Hotel Management Competencies
Research paper
Abstract
Hospitality management competencies: do faculty and students concur on employability skills?
This paper is one in a series of establishing what competencies the various stakeholders (students, industry mentors, faculty) think are the ideal competencies needed by employees in the hospitality field in places such as hotels, food service providers, restaurants and lodges, compared to those actually displayed by hospitality management students. This particular paper reports on a comparison drawn between what the faculty and students believe are the ideal competencies compared to those that they actually have on completion of their academic studies, prior to the students engaging in their semester of work-integrated learning (WIL). The results would be used by faculty to focus on ensuring students are aware of the employability and management competencies they need (Hind, Moss & McKellan, 2007) in order to conduct themselves in the business world of hospitality with confidence and competently.
Key Words: Competencies, hospitality, soft skills, South Africa, work-integrated learning.
Hospitality management competencies: do faculty and students concur on employability
skills?
Introduction
In a developing country such as South Africa where the jobless rate is 23.1% of the labour force (4.1 million) (Mail & Guardian, 2008), it is expected that university graduates should be able to find employment but there are many who do not (Ntuli, 2007). The labour market oscillates between the skills shortage on one hand and the number of graduates who are without work on the other. It seems paradoxical that a country with a high unemployment rate, has graduates without work, and that professionals need to be imported or lured to the country. This situation may arise from the fact that students lack employability skills. Behavioural (soft) skills such as those gained through curricula that embed critical outcomes such as analytical skills,
Abstract
Hospitality management competencies: do faculty and students concur on employability skills?
This paper is one in a series of establishing what competencies the various stakeholders (students, industry mentors, faculty) think are the ideal competencies needed by employees in the hospitality field in places such as hotels, food service providers, restaurants and lodges, compared to those actually displayed by hospitality management students. This particular paper reports on a comparison drawn between what the faculty and students believe are the ideal competencies compared to those that they actually have on completion of their academic studies, prior to the students engaging in their semester of work-integrated learning (WIL). The results would be used by faculty to focus on ensuring students are aware of the employability and management competencies they need (Hind, Moss & McKellan, 2007) in order to conduct themselves in the business world of hospitality with confidence and competently.
Key Words: Competencies, hospitality, soft skills, South Africa, work-integrated learning.
Hospitality management competencies: do faculty and students concur on employability
skills?
Introduction
In a developing country such as South Africa where the jobless rate is 23.1% of the labour force (4.1 million) (Mail & Guardian, 2008), it is expected that university graduates should be able to find employment but there are many who do not (Ntuli, 2007). The labour market oscillates between the skills shortage on one hand and the number of graduates who are without work on the other. It seems paradoxical that a country with a high unemployment rate, has graduates without work, and that professionals need to be imported or lured to the country. This situation may arise from the fact that students lack employability skills. Behavioural (soft) skills such as those gained through curricula that embed critical outcomes such as analytical skills,