Learning and development in Food and beverage in Sri Lanka.

 

 

Backman (1994) stated that fast food should have four generic aspects: a low relative monetary price, quick service of the end product, suitability for eating with fingers, and low finished product strength. To enhance this strength fast food industry is a service‐ and people‐oriented business; to survive in such a competitive market, it is crucial that customers are satisfied not only with the products and the dining environment (hardware), but also with the service (software) provided by employees (Rogers, 1994). Although fast food is perceived as a relatively low‐price product, this does not lessen the level of customer expectations of quality food and services.

And at the same time employee satisfaction is important because customer satisfaction can only be achieved when employees are content, and the level of employee satisfaction is positively related to customer satisfaction (Rogers, 994).

Corcoran and Johnson (1974) stated that in the fast food industry, the long working hours (for permanent employees), the less competitive pay, the repetitive nature of the job, and low job security have jeopardized new employees’ commitment and satisfaction. However, new employees in this specific catering sector are rarely discussed in the literature. The three objectives of this study were to:

1 Expectations among new employees in the fast food industry;

2 Relationships between unmet expectations, job satisfaction and organizational commitment; and

3 make suggestions of ways in which industry practitioners could motivate new employees (Corcoran and Johnson,1974).

organizational commitment and job satisfaction are equally important to customer satisfaction. Human resource development makes a major contribution to the successful attainment of the organization’s objectives and that investment in it benefits all the stakeholders of the organization (Armstrong,2006).

 

Developing and Continues Learning

 

 

Learning is a continuous process that not only enhances existing capabilities but also leads to the development of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that prepare people for enlarged or higher-level responsibilities in the future (Williams,1998). And further explained that learning has happened when people can demonstrate that they know something that they did not know before (insights, realizations as well as facts) and when they can do something they could not do before (skills)’. Mumford and Gold (2004).

Personal development planning is carried out by individuals with guidance, encouragement and help from their managers as required (Armstrong,2006). A personal development plan sets out the actions people propose to take to learn and to develop themselves. They take responsibility for formulating and implementing the plan, but they receive support from the organization and their managers in doing so (Armstrong,2006).

According Williams (1998), Personal Development plan consists of the following, and is illustrated in figure 1.0

·        Annalise the current Situation

·        Set goals

·        Prepare action plan

·        Implementations

Figure: 1.0 Stages in preparing and implementing a Personal Developing plan

Source: (Williams, 1998)

The content of the training should be related to the work contexts of the participants. Ideally, their work should be made a central feature of the subject matter. Every opportunity should be taken to embed learning at work (Armsrong,2026). organizational commitment. As the fast food industry is expanding exponentially in Sri Lanka and new employees should be motivated strategically so that more and more of them will join and stay in the industry and work for the best interests.

Dideo 01: Learning and development in organization

Source :(Greggu,2006)

References

Armstrong, M., 2006. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. 10th ed. [ebook] London & Philadelphia: British Library, pp.559-565.

Corcoran, J. and Johnson, P. (1974), “Image of four occupations”, Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management Association Journal, June, pp. 13‐19.

Mumford, A and Gold, J (2004) Management Development: Strategies for action, CIPD, 2004

Rogers, J.D., Clow, K.E. and Kash, T.J. (1994), “Increasing job satisfaction of service personnel”, The Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 8, pp. 14‐26.

Steers, R.M. (1977), “Antecedents and outcomes of organizational commitment”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 46‐56.

Wanous, J.P. (1980), Organizational Entry: Recruitment, Selection and Socialization of Newcomers, Addison‐Wesley, Reading, MA.

Williams, A (1998) Organizational learning and the role of attitude surveys, Human Resource Management Journal, 8(4), pp 51–65