Man In India, 96 (9) : 3071-3077
© Serials Publications
A STUDY ON TRAINING AND COMPETENCY
DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES IN
HOTEL INDUSTRY
Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan1 and Dharmaraj Arumugam2
For a service sector organization, High quality services are essential to survive in any competition.
Human resource activities in hotel industry are not just a human touch and serve with smile but
they require creativeness, problem handling and systematic thinking. Present competitive
environment goads on the organization to recruit the candidate with relevant competencies and it
is a great challenge for them to enhance their competencies to survive in competition. Training is
crucial in ensuring the effectiveness and quality of all these practices. In any organization, training
has a big impact on all the HR practices. The training for competency development identifies the
training needs across key behavioral and technical competencies. The gaps between the individual’s
capacity and requirement of the current and future roles have been identified and rectified through
training programmes. This paper intends to reveal the impact of training programme on competency
development on hotel industry.
Key words: Training, competency, competency development, hotel industry.
1. INTRODUCTION
Research on human resource management began in manufacturing sector and now
it has become more important in service sector. Due to globalization, services
of very high quality become imperative to survive in competitive environment.
High quality services naturally seek highly committed human resources. Hoque,
K. (1999) stated that service sector is rather heterogeneous, comprising financial
companies, retailing operation, transport operations and of course, the tourism and
hospitality industries1. The tourism industry is the major employer of skilled labour
and also provides scope for unskilled and semi-skilled labour. Human resource is
the key for the organizational success. Schneider, B. (1994) found that management
of human resources involves a complex process of designing policies, practices
and procedures of organizations for recruiting, motivating, developing and retaining
employees2.
Human resource activities in hotel industry are not just a human touch and
serve with smile but it requires creativeness, problem handling and systematic
thinking. So selecting right candidate for right position is a challenging task which
requires well defined recruitment and selection procedures. HRD activities do not
just end with placing a right candidate on right job. It includes effective practices
1
2
Ph.D Resarch Scholar, Karpagam University (Karpagam Academy of Higher Education),
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu – 641 021, India.
Associate Professor, Department of Management, Karpagam University (Karpagam Academy of
Higher Education), Coimbatore, Tamilnadu – 641 021, India
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in work environment, communication, staffing, managing performance, training,
compensation, competency development, career development, team building and
culture development. Training is crucial in ensuring the effectiveness and quality
of all these practices. In any organization, training has a big impact on all the HR
practices.
1.1. Training in hotel Industry
Training programmes are very common in hotel industries. Many hotels understand
the importance of human resource development, motivation, satisfaction and their
retention. Training covers implementing effective behavioral interventions which
require that all those involved in the intervention are thoroughly knowledgeable
about and competent in the use of specific intervention techniques. Ajeet Kumar
Lal Mohan and Dharmaraj, A. (2015) has explained about the HR practices in
hotel industry and has stated how the personnel are the backbone of the quality in
service, and the need for training to the hotel employees of various categories.
Through the reviews the significance of the training to employees is sketched out.
The advantages of training employees have been recorded. As hotel management
is the combination of technical and professional skills, an employee who is efficient
in technical side may not cope with professional attributes. This gap is particularly
filled by suitable training and development methods. Training methods are reframed
time to time according to the need and the behavioral aspects of human force. The
quality of service retains the customers and makes the business profitable. The
efficiency of employees decides the quality of service. The efficiency of employees
depends upon the various training and development programs offered to them
time to time. Hence, it conclusively proves that training is an indispensable aspect
of HR practices in the hotel industry3.
As recruitment and selection places candidate as per the job requirements,
training prepares employee performs job effectively that will lead to best customer
satisfaction in hotel industry. In hotel industry, different employee levels require
specific training methods to enhance their job-related capabilities. Operational
staff requires on-the-job training. So they can learn by working with their
supervisor or training manager. In addition, Lanier et al. (2010) suggested job
rotation as an effective training tool. This cross-training method of career
development not only provides trainees with a higher understanding of the
operation, but also raises levels of job satisfaction, and provides cost effective
ways for a company to manage its human resources4. In-house training is the
most suitable method for department managers that will limit the time spent on
outside hotels and also general and departmental managers can enhance their
knowledge by participating in seminars, workshops and conferences. The
important issues that are notable in hotel industries are language training, guest
relations and selling skills4.
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1.2. Competencies needed in Hotel Industry
Present competitive environment spurs the organization to recruit the candidates
with relevant competencies and also it is a great challenge for them to enhance
their competencies to survive in competition.
Gamble et al. (1994) stated that according to the diverse nature of the hospitality
industry, it is not easy to precisely define what skills and competencies a hospitality
management graduates may need5. Tas et al. (1996) asserted that graduates should
have a multi-skills base, which allows them to be creative, flexible and adaptable 6.
Employees in the hotel industry should meet specific professional standards to be
effective in the position. These standards will enhance the organization to offer
services to clients and customers in an effective manner. These standards are
normally called as competencies.
The essential competency in hotel industry includes an ability to communicate
in an efficient manner and exhibit a high degree of professionalism at all times.
Moreover, Baum, T. (1990) identified the following as the most important
competencies for employees in hotel industries: Management of guest problems
with understanding and sensitivity, Effective communication in both written and
oral form, Achievement of positive working relationships with employees,
Professional appearance and poise, Development of positive customer relations
and Motivations of employees to achieve desired performance 7.
2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Key competencies are important for organizational success. Negligence of employee
competencies and their development will affect the productivity and profitability
of an organization. Competency Development constantly enhances the capability
of the workforce to perform their assigned tasks and responsibilities. Hence it is
crucial for any organization to concentrate on competency development.
Competency development training is essential for any organization for improving
its productivity. Such training identifies the training needs across key behavioral
and technical competencies. The gaps between the individual’s capacity and
requirement of the current and future roles have been identified and rectified through
training programmes.
2.1. Objective of the study
This research study has aimed to reveal the impact of training programme on
competency development on hotel industry.
2.2. Research Methodology
300 employees under different levels from five hotels have been selected using
stratified random sampling method. Thus 60 employees from each hotel have been
chosen. The survey instrument has been designed with Likert scale to ascertain the
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employee perception about the competency development, proposed training
programmes, appropriateness of such programmes for competency development,
effectiveness of training programmes and the improvements and employee
expectation on competency development training.
2.3. Research Hypothesis
The research hypotheses tested in this study are:
Hypothesis1: The adopted training programmes are associated with competency development
needed in hotel industry
Hypothesis 2: The adopted training programmes have improved the competencies of different
level of employees.
Hypothesis 3: Ranking of the employees’ expectation on training on specific competencies
is significant among the employees
3. DATA ANALYSIS
3.1. Association of adopted Training programmes and competency
Development
The hypothesis 1 has been tested using chi-square test. This is Non-Parametric test
which is used to find the association between two variables9. Here, it has analyzed
the relationship between training and competency development.
TABLE 1: CHI-SQUARE TEST ON TRAINING AND COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT
Chi-Square
Pearson Chi-Square
N of Valid Cases
Value
df
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
145.410
300
3
.000
Source: Primary Data
The output table shows that the significance value is 0.00 which is less than
0.05. The result implies at 95 per cent confidence that the adopted training
programmes are associated with competency
3.2. Improvement of competencies after training
The hypothesis 2 has been tested using the Wilcoxon test. It is a Non-Parametric
test that compares two paired groups. It calculates the difference between each set
of pairs, and analyzes that list of differences9.
Table 2 shows that the negative ranks have been zero. No one has given his
opinion as Competency development after training has been less than Competency
development before training. Positive ranks have shown that 264 accepted that
Competency development after training has been greater than Competency
development before training. 36 of the respondents have felt that Competency
development after training has been equal to Competency development before
training.
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TABLE 2: WILCOXON MATCHED PAIR TEST RESULT FOR COMPARING
COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT
Competency
development after
training –
competency development
before training
N
Mean Rank
Sum of Ranks
Negative Ranks
Positive Ranks
0 (a)
264 (b)
.00
44.50
.00
11746
Ties
Total
36 (c)
300
Source: Primary Data
a. Competency development after training < Competency development before training
b. Competency development after training > Competency development before training
c. Competency development after training = Competency development before training
TABLE 3: TEST STATISTICS OF WILCOXON MATCHED PAIR TEST FOR
COMPARING EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION
Test Statistics(b)
Z
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)
Competency development after training – competency
development before training
-7.213(a)
.000
Source: Primary Data
From table 3, the significance value of 0.00 is less than 0.05. At 95 per cent
confidence level, the adopted training programmes have improved the competencies
of different level of employees.
3.3. Employees’ expectation on training on specific competencies
The hypothesis 3 has been tested using the Kendall’s co-efficient of concordance
test. This test is a Non-Parametric test several related samples from the same
population which measure the agreement of raters10.
Kendall’s co-efficient of concordance test has been used to check whether
there is any significant agreement in the ranking of the employees’ expectation on
training on specific competencies.
TABLE 4: KENDALL’S W TEST FOR RANKING OF THE EMPLOYEES’ EXPECTATION
ON TRAINING ON SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES
Mean Rank
Motivational training to achieve desired performance
Guidance for exploring International scope
Interpersonal training to maintain positive working relationships with employees
Management of guest problems with understanding and sensitivity
Communications ability
Technical training concerning the knowledge and skills essential to producing
the product or service
Ethical awareness
Development of positive customer relations
Source: Primary Data
1.26
8.03
5.21
4.01
6.03
2.32
7.20
3.3
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TABLE 5: KENDALL’S W TEST FOR EMPLOYEES’ EXPECTATION ON TRAINING ON
SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES - TEST STATISTICS
N
Kendall’s W(a)
Chi-Square
Df
Asymp. Sig.
300
.832
1127.209
7
.000
Source: Primary Data
Table 5 shows that the value of the Kendall’s W has been 0.832 and the
significance level has been 0.000. This significance value has been less than 0.05.
It clearly shows that there is a highly positive agreement between the respondents
regarding ranking of the employees’ expectation on training on specific
competencies at 95 percent confidence level.
From the table 4, it can be concluded that Motivational training to achieve
desired performance got the ranking First, Technical training concerning the
knowledge and skills essential to producing the product or service got the ranking
second, Development of positive customer relations got the ranking third,
Management of guest problems with understanding and sensitivity got the ranking
forth. Interpersonal training to maintain positive working relationships with
employees got the ranking fifth, Communications ability got the ranking sixth,
Ethical awareness got the ranking seventh and Guidance for exploring International
scope got the eight ranking.
4. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
From the study, it has been found that the appropriate training programmes for
competency development adopted in most hotels and those training programmes
have brought improvements to employees’ competencies. But employees have
been expecting more training programmes on motivational training, guidance for
international scope, technical training and interpersonal training.
The training on any human resources practice would bring improvements to
the productivity of the organization. Customer requirements and expectation will
differ on changing environment and needs. So employers of the hotel industries
should understand these changes and identify the competencies needed for the
employees to fulfil these changes. Appropriate training programmes should be
designed to develop these identified competencies.
References
Hoque, K. (1999). Human resource management and performance in the UK hotel industry.
British Journal of Industrial Relations, 37(3), 419-443.
Schneider, B.(1994). HRM - A service perspective. International Journal of Service Industry
Management, 5(1), 64-76.
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Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan., Dharmaraj, A. (2015). Training – An Imperative Hr Practice In Hotel
Industry, International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, 5(12), 96 – 103.
Lanier, D., Jackson, F. H., Lanier, R. (2010). Job rotation as a leadership development tool.
Consortium Journal of Hospitality & Tourism, 14(2), 21-25.
Gamble, P. R., Lockwood, A., Messenger, S. (1994). European management skills in the
hospitality industry. European Hospitality Management, HCIMA conference proceedings,
Amsterdam: 25-26 March.
Tas, R. F., LaBrecque, S. V. and Clayton, H. R. (1996). Property management competencies for
management trainees The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 37(4),
90-96.
Baum, T. (1990). Competencies for hotel management: industry expectation of education.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 2(4), 13-16.
Kothari, C. R. (2001). Research Methodology – methods & techniques, New Delhi: Wishwa
Prakashan, 2001, p. 238.
Kothari. C. R. (2005). Research Methodology Methods & Techniques, New Delhi, New Age
International (P) Limited, Publishers, 2005, 291.
Tutorial – Kendal’s W Defined, SPSS 20.0 for Window.