Training…. Training… Training…. May Be…, Can Be…, Or ’is’ The Solution!!
One idea leads to various ideas. Normally, leading ideas are given importance and the idea that led to new ideas is not recognized or given importance. Training leads to various new ideas in the minds of employees. An electrical spark can burn the entire building, similarly training can trigger the mind to generate enormous amount of ideas that are stored in a person. Training may change a person in terms of attitude, behavior, efficiency and effectiveness, generation of ideas, creativity and innovation. Training is a tool to transform a person to suit the needs of the business where one is working. All those who join an organization are not aware of the policies, practices, procedures, standards and other requirement of the business although they may have experience elsewhere in a different set-up and situations. In hotels the training is of paramount importance in order achieve the uniform practices and to achieve the set standards of service.
The need for training has to start from analyzing the requirement of the training needs based on the established standards of service. Training of the junior staff, middle-management and senior-management are not the same. One has to identify the training needs at different levels of the organization. Once this is done, one can formulate the training program for each level. Choosing of the trainer has to be done cautiously depending on the needs and the talent required for training. Correct methodology has to be identified and adopted for each levels of training. Hence, it is important to understand the training cycle.
Training cycle consists of the following components:
- Assessment of the need
- Identify training objectives
- Establish training criteria
- Selection of trainees
- Pretest trainees – if required
- Choose training methods
- Implement training
- Evaluation of training program
The need for training starts when there is discrepancy between the desired out-come of the results as against what really happens. Many a time these discrepancies are not mentioned by the guest themselves but identified by the managers. Examples of these are room cleanliness, time taken for check-in and check-out, time taken for room service etc. When there are too many complaints one will come to know of the need for training. Based on these discrepancies, training objectives have to be established. These objectives have to be clearly defined, such as aiming at improving services or aiming at increasing effectiveness or aiming at improving productivity or aiming at reduction of costs or aiming at changing the standards of service etc.
Training criteria are the benchmark set to measure the effectiveness by the hospitality managers. Next step would be to select the trainees by doing the pre-test if required. Trainees can be current employees or newly recruited employees who will benefit from the training. Testing the knowledge, skills and ability of the employee before the training begins one can evaluate the effectiveness of the training program after. Next step would be to choose the right methodology to implement the training process.
Once the training is over, evaluation of the training program has to be done to know the effectiveness of the training. Most managers seldom do the evaluation of the training program. One has to verify what was being done and what change has taken place due to training and its effectiveness in terms of job satisfaction, guest satisfaction, cost reduction etc. depending on the training objective.
Employee turnover is very high in the hospitality industry due to various reasons. When the personnel leave the organization, new recruitment is done. The newly recruited staff may not have adequate experience or familiar with the policies, practices and procedures of the new organization. Especially when bench mark jobs become vacant, it affects the standard of services to the guests to a great extent. Training of the staff becomes very important before actually they start servicing the guests.
The needs of the business are changing everyday due to life style and technology. In order to be in the industry, one has to be aware of the changes that are taking place in the market. To service the changing need of the guest calls for training of personnel as well. The need for training becomes important due to various reasons, such as, changes in life style of the guests, to adopt to new technology, new recruitment, Promotions, Changes in standards of service, to improve productivity and effectiveness, to reduce costs, to improve sales and so on and so forth.
Training is an important aspect of career development. It gives an employee motivation and a sense of belonging. Well trained employees would be happy to do their work very effectively and efficiently. Normally, in a good organization along with promotions an employee would be given training to learn the requisites of the newly promoted job requirement. These kinds of trainings are mainly devoted to develop managerial skills in a person and are generally called career development or career planning. The idea of these trainings are to increase managerial performance, enhance job satisfaction or improve knowledge, skills and abilities and also helps in identifying strengths, weakness and interests.
In large group of hotels, training becomes a continuous process. The hiring, terminations, resignations, promotions etc. takes place very frequently. The Human Resources Department will be busy all the time in the process of recruitment and selection. Man power planning becomes very important in these organizations. They have to keep large amount of personnel data in order to cater to the man power requirement of various departments. Once the selection is done, they need the selected employees to be prepared for training before they actually start their job. To be cost effective, the training has to be done in co-ordination with man power planning. With the experience, Human Resources Manager would be able to assess the number of terminations, resignation and recruitment takes place periodically.
In small hotels, training is always done during the course of their job. Off the job training are very rare in small hotels due to the high cost of training. However, training can be done periodically in such hotels through consultants only to the specific needs. In many small hotels, the existing employee or supervisor gives on the job training to the newly recruited staff. Still the training continues to be the perennial process even in small hotels.
Many hotels give very little importance for training due to the high cost involved. Although training by a professional trainer is expensive, benefits derived out of such investment is invaluable. Well trained employees would be able to serve the guests better and ultimately that results in good reputation and shows the results in financial statements as well. Employee training and development is one of the most important functions of the personnel management. In hospitality industry training becomes a very important function as the job demands for the guest interaction at all levels of management. Training helps in team building, uniform thinking, establishment of standards and conformance. All this ultimately results in guest satisfaction. The goal of the training is “Guest Satisfaction”.
Human Resources are the biggest asset of any organization. Retaining good and highly motivated employees is a big challenge. Employees are motivated not only because of their pay package they get, they also look at various other direct and indirect benefits they get from the organization such as, good boss, training, working atmosphere, career development, class of the hotel and other benefits. Training helps in team building and bringing the entire organization together. One has to realize that success of any organization depends on the coordination and cooperation of all the departments. Training helps in creating and retaining such organization! Do you think training is the only solution for your organization?
Written by NP Chandrashekhar, Group Financial Controller, Chelsea Group, Dubai.
