Generation Z Graduates Students' Perception towards Effectiveness of Hotel Exposure Training

The Hotel Management Institute provides graduate students with basic skills and knowledge to be recruited and inducted as an entry-level workforce. Before completion of the graduate program, students undergo a Hotel Exposure Training program as part of their graduate study in luxury hotels which gives immense benefits to the students to know more about different functions of the hotel. There is always the perception changes with every graduates students from the time of enrollment to completion of the course. The critical phase is when the graduates students undergo the real time work exposure in the hotel. The research study explores the perception of Generation Z category undergraduate and graduate students. Generation Z are those born after the year 1996. The study focused on the effectiveness of hotel exposure training in terms of gaining confidence, understanding of the hotel operations and its influence, the student's perception on learning professional and technical skills, management practices, departmental functions, employment law and salary and benefit and to identify post-training employment opportunity. The study covered the Generation Z students of IHMC & AN-Chennai, India. The study, conducted by survey method, found that, the perception of the generation Z graduate students on the different variables are positive except the long working hours, which the institute and the host hotel discuss and find solution through better training schedule. The majority of the preference for career choice is in core functions of the hotel. Regarding employment opportunity, there is a scope for the host hotel to identify the required talents in advance and pursue in campus interview.


Introduction
Hospitality Management education involves theory, practical and Hotel Exposure Training. With advancement in technology, the hotel and catering business process and practices change often. Hotels can afford to upgrade the technology and adapt to new practices and train its employees. To minimize the gap between academic curriculum and the learning by students about industry practice, every institution need to upgrade their curriculum, teaching methodology to prepare students to meet the employers' expectations and the growing demand for quality potential employees.
In India, the hotel management and catering technology graduate students undergo 17 to 22 week mandatory hotel exposure training, in five and four-star hotels to prepare them as hotel management professionals. The program is scheduled to undergo at the end of the second year of B.Sc course. The training covers, Front Office & Accommodation Operation, Housekeeping, Food and Beverage Production, and Food and Beverage Service department. Each participant informed of his responsibilities before the start of the program. Each participant assessed by the hotel head of departments on completion of the training against the following attributes viz., Appearance, Punctuality/Attendance, Ability to Communicate (Written/Oral), Attitude to Colleagues/Customers, Attitude to Supervision, Initiative/Motivation, Reliability/Comprehension, Responsibility, Quality of Work and Ability to work under pressure. The management observations are sent to the Institute to provide necessary assistance to students where attention is required. But the study on perception of graduate students with reference to hotel exposure training is not explored.

Institute of Hotel Management & Applied Nutrition-Chennai
The Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, (

Statement of Problem
There are numerous studies conducted to know the perception of hotel management students with regard to hotel exposure training in star hotels in India relevant to various factors viz., career, training satisfaction, duration, learning, support of supervisors, the structure of the program. There is no such study conducted with students from Institute of Hotel Management and Applied Nutrition, Chennai, with special reference to Generation Z graduates. The researcher identified the gap and undertook to study, examine, identify, know, analyze and interpret the perception through different key factors like Perception on Post Hotel Exposure Training, Job Opportunity in the Host Organization and Talents identified by the Management before Campus Recruitment.

Need for the Study
Hotel Management and Catering Technology Course is an extensive graduate program taught through theory and practice. The skill and knowledge development is limited, due to the time factor, available resource, infrastructure, and technology. To enhance the capability and gain confidence to complete the program successfully, the best way to impart training is through Hotel Exposure Training. The training makes the students feel the actual working environment and gain appropriate practical knowledge and skills taught by hotel experts. The learning from the hotel exposure training gives insight to students and complete their program with a good grade in theory, practical examination and ability to produce quality project thesis. The perception on hotel exposure training by generation Z graduate students gives the institute to understand the factors like Perception on Post Training, Job Opportunity in the Host Organization and Talents identified by the Hotel where the graduates underwent training.


To study Generation Z Graduate Students of the IHM & AN -Chennai, India, Perception towards Effectiveness of Hotel Exposure Training.

H1
There is no positive perception about the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai City.

H2
There is no significant distinction between male and female students concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai City H3 There is no significant distinction among the age group of the respondents concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city

Research Methodology
The present paper's specific objectives are to find out the "Generation Z" Hospitality Students' Perception towards Industrial Exposure Program: IHM -Chennai city. The sample size of the study is 106 respondents. The study used a simple convenience sampling method to generate a sample of the study. The hotel management students are requested to give the opinion in the questionnaire provided. The first segment of the questionnaire copy includes the demographic profile of the hotel management students, and the second segment of the questionnaire includes the perception of the hotel management coursesthe data collected during March 2019. The data collected classified, tabulated, processed and analyzed systematical l y mainly to identify the group of determinants. The statistical tools namely one sample t-test, Independent t-test, and analysis variance test used to test the framed hypothesis.

Literature Review
In an attempt to evaluate the perception of having completed the internship in hospitality and tourism industry the James Bury and Emi Iwasaki (2018) [1] concluded that the students indicate an overall positive effect and the positive perception must be encouraged non-tourism graduates to take up a career in tourism & hospitality industry. All tourism and hotel management have the opportunity to understand current students' attitudes and overall perception of the industry has undergone the program The research study by Kannan Subbiah et al. (2017) [2] concluded that the industrial training program is well structured and students get the benefit from classroom learning in the institute and practical exposure in the work environment in the hotel. The program gives benefit like acquiring practical skills, an opportunity to exhibit their strength to be an eligible candidate for employment. The study revealed that the program is relevant to hotel management students' hotels and educational institutions work closely to strengthen the program.
Kiran Mayi Immaneni and Dr.Vedala Naga Sailaja (2017) [3] revealed that the effort to make the industrial training program positive and attractive is minimal in comparison with the overall effects of attrition. Hotel industry required to make the program with a view to long term advantage rather than considering industrial training students as cheap labor for a short time. The study concluded that the institute, host hotel, and professionals to review the responsibilities and roles to make the program more beneficial the future workforce of the industry.
Richard N.S. Robinson, Lisa Ruhanen & Noreen M. Breakey (2016) [4] examined the Tourism and hospitality internships influences on student career aspirations, and the result confirmed that the most respondents did not change their career aspiration following the internship. However, their choice of career only within the industry changed. The study revealed that many respondents changed their career goal from the hospitality industry to tourism industry.
The research study by Amit Datta and Dr.Babita Jha (2015) [5] concluded that students benefited through the daily learning environment, colleagues helpful during a training program in teaching various skills. The research highlighted that students underwent training in five-star hotels enjoyed their facility provided by the host hotel than a lower class hotel. The perception regarding career growth and choice of career changed after attending the program. The students found that education is fundamental and the career depends on quality experience in hotels.
According to Kingsley Karunarante & Niroshani Perera (2015) [6] the findings of the study on the effectiveness of internship program concluded that the students' learning experience is good or excellent are the chance to build up a relationship with hotels, acquire hotels work culture, develop self-confidence, executive problem-solving activities, develop social interaction skill, and aspire future education and career. Hotels support in pre-placement activities and assist with the support of the institute or university. Further, the study found that students perceive that the industrial exposure program to be twelve months.
The research study by Raheshree S. Pol and Hemraj Patil (2015) [7] on the perception of the final year students concluded that the attitude of the students' changes after attending industrial exposure training in hotels. Many students are satisfied with the hotel employment culture, and there is an uncertain situation for many students to take up employment in hotels, after attending the program. There is a shift in perception when expectation as being a student not fulfilled. It revealed that students of the opinion that the average promotion opportunities in hotel jobs and the career offered is not attractive. The hotel management students the pay level is higher than other jobs, and it is worth undergoing hotel management studies. On the other side of the work and pay the students of the opinion that there are long hours of work without additional pay.
In an attempt to evaluate the impact of industrial training by Sundar Srinivsan and Rajeshree Pol (2014) [8] concluded that the hotel management trainees welcomed by most of the hotels in Pune. The human resource department found that Hotel management students display the right attitude towards work and also have ethics and spend lesser time in terms of training compared to other schools or institutions. Training program saves not only future recruitment and hiring time but also proves financial benefits for fulfilling temporary staffing needs. The study reveals that the feedback from industry personnel helps in effective practical curriculum planning which can be followed by the institutes to develop the skills of their students. Hotel expressed that, not much effort exerted in training the students as the students coming from this school were very adaptable as they have sufficient knowledge to perform task and duties assigned to them.
The relevant study to the research by Anoop Kumar et al. (2014) [9] on changing the perception of students towards the hospitality industry revealed that there is a definite perception by first-year students. The study found that there is a significant difference of opinion between the first year and final year students after attending the industrial training program. The study reveals that there is negative perception after undergoing the training on certain points which needs attention by the host hotels to make the program enriching and enjoyable.
The research study by S.M.Denis Amirtharaj (2011) [10] aimed at training and development activities in the hotel industry, reveals that human resource department is responsible for giving proper training and better career opportunities for their future. Every employee should be aware of the facts of this industry before they join in so that they mentally prepared for everything. While the study focused on the training, the same fact holds good and relevant for the graduates who are going to join the hotels after completion of the program. Thus it is established that the findings also concerned with industrial exposure trainees.
The findings of research study by Dr.Jayakumar.V(2011) [11] reveals that the knowledge of the hotel operation through exposure training helps to understand the industry and influence their choice of career in particular department before getting hired. The findings also highlighted that the students perceived that communication skill is very important to take up a career in star hotels.  Table 1 shows the Demographic Profile of Respondents. Out of 106 respondents, 70.8% of respondents were male, and 29.2% of respondents were female. In connection with the age-wise distribution of respondents, majority 37.7% of respondents were in the age group of 19-20 years, followed by 20.8% of respondents were in the age group of 20-21 years. 20.7% of respondents were in the age group 18-19 years,12.3 % of respondents were in the age group 21-22 years,6.6% of respondents were in the age group 22-23 years, and 1.9% of respondents were in the age group 17-18 years.

Data Analysis and Interpretation
Regarding the current program -Under Study's concern, 91.5% of the respondents pursuing Hotel Mgmt Bachelor Degree, and 8.5% of the respondents pursuing Hotel Mgmt Masters Degree. As for as the number of Years previous Job Experience of respondents, majority 97.2% of the respondents are fresher's, followed by 2.8% of the respondents are having 3-5 years of experience.
Regarding the expectation of annual salary's concern, majority 40.6% of the respondents expected salary annually Above 3 Lakh, ($4300) followed by 18.9% of the respondents expected salary annually less than a Lakh, ($1400), 17.9% of the respondents expected salary annually Rs.     Table 2 reveals the Industrial Training Underwent by the Students in the study region. It identified from the above table, the majority 77.4% of the respondents underwent industrial training in 5-star hotels, followed by 22.6% of the respondents underwent industrial training in 4-star hotels.  Table 3 shows the respondents' preference to take up a career in hotels in the study area. It noted from the above table 34% of the respondents' preference is food and beverage production, followed by 27.4% of the respondents is front office. The third preferred area with16.0% of the respondents is food and beverage service department in star hotels, 13.2% of the respondents are housekeeping department in star hotels, 8.5% of the respondent's interest in the HR department in hotels, and 0.9 % of the respondent's preference is in sales department of hotel industry.

Null Hypothesis-1
There is no positive perception about the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai City.  Table 4 highlights the results of One-sample t-test for whether there is any positive perception about the Industrial Exposure Program among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city. The calculated t-value and p-value are 59.461 and <0.001, therefore the null hypothesis rejected at 1% level of significance. The study confirmed that there is a significant positive perception of the Industrial Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city.

Null Hypothesis-2
There is no critical distinction between male and female students concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai City Table 5 shows the results of Independent t-test for whether there is an essential distinction between male and female students concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city. The calculated t-value is 0.022 and p-value 0.983, due to these circumstances the null hypothesis accepted at 5% level. The study concluded that there is no significant distinction between male and female students concerning the Industrial Exposure Program among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city

Null Hypothesis-3
There is no significant distinction among the cohort of the respondents concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai City  Table 6 shows the results of the Analysis of variance test for whether there is a significant distinction among the cohort of the respondents concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city. The calculated F-value and p-value is 0.830 and 0.531; the p-value is higher than 0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis accepted at 5% level and concluded that there is no significant distinction among the cohort of the respondents concerning the Industrial Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Students in Chennai city.

Findings
The demographic profile of generation Z graduate students reveals 70.8% are male and 29.02% are female students. The Bachelor Degree program has 91.5% students and Master Degree program has 8.5% students. 40.6% of the students stated the expected salary after completion of the program is above 3 lacs (above $4300). It is found from the analysis that 77.4% of the students underwent hotel exposure training in five star category hotels and 22.6% underwent in four star category of hotels. The study establishes 34.0% of students preferred to take up job in food production department. 29% preferred to take up job in front office department. The least being 0.9% preferred to take up job in sales department.
The study found that there is a positive perception of the Industrial Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Generation Z Graduate Students. The study concluded that there is no significant distinction between both the gender of students concerning the Hotel Exposure Training. From the study confirms that there is no significant distinction among the cohort of the respondents concerning the Hotel Exposure Training among the Hotel Management Generation Z Students.

Suggestions
The finding of the study recommends the following points to give an opinion that hotel employment is on par with other industries. 1. The Institute conduct survey of perception from Craft Course students underwent Hotel Exposure Training 2. The institute may conduct survey of perception about comparison of pre-training and post-training and find out the cause and effect relationship. 3. Periodical lecture by top management and human resource manager of the host hotel to explain industry practice, job requirement, and career prospects. 4. Host Hotels may get the feedback from the Institute for considering any change in the employment policies.

Conclusions
It observed that the study concluded that there is a significant positive perception about the Hotel Exposure Training among the Generation Z Graduate Students of IHM Chennai. The study confirms that there is no significant distinction among the cohort of the respondents of male and female students concerning the Hotel Exposure Training.
The study confirms that the Hotel Exposure Training influenced the students' perception regarding career choice, respondents favor that there is an opportunity to get hired by the same hotel where students underwent training, the majority of students developed awareness about salary and benefits and learned about employment regulations of the hotel. The study reveals that hotel management takes this opportunity to identify talents in advance to hire during the campus interview.

Scope for Further Research
This study creates an avenue for further research. Further research can address the following factors to have more insights on the students' perception. How the use of high-end technology, artificial intelligence, and analytics in core operation influence the students of Hotel exposure training impact on the decision to take up a career in hotels. Further to find out how technology awareness influences the perception of students about hotel industry jobs and students interest in learning newer technology.