People Working in the Hospitality Sector - Research Proposal Example

Table of Contents Background of the Problem 2 Objectives of the Study 3 Research Question 4 Significance of the Study 4 Literature Review & Hypothesis Development 6 Methodology 10 References 11 Background of the Problem People working in the hospitality sector are central towards the success of the industry which thereby makes the attitude and behaviour of employees important while looking to provide quality services to its customers. The perception of customer and satisfaction is largely influenced by the attitude and behaviour which employees demonstrate (Bitner, Booms & Tetreault, 2010). The interaction which employees carry out with customers thereby becomes pivotal in determining whether the customer will be satisfied or not (Bitner, Booms & Tetreault, 2010). The role of employees is of prime importance as it helps organization in the hospitality industry to get a competitive advantage which thereby ensures their long term success. This thereby makes the industry to be heavily dependent on the managing and retaining employees (Woods, 2012). Maintaining employee turnover is the hospitality industry is of prime importance on the background that employee-customer interacts on a continuous basis. In addition to employee turnover results in additional cost and is thereby very critical for the industry (Bonn & Forbringer, 2012). For example, studies have shown that every incident related to employee turnover in the hospitality industry results in a direct cost of around $2,500 and indirect cost of $1,600 (Hogan, 1992). Woods & MacCauley (2008) has further stated that the cost arises due to the tangible and intangible cost associated with employee turnover. The most intangible cost for the industry is the loss of morale of employees who are continuing to work with the same organization. This will impact the level of service which the employees provide to customers and would lead towards dissatisfaction among customers. Management thereby needs to understand the different dimensions and have to develop alternatives which help to shape the attitude of employees so that job can be better accomplished (Rogers, Clow, & Kash, 2014). Babakus et al (2006) that positive relationship exists between job characteristics and satisfaction among employees which guides them the way they should act. It is also seen that role conflict and ambiguity leads to dissatisfaction and needs to be avoided especially in the hospitality sector. This thereby helps to identify a path for future research which will help to understand the manner in which job satisfaction, commitment and turnover have an impact on the hospitality industry and the long term implications it has for the management. This also makes it important to find out the manner employees perceive fairness in organizational system and the impact it has on the attitude and behaviour of individuals which finally leads towards high turnover. Objectives of the Study The purpose of the study is to develop a model which will help to examine the impact of interpersonal working relationship on employee’s justice perception which thereby has an impact on employee’s attitude and behaviour while working in the hospitality sector. The research proposes that interpersonal working relationship has a positive influence on the perception which employee has. This thereby impacts employee’s morale and satisfaction which impact service level and results in increased turnover within the industry. This thereby aims at developing a model which looks to define quality of leader member exchange as antecedent and constructs as employees justice perception, employee satisfaction, commitment and turnover of employees. To put it otherwise the model will help to examine the role distributive and procedural justice has on job satisfaction, commitment and turnover of employees in the hospitality sector. This will help managers to proactively develop strategies which will focus towards retaining employees and improving the manner in which different services are rendered so that the degree of satisfaction level for customers improves. Research Question The research will focus towards the answering the following research questions Identifying the manner in which the leader member exchange have an impact on organizational justice perception for employees? Identifying the manner in which organizational justice perception has an impact and influence on job satisfaction? Identifying the manner in which organizational justice perception has an impact and influence on commitment level of employees? Identifying the manner in which organizational justice perception has an impact and influence on turnover of employees? Identifying the manner in which justice perception relates to leader member exchange in relation to job satisfaction, commitment and turnover for employees? Significance of the Study Organizational justice is perceived by people as the manner in which people perceive fairness in carrying out different activities within the organization. This construct has caught the attention of more and more people and researcher in the field of human resource management over the last few years. This study will help to enhance the learning and understanding with regard to organizational justice in the field of organizational behaviour. In addition to it the leader member exchange is used as an antecedent of organizational justice which thereby determines the manner in which employee attitude and behaviour has been impacted. The study will thereby help to analyze and understand the manner in which hospitality sector looks to carry out different activities. Firstly, the study will help to improve the knowledge and understanding of the antecedents of organizational justice. The study will help to understand the manner in which leader member exchange program helps to understand the perception of employees with regard to fairness within the organizational working culture. This will help to broaden the horizon and bring forward the different factors of organizational justice which are related to different work related factors like job satisfaction, commitment and turnover of employees. Secondly, previous research which was carried out in the direction of organizational justice mostly concentrated on pay. This research will move away from the traditional factors and will look forward to identify the different array of factors which were unexamined and will help to understand the impact it has on service level. The different variables which the study will bring forward will help to understand the impact it has on job satisfaction, commitment and turnover. This will further have a long term bearing on the hospitality industry due to the fact that it will help to deal with an important issue of employee turnover in the hospitality industry. Thirdly, past research mostly looked at using organizational justice as an outcome variable or an antecedent variable which will thereby help to understand the attitudinal outcome. This research will thereby focus towards understanding the behavioural outcome and the manner in which different indicators will help to understand the influence on behaviour of employees. Fourthly, most of the research has been carried out in laboratory setting so carrying out the research in a organizational setting will help to ensure that the validity of the results are better checked. This will thereby help to address the study with regard to the context of the organization and the impact the different variables will have on the behaviour of employees. Fifthly, employees in the hospitality industry are the core constituent which helps to deliver superior performance so understanding their attitude and behaviour will help to determine the manner in which the success of the industry would depend. Organizational justice is considered as an important component while looking to better functioning of the organization. This will thereby help to ensure that broader factors contribute more significantly in comparison to role factors while determining the level of job satisfaction. The research will help to determine the manner in which different characteristics will help to ensure that organizational justice helps to determine the manner in which the working in the hospitality industry will gets shaped. Lastly, the study will help to ensure that the managers working in the hospitality industry will be able to look employee’s justice perception in a manner through which positive attitudinal insights will be carried out to understand the perception of employees. The process will help to ensure that the organization is able to manage the employees, train them and provide the necessary guidance which will help to maximize customer satisfaction. The process will ensure in better decision making and will help to bring about a change in the manner in which employee attitude gets influenced with the different work related outcomes. Literature Review & Hypothesis Development Different studies and research carried out shows linkage between interpersonal relationship, job satisfaction, commitment and turnover to the perception that employees have regarding justice. Research has identified that distributive justice perception have a direct relation with satisfaction related through pay whereas procedural justice perception is related with the attitude towards work which includes trust and commitment in the management (Dailey & Kirk, 2012). Research has also identified the manner in which people perceive the behaviour that superiors carry out and the perception that subordinates have regarding their behaviour. Bagazorri (2012) states that justice norm within the organization is influenced by the nature of relationship within the organization which thereby has a direct impact on commitment and turnover. Cobb & Frey (2011) shows that discern behaviour which superiors carry out against different employees within the organization results in procedural justice as it is used by employees to understand the fairness that has been carried out within the system. In addition to it the procedural framework which is being used by employees determine their level of satisfaction, trust and commitment towards the organization and their goal (Folger & Konovsky, 2009). The model for the study established relationship regarding the manner in which interpersonal working relationship creates perception about organizational justice, which thereby gets reflected in the manner employee perceive fairness to all within the organization. This brings forward the importance of employer-employee relationship which is imperative in determining the manner in which the attitude and behaviour of employee is determined within the organization (Napier & Ferris, 2013). Leader-member exchange is thereby defined by different research as an interpersonal relationship which exist between the superior and his peers (Graen, 2006). This thereby provides an opportunity to use leader member exchange as an antecedent to the construct which will help to understand employee perception with regard to procedural and distributive justice which employees perceive through job satisfaction, commitment and turnover of employees. The perception with regard to distributive justice can lead towards negativity which can thereby result in increased employee turnover and employees withdrawing from the organization (Hom & Griffeth, 2001). The perception that people have regarding procedural and distributive justice can result in different response with regard to job satisfaction and commitment level which will get reflected in the manner employees carry out the different roles and responsibilities. Studies showing the impact interpersonal working relationship have on the manner in which employees perceive their job has been carried out by different research (Graen, 2006). The desire of individuals to ensure maximum personal gains results in dissatisfaction as people start to perceive that the process is inequitable and it happens primarily due to the psychological process which employees have (Thomson & Lowenstein, 2010). Further, research also brings forward that social comparison leads towards dissatisfaction on different psychological grounds which impacts their commitment level and turnover within the organization (Walster, Berscheid, & Walster, 2013). A study carried out by Tansky (2013) to find out the relationship between leader member exchange in relation to organizational justice, attitude of employees shows that a positive relationship exist between leader member exchange and job satisfaction, commitment and turnover which thereby has an impact on the performance. The study also brings forward that organizational justice has an influence on job satisfaction and commitment level thereby showing that they have a direct influence of the manner people act. This thereby confirms to the fact that interpersonal relationship has an impact on the attitude and behaviour of employees. Job satisfaction is defined as a positive state which arises due to the different job experience which the people undergo during their job (Locke, 2006). This thereby has a close relationship with employee’s commitment and turnover within the organization. Organizational commitment is the degree to which the employee is able to associate with the organization and identifies the goals of the organization as their own personal goals and look to pursue those (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 2009). Organizational commitment is important as it helps to understand the different work related behaviour. It is different from job satisfaction as the major focus is to find out the manner in which employees perceive themselves to be related and part of the organization whereas job satisfaction looks to analyze the manner in which employees look to carry out the different duties within the given job environment. Studies have shown that job satisfaction level and commitment level of employees are directly related to one another and have a positive influence on one another (Bluedorn, 2012) and it is negatively related with turnover of employees (Hollenbeck & Williams, 2006). The figure below highlights the constructs which has thereby been used for the study The study will focus towards understanding the manner in which the interaction between the constructs determines the impact it has on job satisfaction, commitment and turnover of employees. This study will focus on using individuals as a point of analysis and will help to understand their behaviour which is represented while working out in groups. This will help to serve as a framework for the hospitality sector as the management will be able to understand the areas which need to be focused on so that the level of service improves. This will help the hospitality industry in identifying the important dimensions which they need to work on and the manner in which the overall delivering service will change will be understood. Methodology The research methodology which has been used is to understand and investigate the relationship which exists among organizational justice and its antecedents and consequences. This will thereby help to identify and develop the required hypothesis based on the literature review which has been carried out. The research will look at using surveys and gathering information through questionnaire so that the perception of employees can be understood. This will focus towards carrying out the sample study in the hospitality industry where people working as supervisor, entry level employees and other employees working at different level will be contacted. The data will be collected through questionnaire and will look to be carried out on around 65 respondents. The different variables which has an impact on job satisfaction, commitment and turnover given organizational justice will be identified and based on it the overall dimensions of the hospitality industry will be presented. This will thereby help to bring forward the different dimensions which impact the hospitality industry and the different measures which they need to understand will be analyzed and looked at. References Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Tetreault, M. S. (2010). 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East Lansing, Michigan: Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Motel Association. Walster, E., Berscheid, E., & Walster, G. W. (2013). New directions in equity research Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25 (2), 151-176. Woods, R. & MacCauley, J. (2008). R for turnover: Retention programs that work. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 30 (1), 82-97. Read More