Selection and Retention of Managers in the US Restaurant Sector by MacHatton, Van Dyke, and Steiner - Article Example

Article Review Introduction Selection and retention are seminal topics of human resource management. This field of study is responsible for ensuring that an organization has adequate knowledge, skill and human resource to continue functioning in the marketplace (Balmer and Gray, 2003). The recent recognition of the strategic potential of retention and selection in order to enhance the performance of an organization has emphasized on the need to get the ‘right person’ at the ‘right place’. The selection of a ‘right person’ points to the fact that the retention and selection agenda must be dominated with the concern of formalization, objectivity, reliability, validity and obviously a method and a technology that will be attempting to enhance the decision making accuracy and is also concerned with the selection-performance relationship. Many employers recognize the fact that their staff members are the greatest assets (Burke, 2010). In addition, they also believe that the recruitment and the induction process plays a crucial role in making sure that employees become effective in a short span of time. Analysts predict that the success of an organization depends upon the skills and abilities of the staff members and also right numbers of staff (Christensen, Firat and Torp, 2008). Since the recent past, companies have become active in selecting and retaining the best employees, yet they consider this as a challenge for the firm. For example, if an experienced and competent employee leaves the organization, it creates a huge gap and it takes time for the management to recruit a person who has the ability to exhibit similar kind of efficiency and competency. There might also be a phase when the overall productivity reduces due to the departure of an existing employee which can also lead to low employee morale. Hence, it is evident that retention & selection is a major organizational issue. As a result of that an article, titled as “Selection and retention of managers in the US restaurant sector” written by Michael T. MacHatton, Thomas Van Dyke and Robert Steiner has been chosen to evaluate. The main aim is to get in-depth insights into the matter and draw a conclusion out of it. Rationale behind Choosing the Article One of the key reasons for choosing the aforementioned article is that this article offers a comprehensive view of the significance of selection and retention. Studies have shown that attrition rate is considerably high in sectors such as hospitality and sales. This article has offered information pertaining to selection and retention strategy in the restaurant sector, which is a part of the hospitality sector and as a result of that this article has been considered as extremely important and interesting. Article Summary The current article provides a useful insight about the selection and retention strategies followed in the restaurant sector in the US. The article is a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis, providing a wider understanding as well as evaluation of the selection and retention strategies of managerial level candidates. The qualitative analysis involved were literature reviews on strategies which are supposedly taken as best practices as well difference of opinion among employees and management regarding these best practices. Then, the article has executed an extensive survey including chain restaurants across United States. The objective of this extensive survey was to evaluate the current selection and retention practices followed by hotel management at large. On a broader note, the study helped in distinguishing selection and retention strategies that world help organizations to reach a faster performance rate. The overall strategies are expected to increase satisfaction and engagement among employees, enhance productivity among management staff as well as effective and well-managed payroll system (Koch and McGrath, 1996). Justification On the basis of above facts it can be said that the importance as well as influence of selection and retention strategies in overall business operations have increased manifolds. A considerable amount of focus is on the impact of selection and retention strategies on employees as well as business. As a result, much effort is given for selection and retention strategies across various regions as well as organizations of all sizes. It has also been found that many organizations hesitate to accept the necessary selection and retention strategies requirements which are promoted by the commission. Apart from that, there is an increased awareness among organizations about the activities related to selection and retention strategies in promoting a positive image of the organization. The major interest in the research article comes from the fact that it has been supplemented with a well executed survey. Even though the ratio of survey participants was low compared to actual number of managers working across different chain restaurants in US, the article gives a detailed insight on the preferred selection strategies followed. The literature review also helped in understanding few of the important retention strategies followed in the US restaurant sector. Research Question and issues The article tried to unearth the strategies undertaken by the firms in the process of selecting management personnel of the US restaurant industry. The research question or the issue that is coming out of the analysis and that can also be adjudged as the core theme of the article is: what is the most appropriate selection and retention procedure of management personnel in the hospitality industry? Apart from that the article also tried to find the selection practices that have the highest validity. Hence, it is evident that the articled tried to take a comprehensive approach. Theories The study has shown that in the recent years, new trends in management have swept through the global hospitality industry. However, only few of them have exhibited a staying power and most of the trends did not last for long. Despite the application of some of the most well known reengineering techniques, total quality management and employee empowerment each of the factors share a common element and that is central to the rapidly changing managerial role (Hage, 1999). Nowadays, the key requirement of a manager is to become competent enough so that he/she has the ability to act as a change facilitator and obviously an employee motivator (Lewis, 2011). The article also suggested that for an employee to become effective as well as equally efficient, a manager needs to become an effective team builder and ensure delivery of quality goods and services (Mumford, 2011. The aforementioned factors also play indispensible roles in increasing the chances of employee retention. The article also stresses on the fact that importance should be given to the procedure of selection. It has been suggested that if an employee had received high scores during the selection procedure and is also receiving high scores in the performance indicators, it is likely that the employee will manage a long term relationship with the employers (Slater and Narver, 1995). Traditionally, the management selection process was less complicated but its validity was a cause of concern (Nazarko, 2004). Earlier, the procedures were generally reference checks and unstructured interviews. However, in the modern times the system has undergone a radical shift and nowadays the managerial selection mainly includes biographical data, assessment centers, structured interviews, cognitive tests, honesty test, realistic job preview and personality inventories to name a few. Only except the honesty test that seems to be low in validity context, all the other factors mentioned above have moderate to high validity coefficient (Lawler and Bilson, 2006). (Source: MacHatton, Van Dyke and Steiner, 1997) A number of eminent scholars and industry experts have taken part in the studies of selection and retention effectiveness. For example, the studies carried out by Bedford and Ineson (1995) and Ineson and Brown (1992) have shown that only a few companies use personality test and cognitive test when selecting management personnel. Nevertheless, other forms of evaluation such as assessment centres and biographical data are also used for this purpose. Similarly, the study carried out by Boles et al. (1995) stressed on the application of biographical data during the selection process of a management personnel. These studies have shown that not all the factors of biographical data are used by the companies in the evaluation process; rather educational background and relevant industry experience are the only two areas of focus. MacHatton and Baltzer (1994) study the application of structured interview in the selection process and they found that this form is generally used when the company is recruiting for low level managers. Since, the studies carried out by the authors were related to the hospitality industry, the generalization of the findings is not possible as it may differ from one industry to the other (Graham, 1998; Mukherji and Albon, 2009). They key theories that came out from the analysis of the article are that there are no generalized approaches that are taken in the hospitality industry for the recruitment and selection of management personnel (Lohr, 2010). At the same time, the study has also made it evident that, although various techniques and factors are put into practice during the process of recruitment but the validity of each of the factor is a matter of doubt. Way of Obtaining the Evidence The article has made it evident that the research process used to collect the data was questionnaire survey among the vice presidents of the companies belonging to the hospitality sector. Mainly the restaurant operators were selected for this purpose and the focus was in the markets of the US. In doing the review of this article and evaluating the area of selection and retention of management personnel of the US hospitality industry, the study has made use of several journal articles that reflected about the same topic. In addition, the research findings of the scholars were also used in order to evaluate the topic (Creswell, 2003; Deming, 1996). Apart from that data was also collected from various authentic electronic sources and books (Ferdig, 2000; Goleman, 1996). Analysis of the data extracted from the various sources was also another key source of data. Key Arguments & Evidences The key arguments put forward by the authors is that they believe that there is no particular criteria or factors on the basis of which the selection of a management personnel can be carried out. However, the authors argue that the emergence of new trend in the hospitality sector has shifted the selection and retention strategies. They also believe that the changes in the strategy are justified in order to remain consistent with the challenges of the external environment. Their study clearly makes it evident that factors such as psychometric tests, biographical test, assessment centre, honesty test and also cognitive test have high relevance in the current scenario but at the same time the frequency of use differs greatly. It has been argued that only except the honesty test, each of the factors have high validity coefficient. Their primary survey with around 215 vice-presidents confirmed the truth of their claims (MacHatton, Van Dyke and Steiner, 1997). Nevertheless, the disagree to the fact that continued widespread application of reference checks comes as a surprise to them as they believe reference check does not have the ability to judge the competency and psychological ability of a management personnel. They also found that large differences exist in the selection and retention process of the large restaurant chains and independent restaurants. However, they conclude that due to low response rate their theories must not be generalized but can obviously act as a baseline for the retention and selection strategy of hospitality industry. Conclusion The broader area of study involves research in the contemporary management issues. The topic of selection and retention has become one of the challenging issues of organizations. The major reasons are increasing internal competition, increasing pressure and workload among managers, lucrative offers from competitors and employees being unable to take pressure. It has been found out the talent retention is becoming tougher for management. In such as situation, analyzing the popular selection and retention techniques will help in understanding as well as evaluating their significance in other sectors as well. The analysis of the article written by T. Mac Hatton, Thomas Van Dyke and Robert Steiner and titled as “Selection and retention of managers in the US restaurant sector” has revealed that in order to select the management personnel in hospitality sector, companies generally makes use of a combination of the process such as psychometric tests, biographical test, assessment centre and also cognitive tests. However, the stress and emphasis on the particular factors depends upon the company. Future Contribution Every research paper contributes to the field of business and management in a certain way. In the similar way, this research paper has also contributed in the form revealing the most useful techniques of managerial personnel selection. Although, the focus of the study was on the US market, still it tried to show the best techniques that a company belongs to the hospitality sector can use to select management personnel. The study has shown the frequency of using various screening techniques and that can also act as a reference for the other companies. In addition, the article also disclosed the benefits companies are receiving by applying these techniques. The article therefore has the ability to contribute to the general field of selection and retention of the employees as it succeeded in unearthing the validity of the employee screening techniques. Reference List Balmer, J.M.T. and Gray, E.R., 2003. Corporate brands: what are they? What of them? European Journal of Marketing, 37(8), pp. 972–97. Bedford, R. and Ineson, E., 1995. Psychometric testing for management selection in the United Kingdom hotel and catering industry. Hospitality Research Journal, 19 (3), pp. 83-97. Boles, J., Ross, L. and Johnson, J., 1995. Reducing employee turnover through the use of preemployment application demographics: an exploratory study. Hospitality Research Journal, 19 (2), pp. 19-30. Burke, W. W., 2010. 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