MANAGING ENQUIRY AND RESEARCH METHODS

ASSIGNMENT-1

Critique on
Talent Management, work-life balance and retention strategies

Margaret Deery ( International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 20 No.7, 2008 pp. 792-806)

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 2. ABSTRACT 3. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT 4. LITERATURE REVIEW 5. METHODOLOGY 6. DISCUSSION 7. OPINION 8. CONCLUSION 9. REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGGRAPHY 10. APPENDIX ( JOURNAL)

2 2 2 2 4 5 5 6 7 8

1 INTRODUCTION This is a research work by Margaret Derry from the center of Tourism and Services Management, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia on Talent Management, Worklife balance and Retention Strategies in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol 20 No. 7, 2008 pp .792 -806 .The title of the article is clear and appropriate for the discussion done in the article. ABSTRACT In this article the author provides an overview of literature relating to retention of good employees and explains about the role of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, personal employee dimensions and work life balance in achieving high employee turnover. The findings of the article are mainly the understanding of the role of above mentioned factors in employee turnover and providing the strategies to increase turnover rates .The author has provided a literature overview of seminal material in general management literature ultimately focusing the discussion to hospitality and tourism industry. Recommendations are given for both government and organizational consideration to plan appropriate strategies to alleviate high turnover rates. Thus the abstract is representative of the article and is in clear form. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT The purpose of this research paper is to examine the literature relating to retention of good employees and role that work-life balance (WLB) issues have in an employees decision to stay or leave an organization. The paper provides a discussion on role of key factors in employee turnover rates and the strategies to increase retention rates. The purpose of the article has been made clear in the introduction but I think he should have discussed more about it in the introduction. LITERATURE REVIEW In todays competitive world, the main focus of every organization is to retain their employees and minimize employee turnover. This research work examines the role that constructs such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, personal attributes such as job stress and work-life balance play in employee turnover. The author after studying these factors through previous researches, have provided strategies to achieve higher retention rates.

Job Attitudes:- Job attitudes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment are vital factors influencing employee turnover in hospitality and tourism industry. In this article, Robinson and Barron (2007) and Tutuncu and Kozak (2007) agree with each other noting that work itself, pay and supervision within the industry, deskilling and standardization lead to lack of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and thus employee turnover. Some of their findings are concurred by Gustafsons (2002) study on employees in private clubs in U.S.A. These studies used Job Descriptive Index (JDI) which is a specific questionnaire of job satisfaction measuring satisfaction in five facets : pay, promotion, co-workers, supervision and work itself. Organizational culture and work life conflict were the common causes of turnover cited by employees and by the organization in the surveys done by Ghiselli et al (2001) and Stalcup and Pearson (2001) The author have tabulated the works of previous researchers on this topic in a table to give a clear picture of findings .Thus job satisfaction, life satisfaction and organizational commitment are key factors influencing employee turnover .

Personal Employee Dimensions:- Here the author focuses on contribution of personal attributes such as positive and negative affectivity to employee turnover rates. It is well established in some of the literature that job burnout, exhaustion, stress, workload and cynicism have a considerable influence on an employees intention to leave. This fact has been supported by Correlation and Regression analysis done by Lee and Shin (2005). They found that turnover intentions were positively correlated with negative affectivity, workload, exhaustion and cynicism and their regression analysis demonstrates that cynicism and workload were significant predictors of turnover intentions. Their research has been supported by tests done by Karatepe and Vludag(2007), which found that employees spending less time in family were likely to be exhausted and impacted negatively on their job satisfaction, ultimately influencing their decision to leave the organization. Even job overload through deliberate understaffing, temporary shortages and bullying have a significant impact on retention rates in hotel industry. The author has provided the key findings in this respect in table-1 and 2( page-795)

Work Life Balance:- The author is of the view that work-life balance is vital deciding factor influencing turnover rate but less attention is paid to researching the impact of WLB in hospitality industry. Job stress, work-family conflict and characteristics of job have significant effect on the decision to leave an organization. Mulvaney et al (2006) has proposed a model of work-family issues ( page-797) for hotel managers. The model suggests that the levels of conflict between work and family is moderated by the level of

support that employees receive, their personal attributes, industry norms and the way all these components are managed in the workplace. 3

However research by Cullen and Mc Laughlin (2006) offers a different view on WLB issue by discussing the notion of presenteeism which is mainly an overwhelming need to put in more hours. They argued that hotel managers need to show presenteeism due to constancy and complexity of running a hotel that is open 24 hours and this impacts negatively on their family life and hence life satisfaction.

Orgnisational Strategies to assist employee retention:- Finally based on above arguments author provides organizational strategies to increase retention rates. Appropriate recruitment process is essential to improve the quality and quantity of staff as explained by Collins (2007), Demordy et al (2004), Reynolds et al ( 2004), and Martin et al (2006). They recommended the industry to promote incentive pay programs and innovative benefits to attract and retain staff. Chiang et als (2005) research demonstrated that training quality is positively related to job satisfaction and intention to stay. However Hjalager and Anderson (2001) stress vocational training and on the job training. Author considers WLB extremely important in devising retention strategies. To support this, research of Doherty (2004) and Maxwell (2005) provides link between work life conflict and employee turnover and suggests managers to implement WLB policies by introducing flexible working hours, better training facilities and work support. The author has also provided a holistic framework (page-803) to improve employee retention rates. This framework requires further examination of different variables involved and it will underpin future research in this area. In the end author has provided various measures at organizational level to balance work and family through flexible working hours, training opportunities, correct staffing levels, adequate breaks, rewards and encouraging sound management practices. These recommendations are quite useful for organizations to retain talented employees. Clearly the author have cited pertinent literature and has not included any inconsequential references.

METHODOLOGY

The author adopted a survey research approach which is a qualitative research and I believe it was appropriate in this scenario. The paper provides a literature overview of researches relating to employee turnover particularly within hospitality and tourism industry.

4 The author has conceptualized and studied various factors through previous research works, which are responsible for high turnover rates and provides a theoretical and practical framework for the industry to develop appropriate strategies to alleviate high turnover rates. The various authors mentioned in the journal have used surveys on organizations and their employees to arrive at their results.Many of them used Job Descriptive Index (JDI) which is a specific questionnaire to measure job satisfaction. However Lee and Shin (2005) used Correlation and Regression analysis to examine the role of positive and negative affectivity on an employees intention to leave. As discussed in literature review, author has qualitatively analysed the previous researches. Thus authors philosophy for conducting research is interpretive. Based on the various methods and findings of other researchers that author has discussed, he has constructed the framework for improving retention rates which will be useful for further studies. So the ontology is constructivism and paradigm is content analysis since he has adopted narrative method. However author could have used other methodologies such as sampling techniques and interviews to strengthen the authenticity of the findings and to devise appropriate retention strategies as done by Aaisha Arban Khan et al in the article An empirical study of retention Issues in Hotel industry: A case study of Serena Hotel, Faislabad, Pakistan. By applying sampling methods, interviews and focus group, author can present clear relationship between various factors influencing turnover rates and better strategies to alleviate them. This will help other researchers and organizations to get better understanding of the retention strategies. DISCUSSION This paper managed to identify the role of factors influencing turnover rates. The previous researches focused mainly on traditional causes such as lack of job satisfaction and commitment. But the author threw light on role of stress, job burnout and exhaustion in employee turnover. The author has also suggested strategies such as WLB, better recruitment and training programs to improve retention rates. The framework presented by the author provides an organization with a more holistic method of examining the causes of high turnover rates and suggesting them the ways to improve retention rates. This framework will underpin future research in this area and will prove useful at both governmental and organizational level. Recommendations have been given to assist organizations to retain their talented staff and balancing work environment and home life at the same time.

OPINION My opinion on the entire work is that the article is a good piece of research work as it provides valuable information on the role of key factors in high turnover rates and provides a holistic framework to plan strategies to cope up with this problem. The author

also supported the study by providing recommendations which were supported with a number of past studies done by researchers. 5 However in certain part of the article, there were too many references and it seemed as if author was a bit confused and did not has much to say at that point. I think more structured research methodology should be presented by the author in future. I think some other methodologies such as could have been used to present better understanding of factors contributing to employee turnover. But overall this is a good piece of work and will prove useful for organizations to adopt strategies for retaining talented employees.

CONCLUSION This article managed to clarify the roles of job attitudes, personal attributes and WLB in employee turnover and provided appropriate retention strategies. Author conducted the study thoroughly and provided comprehensive solution and framework dealing with employee retention in hospitality and tourism industry. This study will lead to increased awareness of retention process among managers and the need for more future research in this area. Other researchers working in this area can take advantage of this research work to build up their work. This research will be helpful for Human Resource Development professionals who seek employee commitment and retention and will surely help organizations to adopt different strategies in achieving higher retention rates.

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Aaisha Arbab Khan, Babak Mahmood, Mehvish Ayoub, Shabbir Hussain, An Empirical study of retention issues in hotel industry: A case study of Serena Hotel, Faislabad, Pakistan, European Journal of Economics,Finance and Administrative SciencesISSN 1450-2275 Issue 29, 2011 2. Dipietro, R. B., Young,M. and Milman, A.(2004) Hourly employee retention factors in the quick service industry, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, Vol. 5,pp. 31-51 3. Collins, A. (2007), Human Resources: a hidden advantage?, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol.19 No.1 pp.78-84