Article’s

Employee competence, behaviour, and service delivery are vital determinants of the organisational success of the hospitality industry, as it is highly service-based. In this regard, training and development are primarily viewed as imperative human resource factors in improving employee performance, motivation, and the quality of the service offered. This paper is a research on the role and efficiency of training and development practices in the hotel business in Qatar, with special focus on employee development, satisfaction, and perceived performance. The study selects secondary data as a quantitative method of research, critically examining empirical evidence achieved by using a structured questionnaire to respondents who are a sample of employees and managers employed in four and five-star international and local hotels based in Doha. The results show that training is a compulsory and institutionalized process in the sampled hotels, particularly in the initial phases of employment. Training is usually perceived by the employees as relevant, especially in enhancing motivation, job performance, and self-confidence. There is, however, an observed difference in training exposure among job positions whereby more development opportunity is given to senior employees compared to the frontline and middle-line employees. Although the general response about the training programs is quite satisfactory, the respondents point to the repetitive qualification and the excessive emphasis on theory and time constraints that disrupt the normal course of business. Limitations in the evaluation practice of training also emerge in the study, which are mostly based on employee satisfaction instead of quantifiable performance results. These results imply that even though training is considered to be worthwhile, the strategic potential is not met. It concludes that training and development ought to be viewed as a long-term investment in human capital, not a cost, and suggests an increased number of more role-specific, practical, and systematically tested training programs to improve the quality of service and organizational competitiveness in the hospitality industry of Qatar. Keywords: Training and Development, Hospitality, Employee Performance, HRM