Marketing essay on: Hospitality industry

Introduction

            The hospitality industry is a growing industry in all over the world providing employment to a large number of people. As the industry is broad, it creates employment opportunities in various ways, including recreation and entertainment, food and beverage, lodging, and travel and transportation services. Any hospitality unit consists of various facility groups, such as direct operations, lodging, maintenance, housekeepers, servers, and human resources (Brotherton 2012).

            The hospitality industry operates in accordance to the patterns of demand that can vary with day/week or season. All people employed and working in the industry are expected to fit themselves within the variety and different range of hours as well as daily schedules. As there is a variety of jobs in this industry and flexible environment, the entry level jobs have poor wage growth in comparison to other industries.

            Managers in the hospitality industry and other employees desire fair pay and total compensation. The careers in hospitality industry are often stereotyped as the low wage careers due to which high turnover has become a key challenge for the industry. However, there is significance of payroll costs in the industry which ensures a pay award system so as to make sure that employees in the industry are receiving adequate amount of payment for the work done. There is an increasing trend to raise the basic pay of front line staff so that they do not have to rely on the tips given by customers and commission for sales for increasing their basic pay (Sommerville 2007).

            The students of hospitality management rate their value of degree higher than the industry professionals and employees which creates a gap between the expectations and assumptions of students and hospitality employers.

Research questions

            Based on the stereotype of the hospitality industry as a low wage industry, and expectations and assumptions of students and managers in the industry, the research study answers the following research question: Does hospitality wages now already meet the standards or still below the standards. The study explores whether there are differences between students expectations and assumptions, and those of hospitality managers.

            Based on the research question, the objectives of the research are

• To identify the level of hospitality wages whether they meet the standards or are below standards.
• To understand the differences between students and managers regarding hospitality wages considering their assumptions and expectations.

Literature Review

            Brotherton (2012) states that the hospitality industry is rapidly changing due to dynamic changes in economies of the world, societies and rapid development of new and advanced technologies. The trends in the hospitality industry are continuously changing and due to this, the industry tends to ignore the qualifications and degrees of the students as they hold unrealistic expectations of the skills and responsibilities that they are required to show. Owing to this, the industry considers these students to be over qualified for the entry level management positions but at the same time under-experienced.

            The career path for the students in hospitality course is quite difficult and challenging in comparison to other industries. This is because the positions in the industry such that of banquets and house operations, require long hours for working, unreal pay scales and difficult schedules due to which staff trainees often quit the job or even the industry to try other opportunities. This keeps the industry short of skill and abilities.

            A study by O’Leary and Deegan in 2003 showed that 60% of the employees in the hospitality industry left because of unsuitable working hours and low compensation and remuneration. The compensation ranks immediately below the career progressions and having a challenging job. Graduate students have to start from the bottom and gain experience as they work in the industry. They want to do challenging jobs as well as give their contribution in the work that offers them career growth opportunities. However, at the same time, they want to be paid what they actually are worth of.

            Walsh and Taylor (2007) argue that salaries are lower in the hospitality industry as compared to other service industries accompanies by typical long hours of working which leads to migration of people from this industry to other lucrative service industries where they are better compensated.

            There is stress on formal education in the hospitality industry by various research studies. Withiam (2005) state the importance of a management degree in the hospitality which to a better career progression and development. This has increased the expectations of students regarding their salary in the sector and they assume to get faster promotion and increased salary in comparison to those who do not possess a degree in hospitality management.

            However, hospitality professionals and managers consider work experience to be more important that the degree while selecting a new employee (Sommerville 2007). There are many unqualified employees that work at the managerial positions and managers not having the degree that is relevant for the hospitality management. Practical experience is more important to get promotions and higher salaries in comparison to a specialist degree.

            Brotherton (2012) discusses the situation of hospitality wages in concern to Australia mentioning the significance of payroll costs in the Australian hospitality industry. The pay award system followed in the Australian industry ensure that employees receive appropriate and adequate compensation for the work they do so that the front line staff does not have to depend on tips and sales commissions in order to boost their basic pay. However, according to the wages report (2012), hospitality sector is the biggest loser in terms of wage growth among various industries in Australia from 1996-2011. The wage rates have gone from $333.90 in 1996 to $497.70 only in 2011. The wage and the wage growth is poor in comparison to other industries in Australia and the national average.

            Ram and Prabhakar (2010) mention that salary and wages as pay level measures influence the pay satisfaction to a significant level. Sturman (2001) argues that the hospitality industry provides lowest average wages in comparison to other industries indicating the lower level of wages which are below standards in comparison to other industries for the operational positions.

Research Methodology

            Exploratory research design is chosen for the research study so as to explore the standard of hospitality wages in Australia discovering the assumptions and expectations of hospitality management students and those of managers in the industry (Creswell 2003). Research methods used for the study are primary and secondary research methods. The former constitutes survey through questionnaire and the latter comprises of reviewing of the authentic literature relevant to the research question in form of the literature review so as to gather data through both field survey and secondary data (Cooper 1998).

Sample:

            Convenience sampling is used for choosing the respondents from the population. A sample of 10 hospitality managers and 40 hospitality students is chosen on the basis of convenience sampling in Australia. The questionnaire comprises of close ended questions for both managers and students (Crowther and Lancaster 2008). 7 questions were asked from students and 8 from managers, and the questionnaire was sent and collected via e-mail and use of social media in the time period of 3 weeks. The questions were framed around the research question.

            The key intention behind the survey method is to integrate the specific responses to the facts identified from the literature review method. Application of likert scale in the options to the survey questions is an important aspect of the survey process, which is recognized for increasing the reliability of the obtained data (Fink 2005).

            The primary data collected from survey through questionnaire is analyzed by graphical representation of the data so as to make the section comprehensible and self explanatory for the readers (Jackson 2008).

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