Policy Dimensions of Human Resource Management in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries

by

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to highlight the significant features and the developments of the labour markets of the hospitality and tourism industry. Moreover, the study also analyses how the human resource practices have evolved and grown at micro as well as macro levels, in temrs of identification, recruitment and selection, training and development, and retention of “talented” employees. This study identifies the changing nature of the hospitality and tourism labour market, and concludes by analysing the effect talent management strategies can bring to the overall human resource management practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. The aim of the study was to analyse the policy dimensions of HRM in the tourism and hospitality industry. In the context of the tourism and hospitality work, talent can be considered a slightly problematic concept. Talent management cannot be viewed as a simple process, especially within homogeneous, large and hierarchical organisations. Similarly, talent management in a complex and weak labour market, which is present in most tourism and hospitality organisations, should take an open-minded approach and focus on not just key or high performing employees, but on all the employees, and train and develop them. These training and development program should provide development opportunities for all the staff and through these programs enhance their skills and knowledge sets.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIV

INTRODUCTION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM1

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH PROBLEM3

CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION5

The Rise of Leisure Industries5

Tourism and Hospitality Labour: A Reflection of Global Dynamics6

HR in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry8

Significance of Recruiting11

Industry Labour Shortage12

APPLIED, EVALUATIVE CONCLUSION14

Evolution of Human Resource Management14

The Human Touch14

Keeping things Balanced17

HR Challenges18

Service Leadership Practices19

Human Resource Management Practices19

Service Encounter Practices20

Service Systems Practices21

Customer Service Training22

Benefits of Customer Service Training25

Implications for practitioners26

Conclusions27

REFLECTIVE REPORT29

REFERENCES31

Acknowledgements

This study has been a hard work of six months, and many people have helped me achieve this goal. I would like to take this opportunity and thank my friends and family for their unending support and guidance. Moreover, i would also like to thank my supervisor for the support and guidance needed for the completion of this study. Without them, this would not have been possible.

Introduction of Research Problem

The hospitality and tourism industry has always been unable in attracting and retaining qualified and talented employees (Wong, 2004). Some of the causes for high turnover in this labour-intensive industry (Jenkins, 2001) is that tourism and hospitality management graduates join the industry and take management positions, only to find out that they had created unrealistic expectations regarding income and the workload. Moreover, there is lack of proper training, which makes it more difficult to manage the workload.

This difficulty faced by hospitality firms and specifically the MICE industry to hire employees, combined with the increased need for human resources and inadequate sources from which to draw trained employees presents a problem which must be rectified.

Although, the hospitality and tourism industry is nowadays concerned with brining innovation and creating new products, the main focus of the industry continues to ...