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HRM 730 ARTICLE CRITIQUE: EMPLOYEE RETENTION

PREPARED BY

AHMAD SAUFE BIN NAWI

2009114839

SUMBITTED TO:

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. NORMALA DAUD

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ARTICLE 1:

An exploratory study of US lodging properties’ organizational practices on employee

turnover and retention by Elisa Moncarz and Jinlin Zhao, School of Hospitality & Tourism

Management, Florida International University,North Miami, Florida, USA, and Christine

Kay, College of Hospitality Management, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.

Elisa Moncarz and Jinlin Zhao and Christine Kay are lecturer respectively at Florida

International University and Lynn University, USA. The paper is purposely to investigate US

lodging properties’ organizational employee-retention initiatives and practices, and to study the

impact of those initiatives on employee turnover and retention.

For this study, the authors decided to use the Directory of Hotel & Lodging Companies,

a suitable sample group of 24 management companies are selected. A self-administered mail

survey instrument is developed to measure and test organizational initiatives and practices on

employee turnover and retention. Using SPSS 16.0, two statistical tests are engaged to test

study hypotheses. Correlation analysis is used to identify the relationships between predictor

and response variables. Likewise, regression analysis is used to examine the relationships

between predictor and response variables hypothesizing that the effectiveness of practicing the

human resource management organizational initiatives on management and non-management

retention and turnover will differ. The findings reveal that Corporate Culture, Hiring and

Promotions and Training practices influence non-management employee retention. At the same

time, Hiring and Promotion practices impact management retention, as well. Moreover,

Organizational Mission, Goals and Direction, and Employee Recognition, Rewards and

Compensation were found to positively reduce non-management employee turnover.

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The authors found that corporate culture, hiring and promotions and training practices

influence non – management employee retention. According to Becker and Huselid (1999),

culture creates competitiveness since it changes employee behavior by making them act

consistently with the firm’s desired corporate culture, thereby influencing employee retention. It

indicates here corporate culture of an organization somehow will be consideration factor for an

employee whether to stay or leave the organization. (Milman, 2002, 2003; Milman and Ricci,

2004) found that employees who had a positive experience with regards to working hours,

sense of fulfillment with their jobs and higher level of job satisfaction are more likely to stay with

their current employer. This research can be consider as a good research because the

researcher had provide adequate literature review on the recommendation that they have

authenticated. The author suggested that the organization focus on the hiring and promotions of

their employee. This statement somehow I can’t agree with because at certain point money

doesn’t work to improve the performance of an employee.

In short, human resource manager must be creative in installing the employee – based

culture in the organization corporate culture and at the same time follow the organization

mission and vision in achieving certain goals. According to study done by Man Power Asia

Pacific, the managing director (Ian Herberston) state that money is not the main reason why

people change their job, it is about organization atmosphere itself play a vital part in retaining

the employee.

ARTICLE 2:

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Occupational pensions and employee retention: Debate and evidence by Stephen Taylor,

Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

This article explores the relationship, in the contemporary UK context, between

employee retention and the provision by employers of occupational pension schemes. Several

sources of literature are drawn on to develop cases for and against the proposition that

pensions play a discernible role in reducing employee turnover. Original research carried out by

the author is then presented which suggests that the retention effect is limited in terms of both

its potency and its extent. A particular finding is the varying importance of pension schemes in

terms of the retention of different staff groups.

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a medium of discussion on the relationship

between occupational pensions and employee retention as well as providing constructive

evidences towards such relationship. A widely held and often expressed view is that employer-

sponsored pension funds are a means used by organizations to help meet key human resource

management objectives. Extensive academic research in the field of pension fund economics

has reinforced this broad view in its analysis of incentive effects in typical schemes and in its

finding of statistically significant correlations between pension scheme membership and

reduced employee turnover. A separate stream of research analyzing employer perceptions of

the purposes and effectiveness of pension schemes has also served to strengthen the belief

that they act as an important management tool for their sponsoring organizations.

I believe that the methodologies of conducting this study are not briefly explained by the

author. In addition, the explanation regard the topic is not compressive enough. More structure

research methodology should be presented by the researcher in future to help other researcher

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know how to conduct such a research like the one done by them before. On top of the research

methodology it is agreeable with the finding of the research and the researcher just need to add

more literature review on past study done by other researcher regarding the relationship of

occupational pensions and employee retention.

In conclusion, from the findings of the study the human resource manager should take

into account to reengineer the organization pension scheme to make it more attractive to retain

current employee and potential employee out there. A few considerations should be taken by

the author or future researcher to look into other variable that may have relationship with the

employee retention.

ARTICLE 3:

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Employee retention, labor turnover and knowledge transfer: case studies from the

Canadian plastics sector, Clarence Lochhead & Alex Stephens, Canadian Labor and

Business Centre.

Clarence Lochhead and Alex Stephens (2004) from Canadian Labor and Business

Centre had presented their research entitled “Employee Retention, Labor Turn over and

Knowledge Transfer. In their report, they found that worker retention or turn over and knowledge

transfer as an critical issued to the sector’s effort to meet its articulated skill needs. They also

add that the ability of employee to address employment growth as well as replacement of

turnover and retention pose increasing human resource challenges. Their study also had

articulates best practice and solution for dealing with this issue. It is agreeable with all the best

practice and solution for dealing with employee retention but the authors is not bolding the role

of non – cash reward in making the employee retention strategy more successful.

The main purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of best practice

practices in worker retention and knowledge transfer strategies at plastic sector (Plastic

manufacturing company) in Canada. The author decide to use non – probability sampling by

selecting 50 companies in the plastic manufacturing sector with intended sample size of 30. The

means of gathering the data is using telephone interview and electronic mail (e – mail). The

respondent for the study is the top level management of the selected company

From the article, I found that the authors had conducted the study thoroughly by

providing comprehensive best practices and solutions dealings with employee retention in the

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plastic sector. The authors also supporting their study by providing the recommendations

supported with numbers of past study done by previous researcher. The author also highlighted

some key point in the research which is the planning for performance appraisal. In other word,

human resource manager should make proper planning prior to implement on the employee.

Somehow the performance appraisal should be measurable in order to help the organization to

measure the performance of their employee accurately. The study conducted by the author

provide some critire

ARTICLE 4:

Breaking the employee turnover cycle: best practices guidelines for employee retention by Canadian Food Industry Council.

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The Canadian Food Industry Council in their research entitled “Breaking the employee

turnover cycle; best practices guidelines for employee retention is purposely to break the

repetitive cycle of excessive employee turnover. The paper also provides the best practices

detailed in this article represent proven strategies dealing with employee retention. In their

findings, they found that management practice have direct effect on employee turnover.

Furthermore, the paper manage to identify four factors are most influential which are scheduling

off duty employee to work, limited training time, non – competitive pay rate and poor employee

communication.

This paper purposely to give best guidelines to the organization that engaged with the

manufacturing the food. The author found that there are few guidelines in dealing with employee

retention, one of it resist calling employee into work during scheduled time off. The author feel

that the management must have strategic and proper planning regards the employee

scheduling. In other word, management should invest their money into automated schedule

software in order to enhance the employee scheduling system. The author also found that by

maintaining an employee training program will help the company in retaining its employee by

doing so on – going staff orientation, training and development. The organization can retain its

employee by offering competitive pay rates. In addition, the management should consider

following element in planning for offering competitive pay rate to its employee which are base

pay, performance – based pay, equity – based compensation, benefits packages and reward

and recognition program. Next, the company should engage with their staff well to have higher

rates of retention. The author had identified a few methods on engaging with the employee by

instilling fun and relaxing working atmosphere and interacts frequently with their employee. The

management of the organization nowadays also must give reward and recognition good

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performance of their employee since it has a direct influence on employee confidence and job

satisfaction.

Prior to constructing and implementing the employee retention strategy, the human

resource manager should critically look onto all the guidelines provided from this paper. In

addition they should respect their time: don’t call employees in to work unscheduled shifts, train

your people. Prepare them to serve you well, compensate them fairly. Show them they are

valued, talk to them. Keep them informed of operational developments, reward them for good

work and make meaningful gestures of appreciation. The best practices detailed in this

publication represent proven strategies for maximizing employee retention

ARTICLE 5:

Safety focus results in employee retention, Crystal Avila, Safety Coordinator San Ramon

Valley Conference Center.

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The paper presented by Crystal Avila, a safety coordinator at San Ramon Valley

Conference Center is purposely focusing safety as a determinant of employee retention. In the

research, Crystal Avila found that employee retention can be affected by safety training of such

organization.

There is a direct link between training and employee retention. Employees involved in

ongoing training feel that their employer is interested in them doing a better job, and the

employer cares enough about them to make an investment in their development. Training can

also be the means for positive change in any organization; however, training is not enough to

create lasting change without a vital link that will help your employees transfer what they

learned into real-life application. That vital link is a strong coaching program. To illustrate the

importance of coaching after training, imagine sending your employees to attend a workshop.

They learn new skills and how to apply them on the job. They are excited about how it will help

them perform better; yet when they return to work their supervisor shows little interest in what

they learned, and is too busy to offer support. After a few attempts to make some positive

changes, the discouraged employees go back to doing things as usual. It's no surprise that

training is one of the first things cut when times get tough. Coaching, when done properly, will

become a supervisor's focal point to leverage the performance of those in their charge.

Coaching is a process of interacting with people in a way that teaches them to produce

spectacular results, which is why it is often called “transformational coaching.”

To transform means to make a huge change, as in the way a caterpillar transforms into a

butterfly. Once the change is complete, the prior state ceases and the new state becomes the

norm. In order to become a good coach, you must first make the transformation within yourself.

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You must make the inner changes to realize the outward changes in your staff. As you become

a better coach, it will transform the relationship you have with your employees. Rather than only

looking at the bottom line to define success, a transformational coach appreciates and develops

the people and processes that help to produce those results.

In a nutshell, as you help shape the behaviors of others, it will help shape the

organization into your vision of what it can become. As a masterful coach, you will become a

role model for others and inspire them to achieve higher standards. You will realize that training

is not enough to make lasting changes. Transformational coaching will be the catalyst that

causes your training efforts to produce exponential results, and create a high-performance

team.

REFERENCES

1. Becker, B. and Huselid, M., An interview with Mike Losey, Tony Rucci and Dave Ulrich;

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three experts respond to HRMJ’s special issue on HR strategy in five leading firms,

Human resource management, Vol.38 No.4, pp.353-356

2. Canadian Food Industry Council, Breaking the employee turnover cycle; best practices

guide for employee retention

3. Clarence Lochhead & Alex Stephens, Employee retention, Labor turnover and

knowledge transfer: case studies from the Canadian plastics sector, Canadian Labor

and Business Centre, April 2004

4. Crystal Avila, Safety focus results in employee retention, San Ramon Valley Conference

Centre

5. Elisa Moncarz and Jinlin Zhao and Christine Kay, An exploratory study of US lodging

properties’ organizational practices on employee turnover and retention, International

Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol.21 No.4, 2009, pp.437-458,

Emerald Publishing Limited

6. Milman, A. (2002), “Hourly employee retention in the attraction industry: research from

small and medium-sized facilities in Orlando, Florida”, Journal of Leisure Property, Vol.

2 No. 1, pp. 40-51.

7. Milman, A. (2003), “Hourly employee retention in small and medium attractions: the

central Florida example”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 22 No.

2, pp. 17-35.

8. Milman, A. and Ricci, P. (2004), “Predicting job retention of hourly employees in the

lodging ndustry”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp.

23-41.

9. Stephen Taylor, Occupational pensions and employee retention; debate and evidence,

Employee Relations, Vol.22 No.3, 2000, pp.246-259, MCB University Press