Training and development : management attitudes and practices in the New Zealand hotel industry

Abstract

Economic restructuring and rationalisation in service industries have led to an increased emphasis on the role of human resources in achieving strategic goals. Little attention in the past has been given by senior managers to the role of training in linking human resource needs with strategic needs. Differences in training practices and resource allocations among organisations can be explained to a large degree by senior managers' attitudes toward the training function and wider human resource development.

This study investigates the attitudes and intentions of senior managers in New Zealand hotels towards the training of their management staff. Specifically, the attitudes of senior hotel managers toward training components, training provision responsibility, training benefits and barriers, and training delivery were surveyed. Future training intentions were also investigated along with training behaviours over the last twelve months. Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) 'Theory of Reasoned Action' behavioural model was applied to training decision making to determine the relationship between attitudes and intentions and their links with past behaviour.

Results of this study indicate that senior hotel managers believe that training should include technical, personal and career development opportunities but differentially accept responsibility for provision. Significantly, fewer senior managers accept responsibility for personal development training than technical or career development. Resource allocation behaviours in the last twelve months reflect these responsibility beliefs.

Management of the training function is still underdeveloped. Less than half of the respondents reported having a training policy which details criteria and procedures for training resource allocation, while a similar number have a systematic approach to training resource decision-making. Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action behavioural model to the training decision making process indicates that there is a relationship between attitudes and intentions. A comparison of attitudes and intentions with past training behaviour also indicates some relationship although full application of the behavioural model would require research into the links between reported intentions and subsequent training behaviour.