competency mapping in hotels with reference to madurai

COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO MADURAI

COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO

MADURAI

Author 1: Mr.K.Rajesh Kumar, Research Scholar – Bharathiar University, Coimbatore &

Assistant Professor – MBA, NPR College of Engineering & Technology, Natham, Tamilnadu.

E-Mail ID – errajeshmba@gmail.com

, 9597736600

Address for correspondence: K.Rajesh Kumar,

3/253, Surveyor Colony,

P.M.T Street,

Madurai – 625007, Tamilnadu, India

Author 2: Dr.M.Sivakumar, Associate Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship Studies,

Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamilnadu

E-Mail ID – dr.msk.india@gmail.com

, 9245185185

ABSTRACT

Madurai is popularly known as “temple city”, in recognition of its spiritual commitment. In fact hotels have been known to run 24 hours round the clock in a city like Madurai. Everywhere, there is competition. Customer retention and attracting potential customers are equally important for every business including Hotel Industry. Nowadays, competency mapping is also emerging in maximizing the involvement, implementation of managerial decisions in an efficient manner.

The study aims in identifying the deficiencies in required competencies and providing suitable suggestions to enhance the same. The period of study ranged for three years starting from August

2011 to August 2014. The area of the study is hotels in Madurai city. The sample size is 500, which would be the product of 25 employees selected from the 20 hotels in Madurai. Multistage sampling has been adopted. The analysis tools used are Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test & Friedman test. A suitable model has also been framed by the authors. The authors feel that this study would be of ample use for the Hotel Industry towards developing the competencies of their employees.

Keywords

Competency Mapping, sensitivity, customer’s demands & expectations, persuading skills

1 Mr.K.Rajesh Kumar & Dr.M.Sivakumar


COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO

MADURAI

1) INTRODUCTION

All organizations are talking about competencies. Some have truly worked the concept into several of their processes. A few have a fully implemented competency modeling and reporting system in place. However, quite a few organizations are still striving to build a competency model and implement it. Most organizations of all sizes are still struggling with defining, designing and implementing competency model projects.

2) REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Harvard psychologist David McClelland (1970) first suggested the importance of testing for competence rather than intelligence. Subsequently, competency models have been used worldwide to establish the building blocks of superior performance in many professional and technical academic, organizational, and manufacturing endeavors.

Spencer and Spencer (1993) viewed competency as “an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion-referenced effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation” (p. 9). They identified five types of competency characteristics consisting of motives, traits, self-concept, knowledge and skills. First, motives are the things that an individual consistently thinks about or wants that stimulate action. Motives drive, direct and select behavior toward certain actions or goals and away from others. Second, traits are physical characteristics and consistent responses to situations or information. Third, self-concept is an individual’s attitudes, values or self-image. Fourth, knowledge is the information that an individual has in specific content areas. Finally, skill is the ability to perform a certain physical or mental task.

Knowledge and skill competencies tend to be visible and relatively surface characteristics, whereas self-concept, traits and motive competencies are more hidden, deeper and central to personality. Surface knowledge and skill competencies are relatively easy to develop and training is the most cost-effective way to secure those employee abilities (Spencer & Spencer,

1993).

Mr.K.Rajesh Kumar & Dr.M.Sivakumar (2013) affirmed the Competencies expected from

Hotel employees in Madurai City. Customer expectations play a significant role in the development of any business. Expectations are used to form opinions with respect to the likely performance of a product or service. Hotels are also expanding year by year in terms of employees and units. Similarly, problems are also expanding. The primary reason is lack of


COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO MADURAI competencies among employees in Hotels. The research objectives of the study were to identify the required competencies among hotel employees, to find out the level of competencies, to identify the deviations between expected and actual competency level, to provide suitable suggestions as to improve their competencies. A sample of 500 customers was chosen for the study. The period of the study was two months ranging from January 2014 to February 2014.

The primary data was collected using Structured Questionnaire adopting the method of Interview

Schedule. Journals, magazines, periodicals, newspapers, books and internet support the collection of secondary data. The data collected has been analyzed using Percentage Analysis,

Reliability Analysis, Kruskal Wallis Test & Friedman Test.

The data collected has been analyzed using Percentage Analysis, Reliability Analysis, Kruskal

Wallis Test & Friedman Test. Reliability analysis said that the instrument is reliable and can be used with other statistical procedures for further investigation. Kruskal Wallis test proved that judging customer’s needs & wants does influence dealing with different types of customers. It also concluded that sound knowledge about hotel business does influence persuading customers.

Friedman test ascertained that there is an association between decision making, persuading customers, selling hotel’s services & dealing with different types of customers.

3) HOTEL INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Despite global economic woes, development of hotels in India has been one of the most lucrative investments. As per Cygnus estimates, total supply (number of hotel rooms) in India is expected to reach more than 180,000 within five years. Various domestic and international brands have made significant inroads into this space and more are expected to follow; around 40 international brands will enter the country in the next five years.

The year 2013 was a mixed bag for the hospitality industry in the country. Amidst adverse business climate in the overall economy, new hotels continued to open with alacrity across the country throughout 2013. Yes, of course, there were delays and deferments of hotel projects. But, supply continued to surge in all the key markets. The new supply of rooms into the market, at a time when market demand was at a low, had put pressure on room rates, and overall profitability of hotels. Added to this adversity was the mounting inflationary pressure, devaluation of rupee against dollar, etc. While costs of operations were increasing on a regular basis, revenue side continued to slide southwards.

4) COMPETENCIES EXPECTED FROM HOTEL EMPLOYEES

Based on the data collected from previous researches, we may ascertain that the following competencies are expected from Hotel employees.



Basic knowledge

Knowledge regarding functions and operations of Hotel Business

Aware of the Hotel’s Vision, Mission, goals and strategies

Knowledge regarding the Hotel’s range of products and services

Awareness about my roles and expectations in this Hotel

Knowledge about the competitors in Hotel

Industry in Dindigul

Awareness about the Customer’s demands and expectations

Emotional and Intellectual Skills

Sensitive customers to events

Power to manage time effectively with customers

Able to manage stress happening around

Able to understand the feelings of customers

Ability to learn quickly

Ability to be proactive

Creative in bringing out product innovations related to Hotel Business

Knowledge about the changing trends in Hotel

Industry

Interpersonal Skills

Ability to listen to the customers

Concern/ taking effective steps towards self development

Have a sense of belongingness towards my

Hotel

Leadership Skills

Ability to judge the needs/wants of customers

Capacity to solve problems arising from customers, business

Ability to negotiate well with customers, management

Ability to take decisions, whenever required

Ability to persuade the customer under tough situations

Ability to exert power appropriately Capacity to communicate effectively with customers

Ability to behave well with peers, customers Ability to lead people

Power in resolving conflicts arising with customers

Ability to work in a team

Ability to adapt in any situation

Commitment satisfaction

Maintain responsibilities towards integrity in work/

Honest in whatever activity I do my customer roles &

Ability to exert authority

Ability to empower my subordinates

Personal qualities

Ability to sell Hotel services to customers Exhibit Organisational Citizenship Behavior whenever possible/ needed

Ability to deal with all types of customers Ability to maintain the cleanliness and neatness of my Hotel

Due concern towards the ambience of the

Hotel

Aware of my own objective after 5 years in the

Hotel Industry

Progress towards my objective in the Hotel

Industry

5) OVERVIEW OF MADURAI CITY

Madurai is popularly known as “temple city”, in recognition of its spiritual commitment.

There are a lot of tourist spots in and around Madurai, including the very famous Meenakshi



Amman temple, which adds many more glory and pride to this temple city. This leads in attracting more tourists both from within India and outside India as well. Hence, hotels are always busy rendering to the needs of the tourists. In fact hotels have been known to run 24 hours round the clock in a city like Madurai. There are certain areas in Madurai that accommodate hotels which are even busy during 01:00 PM to 04:00 PM in the night. Changing and unrelenting economic, social and technological changes have spurred the need for flexible, skilled workers who can help their organizations and sustain a competitive advantage. To be relevant within organizations and indispensable to clients and tourists alike, workplace learning and performance professionals must continually reassess their competencies, update their skills and have the courage to make necessary changes. Hotels and managing hotels have and will always be complex. There is no denying the need to perform through a combination of utilizing predictive or forecasting tools, techniques or methods, yet without trivializing the need to sustain and drive a motivated high performing workforce. Every hotel’s needed to sustain in a competitive environment, gave rise to the need to understand and learn to establish the context of competency mapping.

6) STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Everywhere, there is competition. Customer retention and attracting potential customers are equally important for every business including Hotel Industry. There are numerous strategies adopted by different hotels. Nowadays, competency mapping is also emerging in maximizing the involvement, implementation of managerial decisions in an efficient manner. But, there are numerous constraints in implementing competency mapping at various levels in Hotel Industry, like structural problems, quality of work force, turnover, tailor made strategies etc. It is essential to galvanism the performance of various employees towards achieving the organizational goals or objectives. Hotel employees require a set of abilities and performance traits for superior performance to score over competitors. It is difficult to access those elements without doing a research.

The above mentioned areas create an opportunity for the researcher to make an in depth analysis by covering all the dimensions of competencies of hotel employees including –



Identification of competencies of hotel employees



Assessment of competencies and application of inter relation of competencies with other

HR practices like recruitment, training & development, performance management, career planning, reward system & job redesign





Developing a competency model for the organization

7) OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY



To identify the competencies available among hotel employees

 To study the importance of competency mapping in Hotel Industry

 To understand the inter relation among competencies and organisational practices



To ascertain the level of deficiency in competencies.



To suggest various measures to overcome the deficiencies in competencies.

8) RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Descriptive research method is the one to be employed here. The period of study ranged for three years starting from August 2011 to August 2014. The area of the study is hotels in

Madurai city. Hotels having more than 100 employees, with proper departmentalization, boarding & lodging facilities are selected. The population for this research would be the total number of employees in 20 selected hotels in Madurai. The sample size is 500, which would be the product of 25 employees selected from the 20 hotels in Madurai. Out of 500, 29 respondents were rejected for data analysis, as the data collected from them was incomplete. Hence, only 471 respondents got qualified for data analysis.Multi Stage Sampling has been used. This involved segregating the entire population into different clusters. The first stage cluster involved grouping hotels having more than 100 employees with proper departmentalization, boarding & lodging facilities. 20 Hotels out of these was randomly selected using Simple Random Sampling. The second stage cluster consisted of selecting 25 employees from these 20 hotels using Stratified

Sampling, who were then administered questionnaires. Thus a sample size of 500 respondents was selected for the study.

9) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The authors have carried out many analysis based on the data collected and the research objectives. This report shows some of the major analysis, excluding others because of want of space.

9.1) Mann Whitney U test

In statistics, the Mann–Whitney U test is a non-parametric test of the null hypothesis that two populations are the same against an alternative hypothesis, especially that a particular population tends to have larger values than the other. It has greater efficiency than the t-test on non-normal distributions, such as a mixture of normal distributions, and it is nearly as efficient as the t-test on normal distribution.



Hypothesis

Ho: There is no impact of Gender upon Sensitivity towards events

H1: There is an impact of Gender upon Sensitivity towards events

Table No 9.1.1

Ranks

Gender N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks

Male 417 231.59 96574.50

Sensitivity towards events Female 54

Total 471

270.03 14581.50

Table No 9.1.2

Test Statistics

Sensitivity towards events

Mann-Whitney U 9421.500

Wilcoxon W

Z

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

96574.500

-2.103

.035

From the above Table No 9.1.1, it can be inferred that the mean ranks of male and female upon sensitivity towards events are 231.59 and 270.03 respectively. This concludes that female respondents are better in sensitivity towards events compared to male, but the number of female respondents is only 54 compared to 417 male respondents.

From the above Table No 9.1.2, it can be deduced that the Mann-Whitney U value is 9421.500 and the corresponding significant value is .035. As the calculated significant value is less than

0.05, the alternative hypothesis can be accepted at 5% level of significance and it can be concluded that there is an impact of Gender upon Sensitivity towards events.

9.2) Kruskal Wallis Test

In statistics, the Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks (named after William Kruskal and W. Allen Wallis) is a non-parametric method for testing whether samples originate from the same distribution. It is used for comparing more than two samples that are independent, or not related. The parametric equivalent of the Kruskal-Wallis test is the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). When the Kruskal-Wallis test leads to significant results, then at least one of the samples is different from the other samples. The test does not


COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO MADURAI identify where the differences occur or how many differences actually occur. It is used when we wish to compare three or more sets of scores that come from different groups.

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no influence of reason for choosing hotel industry over awareness of customer’s demands and expectations

H1: There is an influence of reason for choosing hotel industry over awareness of customer’s demands and expectations

Table No 9.2.1

Ranks

Reason for choosing hotel industry N Mean Rank

Aim/ liking 129 262.20

Awareness -

& expectations

Societal compulsion

Customer's demands Related to qualification

No other choice

Total

72

97

173

471

293.85

203.06

210.86

Chi-Square df

Asymp. Sig.

Table No 9.2.2

Test Statistics

Awareness - Customer's demands & expectations

32.103

3

.000

From the above Table No 9.2.1, it can be understood that, the mean ranks of reason for choosing hotel industry in terms of up to aim/liking, societal compulsion, related to qualification, no other choice towards awareness of customer’s demands and expectations are 262.20, 293.85, 203.06 and 210.86 respectively. This helps in concluding that the respondents having chosen to work in hotel because of societal compulsion have better awareness of customer’s demands and expectations, followed by aim/liking compared to those having chosen their job because of other reasons. The respondents having chosen to work in hotel because of the reason that it is related to their qualification have the least awareness of customer’s demands and expectations.



From the above Table No 9.2.2, it can be realized that the Chi-Square value is 32.103 and the corresponding significant value is **. As the calculated significant value is less than 0.01, the alternative hypothesis can be accepted at 1% level of significance and it can be concluded that there is an influence of reason for choosing hotel industry over awareness of customer’s demands and expectations.

9.3) Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test

The Wilcoxon signed-rank test is a non-parametric statistical hypothesis test used when comparing two related samples, matched samples, or repeated measurements on a single sample to assess whether their population mean ranks differ (i.e. it is a paired difference test). It can be used as an alternative to the paired Student's t-test, t-test for matched pairs, or the t-test for dependent samples when the population cannot be assumed to be normally distributed.

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant difference between total experience and sound knowledge towards hotel business

H1: There is a significant difference between total experience and sound knowledge towards hotel business

Table No 9.3.1

Ranks

Sound knowledge -

Hotel business - Total experience

N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks

Negative Ranks 40 a

Positive Ranks 386 b

114.62

223.75

4585.00

86366.00

Ties 45 c

Total 471 a. Sound Knowledge - Hotel Business < Total Experience b. Sound Knowledge - Hotel Business > Total Experience c. Sound Knowledge - Hotel Business = Total Experience

Table No 9.3.2

Z

Test Statistics

Sound knowledge -

Hotel business -

Total experience

-16.284



Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .000

From the above Table No 9.3.1, it can be originated that the number of negative ranks, positive ranks and ties of sound knowledge towards hotel business over total experience is 40, 386 and 45 respectively. This confirms that 40 respondents have less knowledge towards hotel business, 386 respondents have more knowledge and there is a tie in case of 45 respondents when compared with total experience.

From the above Table No 9.3.2, it can be inferred that the Z value is -16.284 and the corresponding significant value is **. As the calculated significant value is less than 0.01, the alternative hypothesis can be accepted at 1% level of significance and it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between total experience and sound knowledge towards hotel business.

9.4) Friedman Test

The Friedman test is a non-parametric statistical test developed by the U.S. economist Milton Friedman. Similar to the parametric repeated measures ANOVA, it is used to detect differences in treatments across multiple test attempts. The procedure involves ranking each row (or block ) together, then considering the values of ranks by columns.

Applicable to complete block designs, it is thus a special case of the Durbin test.

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no association between knowledge of products & services, understand customer’s feelings, effective communication, persuading skills & dealing with all types of customers

H1: There is an association between knowledge of products & services, understand customer’s feelings, effective communication, persuading skills & dealing with all types of customers

Table No 9.4.1

Ranks

Knowledge - Products & Services

Mean Rank

3.07

Understand customer's feelings

Effective Communication

3.19

2.74

Persuading Skills

Dealing - all types of customers

2.94

3.06

10

Table No 9.4.2

Mr.K.Rajesh Kumar & Dr.M.Sivakumar


Test Statistics

N 471

Chi-Square 34.256 df 4

Asymp. Sig. .000

From the above Table No 9.4.1, it is established that the mean rank of knowledge of products & services, understand customer’s feelings, effective communication, persuading skills & dealing with all types of customers are 3.07, 3.19, 2.74, 2.94 & 3.06 respectively. This helps in ascertaining that the respondents are good in understanding customer’s feelings when compared with other criteria chosen for the analysis. This also helps in knowing that the respondents are lagging behind in effective communication when compared with other criteria chosen for the analysis.

From the above Table No 9.4.2, it can be incidental that the Chi-Square value is 34.256 and the corresponding significant value is **. As the calculated significant value is less than 0.01, the alternative hypothesis can be accepted at 1% level of significance and it can be concluded that there is an association between knowledge of products & services, understand customer’s feelings, effective communication, persuading skills & dealing with all types of customers.

10) PROPOSED MODEL

Based on the literature review and the result of previous researches, the authors have proposed the following model depicting the competencies required for hotel employees.

(This section of the page intentionally left blank due to want of space for inserting proposed model)





11) SUGGESTIONS



The top management in hotels has to take appropriate steps towards identification and development of required competencies.



Orientation programs need to be provided for employees new to the organisation.



Proper training programs have to be imparted at regular intervals for developing and enhancing the competencies required.



Hotel employees need to be educated towards the changing trends in Hotel Industry.



Negotiation skills need to be enhanced.

 Male employees have to improve their skills in terms of sensitivity towards events & listening.



Organisational Citizenship Behavior needs to be improved in employees below 20 years and above 50 years.



Training program on Customer Satisfaction, understanding customer’s demands and expectations need to be imparted.



Employees need to be trained in effective communication.

12) DIRECTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

There seems to be always a demand for certain businesses, including Hotel business. Hotel industry is flourishing in all directions in a service economy like India. It still remains an avenue to serve one of the very important basic needs of mankind. Madurai has always remained as one of the prominent tourist spots in South Tamilnadu. Madurai would be attracting many more tourists in the future in view of its spiritual recognition. A study on Competency Mapping in

Hotels in Madurai would definitely serve to be a valuable source of information for researchers in the future. Appropriate models of competency mapping in Hotel Industry are yet to come. All employees are concerned in knowing their level of competency and in improving and enhancing the required competencies. Organisations also are very keen in developing and retaining talented manpower, which is the key for its growth and sustainability. Appropriate identification of competencies would also help them to ascertain the pitfalls and take appropriate action.

Organisations would find competency mapping helpful in attaining their goals and objectives.

Employees can be fine tuned in the competencies that are deficient, which would be of great benefit to the organisations. This would remain to be an area of concern, for decades and centuries, and in fact till Hotels exists!!!. Hence, there seems to be a positive direction for further research in this area. This would also be of some help towards appropriate research in Hospitality sector as well.



13) CONCLUSION

Still, there remains a demand for hotels in any city or town. Of course, each and every family would have visited at least one hotel of their choice in their life time. Hence, everybody is a customer for a Hotel Industry. There has been a drastic change in the life style, consumption pattern & per capita income of customers. This reflects in their demands and expectations towards hotels. Hotel employees need to identify, understand and cater to the changing demands and expectations of customers. Hence, they need a set of competencies for achieving it. The researcher hopes that this study would definitely provide a general framework for identifying and analyzing the competencies of hotel employees.

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

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

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

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competency mapping in hotels with reference to madurai

COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO

MADURAI

COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO

MADURAI

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COMPETENCY MAPPING IN HOTELS WITH REFERENCE TO

MADURAI

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