In the Hospitality Industry Job Satisfaction Is Critical to Service Research Paper

In the Hospitality Industry Job Satisfaction Is Critical to Service Efficiency - Research Paper Example Societal norms are changing where loyalty is no more considered an important criterion (Gustafson, 2002). Managers are faced with the challenge to retain current employees and position themselves in a way to attract talent. The situation is challenging because the staff is unskilled and untrained. If the organization invests in their training, employees switch to better-paying jobs and this translates into fresh recruitment and training costs. Without training, the employees do not find the work meaningful and hence results in poor job satisfaction and low organizational commitment. Job redesigning, better communication between the staff and the managers, a stable work environment, sense of belonging, recognition, flexible working hours, mentorship, groups tasks, shorter working hours and compensation programs can help to increase the level of job satisfaction and increase organizational commitment. Locke (1976) has defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experience (cited by Lee, 2000). Job satisfaction is directly related to motivation, role clarity and organizational commitment. Organizational commitment relates to an attachment to the organization while job satisfaction is concerned with the task environment where the employee performs his duties. An extensive study conducted by Woods and Macaulay in 1989 to try and determine the reasons for high turnover in the hospitality industry revealed eight frequently cited reasons – quality of supervision, ineffective communication, working conditions, quality of co-workers, inability to ‘fit’ with the organizational culture, low pay and few benefits, lack of clear definition of responsibilities, no direction at work (cited by Gustafson).