Abstract
Service quality is highly related to the quality of training given to the workers and stakeholders. As the requirements of skills are changing in every industry along with the global trends, initiatives like ‘Skill India' missions have gone through many changes. This paper analyses the ‘Skill India' mission particularly in hospitality and allied sectors. The authors have conducted a broader analysis and critical evaluation of various policies, schemes, initiatives, trends, future perspectives, and challenges in skill training in the hospitality sector. For this purpose, numerous studies, regional study findings, news articles, government reports, official publications, and in-depth interviews with experts have been conducted. The study highlights the existence of a skill gap, major constraints in skilling the youth, quality of skills trained, skilling marginalised, private-public partnership, entrepreneurship initiatives, eSkill opportunities after training, feedback systems, etc. In general, these results suggest that an intensive skill gap exists in many sectors and departments.
TopWhy Skill Development Programmes?
India, an emerging economy, shows a paradigm shift in the areas of infrastructure, education, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, research, automobile, manufacturing, science and technology, through its great vision to lead the world. Among many industries which contribute to the nation's economy, the hospitality sector plays a formidable role in driving India towards self-sustenance, with an annual growth rate of 14% (not considered for the pandemic period) along with the information technology sector. Employee efficiency, being a significant factor possessing strong influence and measurable repercussions over the hospitality sector and the nation as whole, but surprisingly, the number of quality employment and share of the sector are inversely proportional. Interestingly, there happens to be a record footfall of tourists, which is significant for the hospitality sector to grow, but the gap is becoming more wider between the demand and supply, however, the sector has high understanding towards quality manpower and their share in enhancing guest experience, signals the necessity of rejuvenation on policies pertaining to the sector, revisiting the existing guidelines to energise the expectations of the guests and involved stakeholders. Purchasing behaviour of Indians show positivity, leading in experiential travel, especially among the rising middle class and their income, fuelled by avocational occupations. In the year 2020, India had around 1702 hospitality outlets ranging from star category hotels to bed and breakfast establishment with the offering of 102154 rooms (Mot, 2021 report) with the average employee per room covering all types of hospitality establishments was 1.8 (India Hotel Industry Survey 2020, FHRAI) considered to be serious dearth of quality human resources, specifically on skill shortage.
Acquiring skill is viewed as an art, which encompasses interest, dedication, commitment and being competitive continuously, however, the present perception of acquiring skills draws attention towards studying, training and getting certified, though it plays a significant role, the interest factor and continuous upgradation makes their opportunity successful. Interestingly, technology has given enough scope for enhancing the skill through e-learning and assessments. Demanding interpersonal skills has become crucial in the hospitality sector, expecting multitasking, crisis management, time management and teamwork from the youth aspirants to become competent assets, thus creating an urgent intervention to equip skills among the youth of the country. Skill India is a futuristic mission of the government of India to develop the youth population and define their strengths and opportunities in the hospitality management area.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Service quality: Service quality is the concept flashing the relationship between the expectation and performance of services extended to guests. It’s also expressed as the extent to which the organization meets the expectation of guests need.
Athithi Devo Bhava: Treating guest as god.
Up-Skill: Where employees learn additional skills to discharge his/her allotted work.
Hospitality Management: Hospitality management is the broad area covering various dimensions ensuring effective functioning of accommodation outlets such as hotels, resorts, and its associated units.
Jan Shikashan Sansthan (JSS): “People’s Education Institute'' which provide vocational training to non-literates, neo-literates as well as school drop-outs in rural regions by identifying skills that have a relevant market in that region.
E-Skilling: E-skilling is the process of enabling an individual on the nuances of digital learning.
Skills: Skills refers to the primary and secondary talents and traits to perform a particular assignment given to employees.
Rozgar Mela: Is a Hindi term representing “employment fair” unites the job seekers and employers, sensitized, and mobilized to ensure effective employment opportunities.
Skill India: Skill India is a promising mission of government of India to energize, empower youth to become skillful employees and entrepreneurs.
Employee Efficiency: Employee efficiency is the ability that he/she possess to accomplish the given task effectively.
Experiential Travel: Experiential travel is the activity of travelling to a destination with an exclusive objective of experiencing the history, socio-cultural delicacies practically beyond mere destination visit.
Re-Skilling: It’s the process of enabling employees to equip with new skills tom perform a new job.
Multitasking: It’s a quality of an employee, who is an expert is diversified areas of operation, an organization demands.
Hunar se Rozgar: “Skill to employment” is hands on the skill development program, especially concentrated on tourism and hospitality, launched in the year 2009-10, for the youth belonging to economically weaker sections of the society between the age group of 18-28 preferably.
Skill Gap: Skill gap refers as the shortage of essential traits and the gap between the expected qualities and existing quality within employees.