THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IN-SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAMS' PLANS AND CONTENTS IN HOTEL ESTABLISHMENTS: THE COMPARISON OF MANAGERS' AND EMPLOYEES' OPINIONS

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1 УПРАВЛЕНИЕ И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATION TOM VII (3) 211 VOL. VII (3) 211 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IN-SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAMS' PLANS AND CONTENTS IN HOTEL ESTABLISHMENTS: THE COMPARISON OF MANAGERS' AND EMPLOYEES' OPINIONS Elbeyi Pelit, Yalçın Arslantürk ЕФЕКТИВНОСТ НА ПЛАНОВЕТЕ И СЪДЪРЖАНИЕТО НА ПРОГРАМИТЕ ЗА ОБУЧЕНИЕ БЕЗ ОТКЪСВАНЕ ОТ РАБОТА В ХОТЕЛИТЕ: СРАВНЕНИЕ НА МНЕНИЕТО НА УПРАВИТЕЛИТЕ И НА СЛУЖИТЕЛИТЕ Елбейи Пелит, Ялчън Арслантюрк ABSTRACT: This study sets out to examine the extent of in-service s held for hotel employees in terms of contents, planning, realization objectives and efficiency, by referring to the opinions of both employees and managers alike. As the data collection method, a questionnaire form was employed over 1 five-star hotels located in Antalya, considered an important tourism destination in Turkey. The data used in the study was collected between December 21 and March 211, in the low season when the work load is very little, thus making data collection comparatively accurate without haste, the number questionnaire forms assessed in the study turned out to be 327, 76 being managers, 251 employees. In accordance with the results of the study, both employees and managers are in positive direction in terms content and the efficiency of inservice s, yet, the opinions managers at this point are more positive than the employees. Keywords: In-service-, in-service s, hotel establishments, manager, employee. Introduction In the related literature [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], the common definition on in-service is; the combination actions that improve the information, skills and etiquette and that aims positive changes in the habits and understandings of rational decision making, behavior and attitudes in order to adapt to the swiftly-changing conditions and settings, to gain competences required at every phase job. This definition has some important insights on behalf of both the employers and the employees alike. The benefits of in-service both for the employees and the establishments in details can be listed in Table 1, from the studies and the resources related to the concept and application of in-service [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 2, 21]. On the other hand, since hotel establishments offer wide range of services and this can be managed through a high number of employees compared to other types of establishments, it is of greater importance for the establishments to offer in-service s [22]. High number of employees implies that there could be problems stemming from the lack of qualified personnel and job-related contacts with the customers [23, 24, 25]. Especially tasks performed by the unqualified personnel are likely to yield customer dissatisfaction in the long run, which in turn turns out to be a disadvantageous point in the business life establishments concerned [25, 26, 27]. Hence, hotel establishments should be in continuous effort to boost the number of qualified personnel and the level of services offered through the effective s of inservice, which at this point will make up for the gap of quality service delivery [21]. Whatever the sector an establishment operates in is, there is a linear relation between the human resources and obtaining desired results [28]. Continuous development human resources department is a must for the sustainability business of an establishment. It is the concept of in-service- at this point that emerges as a helping hand to improve human resources [29]. However, establishments might be in an unwilling mode in offering in-service s due mainly to costs, time and etc. For instance, in a study by Yalçın and İri [18] performed in İstanbul, Ankara and Izmir, the three biggest cities in Turkey, on 5-star hotels, there was no inservice s observed or recorded. 147

2 In a similar manner, in another study by Çetinkaya [3] on in-service, it has been found out that nearly half the hotels that participated in the study had no in-service s and activities Table 1: Benefits of In-service Training * For Personnel Contributes to the adaptation and integration with the work Contributes to the decrease job accidents through learning the reasons accidents and ways to be protected from them Contribute to increase in motivation in responsibility, constructivism, and hardworking mood Contributes to self-auditing task performed by the employees. Contributes to the acquisition skills, knowledge and awareness for quality and economical ways of production Contributes to the enrichment cooperation and communication among the employees. Contributes to the use of self-judgment for the tasks apart from the rules Contributes to the increase of productivity by increasing quality Facilitates the work adaptation and learning process for the newlyrecruited staff Contributes to the renewal through learning the new developments by science and technology Contributes to organizational commitment and job satisfaction Contributes to self-confidence; vocational skills, leading to easy problem solving Contributes to the adaptation, leading motivation tools to put into action Decreases the waste in using the materials. Contributes to the decrease of lack of attendee Develops the ability of problem-solving and decision making Contributes to the multiplication promotion opportunities and tools. Contributes to the value in the job market for the personnel Develops the sense of fulfillment and self-confidence Contributes to a more positive and confident Outlook through satisfying the personal needs Helps develop the career path Contributes to esteem both within and outside the establishment Contribute to learn the information required by the innovation and developments in the field Contributes to learning how to use the newly-developed materials and tools in the field. For Establishment Helps to establish the awareness of quality, efficiency and productivity Contribute to the efficient use of time and resources Contributes to new ideas and increase in the productivity Contributes to the employment of able individuals Decreases the managerial control and audit costs Contributes to the facilitation implementation managerial decisions in time Prevents employees from complaining about the work and other employees Helps increase the image establishment, leading to esteem of the establishment in the society Contributes to a healthy and reliable development establishment Provides hiring new personnel from the internal resources Increases the ability to problem solve and decision making Improves the quality of goods and services Contributes to the increase in production Contributes to the adaptation of innovation and developments Provides job security and decreases job accidents Improves the relation of employees and employer Decreases the costs of production, management and personnel Strengthens the inter-organization communication Decreases the resistance towards the innovations and developments Decreases auditing since it offer the self-auditing opportunity for the personnel Decreases the production costs and defective production through the use of technology Paves the way for the adoption and implementation of organizational policies Motivates the personnel to develop positive attitude /opinion Contributes to have more solid information on the objectives and the targets establishment * The points listed here in the same time make up the main content in-service s and aims to equip the personnel with these objectives. Besides, these points were regarded in finding out the efficiency in-service implemented at a hotel. In a study by Akoğlan and Okumuş [31] on apprentice students about in-service, nearly all students noted they had no inservice in the establishments they practiced in and this had some important results in adapting to job and the establishment. Pelit and Demir [21] conducted a study on inservice and showed the contributions of in-service from the perspective of employees and revealed the substantial contributions of in-service to the development of employees within the scope study. On the other hand, despite the significant contributions of in-service s revealed in studies, there are problems that persist related to efficiency and prevalence of in-service s. The support of manager, in particular, will have significant outcomes in increasing the contributions from the in-service s. The increasing importance of in-service made it necessary for the establishments to 148

3 lead these s effectively in terms of implementation, content and planning procedures [5, 19]. Related to this, Owen and Rogers [32] hold that the effects of an in-service should definitely be determined, and only through this way the extent benefit could be set. Guskey [33] states that the assessment in-service to the employees could be found out through finding answers to these statements; what the participants learned, the extent support organization and change, how the participants will use the new skills and information acquire, and the benefits to the participants. Within this scope, in all statements mentioned above, there is one common point, which is how the participants responded to the in a variety of ways. While an assessment is being performed in determining the responses participants, usually there is some data collection techniques employed. Of these techniques are questionnaire, open-ended questions and interview [5, 19, 21, 34]. The assessment implemented in-service in this study was performed through the opinions of both employees and employers and will provide fruitful contributions in determining to what extent the reached its intended objective, whether it was effective, in providing feedback in terms content and the plan of the and the revision.. In this way, the findings will be of great contribution to the implementation of in-service s and will provide invaluable feedback on the content. Besides, this study might be considered to offer new outlooks on differing populations and establishments. The Objective and the Method Study This study sets out to compare and examine the extent of in-service s held for hotel employees in terms of contents, planning, realization objectives and efficiency, by referring to the opinions of both employees and managers alike. As the data collection method, a questionnaire form was employed over 1 five-star hotels located in Antalya, considered an important tourism destination in Turkey. The data used in the study was collected between December 21 and March 211, in the low season when the work load is very little, thus making data collection comparatively accurate without haste, the planned population study is 336, 76 being managers, 257 employees. However, due to the errors in coding, the number questionnaire forms assessed in the study turned out to be 327, 76 being managers, 251 employees. The questionnaire was designed drawing on the studies of [6, 7, 14, 15, 18, 2, 21, 29, 32, 33, 34] to measure the efficiency in-service, and covers 1 cases-statements. A fivepoint Likert scale was employed, ranging from strongly agreed (5) to strongly disagreed (1). The Cronbach s Alpha coefficient, which indicates the reliability score questionnaire for employees, was calculated to be α=.892 and α=.758 for the managers. The data obtained then was analyzed using percentage, frequency, arithmetic average, standard deviation and t-test for independent samples and has been in line with the objectives study. Findings and Discussion Table 2 presents the percentage, frequency distribution, arithmetic average and standard deviation score opinions of 327 participants (251 employees and 76 managers) on the efficiency in-service implemented within hotel establishments. Table 2: The percentage, frequency distribution, arithmetic average and standard deviation score of employees and managers on the efficiency in-service Items the implementation in-service in appropriate time the implementation of inservice activities f % f % f % f % f % M E M E C s.d

4 to meet the needs and expectations employees the sufficient number of participants for the efficiency in-service the implementation of inservice within viable physical conditions (building, hall, etc.) the use of appropriate methods and techniques to the objectives the use of materials appropriate to the content and the objective to increase the efficiency of the in-service implementation of objective assessment at the end inservice the choice of specialized instructors in their field appropriate to the content and the objective providing motivational tools to encourage participation taking the views and recommendations participants to increase the effectiveness into consideration M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E : to strongly disagreed; 5: to strongly agreed M: Manager, E: Employee, C =Mean, sd: Standard deviation

5 The findings suggest that the opinions managers are more positive than the employees on the statement the implementation inservice in appropriate time, which can also be concluded from the percentage values and arithmetic averages. When it comes to the statement of the implementation of in-service activities to meet the needs and expectations employees, there is a different picture. This time the opinions of employees are more positive than the managers. In a similar manner as for the statements of the sufficient number of participants for the efficiency in-service and implementation of objective assessment at the end in-service the opinions employees are more positive than the managers and this can also be concluded from the percentage and arithmetic averages. As for the statements which are not related to the efficiency of in- service s implemented at hotels (such as the implementation of in-service within viable physical conditions (building, hall, etc.); the use of appropriate methods and techniques to the objectives ; the use of materials appropriate to the content and the objective of the to increase the efficiency inservice- ; the choice of specialized instructors in their field appropriate to the content and the objective ; providing motivational tools to encourage participation and taking the views and recommendations of the participants to increase the effectiveness of the into consideration), the employees are in a more negative attitude compared to the managers. The difference of opinion for the statement of taking the views and recommendations participants to increase the effectiveness into consideration is more compared to other statements between attitudes employees and the managers. On this, employees complain that their opinions are not taken into account in preparing the content. Referring to the opinions participants [21, 32, 33] and offering opportunities for them to take part in the preparation is of great significance to improve the efficiency of the in-service. Hence, it is of great contribution that the establishments should give priority and importance on this to maintain the in line with the set objectives. Table 3 reports the t-test results on the comparison opinions employees and the managers on the content and the efficiency in-service s implemented at hotels. Table 3: t-test results on the comparison of the opinions employees and the managers n C t p Position Managers ,.3 Employees * *: p<.5 The results of t-test suggest that there is significant difference between the managers and the employees on the content and the efficiency of the in-service s implemented at hotels (p<.5). The opinions employees ( C =3.5) on the content and the efficiency in-service s are more negative than the managers ( C =3.6). These results suggest similar insights with the results presented in Table 2. taking this into consideration, it will be more advantageous if the content and the planning in-service s are organized considering the expectations employees and appropriate times for the employees. In this way, the participants, in this case the employees will be more eager to take part in the, which in turn will lead to more fruitful results and thus efficiency. Conclusion As the rapidly changing and advancing technology increases the value information, schools may not provide the formal process of education and hence it is a must to follow the latest changes and advances in the field through different means and s. Besides, the information and skills gained at schools may not be sufficient enough to keep up with the latest developments of any king for individuals to stand in the ever-changing business environment and the same is true for the firms and establishments. In-service education in this point aims to make up for the gap between what is learnt at schools and the present situation business life. The in-service s pave the way for closely following the latest development in the field as well as contributing to the establishments in reaching their objectives through creating 151

6 work efficiency. In accordance with the results of the study, both employees and managers are in positive direction in terms content and the efficiency of in-service s, yet, the opinions managers at this point are more positive than the employees. The employees have underlined that their expectations should be given more importance in the creating the content and and implementation in-service. taking this into consideration, it will be more useful if the content and the planning in-service s are organized taking into account the expectations employees and proper time for the employees. Thus, the participants, the employees, will be more willing to take part in the, which in turn will lead to more rewarding results and thus efficiency. This study was conducted on the employees at 1 hotel establishments implementing inservice s and shares some similar results with the previous studies. The first of these similarities is the expectations employees and the content and the planning in-service s. On the other hand, there has been no studies found related to the plan and the content in-service s in the hotels operating in Antalya, an important tourist destination and this study may lay the foundations of in-depth and comprehensive studies covering more populations in the future. Considering the positive contributions in-service to the personal and vocational developments employees, it is inevitable that the content and the planning should be implemented to meet the vocational and personal development needs employees. To serve this purpose, the support of specialists/advisors should be obtained and they should work in collaboration with the ones in charge organization of in-service s to have more beneficial result on behalf of both the employees and the establishments. References 1. Özdemir, M Turizm işletmelerinde hizmetiçi eğitim ve TURBAN modeli, Anatolia Turizm ve Çevre Kültürü Dergisi, 1(4): Başaran, İ. E Örgütlerde işgören hizmetlerinin yönetimi, Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi Yayınları No: Sabuncuoğlu, Z Personel yönetimi politika ve yönetsel teknikler, Bursa: Furkan Ofset. 4. Taymaz, A. H Hizmetiçi eğitim kavramlar, ilkeler, yöntemler, Ankara: Tapu ve Kadastro Vakfı Matbaası. 5. Uçar, R. ve İpek, C. 26. İlköğretim okullarında görev yapan yönetici ve öğretmenlerin meb hizmet içi eğitim uygulamalarına ilişkin görüşleri, Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 3(1): Pelit, E. and Türkmen, F. 27. Turizm işletmelerinin hizmetiçi eğitim uygulamalarına yönelik bir araştırma (otel işletmeleri ve seyahat acentaları karşılaştırması), Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Ensitiüsü Dergisi, 1: Özer, E. 21. Yiyecek içecek servisi bölümü işgörenlerinin hizmetiçi eğitiminin iş tatminine etkisi: Afyonkarahisar daki 5 yıldızlı otel işletmelerinde bir uygulama (Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi), Afyonkarahisar: Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. 8. Bingöl, D Personel yönetimi ve beşeri ilişkiler, Erzurum: Atatürk Üniversitesi Basımevi, 199, p. 9. Ataklı, A Eğitim ve mesleki başarı, Verimlilik Dergisi, 1(2): Tetik, İ. S Turizm işletmelerinde işbaşı eğitim ı ve bir otelde uygulanması. Turizm Eğitimi, Konferans-Workshop, Turizm Bakanlığı Turizm Eğitimi Genel Müdürlüğü: Geylan, R Personel yönetimi, Eskişehir: Birlik Matbaası. 12. Uluçam, A Otelcilikte eğitim yatırımları, Hotel Dergisi, 2: Raymond, A.N İnsan kaynaklarının eğitimi ve gelişimi (1.Baskı, Çev:C.Çetin), İstanbul: Beta Yayınları. 14. Jameson, S.M. 2. Recruitment and in small firms, Journal of Europen Industrial Tarining, 24(1): Kılıç, H. 2. Otel işletmelerinde hizmetiçi eğitimin personelin iş verimliliğine etkisi ve Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti nde bir uygulama, (Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi).İzmir: Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. 16. Yalçın, S. 22. Personel yönetimi, İstanbul: Beta Basım. 17. Çevikbaş, R. 22. Hizmet içi eğitim ve türk merkezi yönetimindeki uygulaması, Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım. 18. Yalçın, İ. ve İri, R. 23. Hizmetiçi eğitim Türkiye de beş yıldızlı otellerde uygulanmayı bekliyor, Gazi Üniversitesi Ticaret ve Turizm Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 1:

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