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Marialina A. Simplicio
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Developing Internship Program for Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management of Surigao del Sur Polytechnic State College-Lianga Campus

Marialina A. Simplicio

THE PROBLEM

         The main objective of this study was to develop an internship program that will help improve the employability of graduates in Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management with major in Food and Beverage Production and Services. Specifically, this study attempted to answer the following questions:

  1. What are the general skills and values that an employer look for an applicant who finished the AHRM as perceived by AHRM faculty and Hotel and Restaurant personnel?
  2. Is there a significant difference between the perception of the AHRM faculty and H & R personnel as to the general skills and values that a prospective employer looks for an applicant who finished the AHRM course?
  3. What are the job related skills that an intern in Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management must learn during the internship period in order to make him/her more competitive and qualified for employment upon graduation as perceived by:

3.1 The Commission on Higher Education (CHED)

3.2 AHRM Faculty, and

3.3 Hotel and Restaurant Personnel?

4. Is there a significant difference between the proportion of the AHRM faculty and the proportion of the Hotel and Restaurant personnel who listed a specific job related skill that an AHRM student-intern must learn?

5. How much internship time must be allocated for the development of each specific skill as perceived by the AHRM faculty and the H & R personnel?

6. Is there a significant difference between the estimates given dby the AHRM faculty and the estimates given by the H & R personnel as to the time allocation for the development of the job related skills?

7. What internship program can be developed to ensure development of the identified job related skills?

PROCEDURE

         Fourteen instructors and professors from five colleges in Davao City were selected on the bases of their qualifications as AHRM and/or BSHRM instructors. Another group of eighteen personnel from five hotels and restaurants in Davao City were also selected on the bases of their experienced with student-interns either as a supervisors or a senior coworker.

         These two groups of subjects were then requested to respond to a  questionnaire that specifically asked their opinion on the desirable skills and values that a prospective applicant, in hotel establishment, must possess.

         The questionnaire also asked the respondents to list down job related taks or skills that AHRM student-interns must learn for them to be ready to work in a hotel and restaurant establishment. In addition to the two data requested, the questionnaire also asked the respondents to give an estimate of the minimum time needed to train an intern on the specific task.

         There were two questionnaires prepared by the researcher, the first one was intended for the AHRM faculty members and the second one was designed for H & R personnel. The difference between the survey form for faculty and the survey form for the H & R personnel is in some wordings that mentioned the job category of the respondents.

FINDINGS

The following are the findings of the study.

  1. Among the general skills listed by the respondents, the following were among the most popular: (1) Communication skills (Oral & Written), (2) Technical know-how, (3) Work experience/exposures, (4) Cooking skills, good taste buds, (5) Efficient/Organized/Competent, and (6) /computer literate.
  2. Among the values listed by the respondents, the following were the ten most popular values: (1) Personality/sanitation/grooming, (2)Hardworking/alertness, (3) Initiative/creative/innovative/self-reliant, (4)Honesty, (5) Guest relation/courteous/polite/friendly, (6)Trustworthiness/reliable, (7) Responsible/dependable/reliable, (8)Versatile/flexible, (9) Intelligence, and (10) Punctuality/promptness.
  3. Of the six (6) skills listed by the two groups of respondents, there was no significant difference between the proportion of AHRM faculty members and the proportion of H & R personnel that listed (1) Communication skill, (2) Technical know-how, (3) Organized/efficient/competent, and (4) Computer literate as applicant’s entry skill to the hotel and restaurant job. This means that was an implied agreement between the two groups of espondents regarding the relative importance of the above-mentioned four skills. There was, however, a significant difference between the proportion of AHRM faculty members and the H & R personnel that listed (1) Work experience/exposures, and (2) Cooking skills, good taste buds as an pplicant’s entry skill. This means that the AHRM faculty and the H & R personnel did not have the same opinion as to the necessity of work-experience and cooking skills as job entry skill. It was noted that only a small proportion (7 percent) of the faculty respondents considered work experience as important job entry skills while a big proportion (39 percent) of the H & R personnel think that work experience is an important job entry skill. Most of the faculty respondents did not realized that work experience is important job entry skill while the H & R personnel believe otherwise.
  4. Of the ten values listed by the respondents, there was an implied agreement between the two groups of respondents as to the relative importance of the eight values except in Good grooming and Guest relation. It was noted that a large proportion of the H & R personnel considered good grooming and guest relation as important job entry values while only a small proportion of the AHRM faculty respondents considered it to be important job entry values.
  5. As to the job related skills that an intern in Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management must learn during the internship period, the CHED policies and standard mentioned thirty-one (31) tasks or skills that AHRM student-interns must learn. On the other hand, the AHRM faculty and the H & R personnel respondents listed fourteen (14) job-related skills as important skills that must be learned by the student-interns. It was noted that the first eleven skills listed by the AHRM faculty respondents were actually the same as the eleven skills listed by the H & R personnel. It was noted, however, that the last three skills listed by the AHRM faculty (i.e. costing, purchasing, and quality control) were not among those listed by the H & R personnel. When the job related skills listed by the AHRM faculty were compared with the CHED standard, it was noted that, except for costing and purchasing, all the skill or tasks listed by the AHRM faculty respondents did match with the skills or tasks listed in the DECS Order No. 63, s. 1994. It was noted, however, that only one faculty respondent did lists order and purchasing as one of the important skills that an AHRM apprentice must learn. This respondent has probably excepted more from the apprentice than what does the CHED memorandum prescribe as the minimum requirements. 
  6. When the proportion of AHRM faculty respondents was compared with the respective proportion of H & R personnel who listed the fourteen job related tasks, it was found that there was an implied agreement between the two groups of respondents in thirteen (13) out of the fourteen (14) skills listed, the skill where the two groups of respondents differ in their perception was the communication skill. A large proportion of the AHRM faculty respondents considered it as one of the important job related skills that must be learned by the students while none of the eighteen H & R personnel respondents ever listed it.
  7. DECS Order No. 63, s. 1994 mentioned a 300 hours minimum internship time for the development of skills of the AHRM students. SSPSC-Lianga Campus implemented a 720 hours internship time. Result of the survey among the two groups of respondents indicated that HARM faculty respondents recommended 686 hours internship time while the H & R personnel recommended a total internship time of 1424 hours. The breakdown of the 686 and the 1424 hours are shown in Table 1.

Summary of the Minimum Internship Time
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Table 1

8.  T-test analysis on the significant of difference between the time estimates given by the AHRM faculty and the time estimates given by the H & R personnel revealed these findings: (1) There was a significant difference between the estimates given by the two groups in the Banquet and Hot Kitchen operations. (2) There was no significant difference between the estimates given by the two groups of respondents in the Cold kitchen, Pastry, Butchery, Room Service, Outlets Operations, and Stewarding Department.

9.  Based on the previous data, the researcher was able to develop an internship program with the following time allocation for each task. This proposed internship schedule was shown in Table 4.16 to Table 4.20 of Chapter 4. A summary of these tables was presented in Table 4.21 of Chapter 4. In addition to the proposed time allocation, the following policies and guidelines were proposed:

General Policies

  • The internship program is envisioned to provide "field laboratory" for the Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management students.
  • The internship program is a supervised exposure to actual practices in Hotels and Restaurants Food and Beverage related Departments.
  • Completion of the 800 training hours may either be (a) spread across the regular semester period, (b) done continuously during summer plus long holiday seasons like Christmas and semester's break, or a combination of (a) and (b).
  • A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) involving the Surigao del Sur Polytechnic State College-Lianga Campus (SSPSC-Linga), the Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner, and the Parents shall be undertaken. The Faculty Practicum Coordinator (FPC) of SSPSCLianga and the Supervisor of the Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner must be also parties to the agreement. Duties and responsibilities of SSPSC-Lianga and the Hotel/Restaurant Training partner, as well as the honorarium, duties and obligations of the Faculty Practicum Coordinator of SSPSC and the Supervisor of the H & R Training Partner must be stipulated in the MOA.
  • SSPSC-Lianga should give honorarium to the Supervisor of Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner who assumed the role of Associate Faculty with an obligation to act as the Training Supervisor of the student interns.
  • As a form of financial support, the SSPSC Administration through the Faculty Practicum Coordinator should negotiate to the Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner that the interns be given honoraria or stipends for the duration of the internship. If SSPSC succeeded in persuading the Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner to give the interns some form of benefits or honorarium, such benefits shall be included in the MOA.
  • SSPSC-Lianga through Its FPC shall come up with written policies for the student interns. Student interns’ shall be made aware of such policies. To manifest students' awareness and acceptance of the internship policies, they shall be made to sign an agreement with the FPC.

Implementing Guidelines
  • The Faculty Practicum Coordinator (FPC) of SSPSC-Lianga will conduct an initial visit to the prospective Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner to inspect the facilities of the said Training Partner.
  • Should the Hotel/Restaurant passed the evaluation of the FPC, a Memorandum of Agreement shall be negotiated by the SSPSC-Lianga through its liaison officer - the FPC.
  • Once the MOA is signed, the FPC shall coordinate with Training Supervisor of the Hotel/Restaurant to discuss placement of interns, house rules, report to be submitted, and other concerns related to internship).
  • The Training Supervisor in consultation with the FPC will come up with a proposed "Training Schedule" for the interns under his/her supervision. Such schedule will become the basis for the FPC to prepare "Schedule of Visits".
  • The FPC shall schedule a regular visit, to the host hotel/restaurant to consult with the Interns and with the Training Supervisor. 
  • The FPC shall construct a monitoring form that will be accomplished by the Training Supervisor. Such monitoring form shall include skills and values learned or unlearned by the interns. 
  • At the end of the internship program, the Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner through its Training Supervisor shall issue a Certificate of Completion as evidenced that the interns have satisfactorily completed the training. Such certification must also mention positive work values and commendable skills learned by the interns. For this purpose, the FPC may prepare a template of the Certificate of Completion for the Training Supervisor to guide him/her on the expected format and content of the certificate. Upon returning to the school campus after the internship, each student intern shall submit a narrative report and pictorials that showed evidence of the skills learned by him/her. Said narrative report must include a photocopy of the Certificate of completion given by the Hotel/Restaurant Training Partner. The student must keep the original copy of the Certificate as this will serve as an additional employment credential.

CONCLUSION

From the findings of the study, the following conclusions were reached:

  1.  There was an implied general agreement between the AHRM faculty and the H & R personnel respondents as the general skills and values that a prospective applicant in the hotel and restaurant industry must possess.
  2. There was an implied general agreement among the three stakeholders (CHED, AHRM Faculty, and H & R Personnel) of the AHRM internship as to the job related skills that students must during the internship program.
  3. The AHRM faculty respondents gave a significantly lower estimate of intern-ship time as compared to the estimates given by the Hotel and Restaurant personnel.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In the light of the findings and conclusions reached, the following recommendations were offered:

  1. The proposed minimum internship time of 800 hours and time allocation for each department and subtasks as presented in Table 4.16 to Table 4.21 of Chapter 4 be tried out.
  2. The proposed General Policies and Implementing Guidelines presented in Chapter 4 be also adapted as part of the revise internship program of  Surigao del Sur Polytechnic State College-Lianga Campus.
  3. Other colleges and universities that experiences similar need of updating the present. Internship program for their AHRM-major in Food and Beverage Production and Services students may try the proposed internship program or introduced revisions of their existing program based on the perception of the three stakeholders of the AHRM course.
  4. From the review of related literatures, the researches noted that the 2-Year Hotel & Restaurant Management curriculum of the Philippine College of Technology in Davao City is the best AHRM curriculum as the students learned more knowledge and skills from the 88 units of the major subjects. Thus, the researcher recommends to the administration of the SPSCLianga to adopt this curriculum.

 
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