Benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing
Discuss about the Conditions of Hospitality.
Although various critics have been raised in the recent years concerning outsourcing in the management of accommodation organization, sometimes organizations cannot assume the workload and therefore they require subcontracting specialized organizations which provide high quality services (Jidong, 2015). The pressure in the modern day accommodation can be addressed through outsourcing because it can give the organizations an opportunity to enhance profitability without producing things internally. Outsourcing can also ease the burden of managing the modern day accommodation, save time, money and resources.
Various departments can utilize outsourcing to enhance their efficiency. One of the departments which can use this strategy to enhance its efficiency is the human resource (Sheehan, 2012). In the service industry, the number of employees relative to the number of guests should be reasonable when the demands for the services are high or low. When the number of employees is not adequate to address the demand for the accommodation services, outsourcing becomes the best option. The human resource values outsourcing when the number of guests becomes high because it helps the organization to acquire extra workforce which help in minimizing the workload of its employees.
Another department which can use outsourcing is the IT department. In the modern day accommodation, guests need to be provided with new experiences which can make them improve their loyalty towards the organization (Jidong, 2015). They also need to be charged prices which match the quality of services provided. Outsourcing IT knowledge from other organizations can assist in improving the guest experiences in the organization. It can also assist in improving the quality of services to match the amount charged per each guest (Kambo, 2015). For example, outsourcing some of the IT-related knowledge and strategies like for example installing high speed WIFI connectivity, ensuring each room has a reliable computer and so forth can make the guests realize the management is committed on ensuring they get everything they expect in the organization.
The drivers of outsourcing are many and organizations can benefit from different advantages associated with this strategy (Nuno, 2013). One of the primary advantages of outsourcing is that it assists organizations to maintain a competitive advantage especially when it competes with large companies. The fact that outsourcing allows accommodation organizations to use vendors with more expertise and specialized processes enables organizations to reduce operational costs and the quality of services.
Outsourcing in human resources and IT
In the wake of excess competition in the lodging industry, marketing departments are also using outsourcing as a strategy of their marketing capabilities. Outsourcing enables the marketing departments in different ways including coming up with proper strategies of segmenting the market, targeting the right customers, proper pricing and so forth. Outsourcing also enables organizations to minimizing the costs associated with marketing and also to utilize the modern technology in their marketing practices.
In the hospitality industry, the demand for services changes from time to time because of various factors like economic changes or even changes in whether conditions. When these happen, outsourcing serves a critical role in regulating the staff members to match the level of services provided at a particular time or season (Khoon, 2014). When there is high number of guest, the accommodation companies use outsourcing as a strategy of improving its workforce. Outsourcing plays a significant role in minimizing the workload of employees when the demand for services is high, and also assists in retaining the employees in the organization through freeing them from tedious tasks.
Another benefit of outsourcing in the modern day accommodation management is that it leads to improvement of revenue and can also improve the brand image in terms of better service and efficacy (Steven, 2012). However, this is only attained if proper considerations are made when outsourcing because if the required considerations are not taken outsourcing may impact the reputation of the organization instead of improving its brand image.
One of the disadvantages of outsourcing is quality risk (Steven, 2012). Although the technique enables a company to improve the quality of its products, it can as well expose an organization into legal risks and other threats. Another disadvantage of outsourcing in the modern day accommodation is language barriers. If for example the customer call center is outsourced from a country that speaks a different language, dissatisfaction may arise especially when the guests strive to communicate with a person who does not understand a particular language or one who has a strong accent.
Outsourcing should be managed with keenness because it can make the employees develop the perception that their jobs will be lost. This happens especially when employees see new people in their teams and may end up making them not to perform well (Muhammed, 2015). Another drawback of outsourcing in accommodation industry is that outsourced employees may not have the same passion towards an organization like a regular employee.
Advantages of outsourcing in hospitality industry
As the scope of the lodging industry continues to change, various aspects are influencing the manager’s role of controlling, directing and leading in this sector. The change in guest expectations and as well as the increase in competition are among the primary factors which influence the manner in which managers control and plan in these organizations (Mi-Ran, 2011). For example, in the modern days, managers need to analyze the kind of services the guests expects to get and work to accomplish them.
The increase in competition this industry is also influencing planning and controlling because managers have the role of ensuring high quality services are provided to assist the organization in attaining a competitive advantage. One way in which competition affects planning and controlling in this industry is that the competitors keep changing their tactics hence forcing the managers to adjust their planning and controlling strategies to can challenge those of the competitors.
Other factor which influence planning and controlling in this industry is changes in demand for the services. The demand of accommodation services is never stable because it is influenced by different factors. This factor affects planning and controlling in the fact that managers must adjust their planning and controlling strategies based on the available demand. For example, when the demand is high, the managers must plan on the strategies of sourcing workforce which can address the demand, and must also plan on how to control the extra workforce. On the hand, when the demand is low, the managers must plan on how utilize the little revenue to sustain the existence of organization.
Planning and controlling in accommodation industry is also influenced by the management style used by the senior managers (Maya, 2013). For example, in the cases where the senior person practices authoritative type of leadership, most of the planning and controlling is centralized. This means planning and controlling is mostly done by the leader. In this type of leadership, chances of poor decisions and lack of proper planning and controlling are always high because the leader rarely seeks for advice and assistance from other people in the organization.
The size of the organization is also another significant factor which influences controlling and planning in accommodation industry (Gordon, 2015). Managers who exercise their role of planning and controlling in small organizations find it simpler than who exercise it in bigger companies.
The management structure is also another aspect which determines planning and controlling in this sector (Claviez, 2013). The management structure in this case refers to who reports to whom, the number of management levels and the duties and responsibilities of each person in the management team. When the movement structure is complex, planning and controlling becomes challenging than when it is simpler.
Disadvantages of outsourcing in hospitality industry
The company resources will also determine controlling and planning in this industry (Gordon, 2015). Resources in this case refer to the number of rooms, how they are furnished, the nature of human resources and so forth. When a company has sufficient resources, planning and controlling becomes easy. The nature of human resources also determines how the managers control and plan for the organization. For example, controlling and planning in organization with sufficient employees is simple than in organizing where the number of employees is not sufficient enough to match the demand for the services.
Understanding your customers and their needs is important because it helps in planning how to produce services which can meet their expectations (Maya, 2013). In the accommodation management, one of the key roles of managers is ensuring the company is operated in a manner which can promise long term survival, and this kind of survival cannot be attained without understanding the customer needs. Because guests are among the most important assets in accommodation organizations, managing the business without knowing their needs and what they expect to get from the company may make the organization to fail.
Another importance of understanding customer needs is improving customer loyalty towards the organization. When the guests get services which match their expectation, the chances of coming back for the services are always high (Alistair, 2014). On every visit, guests expect to be valued by the organization through receiving services which are worth the money they spend, and if they fail to get such services they seek them from other organizations. This means understanding the customer needs and serving them according to their needs is paramount in improving loyalty.
Knowing customer needs also enables accommodation mangers plan on how to improve the quality of their services. This is because customer needs keeps changing from time to time and therefore planning on how to improve the quality of services which the organization
Provides must be based on those changes. Managers who do not plan their management strategies based on the customer needs are likely to make the organization experience poor performance because of guests shifting to other organizations which can give them satisfaction.
Understanding customer needs also enables the managers to assign the employees duties based of on those needs (Herbert, 2016). For example, if the manager realizes the needs of the customer are to get good reception, he/she will ensure the people assigned with the reception job are good enough to provide the best reception to the guest. People have different abilities and therefore assigning employees the duties which they perform better is one of the best ways of satisfying the identified needs of the customers.
Factors that influence planning and controlling in hospitality industry
There are numerous steps which accommodation managers can use to ensure the organization offers services according to customers’ expectations. The first and most important step is analyzing the customer expectations and producing the services based on those expectations. This is the most important step a manager can take because without knowing the kind of services expected by the customer one cannot be able to meet the expectations.
The other step which accommodation manager can take to ensure his/her organization provides services according to customer expectations is through employing qualified staff (Tsai, 2015). Qualified staff will always using their skills to relate well with the guests and also learn what kind of services they expect to get. Qualified staff will also be committed in providing the services to the customers in a professional manner like for example, proper use of body language, representing the image of the company in a positive manner like for example dressing smartly and smiling to the clients and so forth.
Obtaining feedback from the guests concerning the nature of services offered to is also important (Malcolm, 2015). The managers can attain this through coming up with a system which allows the customers to rate the nature of services they received from the organization. This can be done by using stars with different indications. For example 5 stars to mean good services, 3 star fair services and 2 or 1 star to mean poor services.
The manager can also learn if the company is offering services according to customer expectations through analyzing if the customers come back for similar services (Sikandar, 2013). If the guests do not come back even after a long duration, it means the services were not according to their expectation and probably they looked for them elsewhere. Clients who come back indicate the services were provided according to their needs and they are willing to get them.
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