Assessing the professional development needs of hotel workers in the Ho Municipality

Abstract

Any industry's growth and development is dependent on professional development. It helps to build the technical capacities of employees on the professional practices and tenets of the industry to ensure that the needed quality of service is maintained. This research is aimed at determining the needs of hotel staff in the Ho Municipality in terms of professional growth. It aimed at examining the professional background of hotel workers, training programmes organised to boost the professional development of hotel workers, training needs of hotel workers, and operational challenges of hotel workers. The quantitative analysis methodology was used to direct the study. A total of 200 hotel employees were chosen at random for the analysis. The findings were evaluated using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, and means, as well as inferential statistics such as the chi-square test of freedom. The study found that most (63.5%) of the workers in the hotel sector in the Ho Municipality did not have academic specialisation in the industry and did not receive any professional training (65.5%) related to the industry prior to their engagement in the sector. Some of the training programmes organised for the workers were on room designs, bed laying, towel folding, and cooking different dishes. In as much as the training programmes had critical effects on the professional development of the workers in the hotel sector, the study further found that the workers still had some technical weaknesses, including lacking administrative skills, inability to prepare some continental cuisines, lacking professionalism for the hotel sector, and lacking self-confidence in their lines of duty. The study recommends that hoteliers through the regional association and in collaboration with the Regional Office of the Ghana Tourism Board should develop regular training programmes for hotel workers.