HRM In Hospitality Sector INTRODUCTION Background of the Study "Employees are the most valuable resources of comparison in the service (software, banking, management consultancy, etc.) sector. Like all other resources of the company, the employees possess value because of providing future services." One of the most important indicators of a company’s performance is the level of dedication of its employees. Despite of various resources and supplies a company might require, human resource (HR) is the most important resource because without labor force no business can be done. People within a company design and produce goods and services, control quality, allocate financial resources, market the products, set overall strategies and objectives for the company, etc. So ultimately human resource management (HRM) is an important part of nearly every organization. The rapidly changing environment has made, is on, human resource management (HRM) in the Hospitality Industry. The rapidly changing hospitality industry and the sophistication of travelers requires more nimble, opportunistic and tightly executed strategies. Hospitality Firms who are effective at strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation are able to create value in a highly competitive marketplace. One of the most important departments of any hotel staff is human resources management. they intend to maintain the status quo, without implementing much in the way of innovative HRM strategies or Auro University Page 1
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HRM In Hospitality Sector
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
"Employees are the most valuable resources of comparison in the service (software, banking,
management consultancy, etc.) sector. Like all other resources of the company, the employees
possess value because of providing future services." One of the most important indicators of a
company’s performance is the level of dedication of its employees. Despite of various resources
and supplies a company might require, human resource (HR) is the most important resource
because without labor force no business can be done. People within a company design and
produce goods and services, control quality, allocate financial resources, market the products, set
overall strategies and objectives for the company, etc. So ultimately human resource
management (HRM) is an important part of nearly every organization.
The rapidly changing environment has made, is on, human resource management (HRM) in the
Hospitality Industry. The rapidly changing hospitality industry and the sophistication of travelers
requires more nimble, opportunistic and tightly executed strategies. Hospitality Firms who are
effective at strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation are able to create value in a
highly competitive marketplace. One of the most important departments of any hotel staff is
human resources management. they intend to maintain the status quo, without implementing
much in the way of innovative HRM strategies or practices. They believe that finding the right
people is the most important issue, and that people’s personality and characteristics such as
enthusiasm, energy, positive attitudes, positive values, and language proficiency, are the most
important factors in hiring future employees, particularly at the entry level.
A number of researchers (Cetron et al. 2006; Henry et al. 2004; Holjevac 2003; Lu 2005; Tanke
2001; Watson et al. 2002; Woods 1999) have attempted to forecast the future HRM challenges
confronting the hospitality industry. Although high technology and information system have
replaced many traditional and administrative functions, such as payroll and records maintenance,
it is not possible to replace service employees in an intensive ‘hands on’ customer service
culture. Therefore, Holjevac (2003) predicts that employees will continue to be the most
important assets of hotels, and that training and development remains an imperative, permanent
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and continuing activity. Both management and employees need to have the idea of lifelong
learning and training, and it will become a significant part of work life at all levels (Cetron et al.
2006).
Statement of the Problem
The hospitality industry revolves around people: guests and the employees serving them.
Combined with the fact that hospitality is highly competitive and fast-paced, it's no wonder
human resources departments encounter myriad problems on a daily basis. The problems
encountered are:
Turnover and Retention:
A poorly managed restaurant or hotel is an invitation for employee turnover. Losing employees
for nearly any reason is a costly undertaking because of the time and finances involved for HR to
locate, interview, hire and train new staff members. Hospitality is an exciting field with the
potential for lots of action. The phrase "never a dull moment" certainly applies. However, for
some employees, serving people can be especially taxing work causing high levels of stress,
which many employees find they simply cannot tolerate.
Non-existent Policies and Procedures:
In the hospitality field, HR may find itself mired in legal proceedings such as unemployment
hearings and employment-related lawsuits. Many hospitality businesses, particularly smaller
ones, are fail to maintain accurate and current employee documentation. Without this type of
supporting documentation, HR department, and thus business, may find itself at the mercy of the
courts. HR personnel know that employment law favors employees to ensure they are not being
unfairly treated or taken advantage of. Accurate and timely documentation is often business's
only defense.
Inexperienced Managers: Frequently in hospitality, managers are asked to oversee departments
with many employees. Just as often, managers are not properly trained to be effective but are
rather thrown into a position of authority without the benefit of experience or adequate
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management skills. Untrained or inexperienced managers can result in an entire department of
inefficient, disgruntled employees. Managers who don't know what their jobs encompass can
become frustrated and counterproductive, creating a negative trickle-down effect on their
employees.
Harassment Claims:
The adverse impact of harassment occurring in your hospitality business can affect your entire
staff. In a hotel or restaurant environment, there may be ample opportunity for harassment in all
its detrimental forms. Harassment is a situation HR is charged with preventing and, if it occurs,
resolving. Employees who are suffering through episodes of harassment become fearful and are
unable to properly perform their jobs or concentrate on providing the best service for your
guests. HR is charged with investigating and possibly firing or relocating involved employees.
Theft:
Restaurants and hotels usually have a large supply of expensive wine, unlimited food, and high-
end equipment. Some employees can't resist the temptation to steal these items from you. Theft
of this type is unfortunately commonplace in the hospitality industry and is extremely costly to
your business. Though HR may try to instill a sense of loyalty in employees, it often is not
enough to alleviate this cost.
Safety Problems:
Employees in the hospitality industry frequently find themselves in unsafe situations as part of
their jobs. HR professionals realize the importance of following occupational safety rules to
avoid injuries and lawsuits. However, many HR personnel find that their hotel or restaurant has
no safety rules in place, or that rules that are in place are not being followed. With so many
opportunities for injury -- on ladders, in the kitchen, with breaking glass, cleaning chemicals, and
more -- it becomes a considerable HR worry to ensure safety rules are followed.
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Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this research is to investigate the human resources management
issues identified as important to HRM managers operating in the hospitality Industry.
The themes to be explored include the human resource management issues which human
resource managers identify as being of concern to the industry and their own
organisation;
the specific strategies and practices they employ to engage with them; and the further
developments they are planning for the future.
Significance of the Study
The main importance of this research is to investigate the human resources management issues
identified as important to HRM managers operating in the hospitality industry. The themes to be
explored include the human resource management issues which human resource managers
identify as being of concern to the industry and their own organisation; the specific strategies and
practices they employ to engage with them; and the further developments they are planning for
the future. The study explores the way managers are thinking about contemporary HRM issues,
concerns, and practices, and their plans for development for the future, in the context of the
hospitality Industry in. It provides insight which should be helpful for hoteliers, enabling them to
compare their perspectives and opinions with the `aggregated data and literature presented in this
study. Hopefully, it will encourage them to consider more strategically and systematically the
things they can do to more effectively position their HRM efforts.
Scope and Limitations of the StudyScope of the Study
This study was intended to generate data and insights that are relevant to the hotel
industry .The major scope of this study are that it adds contemporary data to a research which is
scarce. These studies have been single focus studies, and at least two of them can be accessed,
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for varying reasons. By focusing on HRM thinking at a bigger picture or more strategic level, as
well as asking questions about the way specific practices are understood and deployed, this study
has filled a substantial gap in knowledge about the state of the industry. Its
case study is unique, in trying to place the HRM issues of hotel industry in the context of HRM
practice in the region, and in the hotel industry globally.
Limitations of the Study
This study was intended to generate data and insights that are relevant to the hotel industry .
However, there are some limitations regarding the generalisation of the results presented here.
The study was limited to the most senior managers responsible for human resource management.
Many researchers in the HRM field rely heavily on a management perspective in response to
current practices and business performance rather than direct observation.The integration of the
views of all levels of staff and customers would provide a better range of responses and give a
more balanced analysis. Inaddition, the fact that the respondents were not executives meant that
theperspectives of that group have not been represented here, an important gap given
the assumptions that some respondents made about the priorities and views of top management
and owners.The target of this research was international chain hotels and domestic chain
hotels. This research sample covered 2 hotels. This is not good sample and the data and findings
cannot reasonably be expected to provide a sound guide to thinking and practice across the chain
hotels. However, chain hotels represent a larger scale of operation and so these results should not
be generalised to smaller hotels. These are normally family-owned business and previous
research suggests that HRM is not as well developed – or even recognised – in that context .So
the results of this study cannot be viewed as representative of the hotel industry as a whole.
Definition
Hospitality:
The Oxford English dictionary hospitality is defined as:“the act or practice of being hospitable;
the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers”.
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Accrding to Lashley (2000) the Joint Hospitality industry Congress defines hospitality as ‘The
Provision of food and/or drink and/or accommodation away from home’.The Higher Education
Funding Council –England’s Hospitality Review Panel defined hospitality as being ‘the
Provision of food and /or drink and/or accommodation in a service context’, furthermore the
Nottingham group defined ‘Hsopitality Is a contemporaneous exchange designed to enhance
mutuality (well being) for the parties involved through the provision of food and/or drink and/ or
accommodation ’.
King (1995)
King (1995) identifies a difference between private and commercial hospitality, where private is
Defined as‘acts by individuals towards individuals in a private setting such as the home ’and
Commercial hospitality is defined as‘meals,beverage,lodging and entertainment provided for
profit’.
King also provides us with four necessary parts of hospitality :
1. A relation between individuals, a host-guest relationship
2. This relation can be commercial or private (in a commercial relation the guest has the
obligation to pay and to behave reasonably, the guest has the power as opposed to private
hospitality where an equality of power is assumed)
3. A key element is having knowledge of what would invoke great pleasure in the
4. Hospitality is a process that includes arrival, which involves greeting and making the
Guest feel welcome… and departure.
These parts of hospitality might clarify what hospitality is but again looks at it from a consumer
(market) side and not from the sector perspective.
Brymer and Huffman
Accrding to Brymer and Huffman the hospitality industry is‘an umbrella term used to encompass
The many and varied businesses that cater guests’ . This statement indicates that they also
recognise the difficulty in limiting the scope of the hospitality industry.
They however like Angelo and Vladimir find some major segments in the hospitality industry,
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namely: ‘food service, lodging, travel and tourism, and meeting and convention planning’.This
would mean that the tourism industry, as we discussed before is not a real industry, would be an
integral part of the hospitality industry
Human Resource Management (HRM):
There have been many attempts to define what exactly HRM might be and indeed Heery and
Noon (2001) recognize that it is a subject of considerable academic analysis and that, ultimately,
‘there is no common agreement on what HRM means. Resultantly, they offer 10 definitions,
which they feel capture the complexity and dynamism of HRM as a subject of academic study:
● A label HRM is seen as simply being another name for personnel management and there is
nothing distinct or special about HRM.
● A convenient shorthand term that allows for the grouping together of a whole series of sub-
disciplines that are broadly concerned with people management:such as employee relations,
industrial/labour relations, personnel management and organizational behaviour.
● A map to help guide students and practitioners to understand the concept and ideas associated
with the management of people.
● Aset of professional practices suggests that there are a range of personnel practices that can be
integrated to ensure a professional approach to managing people. In this view a potentially key
role is likely to be played by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD),
which is the professional association for those entering the HR and personnel profession.
● A method of ensuring internal fit again sees the need to co-ordinate approaches to people
management, but here the co-ordination needs to be with other areas of the organization.
● A method of ensuring external fit where HRM activities have to be fully integrated with the
demands of the external environment.
● A competitive advantage where HRM is the means by which an organization cangain
competitive advantage, a view best captured by the cliché of ‘our people are our greatest asset’.
● A market-driven approach is that decisions will often be market driven and the needs of the
business determine the manner in which employees are treated; some may be treated well, others
less so well.
● A manipulative device sees it as inherently exploitative and manipulative.
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● A hologram captures much of the above discussion in recognizing the fluid identity
of HRM and the fact that it has multiple meanings.
Best fit
One of the earliest and most influential attempts to develop a model that recognized the need for
a fit between the competitive strategy and HRM was that offered by Schuler and Jackson (1987).
Schuler and Jackson developed a series of typologies of ‘needed role behaviours’ that enabled
the link between competitive strategy and HRM practices to be made. The type of needed role
behaviours within Schuler and Jackson’s model was contingent on the overall strategies that an
organization could adopt to seek competitive advantage and the HRM approached adopted to
sustain this.
Best practice
Whilst arguments for best fit advocate a close fit between competitive strategies and HRM, those
in favour of best practice approaches to HRM suggest that there is a universal ‘one best way’ to
manage people. By adopting a best practice approach it is argued that organizations will see
enhanced commitment from employees leading to improved organizational performance, higher
levels of service quality and ultimately increases in productivity and profitability, Usually
couched in terms of ‘bundles’, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high
commitment and performance model are generally fairly consistent. For example, Redman and
Matthews (1998) outline a range of HR practices which are suggested as being important to
organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service:
● Recruitment and selection: Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitudinal and
behavioural characteristics. A range of assessments in the selection process should be utilized to
evaluate the work values, personality, interpersonal skills and problem-solving abilities of
potential employees to assess their ‘service orientation’.
● Retention: The need to avoid the development of a ‘turnover culture’, which may of course be
particularly prevalent in tourism and hospitality. For example, the use of ‘retention bonuses’ to
influence employees to stay.
● Teamwork: The use of semi-autonomous, cross-process and multi-functional teams.
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● Training and development: The need to equip operative level staff with team working and
interpersonal skills to develop their ‘service orientation’ and managers with a new leadership
style which encourages a move to a more facilitative and coaching style of managing.
● Appraisal: Moving away from traditional top down approaches to appraisal and supporting
things such as customer evaluation, peer review, team-based performance and the appraisal of
managers by subordinates. Generally, all of these performance appraisal systems should focus on
the quality goals of the organization and the behaviours of employees needed to sustain these.
● Rewarding quality: A need for a much more creative system of rewards and in particular the
need to payment systems that reward employees for attaining quality goals.
● Job security: Promises of job security are seen as an essential component of any overall quality
approach.
● Employee involvement and employee relations: By seeking greater involvement from
employees the emphasis is on offering autonomy, creativity, co-operation and self-control in
work processes. The use of educative and participative mechanisms, such as team briefings and
quality circles are allied to changes in the organization of work which support an ‘empowered’
environment.
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REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The service intensive hotels depends heavily on its HR, the main part of Hospitality Industry. In
each subsector, the most highest investments, the most modern equipment and luxurious
buildings will fail if the human/personnel aspect of the organization is not carefully taken care
of. Human resources (HR) are the most important resource hotels have since when we talk of
hospitality we talk of a service, where the person who delivers it, is a vital part. Both the client
and supplier affect service and human resources development is the starting point for success in
hospitality organizations. Thus, the tourism industry and specially the hotel sector, considering
its main characteristics, more than any other sector, faces the need to put in practice the human
resources management (HRM) practices. Wood (in Baum, Amoah e Spivack, 1997) refer that
mainly because of the personal service nature of the work involved, in most developed countries,
both indusstry employees and wider society view hotel and catering labour as a relatively low
status. Besides, the hotel sector has some important features that need specific strategies namely,
a high proportion of unskilled labour; a set of competencies that are easily transferable between
hotel units; high turnover rates; low wages (unskilled nature of the work creates an excess of
supply that keep wages down).
Riley (1991) also refers to the subjective nature of standards i.e. every worker’s output is judged
subjectively because concepts like “hospitality” and “service” cannot be measured formally. The
negative employment image of the sector is the result of a set of historic and contemporary
factors (Baum, Amoah e Spivack, 1997:222): “the origin of hospitality work within domestic
service and its consequent association with servility; links, in some countries between hospitality
employment and colonial legacy; widespread use of expatriate labour in many developing
countries, creating the perception that the sector is one offering only limited opportunity for
promotion and progression; widespread exposure to work in the sector as a first working
experience, resulting in generalised assessment based on limited exposure”. Still, in what
concerns features in hotel working, to those who work directly with clients, hours of work are
traditionally dictated by the client’s needs and by the employment contract. Another dichotomy
can be established between those who are in management positions and those who are not. The
first ones work several hours according to the needs of the hotel and not according to specific
and well defined shifts of work. Since usually extra hours of work are not paid to workers in
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management positions, organizations actually have more hours of work from their employees
without more expenses.
To those who live in hotels, it may happens that being officially “off” they are at the same time
available to solve some problem that may appears and needs attention. In what concerns those
workers that are not in management positions hours of work vary from country to country
(Hornsey e Dann, 1984). However, working in shifts is also common and as well for these
workers there is a large reluctance in paying extra-hours of work. They are too subjected to hours
of work that are not paid and are not expressed in working shifts. The HRM process is put in
practice in organizations through planning, organization, development, co-ordination, and
control of a set of techniques that are able to promote an efficient and effective performance
from all those who work in the organisation (Dessler, 1984). Promoting the management of all
activities in organisation in order to attract, develop, motivate and maintain a high performance
workforce, HRM marked itself away from personnel management which applied only
techniques of a operative nature with no relation to management in general. In opposite terms,
HRM has a proactive and strategic nature where HR are important assets of the organization,
managed accordingly to the established long range objectives. Besides, acts on the culture level
of the organization, in a holistic and integral perspective of managing people, where the
performance of each employee is an important contributor to efficient and competitive
organisations. Moreover, HRM is seen as a management activity, and consequently a
responsibility of all managers (Beaumont, 1993). In what concerns defining the HRM concept
there are several authors that pinpoint the need to distinguish between managing resources and
managing people.
Namely, Torrington, Hall & Taylor (2002) refer that in personnel management people who work
in the organization are the starting point, i.e. personnel managers direct their efforts to mediate
the relationships between employers and employees. Contrasting with this perspective, HRM is
directed to management needs in terms of resources to hire and develop. The emphasis is put on
planning and monitoring and not on simple mediation. Problem solving is made with all
managers involved in the question being discussed instead of debate between employees and/or
their representatives. Literature also refer that HRM is totally associated with the interests of
management since it is a generic management activity relatively distant from workforce as a
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whole. Organizations face intensified competition and their survival can not only be based in
identifying market opportunities but in the adequate match between the needs of that market and
a productive, stable and responsible workforce. Given the established objectives, putting in
practice the correct HRM practices allows organizations to anticipate and deal with change,
either internal or external, in a more advantageous way. HR strategy must not only be integrated
with the overall organisational strategy but also must direct it. Only this way can organizations
manage for the future, anticipate problems, stay close to costumers, ahead of competitors and, at
the same time, promoting a strong organisational culture. Both capital and people intensive,
hospitality organizations face the problem of assuring a high performance from their HR given
the sector working conditions. HRM faces in the near future enormous challenges, specially in
the hotel sector, in the difficult task of leading managers and owners to treat HR with respect
and, at the same time, helping them to find new and original ways to release in those persons
talents and capacities trough training and development programs. The present study aims to
approach the importance of HR in hospitality organizations and giving the working conditions in
the hotel sector, to emphasise the vital role of HRM.
This paper draws on a number of sources (Brown et al., 2001; DfEE, 2000; HtF, 2000; 2000a;
2001; 2001a; 2002; IDS, 2001; 2001a; 2002; 2002a) to offer a brief review of the context in
which organisations in the hospitality industry are making their HRM choices. Hospitality is,
without doubt, one of the most important industries in the UK,contributing around 5 per cent of
UK GDP and 25 per cent of foreign invisible earnings. The industry employs 1.9 million people,
which denotes 7.3 per cent of total employment 26 in the UK. Moreover the sector is set for
substantial job growth in coming years, with the National Training Organisation (NTO) for the
sector, the Hospitality Training Foundation (HtF), suggesting that the sector is likely to create
300,000 new jobs between 2002 and 2009 (HtF, 2001). The majority of employees in hospitality,
around 1.1 million, are in the commercial sector of the industry, which consists of pubs, clubs
and bars, restaurants, hotels and contract catering. The remaining number are in the hospitality
services sector, where the main function of the business is not hospitality, for example hospital
catering, school meals and so on. Within the commercial sector the vast majority of businesses
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are SMEs, many owner-operated. This arguably creates particular problems in relation to
attempts to sustain ‘best practice’ HRM, of which more soon.
The DTI (1999) indicated that 99.8 per cent of hotel and restaurant businesses employed less
than 50 persons in 1998. Indeed, across the commercial sector small or micro businesses with
between one and ten employees make up 90 per cent of business. This is particularly pronounced
in the restaurant sector where 94 per cent of businesses employ ten or less employees. Those
businesses employing 25 or more employees consist of only 3.6 per cent of all establishments but
employ 45 per cent of the hospitality workforce. The majority of these larger employers are
found in the hotel sector, with an increasing number of these being brand or chain affiliated.
Indeed, this point is equally true of the restaurant and pubs clubs and bars sub-sectors. As the
HtF (2001a) notes experts within the industry project major growth in branded products, such as
budget hotels, pubs, café bars and coffee and sandwich shops, and a major decline in small and
independent pubs and small bed and breakfast establishments. There is a preponderance of
women and young people within the hospitality workforce. Women make up around 67 per cent
of the workforce, reflecting that hospitality has a higher proportion of part time employees (57
per cent) than most other industries. Young people are also prominent within the sector, for
example employees under 21 make up 7 Interestingly, as part of the re-organisation of the NTO
network into the new Sector Skills Councils (SSC), hospitality as represented by the HtF, is part
of a broader formal expression of interest to become a SSC for the hospitality, leisure, travel and
tourism sector. It will be instructive to see whether the submission wins one of the approximately
25 available licenses from the Sector Skills Development 27 around 40 per cent of the workforce
within the fast food sector. Related to this last point a significant part of the workforce consists
of student, seasonal and migrant workers8. Only 3.4 per cent of employees in hospitality have a
degree or equivalent compared to an all industry figure of 16.9 per cent.
Around 25 per cent of employees have gone no further than O level or GCSE, with 18.5 per cent
of the workforce having no qualification compared to 11.5 per cent of the total workforce.
Despite the introduction of the national minimum wage (NMW) hospitality remains a poorly
remunerated sector with employees receiving lower pay than their counterparts in all other
industries and services. For example, average gross earnings for adult full time employees in the
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hotel and restaurant sector were £289.1 a week in 2001, the lowest of the main 17 industrial
categories. The average gross earnings figure can also be compared to average earnings in the
whole economy, which were £444 per week. Indeed, the New Earnings Survey for 2001 found
that four of the ten lowest paid occupations are to be found in the hospitality industry. In the pub
and restaurant sector the majority of companies have minimum rates at or near NMW rates9.
Compared to most other sectors, hospitality has higher than average levels of labour shortages
and labour turnover. For example, the annual survey of labour turnover undertaken by the
Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD) in 2001 notes that hospitality, with a labour
turnover rate of 55.3 per cent, was second only to retail and the wholesale industry at 58 per cent.
It is also noteworthy that unsatisfactory pay is the main specified reason (25.6 per cent) for those
who had left hospitality jobs. To date, this section has largely talked of the hospitality sector as a
relatively homogenous sector.
However, recognising the earlier discussion of differing product market strategies, it is worth
reiterating the point that the industry, and particularly the commercial sector, is anything but
homogenous. Most obviously the heterogeneity is Agency, thus qualifying the sector as being
one considered to be ‘economically and strategically important’ (IRS, 2002: 5) 8 An interesting
recent example of this was reported in the Caterer and Hotelkeeper (‘Serbian students ease
Claridge’s staff problems’, 5 July 2001, p. 4) which noted how Claridge’s hotel, part of the
Savoy group’s five star properties, was using students from Serbia to address labour shortages. 9
That is not to say that the NMW has had no impact on the hospitality workforce. Indeed, a large
proportion of the 2 million or so workers who had their wage raised by the NMW were in the
hospitality industry. For example, HtF (2001a) recognises that around 30 per cent of hotel and
restaurant employees were earning below the rate at which the NMW was set in 1997. 28
exemplified by the predominance of SMEs. Equally though within the key sub-sectors of hotels,
restaurants and pubs and bars there is considerable diversity in terms of market offerings and the
increasing emergence of the importance of niche segments. For example, a particularly
noteworthy development within the hotel sector is the rise of budget hotels. In 1998 this sector
accounted for 554 hotels and by 2003 it is expected that this figure will have risen to 1,169.
Equally of interest is the rise in speciality coffee bars the number of which has increased by 60
per cent since 1997. This translates into an estimated 1,900 branded chain outlets, a figure that is
expected to rise to 2,700 by December 2004 (Gibbons, 2002).
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This recognition of diversity within the various sub-sectors is important and has implications for
both competitive strategies and related approaches to HRM. As the DfEE (2000) notes two star
hotels tend to compete with other two star hotels within their immediate area and not three star
hotels. Likewise fast food restaurants and Michelin starred restaurants will compete in
completely different and separately defined consumer and labour markets. The DfEE (2000: 18)
goes on to recognise that, ‘The diversity of products, operational scales and technologies makes
it difficult to compare the overall degree of product complexity among sub-sectors, because,
essentially, the “products” are actually services – and these have diverse components.’
Importantly, the report also notes the implication of this point for skills. ‘The degree of
complexity of products, both in terms of scale and sophistication, had implications for the range
and levels of skills required.’ Clearly, then, this sectoral profile offers a number of structural
features that may be inimical to sustaining good practice HRM. Aspects like the predominance
of small businesses and a youthful, part-time, female and lowly qualified workforce may mean,
as Keep and Mayhew (1999a) argue, the relatively low level of skills in the hospitality sector is a
‘third order problem’. Therefore although the low skills base in hospitality is potentially
problematic.
Keep and Mayhew (1999a: 7) suggest that ‘it is not the main [problem] and is often contingent
upon other structural factors.’ Thus the first order problem is the ownership structure of the
industry and the predominance of very small, 29 owner-managed micro businesses. Secondly,
within the hospitality sector generally competitive strategy is based on cost based competition.
These product market choices then give rise to and serve to exacerbate the second order problem
of the structure of the labour market and poor personnel management. Some of the issues
emerging from this second order problem will be further addressed later in the paper with a
review of examples of ‘bad’ and ‘good’ HRM practice in hospitality. At this point though we
aim to further explore some of the issues emerging from the predominance of small businesses.
As we have just noted SMEs play a crucial role in the hospitality industry and consequently there
is a need to consider in greater detail the specific exigencies facing these organisations. In
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particular, this section on SMEs will consider potential ways to increase owner-manager learning
and upskilling, which in turn is likely to impact on SMEs human resources practices.
HRM Issues In The Hotel Industry Globally Employee turnover has been one of the biggest
concerns in the hotel industry for a long time (Hinkin &Tracey, 2000). The hotel industry
globally suffers from high staff turnover levels, which is a pervasive and serious problem
resulting in high direct expenditure as well as intangible costs (Cheng &Brown, 1998; Hinkin
&Tracey, 2000). Hinkin and Tracey (2000) suggested the indirect costs related to turnover
account for more than half of the total costs involved in turnover. Simons and Hinkin (2001)
contended that employee turnover is more costly for luxury hotels than for lower budget
hotels,due to the more sophisticated operating and training systems of the former. There are
many different factors that impact on turnover rates. Riegel (2002) argues that turnover is the
consequence of a complicated series of dynamics, which include the obvious ones of job
dissatisfaction and limited organizational commitment that influence employee attitudes and
ultimately affect employee behavior. Mobley (1982) suggested that the reasons for turnover in
general include dissatisfaction with work; availability of attractive alternatives; external factors
like housing, transportation, or physical environment; and personal factors like illness or injury.
Hinkin and Tracey (2000) added poor supervision, a poor working environment, and inadequate
compensation to that list. They further suggested that some managers do not understand the
relationship between employee retention and company profitability, and accept turnover as a
necessary evil. The issue of turnover has attracted
many researchers' attention in different countries. Powell and Wood (1999) suggested one of the
most significant problems in the hotel industry worldwide is 'brain drain', because the skills and
qualifications gained in hotel sectors are easily transferable to others. Cheng and Brown (1998)
explored the views of HR managers on the strategic management of employee turnover in
medium-to -large hotels in Australia and Singapore. They suggested that the most effective
mechanisms for minimizing turnover are initial recruitment and selection. They recommended a
greater focus on internal recruitment and development, which create career path options, as a
means to reduce staff turnover levels. They also noted induction and socialization that effectively
acculturate newcomers into the organization; and training and development that demonstrates the
willingness of an organization to invest in people which in turn lead to an increase in employees'
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commitment and job satisfaction. At a more fundamental level, Iverson and Deery (1997)
investigated 'turnover culture' in six five-star hotels in Melbourne, Australia and suggested that
the hotel industry has actually created a turnover culture, where there is a normative belief in the
legitimacy of relatively high labor turnover. This point has been subsequently endorsed by
Hinkin and Tracey (2000). Iverson and Deery suggested a strategic switch to promoting a
permanent employment culture and developing an internal labor market to reduce the growth of a
turnover culture. They advocate that managers need to improve communication channels and
highlight the organization's aim for long-term employment during induction programmes, and
also need to develop career path programmes in order to increase employee commitment and the
retention of trained and qualified employees. In the Asian context, Zhang and Wu (2004) noted
that among human resource challenges facing China's hotel industry, high staff turnover rates
constitute one of the key issues.
Best fit vs. best practice?
Boxall and Purcell (2000) suggest that attempts to understand the way in which organizations
approach the management of their HR can be seen with regard to whether they aim for ‘best fit’
or ‘best practice’. On the one hand, the best fit school argues for an approach to HRM, which is
fully integrated with the specific organizationa land environmental context in which they
operate. On the other hand,best practice advocates argue for a universalistic approach to HRM
where all firms who adopt a range of agreed HR policies and practices are more likely to create a
high-performance/commitment workplace, as organizations aim to compete on the basis of high
quality and productivity.
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THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
In hospitality industry the job of HR manager can be compare with the job of conductor, whose
job is to instruct and direct all of the various musicians so that they can perform well together.
But before a conductor can direct a beautiful performance, all of the individual musicians must
be able to play their instruments well. What kind of performance could one can expect if the
violinists did not know how to play their instruments or the flutists could not read music?
So it is in the hospitality industry, before a manager can direct and shape employee’s
individual contributions into an efficient whole, he or she must first turn employees into
competent workers who know how to do their jobs. Employees are the musicians of the orchestra
that the members of the audience-the-guests-have come to watch performance. If employees are
not skilled at their jobs, then the performance they give will get bad reviews. Just as an orchestra
can have a fine musical score from a great composer and still perform poorly because of
incompetent musicians, so a hotel can have a finest standard recipes, service procedures and
quality standards and still have dissatisfied guests because of poor employee performance.
That is why properly managing human resources is so important. No other industry
provides so much contact between employees and customers and so many opportunities to either
reinforce a positive experience or create a negative one.
As in the five-star hotel and five-star deluxe hotel there are around lots of employee are
involved in different jobs in different fields there is dire need to look and control on them. No
doubt different department’s heads are present to look their department employee, but HRD is a
place, which supervise and effectively communicate with these departments head and
communicate with the top management. Thus there function is very large and diverse as
compared with respect to different department’s heads.
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General Manager
Personnel Director
Personnel Manager
Personnel Officer
Personnel Research & Development Officer
TrainingDepartment
PersonnelDepartment
Operative TrainingSupervisory Training
Management TrainingTraining Instruction
Training Aids & Equipments
WelfareTrainingRecruitmentMaintaining Payroll
HRM In Hospitality Sector
3.1.1 Personnel Department of A Typical Five Star Hotel
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FIGURE 1: Johar Journal,2012
HRM In Hospitality Sector
3.1.2 Personnel Policies of HR
The personnel function in a hotel includes many activities such as:
≈ Consideration of leadership style
≈ Relationship
≈ Responsibilities
≈ Philosophy
≈ Social orientation
≈ Organizational structure
In most of the hotels the personnel policies are put in writing. These policies are distributed to
key and responsible executive to provide guidance and ensure consistent application.
Periodically the HRD review these policies.
3.2 COMMUNICATION IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Communication is the most important and most used of all skills in the hospitality
industry.
Talking Back for Success
The president of Hyatt Hotels makes it a practice to hold “gripe sessions” with small groups
of employees.
Managers at Earls restaurants make the rounds of all tables to inquire about the food and
the service.
The American Automobiles Associations uses an 800-number to makes its products and
services more accessible to customers and to gather information regarding what
customers are thinking and doing.
At United Airlines, managers are encouraged to get out of their offices and engage in
informal exchanges with employees.
What do Hyatt Hotels, Earls restaurants, the American Automobiles Association, and
United Airlines have in common? For one thing, they will all tell you that effective
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communication makes good business sense. More importantly, they all “practice what hey
preach”.
These and other service leaders in the hospitality industry communicate on a frequent and
regular basis with their customers, suppliers and employees. They are well aware that honest
feedback from stakeholders is the ultimate driving force behind organizational success, for it
is this feedback that fuels any efforts at self-improvement, both internally and in the
marketplace.
3.3 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING
Human Resource Planning (HRP) is the first aspect of human resource process. It is very
commonly understood as the process of forecasting an organization’s future demand for, and of,
the right type of people in the right number. It is only after this that HRM department can initiate
a recruitment and selection process. HRP is the sub-system in the total organizational planning.
HRP is important for:
≈ The future personnel needs
≈ To cope up with change
≈ To create highly talented personnel
≈ For the protection of weaker sections
≈ For the international expansion strategy of the company
≈ It is the foundation for personnel functions
The list is infact never ending. HRP actually has become an inevitable part of HRM process.
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OrganizationalObjectives & Policies
HR Demand Forecast HR Supply Forecast
HR Programming
HRP Implementation
Control and Evaluation of Program
Environment
Surplus Shortage
HRM In Hospitality Sector
3.3.1 The HRP Process
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FIGURE 2: Johar Journal,2012
HRM In Hospitality Sector
Organizational Objectives & Policies
HR plans need to be based on organizational objectives. In practice, this implies that the
objectives of the HR plan must be derived from organizational objectives. Specific
requirements in terms of number and characteristics of employees should be derived from the
organizational objectives.
HR Demand Forecast
Demand forecasting must consider several factors – both external as well as internal. Among
the external factors are competition, economic climate, laws and regulatory bodies, changes
in technology and social factors. Internal factors include budget constraints, production
levels, new products and services, organizational structure and employee separations.
HR Supply Forecast
The next logical step for the management is to determine whether it will be able to procure
the required number of personnel and the sources for such procurement. This information is
provided by supply forecasting. Supply forecasting measures the number of people likely to
be available from within and outside an organization, after making allowance for
absenteeism, internal movements and promotions, wastage and changes in hours and other
conditions of work.
HR Programming
Once an organization’s personnel demand and supply are forecast, the two must be
reconciled or balanced in order that vacancies can be filled by the right employees at the right
time. HR programming is the third step in the planning process, therefore, assumes greater
importance.
HR Plan Implementation
Implementation requires converting an HR plan into action. A series of action programmes
are initiated as a part of HR plan implementation. Some such programmes are recruitment,
selection and placement; training and development; retraining and redeployment; the
retention plan; the redundancy plan; and the succession plan.
Control and Evaluation
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Control and evaluation represents the fifth and the final phase in the HRP process. The HR
plan should include budgets, targets and standards. It should also clarify responsibilities for
implementation and control, and establish reporting procedures which will enable
achievements to be monitored against the plan. These may simply report on the numbers
employed against establishment and on the numbers recruited against the recruitment targets.
But they should also report employment costs against the budget, and trends in wastage and
employment ratios.
3.4 JOB ANALYSIS
In order to achieve effective HRP, the duties involved and the skills required for performing all
the jobs in an organization have to be taken care of. This knowledge is gained through job
analysis. In simple words, job analysis may be understood as a process of collecting information
about the job. Specifically, job analysis involves the following steps:
Collecting and recording job information.
Checking the job information for accuracy.
Writing job description based on the information.
Using the information to determine the skills, abilities and knowledge that are required on
the job.
Updating the information from time to time.
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HRM In Hospitality Sector
3.4.1 Job Analysis Process
RECRUITMENT
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Job Analysis
A Process of Obtaining all Pertinent Job Facts
Job Description
A statement containing items such as
Job title Location Job Summary Duties Machines, tools & equipment Materials & form used Supervision given or received Working conditions Hazards
Job Specification
A statement of human qualifications necessary to do the job. Usually contains such items as
Education Experience Training Judgement Initiative Physical efforts & Physical skills Responsibilities Communication skills Emotional characteristics Unusual sensory demands such as
sight, smell, hearing.
FIGURE 3: Johar Journal,2012
HRM In Hospitality Sector
3.5 Recruitment
Recruitment is understood as the process of searching for and obtaining applicants for jobs, from
among whom the right people can be selected. Recruitment is the process of finding qualified
people and encouraging them to apply for work with the firm.
3.5.1 Managerial Roles
Responsibility for the overall recruitment process is assigned to human resources
managers. They are responsible for designing and implementing a recruitment program that will
meet the hospitality industry’s personnel needs while complying with all legal requirements.
This responsibility includes finding sources of applicants; writing and placing advertisements;
contacting schools; agencies and labour unions; establishing procedures to guarantee equal
employment opportunity; and administering the funds the firm has budgeted for recruitment..
3.5.2 Recruitment Process
HR practices its function in each and every stages of recruitment. The process comprises five