Skills Management and Employee Attitudes in the Hotel Industry in Uganda: A Case Study of Mbale Resort Hotel.

Abstract

KATOROOGO SYLIVIA (2014-M102-20093) Skills Management and Employee Attitudes in the Hotel Industry in Uganda: A Case Study of Mbale Resort Hotel. The study investigated the effect of skills management and employee attitudes using a case study of Mbale Resort Hotel. It was guided by three research objectives; to analyse the effect of skills attraction on employees‟ attitudes, to examine the effect of training on employee attitudes, to examine the influence of skills retention initiatives on employees‟ attitudes and to analyse the moderating effect of levels in the organisational hierarchy on the relationship between skills and employee attitude. The study used a case study design with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data was collected from 132 respondents using questionnaires and interview guide. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 to provide descriptive statistics, carried out correlation as well as regression analyses. Arising from the above findings it revealed a positive significant relationship between skills attraction (r = 0.635, p = 0.000) with employee attitudes, a positive significant relationship (r = 0.646, p = 0.000) between employee training in skills management and employee attitudes, a positive significant relationship (r = 0.584, p = 0.000) between skills retention and employee attitudes. It was, therefore, concluded that the influence of skills management has a positive and significant relationship with employee attitudes. Key recommendations included; the need to adopt the use of Information Communication Technologies like tablets by employees to take orders of their customers, the need to improve on the rewards of employees and ensure that all the employees attracted in the organisation have specialised training in hotel management. Key Words: Skills Management, Employee Attitudes, Hotel Industry, Mbale Resort Hotel