Training and Development
Introduction
Small-Medium Enterprise (SAME) sector is recognized as a significant part of the national economics in each country. The importance of Somes to longer-term economic stability comes from their size and structure which, under adequate circumstances i.e. well developed factors market, allow them the flexibility and ability to withstand adverse economic conditions. Somes are more labor-intensive than larger firms and, therefore, have lower capital costs associated with the creation of jobs (William, 2003). Accordingly, Somes play a crucial role in raising income stability, growth, and employment. Modern economies are engage as complex networks of firms in which a firm’s competitive position depends, in part, on the efficiency of its suppliers. Therefore She’s competitiveness affects the competitive position of the economy as a whole. In addition, Somes improve the efficiency of domestic markets and make productive use of scarce resources, such as capital, facilitating long-term economic growth (Williams, 2003b).
However, majority of these enterprises lack knowledge with current management tools, less established practices and resources for effective track keeping, analyzing and introducing regular changes into its business processes. Most She’s lag behind in updating its technologies, in systematically increasing skills of managements and personnel, and identifying new trends and customer requirements in time compared with bigger firms. With globalization, She’s are suspects in issues of competitiveness against multinational firm that operates in the same market with the She’s.
Most countries in the world are undergoing reforms that are opening their economies to greater international competition. However, domestic factor markets are not adequately developed to ensure the successful adaptation of Somes to this new competitive environment. Unlike larger firms, which can more easily absorb the transaction costs, Somes are at a disadvantage and require specific compensatory assistance.
As an effect, She’s are left alone in their competitiveness for survival after the successful start-up with the globalization and the fast advancement of technology. As a result, consumers increased its demand for high quality of products and harsh competitiveness among firms grew. An arising gap in skills of locally available human resources follows with the stiff competition of firms follows. Most She’s also lack the capacity and readiness to introduce innovations. With the birth of e-business, there is also a big need for high qualifications for the personnel and a skill to learn and adapt to innovations. The SAME management faces steadily increasing gap between the feasible rate of their own progress compared to the major international producers and national corporations having the resources to meet the world of change.
The Importance of Training and Development
Many entrepreneurs seem to view employee training and development as more optional than essential. This kind of viewpoint that can be costly to both short-term profits and long-term progress. The primary reason training is considered optional by so many business owners is because it’s viewed more as an expense than an investment (Arvada, 2005).
There are numerous reasons why businesses acquire fatal problems, including lack of investment, cash flow problems or disappointing sales. Yet there are less apparent factors which also lead to business failure, such as poor planning and a lack of business experience. In addition, failure to enforce a staff development program can seriously affect competitive advantage for small and medium-sized enterprises. The abilities and skills of managers and employees are crucial for the prosperity of Somes. There is extensive evidence showing a positive impact of management and employee training on small firm performance. (2000) claim that provision of management training enhances long term strategies and managerial competence of Somes. A Management Service’s study (2001) reports an increase in financial performance of Somes, employing less than 100 employees, following formal training. It also enhances human capital, which is a major source of sustained competitive advantage. Training, learning by doing and other measures of human resource management lead to better performance of employees at the firm level. Many studies propose a positive impact of training on employees wage growth and productivity (Bishop, 1994,1999a, 1999b, Barron et al). However, the positive correlation between training provision and better SAME performance remains debatable. Patton and Marlow (2000) question the nonlinear causal relationship between training provision and SAME performance. They show that such a relationship is shaped by other factors such as the external context, ownership structure and characteristics of management teams.
Impact of technology on Somes
Globalization has brought about a range of opportunities and challenges which have put additional pressures on Somes. In addition to having to cope with the effects of globalization, they need to adapt to new business conditions in terms of product positioning and product development facilitated by information technology, with all its potential benefits in terms of market access for Somes. The potential of Somes for achieving economies of scale is very limited and the use of computer reservation systems (Cress) has not spread significantly, quite apart from the fact that Somes are already disadvantaged because of their high average unit production costs. Somes are forced by market conditions to install new systems and train their staff to use tourism-related technology but find it difficult to invest in training or staff development, mainly because of limited investment resources and the fact that many Somes in the hotel, tourism and catering sector are managed by a generation of staff have had no formal training in the sector.
In developing countries, Somes play an important role in employment creation but are hampered by low productivity levels, poor product quality and lack of access to credit and training. The impact of capital outflows from developing countries resulting from e-commerce is another issue which needs attention. The need to develop competition policy-related disciplines in this area is also clearly felt, in view of the need to establish safeguards to prevent abuse by dominant suppliers.
Small Hotel Operation (Tourism and Hospitality Industry)
The conventional constraints of the hotel, catering and tourism industry, its long, antisocial working hours, low pay, unstable, seasonal employment, low job status, etc. make employment within the industry appear attempting to many. The prompt and most apparent consequences of such a situation are the difficulty of recruiting suitable staff and high staff turnover; both these effects are costly to the industry. There is therefore a perceived need for human resource development, to raise the profile of the industry, increase productivity and provide decent, sustainable employment within the sector.
The global hotel market encompasses a wide range of types of accommodation, full-service hotels, bed and breakfast inns, suites, self-catering short-term apartments and time-share properties. Distribution and intermediation are increasingly recognized as factors critical to the competitiveness and success of the tourism industry in general and of small and medium-sized tourism enterprises in particular. The latter need to develop effective distribution channels either to meet the needs of their independent clientele or to provide direct booking mechanisms to reduce their dependency on tour operators. Hospitality organizations and hotel chains already rely on customer bookings through the Internet. The challenge for tourism sector Somes is to be able to compete for their market shares and take advantage of emerging opportunities and associated benefits to enhance their profitability and viability in the global market-place. Somes in the tourism sector are constrained by the growing concentration and globalization of tourism supply. In addition, lack of professionalism and inadequate management and marketing skills, the absence of economies of scale and limited access to the necessary capital, human resources, marketing expertise and technology, over-reliance on a limited number of distribution partners and inadequate formal education or business training are among other deficiencies which put them at a competitive disadvantage. Overall, the inability to market their products adequately seriously affects their profitability and ability to survive in the globalize economy.
Somes are highly reliant on existing distribution channels, namely, intermediaries such as tour operators, travel agencies, travel information centers and tourist guides. It can be argued that the gradual reduction of Somes’ reliance on intermediaries will enable them to become more profitable, flexible and adaptable and to produce customized tourism products in order to satisfy niche markets. This will also require a rethink of all strategic and operational practices with regard to SAME development, as well as development of entrepreneurs’ managerial skills and professionalism, training in marketing and management and on the use of information technology.
Somes can benefit in a number of ways by applying information technology to develop their product, thereby enhancing their market position and increasing their profit margins. Information technology offers new management and business opportunities and can be applied strategically to gain competitive advantage, improve productivity and performance, facilitate new ways of managing and organizing, and develop new businesses. Although information technology entails risks and costs, its underutilization could increase the vulnerability of Somes and aggravate any competitive disadvantage as greater use is made of IT systems.
Although Somes play a major role in the international tourism and hotel industry, their vulnerability becomes quite obvious in the highly demanding business environment characterized by competition generated by globalization and the transformation of tourism demand. Globalization of the industry means that Somes in the tourism sector compete in a multinational environment where only organizations capable of providing exceptional value or cost advantage will survive. The opportunity of achieving economies of scale in distribution channels, reservations, marketing, advertising, administration, personnel management, technology adaptation, new product development, training and bulk purchasing of raw material and equipment, has been instrumental in the creation of major hotel chains, international consortia, management contracts and multinational franchising companies, and has placed the independent operator at a disadvantage. The overall trend in the hotel industry appears to be towards a gradual but steady switch from independently owned and operated hotels to hotel chains. Somes seem to be the weakest and most vulnerable members of the industry and will need to seek competitive advantages if they are to compete and maintain their market share in an increasingly globalize economy.
Employment and Working Conditions
Although tourism is a growth industry and a major creator of value added, the industry is vulnerable to a variety of economic, ecological, geopolitical and meteorological factors, and over-reliance on it can be dangerous for a country.
Economic recession and the impact of natural disasters or terrorist attacks can devastate the sector in a country for several years. The tsunami that sweeps over many tourists spots in Asia greatly reduced and stalled the booming tourism industry of the affected countries. These factors shape the structure of the tourism labor force, making it difficult to maintain high permanent staffing levels. There is a generic tendency to operate on the basis of a core staff and to employ the labor needed for day-to-day operations under atypical contractual arrangements.
In an industry which employs a large proportion of young, mobile people, turnover is bound to be high, and recruitment is a habitual problem in the sector for this reasons.
Best Inn (Training and Development)
Corona Del Mar is a medium sized hotel with 60 rooms conveniently located on the fringe of the city central business district. Originally built in 1977, the hotel has recently undergone a major renovation programmed. It is composed of 4 shifting front desk attendants. One operations manager and 15 staffs who acts a busboys and rooms service attendants. The median age for room service attendants is 23, and most of them finished high schools but with little or no experience at all in the hospitality service. The four front desk attendants have also little or no training at all with the industry. The operations manager is already the fifth replacement in 2 years, the four resigning after gaining enough experience and finding a better job. For almost five years, the hotel has been stagnant with its growth. With the recent renewed vigor of the city’s downtown, and the sudden influx of local tourists, the new management of Corona del Mar decided to train its staff to cater a good and quality service to its clients. Before pursuing a training program, one has to first find out the “weakness” in the system where training must be targeted. With money constraints in SAME, the management cannot afford a holistic training program. Instead, the training program should focus on what is relevant and most pressing problem as of the moment. Corona del Mar has a small yet still significant share in the hotel industry in the city. But with the recent activities and renewed vigor and tourist influx in the city’s downtown area, Corona del Mar enjoys a big advantage since it is conveniently located in the downtown area. Because of this the new management hired an independent firm to re assess and train the hotel’s staff to make them well-rounded with the industry.
Focus of the Training Program
- Technology orientation- A wide range of technological developments in service in hotels may be affecting productivity. Integrated management systems are enabling hotel companies to computerize day-to-day reception operations. Clients are thus able to make their own reservations via the Internet, while electronic in-room installations make it possible to settle accounts from the hotel room. This technology will also make it possible to monitor the productivity of personnel. The front desk attendants and the operations manager would be the beneficiaries of this training program. Computer hands-on training, internet usage tutorial and orientation of the basic software that would be used by booking clients through the internet would be the thrust of this program. The main objective is to familiarize the training recipients with the use of the technology that would increase their own productivity. The whole duration of the training to familiarize everything should last for 120 hours.
- Multiskilling – The employers argue that one way to create sustainable, realistic employment in the industry is to implement a policy of “multiskilling”. This is also viewed as a means of reducing the problems of recruitment. Multiskilling has always been practiced in small enterprises, but it is only recently that particular attention has been paid to it. As demand for general competencies in small enterprises as well as in major hotel and restaurant chains has grown, and as appropriate means of training for these competencies have been developed, awareness has grown of the importance of multiskilling in that segment. One person fulfilling several roles at different times of the day combines the tasks of several (part-time) jobs into one job. The recipient of this training program would be the staffs who already act as bus boys and room service attendants and the front desks attendants who would be oriented with booking and billing clients through the use of technology such as the internet and the computer.
- New Management Methods- Corporate organizations are downsizing and restructuring, which means that they are cutting back on layers of management. This means that less direction is being imparted to employees, who are more frequently required to accept a greater degree of responsibility and accountability. Increased use of technology in the workplace also means an added responsibility for individual workers. It is estimated that the “knowledge revolution”, by providing clear information via the Internet on all the industry’s tangible elements (illustrations of accommodation and hotel facilities) will make the intangible elements (those imparted by personal contact and service) all the more important. Lower levels of staff will be empowered to act autonomously. Command and control structures are thus largely giving way to a participatory teamwork approach. Human resources trained to fit in with new working methods will have to be regarded as an asset in which investment must be made, rather than merely as a cost, or employees will seek employment elsewhere. Management is developing ways in which to attract and retain employees.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment