HRD practices in the classified hotels in Orissa: a study of employee perceptions

Abstract

In the present paper, an attempt has been made to measure the employees’ perception of some of the human resource development (HRD) practices prevailing in the classified hotels in Orissa. Orissa is a state in the eastern India which has been heavily concentrating its developmental efforts at the tourism industry in general and the hotel sector in particular since the early 80’s. However, the results do not substantiate the quantum of efforts for which many reasons have been proposed. A key contention made by critics is that these efforts were lopsided in that they gave undue importance to the marketing function and totally neglected complementary aspects like HRD. Hotel sector has of late realized this as a real lacuna that needs to be corrected immediately. Most classified hotels have been quick to set up active HRD wings to look into vital HRD practices such as manpower planning, training and competency development, performance appraisal, career planning, compensation packages, employee relationship management, and so on. Utmost stress has been given to employee training and development programs as part of their HRD policy by most star hotels. Yet, it has been observed by many that a vast majority of the employees are not found to be serious about the HRD initiatives, especially the various professional training options aimed at them. The present study rejects this observation and reveals that hotel employees do appreciate the fact that there is a positive association between professional training and their chances of promotion. They also understand that their professional training can help promote the organizational effectiveness as well. However, this understanding is proven to be stronger in the case of employees working in the higher star category hotels than those working in the lower star category hotels. But, no significant relationship existed between the level of professional training undergone by an employee and his or her perception about the benefits of professional training. In addition to these findings, the study presents a compendium of expert voices on HRD in tourism and attempts to offer some vital remedial measures for the effective implementation of HRD practices in the hotel sector. The authors present these matters only after providing a rich contextual familiarity about HRD practices in tourism as practiced in Orissa is an added benefit for the discerning readers