Good Turnover Crises In Hotel Sector Essay Example

Introduction

Employee turnover is a prevalent issue in the hotel industry, worldwide. Despite the unique feature of the hotel management being highly labor intensive, the impact of the human resource management practices on the organizational performance is not studied empirically in the research field. The hospitality industry adopts reactive concern to the issue. The need is to study why employees leave the hotel sector and what causes the job dissatisfaction in the industry (Nivethitha, Dyaram, & Kamalanabhan, 2014).
On the one hand, hospitality sector is a booming sector providing career options for many who are doing hotel management. Hospitality industry is one of the largest employers at the global level (Nivethitha, Dyaram, & Kamalanabhan, 2014). On the other side, high turnover rates raise a question on the level of job satisfaction that employees get in the hotel sector. Therefore, the topic chosen for research in the hotel management program is turnover crisis and its causes. The research into the topic will help in better understanding of the human resource management aspects of the hotel management.

Turnover crises in hotel sector

The hospitality industry is characterized by high degree of mobility. But, high staff turnover in the hotel industry affects the efficiency at the workplace, productivity and commitment to the organization. The twofold face of the labor market in the hotel management is that it is difficult to find suitable labor, but high levels of turnover represents the significant loss of investment in the training, human capital, and productivity. High rates of labor turnover are the representation of the challenge for contemporary strategies and practices of HRM. Work stress is an important aspect that contributes to the high turnover rates in the hospital industry.
Voluntary turnover has become common in the service sector. It is associated with the termination of psychological, as well as official contract between the employee and the organization. The causes of voluntary turnover in the hotel management industry are low wages, poor management, bad working conditions, and lack of good career opportunities. The involuntary turnover leads to negative outcomes in a direct way, such as creation of job insecurity, difficulty in doing the work, and fluctuation of the status (Albattat & Ahmad, 2013).
However, a study by Srinivasan and Karmarkar (2014) presents the hospitality industry as one of the significant industries to recruit a large number of students from hotel management every year. Tremendous growth of institutes of hotel management testifies the increasing inclination of more and more students to enter the hotel industry. The reason cited by authors is career opportunity and different avenues to work. All students have the hope of becoming a manger in the 10 years of their work in hotel industry. However, the perception of the industry soon deteriorates once they enter the industry. It raises a big question mark on the human resource strategies of the hospitality sector (Srinivasan & Karmarkar, 2014).

Reasons for the high turnover rates

Human resource management strategies
Chen, Wang and Chu (2010) present the lack of proper training as one of the key reasons for high employee turnover rates in the hospitality industry. The traditional skills such as technical, craft, and operating skills always hold primary importance, but the industry agrees that there is a need to lay more emphasis on critical thinking, strategic planning, problem solving and visionary leadership skills in the hotel management program (Chen, Wang, & Chu, 2010).
The hotel management program needs to provide a foundation for the generic and transferable skills, and the industry has to provide the practicing part. It is essential to address factors of globalization, cultural diversity, along-with the introduction of emotional intelligence. Students taking the hotel management program need to understand the hospitality industry, its needs and most importantly, themselves so that they can work in the highly complex and changing environments they will have to face in the industry. Adoption of critical style approach can help in teaching potential employees of the hotel management industry about learning and using experience and knowledge in the overall learning process (Training needs of the hospitality industry, 2009).

Causes of job dissatisfaction leading to turnover

Furthermore, the research done by Mbah and Ikemefuna (2012) shows that satisfaction with pay is related to the turnover. Higher the satisfaction with pay, lower is the rate of employee turnover. The nature of the job performed also relates to job satisfaction. A negative relationship exists between the satisfaction with the nature of the work and the intention of the turnover. Labor turnover intentions are reduced when employees are given permission to use their own abilities, test their capabilities, judgments, and methods for scheduling and performing their jobs (Mbah &Ikemefuna, 2012). The research implies that the hospitality industry needs effective human resource management strategies to increase the job satisfaction and put an end to the question of high turnover rates evident in the industry.
Frye (2012) states that front office managers face low levels of job satisfaction due to the nature of the roles they have to perform in a small hotel. The role is multi-faceted and the lack of staffing creates low job satisfaction. Without having an extensive infrastructure support, multi-tasking in a limited period can create low job satisfaction. Thus, not only the people at the entry level, but the experienced people such as front office managers also face job dissatisfaction in the absence of lack of proper human resource management strategies (Frye, 2012).

Recommendations and Conclusion

It has certain implications for both the hotel management programs and the industry. The programs need to be based on laying foundation on the critical basis so that students can learn how to handle complex and dynamic changing environment. In the industry, it is needed to practice the same. Human resource management strategies including pay and type of work should also be revised so that employees can feel motivated. When job satisfaction will be high, it will lead to fewer turnovers in the hotel industry.
It is also found out that the growth of the hospitality sector attracts students to enter the sector, but when they do not find any type of growth in their career, they become dissatisfied with their job and leave the company. Thus, it is essential to deal with the turnover crises keeping the reputation of the hotel management sector intact in terms of lucrative employer for people across the globe.

References

Albattat, A.R.S. & Ahmad, P.M.S. (2013). Employee Dissatisfaction and Turnover Crises in the Malaysian Hospitality Industry. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(5).
Chen, Y.,Wang, W.C., & Chu, Y.C. (2010). Structural Investigation of the Relationship between Working Satisfaction and Employee Turnover. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 6(1).
Frye, W.D. (2012). An Examination of Job Satisfaction of Hotel Front Office Managers According to Extrinsic, Intrinsic, and General Motivational Factors. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(18).
Mbah, S.E. & Ikemefuna, C.O. (2012). Job Satisfaction and Employees’ Turnover Intentions in total Nigeria plc. in Lagos State. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(14).
Nivethitha, S., Dyaram, L., & Kamalanabhan, T.J. (2014). Relationship between Human Resource Practices and Employee Turnover Intention in Hospitality Industry. Global Journal of Management and Business Research Administration and Management, 14(1).
Srinivasan, S. & Karmarkar, A. (2014). Changing perception of students towards Hotel Management Course while pursuing the course. International Journal of Informative & Futuristic Research, 1(9).
Training needs of the hospitality industry. (2009). Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.sustainabletourismonline.com/awms/Upload/Resource/80093%20%20Training%20Needs%20WEB.pdf