Table of Contents

Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2

What is Training and Development?...............................................................................................3

Type of Training Methods................................................................................................................5

US Airways Flight 1549 Miracle.......................................................................................................6

When is training needed?................................................................................................................7

Findings and Discussion...................................................................................................................8

Conclusion......................................................................................................................................10

Recommendations.........................................................................................................................11

Reference.......................................................................................................................................13

Appendix I......................................................................................................................................14
 Executive Summary

The report is based on an interview of a human resource manager in a hospitality organization.

Due to confidentiality reasons, the name of the hospitality organization has been changed and
named as “Seashore Hotel”. The topic “training and development” has been chosen and will
serve as the base for the interview along with this report. The report will start off with what is
human resource management and where does training and development come in. Various
organizational practice in relation to the theory of training and development will be discussed
which have been gathered from various books, news and articles from the internet. We will
then go into the types of training methods that organizations normally follow these days which
are “on-the-job training” and “off-the-job training” methods. There is also a short example case
on the US Airways Flight 1549 Miracle as to how training can be lifesaving in worst-case
scenarios. Following that, the answers from questionnaire interview will be compared with our
theoretical concepts and discussed. Towards the end, there are recommendations on how the
hotel can deal with its issues based on the analysis of the interview.

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Introduction to Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the policy and practice involving in carrying out the people or
human resource aspects of a management position which includes recruiting, screening,
training, rewarding and appraising.” The activities involve conducting job analysis, selecting
suitable and required candidates, orienting new employees, implementation of training and
developing, managing salaries, providing employees benefits and rewards (Dessler, 2006).

What is Training and Development?

The skills that organizations teach their current or new employees to do better in their work is
referred to as training. It might be teaching a new salesperson how to sell the firm’s product or
showing an in charge how to fill out the company’s monthly payroll timesheets. Just by hiring
good potential personnel in the workplace is not a recipe for success, it is essential to hire
proper candidates but they must know what you as a company or a manager or leader want
them to do and how to do things correctly so that work is efficient as well as effective i.e.
leading to goal achievement with minimum use of resources. In short, the process of teaching
new employees the basic skills they need to perform their jobs is known as training. However,
only going through technical skills as part of the training process just does not cut it anymore
these days. As one trainer says, “we don’t just concentrate on the traditional training objectives
anymore. We sit down with management and help them identify strategic goals and objectives
and skills and knowledge needed to achieve them. Then we work together to identify whether
our staff has the skills and knowledge, and when they don’t, that’s when we discuss training
needs”. So we can conclude that the training must be in coordination with the firm’s strategy
that the management has decided such as what kind of objectives and goals do they want to
achieve for a particular timeframe. For example, if the firm decides that they need to improve
their customer service, then there is a need to have customer service training program (Dessler,
2006).

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Organizations give a lot of significance to training and development as they promote individual
and organizational excellence by presenting the opportunity to improve and cultivate employee
workplace skillset. Training and development also brings motivation and strengthens the bond
of team unity at the workplace (Laird, Naquin, & Holton, 2003).

Armstrong (2009) stated that “Training involves the application of formal process to impart
knowledge and help people to acquire the skills necessary for them to perform their jobs
satisfactorily” (p. 665).

Armstrong (2009) also stated that “Development is concerned with ensuring that a person’s
ability and potential are grown and realized through the provision of learning experience or
through self-directed learning” (p. 665).

Noe (2017) says that development refers to formal education, job experiences, relationships
and assessments of personality and skills that help employees prepare for the future, which
means formal educational study programs (either from employer owned in-service institute or
external college/university), providing experience opportunities, exchange programs and
various forms of assessments are types of development activities. Furthermore, he has stated
that training focuses on helping employees’ performance in their current jobs.

Employee training is present-oriented that focuses on individual’s current jobs however,

employee development is future-oriented that focuses on employee personal growth. (Robbins,
Coulter & Cenzo, 2017)

The following table 1 shows a short summary comparison of training and development.
Table 1
Comparison of Training and Development
Training Development
Focus Employee’s current work Employees’ future
Use of work experiences Low High
Main goal Preparation for current job Preparation for future changes

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 Participation Is required Voluntary
Source: Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhert, B., & Wright, P. (2009). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (3rd ed.).
New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

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Type of Training Methods

Training methods have been categorized into two types: on-the-job and off-the-job training
methods (Jerris, 1999)

On the job training methods

Cross training allowing employee to work in different jobs in different
departments
provides good exposure

Understudy assignment working under the guidance or with a coach or mentor

provides support from experienced individual

Job instruction training referred to as the “tell tell tell” method

commonly used in training new hires

Off the job training methods

Classroom training lectures designed to convey technical, interpersonal or problem
solving skills

Films and videos using media to demonstrate activities that are not easily
presented by other training methods

Simulation exercises artificial environment that closely imitates actual working

conditions
may include case studies, role-play and group exercises

Vestibule training learning tasks on same equipment that one will actually use on
the job but in a simulated work environment

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US Airways Flight 1549 Miracle

It is said that aircrafts are not the ones to be

blamed for the accidents, rather it’s the people.
Most of the accidents and mishaps are the
result of errors from pilots, air traffic personnel
or inadequate maintenance. The rest happen
due to weather and structural failures. This
shows that it is of utmost importance for
Source: 2009: Flight 1549 crew praises smart, calm passengers.
people working in the airline industry to be CNN.com (2009, Jan. 16). Retrieved on September 16, 2018 from
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/us/hudson-landing-archive-
crew-reaction/index.html
trained thoroughly as human errors can be
reduced to a great extent by employee training. A real life incident occurred on January 15,
2009 whereby a pilot by the name of Captain Chesley Sullenberger unbelievingly and amazingly
“landed” an airplane (US Airways Flight 1549) on the Hudson river within 20 minutes from the
time that it took off from Laguardia Airport in New York for Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a
miracle that no lives were lost that day. The pilot credited the result to the intensive training
that all members of the crew usually undergo (CNN.com, 2009).

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When is training needed?

Figure 1

Determining Whether Training Is Needed

Source: Robbins, S., Coulter, M., & Cenzo, D. (2017). Fundamentals of Management: Essentials Concepts and Applications. (9th ed.). India:
Pearson Education, Inc.

The figure 1 above shows the kind of signs which may warn a manager when the need for
training may arise. The apparent indicators are usually related to productivity. The more
obvious ones are related directly to productivity. Lower production numbers, decrease in
quality, frequent accidents, higher scrap and rejection rates indicate that job performance is
declining. If managers sense or find these sort of job performance in their workplace or firm it is
a clear indication that employee skills are decreasing and they need to be dealt with in a
professional manner, taking into consideration that the performance decline is not related to
lack of effort or demotivated individuals. As the internal and external environment are
frequently changing, managers must see that training and keeping the workforce up to date is a
must. Due to changes, their might be job redesign or replacement of technology which may
enforce requirement of training too. (Robbins, Coulter, Cenzo, 2017)

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Findings and Discussion

As the interviewee who is the human resource manager could only be met during operational
hours and was pressed for time, we decided that a questionnaire was the best option.
Therefore the findings and discussions are based on the questionnaire that has been attached
as Appendix I. The interviewee did not want to disclose their given name due to confidentiality
reasons therefore it has kept anonymous.

The purpose and importance of staff training and development has been heavily emphasized by
various authors, it is no different with our HR manager as well who mentions that if we want to
retain our good and long term skilled employees, conducting staff training and giving them
room for development is essential. According to him, the purpose of staff training and
development is to keep up with hotel standards, eliminate guest complaints and maintain a
professional work culture. It is also important if we want to reduce employee turnover. Training
programs were made based on the feedback they received from guests which was done every 3
months.

When asked whether the hotel used on the job or off the job training methods, the interviewee
has answered that they use both. On the job training methods such as internships were used to
recent graduates or those with little to no experience and normally for newly hired staff, they
were paired up with a mentor who has been working in the hotel for some time. Off the job
training consisted of workshop during incentive travels but they were not used so much due to
high costs incurred such as airplane fare, accommodation and meals for the staff. The hotel
would also use its own function rooms to conduct classroom style lectures and would use
videos for educating purposes. Role play training was frequently used as well.

The difficulties our HR manager faces were not from the training programs, rather it was in the
form of staffs who were working there since a long time. Sometimes if full time staffs did not
work up to guest expectations or did some mistake it was difficult to communicate where the
person was lacking. Management also took part in the training program but they did so by

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assigning a senior personnel who was very experienced and later the management would have
a meeting to get the assigned person’s feedback regarding the training program’s effectiveness.

The hotel uses its own function room’s available resources and facilities such as the projector,
white screen, boards, flipcharts and so on. They also go traditional in the form of classroom
style lectures and having role plays in between so as to keep the training interactive. The
duration of the training sessions would usually range from a few hours to half a day and
sometimes even longer. Employees were usually interested if the training was something new
and interesting whereas if it was something they were familiar with, they needed to be
motivated to have a good participation in the training programs.

Finally, our HR manager mentions that employees tend to leave after gaining some good skills
in their hotel by moving to other hotels which would give them better offers. He considered it
to be normal as many operative level personnel did this not only in his hotel but others as well.
For this, the hotel would normally see as to how much important the person is to the hotel and
if it is someone they really need to have, they would have a negotiation with the salary,
benefits and incentives.

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Conclusion

Employee training and development is starting to become an important feature of any kind of
company these days. Training your staff ensures that they get a competitive edge over
competitors when doing their job. There are several ways to train employees as we discussed
only a certain part of it. Choosing the type of training really depends on the size of the
organization as well as the location which means what kind of culture are we in and the norms
that have been set in that particular place. These days as technology has been progressing
rapidly and employees as well as their superiors must be adept in it, technology based training
is widely used. All trainers at some point of their training will use something that is technology
based as it is easy to brief the audience at large as well.

Development training programs needs to be looked extra carefully too as employees these days
have many options. After gaining some experience at one place, they will opt to apply for a
better organization which would take care of its employees rather than being stuck at the same
place for many years. Overall this research has made an attempt to look into how Seashore
Hotel has been taking care of its employees through their training and development programs.
It seems they do not have much problem with the training itself but sometimes there is a bit of
communication gap when it comes to getting complaints from clients about their long term
employees. The conclusion here is that Seashore Hotel has a good management at hand who
cares about their employee’s career path as they look into training and development quite well.

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Recommendations

Based on the interview questionnaire answered by the human resource manager, here are
some recommendations that would make their training and development even better. As
stated in the questionnaire, the question on how do employees respond when it comes to
taking trainings, for which the answer was if it was something new and interesting there would
be an automatic interest amongst the staff who were about to take the training but if it was
something they had an idea about, they were not so keen on it. The human resource
department should take on the responsibility to explain to the employees about the goals and
objectives of the training and how would everyone as a whole benefit from the training
program. For example, it maybe that one or two out of ten employees might have certain ideas
about the topic of the training on that day. They should allow the remaining eight or nine
individuals to learn about the training and learn to be part of a team as the hospitality industry
requires them to be so. The employees must be briefed beforehand as to how these trainings
will benefit them in the future. For this to happen, the trainer must have strong interpersonal
skills. It is good idea to have someone from outside as well. There are many expert trainers who
have the knowledge and skill to conduct necessary trainings. Having an outsider conduct
training can be a refreshment for the staff as well.

The last question which was about improvements and planning for the future which was cross
answered by an existing problem that many hotels face. Employee apply for the job, they get
accepted and after spending some time gathering their skills, when a better offer opens up in
another hotel they will not give a second thought before leaving their current workplace. Now,
in my opinion this is to do with having proper communication between the workforce and the
management. It’s true that management cannot scrutinize each and every employee in the
hotel and retain them but there are always a few star players in the team whose contribution
leads the hotel forward. It is because of these star employees that other employees feel that
they are in a good place with professional people and hence motivated to work better. The
management needs to retain these star employees by having proper communication with them
from time to time. They need to find out when and where these employees are not satisfied in

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their work and what are their inputs to making things better. In order to do so, the best
opportunity can be during the training sessions and trainers can observe this during that time.
The trainer and management can then sit down after the training session and come up with
solutions on how to retain their employees.

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Reference

2009: Flight 1549 crew praises smart, calm passengers. CNN.com (2009, Jan. 16).
Retrieved on September 16, 2018 from https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/us/hudson-
landing-archive-crew-reaction/index.html

Armstrong, M. (2009). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (11th

ed.). London: Kogan Page Limited.

Dessler, G. (2006). A Framework for Human Resource Management (4th ed.). New Jersey:
Pearson Prentice Hall.

Dessler, G. (2006). Human Resource Management (10th ed.). Baba Barkha Nath Printers, India:
Pearson Education, Inc.

Jerris, L. (1999). Human Resources Management for Hospitality (1st ed.). USA: Prentice Hall.

Laird, D., Naquin, S., & Holton, E. (2003). Approaches to Training and Development (3rd ed.).
USA: Perseus Publishing

Noe, R. (2017). Employee training and development (7th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill
Education.

Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhert, B., & Wright, P. (2009). Fundamentals of Human Resource
Management (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Robbins, S., Coulter, M., & Cenzo, D. (2017). Fundamentals of Management: Essentials
Concepts and Applications. (9th ed.). India: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Appendix I

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