Skills and Labor Shortage in Hospitality Company - HRM Essay Example

Service-oriented human resource

Establishing a service-oriented human resource does require not only the efforts of hospitality organizations but also requires a significant intervention from country's hospitality management education. Customers aim for quality services and to satisfy this need; there needs to be competent staff that passed through an efficient hospitality education system. With such a system of education in place, organizations would be able to get employees who are of standard and display leadership qualities that would be able to transform the hospitality institutions making them a base for quality service delivery. Some authors have expressed their opinions and done research concerning the Tourism Management, regarding hospitality management education (Richards, 1998). The narratives give a prediction of how the hospitability studies might turn out to be and the direction it would take (Gamble, 1992). They also hinted on the different profile of facilitators in different countries. Apart from the education system of hospitality management being a problem, seasonality is also a big challenge. It creates instability in regards to revenues and demand, forcing the Human Resource (HR) of hospitality institutions to result in the adjustment of their labor force. This kind of practice is not favorable, and many researchers consider it as being unhealthy to the employees, firms and the society in general (Lee-Ross, 1995). This paper aims to discuss some of the factors that affect skills and labor shortage in Hospitality Companies in regards to the education system and seasonality problem, providing insights on what hotel managers need to do to adjust labor in terms of demand.

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To come up with a clear idea of what hospitality management education is people need to distinguish the difference between education and training. Education is a discipline that that transforms and reorganizes experiences adding meaning to personal experience and giving the ability to direct the course towards the experience gained (Dewey, 1916). The main distinction that exists between training and education is that education is offered in institutions like universities, while training is provided in places of employment. However, this traditional perspective of viewing this two aspects, claims that education is for professionals and training is for artisans and those people that do not have skills. The 20th century has defined the two terms in another way giving a different perspective; hinting that education cannot be regarded as the central activity and training cannot be regarded as a non-terminal process. Today, factors such as economic globalization and information technology have transformed the traditional view of education and training (Purcell and Quinn, 1995). Initial qualifications are essential, but they don’t last since this sector requires and the business world at large requires effectiveness, efficiency and personal performance to promote quality service. Thus, continuous education and training are fundamental to ensure employees display leadership skills in this industry.

The Majestic Yosemite Hotel

This paper creates a vivid outlook of the situation at hand, which is the shortage of skills and labor in Hospitality Company, this article aims to hint on the Ahwahnee Hotel. The hotel is in California around Yosemite National Park. The hotel is constructed from steel, wood, glass, and concrete. The hotel boasts a unique architecture that it was regarded as a National Historic Landmark in 1987 (Wuerthner, 1994). When it was constructed the hotel played the role of being a company offices and luxury hotels the company during the 90s faced financial challenges however it managed to get through the problem. The hotel was later renamed as the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. The Majestic Yosemite Hotel is a classic hotel that many people, both the locals and tourists like to visit. The company has gone through an array of changes that has made it successful as it is today. Despite the excellence that it is experiencing the hotel faces challenges that many hospitality management companies are facing. The hotel is facing the challenges of skills and labor shortage. This problem is experienced by many hotels since it arises from influences from sectors such as politics and the economy of the nation.

The hotel management industry has for a long time been carried out the same way as it was years ago and since The Majestic Yosemite Hotel was established many years ago they tend to hint on traditional ways of conducting their operations. The education sector in regards to the hospitality management industry needs to be evaluated, and professionalism taught, to ensure the graduates that come from schools have the capacity to lead this industry (Riley, 1991). Thus, the hotel needs to include an education program to educate their employees. Seasonality is also a problem that affects the Majestic Yosemite Hotel, since now it experiences low labor shortages since it should have two type of employees, those that work their permanently and those that work there seasonally. With this mode of operation, companies can lose critical input from employees who give their professional services to the company and thus affects their financial position or the flow of customers. Thus, this paper aims to look at some of the directives and policies that should be formed The Majestic Yosemite Hotel to ensure it manages these challenges.

Critical Analysis and Recommendations

The Majestic Yosemite Hotel should acknowledge that there is a problem that exists. Thus, they should aim at increasing and updating knowledge and skills. Recently, when the hotel was changing ownership, it had a huge disruption of its operations affecting the number of employees. This was a move that resulted in the shortage of labor and skills apart from seasonality and lack of education. There should not be a distinct difference between education and training since they are not independent. Many educational institutions have now considered the importance of training, and they have incorporated it into their systems that ensure students undergo a period of industrial placement. Thus, ensuring that students have both theory and practical skills. Many hospitality organizations and professionals argue that employees need to enthusiastically involve themselves in 'Continuous Professional Development' so that they can gain a traditional education. This way they can continually upgrade their knowledge and update their professional skills throughout the career of employees.

The Majestic Yosemite Hotel lacks personnel that have the capacity to formulate decisions since they have a classical way of thinking. This derails the company from becoming the best of the best in the industry. The employees working in the company lack the necessary education that would enable them to transform the hotel. The Majestic Yosemite Hotel needs to come up with an education program to educate and train its personnel updating their skills and knowledge. To ensure when the problem of shortage of skills and labor attacks them as it does now and then, they would be ready to tackle the challenge. Education brings about change. When people receive the education, they are imparted with the power to influence their immediate environment. This allows individuals to become controllers of change and become leaders in their own respect. People who have been empowered through education exude decision-making skills (Iverson, 1995). The tourism business in one that is competitive and involves people to continuously gather new information that would affect the decision their stand in the market.

The European tourists have tremendously grown, and they are visiting various parts of the world. The exchange of foreign exchange plays a big role in the economy of a country. For this reason, the government should be actively involved in matters that concerning the transformation of the hospitality management education system (Sneed and Heiman, 1995). Majestic Yosemite Hotel is an old hotel despite changing its name and doing some major renovations. The hundreds of the European tourists who come to the country are looking for different things when they are choosing a hotel. Therefore, this hotel should be able to attract these people by having the capabilities of providing diversity within the same environment. The hotel needs to look at the capabilities of its employees to offer world class professionalism. Thus, it should continuously provide training to its workforce to ensure they are at par with the changing global hospitality trends.

Professionalism is a state that ensures leaders can provide efficient services while maintaining a financial status that promises the growth of the organization. Professionalism is something that The Majestic Yosemite Hotel should aim to achieve. This state can be attained by developing a culture of treating employees and customers in a civilized and respectful manner. Policies and directives that promote the same also need to be developed to ensure a swift transition to realizing prominence within a competitive environment. The need to come up with a hospitality management educations system that works in the United States is slowly being recognized. To realize long-lasting, positive results there need to be effective educational and training strategies for the present and future staff. Educational institutions need to foster factors such as quality management, innovation and creativity and proper marketing skills. Hospitality education must have the capacity to produce graduates who can express a high degree of creativity and can solve problems and lead (Brennan and McGeevor, 1988).

Hospitality education

By implementing hospitality education in the right manner, this industry would be able to experience a situation where they experience quality services. The employees of The Majestic Yosemite Hotel would have the capacity to satisfy the wants of customers making them refer other people and come back to have the same experience. If the Majestic Yosemite Hotel ensure that its employees are educated, the personnel would be empowered in a sense that they can make critical decisions and choices that would help the company grow (Robinson and Wallace, 1983). They can also practice relationship marketing that ensures they strategically sell the standards of the company to the customers. The Majestic Yosemite Hotel’s HR would be able to employ staff who have enough knowledge and skills to transform the business, and they can also formulate sustainable policies that would see the company survive the competition that seamlessly requires first and critical thinking.

The tourism sector has instances of seasonality, thus affecting the choice of employees wanting to be involved in this sector. Nobody intends to work for a company that fires people when the customer demand is low. To occur as favorable in this competitive market, Majestic Yosemite Hotel needs to behave differently from other hotels. The company has instances of firing employees when there is off-peak in the season this makes many employees fear to be part of the team of the hotel. As the Majestic Yosemite Hotel cuts the number of its employees it affects service delivery leading to a shortage of professionals in the organization. Customers get used to certain employees since they understand them and always makes them feel at home. Therefore, if the customers come to the hotel and repeatedly fail to find these employees, they would tend to shift to another place. Thus, hotels need to find a way of retaining their employees although seasonality affects the flow of customers. The hotel needs to ensure that employees feel safe. For this reason, there needs to be a policy that categorizes employees according to their expertise and professionalism. The employees should understand that the fluctuations might occur and when they take place there are certain adjustments that the company would take but they should be on a temporary basis. The HR department of the Majestic Yosemite Hotel should intervene and come up with policies that hint on Human Resource Management skills to ensure they cater for everyone in the hotel and make every employee feel at home (Poulston, 2008).

Majestic Yosemite Hotel needs to ensure that they adhere to the practices that make them survive in this changing market. The hotel needs to ensure that it educate and train its employees so that they can be able to relate to this competitive market. The HR department of the hotel needs to employ graduates who have the theory part of what is expected, and then it would be the organization to take the time to train the new employees so that they can display professionalism and leadership skills that would help the hotel realize a stable financial ground. Educations is important, and it’s the work of the government and other related sectors to rehabilitate the hospitality management education system. This would ensure that the graduates coming from universities could have the capacity to lead the hospitality industry and transform it for the better of the economy of the county. Shortage of skills and labor within the hospitality sector is a challenge that can be eradicated by transforming the hospitality education system and offering training to graduates and employees. Also, the HR needs to form policies that ensure seasonality and shortage of employees are maintained and controlled.

References

Brennan, J. and McGeevor, P. (1988) Graduates at Work: Degree Courses and the Labour Market. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.

Gamble, P. R. (1992). The educational challenge for hospitality and tourism studies. Tourism Management, March, 6}10.

Iverson, K. (1995). Student empowerment: Revitalize hospitality education with the total quality management process. Hospitality and Tourism Educator, 7(2), 56}58. Jenner, G. (1992). Partners in

Lee-Ross, D. (1995). Attitudes and work motivation of subgroups of seasonal hotel workers. The Service Industries Journal, 15, 295}313.

Poulston, J. (2008), “Hospitality workplace problems and poor training: a close relationship”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 412-27.

Purcell, K. and Quinn, J. (1995) Hospitality Management Education and Employment Trajectories. Oxford Brookes University, Oxford.

Richards, G. (1998). A European network for tourism education. Tourism Management, 19(1), 1}4.

Riley, M. (1991). An analysis of hotel labor markets. In C. P. Cooper, Progress in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality Management, Vol. 3 (pp. 232}246). London: Belhaven Press.

Robinson, O. and Wallace, J. (1983) Employment trends in the hotel and catering industry in Great Britain. The Service Industries Journal 3,260-274.

Sneed, J., & Heiman, R. (1995). What program and student characteristics do recruiters consider most important? Hospitality and Tourism Educator, 7(4), 47}49.\

Wuerthner, George (1994). Yosemite: A Visitor's Companion. Stackpole Books. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-8117-2598-9.