Unskilled labor

There is another study by Reddy [July-Sept 2005, p. 1] which states that “customer satisfaction is the combination of both technical features and human behavioral aspects. ” It does not only depend on the quality of [product or] service but also on the behavior or attitude of the person giving the [product or] service [Ibid. ]. In an equation, it can be represented as follows: customer satisfaction = performance features + behavioral features + price.

Customer satisfaction can be attained thru responsiveness or readiness of employee to provide service; thru courtesy or respect and friendliness of contact personnel; thru timeliness or timely delivery and first contact complaint resolution; thru complete resolution or listening; thru communication (empathy) or speaking to the customers in the same language game; and thru credibility or ownership of complaints resolution.

[Ibid. ]. Based on another survey of lost customers by major companies in the United States, 68% who shifted to other companies was because of the poor service of their deserted service provider, or simply because of the service provider’ attitude [Ibid. ,p,2]. There are studies which conveys that a company can earn profit by “100% by retaining 15% more of their customer than their competitors retain” [Ibid. , p. 4].

The development of hospitality industry requires a continuous learning cycle where key players develop the attitude of always seeking for new opportunities ahead. The market is ever changing so are the minds of the people, as evidenced by the changing demands of the market. One must realize that one can not dictate what the market wants; one can always predict what the future demand may bring. But one can influence what can happen and what can be fully tapped to realize projected visions for the future.

Since the hospitality sector is labor-intensive and resistant to the automation and downsizing characteristic of other industries such as manufacturing, retailing, agriculture, the hospitality industry is most sensitive to a bigger range of external and internal factors which threatens its very survival at time. Critical to this when it comes to the hospitality industry is recruitment and retention of employees.

The recruitment and retention phenomenon are important because of the increased diversity as well as the imbalance between skilled and unskilled labor. Also included here are the nonexistent benefits, such as health insurance, profit sharing and retirement benefits. Sometimes, management strategies can also be counterproductive and does not give the proper employee incentive so that these employees will strive for achievement.

The hospitality industry needs to make known that they are able to create a better awareness among the public on the diversity of their employ. Stephen Robbins contends that managers’ technical proficiency in their area of expertise is not enough to ensure the manager’s success in attaining desired results for the employees. To become more effective, managers should not only focus on improving their technical ingenuity but should also familiarize themselves with other skills – conceptual skill, people skill, and psychology.

Due to the nature of a managers’ job which requires decision-making, one of the skills which they should have is the conceptual skill (Robbins, 2005). Since managers are mostly dealing with their subordinates and colleagues, developing the people skills in the hospitality industry to interact, to encourage, and to designate is crucial (Robbins, 2005). Lastly, having background on psychology can assist the managers in determining factors and devising frameworks in achieving job satisfaction and productivity in the workplace.