Work placement in Hailong Hotel - Essay Example

?Work Placement in Hailong Hotel (Essay) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Issues in Hailong Hotel 4 Theoretical Background to the Issues Being Identified 4 An Analysis of Specific Processes/ Issue within the Agency 8 Conclusion 12 References 14 Introduction Hailong Hotel is situated in China’s Liaoning Province Fuxin City. The General Manager of the hotel is Lishuang Yao. The hotel consists of 7 floors. The first floor of the hotel comprises reception as well as office rooms. The rest of the floors at the hotel have guest rooms. The total number of staff working in the hotel is thirty. The hotel has four receptionists, six floor supervisors, six room attendant, one cleaner, two securities, two hostess, two accountants and one general manager (Trip Advisor, 2012). When innumerable people work together in the same organisation, it becomes quite complex for the human resource manager to manage these group of people. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to determine an issue in Hailong Hotel and thus offer a theoretical background to the processes that is being focused on in the paper. Furthermore, the paper will also attempt to analyse that specific issue within the agency. Issues in Hailong Hotel Human resource management has attained major focus in the recent years because it contributes to overall efficacy in the organisation. If the overall success of the organisation depends upon the competence of its employees then it is significant for the organisation to manage them in a proper way so that the goals can be attained effectively (Yang & Cherry, 2008). The main issue that has been recognised is related to proper management of staff in the Hailong Hotel. The hotel staff requires adequate training so that they can function effectively and thus assist in attaining the goals of the organisation. Lack of training demotivates the employees to work in a proper way and thus might hamper the overall effectiveness in the hotel. Ineffective training problems generally tend to be associated with the workplace problems and thus if the hotel focuses upon improvement in the training that is rendered to the staff then it is likely to reduce problems related to understaffing and theft (Yang & Cherry, 2008). Theoretical Background to the Issues Being Identified Even though the hospitality industry identifies the fact that institutions from where they are recruiting their human resources are performing well, there are numerous concerns. There are many hotels that are offering poor and inconsistent training and also train the wrong kind of people in order to attain a training subsidy. It can be mentioned that training must be attached with additional retention policies (Zhang & Wu, 2004). It is vital for an organisation to create a form of career structure as well as career development through which the industry can endeavour to modernise the recruitment as well as training methods. The hotel industry must offer its staff with the opportunity to progress professionally by means of studies and training, traineeships and apprenticeships (Whitelaw & et. al., 2009). Hospitality industry is one within which the customers are continuously overwhelmed within the hospitality in the way in which they are treated. It is a known fact that if the staff are provided with the quality training then in such circumstances it can enhance the motivation and their performance. Furthermore, the turnover rate of the staff might reduce as well (Valachis & et. al., 1995). It is quite difficult to be a part of the hotel industry especially in terms of management position. Different types of people tend to visit the hotels daily. Understanding this diverse group of people is also a cumbersome task for the management of the hotels. Diversity related training can mean a lot of factors. Training can focus simply upon the comprehension of cultures of numerous identifying groups and recreating a person’s biases, prejudices as well as stereotypes. Diversity training can be more focused upon the skills to assist the staff to learn a collection of skills so that they can deal with each and every issue effectively in the workplace as well as with diverse clientele (Squires, n.d.). There are numerous reasons for the requirement of diversity training in the hospitality industry. The first reason is that there is alteration in the workplace from all the aspects. The kind of people viewed in all the position tends to be more diverse. The hotel will benefit from the quality of diverse workforce as well as customer experiences and the training related to diversity might lead to well qualified and confident staff who can understand the views of others working in the organisation as well (Lye, 2007). Hotel industry can be recognised as one of the rapidly developing sectors of the economy. Hotel industry is quite wide-ranging for people to work in numerous areas of interests and still be employed within the hotel industry. Management of the personnel of hospitality related business is quite distinct from that of other businesses. At the outset it can be said that all sorts of businesses are completely customer motivated. It is because of the fact that distinct kind of services are offered by the hospitality sector and thus it is significant for the employees to consider individual preferences of each customer (Hoque, n.d.). Training is generally created in order to communicate specific skills, knowledge and abilities to employees. Efficient training can be considered as one of the significant components for success in the hotel industry. Although most of the managers belonging to the hotel industry tend to embrace the concept related to the training in their company. However, very little consideration is offered to the training function by the managers in relation to their own business or departmental responsibilities until the managers are faced with grave problems. One of the significant issues in the hotel industry is that investments related to the training and development of employees tends to be a reactive method instead of being a proactive process. Normally, training and development takes place because of major alteration in the operational environment or because of the crisis such as personnel turnover or chief departmental issues. In such circumstances, the hotels make use of the training methodology so that it can handle the difficulties confronted by them. Training is quite a costly affair for the hotels. It is quite significant for the HR person to identify the needs of training in the organisation and then plan appropriate programme for them. Training tends to offer the best opportunity to impact the attitude as well as performance of the employees in the hotel industry. The employees must be provided training related to fire, monitoring of the dangerous matters to health, manual handling of first aid, customer service, technical skills, and product knowledge as well as food hygiene. Two modes of training can be utilised in the hotel industry. They are on-the-job training and off-the-job training. On the job training is normally learning by doing and is also considered to be the most utilised method to training. Alike other types of training, on-the-job training needs planning, supervision and structure to be efficient for creating a range of practical as well as customer-oriented abilities. If on-the-job training is conducted in a correct way then this method of training acts as rational as well as economical method for training. It also proves to be one of the most significant tools to evaluate the progress of the trainees in hotel industry. The various on-the-job training methods are apprentice training along with orientation training, assistantships and internships as well as job rotations. Off-the-job training permits for the creation of wider and conceptual skills while offering a practice ambience where the errors might not be expensive. The three distinct types of off-the-job training are external training, independent training and in-house training (Amirtharaj & et. al., 2011). Staff training is considered as crucial and indispensable aspect of human resource management. In contemporary hotel business, it is all about capability in people and generally the employee’s qualities. The extent of service superiority is generally based upon the qualities of the employees. The qualities that the staff must possess are related to knowledge, thoughts and skills that might lead to success and long-term survival of the organisation. Therefore, it can be depicted that staff training is quite vital in numerous ways. It assists in enhancing the output while the employees are equipped with professional knowledge, experience, skills as well as valid thoughts. The training offered to the staff might also motivate and thus inspire the employees by demonstrating all the required information related to the work and thus assist them to identify how significant their job is (Clemenz, 2001). Training can be quite demanding and must be conducted in-depth. Poor training can result in high turnover of the staff in the organisation and therefore a company can end up delivering low quality products (Xiao, 2010). An Analysis of Specific Processes/ Issue within the Agency It can be analysed that Hailong Hotel faces issues related to training in its organisation. The issue might have taken place because of negligence of the HR manager in the organisation. From the above literature, it is apparent that HR manager has a noteworthy role to play in identifying the training needs and thus arranging for training in an organisation. The HR manager of Hailong Hotel needs to comprehend the fact that training is one of the most significant ways through which the performance of the incumbents can be enhanced. Training generally consists of short-term focus on attaining skills to perform one’s jobs. The HR manager of the organisation needs to consider the fact that if the hotel invests heavily in the training and development of their employees then they can reap several benefits. For instance, the productivity of the organisation can be enhanced because the organisation will be possessing skilled staff who are capable of handling the task of the organisation in an effective way thus leading to the attainment of the goals of the organisation. Furthermore, the hotel will be capable of attaining sustained competitive advantage. It is via training and development programme the organisation’s strategy can be prepared and thus the employee recruitment and retention can be enhanced as well. It is quite significant for the management of the hotel to focus upon diversity related training so that it can facilitate its staff to equip themselves with numerous skills and thus deal with significant issues effectively. Diversity related training will also assist Hailong Hotel to understand the characteristic of diverse clientele from various backgrounds and thus identify their needs and wants. If Hailong Hotel views training as a cost then it will limit its training investment to only what is required by law or necessary for surviving. It is because of this fact in most of the organisations training is the first to go when there are cuts to discretionary spending. On the other hand, if Hailong Hotel considers training as an investment then it can expect direct benefits and return on their investment. Training needs to be considered as part of the organisational strategy and a key factor for its competitiveness as well as success. Although the hotel must be offering the candidates with the training, the failure of such initiatives may be due to improper training methods adopted by Hailong Hotel. In the above literature, it has been noticed that there are numerous training methods that can be adopted by the organisation such as on-the-job training and off-the-job training. Therefore, it is crucial for the manager of Hailong Hotel to identify the best suited training approach for the hotel and thus implement the same accordingly. Training needs a strong commitment from the side of the manager of the organisation so that the training programme can be endorsed thereby contributing to fulfilling the goals and objectives of the company. It can be analysed that the manager must be clear regarding the mission of training. Furthermore, he needs to define individual roles as well as responsibilities. The management of Hailong Hotel needs to effectively direct and adequately endorse training activities. The human resource manager belonging to Hailong Hotel needs to look after the effective conduct of training and qualification programmes (Torrington & et. al., 2005). Employee theft is a grave issue at any organisation which leads to greater losses in the hotel. It can be stated that such issues need to be handled as soon as possible by the hotel before it hampers the effectiveness of the organisation. Through careful training as well as supervision of the employees, the problems associated with theft can be minimised to a great extent. The staff must be offered with loss prevention training in order for them to have a comprehension of what loss prevention is and its impact upon the organisation as well as them as an individual. If the employees are offered with ambition and career progression opportunities in the organisation then it will assist in creating employees loyalty towards the organisation and thus will assist in preventing theft (WorkSafeBC, 2012). In small enterprises such as Hailong Hotel, offering quality training to the staff becomes a grave issue. Managers in such small organisations are generally quite busy working with numerous projects and trying to keep up with regular workload, thus they are not capable of delivering effective training to the people in the organisation (Pedler & et. al., 2001). It can be analysed that culture as well as commitment are quite significant factors that might lead to the effectiveness of the training programmes. The manager of the Hailong Hotel needs to take initiative so that the overall efficiency and effectiveness can be guaranteed. He must ensure that the organisation has the required resources and highly committed managerial taskforce who can learn and absorb (Lu & Betts, 2010). The HR manager of the organisation needs to plan and thus conduct regular team briefings in order to discuss where the organisation and the team are going. The challenges of the hotel need to be shared and other key personnel if required must also be engaged in the key issues faced by the hotel. It is also significant for the organisation to utilise an experienced facilitator and he/she needs to be monitored on a regular basis in order to identify if he/she is capable of delivering good training to the taskforce of the organisation and thus capable of meeting the needs of the organisation. The point that needs to be considered is that whatever changes that the hotel decides to bring into the organisation must be discussed with all the people in the organisation so that the manager is capable of comprehending their position. This will also facilitate HR manager to check validity of proposals and thus remove the risks of misunderstanding (Leary & Berge, 2007). After the HR manager decides to offer training to the staff, it is significant for the manager to conduct performance appraisal at Hailong Hotel so that it will be capable of identifying how much successful the training programme has been. By merely offering the employees with training, it will become difficult for the hotel to monitor performance rate. The evaluation programme will encourage and thus motivate the workers to work hard and thus assist them at improving the skills as well as abilities by rewarding and compensating (Poulston, 2008). Conclusion Hospitality industry by its nature demands high quality services to the customers on a regular basis. Poor quality service might retard the progress of the hotel and can also hamper the sustainability of the hotel in the long run. Poor quality services may arise because of numerous reasons such as lack of employee motivation, poor management structure and improper infrastructure among others. However, in the context of this study training has been identified to be one of the grave issues that most of the organisations confront in the recent times. The essay has tried to identify several reasons behind the poor training programme being offered at Hailong Hotel such as negligence of the HR manager, lack of commitment of the team members and lack of support from the top management. Therefore, it has been noted that training must be given due priority in the hotel industry because it can improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation. Furthermore, the organisation can aim at gaining sustainable competitive advantage in short period of time. Efforts must be made by the top management of the Hailong Hotel in order to offer best training to all the members so that they are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge and thus are capable of offering best services to the customers. Employee’s theft is one of the biggest issues, which the organisation might face and which tend to hamper the effectiveness of Hailong Hotel. Therefore, one of the solutions to this problem is through offering training to the staff. Training on such critical issues will help the staff in understanding the underlying risks associated with such activities in Hailong Hotel. Diversity aspect in Hailong hotel needs to be paid due attention through training. The management must offer training to the staff related to how to deal with diversity. Diversity of the clientele also needs to be given serious consideration as this will assist it in comprehending the needs and the wants of the diverse customers and thus the hotel will be capable of serving them accordingly. References Amirtharaj, D. & et. al., 2011. “HR Concepts in Hotel Industry Towards Employee Training and Development”, International Journal of Human Resource. Vol: 1, p: 44-56. Clemenz, C. E., 2001. Measuring Perceived Quality of Training in the Hospitality Industry. Abstract. [Online] Available at: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04272001-142531/unrestricted/clemenz.diss.pdf [Accessed April 11, 2012]. 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"Human Resources Issues Facing The Hotel And Travel Industry In China", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Vol: 16, Iss: 7, pp: 424 – 428. Read More