CAREER PLANNING FOR HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM

Career planning for hospitality and tourism

Career planning for hospitality and tourism

Introduction

The scale of the tourism, hospitality and leisure industry is enormous. It has become the world's largest employer and, despite the global financial crisis, it is predicted that the decline in international tourism arrivals may have bottomed out. It encompasses virtually every country and culture and has its foundations. According to Baum (2006), in the semi-feudal European society, today the hotel industry has multiple facets. In this discussion we will focus mainly upon larger hotels, it is acknowledged that the industry as a whole is primarily made up of small and micro businesses.

We here focus upon specific hospitality covering the application of SHRM in hospitality, generational influences and change, training, skills and service quality, impacts of technology upon the workforce, high performance work places (HPWP), actualization of the workforce and outsourcing. It summarizes the views of a number of industry executives and posits several conclusions and possible future directions for HRM in the hospitality industry.

Development of human resource management

The welfare and administration of HRM identifies a rigid and mechanistic process simply dealing with the mechanics of having employees and the need to hire, pay, and fire. A company aligned with this process was run by line managers who performed this function with administrative assistance. It is similar to the classical management approach that follows Taylor's scientific management principles and places emphasis on the drive for productivity rather than on individual employees.

The next stage moved to incorporate staffing and training and saw the resurgence of unionism and behavioural science. In management theory the HR movement began to make a significant impact with the famous 'Hawthorne experiment' and the neo HR approach of theorists that showed that the way in which employees were treated and consideration of their motivations were critical factors in achieving productivity.

HRM in hospitality (Red Carnation Hotel)

Woods (1999) proposed that HRM in the hospitality industry is at a crossroads where either HRM will evolve and adapt and become more important in Red carnation hotel will disappear and be replaced by outsourcing and technology. Woods further suggests that the type of hotel and the work culture that exists will determine which of these possibilities eventuates in each organization. HRM may become the integral component of the organization following the SHRM model but this requires a shift from administrative to strategic, from a functional to business based model.

According to a review, concerning HRM in five leading hospitality journals Lucas and Deery (2004) found that HRM research in hospitality predominately replicate mainstream HRM research. They suggest that HRM hospitality researchers should look at a number of key issues including the ownership of career development and the boundary-less career, the role of HRM in managing the 24/7 work environment, the impact of shift work on health, and managing the safety and wellbeing of employees in dangerous environments. There is also a need to examine the conflict between the cultural values of the owners and managers of large global ...