1.1: Introduction

Introduction

Today most hospitality programs emphasize the importance of experiential learning, or practical training and internships for students. Experiential learning is a broad term referring to multiple programs such as the externship, internship, practicum, or educational assignment that provide students with work-based applied learning opportunities (Lee, 2007). The development of vocational skills through industry work experience in conjunction with an academic program has been a popular way of meeting the needs of both the educational institution and the employer (Busby, Brunt, & Baber, 1997; Cooper & Shepherd, 1997; and Leslie & Richardson, 2000). However, Cooper and Shepherd (1997), claim that “who” wants “what” can create educational disparities as employers seek practical and general transferable skills, while educators emphasize the conceptualization of theories and materials specific to the discipline.

The burden of learning shift. Gardner (1964) asserts that the ultimate goal of the education system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his or her own learning as education most certainly extends beyond the university setting. Educators in the critical tradition know that the task of critical reflection, especially questioning fundamental premises and assumptions, is one that students frequently resist (Barnett, 1997; Hatton & smith, 1995). Shining a questioning and inquiring light on their work and lives is demanding and can take an emotional toll and leave people disoriented and confused (Reynolds, 1998). The process demands more than the usual intellectual tasks of analysis and synthesis required in academic work. It is a skill that requires higher order functioning, often associated with adulthood (Mezirow, 1991), so it is unrealistic to expect that all students enter the learning environment with similar capacities.

Educators still grapple over how educational design can combine the structured teacher-centered learning strategy (passive learning) used in university classrooms with the learner-centered, constructivist active learning approach students typically utilize in for-profit culinary workplaces. Thus the pedagogical challenge involving all internship stakeholders is the fact that experiential internship programs, are developed with academic purpose but are designed for non-academic implementation (Petrillose & Montgomery, 1997/1998) requiring a delicate balance between classroom theory and the reality of real world culinary operations. The static and reflective nature of the traditional liberal arts institutional philosophy and the constantly evolving atmosphere of the twenty-first century culinary workplace can resemble educational “quicksand” for students attempting to acclimate to the realities of the working world (e.g. Titz & Wollin, 2002; Eyler, 1993; Varty, 2000). The differences in these two environments can present formidable obstacles to students on internships seeking practical knowledge but required to associate classroom endeavors and ways of thinking to the functional orientation of a real world operation. Under such conditions, the ability of the student and cooperation from the internship site is important to achieving student outcomes that meet higher education standards. However, not all students and internship providers understand their role in achieving outcomes, or what the outcomes should be for that matter. The system works, but not for all in consistent ways and this is the notion that drives this book.

The goals of the internship. Kiser and Partlow (1999) indicate that the preferred application of experiential learning in hospitality education is the industry work-study experience known by the term ‘internship’. They state that regardless of the term used, the objective is still the same - to enhance student learning by integrating practical work experience and classroom instruction. Experiential learning programs can be traced back to Herman Schnieder at the University of Cincinnati who started an experiential learning program to provide work-based experience to engineering students (Ryder, 1987). The internship is rooted in cooperative education conceived by John Dewey proposed bringing together the reality of the workplace and the theory of the classroom for vocational training shortly after World War II (Herrick, 1997). This connection to vocational training is evident in Varty’s (2000) posit that cooperative education, properly practiced, is an excellent strategy for future employees to develop the reflective behavior that will help them become contextual learners. The cooperative perspective reasons that programs (external conditions), what is inherent in the student (internal conditions), and what has been learned prior to or during the cooperative education experience (learning outcomes) may all interact to affect each other and/or may separately contribute to more of the variance in educational outcomes (Ricks, Van Gyn, Branton, Cut, Loken, & Ney, 1990).

Internships – not always an easy stakeholder process

Internships are educational bridges from classroom to the working world. Experiential learning is the most popular way to bridge the disparities between and needs of both educational institution and employer (Busby, Brunt, & Baber, 1997; Cooper & Shepherd, 1997; and Leslie & Richardson, 2000). Ball (1995) and Becket (1996) posit that all students in higher education need to acquire extensive technical skills along with the associated skills needed to apply their knowledge within a profession or academic discipline, as well as the skills that required for the world of work and the to be attractive to employers. Moscardo and Norris (2003) claim that this challenge is particularly acute for tourism and hospitality as it is a relative new area of study within academic institutions and is primarily applied in orientation highlighting the need for devising new ways to improve the education of students in this field. Barron and Henderson (2000) also identify a need to utilize teaching and learning methods that encourage and facilitate deeper learning in tourism and hospitality education.

Internships produce different student reactions. Moscardo & Norris (2003) found that many students reported feelings of satisfaction and pride associated with completing complex and challenging experiential activity. However, students experience variable outcomes as argued by McDonald and McDonald (2000) who state that while there were a number of beneficial learning outcomes for students, the exercise was risky and not all students were prepared for it. They found that student’s responses to experiential activities ranged from “excitement, involvement and appreciation, to apathy, withdrawal and confusion.” Barron and Henderson ((2000) posit that there is a need to improve the education of students and develop new teaching methods to enhance knowledge retention.

Internships as a difficult process. With regard to teaching and learning deficiencies, Fisher (2000, 2003) noted that students were not always clear about the differences between critical analysis and critical self-reflection, or about how to differentiate values, beliefs, and assumption. Students often demonstrated confusion, particularly in relation to distinguishing values and beliefs from the “taken-for-granteds.” The literature according to Fisher rarely makes these distinctions explicit, compounding the confusion for students.

Teaching methods are currently not refined. Although much of the literature emphasizes the difficulties, challenges, and risks associated with students’ undertaking critical reflection (Barnett, 1997; Beyer, 1997; Ecclestone, 1996; Hatton & Smith, 1995; Ixer, 1999; Yost, Specht & Sandlin, 1991), very little guidance is offered on how to teach it (Fisher, 2003). Cunliffe (2004) and Carson and Fisher (2006) argued that it is important to build up to critical reflexivity and to situate it in practical circumstances. However, few studies demonstrate the way students actually approach critical reflection or the impact of doing so on their learning. St. Amant (2003) speaks to the importance of communicating interactively, arguing that educators and internship providers need to find ways to revise internship experiences so that educators, internship providers, and student externs can use internship experiences in a way that benefits all three parties. Values, beliefs, assumptions, and critical thinking and reflection are important elements for students consideration in experiential learning as expressed by the theory, but research is lacking into how externships may or do move beyond program goals, by failing to ask how should program goals be strategized to achieve what the literature posits is important knowledge for students’ to acquire (Casado, 2000)

We will help you learn during this process

Mentoring. This has been a large part of the structure of the CJFCI internship program. Organizational trends such as downsizing, restructuring, teamwork, increased diversity, and individual responsibility for career development are contributing to an interest in mentoring. A traditional mentoring model is the apprentice learning from a master (Kerda, 1998). We are currently in an economic environment created by the Information Age, which demands heightened cognitive, interpersonal, technical, and managerial skills. Mentors represent continuity (The Mentoring Institute, 1998) and mentoring as a supplement can address new forms and kinds of critical thinking-based learning salient to the purposes of the liberal arts educational ideal. This suggests that the overall educational effectiveness of any student internship could improve or become a more consistent learning experience across students by blending cooperative education and mentoring through the utilization of an approach aimed at narrowing the gap between the classroom and the workplace. This additional component in the internship process creates a third element (a triadic approach) to the internship as opposed to the duality of student and site. Over time, the results of the additional element prove mentoring to be the most helpful approach to successful internship outcomes.

For a true understanding of the internship process, one needs to understand the roles of each participating stakeholder involved in the process. This book focuses on three primary stakeholders – students working at an internship site, the educational facilitators who oversee the internship, and internship site facilitators – Those restaurant and other locations that agree to accept the intern into their professional operation.

Questions this reading will answer

What are the factorial elements that contribute to success on internships?

To address that question, we need to look at how each stakeholder defines and thus manages their role in the internship process. What do interns, educators, and internship providers do to facilitate students’ learning on internships? What is not done by participants that hampers learning? Which participants exemplify the use of some educational strategy to increase the chances for gaining knowledge that lasts beyond the work experience? Are all participants actually aware of their role and investment, in creating worthwhile internship experiences?

Are the underlying themes, contexts and contributions for the participants of each internship equal?

Do all students, course instructors, and participating internship site care about the intern equally? Do some contribute more and others less? Do all participants strive for the same goal?

Do all interns attain some durable knowledge or do some simply become exposed to a work experience that produces no learning that results in lasting usability or the expansion of students’ capabilities.

One of the goals of any internship is increase one’s knowledge of the field, improve physical skills, and begin to understand how what they learned situates within their classroom studies. Does this occur in all cases or does it vary from one site to another. What contributes to differences?

Should students bear the sole weight of evaluation or should the actions of all stakeholders: students, site providers, and education undergo scrutiny in judging outcomes?

There is no one correct answer to this question. Students must uphold their end of the bargain but is that always possible? What stakeholder actions hamper or contribute to successful outcomes.

• Did all stakeholders have performance objectives?
• What social science theories provide appropriate theoretical explanations to describe the world of the intern?
• How does human tendencies and feelings affect internship outcomes?

To begin, it is important to note that learning in a classroom is different from learning on your own.

Nature of passive learning versus active learning on internships

Passive learning (in the classroom) is a method of learning or instruction where students receive information from the instructor and internalize it. Passive learners may quietly absorb information and knowledge without typically engaging with the information received or the learning experience. They may not interact with others, share insights, or contribute to a dialogue. An estimated 60 percent of people are passive learners.

Passive Learning is Useful

1. Exposure to new material,
2. Greater control by the instructor over the classroom, audience, or students;
3. Opportunity for a structured and engaging format; ensuring a complement to the subject matter outside of the learning environment;
4. The ability to clarify course material;
5. Presentation of a large amount of information in a short time; instructional materials (lecture notes, handouts, audiovisual media, etc.) can be prepared in advance;
6. Important concepts and content can be identified and presented in an organized, structured, and meaningful manner;
7. The potential to facilitate large-class communication.
8. This format can also permit dissemination of materials not yet published or readily available.

Passive learning has drawbacks: Disadvantages of passive learning include

1. The required assumption that for learning to be successful, the students will receive the subject matter with "open minds";
2. The instructor will fill the minds of the students with knowledge in order to obtain better examination results.
3. Passive learning allows limited opportunity to assess how well students are learning content and for questions, clarification, or discussion.
4. Students may be reticent about letting instructors know they do not understand key information and they may be reluctant to ask questions in class.
5. With no opportunity for application, it does not consistently engage students' use of higher-level cognitive skills.
6. A standard model is lecture-format with one-way communication, which does not engage the listener.
7. It also requires the instructor to have effective speaking and presentation skills.
8. Students are expected to wait for information to be provided and then to follow directions on what to do with that information.
9. Emphasis is placed on repeating information without reflecting or demonstrating an understanding. This can result in surface processing instead of ‘deeper learning’.
10. Students have less ability to use what is learned.

Active learning is the opposite of passive learning; it is learner-centered, not teacher-centered, and requires more than just listening; the active participation of every student is a necessary aspect in active learning. There are a wide range of alternatives for the term "active learning" like learning through play, technology-based learning, activity-based learning, group work, project method, etc. the underlying factor behind these are some significant qualities and characteristics of active learning.

Think about What You are Doing

Students must be doing things and simultaneously think about the work done and the purpose behind it so that they can enhance their higher order thinking capabilities. Many research studies have proven that active learning as a strategy has promoted achievement levels and some others say that content mastery is possible through active learning strategies. However, some students as well as teachers find it difficult to adapt to the new learning technique. Active learning should transform students from passive listeners to active participants and helps students understand the subject through inquiry, gathering and analyzing data to solving higher order cognitive problems. There is intensive use of scientific and quantitative literacy across the curriculum and technology-based learning is also in high demand in concern with active learning.

Barnes and Keenan (1989) suggested principles of active learning:

• Purposive: the relevance of the task to the students' concerns.
• Reflective: students' reflection on the meaning of what is learned.
• Negotiated: negotiation of goals and methods of learning between students and the site.
• Critical: students appreciate different ways and means of learning the content.
• Complex: students compare learning tasks with complexities existing in real life and making reflective analysis.
• Situation-driven: the need of the situation is considered in order to establish learning tasks.
• Engaged: real life tasks are reflected in the activities conducted for learning.

Senior Internship – Analyzing – Evaluating - Creating

This internship requires you to be ‘your own leader’ in terms of learning. Look beyond actions, rules, and so forth – to ‘why’ any and all exist. What is your opinion about what you see and experience. How can you utilize your experience to take what you learn further in your own career?

Task Orientation

Task-focused ‘personal’ leadership is a behavioral approach in which the person focuses on the ‘tasks’ that need to be performed in order to meet certain goals, or to achieve a certain performance standard. Of course, as an intern, you need to meet the standards of the internship site – but you also need to meet your own personal expectations – what you want to achieve for ‘you’ from the experience.

What it accomplishes

Being task oriented allows you to focus on getting the necessary task, or series of tasks, in hand in order to achieve a goal. Your overarching focus should be more concerned with finding the ‘step-by-step’ solution required to meet specific goals. Actively define the work you will be doing, your role in the operation, put structures (how things work) in place, and plan, organize, and monitor your progress within the team as you work and progress.

Advantages

The advantages of a task orientation to you are that it ensures that you meet deadlines, your work is completed, and it is especially useful to help you learn to manage your time well. Interns who learn to do this well tend to exemplify a strong understanding of how to get the job done, focusing on necessary workplace procedures, and how work delegation occurs to ensure that everything gets done in a timely and productive manner – all of these elements will serve you well on your senior internship.

So what does this require you to do?

Task-Oriented Focus

• Emphasis on work facilitation
• Focus on structure (basic methods), roles (your position in the organization) and tasks (what you are required to do)
• Produce desired results is a priority
• Emphasis on goal-setting and a clear plan to achieve goals
• Strict use of schedules and step-by-step plans,

Relationship-Orientation

A common finding is that a relationship focus generates greater cohesion within groups, as well as greater team learning. It also has stronger individual impact, and a positive effect on self-efficacy. Think of it this way. To become a part of the team, you need to build a relationship with the team. In turn, when you have that relationship, you feel better about yourself because – you are a part of the team. They trust you, help you and support you – as you support them.

• Emphasis on interaction facilitation,
• Focus on relationships, well-being and motivation,
• Foster positive relationships is a priority,
• Emphasis on team members and communication within,
• Communication facilitation, casual interactions and frequent team meetings

Task efforts relate more to getting the job done while relationship efforts help you feel good about your environment, and building networks.

Employability

Graduate employability is a key issue for Higher Education. There are various definitions of ‘employability’, the one adopted here is that of Knight and Yorke (2004): “a set of achievements — skills, understandings and personal attributes — that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.”

One of the key reasons why many students invest in university education is to improve their employment prospects. However, while the achievement of good academic qualifications is highly valued, alone, it no longer appears sufficient to secure employment (Knight and Yorke, 2004). Additionally, employers in the hospitality industry expect students to have well developed employability skills, so that they can make an immediate contribution to the workplace when recruited.

To face rapid changes in the economic environment, market pressures, and leaner organizations, organizations have had to become more flexible to maintain their competitive advantage, and this has had implications for individuals’ present-day career development. Employability can only be enhanced by absorbing up-to-date professional knowledge, planning professional development, and acquiring transferrable skills in this fast-growing and -changing economy.

In other words, employability requires not only the competencies demanded by the job market but also effective career planning and advancement. Only with strong employability can one realize goals, secure a job, or start a business. Since the 1990s, one of the goals of higher education has been to enhance the development of employability skills and/or ensure that the acquisition of such skills is made more explicit. Therefore, a major concern of colleges is facilitating college graduates in enhancing their employability by ensuring that they acquire the competencies needed in the job market and the competencies needed for career development.

Higher education should prepare students for future employment

Employability skills are important for students, organizations, employers, and educational institutions. Culinary programs in higher education focus on supplying hotels, restaurants, and related businesses with a source of professionally trained employees and potential managers. Therefore, increasing student employability is crucial for businesses, for education institutes, and for students themselves. However, what school education offers may differ substantially from actual business needs. Generic competencies are relevant for most organizations and that tourism graduates generally meet the expectations of the employer, although at a lower level than desired. For culinary graduates to fulfill their roles in the job market successfully and to advance their careers, job competencies, which can serve as indicators of student employability, must be identified during curricular design in order to bridge the gap between school education and business requirements.

Researchers have categorized competencies as personal competencies and job competencies and argued that the two should always be appropriately balanced. Other studies have divided employability into core items and advancing items, in which the former refers to core skills that meet general and various job requirements whereas the latter refers to the specific skills needed for certain industries and jobs. Parallels can be drawn between core skills and personal competencies and between specific skills and job competencies. Numerous studies have discussed the relationship between core skills and a successful career. However, career success requires both personal and job competencies.

Moreover, many studies have analyzed the nature of employability or competency from the perspectives of various stakeholders, such as businesses, teachers, students, and employees. From the perspective of the employers in hospitality and tourism industries, employers need cheap and flexible labor in order to remain viable); however, from the perspective of the students, work is often an introduction to the world of work, and their experiences assist with both personal and career development. However, some research indicates that the world of work should be more closely linked with higher education both through formal periods of supervised work experience and more informally through students’ work experiences.

Hospitality education comprises a complex system with programs on hospitality offered by universities, vocational colleges, junior colleges, and graduate schools. Therefore, in order to meet hospitality industry demand, students have to consider their career planning in the competitive hospitality related job environment. Although culinary educators also have begun to focus on bridging the gap between the skills of hospitality graduates and the expectations of hospitality businesses.

Employability of Hospitality Graduates

Researchers expect core competency to be an indispensable requirement in the future workforce; in other words, core competency is a key ability that must be acquired by employees in certain work environments or organizations. Moreover, employees must develop level-specific competencies and professional competencies for their positions (Schoonover, 1998). Some other researchers have classified competencies as personal and job competencies (Guthrie, 2009). Gangani and McLean (2006) further divided competency-based human resource development into three categories: fundamental competency, functional competency, and personal competency.

Fundamental competency, such as integrity, is aligned with organizational values, objectives, purposes, and vision and is a competency that all employees must achieve.

Functional competency, such as technical literacy and financial sensitivity, is based on department goals and objectives and is helpful in improving one’s job performance.

Finally, personal competency, such as adaptability, is fostered by achieving personal goals and is critical for preparing an individual to achieve a personal vision and developmental tasks. Comparison of these studies shows that the fundamental competency concept proposed by Gangani and McLean is similar to the core competency concept developed by Schoonover, and the concept of functional competency is similar to that of level-specific and professional competency.

Job competency includes core/fundamental competency and functional competency. Personal competency resembles the conception of career development competency presented by Wang and Tsai (2012), which includes career planning and development and core skills.

In conclusion, competency is the ability of an employee to perform a job and is often perceived from the business perspective. Employability, as perceived from the perspective of educators, refers to the skills that a student must acquire to qualify for a job. As a result, competency and employability are two overlapping and related concepts.

Personal competency is more than core employability; it also includes career planning and development ability. Job competency, which includes core competency, level-specific competency, and professional competency, overlaps with specific employability.

Therefore, ‘employability’ from the competency perspective depends on:

1. Personal competency, which includes core skills, career planning, and development skills.
2. Job competency referring to specific employability such as
   1. Fundamental competency which includes work attitude and personal attributes, considered an essential attribute for all employees,
   2. Level-specific competency, the leadership competency of a manager, and
   3. Professional competency referring to professional management and technical skills needed to complete a task.

Employability has become a core part of the so-called new deal between employer and employee, in which the promise of employment security is said to be replaced by employability (e.g., Fugate & Kinicki, 2008; Hallier, 2009). This evolution is accompanied by a major shift in responsibility for career development from employers to employees.

Harvey, Locke, and Morey (2002) defined employability as the ability to acquire, keep, and excel at a job. The Center for Employability of the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom defines employability as having the skill set, knowledge, understanding, and personal attributes needed to increase the likelihood of choosing a satisfying and successful occupation (Pool & Sewell, 2007). According to Knight and Yorke (2004), the attributes of employability include knowledge and skills, capacity for learning (e.g., Bagshaw, 1996; Lane et al., 2000), mastery of career management and job search (e.g., Hillage & Pollard, 1998), and professional knowledge (e.g., Van der Heijden, 2002). Other research has indicated that the attributes of employability should include resilience (Iles, 1997; Rajan, 1997; Rajan et al., 2000) and personal efficacy (Eades & Iles, 1998).

During the past decade, employability was defined as the continuous fulfilling, acquiring, or creating of work through the optimal use of competences. These competences referred to the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual needed to adequately perform various tasks and carry out responsibilities within a job and to that individual’s adaptability to changes in the internal and external labor market (De Cuyper, Bernhard-Oettel, Berntson, De Witte, & Alarco, 2008; De Vos et al., 2011; Fugate, Kinicki, & Ashforth, 2004; Van Dam, 2004; Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006). The present study combined these attributes into a definition of employability as a set of knowledge, skills, and attributes that allow one to choose a career, to be employed, to transfer freely in the job market, to grow, to fulfill job duties, to show commitment to work, to feel satisfied or succeed, and to realize personal potential.

Stewart and Knowles (2000) proposed that graduates must offer two aspects of employability to a potential employer: (a) transferable skills, which are applicable throughout the working life; and (b) subject skills, which are relevant to a specific career. Raybould and Wilkins proposed employability skill models with nine generic skill groups: oral communication, written communication, problem solving, conceptual and analytical thinking, information management, team work and leadership, social networking skills, adaptability and learning, and self-management (Raybould &Wilkins, 2005).

Wang and Tsai (2012) reported that career development competencies of full-time include career development and planning and core employability. The former includes career recognition (e.g., self-exploration, career exploration, career selection), career action (e.g., career decision-making, career reflection, and planning action), and career attitude (e.g., career confidence). The latter includes career adjustment and control (e.g., self-management, job seeking and mobility, lifelong learning, and problem solving), workplace attitude (e.g., basic work attitude, work ethic and safety, and teamwork), and communication and networking (e.g., communication skills and social networking).

Competency

Spencer and Spencer (1993) proposed that job performance is closely related to professional knowledge and personal motives and attributes. Therefore, competency can forecast job performance by providing a measure of endogenous factors (such as personal motives, traits, and self-concept) and exogenous factors (such as knowledge and skills). Mirable (1997) held that competency is useful for forecasting good job performance and objectively assessing knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics.

Hayes (1979) considered competency a skill that allows one to integrate knowledge, personal strength, motive, social role, and social networking skills in order to deliver outstanding job performance. In sum, competency can be defined as a combination of exogenous abilities (e.g., professional knowledge or skills), personal attributes (e.g., personality, motive, or values), and capabilities that are indispensable to completing a task and delivering good performance.

Off-campus internship programs, subjects of professional skills, subjects of management theory, license exams, on-campus internship programs, and on campus volunteer services were the six most important courses in terms of employability development according to the students; specifically, off-campus internship programs and professional skills were considered much more relevant and effective compared to other variables.

In terms of competencies for kitchen management, the following required the most improvement: human resource management, administrative management, team building, cost and financial management, product positioning and marketing, persuasion and influence, crisis management, food material management, and product innovation.

Finally, the following competencies needed the most improvement for restaurant management: human resource management, administrative management, team building, persuasion and influence, customer relationship management, product positioning and marketing, cost and financial management, crisis management, and quality control.

Competence Development

Gursoy and Swanger (2012) found that industry professionals do not expect a culinary arts curriculum to teach students specific applications because of the varying segments in the industry, company cultures, and operational procedures. Therefore, a curriculum should focus on developing higher-order concepts so that students will be well-rounded graduates. These authors proposed that content areas such as communication skills, customer service skills, and work ethics need to be embedded in the majority of courses in a curriculum to allow students develop those skills continuously throughout their college education.

According to Gregson & Bettis, (1991), technical skills unlike soft skills, do not easily lead to recognition, promotion and other opportunities. Termination in employment and failure in promotion among employees were always caused by human behaviors that usually reflected from inadequate work value or poor attitude rather than because of deficiencies in job skills or technical knowledge In other words, lack of soft skills is more likely to get an individual’s employment terminated than lack of cognitive or technological skills. Bennett et al. (2000) defined ‘soft skills’ as those skills which can support study in any discipline and also skills that have the potential to be transferred to a range of contexts, education and workplace. Hence, it could be set that soft skills consist of how individual managed himself/herself and how he/she managed the interaction among others.

In a 2004 study conducted by Dopson and Tas entitled A practical approach to curriculum development: A case study noted “that in developing curriculum, educators must consider three major components of hospitality education: substantive knowledge, skills and values” (Gursoy & Swanger, 2012).

The questions concerning to kind of competencies that were required by hospitality and tourism industry have attracted many researchers to study. Christou (2002) suggested the tourism and hospitality curriculum should equip students with important management knowledge and skills. Christou (2002) carried out a study to find competencies in hospitality industry by asking managers and graduates to rank for management trainees. The results shows that the top three competencies of hospitality and tourism are managing guest problems with understanding and sensitivity, demonstrating professional appearance and poise, and developing positive relations. He continued the study to different countries, U.S. and Europe. The comparison shows that, the most imperative competency is the ability to manage customer service problems.

This finding was confirmed by Annaraud (2006) who studied skills necessary for successful careers for American and Russian hospitality graduates. Her findings indicated that human relations were listed by students and faculty in both countries as one of the top three skills. In a Dopson and Nelson (2004) found the most important skills and abilities for hospitality related positions were leadership, cost control, positive customer relations, identifying and solving operational problems, crisis management, and solving customer problems.

Additionally, Gursoy and Swanger (2012) investigated what course content areas are perceived as required by hospitality professionals. They collected 328 surveyed completed by professionals working in various segments of the hospitality industry. The results show that the five highest ranked course content areas are oral communication skills, leadership skills, a clear understanding of profit and loss statements, good work habits, and customer service skills.

Sandwith (1993) suggested that a competency domain model could be used to determine job performance requirements, with the resulting job profiles then guiding the design and development of training programs. He identified five areas of managerial competencies:

• Conceptual/creative — cognitive skills associated with comprehending important elements of the job and generating ideas for action
• Leadership — skills in turning ideas into action
• Interpersonal — skills necessary to interact effectively with others for communication and related skills, including oral presentation, telephone, conflict management, and negotiating skills
• Administrative — skills in the personnel and financial management of the business
• Technical — knowledge and skills associated with the actual work that the organization does

The conceptual domain “refers to cognitive skills associated with comprehending important elements of the job” (Sandwith, 1993, p. 46). Cognitive skills require being aware of one’s role in an organization, others role in the organization, company mission, and vision of the future of the organization. While the conceptual/creative domain relates to the organization, its current ideas, and new ideas. The leadership domain encompasses the skills to communicate and execute those ideas. Leadership is an important aspect to any industry. The leader of an organization must have the support of all employees if the company is to success. If the leader does not have the skills to “get everyone on board,” he/she will have a difficult time moving the organization forward.

The interpersonal domain relates to how well an individual interacts with other employees in the organization, as well as with customers. This domain includes oral, written, and telephone communication skills, as well as conflict management and negotiation skills (Sandwith, 1993). The administrative domain encompasses the rules and regulations that an organization must follow. It also involves knowing about them, educating others about them, and enforcing them. The requirements for the administrative domain are typically the same across all departments of an organization. The last domain, the technical one, involves those skills necessary to perform a specific job. Unlike the administrative domain, this domain will incorporate skills that do vary across job types.

In 1996, Tas, LaBrecque, and Clayton were using a refined version of Sandwith’s (1993) five competency domains. These competencies are, in order of importance:

• Interpersonal (skills for effective interaction with others)
• Leadership (the ability to turn ideas into productive action)
• Conceptual-creative (the cognitive skills needed for the job)
• Administrative (personnel and financial management of the business)
• Technical (the knowledge and skills essential to producing the product or service).

In 1999, Cho and Connolly found an increasing need to provide information technology education to hospitality students and it could enhance problem-solving skills and their ability to satisfy guests. Management of employees and interpersonal competencies such as enhancing socialization and interpersonal relationships with employees were most important for career success, whereas technical skills such as operational management, marketing, and finance were of lesser importance (Sisson & Adams, 2013).

According to Sisson et al (2013), most but not all studies found that competencies in listening, communication, human relations, leadership, and management of others were most important for success. The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS, 1991a) identified five competencies important for students to enter the workplace which are 1) identifying, organizing, planning, and allocating resources, 2) working with others, 3) acquiring and using information, 4) understanding complex interrelationships, and 5) working with a variety of technologies. SCANS also categories foundational skills into three group that is basic skills, thinking skills and interpersonal qualities. It is predicted that jobs in the future will need people that can apply knowledge into their work. These workers must have creative and problem-solving skills which employers can build on (Rasul, Abd Rauf, Mansor, & Puvanasvaran, 2012)

There are three competences that are developed in the internship program:

1. Core Competence - the major competence for students and graduates to have strong marketing skills, adaptive, professional, and have a good attitude in tourism industry.
2. Supporting Competence - the soft skills competence that makes students and graduates having better interpersonal skills as well as intrapersonal skills.
   1. Interpersonal skills - the ability for students to manage themselves, such as time management, self-motivation, self-learning, etc.
   2. Intrapersonal skills - the ability of the students to communicate and to build relationship with their working partners.
3. Other Related Competence – the competence of specific hard skills that required by the hospitality and tourism industry, such customer competences along with food and beverage occupation competence.

Experiential Learning – learning in the workplace

Kolb's experiential learning model

Experiential learning focuses on the learning process for the individual. One example of experiential learning is going to the zoo and learning through observation and interaction with the zoo environment, as opposed to reading about animals from a book. Thus, one makes discoveries and experiments with knowledge firsthand, instead of hearing or reading about others' experiences. Secondly, in culinary school, internships, and job-shadowing opportunities in a student’s field of interest can provide valuable experiential learning which contributes significantly to the student’s overall understanding of the real-world environment.

A third example of experiential learning involves learning how to ride a bike, a process which can illustrate the four-step experiential learning model (ELM) as set forth by Kolb and outlined in Figure 1 below. Following this example, in the "concrete experience" stage, the learner physically experiences the bike in the "here-and-now". This experience forms "the basis for observation and reflection" and the learner has the opportunity to consider what is working or failing (reflective observation), and to think about ways to improve on the next attempt made at riding (abstract conceptualization). Every new attempt to ride is informed by a cyclical pattern of previous experience, thought and reflection (active experimentation).

Figure 1 – David Kolb's Experiential Learning Model (ELM)

1. Concrete Experience
2. Reflective Observation
3. Active Experimentation
4. Abstract Conceptualization

Elements

Experiential learning can exist without a teacher and relates solely to the meaning-making process of the individual's direct experience. However, though the gaining of knowledge is an inherent process that occurs naturally, a genuine learning experience requires certain elements. According to Kolb, knowledge is continuously gained through both personal and environmental experiences. Kolb states that in order to gain genuine knowledge from an experience, the learner must have four abilities:

1. The learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience;
2. The learner must be able to reflect on the experience;
3. The learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience; and
4. The learner must possess decision-making and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the experience.

Implementation

Experiential learning requires self-initiative, an "intention to learn" and an "active phase of learning". Kolb's cycle of experiential learning can be used as a framework for considering the different stages involved. Jennifer A. Moon has elaborated on this cycle to argue that experiential learning is most effective when it involves: 1) a "reflective learning phase" 2) a phase of learning resulting from the actions inherent to experiential learning, and 3) "a further phase of learning from feedback". This process of learning can result in "changes in judgment, feeling or skills" for the individual and can provide direction for the "making of judgments as a guide to choice and action".

Most educators understand the important role experience plays in the learning process. The role of emotion and feelings in learning from experience has been recognized as an important part of experiential learning. While those factors may improve the likelihood of experiential learning occurring, it can occur without them. Rather, what is vital in experiential learning is that the individual is encouraged to directly involve themselves in the experience, and then to reflect on their experiences using analytic skills, in order that they gain a better understanding of the new knowledge and retain the information for a longer time.

Reflection

Reflection is a crucial part of the experiential learning process, and like experiential learning itself, it can be facilitated or independent. Dewey wrote that "successive portions of reflective thought grow out of one another and support one another", creating a scaffold for further learning, and allowing for further experiences and reflection. This reinforces the fact that experiential learning and reflective learning are iterative processes, and the learning builds and develops with further reflection and experience. Facilitation of experiential learning and reflection is challenging, but "a skilled facilitator, asking the right questions and guiding reflective conversation before, during, and after an experience, can help open a gateway to powerful new thinking and learning". Jacobson and Ruddy, building on Kolb's four-stage Experiential Learning Model and Pfeiffer and Jones's five stage Experiential Learning Cycle, took these theoretical frameworks and created a simple, practical questioning model for facilitators to use in promoting critical reflection in experiential learning.

Their "5 Questions" model is as follows:

1. Did you notice?
2. Why did that happen?
3. Does that happen in life?
4. Why does that happen?
5. How can you use that?

These questions are posed by the facilitator after an experience, and gradually lead the group towards a critical reflection on their experience, and an understanding of how they can apply the learning to their own life. Although the questions are simple, they allow a relatively inexperienced facilitator to apply the theories of Kolb, Pfeiffer, and Jones, and deepen the learning of the group.

While it is the learner's experience that is most important to the learning process, it is also important not to forget the wealth of experience a good facilitator also brings to the situation. However, while a facilitator, or "teacher", may improve the likelihood of experiential learning occurring, a facilitator is not essential to experiential learning. Rather, the mechanism of experiential learning is the learner's reflection on experiences using analytic skills. This can occur without the presence of a facilitator, meaning that experiential learning is not defined by the presence of a facilitator. Yet, by considering experiential learning in developing course or program content, it provides an opportunity to develop a framework for adapting varying teaching/learning techniques into the classroom.