The relationship between level of professional skills and work allocation among staff in rated hotels in Kigali, Rwanda

Abstract

The hotel industry is growing fast and need to allocate the work to professional employees who will meet the customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the level of professional skills and work allocation among staff in rated hotels in Kigali, Rwanda. The study specifically sought to determine the effect of academic qualification on work allocation in hotels in Kigali, Rwanda, to establish the extent to which work allocation in hotels in Kigali is influenced by work experience, to establish the generic, technical and professional skills set among the staff in the hotels, and to describe the nature of the work environment in the hotels. The target population included all the 17 rated hotels in Kigali city. The respondents comprised of the staff who worked in those hotels. Cochran’s (1977) sampling formula was applied to get 246 respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data required. Data was analysed to process the frequencies and percentages, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to discuss the findings. It was established that there was a significant variation in the education level of staff between the four departments of the hotel industry in Kigali. Graduates were allocated front office duties while national diploma holders were allocated food and beverage service and front office operations. The secondary school certificate holders were evenly distributed across the four departments where they worked as subordinates, under the supervision of the degree and national diploma holders. Hotels in Kigali hire ordinary graduates into front office operations while national diploma holders are hired into front office or into food and beverage service. Most of the staff working in the food production and housekeeping are ordinary level and primary level certificate holders. Work allocation in the hotel industry is not determined by work experience of the staff. Both hotel guests and staff are satisfactorily safe in their environment, and it was recommended that the Department of Tourism and Conservation establishes a specialized training institute that addresses the skill sets required by the tourism and hospitality industry in Rwanda; establishes Minimum qualifications for hotel staff in key departments within the hotels and especially those dealing with handling of food, and ensures all the food handlers in the hotels are regularly inspected to ascertain that they remain hygienically acceptable to handle food production and service. Further research was suggested on the factors that influence the hiring of hotel staff in Kigali, and on the effectiveness and professionalism of staff between the rated hotels and unrated hotels in Kigali.