Human Resource Planning in Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example

Running head: Human Resource planning in Hospitality Industry Human Resource planning in Hospitality Industry s Name] Processes and procedures of Recruitment and selection: Human resource planning plays an important role in successfully undertaking the process of job fillings despite the short qualified resources. It enables the organisations to undertake effective learning processes, which are inevitable in this era of changing technology where the organisations have to keep on updating in order to in order to keep the pace with the changing technology. Through the process of human resource planning the problems of conflict resolution between the objectives of employees and organisation can be effectively solved. Through effective human resource planning the organisational objectives can be aligned with the objectives of employees. It is through the Human resource planning process the extended personnel costs can be reduced by anticipating shortages and surpluses. Human resource planning provide informed base for planning employee development (Human resource planning). Human resource planning covers all the aspects of matters related to the organisation personnel from recruiting and selecting to staffing, training, employee involvement, empowerment and conflict resolution. The first and most important task undertaken by the Human resource department is the recruitment of the employees. It is important to identify the position's requirement before undertaking the task of recruitment. This in turn helps to find the most suitable candidate. Better selection of the employee leads to the performance improvement of the firm. In case of recruitment and selection process the firm and the employee exchange information. The firm provides the candidates with the information regarding the objective of the company and the tasks related to the job. On the other hand the candidate describe his capabilities. The main purpose of the business and the organisation is to project the positive image of the firm, highlight the benefits attached to the job and the future prospects of development in the organisation in shape of promotion and increase in compensation. The process overdone can lead to higher and unrealistic expectations of employees, which can lead to the lower efficiency and output level in case of the lower expectations fulfilment. On the other hand the management should elicit from all the applicants an objective demonstration of their knowledge, skills, abilities aptitudes motivation and past performance. (Koontz and Weihrich, 1993) There are two sources of employees' recruitment, which can be classified, as internal and external. By filling a job position from the internal source i.e. by transferring or promoting an employee has a positive effect on the morale of the employee the candidate has relatively more information regarding the job process. So it is relatively beneficial to undertake internal recruiting prior to external recruiting. In case the present employees cannot fulfil the job specifications than the firm must go to external sources or in other case if the firm needs workforce expansion. The firms are available with several outside sources to attract the candidates. First and the most important source are the advertising. The companies give their advertisement in the media read only with the information about the company; the job specification can be included in the ad to permit some self-screening. Second important source is the job postings on the company web site. Since the advent of the information technology most of the firms have their official presence on the Internet in shape of web sites. There is a special section on these web sites, which provide information about the company and the job requirements, and the current job postings needed to be filled by the company. The job application forms can also be filled online and after the application form analysis by the company management short listed candidates are contacted. Third are the employment agencies. These act as middlemen between the firm and the candidates and provide the matching between the skills of the candidates and staffing needs of the firm. Most often present employees also recommend new employees. This source is beneficial since the present employee knows the culture, job requirements and acquaintance. This has been an effective source of obtaining employees from several years. With the increasing specialisation of schools and colleges in the specific fields the companies find it easier to recruit the fresh candidates direct from these institutions for the matching field. For this purpose most firms establish good relation ships with the faculty and administration of these institutions. Some firms introduce internship programs and training facilities to get the top-notch employees with high level of self-motivation and enthusiasm. Casual applicants are also a much-used source of personnel. Another important source, which is prevailing since last few years, is the leasing of employees to adjust shot term fluctuations in the personnel needs. With undertaking the practice firms can attract well-trained and highly skilled personnel by avoiding obligations such as pensions insurance and other fringe benefits (Flippo, 1983). Errors in selection can lead to the incompetence of the person and the job. The process of selection includes interviews, proficiency tests, intelligence tests, vocational tests and personality tests. Assessment centre helps the employees to undertake various exercises related to the workplace situation. References Flippo, Edwin B., (1983). Personnel Management, Fifth Edition, Mc Graw- Hill Inc., Singapore. Human Resource Planning: Importance and Purpose, available at http://cpe.njit.edu/dlnotes/HRM/HRM606/HRM606-5p.pdf#search='importance%20of%20human%20resource%20planning' Koontz, H., & Weihrich, H., (1994). Management: A Global Perspective, Tenth Edition, Mc Graw- Hill International Editions Employment Relationship An employee contract is an important document, which is the basis of the relationship between the employee and the employer. A contract is made between both the parties when the employee agrees to work according to certain conditions offered by the employer. The contract contains all the details related to the scope of job and the benefits the employee will enjoy being on job. Some of the rights are recommended by the Government and are imposed on the employers by law. Some of the laws are implemented with the passing time. One such law enables the employee to undertake claims to an Employment Tribunal after the service of a year in case of unjustified dismissal of the employee from the job. It is better to undertake the agreement in written form although there is no legal obligation for the contract to be necessarily in written form but "the following details must be included in the written statement: the employer's name the employee's name the job title or a brief job description the date employment began(9) the place of work and the address of the employer the amount of pay and the interval between payments hours of work holiday pay entitlement sick pay arrangements pension arrangements notice periods where the employment is not permanent, the period it is expected to continue where the employment is for a fixed term, the date when it is to end grievance and appeal arrangements disciplinary rules and any disciplinary or dismissal procedures (as a minimum these should comply with the statutory procedures) any collective agreements which directly affect the terms and conditions where the person is required to work outside the UK for more than one month: the period he/she is to do so; the currency in which salary will be paid; any additional remuneration payable by reason of working outside the UK; and any terms and conditions relating to his/her return to the UK." (acas) Employers should get the signature of the employee on the copy of the contract or the handbook in order to make it sure that the employees have read and understood the regulations and he/she will comply the rules and regulations. Employees should also pay particular attention to disciplinary policies. Clearly drafted work rules that are adhered to consistently are an important component of an employer's disciplinary policy. Such work rules can be used to defend against unemployment compensation claims as well as discrimination and wrongful discharge claims. Another important concept, which plays an important role in the relation ship of employee and the employer, is the psychological contracts. Rousseau has done the most important and modernised research in the field of psychological contracts. She has transformed the concept and carried out empirical research to clarify its nature. Schien defines psychological contracts as "unwritten set of expectations operating at all times between every member of an organisation and the various managers and others in that organisation". Rousseau does not keeps the things till expectations she defines it further and states that what is involved are "promissory and reciprocal obligations" although they are not included in the formal contract of employment (Robinson and Rousseau, 1994; italics ours). The commitments about the future behaviour of the organisation are related to some desired actions of individuals. Rousseau states that these promises are not made by the organisations but are perceived by the individual about the future behaviour of the organisation. The nature of these promises is subjective resulting due to the interpretation of the actions of organisation. When a person start serving an organisation he enters into a relationship with the organisation. Any particular psychological contract will contain both transactional and relational elements, but in differing amounts. As will be seen, the nature of this balance, and changes to it, has considerable effects. It is often argued that the psychological contract, influence the relationship between the employee and the organisation, although the effect will not be significantly apparent. Robinson et al. (1994), for example, found that employees experiencing contract violation are more likely to report having a transactional psychological contract with their employing organisation. Robinson et al. (1994) found that the violations of the psychological contract adversely effect the loyalty of the employees towards their employers. The employment law of UK provides the employees with the right of complain to the Tribunal in case of unfair dismissal. The law is applicable to the employees who have one year of continuous service. In some cases such as participation in trade union activities, for being the election candidate, statutory right assertion by the employee, emphasising the need of action on health and safety grounds, because of pregnancy or childbirth or taking parental leave no service duration is required. Employees have the right to receive one-week notification before dismissal after one-year service. Two weeks notification after two years service and additional one week per year of the job. Disciplining employees is not an easy job. No organisation can survive without the proper discipline process in the organisation. Confrontation is not welcomed in most of the organisations. Mistakes in the disciplinary process can lead to legal problems. Disciplining employees requires that the employees and company comply with legal requirements and with organisation's policy and procedure. A disciplinary process undertaken effectively can lead to improved working conditions and productivity level and help to reduce the chances of conflict between the employee and the employer. Justice should be taken into consideration while implementing the disciplinary procedure in the organisation. There should be no discrimination between the legally protected and not protected classes. Practising inconsistent discipline measures can lead to discrimination complaints. Most of the companies provide the employees with the handbooks, which have major details about the company's policies and discipline procedures and describe the duties of the employees. Through the effective use of handbook the policies of the firm can effectively communicated with the employees. It is an important instrument, which makes sure the alignment of firm's disciplinary policies with the employment laws. Disciplinary and Grievance procedure: A three-step grievance and disciplinary procedure regulations should be undertaken while dealing with the matters such as dismissal and reallocation of the duties after a long absence. The three steps include the issuance of letter of information by the employer in the case of any disciplinary action on the other hand the employee should also send a letter of information to the employer in case of the grievance process by the employee. Secondly a meeting should be arranged and time should be given to both the parties for the preparation. The employer should inform the employee about their rights to appeal. Third step is the arrangement of appeal meeting if required by the employee. References Martin searle solicitors, Making sense of employment law http://www.ms-solicitors.co.uk/employment_law/discipline.html Acas, The employment contract, available at http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspxarticleid=928 Robinson, S.L., Kratz, M.S., Rousseau, D.M. (1994), "Changing obligations and the psychological contract: a longitudinal study", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 37 pp.137-52. Rousseau, D.M. (1990), "New hire perceptions of their own and their employer's obligations: a study of psychological contracts", Journal of Organisational Behaviour, Vol. 11 pp.389-400. Schein, E.H. (1980), Organisational Psychology, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Methods of developing human resource Motivation means different things to different individuals. For some, it may be an incentive and for others, a psychological backing or setting a good example. Motivation is something abstract and the difficulties arise when one tries to explain its meaning and application. A wide variety of assumptions have been made on motivation by observing the resultant behaviour of motivation. Based on these assumptions and research findings, motivation has been defined in a number of ways. Vroom defines motivation as a process, which governs choices made by persons or lower organisms among alternative forms of voluntary activity. (Vroom, 1964) Motivations are the act of inducing an individual to follow a desired course of action. The desired course of action may be for the good of the individual or for the one who is inducing the individual towards a desired course of action or both. Zedeck and blood contend that motivation is a predisposition to act in a specific goal-directed way. (Sedeck & Blood, 1974) According to Atchison: Motivation is the immediate influence on the direction, vigor, and persistence of behaviour. (Atchison, 1964) Gellerman defines motivation as steering one's actions towards certain goals and committing a certain part of one's energies to reach them. (Gellerman, 1963) In the view of Shartle, motivation is "a reported urge or tension to move in a given direction or to achieve a certain goal. (Shartle, 1956) Motivation can make the employees get all the targets settled by the Organisations. In the case of ACTAVIS the managers should also make the most of the Maslow's needs satisfaction theory which is the base of motivating an individual. In order to motivate the employees it is important for the company to understand the basic needs of the employees. Employee Wants: Just as the definition of basic human needs is a highly complex task, it naturally follows that there are no easy assumptions concerning what employees really want from the organisation. In various surveys, the following are some of the more typically specified wants: Pay: This want helps in satisfying physiological, security, and egoistic needs. The design of a monetary compensation system is exceedingly complex since it serves to satisfy multiple needs and cannot alone motivate the whole person. Security of job: Because of threats from technological change, this want is high on the list or priorities for many employees and labour unions. The underlying need of general security is also high on the list of priorities in the suggested need hierarchy of Maslow. As Locke (1976) put forward a theory of motivation based on goal setting. The individuals in the company can be motivated by setting goal as Goal Theory suggest that it is the goal that an individual is aiming for which motivates, rather than just the satisfaction of attaining it. Locke's view is that what a person values or desires determines the goals he sets for himself, but that what actually drives him (motivates him) are the goals themselves. Locke's own researches indicated that individual performance was better when people had been set specific goals of a challenging or difficult nature, and when they received feedback on their performance. This approach clearly has implications for the practice of management-by-objectives of target setting. Which relies for its success on the mutual agreement of specific goals between a manager and his subordinate. A modern and a more permanent approach to motivation are through job enrichment. This involves putting meaning into jobs. In other words, it is putting Herzberg's two-factor theory into effect by building motivators into the job. These motivators include achievement, growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition. A number of research studies have indicated that the job content is an important factor in motivating people. So the content of a routine or repetitive task must be restructured to provide motivation to the performer of that job. One way of restructuring the job is through job enrichment, or making jobs more meaningful. If a manager can include more of Herzberg's motivators, people who perform such jobs utilise their skills and potentials to the best of their abilities and be more productive on the job. Thus, the jobs would be richer and not just bigger. Hence the use of the term job enrichment. Employee Involvement: Employee involvement should be encouraged on every step of organisational planning, from decision making to implement change in the organisation. A program can be found effective when the employers guarantee the involvement of the employees at each and every step. The employers should encourage the involvement of employees in all the processes effecting the work place situation and the well being of employees. Following steps should be undertaken in order to get the involvement from the employees: Employees should be encouraged to give suggestions and should receive feedback from the employees with out any fear of consequences. The management should undertake effective reporting procedure regarding the employee's intentions regarding their well being. The role of the employees should be increased in order to evaluate, recommend and undertake the process of betterment in the organisation. The needs of the employees should be analysed regarding their skills and knowledge requirements. Employees must be given proper participation while planing for the process of change in the organisation. In the hospitality industry programs should be introduced for "handling the hostile customer." Training needs and Techniques: Organisations are human communities, which are formed by bringing people together to communicate, intact and build ties to help each other to create meaning together. Information plays an important role in building these societies and providing knowledge about the task people perform. The information networks created by the organisations help the people to adopt the environment. Build and develop communication networks, improves learning process, develops sense of understanding and sharing between the people, provides a platform to discuss discoveries and innovations, provide the people with chance to learn after making mistakes. A learning organisation intentionally designs the structures and strategies in order to enhance and maximise the learning of its employees. (Dodgson, 1993) With the changing environment of business and advancing technology the notion of the Learning organisations has gained much more importance. Learning has become an important characteristic of an organisation in order to compete in the global business. Learning is a volatile and dynamic concept through which the process of updating in an organisation takes place. With the growing size of the corporations and continuous innovations in the field of technology the individual learning has transformed to the notion of the organisational learning. The notion of learning plays an important part in the progress of an individual just like that the learning on the organisational level plays an important part in the growth of an organisation. The organisational group of people can define the organisational learning as the sum of the learning activities of the individual, which takes the shape of combined effort (Dodgson, 1993; Fiol & Lyles, 1985). An organisational learning program should be designed in the way that it is not lost when the members of the organisation leave the organisation. The learning system of an effective learning organisation not only serve the purpose of the present employees but also cater the needs of the future employees by the accumulation of histories, experiences, norms, and stories. In the highly competitive environment of the business in today's high pace changing business environment enhancing the learning capabilities of business is the solution of half of the problems (Prahalad & Hamel, 1994). Equally important is the creation of an unlearning organisation which essentially means that the organisation must forget some of its past. Thus, learning occurs amidst such conflicting factors (Dodgson, 1993). Hence learning organisation can be defined as "The essence of organisational learning is the organisation's ability to use the amazing mental capacity of all its members to create the kind of processes that will improve its own" (Dixon, 1994) "A Learning Company is an organisation that facilitates the learning of all its members and continually transforms itself" (Pedler, Burgoyne & Boydell, 1991) "Organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together" (Peter Senge, 1990) The following are the important characteristics of the learning organisations: Learning organisations adopts the external environments. They are flexible and continue the process of change. Depicts the combination of individual and collective learning. Keeps on learning with the outcomes. Learning can be done in two ways. 1) Single loop 2) Double loop In single loop learning people learn in a way prescribed to them by the organisation. In double loop learning people, people not only learn in a prescribed way but also can question and can change the framework. The ability to use double loop learning is a key to success for today's organisations. "Some of the more popular development programs include multi-skilling, cross-training and career succession - and there are clear plans to significantly expand their use in the future. There also appears to be widespread use of employee participation programs. Hospitality organisations also use a variety of methods to identify workplace issues and for the most part intend to significantly increase their use in the future." (Cline, 1998) Appraisal is essential for effective managing. In the Work Planning and Review approach to appraisal, It is emphasised that frequent performance discussions need to be undertaken. But performance discussions and salary actions should be dealt with at separate meetings. Appraisal measures performance in achieving goals and plans and performance as a manager, that is, how well a person carries out key managerial activities. Traditional appraisal methods that attempt to measure personality traits have serious limitations. Therefore it is more suitable to use the effective method of appraising managers against verifiable objectives. This approach is operational, related to the manager's job, and relatively objective. Still, a person may perform well (or badly) because of luck or factors beyond his or her control therefore; the management-by-objectives approach should be supplemented by appraisal of managers as managers, that is, appraisal of how well they perform their key managerial activities. The reviews should undertaken on the basis of continuous monitoring. In the given suggested appraisal program, key managerial activities should be presented as checklist questions and grouped under the categories of planning, organising, staffing, leading, and controlling. Strategic choices require trade-offs. Some alternatives involve high risks, others low risks. Some choices demand action now other choices can wit. Rational and systematic analysis is just one step in the strategic planning process, for a choice also involves personal preferences, personal ambitions, and personal values. Development of short-range organisational Objectives and Action Plans: The organisational strategy has to be supported by short-term objectives and action plans, which can be a part of the performance appraisal process. The short-term objective of the organisation is to increase the customer satisfaction, which will lead to increased market share in future. Objectives often must be supported by action plans. The achievement of the above stated goal will involve effective completion of the different tasks by different departments. All the managers of related department should be required to prepare a schedule for achieving short-term goals, doing the homework, and obtaining the support of the team members. It is obvious that the long-term strategic organisational plans need to be supported by short-term objectives and action plans. Implementation of the Action Plan: Strategic organisational planning requires the performance appraisal. At that time, the person's growth and development should be discussed. Organisational goals and personal ambitions should be considered in selecting and promoting and in designing training and development programs. The most effective incentive programs in the hospitality industry are cash bonuses, although the trend is declining with the passing time. Stock options are also used in some cases. The trend is showing an incremental approach in future. There is also a dominating trend of "Non-monetary" recognition programs throughout the industry. (Cline, 1998) References Atchinson, J.W., 1964, An Introduction to motivation, Van Nostrand, Princeton. J.J Cline, Roger S., (1998). "Hospitality 2000 - The People: A Report on the Second Global Survey of the Hospitality Industry's Leadership," New York, winter, 1998, available at http://www.hotel-online.com/Neo/Trends/Andersen/SecondGlobalSurvey_1998.html Dixon, N., (1994). The Organisational Learning Cycle, McGraw-Hill Dodgson, M., (1993). Organisational learning: A review of some literatures, Organisation Studies, 14/3: 375-394. Fiol, C.M., & Lyles, M.A., (1985). Organisational learning, Academy of Management Review, 10/4: 803-813. Gellerman, Saul W, 1963, Motivation and productivity, New York: American management association, McGregor, D., (1960). The human Side of enterprise, McGraw-Hill Myers, M. S., (1968). Every Employee a Manager, California Management Review, Spring Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G., (1994). Competing for the future, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Pedler, M., Burgoyne J., & Boydell, T., (1991). The Learning Company: a Strategy for Sustainable Development, McGraw-Hill Sedeck S., Blood M., 1974, Foundations of Behavioural Science Research Organisations, Wadsworth publishing company, Belmont, Calif, .p. 174. Shartle C., 1956, Executive Performance and Leadership, New Jersey: Prentice hall, inc. Englewood Cliffs. Vroom, Victor H., 1964, Work and motivation, New York: John Wiley & sons, p, 6 Ethics Most of the firms in the hospitality industry do not tend to follow the ethical codes. Comparatively the level of ethical code compliance is lower in the hospitality industry as compare to that of the corporate world. The hospitality industry is culture oriented. There cannot be a specific set of rules to be followed since the customers belong to the different cultures and values. Ethical issues can arise when there is a contradiction between the legal or cultural standards of the country and the culture and the policies of the organisation. "In the scenario the conflict arises ought a company to obey the laws of its home country, or should it follow the less stringent laws of the developing country in which it does business"(Farlex, Inc., 2005) Business ethics should integrate the universal core values such as honesty, trust, respect, and fairness into its policies, practices, and decision making. In case of hospitality industry, most of the situations involve salespeople and their clients, while others are unique to the hospitality industry and occur because of particular contextual factors (Stevens and Fleckenstein, 1999). Most of the codes are designed to increase the professionalism of individual members by indicating those behaviours that are prohibited as well as those that are expected of them (Frankel, 1989). As indicated above, the codes in the hospitality industry varies to great extent. As a result, questions remain about the usefulness of certain codes in promoting professionalism and guiding behaviour. References Farlex, Inc., (2005). Business ethics: The Free Dictionary, retrieved as on December 09, 2005 from http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/business+ethics Frankel, M.S., 1989. Professional codes: why, how, and with what impact Journal of Business Ethics 8, pp. 109115. Stevens, B. and Fleckenstein, A., 1999. Comparative ethics: how students and human resources directors react to real-life situations. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 40 2, pp. 6975. Read More