MAXIMIZING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AS A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT: A STUDY OF SELECTED HOSPITALITY FIRMS IN OWERRI DR. IKECHUKWU DIALOKE Department of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management College of Management Sciences

this study focused on examining employee turnover as a strategic approach to management effectiveness. In conducting the study, descriptive survey approach was adopted and data was generated from a five point likert scale. The study covered a population of sixty (60) managers and supervisors of eleven (11) hospitality firms within the Owerri metropolis. Because of the smallness of the data, the entire population was used as its sample; however, out of the 60 questionnaires distributed, only 48 were correctly filled and returned; thereby given a questionnaire return rate of 80%. The data gathered was analyzed with the kruskawalis (H) test. This study haven surveyed literatures and conducted empirical inquiry came to the conclusion that employees turnover can be of both strategic benefit and challenge to management effectiveness. Following the findings and conclusion above, the study recommends that for turnover to yield desired positive result as a tool to enhancing management effectiveness, the followings should be considered; where it is needful to embark on involuntary turnover (disengagement), it must be done in phases in other to give room for the organizational memory to be passed on successfully to the new employee and that firms should endeavor avoid building the business capabilities around one personnel, rather it should be spread across board through open communication and participative management style. This will ensure that when voluntary employee turnover occurs; the firm can overcome the shock by effectively replacing him through internal processes. This will also help to bridge leadership and succession gaps ====================================== IJRDO Journal of Applied Management Science ISSN: 2455-9229 Volume-3 | Issue-2 | February,2017 | Paper-5 64 INTRODUCTION In an economy like Nigeria where there is high unemployment and absence of resolve and strategic government policy on employment generation, the general believe is that due to the fear of the unknown, people will tend to make all sacrifices to keep their jobs. However, it is evidently clear that in some sectors, people tend to switch jobs at will, while in others; the quest for job security and its associated benefits has drastically reduced the rate at which switch their jobs. Be that as it may, in the hospitality industry, there appears to be high rate of employees’ turnover. While this situation may be associated with the growing nature of tourism and hospitality in Nigeria which offers new and better rewarding opportunities, how hospitality and tourism managers has been able to harness the situation and strategically leverage on it to enhance their business management leaves much to be desired. Employee turnover over in itself creates both challenges and prospect to the organization, while it leads to lose of organizational memory and experienced staff, it also provides opportunity to employ a new set of employees with enthusiasm and may be used as a reasonable to shake up a docile and non-performing work teams The specific impact of replacing an employee varies based on many factors, including the difficulty of filling the position, the amount of training required for a new employees and specific costs, such as recruiter fees or advertisements. In the hospitality industry, it may be necessary to fill some positions every few months or even more frequently. Most of the workers in this industry tend to be unskilled and may change positions often since there are many similar options available. In terms of costs, these positions generally require limited training to reach full productivity, so replacing personnel will not tend to have much impact on the business. On the other hand, hospitality managers most often has been with the same organization for much of their career and tend to be in the position for years, leading to very low turnover in that position. Statement of the Problem Management practice requires sustainability if competitive and managerial capabilities must be developed and entrenched in the system. But because individuals and indeed managers are “complete persons”, it then implies that when an experienced manager leaves an organization, he leaves with a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge, this can create a knowledge gap, leadership deficit and ultimately can impact the management of the business negatively. To remain effective, managers must drive their organizations within a competitive cost range. Frequent turnover however leads to increased personnel and overhead cost especially in the areas of recruitment and training of new employees. In most cases time lost are in these processes are not accounted for thereby generating an implicit cost that vitiates the effectiveness of the productive capacity of the management. The problem of this study therefore is to establish how turnover can be leveraged as a strategic leap to enhanced management effectiveness Objectives of the Study The general objective of this study is to investigate how to maximize employee turnover as a strategic approach to effective management. Its specific objectives include; i. Examine the effects of involuntary turnover on management cost control in organizations ii. Examine the effects of voluntary turnover on leadership and succession planning in organizations IJRDO Journal of Applied Management Science ISSN: 2455-9229 Volume-3 | Issue-2 | February,2017 | Paper-5 65 Research Questions i. What are the effects of involuntary turnover on management cost control organizations? ii. What are the effects of voluntary turnover on leadership and succession planning in organizations? Hypotheses H01: involuntary turnover does not have significant effect on management cost control in organizations H02: voluntary turnover does not have significant effect on leadership and succession planning in organizations REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES Employee Turnover Defined Turnover is defined as the ratio of the number of organizational members who have left during the period being considered, divided by the average number of people in that organization during the period (Ongori 2007). Turnover levels vary between organizations. Successive chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) surveys of employee turnover show that the highest levels are typically found in retailing, hotels, catering and leisure, call centres and among other lower paid private sector services groups. Turnover levels also vary from region to region. The highest rates are found where unemployment is lowest and where it is unproblematic for people to secure desirable alternative employment. Rankin (2006) explains that turnover can be classified in three ways: employer controlled) explains that turnover can be classified in three ways: employer controlled (dismissals, redundancies and early retirements); employee led (due to dissatisfaction of varying kinds); and employer and employee uncontrolled (maternity leave, retirement, and so). Turnover fluctuates with economic cycles, for example, during recession, turnover often falls. Turnover may disguise underlying problems (such as dissatisfied staff or lack of new talent), so it is important to manage underlying factors relating to turnover, even though turnover itself may not always be a problem. The most obvious impact of turnover is that of increased costs. These falls into four tangible categories: separation costs, temporary replacement costs, recruitment and selection costs, induction and training costs. Ongori (2007) noted that turnover can be self-perpetuating in that it affects the morale of those who stay. Inefficiency is one of the causes of turnover, because of the disruption caused by resignations. There is a further intangible category, that of the skills and knowledge which are lost to the organization when an employee leaves. This is difficult to quantify and assess, and again has implications for information-sharing as well as for effective motivation. According to Ongori (2004), Employee turnover has been defined as the rotation of workers around the labour market; between organizations, jobs and occupations; and between the states of employment and unemployment). Employee turnover can be voluntary or involuntary. Woods (cited by Ongori 2007) noted that each time a position is vacated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, a new employee must be hired and trained and this replacement cycle is known as employee turnover. Morrell, Loan-Clarke and Wilkinson (2001) refer to employee turnover as voluntary cessation of membership of an organization by an employee of that organization. Price (2004) indicated that employee turnover is “the entrance of new employees into the organization and the departure of existing employees from the organization. IJRDO Journal of Applied Management Science ISSN: 2455-9229 Volume-3 | Issue-2 | February,2017 | Paper-5 66 Employees can move between organizations, start new ones or leave an organization for good. Employees resign for many reasons. Sometimes it is the attraction of a new job or the prospect of a period outside the workforce which pull them while on other occasions they are pushed (due to dissatisfaction in their present jobs) to seek alternative employment. It can also be as a result of both ‘pull and push’ factors. It is, however, paramount to investigate why people leave although it is important to appreciate that the reasons people give for their resignations are frequently untrue or only partially true. Individuals are likely to be reluctant to voice criticism of their managers, colleagues or the organization generally, preferring to give some less contentious reasons for their departure. Using an external provider to conduct exit interviews will help employers capture more accurate data about why people are leaving, since individuals are more willing to tell the truth when there is reassurance for their anonymity. An alternative approach is the use of confidential att