Conceptual Framework For Food And Beverage Departments: Challenges And Recommendations For Employee Retention

Purpose of Dissertation

Discuss about the Conceptual Framework For Food And Beverage Departments.

Food and beverage industry is one of the most developing industries in the recent times. With more people being involved in outdoor activities and finding less time for cooking at home, the urge and need for outdoor eating has increased to a great level. The food and beverage industry of the world has developed due to this great turn of lifestyle and has made the whole process of binge eating one of the rage (Bakari?, 2014). However, in recent times, with more and more number of people opting for the healthier form of life and clean food habits, there has been a substantial change in the food and beverage industry leading to a hurricane change in the employees of the concerned sector.

Food and Beverage Industry involves huge number of companies getting involved in the manufacturing of various kinds of processed food and beverages for the regular consumption of their customers (Wu, Huang & Chou, 2014). However, one of the basic problems of this sector has been employee retention for the food and beverage industry of the contemporary times. The importance of employee retention has been discussed by the researcher in the following paragraphs along with the emphasis to the modern problems of the contemporary industry.

The main purpose of the dissertation is to highlight the specific contemporary challenges in the food and beverage industry for retaining employee.

1. What is the significance of employee retention of the food and beverage industry?
2. What are the challenges faced by the contemporary food and beverage industry in the retention of employees?
3. What are recommendations made by the experts to retain employees in the food and beverage industry in terms of retention of employees?

Food and beverage industry is one of the major industries of the modern world which attracts a lot of hype and customer attention. The importance of the industry is evident in the growth of the sector in leaps and bounds attracting with the number of sponsorships that that the industry is providing to the other sectors. The industry has a large consumer base and holds a substantial part of the market structure which makes the research on the industry one of the major instances (Goode et al., 2013). Employee retention is one of the main aspects for the proper working of any industry including the food and beverage industry. However, due to various kind of challenges faced by the industries in terms of workings and other factors, this has become a major problem which should attract a probable solution off late. The justification of the research is in the fact that if the problem of employee retention is not addressed with proper focus, then the whole issue can have a negative impact on the industry as a whole affecting sales and ultimately profit (Jung & Yoon, 2012).

Research Questions

Food and beverage industry is defined as the consumer market industry that deals with all the items of food and drinks along with the basic groceries and other items. It includes groceries, processed food, beverage including soft drinks and packed juices along with other items present in the shops.

Employee Retention is defined as the ability of a particular organization to retain its employees for a particular period of time in their process.

Food and beverage industry is undoubtedly one of the prime industries for the modern times but recently, the problem of employee retention is one a major rise. The employees are not getting the motivation to work for the industry and are shifting towards various kind of other industrial sector like retail and others (Zameer, Nisar & Amir, 2014). The reason for the said lack of interest and shifting can account to the factors like lack of motivation for working under pressure, limited innovative work modules and continuous work pressures (AbuKhalifeh & Som, 2012). The continuous pressure to perform better and competition from the rival companies with limited pay structure is also one of the major reasons why the employees are willing to shift to the other industrial sector causing a dearth of employees in the present industries. The need to retain employees in the said industrial arena accounts to the fact that with more number of employees, it is important to give better production and also to make innovation (Martinez, 2013). Moreover, if the employees are hired by a rival company, there is a chance of leaking the secret recipes and facts which can prove detrimental to the first place. The research accounts for the importance of employee retention in the food and beverage industry for the reason.

The limitations of the research is the fact that without proper motivation, it is not possible for the industry to retain the employees amidst other luring offers from different sectors (Wang, 2013). The factors that can help the industry to grow and flourish are comparatively missing making the industry lacking in employee power.

The food and beverage industry is prone to losing employees due to a number of factors like instability in the retention policy and the factors like work pressure and less scope of innovative work. The problem of employee retention has been a major issue in not only the small companies in the sector but also the major firms that have a global customer base. The Coca Cola company that has an employee strength of more than 7,00,000 employees, at one time was prone to the problem of customer retention as there was steep competition from the other brands of the same genre, majorly Pepsi Co. The company experienced a huge employee loss because of the lack of measures that the company has. Moreover, KFC which is one of the major food chains in the world experienced the same when it sometimes failed to keep a majority of their employees engrossed for long (Kemp, 2013). There are a number of issues for employee retention and factors to keep the process easy and going which is evident in the workforces of a number of companies, including the ones that are there for long and have a long standing reputation.

Justification of Research

Employee retention is defined as the tactics that is employed by the food and beverage industry to make sure that the important employees who are pivotal to the organization are there in the industry for a prolonged period of time. The importance of Employee retention is that the employees get the required amount of experience from the company and the company also increases its reputation as Employer of Choice and also makes sure that more people are interested in the brand in the longer run. The tactics of employee retention is to be done with the objective of preserving the employees that have talent and also the employees that are beneficial to the different sectors of the organizations that work in favour of the institution (Schlosser, 2012). There are a number of significances of employee retention in most of the industries of the world especially food and beverage industry, the reasons for which are mentioned further in the analysis.

• Appreciation –Job appreciation is one of the chief measures which helps to retain an employee in a particular organization. If an employee is appreciated by both the senior authorities and the colleagues, there is a high chance of employee retention which is one of the chief factors of the food and beverage industry (Das & Baruah, 2013). The industry is one of the few industries that has enough work load and requires enough motivation for the work making appreciation one of the major factors.
• Job Security –Job security is another factor that help to make sure that employee has a higher retention prospect in the food and beverage industry of the world. If there is a higher amount of job security in the concerned sector, there are less chances of employee retention. The job security of the industry is one of the major challenges that has been faced by the authorities as food and beverage industry is prone to employee resignation within a short time span (Schmitt, Borzillo & Probst 2012). Without the prospect of job security, the employees of the industry would not be interested to perform in the highly competitive and irregulatory market as the food and beverage industry. The job security gives the employees motivation to work in this sector.
• Corporate Culture –The culture of the industry plays a vital role in the retention of the employees both in the short and the long run. The retention of the employees is one of the major instances that is dependent on the corporate culture of the particular industry. If there is a sustainable culture in the overall process, then there is a chance of better retention of the employees. The food and beverage industry should have an access to better corporate culture to have retention of employees in them.

• Less prospect for growth –The less prospect of growth for the employees is one of the major factors that leads to the employees to resign and making the process of retention one of the important yet difficult approaches (Vasquez, 2014). The less prospect of growth of the employees is one of the major factors that lead to the importance of employee retention. The growth of the employees both in terms of learning and the professional front helps the employees to grow in the sector and also make to feel that the growth determines the amount of growth in the industry.
• No security –The lack of security in the job in the food and beverage industry is one of the major reasons that lead to less amount of employee retention and makes the concept majorly important in the food and beverage industry of the world (Vasquez, 2014). Security is one of the major factors that lead to the employees to reign the job and look for some other kind of jobs in the market. However, if the job has security in the sector then the job will attract more number of people in the market and make sure that the sector attracts more youth into the job sector.

• Hectic Work Schedule –The hectic work schedule is a one of the major reasons that make the industry prone to resignation of the employees. The industry has a massive amount of work for the employees of the organization and the time of working is also very high when compared to the other companies and organizations of the same genre. The hectic work schedule of the organization and the industry is one of the major reasons that the industry is prone to resignation. The retention prospect of the industry is therefore comparatively low in the sector and is one of the major challenges of the employers (Bryant & Allen, 2013).
• Salary issues –If the organization as well as the industry gives less amount of salary to the people of the industry, there is high possibility of employee dissatisfaction that can lead to the low percentage of employee retention. The salary is one of the lowest in food and beverage industry which is one of the primary challenges that the company faces when it comes to retention of employees in the organization. Money is the biggest motivation when it comes to work and so if there is less salary in any industry, the retention percent of employees becomes lower (Bakari?, 2014).

• Personality Development Programme –At regular intervals, the personality development programme should be done so to make each of the employees in the organization get the required amount of training and development sessions for the same. The personality development procedures are many and should be implemented according to the needs of the organization to retain the employees as required.
• Monitoring the employees –The proper monitoring should be done by the higher authorities of the employees and should be made into proper action by the same. The monitoring of the work should be done in accordance to the specific modes and to make sure what are the retention prospect of the employee in the organization (Deery & Jago, 2015).
• Innovative work –Innovative work process can be one of the major recommendations that can help to make sure that the workers stay in the food and beverage industry for a prolonged period. Innovative work process and working conditions can be a boon for the workers working in a drab environment and can help to retain them longer (Bryant & Allen 2013).
• Better technologies –Food and beverage industry should include better technologies to make sure that the workers have better comfort doing their work and so that they retain in the organization for prolonged period. With the implementation of better technologies in the food and beverage industry, the worker can get to work in a better condition with more number of secured and easier process which will make the work less monotonous and more enjoyable.
• No political inclinations –One of the greatest recommendations to make sure that the workers in the organization are there for the greater time period is the political inclinations that the workers and employers have in a peculiar scenario. The lack of political inclinations are majorly done to make sure that all the workers get mutually benefitted in the process.

Sampling is defined as the selection of the individuals from a group of individuals who are to be assessed to conduct a research or study and to make sure that the people who have a better chance of getting selected (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 2014). The sampling method to be selected in this process is the Simple Random Probable Sampling method which is defined as the method of sampling in which each of the member of the subset have equal opportunity of being selected in the selection process (Sedgwick, 2013). The proposed size of the sample is 50 employees and 10 managers to identify the various process that is being done to identify the various problems that each of the section of the population have in terms of retention in the food and beverage sector. The sample will be assessed randomly taking all the employees and their problems together along with the managers of the concerned organization (Acharya et al., 2013). The response rate will be high in the random sampling method as there is a chance for each of the employees to vent out their problems in front of the people and also make sure that they have adequate response rate for the same (Levy & Lemeshow, 2013). The characteristics of the sample will be general employees having their own set of problems in the working module of the organization. Bias is defined as the different treatment for the various kinds of employees within the same organization. The bias is not to be tolerate in the sampling method but there can be some bias in the selection of the employees and managers if done by an internal employee. Therefore, proper measure should be taken into action for the same to make sure that the there is no bias in the sampling process and that each member of the organization have the same amount of chance to get selected and give out their issues in terms of the same.

Operational Definition

The method of data collection process is primary data collected by the means of interview and general questionnaire process. The primary data is defined as the data that is collected by means of first-hand information and is to be sourced at original level. The rationale provided are clear and gives a vivid description of the overall data that has been collected (Mills et al., 2015). The data is especially collected from various sources from the food and beverage industry to make sure that the data concepts are good and are serving the purpose of the same. The procedures of the data collection method are outlined in details are made sure of the same. The details of the procedures are being given to make sure that the data collection process identifies variable and controls them with ease and ethical means. The qualitative data can be analysed with effect and the quantitative data can be measured in means of graphs and charts to make the description in detail (Atici et al., 2013). The plan for the same should be done by the authorities and should be made into effect by the people of the authorities. The validity and reliability of the theories and the organizations are done for the measuring of the terms and are to made sure about the various implications of the process.

Ethical Consideration is one of the major aspects of the research theories as ethical considerations should be taken into action when conducting any research analysis of the same. The various research process should be taken into action when considering the process and ethical considerations should be attached. The ethical consideration mentions that without the permission of the concerned persons, no interview of them should be taken. In addition, the members of the whole investigation will be given the authority to leave the organization whenever they wish and there would not be any pressure on them in the required process(Walliman, 2017). The ethical consideration also make sure that each of the members will have the required cultural modifications and has the required approval by the management. There should be provision for anonymity in the procedure and no mention of identities should be made. The whole data collected by the employees should be kept secretly and destroyed when their purpose has been solved. There will be no risk to the participants and subsequently will have no impacts on their business and other factors (Le Moigne, 2013). The business and other factors associated with the whole issues is not being hampered and the people of the research committee and who are doing the research process have read and gone through the research handbook to understand each of the implications.

Significance for Strategic Plan

The timeline proposed for the process is to be guided according to the process established for the overall working of the sector. The appropriate and realistic terms of the dissertation proposed can be done in the following manner –

Activities	1st to 4th Week	5th to 11th week	12th to 13th  Week	14th to 18th  Week	19th to 21st  Week	22nd  to 24rd  Week	25th  Week
Selection of the topic as per the work requirement	ü
Data collection from primary sources like Interview and Questionnaires	ü	ü
Creating layout for the whole research work		ü
Literature review of the topic allocated which is the Retention of Employees in Food and Beverage Industries		ü	ü	ü
Analysis and interpretation of  collected data and review				ü	ü	ü
Findings of the data and review them according to the time line given in the process					ü	ü
Monetary Considerations of the Overall Process						ü
Formation of draft and send out to the principle who is taking over the task						ü	ü
Submission of final work to the concerned authorities							ü

Figure – Gantt Chart

(Source – As created by the author)

The work is done according to the priorities mentioned in the work and also in accordance to the work scheduled done in the manner. The basis of the dissertation is the work done is to make sure that all the processes are done on time and also to make sure that each of the process of the work are allocated and submitted according to the stated time frame. The work is segregated according to the tasks given and are also made sure to have the required

The budget that has to be considered so that the required process is appropriate and adequate for the overall process of the sector. The expenses of the overall research process can be considered which requires the assistance of the employees and the various process of the research work. The amount of expense that is to be incurred can be seen as follows –

Field of Expense	Expense Occurred (In approximate value)
Primary Analysis Methods · Interviews · Questionnaires	50$
Allocation of Research Project Work	120$
Creating Layout of the process	40$
Appointment of the Research Executives	70$
Final Drafting	25$

Figure – Budget Chart

(Source – As created by the author)

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