exploring human resource challenges in the casino...

/ 25 / / 24 /

Journal of Macau Gaming Research Association

the most important considerations in creating and maintaining a competitive advantage for a hotel (or, for that matter, any hospitality organizations). Mac-intosh et al. (1992) stated that the casino sector is a “major force in the tourism industry” because it serves as the most radiant destination attraction and can attract millions of travelers. Las Vegas and Macau are both famous tourism destinations. In a sense, human reso-urce management (HRM) issues in the casino industry look similar to those other hospitality and tourism industries are now facing. In recent years, with the development of the tourism industry, many academics and industrial professionals published their journal papers, conference papers and books about human resource issues in the context of tourism and hospi-tality industries. These studies offer a strong academic support to casino HRM. On the other hand, the casino industry is so special a business that it does not simply mean games or recreational activities, it also relates to legal and moral issues. Law and morality toward casinos not only affect gamblers but they also affect employees’ job performance, behavior and loyalty to the industry. This is why HRM for casinos is a critical issue with greater complexity than that in other tourism and hospitality industries. Although there have been some studies on HR in casinos, they did not explore the issues in depth. This study attempts to fill the gap. Thus, the objectives of this study were to investigate the current HRM challenges in the casino industry and to explore the possible implications for industry practitioners to consider.

a situation is gained through a holistic perspective (Beverley Hancock, 1998). The survey used a conve-nient sampling method to invite 20 academic profes-sionals including 9 experts in the casino in dustry and 1 government official. The percentage and background of respondents were shown in Table 1. The respondents’ personal characteristics such as age, gender, nationality and marital status did not come within the scope of study, but they are familiar with the casino industry and have HRM-knowledge in casinos. The writer interviewed those respondents by means of face-to-face discussion, telephone interview and e-mail communication by herself. Based on a review of the casino effect literature, the interview questions were comprised of two major parts: the first part asked the respondent to identify the biggest HRM challenges in the casino industry and the second part requested the respondent to suggest possible solutions to solve these challenges.

Findings The answers to the first part of interview questions shows that most of the respondents rated the psycho-logical security as the biggest and most serious issue in the casino workplace (48 per cent), followed by em-ployees’ workplace deviant behaviors in casinos (37 per cent). Employee turnover was rated the third (10 per cent). Others included training, employees’ job satisfaction, and salary and so on. However, their per-centages were low totaling about 5 per cent. In the respondents’ opinions, comparing with psychological

Methodology Qualitative method was used in this study to find out industry expe-rts’ opinions about HR challenges in casinos. The reasons are: 1. Quali-tative method is concerned with the opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals producing subjective data; 2. The research method can describe social phenomena as they occur naturally; 3. Understanding of

The School of Tourism Management, Hainan University, PR China

The School of Hotel and Tourism Manage-ment, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, PR China

HR managers in casinos in Macao SAR, PR ChinaGovernment official in Zhihai Tourism Association, PR China

No. of Respondents Percentage(%)Organization

Table 1

Abstract: It is a qualitative study that attempts to identify human resource (HR) challenges in the casino industry, in which academics, industry practitioners and Chinese government officials were interviewed. Findings show that psychological issues and work-place deviant behaviors are critical in the casino work-place. High turnover is also one of the biggest HR challenges for casino management. Practical implica-tions are suggested for casino practitioners in the areas of recruitment and training to help minimize the nega-tive impacts of the HR problems.Keywords: Casino, HR challenges, Psychological Security, Deviant Workplace Behavior, Employee turnover

Introduction The casino is an important part of social life from past, present to future, from eastern to western nations. However, people hold a very ambivalent attitude to it and the casino, as a special issue, has been disputed for a long time. With rapid social and economic develop-ment, people have more time to enjoy and money to spend on entertainment and leisure than in the past. Casinos appear to be a favorite entertainment venue to some of them. Although casinos are often perceived as evil, this perception has changed. For instance, American people have evolved as casinos spread across the landscape (Minkyung, et al., 2000) and they have come to see casino gambling as an acceptable recrea-tion activity (Vallen, 1993). Moreover, government’s attitudes and policies to casino have also facilitated the changes. Many governments see casinos as money generating tools that can help spur economic growth. For example, the National Opinion Research Center (1999) in the United States pointed out that America is experiencing a casino boom. One of the important reasons is the United States have legalized gambling as a means of attracting more tourism (Long, et al., 1994). Thus, the casino industry grasps a good oppo- rtunity to develop the business, so casino locales are attempting to broaden their markets to include people who were traditionally beyond the profile of gambling travelers, families and younger adults (Yoshihashi, 1992). The expansion of the casino industry allows casino managers to recruit more staff. However, given the escalation of customers’ demand for gambling, casinos have to recruit, train, and administrate their employees so that they can provide high quality ser- vices for their customers. Human-capital considerations top the list of curr-ent managerial concerns in the hospitality industry (Cathy, 2001). Tracey and Nathan (2000) pointed out that effective human resources management is one of

■ Daisy X.H. Du*

Exploring Human Resource Challenges in the Casino Industry

摘要：本文應用定性研究方法，探索了博彩業

人力資源所面臨的問題。受訪者包括學者、業界

人士和政府官員。研究結果表明，在博彩業的人

力資源管理中，最嚴峻的問題為：員工心理問題

與博彩業員工在工作中的偏差行為。另外，人員

的高流失率也是博彩產業人力資源管理的一個亟

待解決的問題。建議博彩業人力資源管理注重人

員招聘以及培訓，這樣可大幅減少人力資源問題

的負面影響。

关键字：博彩業人力資源管理的挑戰心理安全

職場負面表現員工離職

* Daisy X. H. Du, Lecturer, School of Tourism Management, The Hainan University, PR China～～～～～～～～～

/ 25 / / 24 /

the most important considerations in creating and maintaining a competitive advantage for a hotel (or, for that matter, any hospitality organizations). Mac-intosh et al. (1992) stated that the casino sector is a “major force in the tourism industry” because it serves as the most radiant destination attraction and can attract millions of travelers. Las Vegas and Macau are both famous tourism destinations. In a sense, human reso-urce management (HRM) issues in the casino industry look similar to those other hospitality and tourism industries are now facing. In recent years, with the development of the tourism industry, many academics and industrial professionals published their journal papers, conference papers and books about human resource issues in the context of tourism and hospi-tality industries. These studies offer a strong academic support to casino HRM. On the other hand, the casino industry is so special a business that it does not simply mean games or recreational activities, it also relates to legal and moral issues. Law and morality toward casinos not only affect gamblers but they also affect employees’ job performance, behavior and loyalty to the industry. This is why HRM for casinos is a critical issue with greater complexity than that in other tourism and hospitality industries. Although there have been some studies on HR in casinos, they did not explore the issues in depth. This study attempts to fill the gap. Thus, the objectives of this study were to investigate the current HRM challenges in the casino industry and to explore the possible implications for industry practitioners to consider.

a situation is gained through a holistic perspective (Beverley Hancock, 1998). The survey used a conve-nient sampling method to invite 20 academic profes-sionals including 9 experts in the casino in dustry and 1 government official. The percentage and background of respondents were shown in Table 1. The respondents’ personal characteristics such as age, gender, nationality and marital status did not come within the scope of study, but they are familiar with the casino industry and have HRM-knowledge in casinos. The writer interviewed those respondents by means of face-to-face discussion, telephone interview and e-mail communication by herself. Based on a review of the casino effect literature, the interview questions were comprised of two major parts: the first part asked the respondent to identify the biggest HRM challenges in the casino industry and the second part requested the respondent to suggest possible solutions to solve these challenges.

Findings The answers to the first part of interview questions shows that most of the respondents rated the psycho-logical security as the biggest and most serious issue in the casino workplace (48 per cent), followed by em-ployees’ workplace deviant behaviors in casinos (37 per cent). Employee turnover was rated the third (10 per cent). Others included training, employees’ job satisfaction, and salary and so on. However, their per-centages were low totaling about 5 per cent. In the respondents’ opinions, comparing with psychological

Methodology Qualitative method was used in this study to find out industry expe-rts’ opinions about HR challenges in casinos. The reasons are: 1. Quali-tative method is concerned with the opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals producing subjective data; 2. The research method can describe social phenomena as they occur naturally; 3. Understanding of

The School of Tourism Management, Hainan University, PR China

The School of Hotel and Tourism Manage-ment, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, PR China

HR managers in casinos in Macao SAR, PR ChinaGovernment official in Zhihai Tourism Association, PR China

No. of Respondents Percentage(%)Organization

Table 1

Abstract: It is a qualitative study that attempts to identify human resource (HR) challenges in the casino industry, in which academics, industry practitioners and Chinese government officials were interviewed. Findings show that psychological issues and work-place deviant behaviors are critical in the casino work-place. High turnover is also one of the biggest HR challenges for casino management. Practical implica-tions are suggested for casino practitioners in the areas of recruitment and training to help minimize the nega-tive impacts of the HR problems.Keywords: Casino, HR challenges, Psychological Security, Deviant Workplace Behavior, Employee turnover

Introduction The casino is an important part of social life from past, present to future, from eastern to western nations. However, people hold a very ambivalent attitude to it and the casino, as a special issue, has been disputed for a long time. With rapid social and economic develop-ment, people have more time to enjoy and money to spend on entertainment and leisure than in the past. Casinos appear to be a favorite entertainment venue to some of them. Although casinos are often perceived as evil, this perception has changed. For instance, American people have evolved as casinos spread across the landscape (Minkyung, et al., 2000) and they have come to see casino gambling as an acceptable recrea-tion activity (Vallen, 1993). Moreover, government’s attitudes and policies to casino have also facilitated the changes. Many governments see casinos as money generating tools that can help spur economic growth. For example, the National Opinion Research Center (1999) in the United States pointed out that America is experiencing a casino boom. One of the important reasons is the United States have legalized gambling as a means of attracting more tourism (Long, et al., 1994). Thus, the casino industry grasps a good oppo- rtunity to develop the business, so casino locales are attempting to broaden their markets to include people who were traditionally beyond the profile of gambling travelers, families and younger adults (Yoshihashi, 1992). The expansion of the casino industry allows casino managers to recruit more staff. However, given the escalation of customers’ demand for gambling, casinos have to recruit, train, and administrate their employees so that they can provide high quality ser- vices for their customers. Human-capital considerations top the list of curr-ent managerial concerns in the hospitality industry (Cathy, 2001). Tracey and Nathan (2000) pointed out that effective human resources management is one of

■ Daisy X.H. Du*

Exploring Human Resource Challenges in the Casino Industry

摘要：本文應用定性研究方法，探索了博彩業

人力資源所面臨的問題。受訪者包括學者、業界

人士和政府官員。研究結果表明，在博彩業的人

力資源管理中，最嚴峻的問題為：員工心理問題

與博彩業員工在工作中的偏差行為。另外，人員

的高流失率也是博彩產業人力資源管理的一個亟

待解決的問題。建議博彩業人力資源管理注重人

員招聘以及培訓，這樣可大幅減少人力資源問題

的負面影響。

关键字：博彩業人力資源管理的挑戰心理安全

職場負面表現員工離職

* Daisy X. H. Du, Lecturer, School of Tourism Management, The Hainan University, PR China～～～～～～～～～

security, workplace deviant behaviors and other HR chall-enges appear to be not critical and are easy to deal with.

Discussions 1. Employees’ Psychological Security (EPS) EPS gets wide attention in today’s world, which can be described as the level of safety an employee feels in his or her workplace. According to Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory (1987), five basic need levels were categorized: 1. physiological; 2. safety and security; 3. belonging, love, and social; 4. esteem; and 5. self-actualization. Casino employees work long hours in casinos. In this situation, he/she stands a big chance to become a gambler and even problem-gambler. Shaffer and Hall (2002) indicated in their study that casino employees represent a unique and highly vulnerable segment of the population, who have been found to have a much higher rate of gambling disorders because they have a greater access and exposure to gambling as com-pared to the general public. One of the problem-gambler’s matters is psychological problem. In addition, Garry et al. (2003) further explained the casino definition as follows: (1) an element of risk is involved; (2) there is a winner and loser-money, property or other items of value change hands… Lad-ouceur (2002) characterized gambling as follows: (1) players wager money or an object of value; (2) this bet is irreversible once placed; (3) the game’s outcome relies on chance. The change hand of big cash and pro-perty and the chanciness of winning and losing are violent mental stimulations. On one hand, the stimula-tions can make people happy and excited, which may be the original and important purposes that most gam-blers hanker for. On the other hand, when gamblers are over excited, those stimulations become dangerous things. There have been studies on problem casinos and problem gambler’s psychological issues (such as Gupta & Derevensky, 2000; Ron & Edwards, 2005; Shaffer, Vander, & Hall, 1999, etc.). Some of them simultane-ously pointed out that the psychological pressure does not only exist among gamblers, but also affect casino

employees via gamblers. The main reason is: in this service industry, most casino employees have direct contacts with the customers they serve and the feed- back they get from their customers includes not only things like satisfaction level, job performance, etc. (as often discussed in related studies), but also their customers’ feelings and emotions which are complex and constitute psychological pressure to them. As a result, some casino-employee’s psychological symp-toms are similar to those of problem gamblers. The matters of EPS, from job perspective, can lead to job dissatisfaction, poor job performance, and working frauds. From the individuals’ perspective, it can cause employees’ abuse of tobacco, alcohol, drug and heroin (Shaffer & Hall, 1996). Other problems are also very significant in the casino-group, such as divorce and suicide. The National Opinion Research Center (1999) noted that gambling appears to be a significant factor prior to divorce. 2. Employees’ Workplace Deviant Behavior (WDB) Actually, DWB is not a rare phenomenon, and many employees have attested to having such behaviors (Hsieh et al., 2004). Harper (1990) reported that 33 to 75 per cent of employees have engaged in deviances in their workplace. The DWB produces organizational losses estimated to range from $6 to $200 billion ann-ually (Murphy, 1993). Workplace deviant behavior (WDB) was defined by Robinson & Bennett (1995) as voluntary behaviors that violate significant organ-izational norms and, in doing so, threaten the well-being of an organization, its members or both. Further to that, employee deviance is voluntary in that employ-ees either lack the motivation to conform to normative expectations of the social context or become motivated to violate those expectations (Kaplan, 1975). Previous studies showed that fraud, vandalism, theft, lying, malicious rumors, withholding effect, aggressive beha-vior and sexual harassment are most predominant activities in DWB (Griffin et al., 1998). Casino WDBs are much grimmer than those in other industries, which are commonly found as frauds, cheatings, etc. Nevada Gaming Commission indicated that during 1999 to 2000, one third of theft or cheating

in casinos were committed by the casinos’ own staff members (Derek & Douglas, 2001). Another example, six swindling casino employees, including a senior manager, colluded to defraud in a Scotland casino over 1,000,000 pounds over a four-year period in a scam centered on baccarat. In this case, it was believed that the table supervisors skimmed up to 2,000 pounds a night (Ron & Randy, 2005). Gary et al. (2003) pointed out that employees’ cheatings in casino venues occur in the following ways: (1) tampering with the instruments of gambling; (2) play-employee collusion (e.g. signaling the dealer’s hole card in blackjack, etc.); and (3) miscellaneous scams such as altering bets after the fact. Gary et al. also categorized both directly and indirectly casino-related crimes as follows: (1) illegal gambling, such as bookmaking, keeping a common gaming house and cheating at play; (2) criminogenic problem gamb-ling, such as forgery, embezzlement and fraud; (3) gambling venue crimes that occur in and around

gambling locations, such as loan sharking, money laundering, passing counterfeit currency, theft, etc.; (4) family abuse victimization of family violence, child neglect, suicide and home invasion. A casino-employee as a gambling participant or operator is poss-ible to be lured or even take the initiative in those crime activities. Insiders’ frauds, cheatings and crimes in casino-workplace not only harm customers, organizations and employees themselves but they also derogate public impression of this industry. 3. Employee Turnover Employee turnover is a critical issue to many indu-stries. High turnover and rapid change of employee faces in an organization can affect employees’ com-mitment and incur high costs in recruitment, training, administration, and morale. The Chartered Institution of Personnel and Development (2005) concluded the major reasons for turnover in Figure 1. Employee turnover was high-lighted as the most

/ 27 / / 26 /

Promotion outside theorganisation

Lack of development orcareer opportunities

Change of careerLevel of pay

Level of wordloadLeaving to have/look

after childrenLack of support from line

managersLevel of working hours

I will health(other than stress)Stress of job/role

RelocationOther

Leaving to look after familymembers(other than children)

RetirementRedundancy

0 1011

20 30 40 50 60

Source: Chartered Institution of Personnel and Development (2005)

Figure 1: Key reasons for employee turnover (%)

security, workplace deviant behaviors and other HR chall-enges appear to be not critical and are easy to deal with.

Discussions 1. Employees’ Psychological Security (EPS) EPS gets wide attention in today’s world, which can be described as the level of safety an employee feels in his or her workplace. According to Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory (1987), five basic need levels were categorized: 1. physiological; 2. safety and security; 3. belonging, love, and social; 4. esteem; and 5. self-actualization. Casino employees work long hours in casinos. In this situation, he/she stands a big chance to become a gambler and even problem-gambler. Shaffer and Hall (2002) indicated in their study that casino employees represent a unique and highly vulnerable segment of the population, who have been found to have a much higher rate of gambling disorders because they have a greater access and exposure to gambling as com-pared to the general public. One of the problem-gambler’s matters is psychological problem. In addition, Garry et al. (2003) further explained the casino definition as follows: (1) an element of risk is involved; (2) there is a winner and loser-money, property or other items of value change hands… Lad-ouceur (2002) characterized gambling as follows: (1) players wager money or an object of value; (2) this bet is irreversible once placed; (3) the game’s outcome relies on chance. The change hand of big cash and pro-perty and the chanciness of winning and losing are violent mental stimulations. On one hand, the stimula-tions can make people happy and excited, which may be the original and important purposes that most gam-blers hanker for. On the other hand, when gamblers are over excited, those stimulations become dangerous things. There have been studies on problem casinos and problem gambler’s psychological issues (such as Gupta & Derevensky, 2000; Ron & Edwards, 2005; Shaffer, Vander, & Hall, 1999, etc.). Some of them simultane-ously pointed out that the psychological pressure does not only exist among gamblers, but also affect casino

employees via gamblers. The main reason is: in this service industry, most casino employees have direct contacts with the customers they serve and the feed- back they get from their customers includes not only things like satisfaction level, job performance, etc. (as often discussed in related studies), but also their customers’ feelings and emotions which are complex and constitute psychological pressure to them. As a result, some casino-employee’s psychological symp-toms are similar to those of problem gamblers. The matters of EPS, from job perspective, can lead to job dissatisfaction, poor job performance, and working frauds. From the individuals’ perspective, it can cause employees’ abuse of tobacco, alcohol, drug and heroin (Shaffer & Hall, 1996). Other problems are also very significant in the casino-group, such as divorce and suicide. The National Opinion Research Center (1999) noted that gambling appears to be a significant factor prior to divorce. 2. Employees’ Workplace Deviant Behavior (WDB) Actually, DWB is not a rare phenomenon, and many employees have attested to having such behaviors (Hsieh et al., 2004). Harper (1990) reported that 33 to 75 per cent of employees have engaged in deviances in their workplace. The DWB produces organizational losses estimated to range from $6 to $200 billion ann-ually (Murphy, 1993). Workplace deviant behavior (WDB) was defined by Robinson & Bennett (1995) as voluntary behaviors that violate significant organ-izational norms and, in doing so, threaten the well-being of an organization, its members or both. Further to that, employee deviance is voluntary in that employ-ees either lack the motivation to conform to normative expectations of the social context or become motivated to violate those expectations (Kaplan, 1975). Previous studies showed that fraud, vandalism, theft, lying, malicious rumors, withholding effect, aggressive beha-vior and sexual harassment are most predominant activities in DWB (Griffin et al., 1998). Casino WDBs are much grimmer than those in other industries, which are commonly found as frauds, cheatings, etc. Nevada Gaming Commission indicated that during 1999 to 2000, one third of theft or cheating

in casinos were committed by the casinos’ own staff members (Derek & Douglas, 2001). Another example, six swindling casino employees, including a senior manager, colluded to defraud in a Scotland casino over 1,000,000 pounds over a four-year period in a scam centered on baccarat. In this case, it was believed that the table supervisors skimmed up to 2,000 pounds a night (Ron & Randy, 2005). Gary et al. (2003) pointed out that employees’ cheatings in casino venues occur in the following ways: (1) tampering with the instruments of gambling; (2) play-employee collusion (e.g. signaling the dealer’s hole card in blackjack, etc.); and (3) miscellaneous scams such as altering bets after the fact. Gary et al. also categorized both directly and indirectly casino-related crimes as follows: (1) illegal gambling, such as bookmaking, keeping a common gaming house and cheating at play; (2) criminogenic problem gamb-ling, such as forgery, embezzlement and fraud; (3) gambling venue crimes that occur in and around

gambling locations, such as loan sharking, money laundering, passing counterfeit currency, theft, etc.; (4) family abuse victimization of family violence, child neglect, suicide and home invasion. A casino-employee as a gambling participant or operator is poss-ible to be lured or even take the initiative in those crime activities. Insiders’ frauds, cheatings and crimes in casino-workplace not only harm customers, organizations and employees themselves but they also derogate public impression of this industry. 3. Employee Turnover Employee turnover is a critical issue to many indu-stries. High turnover and rapid change of employee faces in an organization can affect employees’ com-mitment and incur high costs in recruitment, training, administration, and morale. The Chartered Institution of Personnel and Development (2005) concluded the major reasons for turnover in Figure 1. Employee turnover was high-lighted as the most

/ 27 / / 26 /

Promotion outside theorganisation

Lack of development orcareer opportunities

Change of careerLevel of pay

Level of wordloadLeaving to have/look

after childrenLack of support from line

managersLevel of working hours

I will health(other than stress)Stress of job/role

RelocationOther

Leaving to look after familymembers(other than children)

RetirementRedundancy

0 1011

20 30 40 50 60

Source: Chartered Institution of Personnel and Development (2005)

Figure 1: Key reasons for employee turnover (%)

serious problem in this study than other HR factors such as recruitment, training, and job performance/behavior/satisfaction. The tourism and hospitality industry is facing the high turnover problem. This problem is even more serious in the casino industry. Stedham and Mitchell (1996) stated that the casino industry has the highest rate of employee turnover of any major industry. Besides the above reasons for turnover, the respondents in the study also pointed out that other reasons for high volunteer turnover rate in casinos are related to the nature of casino work as mentioned above: psychological pressure and non-safety.

Conclusions and Implications 1. Recruitment and Selection It is important that casinos must divert more efforts on recruiting and selecting potential employees. There are many techniques for human resource managers to test candidates’ qualifications, personality, expertise, and attitude. It is suggested that casino management should adopt a comprehensive testing tool kit to screen out candidates. Only those who meet the job require-ments are able to enter the job brigade. In the casino practices, it is the job of security man-agers to identify comparable job experiences (military training, other casino or private security involvement) and/or graduates from community college police and security programs, and other important attributes that include reliability, trustworthiness, a willingness to learn, good public relations skills, common sense/level-headedness, loyalty to company (Gary et al., 2003). However, it is suggested that those functions should be taken up by the human resources depart-ment. It helps streamline the functions and operations. HR managers of casinos should adopt selection tools to choose employees with better psychological quality, for example, personality tests to assess some important traits such as agreeableness level, the degree to which someone is trusting, amiable, honest, coo-perative, and flexible; and emotional stability, the degree to which someone is secure, calm, indepen-dent, and autonomous (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Psychology tests are widely used in selections,

especially in retail chains, banks, and other service sectors. The tests are available to assess and weed out applicants who might steal on the job. However, some experts worry about validity of the test and question if the test is illegal in certain countries or regions. Gomez-Mejia et al. (2001) suggested that the ques-tions and scoring methods should be the same for applicants, and they should be job related rather than general inquisitions into employees’ personal lives. 2. Training Not only does training help improve employees’ job performance and customer satisfaction but it also helps employees reduce psychological pressure and workplace deviant behaviors. Nowadays, many training programs aim to teach employees how to provide quality service to custom-ers and to protect employees themselves at the same time. In the market, there are tool kits that help casino employees to increase awareness of how to recognize problem gamblers and how to help them, such as Operation Bet Smart, which was developed by Harrah’s Entertainment. In this way, casinoemployees can iden-tify and take effective measures to handle problem gamblers timely. It not only benefits gamblers and organizations, but also minimizes psychological and physical harm to casino employees. Besides the tech-nical training programs, casino employers should provide psychotherapy programs to their employees to help them release psychological pressure. It is suggested that management should offer more training programs for their employees because train-ing can raise the employees’ job satisfaction, reduce turnover rate and maintain loyalty. This suggestion is supported by academics and industrial professionals. Lam et al. (2001) pointed out that training can improve employees’ skills and knowledge so that they will become more satisfied, loyal and committed to their employers. Michand (2001) also noted that companies with the better training methods tend to have a lower turnover number overall. 3. Other Management Skills Raising Salary: low-salary is a major reason for high turnover, job dissatisfaction, poor-performance

/ 29 /

/ 28 /

and other job frauds. Garry et al. (2003) concluded that employee theft is common in gambling venues and has been attributed to the volatile combination of low-paid workers exposed to the temptation of large amounts of rapidly circulating legal tender. Developing Careers: Many organizations view career development as a good way of preventing job burnout, improving the quality of employees’ work lives, and meeting affirmative action goals (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Thompson (1988) exposed that casino employees in Europe typically aspire to careers in the gambling industry and many stay with the same company for the duration of their working lives. Con-sequently, casino employees tend to be loyal and cus-tomer-service oriented because personal success is tied to the casino’s viability. The two-way allegiance between casino management and staff reduces the likelihood of employee theft and cheating scams. Enhancing Administration: In the U.S.A., the Drugs & Crime Prevention Committee (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2004) believes that one of the greatest deterrents to fraud within organizations is a commitment by upper-level management to the prevention of fraud, an understanding of how to achieve the goal of fraud prevention, a set of policies to this end, and communication with employees both directly and through modeling of a fraud prevention ethic.

Limitation This study had some limitation in that the scale of sample respondents was small. Further to that, because of the limitation of time and funding, the interview samples were only chosen from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Most of them are Chinese or with the background of Chinese culture. They may not be representative in other regions. For further studies, the sample size should be enlarged. Future studies can also extend to cover other categories of employees other than those on the front-line.

Conclusions This study is useful for casino operation and future

development. The results describe current challenges of HRM in casinos: employees’ psychological problems, frauds in workplace and turnover. The research suggests that casino HRM should pay greater attention to recruitment and selection, which can protect both individu-als and organizations, and that training could enhance job satisfaction and reduce performance frauds.

References:1. Bennett, R. J. & Robinson, S. L. (2000). Devel- opment of a Measure of Workplace Deviance, Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 349-360.2. Beverley Hancock (1998). An Introduction to Qualitative Research, Trent Focus Group, retrieved on July 15, 2006 from http://www.trentfocus.org. uk/Resources/Qualitative%20Research.pdf.3. Cathy, A. E. (2001). What Keeps You Up at Night? Key Issues of Concern for Lodging Managers, Hotel and Motel Management, 42(2), 38-45.4. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Develop- ment (2001). Labour Turnover, retrieved on June 01 from http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/ BB9DD3D3-5082-4136-9085-D194E9641B5A/ 0/laboursurvey2005.pdf.5. Derek, B. & Douglas, F. (2001). The Sure Hand of Surveillance, Security Management, Septem ber, 87.6. Garry, S., Harold, W., & Tim, H. (2003). Exami- ning Police Records to Assess Gambling Impacts: A Study of Gambling-Related Crime in the City of Edmonton, The Alberta Gaming Research Institute. 7. Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2001). Managing Human Resources, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 8. Government Printer for the State of Victoria (2004). Inquiry into Fraud and Electronic Com- merce (Final Report). 55.9. Griffin, R. W., O’Leary-Kelly, A., & Collins, J. (1998). Dysfunctional Work Behaviors in Organi- zations, Trends in Organizational Behavior, 5, 65-82.10. Gupta, R. & Derevensky, L. J. (2000). Adoles- cents with Gambling Problems from Research to

serious problem in this study than other HR factors such as recruitment, training, and job performance/behavior/satisfaction. The tourism and hospitality industry is facing the high turnover problem. This problem is even more serious in the casino industry. Stedham and Mitchell (1996) stated that the casino industry has the highest rate of employee turnover of any major industry. Besides the above reasons for turnover, the respondents in the study also pointed out that other reasons for high volunteer turnover rate in casinos are related to the nature of casino work as mentioned above: psychological pressure and non-safety.

Conclusions and Implications 1. Recruitment and Selection It is important that casinos must divert more efforts on recruiting and selecting potential employees. There are many techniques for human resource managers to test candidates’ qualifications, personality, expertise, and attitude. It is suggested that casino management should adopt a comprehensive testing tool kit to screen out candidates. Only those who meet the job require-ments are able to enter the job brigade. In the casino practices, it is the job of security man-agers to identify comparable job experiences (military training, other casino or private security involvement) and/or graduates from community college police and security programs, and other important attributes that include reliability, trustworthiness, a willingness to learn, good public relations skills, common sense/level-headedness, loyalty to company (Gary et al., 2003). However, it is suggested that those functions should be taken up by the human resources depart-ment. It helps streamline the functions and operations. HR managers of casinos should adopt selection tools to choose employees with better psychological quality, for example, personality tests to assess some important traits such as agreeableness level, the degree to which someone is trusting, amiable, honest, coo-perative, and flexible; and emotional stability, the degree to which someone is secure, calm, indepen-dent, and autonomous (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Psychology tests are widely used in selections,

especially in retail chains, banks, and other service sectors. The tests are available to assess and weed out applicants who might steal on the job. However, some experts worry about validity of the test and question if the test is illegal in certain countries or regions. Gomez-Mejia et al. (2001) suggested that the ques-tions and scoring methods should be the same for applicants, and they should be job related rather than general inquisitions into employees’ personal lives. 2. Training Not only does training help improve employees’ job performance and customer satisfaction but it also helps employees reduce psychological pressure and workplace deviant behaviors. Nowadays, many training programs aim to teach employees how to provide quality service to custom-ers and to protect employees themselves at the same time. In the market, there are tool kits that help casino employees to increase awareness of how to recognize problem gamblers and how to help them, such as Operation Bet Smart, which was developed by Harrah’s Entertainment. In this way, casinoemployees can iden-tify and take effective measures to handle problem gamblers timely. It not only benefits gamblers and organizations, but also minimizes psychological and physical harm to casino employees. Besides the tech-nical training programs, casino employers should provide psychotherapy programs to their employees to help them release psychological pressure. It is suggested that management should offer more training programs for their employees because train-ing can raise the employees’ job satisfaction, reduce turnover rate and maintain loyalty. This suggestion is supported by academics and industrial professionals. Lam et al. (2001) pointed out that training can improve employees’ skills and knowledge so that they will become more satisfied, loyal and committed to their employers. Michand (2001) also noted that companies with the better training methods tend to have a lower turnover number overall. 3. Other Management Skills Raising Salary: low-salary is a major reason for high turnover, job dissatisfaction, poor-performance

/ 29 /

/ 28 /

and other job frauds. Garry et al. (2003) concluded that employee theft is common in gambling venues and has been attributed to the volatile combination of low-paid workers exposed to the temptation of large amounts of rapidly circulating legal tender. Developing Careers: Many organizations view career development as a good way of preventing job burnout, improving the quality of employees’ work lives, and meeting affirmative action goals (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Thompson (1988) exposed that casino employees in Europe typically aspire to careers in the gambling industry and many stay with the same company for the duration of their working lives. Con-sequently, casino employees tend to be loyal and cus-tomer-service oriented because personal success is tied to the casino’s viability. The two-way allegiance between casino management and staff reduces the likelihood of employee theft and cheating scams. Enhancing Administration: In the U.S.A., the Drugs & Crime Prevention Committee (Government Printer for the State of Victoria, 2004) believes that one of the greatest deterrents to fraud within organizations is a commitment by upper-level management to the prevention of fraud, an understanding of how to achieve the goal of fraud prevention, a set of policies to this end, and communication with employees both directly and through modeling of a fraud prevention ethic.

Limitation This study had some limitation in that the scale of sample respondents was small. Further to that, because of the limitation of time and funding, the interview samples were only chosen from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Most of them are Chinese or with the background of Chinese culture. They may not be representative in other regions. For further studies, the sample size should be enlarged. Future studies can also extend to cover other categories of employees other than those on the front-line.

Conclusions This study is useful for casino operation and future

development. The results describe current challenges of HRM in casinos: employees’ psychological problems, frauds in workplace and turnover. The research suggests that casino HRM should pay greater attention to recruitment and selection, which can protect both individu-als and organizations, and that training could enhance job satisfaction and reduce performance frauds.

References:1. Bennett, R. J. & Robinson, S. L. (2000). Devel- opment of a Measure of Workplace Deviance, Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 349-360.2. Beverley Hancock (1998). An Introduction to Qualitative Research, Trent Focus Group, retrieved on July 15, 2006 from http://www.trentfocus.org. uk/Resources/Qualitative%20Research.pdf.3. Cathy, A. E. (2001). What Keeps You Up at Night? Key Issues of Concern for Lodging Managers, Hotel and Motel Management, 42(2), 38-45.4. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Develop- ment (2001). Labour Turnover, retrieved on June 01 from http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/ BB9DD3D3-5082-4136-9085-D194E9641B5A/ 0/laboursurvey2005.pdf.5. Derek, B. & Douglas, F. (2001). The Sure Hand of Surveillance, Security Management, Septem ber, 87.6. Garry, S., Harold, W., & Tim, H. (2003). Exami- ning Police Records to Assess Gambling Impacts: A Study of Gambling-Related Crime in the City of Edmonton, The Alberta Gaming Research Institute. 7. Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2001). Managing Human Resources, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 8. Government Printer for the State of Victoria (2004). Inquiry into Fraud and Electronic Com- merce (Final Report). 55.9. Griffin, R. W., O’Leary-Kelly, A., & Collins, J. (1998). Dysfunctional Work Behaviors in Organi- zations, Trends in Organizational Behavior, 5, 65-82.10. Gupta, R. & Derevensky, L. J. (2000). Adoles- cents with Gambling Problems from Research to

/ 31 /

/ 30 /

Treatment, Journal of Gambling Studies, 16(2/3). 315-342. 11. Harper, D. (1990). Spotlight abuse—Save profits, Industrial Distribution, 79: 47-51.12. Harrahs Entertainment (2004). Know When to Stop before You Start, retrieved on June 24 from http://www.harrahs.com/about_us.13. Hsieh, A. T., Liang, S. C., & Hsieh, T. H. (2004). Workplace Deviant Behavior and Its Demogra- phic Relationship among Taiwan’s Flight Atten- dants, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 3(1), 19-32.14. Kaplan, H. B. (1975). Self-attitudes and Deviant Behavior, Pacific Palisades, CA: Goodyear.15. Ladouceur, R. (2002). Understanding Gambling and Problem Gambling: a Step in the Right Dir- ection, AGA Responsible Gaming Lecture Series, 1(1), 1-10.16. Lam, T., Zhang, H. Q., & Baum, T. (2001). An Investigation of Employees’ Job Satisfaction: the Case of Hotels in Hong Kong, Tourism Manage- ment, 22. 157-165.17. Long, P. T., Clard, J., & Liston, D. (1994). Win, Lose, or Draw: Gambling with America’s Small Towns. Washington DC: Rural Economic Policy Program, The Aspen Institute. 18. MacIntosh, R. W., Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J. R. B. (1995). Tourism Principles, Practices, Phil- osophies. (7th edition), Chichester: Wiley.19. Maturana, A. H. (1987). Motivation and Person- ality, 3rd ed., Harper Collins Publishers, NY. 293.20. Michand, L. (2001). Turning the Tables on Emp- loyee Turnover, RSI: Roofing Siding, Insulation 78, 15-16. 21. Murphy, K. R. (1993). Honesty in the Workplace, Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.22. National Opinion Research Center (1999). Gam- bling Impact and Behavior Study: Final Report to the National Gambling Impact Study Commi- ssion, Chicago: NORC.23. Park, M., Yang, X. H., Lee, B. K., Jang, Ho-Chan, & Stokowski, P. A. (2002), Segmenting Casino

Gamblers by Involvement profiles: a Colorado Example, Tourism Management, 23 55-65.24. Robinson, S. L., & Bennett, B. J. (1995). A Typ- ology of Workplace Deviance Behaviors: A Mul- tidimensional Scaling Study, Academy of Mana- gement Journal, 38, 555-572.25. Ron, M. & Randy, E. (2005). Employee Fraud in the Casino and Gaming Industry, Internal Audit- ing, 20 (3), 21-31.26. Shaffer, H. J., & Hall, M. N. (1996). Estimating the Prevalence of Adolescent Gambling Disord- ers: A Quantitative Synthesis and Guide toward Standard Gambling Nomenclature, Journal of Gambling Studies, 12, 193-214.27. Shaffer, H. J., & Hall, M. N. (2002). The Natural History of Gambling and Drinking Problems among Casino Employees, Journal of Social Psy- chology, 142(4), 405-424.28. Shaffer, H. J., Vander B. J., & Hall, M. N. (1999). Gambling, Drinking, Smoking and Other Health Risk Activities among Casino Employees, Ame- rican Journal of Industrial Medicine, 36, 365-378.29. Schadler, J. (2004). Creative Recruiting Helps Hotels Attract the Best Employees, Hotel and Motel Management, November (1), 20.30. Stedham, Y., & Mitchell, M. (1996). Voluntary Turnover among Non-Supervisory Casino Em- ployees, Journal of Gambling Studies, 12 (3), 269-290. 31. Thompson, W. (1988). Casinos Without Crimes: Is it Possible? Western Society of Criminology, Monterey, CA.32. Tracey, J. B. (2002). The Strategic and Opera- tional Roles of Human Resources: An Emerging Model, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Adminis- tration Quarterly, 43(4), 17-27.33. Vallen, G. (1993). Gaming in the US—A Ten- year Comparison, Cornell Hotel Restaurant Admi- nistration Quarterly, December, 51-58.34. Yoshihashi, P. (1992). Las Vegas Is Building Lavish Casinos in Bid to Defy Rivals Slump, Wall Street Journal, November (18), A1.

exploring human resource challenges in the casino...

Documents