Supervision Management Issues - Essay Example

Job satisfaction and performance management are inter related. An efficient and well designed performance management an enhance job satisfaction which in turn reduces attrition or maximizes retention. The rate of attrition is very high in the hospitality industry due to the characteristics and nature of the industry. These include seasonal work, long hours of working, burn-outs and stress, and low pay structure. Thus rewards and recognition become important motivators. Motivation can be enhanced by a well designed and implemented performance management system. The supervisors or the line managers are more important in organization’s today because they are the ones that directly interact with the employees (Thornhill & Saunders, 1998). To what extent leaders and managers in the hospitality units are able to achieve their goals will be critically analysed here. Performance management requires the evaluation of contemporary theories of human psychology and their application to performance of individuals at work place. According to Brownell (2003), communication is the most vital tool for a manager for improving individual and organizational performance. The hospitality industry is service oriented and service is synonymous with effective communication. It thus becomes important for managers to make their messages clear, to maintain and develop positive relationships with both customers and employees. Performance management requires the managers to ensure that employees’ activities and output are congruent with organizational goals. They need to set standards, assess result and plan for improvement (Schermerhorn et al., 2004 cited by Gross, 2007). A good performance management system can help to reduce turnover, increase productivity, improve individual performance, improve morale, reduce conflict and eliminate gaps and overlaps. In evaluating performance and objective evaluation method should be employed which should be able to pinpoint the areas where improvement is needed. An efficient system can also help to identify the superior workers in the organization. Workers’ participation leads to commitment and improved morale. While supervisory leadership is essential, the supervisor must be able to work together as a team. An effective reward system should be linked to how well each worker meets the performance standards. Since the hospitality industry is volatile and the services have to be changed with the customer demands, it lays stress on the employees. Hence an annual performance appraisal is not recommended. Once a year is insufficient and it demands daily attention as it is important to discuss job strategies and weaknesses of individuals or teams (Connell & Nolan, 2004). This would enable take quick corrective action and decide where to focus energies (Hendry, Woodward, Bradley & Perkins, 2000). Being service-oriented, the non-financial sectors like service quality, employee morale and customer satisfaction should be measured in this industry (Atkinson & Brown, 2001). The performance management should reflect the complex nature of the service delivery process within the hotels. Job satisfaction refers to a person’s general attitude towards the job. One with a high level of job satisfaction has a positive attitude while one who is dissatisfied with the job has a negative attitude towards the job (Robbins, 2006). As income increases job satisfaction increases because with higher paying jobs the responsibilities and the skills too are enhanced. It reflects the greater freedom and challenge they have in their jobs. Job satisfaction has not been found to have a direct impact on productivity which means a happy worker need not be more productive. Satisfied employees have lower levels of absenteeism. The relationship between satisfaction and turnover is much stringer. Even though there are various reasons for employees to change jobs like alternate job oppurtunities and length of employment, but satisfied employees have a lower levels of turnover. Employees’ level of performance is directly related to satisfaction-turnover relationship. This is the reason that organizations try to retain high performers by giving higher salaries, rewards and recognition and promotions. According to Hertzberg motivators are essential for job satisfaction and these motivators can be internal or external (Tietjen & Myers, 1998). These motivators can have positive attitudes towards work as they satisfy the workers’ need for self-actualization which is the ultimate goal of every individual according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These motivators lead to job satisfaction and include recognition, responsibilities, achievement, growth prospects and the job itself. However, in the hospitality industry diverse culture poses challenges and what works to motivate one set of employees may not have the same impact on others because according to Hofstede different cultures imply different mental programming, which governs activities, motivation and values (Gilbert & Tsao, 2000). This was perceived in the case of Ritz Carlton Hotel (USA) that received the Malcolm Bridge Award in 1992 but due to cultural differences it failed in Hong Kong. The reason was that culture did not permit the employees to work closely together to share knowledge because knowledge is power (Hope & Mühlemann, 2001) and thereby derive job satisfaction. The overall performance suffered because of this difference and this was because of Hofstede’s strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance culture. Role clarity has been defined as the degree to which required information is provided about how the employee is expected to perform his/her job (Mukherjee & Malhotra, 2006). Role clarity is linked to job satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance. Lack of role clarity can negatively impact job performance. Role clarity is a motivator as discussed above and hence lack of role clarity leads to no satisfaction from the job (Tietjen & Myers, 1998). Work leads to fulfillment and attainment of the higher needs according to Maslow’s theory. Role clarity and empowerment can improve employee morale and thereby lead to higher level of satisfaction from the job. An employee art a beach resort was empowered to spend up to $2000 if necessary for customer satisfaction (Schulze, 2000). This empowerment went a long way in satisfying the customer who had lost her ring while at the resort and could not locate it. This attendant purchased a metal detector which helped him to locate the ring and return it to the customer. Needless to mention that the attendant derived satisfaction and the customer satisfaction was a measure of the resort performance. Hence the discussions above clarify that role clarity, job satisfaction positive attitude, performance and reduced turnover are all inter-related. Based on these, the retention strategy can be drawn. Job satisfaction has been studied in conjunction with performance and it has been found that employees that are not suited to their job will not be able to deliver quality services (Malhotra & Mukherjee, 2004). To define the retention strategy it is first essential to understand the causes of high turnover in the hospitality industry. The relationship with the supervisor is of poor quality due to which the employees lack role clarity. The employees are not aware of their duties and responsibilities and do not know whether they are performing to required standards. This leads to low productivity. This implies that care has to be taken at the time of recruitment. The job has to be defined properly and the skills for the job tested. After recruitment the right training is essential for the development of the employees. The blue print for the training should be available and a competency standard for the job performance has to be set. While recruitment strategy is definitely important, empowerment has been recognized as an important method for improving performance in the hospitality industry. Empowering people can be to make and implement routine decisions or empowering employees to change the rules as the situation demands (Sternberg, 1992). At TGI Fridays employees are empowered through involvement and they are encouraged to develop a sense of ownership of the service encounter (Lashley, 1999). At Marriott empowerment was done through commitment where the employees were allowed to make decision about customer service needs and do everything to ‘delight the customer’ (Lashley & Taylor, 1998). Empowerment thus satisfies the higher needs of the employee. When this happens they react favorably and stay longer in the positions where they are involved in the decision making process at least to some extent. Hence employees need a stable work environment and they want to be knowledgeable about issues that affect their work environment or role clarity (Gustafson, 2002). Training has to start at the education level and both academicians and industry practitioners have to be involved at the education level. If the students are aware of the latest tools and techniques they would be well equipped to face the challenges when they enter the industry (Jayawardena, 2001). They need to understand the theory and practices and this would help to reduce attrition to a great extent. Thus it can be seen that job satisfaction, performance management and retention are all inter-related. Besides, the culture of the employees and the work environment make a difference as well. When roles are clearly defined and employees are empowered they feel responsible to take actions and derive satisfaction. A satisfied employee leads to a satisfied customer which in turn translates into improved performance both at the individual and the organizational level. When employees are satisfied they would be less inclined to change jobs. Clearly defining the roles and responsibilities during the recruitment process, empowerment, training at the education level, and healthy relations with the supervisor all contribute towards reduced attrition in the industry. 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