The Importance of Training

Introduction

The mere mention of the word hotel conjures up exciting images: a busy lobby filled with international dignitaries, celebrities, community leaders, attendees of the conventions and large receptions, business people. The excitement you feel in the hotel lobby is something you will have forever in your career. It is the beginning of understanding the concept of providing hospitality to guests. As you begin to gasp principles of a well operated- hotel, you will discover the important role of the front office plays in keeping this excitement intact. The front office is the nerve center of a hotel property. Communications and accounting are two of the most important role in the front desk operation. Effective communications- with guests, employees and other departments of the hotel are paramount in projecting a hospitality image. Answering guest inquiries about hotel services and other guest, marketing and sales department requests for information on guest room availability, and housekeeping department inquiries concerning quest reservations are but a few of the routine tasks performed by the front desk in its role as communications hub. The process of employee training is typically looked upon as an expense, but perhaps a more insightful view would be to consider employee training an investment. This becomes possible when employees are taught to execute service-marketing principles during customer interactions. Well-executed interactions then lead to satisfied guests, repeat purchases, and company profitability.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a customer focused training guideline integrating service-marketing concepts into the front office employee training process. A literature review was conducted to identify service marketing concepts and best training practices that can be applied to the hotel employee workplace. This information was then used to formulate an effective training guideline. Emphasis is placed upon four key service-marketing concepts and how they relate to the both the training environment and employee workplace. The guideline is designed to allow trainers and management teams opportunities to customize the training content, allowing for application across multiple hotel business models.

Background

Today the highly competitive market, in which business operates, requires a skillful workforce in order to remain a successful player in the competitive game of the industry. One of the main obstacles, which occur in the workplace, is the lack of training and development. Training is an essential process, which should be cautiously designed and implemented within all firms. The overall aim of this dissertation is to examine an importance of training in hospitality industry. Training is a part of the human resource development, along with the other human resources activities such as recruitment, selection and compensation. The role of human resource department is to improve the organization’s effectiveness by providing employees with knowledge, skills and attitudes that will improve their current or future job performance. In order to implement the right training methods, the training specialist should be aware of the pros and cons and effectiveness of each training method. Besides, for evaluating training effectiveness, measurement should be done according to the models. “Training” refers to a systematic approach to learning and development to improve individual, team, and organizational effectiveness (Goldstein & Ford, 2002). Alternatively, development refers to activities leading to the acquisition of new knowledge or skills for purposes of personal growth. However, it is often difficult to ascertain whether a specific research study addresses training, development, or both. In the remainder of this review, we use the term “training” to refer to both training and development efforts.

Defining Training

“Training, in the most simplistic definition, is an activity that changes people’s behaviour”(Mccleland 2002, 7). Training is a part of human resource development, along with the other human resources activities such as recruitment, selection and compensation. The role of human resource department is to improve the organizations effectiveness by providing employees knowledge, skill and attitudes that will improves their current or future job performance. In order to implement the right training methods, the training specialist should be aware of the pros and cons and effectiveness of each training method. Besides for evaluating training effectiveness, measurement should be done according to the models. Training is the process that provides employees with the knowledge and the skills required operating within the systems and standards set by management (Sommerville, 2007).

Training Cycle (This is a replication of Page 4 of the Framework of Standards for Magistrate Training and Development)

• Stage 1 – Identification of training needs This initial stage of the training cycle addresses finding out if there is, or identifying training needs. If a need is identified, it is at this stage that who needs trained (target audience), in what and how you will know the training has had the intended impact success criteria* of the training should be identified. This stage will help those who identify training needs to consider why the training is required and its expected outcome and impact. How you will measure if the training has met the original need i.e. brought about intended change in behavior, performance etc.
• Stage 2 – Design of training solutions This stage covers planning, design and development of magistrate training. It aims to ensure that a systematic and consistent approach is adopted for all training solutions. Training solutions cover face to face training and open and flexible learning including e-learning.
• Stage 3 – Delivery of training solutions This stage of the training cycle ensures that the delivery of the training is effective and provides opportunities for the learners to learn. This will involve choosing the most appropriate format for meeting training needs, and taking advantage of different training methods.
• Stage 4 – Application of training in the court environment This stage of the training cycle is concerned with ensuring that all learning outcomes are applied and reinforced in practice within the court environment. This stage will help those who monitor the development of individual learners and review their progress.
• Stage 5 – Evaluation of training solutions This stage of the training cycle deals with the collection, analysis and presentation of information to establish the improvement in performance that results from this. This stage will help those who evaluate learning programmes, or who respond to developments in learning, or plan and introduce improvements in learning interventions.

Staff Training

Staff training in hotel industry Now days in every hospitality business, it is all about competence in employee, and especially the employee’s qualities. Quality of service depends on the qualities of employees. The qualities are about knowledge, skills and thoughts which lead to a hotel’s survival and development. Therefore staff Stage 4 Application of training in the court environment Stage 3 Delivery of training solutions 5 training is essential in many ways which increases productivity while employees are armed with professional knowledge, experienced skills and valid thoughts; staff training also motivates and inspires workers by providing employees all needed information in work as well as help them to recognize how important their jobs are. Training and development can be seen as a key instrument in the implementation of HRM practices and policies. (Nickson, 2007) “Successful hotels always include staff training as their important development strategy”.

Importance of staff training

Current changes in the working environment made the Human Resource Development’s -role doubly essential in helping businesses being competitive and prepared for any future obstacles that may emerge (Goldstein and Gilliam, 1990). According to Bellizzi and Pointkowski (1990) and Lee (1991) due to the technological development the workforce in every company needs training, and being more precise, it needs more improved skills in order to overcome any problems and barriers occurring. The demands of global competition also modifies the way organizations function and provide quality management and customer service training in an attempt to carry on with increasing customer prospects. Additionally, in order to keep ahead in an extremely competitive atmosphere, it has been recommended that the training role has to promote a continuous learning culture (Martocchio and Baldwin, 1997). Additionally, companies offer training in order to guide employees on how to achieve their purpose. In addition they want to advance their employees’ performance, by becoming more productive, and prepare them for upcoming changes in techniques or technology in their job (Fisher, 1999).

In order to identify what methods are used in the EAC and which one is more appropriate to be used, so as to improve the existing training system, an analysis of the training types had to take place. To increase the commitment level of employees and growth in quality movement (concepts of HRM), senior management team is now increasing the role of training. Such concepts of HRM require careful planning as well as greater emphasis on employee development and long term education. Training is now the important tool of Human Resource Management to control the attrition rate because it helps in motivating employees, achieving their professional and personal goals, increasing the level of job satisfaction, etc. As a result training is given on a variety of skill development and covers a multitude of courses. Training of work tasks is one of the main aspects of staff training, including principles at work, professional knowledge and skills, by offering employees these essentials, staff training helps personal abilities match with business requirements. (Train 01,2009.). Training could be enormously demanding and should be in-depth; lack of training or poor training brings out high employee turnover and the delivery of substandard products and services (Sommerville, 2007). Staff training is a significant part as well as the key function of Human Resource Management and Development; it is the crucial path of motivating employees and increasing productivity in the business (Mcclelland, 2002). Staff training is the key task to help everyone in the company to be more united. An enterprise could hire experienced employees or train employees to be skilled. When the company trains their own staff, by providing and forming a harmonious atmosphere, accurate work specification and the passion of work, team spirit will be built between employees and management team within the process.

Benefits of staff training for individual and team

Training plays a very important role in human resource development. The major benefits of training for individual and team are as follows: Training helps to increase the knowledge and skills of an employee 6 in the performance of a particular job which helps to increase the productivity. It improves both quality and quantity of output. A well trained employee is self – confidence in his work as he knows what to do & how to do the work. Under such situation there is less need of supervision. Trained employee will be able to make better and economic use of materials & equipment which avoid wastage. In addition the rate of accidents and damages to the machines and equipment will be minimum as they know how to use them. Thus it helps in economic operation. Training helps the employees in various ways. Employee can acquire knowledge and job skills which provide feeling of confidence. The profession of useful skills enhances their value to their employer, increase earning power. Training may also qualify them for promotion to be more responsible towards their job. Training increases the skill, knowledge and talent in the employees. They can make themselves capable of occupying vacancies at the higher level. In this way the needs for manpower can be fulfilled from the organization.

Benefits of training for organizations (ASTD-American Society for Training and Development)

Fewer than 5% of all training programs are assessed in terms of their financial benefits to the organization (Swanson, 2001). The picture changes among companies recognized for their commitment to training. Specifically, the majority of organizations recognized by ASTD for innovative training programs measure training impact at some level of organizational effectiveness (Rivera& Paradise, 2006). Typical organizational performance measures in this latter sample include productivity improvement, sales or revenue, and j overall profitability. Overall, research regarding organizational-level benefits is^not nearly as abundant as the literature on individual- and team-level benefits. Not only have there been relatively few empirical studies showing organizational-level impact, but those studies that have been done typically use self report data and unclear causal helink back to training activities (Tharenou, 2007). Nevertheless, we review this literature organized into two areas: benefits related to organizational performance and other benefits.

Benefits of training for the society

Most of the research on the relationship between training activities and their benefits for society has been conducted by economists; the focal dependent variable is national economic performance .Overall, this body of literature leads to the conclusion that training efforts produce improvements in the quality of the labor force, which in turn is one of the most important contributors to national economic growth (Becker, 1962 and 1964). Economists coined the terms “human capital” and “capital formation in people” in referring mainly to schooling and on-the-job training (Wang et al. 2002). An illustration of this type of analysis is a study by Van Leeuwen & van Praag, (2002), who calculated the costs associated with on-the job training and the impact of such training on country-level macroeconomic variables. In addition to economic growth and other related financial outcomes, training activities have the potential to produce benefits such as the inclusion of the country in powerful economic blocks (e.g., European Union). This is because some of the requirements imposed on countries to be part of these blocks include human capital development. Accordingly, in reorganization of the benefits of training at the societal level, many countries encourage national scale training and development projects as a matter of national policy (Cho & McLean, 2004).

Training Methods

Many training techniques are created almost every year by the rapid development in technology. Deciding among methods usually depends on the type of training intended, the trainees selected, the objectives of the training program and the training method. Training is a situational process that is why no single method is right for every situation. While some objectives could be easily achieved through one method, other objectives could necessitate other methods. Many training programs have learning objective in more than one area. When they do, they need to combine several training methods into an 8 integrated whole. Training methods could be classified as cognitive and behavioural approaches. Cognitive methods provide verbal or written information, demonstrate relationships among concepts, or provide the rules for how to do something. These types of methods can also be called as off the-job training methods. On the other hand, behavioral methods allow trainee to practice behavior in real or simulated fashion. They stimulate learning through behavior which is best for skill development and attitude change. These methods can be called as on-the-job training methods. Thus; either behavioral or cognitive learning methods can effectively be used to change attitudes, though they do so through different means. Cognitive methods are best for knowledge development and behavioral methods for skills (Blanchard and Thacker, 1998). The decision about what approach to take to training depends on several factors that include the amount of funding available for training, specificity and complexity of the knowledge and skills needed, timeliness of training needed, and the capacity and motivation of the learner. To be effective, training method should; motivate the trainee to improve his or her performance, clearly demonstrate desired ^skills, provide an opportunity for active participation the trainee, provide an opportunity to practice, provide timely feedback on the trainee’s performance, provide some means for reinforcement while the trainee learns, be structured from simple to complex tasks, be adaptable to specific problems, encourage positive transfer from training to the job (Woods, 1995).

Off-the-job training methods

Training which takes place in environment other than actual workplace is called off-the – job training. Off-the-job training is usually designed to meet the shared learning needs of a group rather than a particular individual’s needs. Lectures, computer-based training, games and simulations are the common forms of off-the-job training methods. 2.6.1.1 Lecture method The lecture is best used to create a general understanding of a topic or to influence attitudes through education about a topic. Perhaps the most common form of off-the-job training is the oral presentation of information to an audience (Blanchard and Thacker, 1999). By using lecture method, large amount of information can be delivered in a relatively short period of time to a large number of people. A major concern about lecture method is that no allowance is made during the lectures for clarifying the levels of understanding among participants. Trainees do not actively involve training process and they may forget muchr~ information when it is presented orally. When the only training objective is to gather specific factual information, learning can be accomplished by putting information into the text material (Drummond, 1999)

Computer based training

Computer based training can be defined as any training that occurs through the use of computer. Many companies are implementing computer based training as an alternative to classroom based training. Some of the reason for this thinking is; reduces trainee learning time, reduces the cost of training, provides instructional consistency, affords privacy of learning, trainees can study only what they need to know, increases access to training, allows trainee to master learning, that is the best way to keep interest and motivation high (Jerris, 1999). Perhaps the most important advantage of computer based training is its control over the content of the material, method of presentation, and movement of the trainee through sequentially structured learning episodes based on previous trainee responses (Kearsly, 1984). On the other hand, companies have to realize that although E- leaming provides a more costeffective method of knowledge dissemination, there are drawbacks to this type of delivery. Primarily, predictions of others behavior and reactions is impossible. E-leaming should never replace in-person 9 training, but should reinforce company values and provide foundations for learning. There is a totally different dimension in dealing with human problems and behaviors; important dimensions that can never be fully conveyed through computer based training (Lee, 2000).

Testing, evaluation, and follow-up

The testing evaluation and follow-up of intangibles and customer relationships is difficult. The measurement and determination of training effectiveness is not entirely straightforward especially in the hospitality workplace setting, which features a complicated mixture of service and technical proficiency (Almanza et al., 2010). One way to evaluate the understanding of long-term customer relationships is to have the employee define how to rate the value of a guest to the hotel operation. A correct assessment will include the value of word of mouth and repeat purchase decisions, not just one-time folio values. Questions on how to create customer satisfaction during a hotel stay can help determine the employees understanding of the value of intangible features of customer service. Correct answers will contain references to quality interactions and not just low room rates or package specials. Follow-up discussions should include an opportunity for the employee to share interaction experiences where they were able to assist the guest in making an intangible experience more tangible. Additionally, a small role-play can be utilized where the trainer acts as the upset guest and evaluates how well the employee practices empathy skills during the interaction.

Management role

Management role in the training of customer relationships and intangibles starts with the way they treat their staff. The same principles that govern the employee guest interaction also apply to the interactions between the manager and the front office staff. Managers should look for ways to make their requests tangible in value to the employee so that they can buy-in to the job task. Recognition of the long-term value of an employee is also an excellent way to communicate the principle of long-term value of the customer to the employee. When they are treated within the context of a long-term relationship, rather than simply the immediate needs of a particular task request, the employee feels appreciated and valued rather than being used and manipulated.

Works Cited

1. ASTD-American Society for Training and Development. (n.d.). Benefits of Training. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/research/benefits-of-training
2. Bellizzi, J. A., & Pointkowski, S. R. (1990). Training needs assessment in the hospitality industry. Journal of Management Development, 9(6), 24-31.
3. Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. W. (1998). Effective training: Systems, strategies, and practices. Prentice Hall.
4. Goldstein, I. L., & Ford, J. K. (2002). Training in organizations: Needs assessment, development, and evaluation (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.
5. Lee, M. (1991). Competitiveness, employee participation and training in the hotel industry: An international study. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 3(2), 25-29.
6. Martocchio, J. J., & Baldwin, T. T. (1997). The challenge of training and development. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 153-163.
7. McClelland, D. C. (2002). Human motivation. Cambridge University Press.
8. Nickson, D. (2007). Human resource management for the hospitality and tourism industries. Elsevier.
9. Sommerville, I. (2007). Software engineering (8th ed.). Pearson Education.
10. Swanson, R. A. (2001). The foundations of transfer of training. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 3(3), 261-271.