A Study on Knowledge Management Practices in Hotel Industry

 

Geetanjali P¹, Suhira Pandurang Madkaikar²

¹Department of Human Resource Management, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bangalore, India

²MBA(HRM), Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bangalore, India

 

ABSTRACT:

The knowledge base of an organization is viewed as its intellectual capital, and is progressively highlighted as a fundamental source of competitive advantage. In this specific context, building organizational capabilities to acquire, create, and disseminate knowledge on continuous basis has turned into a key challenge for strategy and organizational design authorities. The present research establishes the frameworks for the accepted procedures in knowledge Management and looks at the level of mindfulness and usage of Knowledge Management philosophies and practices in hotel industry. A purposive sample of 100 representatives working in 3 star, 4 star and 5 stars inns in Goa was decided for contemplate and an overview was directed with the goal of analyzing the measure of knowledge management. The research work relies upon vital data collected from Hotels in Goa. The different stages of knowledge management (knowledge gathering, data classification, and knowledge exchange and knowledge application) is considered and knowledge is interpreted on the source of weighted scores for all factors at every respective stages. The conclusions is based on the grounds of the Knowledge Management Index (KMI). The examination of data revealed that the KMI for awareness and responsibility is high as demonstrated by the pre-portrayed rating scale however the relationship of best association in scattering the basic resource for begin and keep up, information administration improvement is required. It was evident that however, individuals consider the noteworthiness of documentation and it is being set up to some degree, there should be some efforts taken to implement KM practices in the hotel industry. Study demonstrates that the workers feel that information administration rehearses are imperative for good. It was additionally found that HR specialists need to comprehend the sustainable competitive advantage in the people and the best human resource practices should be used to help the KM.

 

 

 

1.0 INTRODUCTION:

Since origin human species have been trying to enhance their way of life with their past experiences and experimentation. They attempted to accumulate knowledge from their originators for quality life and luxury. In this deal people have got advanced and gained from their past errors. This learning and experience was stored as information.

 

During ancienttimes people use to shield this data, by describing stories to each other, exchanging down through eras. While these stories could be taken as a grain of salt, the data behind them was up 'til now set up which would empower mankind to progress for thousands of years. As time passed away this narrating transformed into composing knowledge and stories, therefore leading its documentation and preserving them more adequately.

 

This measures lead to dispersal of knowledge from ancient to present era. In this modern era there are diverse more modern strategy to safeguard, document and transfer the knowledge from at present times to future era. All of these procedures pass down as knowledge and can be seen in the forms of knowledge management.

 

In this present quick changing business condition, information is turning into the pillar of each association in making and managing aggressive separation. Information is dynamic. Over some undefined period, another branch of administration has developed called KM (Rick V, B. 2012, Hicks, 2006). It intended to accomplish leap forward in business execution alongside the cooperative energy of individuals, procedures, and innovation. It likewise concentrates on the administration of progress, instability, and unpredictability in the association. It fills in as the source and supply of learning and the stream of information. This includes information creation, sharing and application to make and/or maintain authoritative esteem and upper hand (Rick V, B. 2012Liew, 2007).

 

Associations, for the most part in the generation and administration area, have grasped KM activities. However, hotel ventures still cannot seem to acquaint with the fullest degree the KM- based exercises. In an industry in which the significance of HR and learning, that is, impalpable resources, is immense, KM still cannot seem to end up plainly totally created and acknowledged.

 

Goa been a destination for tourists attraction over several decades, there has been rise in number of high-end luxury hotel industries all over. Due to greater demands in this competitive situation it is very important that these industries manage and maintain the standard of service. Although separate KM department is not initiated in the most of these hotels, there is a need to analyze the awareness, practices and current strategies of hotel industries to manage their knowledge. It is also necessary to analyze the performance of industry with the introduction of KM initiatives.

 

1.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Koster (2011), Able, willing, and knowing: the effects of HR practices on commitment and effort in 26 European countries, it was seen that employee attitude mainly results because of individual and hierarchical conditions as opposed to from attributes of the national economy, open arrangements, or other institutional contrasts between nations.

 

Currie and Kerrin, (2003) made a study on KM and enhancing knowledge sharing in a pharmaceutical company. The study analyzed that there are functional boundaries to sharing learning, the effect of auxiliary intercessions in quest for KM. The exchange advertising capacity was situated amongst deals and showcasing and the desire was that it would 'work as a conductor through which deals and promoting could meet up.

 

Harder (2006) in the paper on How do rewards and management styles influence the motivation to share knowledge’ shows that individual inspiration intervenes the connection between relevant factors and information sharing conduct. In that capacity, there were no immediate connections between the autonomous factors (prizes and administration styles) and learning sharing.

 

Mahapa (2013) the case study based research was done in 3 hotels of Zimbabwe and the study revealed and showed a positive relationship between processes, intellectual capital, culture and strategy and knowledge management.

 

Ooncharoen, et al (2010), Knowledge transfer of hotel chain investment in Thailand, revealed idea of information exchange that can be utilized to impact effective learning exchange. They introduced model that absorptive capacity, trust, embeddedness and share vision are methods for making and improving information exchange prompting increment effective learning exchange. Thus, absorptive ability, trust, embeddedness and share vision influence effective information exchange through knowledge transfer.

 

Desiderio Juan García-Almeida and Larry Yu (2015) have made a study on the scope of knowledge transfer and challenges of the knowledge management implementation in hotel firms for international expansion. Knowledge transfer is predominant in hotels that have presence in domestic market as well in international scenario. The challenges in international unit in terms of knowledge transfer were cultural comparability, learning and adaptability capacity of employees of that unit

 

Carina Antonia Hallin, EinarMarnburg (2007) theempirical research paper evaluated and discussed published empirical research within KM in the field of hospitality and revealedstrong indications of potentials and obstacles for the hospitality industry and hospitality companies. For hospitality companies, KM is especially relevant for building up competitive advantage as it is a customer intensive business. The sector is becoming knowledge-intensive because of intensive use of technology and the nature of the service product, as it is based on interaction between hospitality employees and guests/customers

 

Singh and Soltani, (2010) The paper made conclusion that the knowledge management Index for awareness of intellectual property in IT companies was found to be too low, It was also revealed that HR professionals have to realize that true competitive advantage of the organization are the people and the best HR practices should be aligned to strengthen knowledge management.

 

Aim:

To study KM practices in hotel industry in Goa.

Objectives

1.     To understand the KM practices in the hotel industry

2.     To identify the factors of KM in hotel industry

3.     To analyze the factors for managing the knowledge and knowledge transfer

4.     To suggest HR practices for knowledge transfer between individuals and organization.

 

2.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The present paper is an analytical type of research, and is based on Primary data obtained from the hotels in Goa. In view of the objectives of the study, the data were collected from a purposive sample of 100 employees working in 3 star, 4 star and 5 stars hotels in Goa. Accordingly, a survey was conducted with the objective of investigating the degree of awareness and implementation strategies of knowledge management. The various phases of knowledge management (knowledge generation, knowledge codification, and knowledge transfer and knowledge application) is taken into account in designing the framework for the survey schedule, and responses were elicited on a predefined five-point rating scale. The data is interpretedbased on weighted scores for each parameter and sub-parameter. Conclusions is drawnbased on a Knowledge Management Index, which is calculated by the given formula,

 

Where

w is weighted sum score,

i is number of sub-parameters, n is number of respondents and

R is maximum value of rating which is five in the present study.

 

2.1 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

Awareness about KM: (Table: 1)

Table 1: Awareness about Knowledge Management

Sr. no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	Knowledge management processes are followed in the organisation.	44	45	10	1	0	432	4.32	84.6
2.	knowledge management awareness is present at employee level	35	50	15	0	0	420	4.2
3.	Regularity of knowledge management practices in the organisation	36	46	18	0	0	418	4.18
Total		115	141	43	1	0	1270

 

The KM Index for awareness about KM in the sample population turns out 84.6%. (from author Abhilasha Singh and Ebrahim Soltani, (2010) KMI was proposed as a method for surveying information administration in a straightforward frame). This was registered by putting the values in the formula given above and a while later isolating the total weighted average score by the limit of total number of responses and pre-perceived sub-parameters. The regard when furthermore divided by the most critical weight consigned gives the rundown of data organization, which is calculated as a percentage. Thus, the KMI was figured for various parameters taken in the present study.

 

According to the reactions of respondents, a definite observation found that the hotels in goa have the essential familiarity with the KM. They have the general conviction that organizations must have the capacity to catch, approve and distribute new information so that there is effectiveness in the work procedure creating both the representatives and in addition the association to accumulate.

Organizational culture (Table: 2)

Table 2.: Organizational culture

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted Sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	Knowledge acquisition and dissemination involves all the employees of the organization	33	51	16	0	0	417	4.17	84.2
2.	There is a defined process in the company to document experiences gained from earlier performances and apply them for future.	45	37	18	0	0	427	4.27
3.	Failure is taken up as a learning opportunity to enhance learning culture.	41	37	22	0	0	419	4.19
Total		119	125	40	0	0	1263

 

According to the input of respondents, a reasonable inn’s in goa havean adaptable culture. Hotels should have culture, which is best at making and planning new learning, and culture, which involves the employees in decision making, by having transparent system. Giving opportunity to employees to take up new things, learning new trends etc.

Understanding and commitment (Table: 3)

Table 3: Understanding and Commitment

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	Management has the vision to integrate knowledge management process into the business plan.	24	50	26	0	0	398	3.98	80.2
2.	The top management has the commitment to implement the knowledge management process.	30	52	18	0	0	412	4.12
Total		54	102	44	0	0	810

 

The KM Index is 80.2%. This is a high percentage of index according to the pre-characterized rating scale. The top management is involved in inculcating the KM process in to the strategic planning process of the organization. Management should have a vision of integrating the KM process and commitment towards it

 

Knowledge acquisitions (Table: 4)

Table.4: Knowledge acquisitions

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	Groups and individuals, routinely document and share information about their expertise.	38	44	18	0	0	420	4.20	83.1
2.	Training is used to improve the quality and efficiency of people at work.	32	44	24	0	0	408	4.08
3.	Experts play a role in identifying, collecting, classifying and disseminating important information for lower level employees.	38	44	18	0	0	420	4.20
4.	Effective cataloguing and documenting procedures are in place for document management	31	52	17	0	0	414	4.14
Total		139	184	77	0	0	1662

 

KM Index for obtaining information in inns turns out at 83.1%. This is awesome as indicated by the pre-described rating scale in parameter 1 and 4 discloses that however individuals think about the enormity of records and it is carried out at a certain degree, a ton ought to be done in this arena. Ratings for parameter 2 and 3 shows that there is flow of knowledge through training. And there is flow of necessary information including the lower level employees.

 

Knowledge usage: (Table: 5)

Table 5: Knowledge usage

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	We give all innovative ideas thorough consideration, no matter where they come from.	33	42	25	0	0	366	3.66	78.6
2.	There exists a clear mechanism to translate ideas for maintaining business goals.	34	52	14	0	0	420	4.20
Total		67	94	39	0	0	786

 

The KM Index for utilizing information in inn industry turns out at 78.6%. There is a knowledge that there ought to be a system through which the thoughts can be actualized. The organization can advantage just if thoughts are converted into substantial welfares. There should be proper mechanism to acquire knowledge from good sources and to use that knowledge for the betterment of the organisation.

 

Learning: (Table: 6)

Table 6: Learning

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	People apply what they learn outside the organisation for improving their organisational performance.	31	52	17	0	0	414	4.14	83.4
2.	Our learning process often includes gathering feedback from customers	40	40	20	0	0	420	4.20
Total		71	92	37	0	0	834

 

The KM Index for learning is 83.4%. There is a perception that hotel industries main element are its employees because they are the one who directly deal with the customers, sothere is a consistent requirement for learning of the workers through workshops, preparing, and so on. These organizations additionally should guide and have correspondence with customers to get proper feedback for enhancing their services and in addition improve their administrations.

 

Sharing of knowledge: (Table: 7)

Table 7: Sharing of knowledge

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	Cross-functional group’s interactions are promoted for knowledge sharing	35	53	12	0	0	423	4.23	83.5
2.	Face-to-face interactions are used to transfer ‘difficult to articulate’ tacit knowledge	40	42	18	0	0	422	4.22
3.	There is a programme of active participation in business conferences and other discussion forums to share and learn ideas and experiences	28	52	20	0	0	408	4.08
Total		103	147	50	0	0	1253

 

The KM Index for sharing of knowledge in the hotel industry is 83.5%. Administrators and engineers should to take an interest in different discussions to share their insight. Distribution of learning realizes scattering of data and starts a positive change in the way of life of the association. It is very important especially in the hotel industry to share experiences with the employees so that if they come across such similar experiences they will be confident enough to deal with that.

 

 

Mechanism of assessment: (Table: 8)

Table 8: Mechanism of assessment

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	There is a review mechanism to assess whether the acquired knowledge is being transferred to the workplace	38	50	12	0	0	426	4.26	85.2
Total		38	50	12	0	0	426

 

 

The KM Index for mechanism of assessment in the chosen population is 85.2%. This is normal according to the pre-characterized assessment scale. There ought to be proper system to exchange the learning increased through workshops, preparing programs, and so on. A formal component must be advanced wherein the transferability of the learning to the work focus can be observed all the time.

 

Acknowledgment: (Table: 9)

Table.9: Acknowledgment

Sr.no		Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.		Knowledge management mechanism is inbuilt in the performance management system of the company	31	54	15	0	0	416	4.16	84.8
2.		Individuals are visibly rewarded for teamwork and knowledge sharing	45	42	13	0	0	432	4.32
	Total		76	96	28	0	0	848

 

The KM Index for acknowledgment in hotel industry turns out at 84.8%. This is ordinary as indicated by the pre-described rating scale. It is clear that individuals are compensated fairly for knowledge transfer. Learning and development is to be given preference through team work and performance management. It is extremely outstanding that in the inn business representatives favors compensate in any shape. This will energizes and spur the workers for sharing profitable data.

 

Employee perception on KM: (Table: 10)

Table.10: Employee perception on Knowledge management

Sr.no	Description	5	4	3	2	1	Weighted sum	Weighted average	KMI (%)
1.	Knowledge management practices are very important for good organisational functioning	42	40	18	0	0	464	4.64	87.35
2.	Knowledge management will help in improving business.	42	46	12	0	0	430	4.3
3.	Knowledge management should be introduced in every organisation.	37	45	18	0	0	419	4.19
4.	A separate staff should be allotted for knowledge management	40	54	6	0	0	434	4.34
Total		161	185	54	0	0	1747

 

The KM Index for employee perception on KM turns out to be 87.35%. Which clearly shows that the employees think that KM practices are very important. From the parameter 3 and 4 it is clearly seen that employees are supporting to the introduction of KM in the organization and suggest for a separate departmentfor KM.

 

CONCLUSION:

The study conducted within the context of the hotel business of Goa on knowledge management showed a positive results in dimensions of organizational culture, knowledge acquisition, learning, knowledge sharing. Regardless of the way that the possibility of KM is not acquainted with the fullest degree perceives an extensive variety of key achievement variables and deterrents, for example, system, innovation, association, and human capital. A superior comprehension of the conceivable achievement elements and obstructions for the presentation of learning administration into the inn venture will guarantee a KM process implementation and more proficient procedures. In addition, presenting the KM point of view in workers and administration and applying market introduction in association meaning to actualize KM will have as a result better execution result. In advertise introduction approach everything begins with distinguishing and reacting upon clients' needs and offering some incentive to those clients.

 

In this examination, it is observed that workers are compensated for learning and sharing. Learning and development is given significance in the hotels with the goal that advantages of KM can be carried out throughout the hotels

 

The study concludes that the hotels in Goa are having good training processes and they follow the basic KM practices thus showing positive sign toward the KM. The hotels follow a clan culture which is friendly in nature and which does not follow strict and rigid rules and regulations. Employees are allowed to share the knowledge, which they get from other sources if the knowledge is beneficial to the organization. Employees are encouraged to share the knowledge with the other employees and it is analyzed from the data that the employees are rewarded for the knowledge the share.

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7.   Desiderio Juan García-Almeida and Larry Yu (2015) Knowledge Transfer in Hotel Firms: Determinants of Success in International Expansion, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, 16:1, 16-39, DOI: "https://doi.org/10.1080/ 15256480.2015.991986" 10.1080/15256480.2015.991986

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Accepted on 09.12.2019           ©AandV Publications All right reserved