01 I", 8 +.L50 B. Continuing Education An attempt was made to analyze the use of continuing education by hotelmen. Because of the limited number of courses pursued, beyond the initial formal schooling, useful subject matter breakdowns for comparative analysis were not feasible. It is possible to say, however, that approximately one- fifth of the hotelmen had participated at some time or other in hotel or food management short courses, varying from one week to one semester in length. An overlapping one-sixth of the sample reported continuing education activities in execu- tive development programs, general business programs, real estate programs, and personal develOpment. 93 In all, 52 per cent of the hotelmen sampled had utilized continuing education programs at some time. The remainder had not. 1. Ownership. The use of continuing education programs by managers appears to be related to hotel ownership. Ownership was identified in two ways: a. According to the individual manager's financial interest in the hotel. b. According to the kind of corporate ownership. Table XXII indicates the relationship between use of continuing education and the investment of the hotel manager. TABLE XXII RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGER'S FINANCIAL INTEREST IN THE HOTEL AND HIS USE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION Continuing Education Financial Interest _4_ Sole and Minority None Total Lessee Stock None 7. h 18 29 Some 1* 6 2h 21 Total 8 lo #2 60 Gamma = +.hl I"A chi-square test on this table was not possible because of the rule of minimum (five) cell theoreticals. Continuing education is apparently utilized to a greater degree by those having little or no financial investment in the hotel. Those who are sole owners 9b and lessees tend not to participate in continuing edu- cation activities. Table XXIII reflects the relationship between the kind of hotel ownership and continuing education. The kinds of hotel ownership are identified as follows: a. Independent hotels are those owned by an indi- vidual, a partnership, or a single hotel company. b. Dependent gptelg are those which are part of the larger business enterprise, such as a real estate development corporation, an investment company, an industrial empire, or any other corporate structure that is not a hotel system or chain. c. A system is identified as a hotel corporation Operating three or more hotel properties. TABLE XXIII RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KIND OF HOTEL OWNERSHIP AND THE MANAGER'S USE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION Continuing Education Independent Dependent System Total No continuing education 11 8 lO 29 Some continuing education __6 __2’ .lé. _21 Total 17 17 26 60 x2 = 3.03 .20) P) .10 Gamma = +.60 Data in Table XXIII reveal a tendency for managers affiliated with hotel systems to utilize continuing education to a greater degree than those associated with the smaller, independent companies. 95 Continuing education is not significantly related to the size of hotel managed. A test of independence 2 value of between these two variables produced the X .097. .98>p>.95. ' 2. Initial ggals. The pattern of occupational aspir- ations after entering the hotel field was discussed in Chapter IV and related to occupational origin. When those having proprietary interests at the time of enter- ing the hotel field were removed from the total distri- bution, the result was Table XXIV. Those hotelmen who early established their goals as a top hotel management post were more likely to engage in continuing education- al activities. Those who had a less well-defined occu- pational goal (in other than the proprietary interests) tended to engage in less continuing education activities. It has been shown earlier in this section that proprietors tend not to utilize continuing education activities. TABLE XXIV RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONTINUING EDUCATION AND GOALS IN HOTEL MANAGEMENTll Continuing Top Manage- As far as Total Education ment Possible None 7 10 17 Some 16 5 21 Total 23 15 38 x2 = 6.15 .05) pj>.01 rp = +.U9 11The total n for this study was 60. However, for this table, those hotelmen having proprietary interests were removed. 96 3. Occupational definition. The manner in which a hotel manager defines his role is significantly related to the extent of his continuing education activity. Table xxv indicates that those en. define themselves as executives have participated in continuing education activities to a greater degree than those who have a non-executive orientation. TABLE XXV RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARTICIPATION IN CONTINUING EDUCATION ACTIVITIES AND MANAGEMENT DEFINITION Continuing Education Non-executive Executive Total None 21 8 29 Some _11_ _32 _21 Total 32 28 60 x2 = 8.186 pP>.10 r¢ = +.31 Continuing education is apparently not related to the size of hotel managed, since independence tests be- tween these two variables produced X2 8 .097, .98<:P<:.95. 5. Leadership activity. It was shown earlier in the chapter that a significant lack of association prevails between education and the various measures of leader- ship (offices in the various membership and trade associations). Those who had engaged in continuing education, however, tend to exhibit more participation in the primary association available to hotelmen, the American Hotel Association. Table XXVII shows the ex- tent of relationship between the number of association Offices held and whether or not the manager had.partici- pated in continuing education activities over the years. 99 TABLE XXVII CONTINUING EDUCATION PARTICIPATION AS COMPARED WITH THE NUMBER OF AMERICAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION OFFICES HELD BY MANAGERS I COHTIEuing Education 4‘; Number of AHA Offices Helg;;_— None One or More Total None 20 9 29 Some _12’ _lZ _21’ Total 3b 26 60 x2 a 3.u6 .10 P .05 to 3 +o38 *Tho table has been collapsed in this manner in order to ob- serve the rule of minimum cell theoreticals for the chi-square test of significance. 6. Career plans. When hotel managers were asked to define their future goals and to describe the ways in which they expected to achieve those goals, the re- sponses shown in Table XXVIII, Part A, were obtained. This table shows the specific kinds of personal advance- ment plans hotel managers have made in order to reach their career objectives. Table XXVIII, Part B, was derived when managers' plans were dichotomized according to whether or not they had participated in continuing education activities at some time during their careers. The data provides reasonable evidence that managers who have some continuing education background tend to have done more thinking and definite planning about their future. TABLE XXVIII RELATIONSHIP BETUEEN CONTINUING EDUCATION AND CAREER PLANS 100 Part Ao—Relationship Between Continuing Education and Ad- vancement Plans Kinds of Advancement Plans N Per cent No plans-- None other than retain present position 15 25.0 No plans at all 7 11.? Sell out __2_ __2;2 Total 25 h1.7 Definite advancement plans-- Increased stock ownership 11 18.3 Lease other or larger properties 5 8.3 Work harder 7 11.7 Advance in the hotel system _13’ _32;g Total 35 53-3 Part B--Relationship Between Continuing Education and Cur- rent Career Plans Continuing Education No Plans Definite Plans Total None 16 29 Some 9 21 Total 25 60 x2 = 11.2 .05) p>.01 r! = +.h2 101 7. Evaluated egpectations. Following each interview, the investigator evaluated each subject on a three point scale. The subject's feelings about the hotel business and his level of satisfaction regarding his career in it, were rated as: pessimism, satisfaction, or Optimism. Table XXIX shows this scale, as compared with the continuing education history of the hotel manager and reveals a highly significant relationship between these two variables. Managers who are satisfied and Optimistic about the hotel business, tend also to be those who have engaged in some continuing education activity to fortify their ability in meeting the demands of competition and of operating problems. TABLE XXIX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONTINUING EDUCATION AND EVALUATED EXPECTATIONS Continuing Pessimism Satisfaction Optimism Total Education _I None 12 3 1h 29 Some U 8 19 31 Total 16 ll 33 60 x2 - 13.213 P = (.01 13In order to conform to the rule of minimum coll theo- reticals, Optimism and satisfaction categories were combined in the computation of chi squares (see Guilford, gp. citg, p.2h7. 102 8. Readipg habits. In order to study and obtain a measure of the daily continuing education effort of hotel managers, their reading habits were noted. Their reading for business information is primarily of two types--the hotel and restaurant trade journals and the general business and news magazines. Sixty per cent of the managers reported their reading in the industry trade journals to be among the lighter magazines which emphasize personal and hotel news. Another 30 per cent favored the trade journals carrying a more substantial reading content, devoted to articles and analyses of operations and management problems. The remaining 10 per cent re- ported no interest or gave the cursory response, "1 skim them all.” For general business news, nearly 36 per cent of the hotelmen regularly read one or more of the prestige magazines or papers, such as Harvard Review, Barrons, Forbes, Wall Street igurnal, Wisdom, Fortune, MSU Business Topics, or the New York Times. Nearly two-thirds of the hotelmen relied to some ex- tent on the general business and news magazines, such as Nation's Business, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report. Less than 10 per cent relied on the local newspapers only. The number of hours devoted to reading for business information by hotelmen is comparatively low. Ac- cording to the Management Review, general business 103 executives appear to spend considerably more than the average (mean) of 5.9 hours per week which hotelmen reported as devoted to business information reading. The. Management Review reports: 0n the average, executives spend just over four hours a day on business reading. Two and three- quarter hours go into ”must” reading: reports, correspondence, and essential reading in maga- zines, newsletters and the like. Over an hour and a quarter a day goes into optional reading: books, magazines, and other material that the executive reads voluntarily to improve his gen- eral ability and competence. 0n the average, company presidents and other top officers spend more time reading than other top executives: about four and a quarter hours a day. Middle managers average half an hour less reading time.1 Apparently the type of business is the greatest determinant Of the amount of reading done. The Harvard Business Review reported that executives in ”finance, trade and service” read approximately 20 per cent fewer magazines than those in manufacturing, construction. . .15 Among hotelmen, the number of hours per week spent in general business and trade related reading matter correlates +.39 with the number of professional member- ships in the hotel field. The amount of reading done is also associated with the volume of business done by 1“Lydia Strong, "How Much Is Too Much?", The Management Review (New York: American Management Association, January, 1957;, po 60o 15Edward C. Bursk, “New Dimensions in Top Executive Reading,” Harvard Business Review, pp. 93-112. 10h the hotel as well as the quality ranking of the hotel, correlating +.26 with each of these measures indepen- dently. Hotelmen are not a studiously oriented group. They appear to spend significantly less time in reading than do managers and executives of other industries. The nature of their business is such that public demands on their time, the day to day building and personnel problems, as well as the demands for a currently good profit picture, do not allow for a more thoughtful, pensive and reflective activity such as the reading. 9. Continuing_education summary. Continuing education activity on the part of the hotel manager stand out as a continuous and significant career variable. Partici- pation in additional educational endeavors following his formal training seems to be an indicator of an individual possessing superior motivation and attitudes. Continuing education activity seems to point out the individuals who have early defined their goals, who have adopted an executive definition of their role in management, who see themselves as providing leadership within the industry and who have defined their goals for the future in a positive and Optimistic vein. The continuing education variable identifies the kind of individual who has a definite, persistent, and positive career orientation. Neither continuing education 105 activity nor these related attributes were found to be characteristic of proprietors. Such activity seems to be an index to a more Open and searching mind. It may not only be an indicator of drive and initiative, but also of judgment as to how to channel and utilize his drives so as to maximize his efforts toward Specified goals. The continuing education activity of most of these hotelmen is certainly too limited to be interpreted as a causative factor in the adoption of the attitudes, skills, and techniques which gave rise to their dif- ferential degree of success. It rather seems to be an index to the kind of person who is less rigid and sterotyped in his pursuit of goals. He is the kind of individual who is more flexible and adaptable in sel- ecting means, who revises his techniques constantly to meet the needs of the current situation, and who defines his own role positively and realistically in terms of the goals he has established. COntinuing education takes on added importance since it is one of two probable causative or antecedent variables (the other will be shown to be sponsorship) to the executive ”occupational definition,“ yielding a highly significant relationship. It also bore the highest correlation factor among those amenable to the Pearson value or its equivalent. The relationship of 106 the ”occupational definition” to stability and career success is established in succeeding chapters. The hotelmen in this sample do not evidence any great degree of continuing education interest as meas- ured by specific courses or in the time spent in daily reading. Those who do evidence the greater interest, however, have developed differently in their chosen fields from their less interested colleagues. CHAPTER VI THE OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF HOTELMEN In preceding chapters, the origins, education and careers of midwestern hotelmen were traced and interpreted in the light of a number of socio-economic and career variables. There is considerable body of psycho-sociological literature supporting the concept that the individual behaves and reacts less in accord with antecedent conditions such as social background, career opportunities, and specific training, but more in accord with his current definition and interpretation of his role. This hypothesis is similar to those proposed by Coates and Pellegrin in their “Situational Theory,"1 by William 1. Thomas in his ”Definition of the Situation,"2 and by Robert K. Merton in his concept of “The Self-fulfilling Prophecy."3 The student of psychology will recognize this hypothesis in accord with Roe's extension of the ”self image” concept to 1Charles H. Coates and Roland J. Pellegrin, ”Executives and Supervisors: A Situational Theory of Differential Occu- pational Mobility," Social Forces, Vol. 359 No. 2, December, 1956, pp. 121-126. 2William 1. Thomas, The Unadlusted Girl (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1923), p. h2. 3Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 19b9), pp. 179-195. 108 occupations, with Maslow's theory of drive and motivation,“ and to Krech and Crutchfield's "perceptual field."5 It is not the purpose here to test this hypothesis, but rather, to use this conceptual framework in an attempt to understand the occupation of hotel management and to ex- tend the limited body of information about it. Accordingly, each hotel manager interviewed was asked in several different ways to define his duties and responsi- bilities as a hotel manager. Their responses were analyzed according to the fol- lowing criteria: 1. Personal relationship to the public (and guests) 2. Personal relationship to the employer 3. Scope of responsibility h. Techniques for discharging responsibility A. Occupational Definitions The literature establishes a differential between super- visors and executives and between successful and unsuccessful 6 executives. It became evident early in this study that among hotel managers more than a dichotomy was present. A third category in characterization was needed to cover the variety and range of responses. “Anne Roe, The Psychology pf Occupations (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 195 , p. VI. 5David Krech and Richard S. Crutchfield, Theogy and Problems 25 Social Psychology (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., {958). p. 639. GCoates and Pellegrin, pp. cit., p. 125. 109 After an analysis of the interviews and data, the fol- lowing management definitions and their criteria were deter- mined: l. 2. Greater a. Public relations. The greeter identifies strongly with the individual guest and his view of the hotel. The greeter also sees himself play- ing a personal role in serving the guests. b. Emplgyer relations. The greeter sees himself as working for, not with, his employer. He feels that he is in a service role carrying out the dictates and decisions of the employer, but seldom participating actively in them. c. Breadth of responsibility. The greeter defines his responsibility primarily in terms of the guest and the projection of his own personality to the guest. Operating problems are handled personally as they come along, neither planned nor adminis- tered. d. Tochniqgos of discharging rapponsibiligy. The greeter sees himself as the vital key and link to getting all work done well. Operator a. Public relations. .The Operator believes that individual guest relations are important, but that most contacts can be handled by the front office staff. Rather than emphasizing public relations 110 and external contacts, the operator identifies closely with the hotel itself. He is the captain and is proud of running a taut ship. b. Emplgyer relations. The operator feels his employers have selected him because of his personal, superior know-how in hotel ”operations” and that he should be unhampered in internal operations and methods. He seldom participates vitally in the financial decisions, nor does he think in larger, economic terms. c. Breadth of responsibility. The operator feels his responsibilities are primarily within the hotel and limited to short term problems. Fin- ancing, rehabilitation, and public relations are verbalized problems only: seldom actual concerns of the Operator. d. Techniques for discharging responsibiligy. The Operator makes all operating and day to day deci- sions himself. Although he may have department heads, they will do little or no hiring and firing, purchasing, nor does he allow them to participate actively in making decisions. Department head's meetings as such are seldom necessary. Employee development is left to personal initiative of those who have the extra ambition. 111 The executive mapgggy a. Public relations. The executive manager sees guest relations in a much larger and broader con- text and does not identify with this responsibility in terms of the individual alone. He sees himself playing a major part in community activities and convention sales, but point of purchase sales are the responsibility of the front office staff. b. Employer relations. The executive believes that' it is his prerogative to propose changes and to participate fully in the major decisions of the hotel ownership. Where he is not currently allowed to participate,he expresses strong frustration and displeasure. c. Breadth of responsibility. According to the executive, the work of the hotel is divided into a number of broad areas such as human relations, public relations, rehabilitation planning and busi- ness management. He sees himself working out pro- grams and projects in these areas with department heads and providing leadership and coordination only. d. Techniques for discharging responsibilit . The executive views himself as working with and pre- paring others to work. He tends not to see himself as possessing superior know-how, but rather, as able to control, coordinate and plan with those / 112 who do have the departmental knowledge and techni- cal information required. 8. Gepgralized Attitudes of Executives and Non-executives The non-executives (operators and greeters) whether they are proprietors to some degree or not, attempt to retain a feeling Of proprietorship in their positions. They seek to retain some of the prerogatives of the proprietor in certain areas of activity and disregard his responsibilities in others. The non-executive seeks to be the sole determiner of the man- ner in which day to day Operations are conducted; for example, he feels that any procedures, routines, and policies set forth by ”home office” are an encroachment on his ability as a hotelman. Although he may have little or no voice in making major decisions for his hotel, he strives to maintain a semblance of independence by obtaining positions which leave all matters of localrnwsonnel management and day to day operations entirely to his discretion. He is not concerned by the fact that he has little or no voice in the future of his hotel in regard to financing, capital re-investment, or market planning and analysis. He is content to say, ”I am the hotel manager and I run this prOperty as I see fit. If they (the system or owners) don't like the way I run this hotel, they can always find ' someone else to try to do it better.” 113 The ”greeter-Operator” tends to resent the "executive type“ manager as being something less than a real hotelman. He believes the executive "runs the hotel from a desk.” He thinks of the executive as having lost the touch of the com- mon people who work for him and the guest who visits his hotel. In fact, he feels that it is the executive that is hurting his own business and giving him a poor occupancy as compared with the executive's somewhat better ”house count.” The non-executive thinks it is because the executive treats the guests so poorly that the public is not using hotels more. Out of this frustration of prorietary ideas, the non- executive develops rationalizations to defend his increasing- ly insecure and less profitable hotel position. The ”executive” does not fight false windmills. In general, he expresses no concern or animosity toward the non- executive and his philosophy, but rather, uses the "propri- etary” philosophy of the Operator to rationalize his own education and training methods with his employees who have direct contact with the public. To these employees he in- stills the ”grand host” and ”home-away-from-home” service attitudes and habits of guest treatment. ‘To them he stresses the importance of the individual guest, his comfort and satis- faction, and minimizes business management goals. The executive tends to define his competitive position within the hotel industry and the'total economy much more realistically than the non-executive. He is interested in attracting large markets to the community area, tends to be 11h much more interested in COOperative endeavors to attract busi- ness to the area, feeling that he will profit from cooperation with, rather than opposition to, other service industries in the community. A The essential difference, then, between the executive and non-executive is inherent in the title Of the occupational definition. The operator wishes to be responsible for and to participate in the internal operations of the hotel only: the greeter, having a major emphasis on the greeting of guests. The executive wishes to participate fully in the entire business management function, agministerigg his re- sponsibilities by delegating authority for specific responsi- bilities in an executive fashion. 0. Significant Variables Related to Occupational Definition 1. Origin and education. It will be recalled that the preceding chapters stated that both occupational origin and formal education apparently had some association with the development of the executive definition of oc- cupation, but neither at a significant level. Continu- ing education was found to bear a strong correlation (rg z +.57) to ocOUpational definition. Continuing education was found to be the develOpmental factor which related most strongly with the executive occu- pational definition. 2. Hotel 51:3. Table XXX shows the relationship between occupational definition and hotel size. The margin shows 115 the distribution of greeters, operators, executives with the total sample fairly evenly distributed be- tween the executive and non-executive dichotomy (28 versus 32). TABLE XXX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MANAGER'S OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION AND HOTEL SIZE Occupational Definition Size ofwfiotel Small Medium Large Total Greeter 5 2 O 7 Operator ll 7 7 25 Executive __2 _ll. _l2_ _3§ Total 20 20 20 60 x2‘ .. 8.98* .05) P) .01 *To compute chi-square, the operator-greeter category was com- bined so as to conform to the rule of minimum cell theoreti- cals. There is a strong, significant relationship between size of hotel and management definition. To achieve the managership of a larger hotel, a manager probably will not have a greeter definition, may have an operator definition, but will probably have an executive defin- ition in order to accommodate to the demands and com- plexities of the position. It is equally important to note that size does not prescribe the definition of position, in that several small (and very successful) hotel managers define themselves as executives. 116 3. Evaluated expectations. The executive views the industry and his future in it with a much greater de- gree of confidence and hopefulness than does the non- executive. Table XXXI illustrates a highly significant relationship between occupational definition and evalu- ated expectation. As has been indicated by the evidence of the preceding paragraphs, the executive believes in his business and his role within it, is taking positive steps to develop it, and is confident of its future. TABLE XXXI RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION AND EVALUATED EXPECTATION Classification Pessimism Satisfaction Optimism Total Non-executives 15 7 10 32 Executives l h 22 28 Total 16 ll 33 60 a 18.08 pxi.01 h. Hotel Quality and other success criteria. The hotels in this study were ranked from 1 (best) to 5 (Poorest) according to the general physical state and attractive- ness of the hotel property. Table XXXII shows data having a highly significant relationship between manage- ment definition and hotel quality. Management definition and continuing education are the only two continuous 117 career variables which relate directly to hotel quality. This should be contrasted with the facts that neither manager's years of education (r = -.22) nor his years required to achieve top management (r z +.O7) evidence reasonable correlations to hotel quality ranking. The relationship between management definition and other criteria of success, such as stability and busi- ness activity, are discussed in Chapters VII and VIII. Suffice it to say here that management definition is highly related to the career family of stability as reflected by the total career pattern (Chapter VII) and to the business activity ratio of the hotel he is now managing (Chapter VIII). TABLE XXXII RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGER'S OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION AND THE HOTEL'S QUALITY RANKING (l = BEST, 5 = POOREST) Occupational Definition Hotel's Quality Ranking 1 2 3-5 Total Greeter-Operator ll 6 15 32 Executive _l§ ‘__Z __2 _g§ Total 29 13 18 60 x2 s 9.57 P<.01 T 5. Hotel ownership. Table XXXIII shows the relation- ship of managers according to occupational definition and type of hotel ownership. Chain hotels tend to 118 hire or develop "executive" managers, whereas non-chain hotels tend to employ non-executive managers. TABLE XXXIII RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGER'S OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION AND THE TYPE OF HOTEL OWNERSHIP Occupational Definition Dependent and Chain Total Independent‘ Operators-greeters 22 10 32 Executives _l§ _l§ _g§ Total 3h 26 60 x’2 = n.09 .05) P\ .02 rp = +.h1 ‘Independent and dependent hotels were combined so as to con- form to the rule of minimum cell theoreticals. To the casual observer, the relationship between system ownership and executive definition may be sur- prisingly low. However, not all hotels in systems are large properties, neither are they all highly ration- alized and organized companies. Many hotel systems exercise little more control over the operation of their prOperties than to hire a manager and to require weekly financial and accounting reports. Hotel systems vary widely as to the extent of their rationalization, bureaucratization, and centralization of authority. Hence, systems managers vary markedly in their defini- tions of position. 119 6. "Contacts” and ”Pull.” When describing the essen- tial attributes and characteristics of a good manager, "executives" tend to emphasize the importance of ”con- tacts” and ”pull.” This factor is, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to the variable called ”spon- sorship” in this study. Table XXXIV shows the relationship between the oc- cupational definition dichotomy and the mention of the importance of "contacts" and “pull" during the inter- view. Executives tended to refer to the importance of the ”right connections” more frequently and to a signi- ficant degree than did the non-executive. TABLE XXXIV HOTEL MANAGER'S OCCUPATIONAL DEFINITION AND THE MENTION OF ”CONTACTS” AND "PULL” IN ACHIEVING SUCCESS Occupational Definition Sponsorship Not Mentioned Mentioned Total Non-executives 23 9 32 Executives .13 _l§. _3§ Total 35 25 60 x2 = 5.014 .05>P> .02 r¢ 8 +.U6 It will be shown later in this chapter that ”execu- tive" definition and the fact of having had a personal career sponsor are strongly related. However, they are 120 far from coterminous. Those managers who had sponsored careers, but did not define themselves as ”executive managers,” tended to ignore the importance of sponsor- ship in relating their careers, while the executive would mention it frequently. This reflects a specific in the cluster of attitudes regarding the importance of people and "significant others” in their day to day operations as well as in their total career pattern. 7. Number of periodicals read. From the data gathered in this study, executives and non-executives are signi- ficantly different in their breadth of reading. The non-executives reported a mean of 2.25 magazines and read regularly, whereas the executives reported §.h3 magazines (t-ratio = 2.09, .05) P)>.Ol). Executives in this study did not spend significantly more time in reading than non-executives, but their breadth and num- ber of magazines read was considerably greater. 8. Leadership. ”Executives" are much more active in leadership roles than ”non-executives“ as measured by both the number of civic and fraternal organization offices held and the number of American Hotel Assoc- iation offices held. The mean number of civic and fraternal offices held by ”executives” is 2.6, whereas the non-executive mean is .9 (t-ratio = 3.69, P.L.Ol). This fact con- firms the basic definition of the "executive” in that 121 he views a part of his role to be a public relations symbol to the community in and through its larger and prestigeful organizations. The ”executive” tends to believe in and to be con- cerned with overall industry problems and the coordinated endeavors undertaken toward their solution. The mean number of offices held by the ”executives” in the American Hotel Association, or its state affiliate, is 1.1, whereas the ”operator and greeter" combined held a mean of .22 offices (t-ratio = 8.5, P<<.Ol). 9. Sponsorship. Table XXXV shows the significant re- lationship between sponsorship and the "executive” occupational definition. Clearly there is a strong association, though far short of a complete overlap, between these two major career variables. TABLE XXXV RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGEMENT DEFINITION AND SPONSORSHIP Occupational Definition Experience Only Sponsored Total Operators and greeters 19 13 32 Executives __§ _32_ _g§ Total 27 33 60 5.7 .05) 13> .01 - +.h9 Sponsorship was associated earlier with formal edu- cation; the "executive" occupational definition with 122 continuing education. These career variables will be seen in succeeding chapters to be related to some com- mon and some dissimilar success criteria. Both of these variables appear to be factors re- sulting from differentials in personality and learning. It is evident that these variables are not wholly com- prised of identical elements for they associate with different possible antecedents and resultants. That sponsorship and “executive" definition are significantly related, however, is clearly indicated by the chi-square test presented in Table XXXV. D. Summary A number of studies, primarily those of Coates and Pellegrin7 have uncovered differential definitions of the work position among the successful and unsuccessful executives. This study analyzes the definition of position given by hotel managers. These definitions fell into classifications which were descriptively labeled as ”greeter,” ”operator,” and ”executive.“ The criteria for these classifications were defined in detail as well as the associated generalized atti- tudes noted by the investigator during the interviews. In earlier chapters both non-proprietary origin and higher levels of education were found to be somewhat related to the develOpment of the ”executive” definition of education, 71bid. 123 but not at a significant level. Continuing education was found, however, to have a strong association to the executive definition significant level of confidence. Hotelmen who view their roles as ”executives" tend to find themselves in the larger hotels and in hotels having a higher quality ranking than non-executives to a statistically significant degree. Executives tend also to be found in chain or system operated hotels though they may be found in dependent and independent hotels where the opportunity to participate vitally in the decision-making process and the economic future of the hotel is afforded them. An added evidence that the "executive” relates himself to other individuals differently than the non-executive is found in the fact that executives exhibit significantly greater leadership in civic affairs, fraternal organizations, and in the American Hotel Association. ”Executives” believe that a good manager is one who realizes the importance of contacts throughout the industry, was sponsored in his own career, possesses wide acquaintance, and is able to exert effective personal influences. The ”executive” hotel manager engages in a much wider range of reading and reports a significantly greater number 0f magazines read or skimmed than does the non-executive. Not only does the "executive” definition of position lead to positions in the bigger and better hotels as noted 1th this chapter, but it will he established in succeeding chaapters that the occupational definition as an executive 12b is strongly related to positions in hotels doing a high vol- ume of business and to career patterns having a higher degree of security. In brief, the hotel ”executive” is probably not of a proprietary origin, has engaged in continuing education activ- ity, has enjoyed a relatively secure career, is a leader in the hotel fraternity and the community, and has found a po- sition in a finer and larger hotel. He views his industry positively and looks forward to its continuing business and managerial challenge. CHAPTER VII CAREER PATTERNS--SECURITY Studies have been reviewed and cited in earlier chapters showing the relationship of certain career variables to the achievement of a position in the managerial complex. In this study a similar line of investigation has been followed, with one exception. Degrees of success within the hotel manage- ment occupation have been identified according to the hotel quality ranking, personal income, and size of hotel. In each case, these criteria were noted as they related to significant career variables. Another differential criterion of success identified in this study is occupational security. This chapter seeks to focus attention on occupational security and relate signifi- cant career variables and managerial attributes to it. The next chapter will focus on two additional success differentials, rate of mobility and business activity. Occupational security may be measured in a number of ways. The criteria used in this chapter will include the num- ber of years in present position, number of employers, the trial-stable ratio, and career families of occupational stability. 126 A. Number of Years in Present Position The tenure of managers in their present position seems to be primarily a function of the kind of hotel ownership and the extent of individual proprietorship. Table XXXVI shows the median number of years the hotel manager has been in his present position based on proprietary interest and kind of hotel ownership. The eight proprietors who are sole owners and operators of their property showed varying long term tenure. However, they were too few to appraise independently so were combined with those managers having a minority stock interest in their hotel. This group showed a median of eight years in present position, whereas managers having no proprietary interest (#2 managers) showed a median of h years in present position.1 Job security, as measured by number of years in present position, is primarily a function of the kind of ownership and extent of preprietary interest in the hotel property. The more highly rationalized the total hotel organization, the more likely it is to have more rapid personnel turnover. The per cent of persons in the present position for one year or less, as shown in Table XXXVI, is an added index to this generalization. 1Median was used rather than mean in this context since the range in number of years varied from 1 to 50 years, re- sulting in a skewed distribution with a standard deviation greater than the mean from zero. 127 TABLE XXXVI RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUMBER OF YEARS IN PRESENT POSITION AND TYPES OF OWNERSHIP Type of Ownership Median Years Per cent in Number— in Present Position One of Cases Position Year or Less Propgietorship Criteria Sole owners, lessees, and minority stock- holders 8 17 18 Non-proprietors __E _32 _&g Median for all hotels 6 19 60 Type of Corporate Ownership Independent hotel company 8 6 l7 Dependent hotel company 5 2h 17 Hotel system __g’ _22 _g§ For all hotels 6 25 60 It will be shown later in this chapter that within each type of corporate ownership there are deviations which are primarily accounted for by individual factors. B. Number of Different Employers In the hotel field, the number of different employers for whom a manager has worked is a meaningful index of rela- tive job stability since it is not affected by the number of positions or territorial mobility while employed by the same hotel company. A comparison of Figures 1 and 2 reveals that 128 0+ v \.°' mmHHmmmomm szzo >thmazmme2H Qz< mh<>mzm ZH wmmmm 3oz ex .~o> exhuoaoaoom sexuaasoom deceaveasooo he nahovasm made: .3 Edduudz Una hadddz .0 ahonaon womv .Euom one henna: we acne nu housieaea .hbsun sconean 0:» Beam «you nausucoo casmoo anaemecez one aheadheao «ouoxen cm can mm mm sea m: cm ceaeeeau nanneao Hecoausa Isooo Ca aenasz «.sm m.m: n.5w «.mn m.mn. o.mm o.mn fiasco hon. aacoaacoscoo use eunsum «0 83m m.mm o.oo~ o.oo~ m.mm m.mm o.oo~ m.mm deuce ~.ea s.ea e.ma n.- n.: a m.m Heath eaaaeasz n.oH n.n n.~ I m.: I n.mH vennaunsanonan m.nm m.sa o.oa e.na n.w o.: o.na Hesse cecaeenam «.mn n.ma o.n n.: m.: o.m n.na cannons: n.0N m.~n c.on n.n: m.mn 0.0: n.mn ancoaucescou s.n a.na n.ka s.aa e.ma o.ms n.ea _ eannem ceEeaom coav:«x meaaneE naeWmcmz use one mucosaaaoam Hacoan housemao WWHHaxnca IW>aasaoao peaaaxm ”sausage fimmococ anemone .hMeuo: haaEem aeoaso mmm¢ P) .05 r’ = +.38 P:rt B. With Eigpt Owners and Lessees Removed Career Family Occupational Definition Operators and Greeters Executives Total Stable 7 18 25 Unstable 18 9 27 Total 25 27 52 x2 = 11.09 P<.Ol r; = +.67 6"Stable" category here combines stable and conventional; ”unstable” combines unstable, sustained trial, disestablished and multiple trial. (See Table XLII and Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, Industrial Sociolo , New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951, p. 724.) lhl Table XLI, Part B, is the same data with the eight owners and lessees removed. Each of the latter fell into the stable category, with only one having an executive defi- nition of position, in contrast to the trend and thus dis- torting the total comparison. When considering the careers of all managers, except owners and lessees, ”executive defi- nition” seems to be the variable bearing the closest relation- ship to the stable career families portraying a career pat- tern of greater security. The chi-square test also Yields a highly significant probability value, rejecting the indepen- dencehypothesis. G. The Operators and Greeters Attitudes Toward Job Selection. Apparently the non-executive tends to seek a different type employer than does the executive. He seeks the employer irrespective of whether it is a hotel chain, dependent hotel company, or independent company, who will allow him this type of relative free rein within the hotel. He seeks to retain certain vestiges of proprietary independence and perpetuate the ”grand host ideal,” without long-range marketing, planning, or financing responsibility. He is attracted by employers who will allow freedom over internal operations and personnel con- trol. Whether an independent hotel or a system, these are the working conditions and context he seeks. This fact gains emphasis since Table XLII presents data showing the relative independence of stability and hotel size. The stability differential is evidently based on a cluster of 1&2 attitudes of which the definition of position is an important part. TABLE XLII RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAREER FAMILY OF SECURITY AND HOTEL SIZE 51.. A. Size of Hotel Career Family Small Medium Large Totgl Stable 3 5 2 10 Conventional 8 7 8 23 Unstable 2 h 2 8 Sustained Trial 2 l 6 9 Disestablished 3 3 2 8 Multiple Trial __2 __2 __2 __£ Total .20 20 20 60 Part B. Size of HBtel Career Family Small Medium Lagge Total Stable ll 12 10 33 Unstable __2 __§ _19 _gz Total 20 20 20 60 x2 = .01: .997P).98 H. The Executive Attitude Toward Job Selection Probably as a result of his differential job definition, the executive tends to develop a somewhat more stable total career pattern. Although Table XXX in Chapter VI revealed that a significantly greater number of executives are found 1&3 in the larger hotels, this is by no means a discrete distinc- tion, since executives are found in all sizes of hotels. Furthermore, stability itself was found to be relatively independent of hotel size, giving support to the hypothesis that security is more a function of the manager than the ownership or size of hotel. The executive tends to select (or be selected for) his hotel positions more on the basis of genuine administrative Opportunity. The size of hotel does not prevent him from organizing his staff on an administrative basis and in plan- ning his time and relationships from a managerial point of view. The majority of “executives“ found in small hotels had experience in larger hotels and brought the administrative methods and techniques with them. The ”executive” hotel manager then, secure his manage- ment positions on the basis of his Opportunity to exercise his definition of his role rather than on the particular kind Of hotel ownership or size of the property. In so doing, he builds for himself a much more secure career since there is inherently more indispensability in this kind of position. I. Sppnsorship The kind of career Sponsorship obtained by an individual manager did not prove to be related to any of the indices of stability (number of years in present position, trial stable ratio, number of employers, or career family), except for those who inherited a family hotel or those who had family luu financial backing. Each of these proprietary careers fall in the stable or conventional career families. J. Summary The occupational security of hotel managers may be measured in a number of ways, each index giving a different insight into the influences affecting the hotel manager's career. A long tenure for hotel managers in their present posi- tion is one of the indices of security that is primarily associated with independently owned hotels and with the degree of the manager's preprietary interest in the hotel. The number of employers for whom the manager has worked, another index of security, also increases in more complex hotel organizations. Had these two criteria Of security been the only ones used, the basic finding of this study would have been Ob- scured. The role which each manager creates for himself within the various ownership contexts appears to be of over- riding importance in fashioning a secure career. “Executive” managers, it has been discovered, are those who enjoy the more successful careers with regard to hotel size, hotel quality, and the business activity of their hotel. The evidence indicates that executives total career patterns are more secure than non-executives, even though a significant proportion are located in chain hotels. Those managers with a high trial-stable ratio tended to exhibit the leadership 1&5 characteristics of “executives.” However, ”executives" were strongly associated with overall career families of stability. Apparently the careers showing overall security are the re- sult of maintaining personal visibility within the industry, making possible frequent, consistent, and significant job changes. The major contribution of an "executive” definition to a hotel management career is an overall pattern of relative occupational stability. Career security is the resultant Of many by-products of the "executive" attitude. Its influence seems to emanate from a non-proprietary heritage, is Spurred by education, particularly continuing education, and results in job choices which, though frequent, have directionality and purpose to the end of achieving a highly successful career as measured by stability, size of hotel, hotel quality, and business activity. Although the ”executive" definition and sponsorship were shown in Chapter VI to be strongly related, sponsorship is not directly related to overall career stability by statistical association. A hotel manager's security is apparently and largely a function of his wise selection of positions. His criteria for selecting positions are part of his generalized management philosophy. His range of choices of positions results from his visibility to the industry since he tends to exhibit greater leadership locally and in the trade association and is more likely to have a sponsor working in his half behind the SCCnOo 1116 A greater percentage of hotel managers exhibited career patterns in the unstable families than do managers and pro- prietors from the general population. The percentage distri- bution of hotel managers in this sample among the career families more nearly approximate the career patterns of the semi-skilled and Operative than any other occupational classi- fication. The evidence gives rise to two hypotheses: that many hotel managers may not have a "management” occupation in the overall context, and that the lack of sustained interest in continuing education activities for themselves and their employees stems from an occupation insecurity and transient complex. CHAPTER VIII CAREER PATTERNS--SUCCESS Successful career patterns will be discussed in this chapter as measured by two numerical variables--number of years required to reach the first top management position and the business activity index. A. Number of Years to ToppManagement It was established earlier in this study that the most significant impact of formal education upon the career of hotelmen is its effect upon the number of years to reach the first tOp management position. Education was also related to the securing of career sponsorship. Among all non-preprietary careers, the unsponsored re- quired an average (mean) of 1h.5 years to reach their first management position. The sponsored required a mean of 8.6 years. The t-ratio for the test of the significance of the difference between means is 6.7, the probability of this value being less than .01. Since years of formal education is strongly related to sponsorship and inversely related to the years required to achieve top management, perhaps the real impact of education upon the-career of the management candidate in his rapid rise to reach top management is probably not solely a matter lbs of skills and ability, but also a matter of being able to come to the attention of “significant others” to assist management candidates in their career climb. Table XLIII illustrates the relative effectiveness of the various career assistance arrangements in the manager's climb to the first top management position. The average number of years are expressed here as medians because of the small number within each group. Clearly the more and the stronger forces working for the individual, the more rapid his climb. Proprietors were able to pass on the manage- ment of the family hotel quickly. Among the remaining hotel- men, those who joined chains and were sponsored, moved more rapidly than the unsponsored within the chain. Those with no sponsorship climbed the management ladder the least rapid- ly of all. 1. The apprenticeship period. It has been established that the apprenticeship period will be significantly shorter for the better educated and the sponsored. The apprenticeship period for the typical manager consists of from five to eight years in the front office depart- ment plus one or two years in the food and beverage department. He will also spend one or two years in the sales or accounting department, but never both. One year's experience in the sales department is appar- ently worth several years in any other department with regard to rapid accession to management. Housekeeping 1&9 and engineering are usually learned by observation, not work experience. TABLE XLIII TYPE OF SPONSORSHIP AS RELATED TO SEVERAL CAREER VARIABLES Type of Sponsorship Number Median Years in Median Years to Cases Middle Manage- Top Management ment Family (individual sponsorship) l 2 8 Sponsoring individual and hotel system career 3 8 lb System career, no sponsorship h 10 lb Sponsoring individual only 5 ll ll None 7 12 12 Total Number Cases, ' 60 —4- T This ”apprenticeship” period required in the develOp- ment of operating managers is usually identified as working up the ranks. Its pattern, however, is a critical variable in years to reach top management. The necessity for it was recognized early in the es- tablishment of hotel schools and other training pro- grams as noted by the Hawkins report.1 Management 1Layton S. Hawkins, Vocational Education in the Hotel Business. (A report to the American Hotel Association of the United States and Canada, p. 128) 150 rationalizes the necessity for work experience for mem- bers on several grounds. a. Maturity. The hotel manager finds himself handling people at all levels, grades, and sta- tions, both as employees and guests. His is a critical public relations post. b. The code of ethics. The nature of the hotel business is such that there are two codes of con- duct to be followed by the manager. The one is for public consumption, the other for running the business profitably. Much from these codes must be learned through experience. c. Learning the skills. front office training experience is particularly highly regarded among hotelmen. It is extolled with nostalgia by fre- quent comparisons to the vitues and glories of the proprietary innkeeper. There is a real attempt made to borrow the prestige of management and the symbol of the grand host and apply them to the front office worker. Hence, the apprenticeship period is viewed as necessary to acquiring criti- cal public and human relations skills which are accessible only through long experience. The recent rapid rise of the position of the food and beverage department to total gross sales has brought a recog- gnition of training in this department to rational if not emotional equivalency among hotelmen. 151 2. Consistency. Several variables which have not been discussed with regard to number of years to reach top management are type of ownership, size of hotel, and mobility consistency. Since the term ”consistency" as used here refers to the pattern of positions according to the size of the employing these three variables will be discussed together. The mean number of years required to reach the first top management position in the various sized hotels is shown in Table XLIV. TABLE XLIV _COMPARISON OF SIZE OF HOTEL WITH NUMBER OF YEARS REQUIRED TO REACH THE FIRST TOP MANAGEMENT POSITION Hotel Size Years to Top Management Medium 10.6 Large 15.7 t = 5.8 P( .01 The ”t" ratio for the difference (t = 5.8) between the means of the medium and large hotel categories is highly significant with a probability of less than .01. Ownership is also a factor, though somewhat more difficult to appraise. when the proprietary managers are not considered, chain hotels show a tendency to re- quire somewhat more years to achieve top management 152 positions than the independent and dependent hotels. However, none of the differences are significant. Within this framework of hotel size and ownership, “consistency” is the overriding mobility theme. Fig- ure 3 illustrates the careers of two large hotel managers. Career A shows consistency according to size of employing hotels. Career B shows inconsis- tency. This same pattern may be drawn for each of the other categories by hotel size, though not so dramatically. A study of all of the careers when portrayed graphically as in Figure 3, give rise to the following consistency and mobility generalizations. a. Those managers who aspire to the management of a certain sized hotel will probably achieve that goal most quickly by starting and remaining in that size of hotel, as shown in Figure 3, Career A. b. Those managers who attempt to achieve large hotel management via small hotel management will probably have to re-enter and renew their apprentice- ship period in a large hotel, as shown in Figure 3, Career 8. c. Vhen~mobility from manager or a smaller hotel to the larger hotels is achieved, it has usually been preceded.by an apprenticeship experience in a hotel of the larger size. 153 etud Ogdow I 0\\ .I 0 .r___,r ¢ZHBozmemmmzoo .mmmouan .CAsno «eve: Baum .mdn< ”ceausosvm unum .nnn< some n.aems:az s‘fi‘fi:.114w- ,. i _ name» Jx‘lxiuv ,1.l. ,l. : ..4..1.1 .,‘ y. , a V eva>aem .voaasxnc: .uwsaan nAEem K\ ,C_ ceEeuoE \\ .vwaaasn ‘1IiIWIIIIEI1J! , a modem. A , y . ,‘ ..~mo«heao \_ . o “EMS . A ;“ ; :IIIIL. _‘ oeumcm W.»amz ace M‘ ‘ “|l|l _ whoae , saunohm IneMOHm _ mecca» A mwmmdu Pz<0Hth¢Hm mm? @2024 mmHmmZOHHH mmDGHh finned ho nebeu fin. couvaaoonns aceoahucwue huneonanaaeum. ./ codaeaoonna ennsnoamwl l..l.l I .l l neuudnom acefiewacaz acemoam nanneouucoann< codaaosvm Cauuho ucdceem nuocansm ho acsoa<~/ > / /En«8«ano vce ocean uoeaeu eeacdhen e. e / V /\ a I I.:-Ln.l I 1.:oaaaosvm Meascwucoo ‘ / . \ _ \ /. x \ \/ ‘\ / x \\ l. unosaonasm,Amanoeaaaom \ / .> oceaunnom nvmnhevaed R\\x / eaoonH necoaaem seawamA/:,;x // huannnaam seeksOA-;z; // M? :IiHHH‘ , . 4 .< uneven hounded hennamAwf mi- - .\:0Ma«:«uen ebuwfloeam. .. / A nueaom house.— A: 1. / / aaaseao< ‘, / /, one u o h a M a I cansm e sae>< es n4..lillli. / :u «so haauewfl\www :oz 9 r \.\.\\hoceun«ncoo .-;..- ;V-:4 » naneaoecojm \ \.\‘ aeeueo / JZ aceEeMGQMS\NoH otfifiHflHflflii- sausages oases «Mueauao noeoosm choavaosvm emennoo meaneaue> heeueo 178 College education and the assumption of leadership po- sitions are the two career variables which associate signi- ficantly and directly with some success criteria rather than with the two keys only. It remains as a challenge to future research to validate, or refute, with larger samples the concepts operationalized in this study. Other studies may profitably probe behind the scenes in order to determine why these evidences of relation— ship among career variables are present. It is entirely possible that other factors not identified by this study underlie the variables presented here, although these ”evident” career variables have been shown to have tremendous and life- long impact on the careers of this sample of contemporary hotel managers. J. Suggestions for Continuing_5esearch l. The sociological literature describing the relation- ship between origin, education opportunities, and occu- pational level attainments is abundant. The more significant of these were described in the Review of the Literature. However, in the course of this study, a significant relationship between socio-economic origin and the attainment of sponsorship was discovered. A probable, though not statistically significant rela- tionship was described between socio-economic origin and the attainment of an "executive” occupational definition. 179 Those managers having proprietary origins seemed to adhere to a set of values which inhibit their de- veloping a sponsored relationship with significant hotelmen in the upper echelons cf management, or their develOping the ”executive” definition of their occu- pation. The nature of the set of values which inhibits their development as related to socio-economic origin merits analysis based on the data and hypothesis offered in this study. 2. The impact of the manager's occupational definition upon his career was reviewed from several other studies and their hypothesis were defined, adapted, and analyzed for the hotel industry. The real origin and develOp- ment of occupational definition, however, remains ob- scure. This study uncovered a number of probable. contributing factors based on their chronological appearance in the manager's career. Since the occu- pational definition of position appears to have over- riding and pervading influence upon the manager's career, its stability and business success, a longi- tudinal study of the evolution and develOpment of the executive attitude is critically needed. The results of such a study might well have tremendous impact upon preparatory programs for managers and administrators in many fields and at varied levels of sophistication or responsibility. 180 3. Because of the unique nature of the hotel industry, its esoteric occupational ethic, and its extended apprenticeship, the impact of the managerial definition and/or philosOphy of the first several managers upon the management apprentice merits analysis. 4. A number of the managers interviewed in this sample of hotelmen came from a proprietary background and had early proprietary aspirations, but are currently em- ployed managers. These managers were identified as having suffered ”proprietary dienfranchisement.” This group of managers appeared to be less apt to seek new and creative solutions to their business through reading, continuing education, or trade association work. It seems likely, on the basis of the peripheral evidence gathered, that a number of personality variables or perceptual frames of a sterotyped or rigid nature are related. ”Stereotype” and ”rigidity" are here used in the sense of the phenomenological theories of Krech, Crutchfield, Lewin and others.2 It is a reasonable hypothesis that those who have suffered proprietary disenfranchisement, as well as those who had strong proprietary aspirations, have both experienced severely thwarted careers. They may have attempted to achieve znavid Krech, and Richard S. Crutchfield, Theory and Problems of Social Psychology (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1958), p. 639. 181 proprietary goals through management positions, but have slowly discovered its economic inaccessibility. These thwarted aspirations may have shaped life-long frustration patterns which have developed more rigid personality structures than their peers. This psycho- logical variable may well be worthy of analysis as related to its social and economic antecendents in this and other areas of industry. 5. Sponsorship appeared as an important career vari- able which was significantly related to the number of years of formal education. However, many managers without the advantage of formal education attained sponsorship. They were primarily of a non-prorietary origin. It appears then that the ”sponsored" have learned a different set of interpersonal values than the "unsponsored.“ The social-personal values of the "sponsored” versus ”unsponsored” managers may well uncover hidden factors which would aid in the selection of successful management candidates. 6. College education, whether with hotel speciali- zation or without, was not significantly related to the develOpment of the executive definition of occu- pation. Similarly,attention to the content of hotel- keeping, rather than a balanced perspective with public relations, human relations, and equity concerns, was a criterion of the operator's definition. 182 An analysis of college curricula for managers, particularly those offering content subjects and specialization, as compared with the role of the executive definition (which leads to success) is now feasible. Heretofore, the role of the success- ful hotel manager had lacked precise definition. 7. Continuing education related to a number of the attributes of success, as well as to the development of the executive definition of occupation. The con- tinuing education variable appeared to be an expres- sion of some personality differential which was manifest at many different chronological periods. Other studies should be conducted relating continuing education to personality differentials, occupational definition and success criteria. If it is confirmed to carry the impact or to be a manifestation of po- tential to the degree expressed in this study, then it is certainly a critical piece of evidence for those concerned with personnel recruitment, selection and training. 8. Prior to this study, career variables had not been correlated with an overall index of career stability and security. In addition, it was established in this study that the security proportions of an occupational strata is by no means universal and applicable to all industries. Variables which influence career stability 183 are evidently inherent in the individual personality, to various occupational levels, and to broad industrial classifications. These variables merit investigation with regard to their impact on the security of the total career. 9. ‘A convenient method of identifying the executive versus the non-executive oriented individual would be useful in both student and personnel selection. The "executive attitude and expectancies” have been well described and validated in this and other studies. The design of a check list or inventory to identify the more or less executive oriented individuals is both feasible and desirable on the basis of the concept of the executive definition. 10. Career stability, as measured by an analysis of the entire career pattern, was significantly correlated to the managers possessing an executive definition of position. Its influence upon stability appeared to override other differentials such as hotel size and ownership. By inference, stability seemed to be a matter of an ”executive” securing positions allowing for his style of business conduct. A method of analyzing the occu- pational definition of position having been operation- alized, the contrasting definition of the manager's position given by the manager vis-a-vis the owner 18b (whether individual or corporate) bears investigating. This relationship and its differentials may reveal significant insights, not only to career stability, but also management satisfaction and effectiveness. APPENDIX 185 APPENDIX A INTERVIEW SCHEDULE City Population__ Individual Title ‘_ l. The Hotel , (Dependent No.Rooms__ (Independent Rank (System 2. % transient % residential % 3. % convention business % h. Average annual occupancy % 5. Who (positions) reports to you directly? , f O __ f 6. Do you have a financial interest in this hotel? % '7. Comparison % food sales , room sales___ . EL As you are acquainted with managers, what influences would you say go farthest in spelling success in their careers? ‘ 5?. If a friend's son, a pleasant, intelligent young man, asked your advice as to how he could become a hotel manager, what would your suggestions be? 1C). Tell me about your career, starting with your last year of school. Experience beginning after public school. Job Title Duration Hotel Size City 11-. Schooling? (1-16) years. If college, name . Major field Other schooling (short courses, military, correspondence, evening school, etc.) Course Length Institution Oqu'UNI-I e 186 Interview Schedule Page 2 12. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. What kind of work were you planning on pursuing when you finished school? After entering the hotel business what kind of position was your goal and ambition? Did you receive any on-the-job training not discussed previously? Was it worthwhile? (If not, why) When thinking through your work, how do you define your position and re3ponsibilities? To whom do you feel di- rectly responsible? Whom would you consult in making a major change? How long at present position? Years? Looking ahead a few years, have you thought of any other management positions that you would like to achieve? what kind? How do you expect to achieve it? As you see the hotel industry today, how would you rank these areas of concern to our business? (use cards) Now tell me about yourself: Where born and raised (Rural or city dwelling) Father's primary work Father's schooling (1-16) Mother's schooling (1-16) Age now . Marital status _fl, . No. children . Present residence (city, suburban, hotel, other) Approximate cash income: $5,000 and under $10,000 - 15,000 5,000 - 7,500 15,000 and above Non-cash benefits: business expenses residence meals ___other Church affilation Member ? No . What hotel and professional organizations do you belong to: 187 Interview Schedule Page 3 2h. 25. 26. 27. 28. Name No. Years Offices Held 1. 2. 3. h. 5. What professional and business journals or magazines do you follow regularly? What is your favorite kind of general business reading? What kind of education and jobs would you like your children to go after? To what civic and fraternal organizations do you belong? Name No. fears Offices Held l. 2. 3. h. 5. If you were asked to write the qualifications for the manager of a fine room hotel, what would be the first four requirements you would list? 1. I'l-‘orced choice cards, 188 APPENDIX B Questionnairet If you were to pick the weakest links in hotels today, which technical phase would you point to? Select and order from weakest (l) to strongest (6), 1-6 inclusive a. b. Ce d. e. Accounting Food and Beverage Sales Maintenance and Engineering Housekeeping Front Office the greatest organizational weakness of hotels Select and order from weakest (l) to strongest (6), 1-6 inclusive a. b. Ce de 0e f. Total public relations Human relations and personnel management Management controls and policy Long-range planning and market analysis Real departmental level know-how Financing and Capitalization Our industry‘s greatest problem 15.... 3e be Ce de Governmental regulation and restrictions Motel and other competition Labor and unionism Hotel public relations and hotel prestige Interview, Item 17. 189 APPENDIX C Letter of Introduction Mr. Wesley Schmidt, a member of our staff and director of the American Hotel Institute (which is housed at Michigan (State University), is doing research for his doctoral disser- -mtation. He is attempting to establish a ”success profile" of‘leading hotelmen. As part of this study, Mr. Schmidt anticipates inter- iriewing approximately sixty leading hotel executives. Each .interview will take approximately one hour. .I believe that tnae study he is conducting will be of value as source material t1) educators, students, and hotelmen. Before long, Mr. Schmidt will be contacting you to re- CNJest an interview. The time you give Mr. Schmidt will be a‘Pprec iated . Cordially yours , JOseph W. Thompson, Director S<=hool of Hotel, Restaurant arki Institutional Management 190 APPENDIX D Introduction of Career Study to the Interyieweg "Mr. , the industry, the American Hotel Assoc- iation, and each of us are interested in properly guiding in- creasing numbers of young peOple into this field. However, whenever this question of what should prospective hotelmen know or how should they be guided comes up at one of our hotel association meetings. You hear as many answers as there are hotelmen present. As a result of considerable discussion involving edu- cators, sociologists, psychologists, and our own hotel manage- ment staff, we have decided to find out what successful managerial careers look like. As a result of a research grant, I am asking sixty hotelmen in all kinds and sizes of hotels to trace their careers for me and to give me their opinion on several management problems. Let's begin with your early life. Tell me where you were born and raised, received your schooling, and how you came into this business.” 191 APPENDIX E All Variables Examined-~According to Numerical and Qualitative Factors Numerical Variables 1. Hotel class, according to size 2. Order of interview 3. Interviewer evaluation of hotel quality (1 to 5) h. Population of hotel city 5. Number of hotel rooms 6. Per cent of transient rooms available 7. Per cent convention business conducted 8. Per cent average annual occupancy 9. Number of department heads 10. Per cent of food sales to total sales 11. Per cent of room sales to total sales 12. Business activity index 13. Number of years front-office work experience 1%. Number of years sales department work experience 15. Number of years food and beverage work experience 16. Number of years accounting work experience 17. Number of years engineering work experience 18. Number of years housekeeping work experience 19. Number of years in present position 20. Number of different employers 21. Total number of years non-hotel work 22. Number of years in manual work experience 23. Number of years middle-management, clerical, and sales work 2h. Number of years to reach top management 25. Number of years in top management 26. Number of years in hotel proprietorship 27. Number of years in non-hotel proprietorship 28. Number of years in all trial positions 29. Number of years in all stable positions 30. Number of different employers in stable work periods 31. Number of years in non-hotel management 32. Number of years in education 33. The trial-stable number of years in trial and stable positions 3h. The trial-stable work experience ratio under 20 years 35. Manager's years of education, coded by classes 36. The difficulty ranking of the following departmental and technical problems: a. accounting b. food and beverage c. sales II. 37. 38. 39. no. bl. hz. uj. an. #5. n6. #7. 08. #9. 50. 192 Variables Page 2 d. maintenance e. housekeeping f. front-office The strength-weakness ranking of six management functions: a. public relations b. human relations c. management d. planning e. know-how f. financing The intensity ranking of four industry-wide problems: a. government regulation b. motel and other competitions c. labor and unionism d. hotel prestige and public relations Home town size in classes Father's years of formal schooling Mother's years of formal schooling Respondent's age Respondent's number of children Income in classes Number of professional journals read Number of professional association memberships Number of professional association offices held Number of offices in state, regional, or national trade associations (the hotel field) Hours per week spent in business reading Number of offices held in civic and fraternal or- ganizations Qualitative Variables 1. 2. 3. u. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Hotel city Hotel state Kind of hotel ownership Management's financial interest in hotel Continuing education participation Style of sponsor Career profile of chain hotel work Geographic regions of hotel work, other than Midwest Geographic region of work prior to the present po- sition Range of hotel size work in total career Career stability family Type of college attended Curriculum in college 193 Qualitative Variables Page 3 lb. 15. 16. 17. i8. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 2h. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 320 33. 315. 35. 36e 37. 38. 39. Extent of hotel short course participation Extent of executive develOpment program partici- pation Extent of general business shert course partici- pation Hotel subject's comment, night school Real estate courses, night school General business courses, night school Personal development subjects, night school Aspiration on entering the job market Aspiration on entering the hotel field Type of on-the-job training Occupational concept and definition Specific career management emphasis Future career expectation Future career achievement methods Evaluated expectation of the manager Manager's marital status Place of residence Fringe benefits Types of professional journals read Religious affiliations Religious membership Professional association memberships Types of business leadership Educational aspirations for children Civic and fraternal memberships Preparation factors in hotel management a. an inquiring attitude b. personality development--integrity, charac- ter, and stability c. personality development--adaptable and at- tractive d. leadership and supervisory experience e. practical operating experience in the front office department f. practical operating experience in the food and beverage department g. sales and public relations experience h. managerial and accounting experience 1. college training in hotel administration J. college preparation in general k. experience in a large hotel organization, preferably a chain 1. attained financial backing m. good luck and timing n. experience in a small hotel 0. ambition and hard work p. a profit motivated attitude and willingness to take chances 194 Qualitative Variables Page h 00. hi. 142. 03. an. us. #6. “7. Preparation factors, first mention Preparation factors, second mention Operating factors a. b. Ce do 9e f. ge he 1. j. ke 1e me "e 0e p. q. intelligence and creativity personality--integrity, character, and stability personality--adaptable and attractive leadership ability leadership and personnel manageability front office operations ability food and beverage Operations ability sales and public relations ability business management ability college training in hotel administration college training in general proved performance and established repu- tation financial backing good luck and fortune eXperience in a small hotel driving ambition and ability to work long, hard hours strongly profit motivated and willingness to gamble Operating factors, first mention Operating factors, second mention Factors considered critical to succeSs, according to the following categorization: a. b. Ce de e. {e ge h. i. J. k. 1. me "0 0e Success intelligence, creativity, or inquiring atti- tude personality--integrity, character, and sta- bility personality--adaptab1e and attractive leadership and personnel management ability front office management ability food and beverage management ability sales on public relations ability business management ability college-~hotel administration collegeo-general contacts and influential pull financial backing good luck and fortune ambition and hard work strongly profit motivated and willingness to gamble factors, first mention Success factors, second mention 195 APPENDIX E Measuring the OCCUpational Security of Hotel Managers A career pattern may be viewed as containing three interrelated factors: 1. The amount of vertical mobility as measured by the upward or downward movement on the occupational scale irrespective of the working site. 2. The amount of horizontal mobility as measured by the changes of employment within the same occu- pational classification. 3. Ecological mobility which may best be viewed as physical occupational migration. In this discussion, we will not be concerned with ec- ological mobility as a function of stability. Miller and Form in their study "Measuring Patterns of Occupational Security” pursue the hypothesis (among others) that ”job stability is associated with white collar workers..."1 Each job held was classified as falling into initial, trial, or stable work period: "1. Initial work period. The earliest work period we have called the initial work period. It consists of all part-time or full-time paid jobs that an individual holds up to the time that he completes his formal education... 1Delbert C. Miller and William H. Form, "Measuring Pat- terns of Occupational Security,” Sociometry, Vol. X, (New York: Beacon House, Inc., l9h7), p. 363. 196 Trial work period. Usually after school is com- pleted, the respective worker “shops around” for a job. Often he is not sure of the type of job he desires...he may have to go through a number of training jobs somewhat, as an apprentice, be- fore he secures the work he wants. The jobs in this period usually last from a few days to three or four years...jobs were classified as trial when there was movement from an OCCUpation or work plant within a three-year period. Stable workkperiod. Although the third period is called the stable period, it may occur and disappear a number of times in the life of the worker. It may occur late or early in the work history. Indeed, it may never occur for some workers. A stable job is any job on which the worker remains within a given work plant (for hotel managers, the given chain or corporation was considered as the same work plant) for three years or more. The assumption made here is that the worker has found a relatively permanent job and that he has 'settled down'... The subjective factor in classifying jobs is ini- tial, trial or stable is small if the classifi- cation criteria are carefully followed. Two raters working independently found over 95 per cent agreement in classification. The greatest part of the disagreement lies in determining whether the job is initial or trial because in some instances it is difficult to be certain whether the worker has terminated his formal education.”2 Miller and Form further contend that career patterns can be drawn and analyzed according to the sequence of the initial, trial, and stable periods of the job history.3 By reference to the accompanying chart (adapted from Miller and Form) all the careers in this study were cate- gorized from career diagrams. It is the hypothesis of this sub-study that the careers of hotel managers can be zlblde, p. 36u-50 31bid., p. 370. 197 reliably classified by independent raters using the following table as a guide to categorization. TABLE VI CAREER FAMILIES FOR ANALYSIS OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT CAREER PATTERNS .— Career Family—— Job Sequence lajor Defining Char- __g _ Associated *_ _wwtactsristics Stable Stable Early entrance into sta- Initial-Stable-Trial- ble job. Stable Stable-Trial-Stable Initial-Stable Conventional Initial-Trial-Stable The ”normal” and "sec- Initial-Trial-Stable- ially expected” job Trial-Stable progression to a stable Trial-Stable job. Unstable Trial-Stable-Trial Return to a trial job Initial-Trial-Stable- after attaining stabil- Trial ity through the conven- Trial-Multiple Stable- Multiple Trial- Multiple Stable Sustained Trials Trial-Trial-Trial- Stable Disestablished Stable-Trial Initial-Stable-Trial Multiple Trial Trial-Trial-Trial tional pattern. Multi- ple returns to trial jobs after early attain- ment of the ”convention- al” job family pattern. A sustained series of trial positions (10 years or more) prior to obtain~ ing present stable posi- tion or series of stable positions. Return to a trial job(s) after quick attainment of stable job. Consecutive trial jobs with no stable job as yet attained. “Adapted from Miller and Form, Industrial Sociology (New York: Harper & Bros., 1951), p. 712.__ SSince this study included no workers who fit the single trial category of Miller and Form, and since many workers 198 Two of the independent raters (the writer and William H. Form) classified the career patterns of the sixty hotel managers contained in this study according to the six cate- gories shown on the chart. These independent ratings were compared as a measure of the reliability of the classifi- cation. There was absolute agreement in 63.3 per cent of cases and relative agreement (difference by one category) in 86.6 per cent of cases between the two raters. The rank- order correlation was +.59. indicating a relative lack of directionality in the disagreements. 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