The MICE Business Roadblock: Lack of Workers in Catering

Transcription

1 The MICE Business Roadblock: Lack of Workers in Catering Punyavee Visadsoontornsakul, Faculty of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand. punyavee.vi@kmitl.ac.th Abstract MICE industry is the emerging business in Thailand. The perfection of catering supports the growth of MICE business. From the research, quality of catering service directly influences on both visitor satisfaction and the revenue. In recent years, Thai catering worker move from Thailand to other ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) countries and worker retirement challenged the MICE operations. To understand the cause of worker lacking in catering services, the research is then conducted to study the work satisfaction of worker in the catering department in 5-Star hotels and the convention centers. There are 561 workers feedback on the survey. The quantitative research provided the population statistic overview while the qualitative method helped researcher drive into the real cause and understand in detail. The results suggest the improvement factors to increase the work satisfaction in catering services and implicitly increase the retention rate of the worker. Employers can benefit by using this report, which also provides a guideline to remove a roadblock in MICE business regarding the lack of workers in catering Thailand. Key Words: Human resources, MICE, Catering, worker retention, work satisfaction JEL Classification: J28, M54, Z31 511

2 1. Introduction Regarding a roadmap of Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, MICE industry is the one of highlight business, emerging market, which considered as a contributor to GDP (Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, 2015). Successful in MICE operations come from a good management coupled with a quality catering service. To provide a quality catering service, the worker needs to have an experience in their job with good service mind. In recent years, demand for catering service in MICE operations is increasing due to the growth of MICE business in Thailand (Sukanya, 2016) whiles the lack of workers in catering department observed. Catering worker retirement and movement become higher due to mismatch offering compared to their basic of needs. To improve the retention rate of the existing workers in the catering field, the research primarily focused on work satisfaction of workers in the catering department in 5-Star hotels and the convention centers. The research aims to understand the cause of lack of workers in catering department and to understand the basic of needs preferred by catering workers. This paper provides a research detail in five chapters; chapter 1 introduces the overview of paper structure and the purpose. Chapter 2 presents the previous research works on satisfaction realated topics done in the tourism and hospitality fields. The concerns and current situation of MICE and catering services in Thailand also reviewed. Moreover, the research detail which shows in chapter 3 providing the useful information on the methodology. There are 561 workers feedbacked on the survey. The quantitative research provided the information of populations while the qualitative method helped the researcher to understand the causes deeper. The results and discussion, in chapter 4, suggest the improvement opportunity to increase the retention rate of workers. Employers can benefit from insight report in Chapter 4, which also provide a guideline to remove a roadblock in MICE business regarding the lack of workers in catering. The conclusion and future work can be found in chapter Literature Review From the statistic of the visitor in MICE business during October 2015 March 2016, showing Thailand welcomed the MICE visitors up to 490,000 visitors, a steady growth of 3.63% compared to the same period in Moreover, there are 1.06 million MICE visitors by the end of the year 2016, which marks a 5 percent growth, up to 2.7 billion USD in revenue. (Sukanya, 2016). The growth of MICE business also increases the demand for catering resources whiles the percentage of catering workers is slightly declined compared to the same period in the year 2015 and The lack of workers in catering become a concern objecting the MICE business growth and implicitly affect the visitor satisfaction. The 512

3 retention of experienced workers is the managerial challenge. The reason behind the retirement and movement present in this research for the first time. To understand the work satisfaction and increase the number of workers in catering field, many researchers focus on the basic needs and the work satisfaction. The discussion made on worker retention and satisfaction factors. Schneider and Bowen (1998) believed, the understanding of basic needs is an essential to achieve the success of personal and the motivation can drive the individual to act in many specific ways aiming to achieve the desired level of personal satisfaction (Beerli and Martin, 2004). In other words, the satisfied basic of needs and motivation are the key factors affecting the personal success and work satisfaction. To understand more about productive factors on catering workers, Flora, Thomas & Ho Kwong Kwan (2010) focus on the stress level of workers. The research shared the study in hotel and catering industry: A low availability of work-life balance practices resulted in a higher stress level. Implicitly, a low-stress level in catering worker can improve the visitor satisfaction which is also supported by the research of (Worsfold et al., 2016). The research on employee s work satisfaction showed the critical finding; more work satisfaction significantly linked to the guest being more satisfied with the service experience and their return intention. Moreover, the factors influencing the retention rate of catering workers are explored in (Baba et al., 2016). The research works showed the contributors to the high turnover rate in catering services, which consist of low pay rate, working long hours, inadequate training provided and poor working environment. From the research review, the factors including the basic needs, the motivation in working with a low level of stress, and the working condition, can influence the return intention of the visitor. Those factors are also in our research scope which aims to seek for improvement opportunity for worker satisfaction and provide a guideline to remove a roadblock in MICE business regarding the lack of workers in catering. 3. Methodology 3.1 Research Questions As mentioned in the introduction, during , the lack of workers in catering departments affect visitor satisfaction and impact business revenue on MICE business in 5- Star hotels and convention centers, Thailand. We research to understand the cause and advice for satisfaction improvement guideline. Work satisfaction factors of workers in the catering department are the input for this research. 3.2 Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework illustrates the relation of experiment variables between the research outcome (a dependent variable) and the various treatments (independent variables: 513

4 work satisfaction factors and personal information of workers). The top-5 highest rating factors by catering workers used as the key inputs. The conceptual framework is as follow: Inputs 0. Personal information Personal success 2. Recognition 3. Type of work 4. Responsibility 5. Compensation Open-end questions for qualitative research review Methods 1. Statistical analysis on Likert scale of satisfaction factors by using SPSS basic statistic 2. Qualitative research review Results and Discussion Statistic interpretation and summary of the research Outcome Improvement guideline to remove roadblock in MICE business regarding the lack of workers in catering In this research, the survey used as a research tool for data collection. The survey consists of three sections; personal information, Likert-scale survey to evaluate work satisfaction level, and open-end question for worker opinion and suggestion. About Linkert-scale survey, there are five factors with five questions an individual factor. The factor loading was checked principal component analysis (PCA). The factors loading value for all group are +0.75, and higher meaning five factors are with the proper questions loading. The internal consistency of questions loading onto the same factors checked by Cronbach s Alpha (CA), the set of questions in the same factor has Cronbach Alpha values 0.82 and higher. The PCA and CA ran on a subset of the intended population, 100 participants, for questionnaire validation. The CA indicates the excellent internal consistency in the responses. From PCA and CA value, our survey is proper to be used as data collection tool. 3.3 Data In this research, we launch a pre-survey to get the estimated number of total catering workers in Thailand, 4200 workers in Thailand is the estimated number of total population as of June The size of the sample calculated from (Yamane, 1973) formula where a 95% confidence level and P =.5 are assumed. The level of precision is 5%. Regarding the calculation, the finite population, 366 workers, can represent 4200 workers. We received the survey feedback 561 surveys by systematic sampling, which is higher than 366. So all survey feedbacks are then loaded as the input of this research. The survey consists of three sections; 1) personal information, the descriptive statistic summarizes the information into a percentage which provides the overview of the population. 2) The Likert-scale questionnaire, computer software SPSS used for satisfaction analysis. Worker interview also conducted to understand the interpretation of the statistic and detail. 3) 514

5 The last section, open-end question, the feedback and suggestion from workers provided. Qualitative research review used for idea grouping and summarization. 4. Results and Discussion Survey section 1: personal information The majority of survey respondents are female, which is 63.46% of participants. The worker with age between 21 to 25 years old is 33.52%, and 81.64% of the respondents are single % of workers have a high-school or equivalent education. The most of the workers, 38.12%, have an average income between 5,001 to 10,000 baht, and 68.63% of workers have less than two years of experience. Survey section 2: Likert-scale on work satisfaction of workers in the catering department. There are five factors (topics) with 25 questions (components) in total. The results and recommendation were discussed following: 1. Personal success factor: the top-3 essential components that make employees satisfied are; the first, the pride of being able to complete the assigned work (x = 3.26, SD = 0.54); second, is the satisfaction in the success of assigned work (x = 3.08, SD = 0.71); last component, is the worker would like see the assigned work achieving the great success (x = 3.06, SD = 0.58). From personal success factor, the satisfaction of workers mainly come from the pride on the succession of work. Pride is the most influential component of personal success factor. Researcher insight catering workers who feedback low score on this component and the conclusion can be drawn like, the pride can motivate the workers to have more eager for future work. The success of work also shows the commitment of worker. Moreover, the pride can increase the level of confidence of the worker as well. To improve the work satisfaction, the business should consider the way to build up the personal pride in work. This improvement will benefit the business on both task quality and retention rate. For the second component, which significantly contributes to work satisfaction, is the satisfaction in the success of assigned work. The satisfaction of worker customarily increased when the work is done successfully. The completed work implies the improvement of worker ability and can motivate the worker to do the next task more efficiently. It is a good idea to break a task into many sub-tasks. This approach can help worker achieve the goal and increase the satisfaction quickly. It also aligned with the worker feedback regarding a big task assignment. A big task assignment is contrary to the work satisfaction. An incomplete task within a limit of time, make worker dissatisfy. Therefore, the small task and achievable (easily to be achieved), is the option to increase the work satisfaction. For the last component, the worker wants to see the assigned work achieve the great success. When worker completed the assigned task in the given time, it showed the excellent management skill of the worker. The organization should 515

6 manage the workforce base on the time requirement. Assigning enough resource to complete the task, can help the worker make task success within timeframe easily. The organization must consider the skill and capability of their worker before assigning the task to them. The guideline and suggestion on this factor conform with the research of (Supawan, 2007) stating that if the employees achieved an outstanding performance and success in the assigned work, they would be more motivated to work and making them proud of their work when it succeeds. 2. Recognition: the result indicates the most three influence components are; first, the acceptance of work from the supervisor and co-workers (x = 3.10, SD = 0.68); following is, the work result satisfied with the supervisor and co-workers requirement (x = 3.08, SD = 0.58); third component is, the praises received from the success of assigned work (x = 3.06, SD = 0.68). Regarding the feedback on recognition factor, the main contributor for this factor is the acceptance of work from the supervisor and co-workers. It should be a practice in the organization to recognize a good result of work. The acceptance of work significantly impacts the work satisfaction. By doing the recognition, the fame to the worker in the organization is implicitly promoted. The esteem needs of worker accomplished as per mentioned in (Maslow, 1943). The second influencing component is the result of work satisfied by team members. This component focused on the work output satisfaction feedbacked by the line manager and co-worker. If the result of work satisfied and meets the requirement, it would make worker feeling proud. The minimum requirement of the quality task should be defined and shared. The recognition would respond to the worker in case the quality of work meets the requirement of the standard. For the third influencing component, the praise received for the success of assigned work; this component showed the esteem need by the workers. The result from a personal interview found that the workers with longer service years received more praise than shorter service year worker. This situation is not about seniority but the skills. The worker feedback that training on the job sometimes does not help to improve the satisfaction on this component, but the knowledge and skill from classroom training are required. In summary, to increase the work satisfaction, not only recognition but praise to the worker should embed into the organizational culture. It helps to increases self-esteem, the loyalty to the organization and worker retention eventually. The result and discussion of this research conform to the result of (Varanya, 2011), which states that employees with long working experience resulting in work efficiently, good self-esteem, and respects from co-workers and supervisor are required to increase work efficiency and loyalty. 3. The type of work: the top three components contributing to satisfaction in this category are; first, the opportunities to use their ability (x = 3.33, SD = 0.57); second is the work is challenging and interesting (x = 3.19, SD = 0.69); the last, is the ability 516

7 of employee complements the assigned tasks and the ability to see the work through despite the hardship (x = 3.15, SD = 0.61) For this factor, type of work, the most influencing component is the workers have the opportunity to use their ability. From worker feedback, the challenging work to their ability make the work more interesting. However, the work assignment should match with their background knowledge and skill. To improve the work satisfaction on this component, the organization should know their worker capability. The competency matrix is the tool to get insight the worker. In day-to-day operations, the organization may assign a sub-task to prove worker s ability. It is the way manager can provide the opportunity to the worker handle the challenging task. The manager can coach a worker by facilitator role, not a teacher; this is to motivate the worker to bring out the best of their ability. For the second component, it is about challenging and exciting work assigned to the worker. As mention in the first component, worker interest in challenging work. To improve the score on this component, the organization should know the difficulty level of a particular task. Assign the task to the worker who cannot complete the task may lead to misleading the improvement intention and the work may not challenge anymore. In catering services, there are many types of works, which required different knowledge and skill sets. One-on-one meeting with the worker can help organization to know the worker interest. With a competency matrix and worker interest, it makes organization easier to assign the interesting and challenging task. In component 3, if the task makes the workers feeling harder to be completed, but they try to make it done, we can say the task is challenging enough. The research result indicates that the worker would like to get recognition for their effort for challenging task completion. This component showed the linkage between the type of work and worker effort. The organization can improve the work satisfaction regarding this component by recognizing the effort they put in. Moreover, trust in worker ability on the assigned task can make the satisfaction of worker higher. 4. Responsibility: the most three important components in this category are; the efforts need to be put in to complete the assigned task, (x = 3.10, SD = 0.65); second, is the satisfaction from being given a new and challenging task (x = 3.08, SD = 0.56); and the last, is the assigned task is appropriate to their ability (x = 3.01, SD = 0.74) The factor regarding responsibility aligned with the result of the previous session. Refer to interview; the effort of workers put in to complete the assigned task showed their understanding of responsibility. The task assignment should match with their job function. The workers will satisfy the job if they can complete the task and their effort recognized by the organization. A challenging task assignment and the assigned task is appropriate to worker ability, are also covered in the discussion of the previous factor already. 517

8 5. Compensation: the important components for this category are; first, the increasing of the income (x = 3.18, SD = 0.70); and the compensation received is reasonable for the knowledge, skill, and experience (x = 2.53, SD = 0.69) For compensation factor, the influencing component highlights on increasing of the income, the interview result showed that the workers decided to change their job if they get the higher income not matter the job is. The insight report showed the job movement on catering workers during 2015 to 2016; the worker will move to a new organization if the current organization unclear in unit structure or does not has job hierarchy. An organization with unclear unit structure showed the less opportunity for personal growth and less opportunity to get higher income. The recommendation for organization to improve a work satisfaction regarding this component is 1) re-organization to have a reasonable catering job hierarchy by considering the business operations and resources. The re-organization is to show the opportunity for personal growth 2) review and revise the message on compensation topic to increase the awareness of total benefit. Compensation and income is one part of the total benefit which worker will receive. Communication on the total benefit can value the business and is possible to encourage the worker to continue working in the organization. The concept of total benefit mainly focuses on all benefit that organization can provide to the worker (not only income). The total benefit may include but not limited to wage, providence fund, housing, health insurance. The organization can use this approach to build up the loyalty to the workers. For the second component, worker shared the concerns on the reasonable compensation against knowledge, skill, and experience. This component showed the worker dissatisfies with the compensation they got. The cause may come from unclear job qualification and overqualified worker. HR department can help to overcome this concern. Promotion is a good option for the worker who equipped with knowledge, skill, and experience required in the catering. Survey section 3: Open-end question asking for catering workers opinion and suggestion regarding the work satisfaction and improvement opportunity for hotels and convention centers. There are four groups of responses, summarized as follows: 1. The compensation: it is low compensation comparing to the household expenditure in Thailand. The primary living cost in Thailand is different vary on the area of living; the living cost in the urban area is higher than upcountry meanwhile the wage usually the same. Compensation is different depending on the travel season, size of the event, a number of workers in the organization and the working hours. 63.5% of workers consider working in the downtown due to higher opportunity to get more compensation. The comments from workers showed the same concern which aligned to work satisfaction feedbacked in survey section 2. The incomes are not enough for a 518

9 living % of workers consider going aboard. Higher catering skill required for higher compensation but lack of training provided by the organization. 2. Quality of co-workers affects the personal workload due to unbalance job assignment. The assignment sometime relies on personal relationships not a competency of workers. In catering, the hard work (e.g., table setup) usually assigned to a specific group of workers. Some workers in catering did not entirely put all effort to complete the hard work job. About the skilled required task, low competency workers sometimes assigned to do so. Rework by experienced workers is necessary. The workers required for the explicit requirement of tasks in catering. The training is recommended for low competency workers. Related to the quality of worker and compensation, the compensation should rate and pay per the required level of skill to complete the task not only considering the working hours. Workers mentioned on fair pay to the right competency and the complexity of the task. 3. Working condition: safety in work needed to be focused more on the hotels. Even the work satisfaction on the safety in the workplace is in high level but workers can observe the risk in health, from the classic example, the table setup, some organization did not provide the back support when workers carried the tables. Workers also shared the linkage between health safety and the expenditure. Better health can save the expenditure accordingly. 4. Advancement is limited to a group of workers. The most requested training course for catering worker is English and Chinese. For skill training, serving technique is also the highlight training course that ignored by the business due to the training can be done as on the job training. 5. Conclusions and Recommendations Refer to the results and discussion, the work satisfaction of catering worker in Thailand is in average level. The work satisfaction and the number of workers in catering field influenced by compensation, job motivation, qualification, and the recognition culture in the organization. The improvement opportunities which are often mentioned by the worker are the recognition culture and opportunity for personal success, training, and safety. The compensation is the most influencer on retention rate in catering service. The workers are willing to go aboard due to poor satisfaction in the economic structure; imbalance between income and living cost. It straightforwards to increase the number of catering workers supporting MICE industry; the organization should provide the total benefit of income to the workers per their competency and market demand. For the future research work, it is the opportunity to leverage this report for catering strategic and resources planning. The 519

10 managerial policy and application are possible research work using to improve the lack of resource situation. References Baba, N., Yaakop, M.R., Bachok, S., Hamid, Z.A., & Shahril, A.M., 2016, Emplayee retention of outsourcing catering service in Malaysian government hospital. Proceeding of the 3 rd international hospitality and tourism conference & 2nd international seminar on tourism, Beerli, A., & Martín, J.D., 2004, Tourists characteristics and the perceived image of tourist destination: a quantitative analysis - A case study of Lanzarote, Spain. Tourism Management 25, Flora, F.T., Thomas A., & Ho Kwong Kwan., 2010, The moderating roles of job control and work-life balance practices on employee stress in the hotel and catering industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management 29, Maslow, A. H., 1943, A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review 50(4), Schneider, B., & Bowen, D., 1998, Winning the service game. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. Sukanya Sirikeratikul., 2016, Food Service Hotel Restaurant Institutional, The report contains assessments of commodity and trade issues made by USDA staff and not necessarily statements of official U.S. government policy. Supawan Rattanaopat., 2007, Employee s work motivation toward the organization: a case study from A-One The Royal Cruise Hotel, Pattaya. (Master s thesis, Graduate School, Naresuan University) Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, 2015, 2014 Thailand s MICE Industry report: The Gateway to ASEAN s MICE. [Online] Available from: [2017 June, 30] Varanya Pondee., 2011, The factors affecting work effectiveness of academic employee and vocational employee. (Master s thesis, Graduate School, Naresuan University) Worsfold Kate, Fisher Ron, Mcphail Ruth, Francis Mark, & Thomas Andrew., 2016, Satisfaction, Value and Intention to Return in Hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 28. Yamane, T., 1973, Problems to accompany Statistics, an introductory analysis, 3rd. New York: Harper & Row. 520