Use Of Pfp Methods In Hospitality Management example essay topic

Profit-sharing may be looked at from the two different viewpoints - on the one hand, the percentage which the employees acquire may be equal, not depending on the salaries and personal contributions. On the other hand, the profit percentage may directly depend on the employee performance through the certain period (quarter or year), and thus give him (her) additional basis for striving towards perfection. On the one hand, equal profit shares between employees give them equal strivings for cost-reduction and thus higher profits, not depending on the amount of fixed salary they usually get; on the other hand the higher the profit share, the higher may be the striving of the employee towards better performance. In relation to the hospitality management, it is well-known that it is a highly-profitable business, but 'still, it's only a theory -- and one that a number of CEOs and human resources managers believe is no more valid than the notion that dispensing food to a rooster every time he pecks the piano guarantees he " ll soon play Beethoven. In fact, no one out there really knows if incentive programs truly work and a number of you are convinced they can cause significant harm. ' (G ravish, 2006) Thus, it is difficult to decide which of the profit-share programs would be better to use, but it is no doubt that such programs fulfill essential function in motivating employees and thus driving the hospitality enterprise to the higher layers of business profitability.

II. Pro's and con's of PFP programs in hospitality management There exists an opinion, that 'no scientific study has ever found a long-term enhancement of the quality of work as a result of any reward system. Bribes and threats can get you a short-term effect, but that's it. (Hendrix, 2006) Is it true speaking about hospitality management, and what threats and mines can this system bring in itself if not properly applied? It is not argued that performance is one of the most important functions in human resource management for hospitality business. It is also understood, that incorrect application of PFP plans may result in absolutely opposite indices than expected as for the employee performance.

There are different opinions as for the role of PFP in management, and thus it is necessary to consider most important of them and make necessary conclusions. a. Is PFP a means of seducing employees through financial rewards? A question is dubious and can't be answered unilaterally. On the one hand, as all of us strive for better financial state and stability, financial rewards may prove themselves to be effective in hospitality business, making employees provide their customers with higher quality services, as well as giving those grounds for improving their performance and implement novelties into their business field. On the other hand, it may also become a means of manipulating.

It is difficult to prove anything in hospitality management, as the services provided are mostly immaterial, and thus proving their quality for receiving rewards may be difficult at times. Thus, hospitality service becomes an easy means for the senior managers to manipulate the lower staff. It may come out of the above-said, that applying PFP plans is absolutely inappropriate in the sphere of hospitality management with the aims of avoiding such manipulations; but it is also wrong as PFP is a very important HR function in hospitality management, and it should only be applied in combination with the other means of monitoring and control of customers, employees and management. This system of monitoring and control is complex, but it only needs to be created once, - later it will only be modified depending on the PFP requirements and objectives set. b. PFP rewards don't open the reasons of the employee's misconduct. (L ashley, 2005) What is means here is that when the employee does not meet the objective set for him by the senior management, the reasons for this may not lie in the worse performance or lower quality of servicing.

The reasons may be in pricing, for example. Thus, with the employee performance being one of the crucial HR factors in hospitality business, PFP should not be overestimated as the best means of improving employee performance. As hospitality is based on the quality of service provided to the customers, performance is even more essential here as in some other business spheres, related to services. Thus, certain systems of motivating the employees for better performance should exist. However, it is also important to have a look at the statistics, acknowledging the fact that the use of PFP methods in hospitality management started to spread since the beginning of 2001. It is interesting to note that the level of customer satisfaction has been stable during the 30 years until the beginning of 2004.

(Anonymous, 2004) This data may be used as the means to prove that the means of PFP have been ineffective and have not brought any visible positive impact on the HR performance. This is why it is impossible to state that PFP is the only and the best means of improving performance and motivating the employees in this servicing sector. The standards of performance may be stated I the contract with the employee, or the standards of performance may be set by the staff itself for the newly arrived workers, but the essence remains - performance is the HR function, which in hospitality management should be paid serious attention to. It is not yet understood, how the statistical data should be viewed - either from the perspective of no impact from the side of PFP, or from the perspective of PFP serving as the means of supporting the performance level on the high level and preventing it from decreasing. One thing remains unchanged - with the service being the basis of any hospitality business, the means of rewarding, no matter material or non-material, must exist to motivate the employees..