HRM IN HOTEL INDUSTRY

HRM in Hotel Industry



HRM in Hotel Industry

Introduction

As far as growing recognition of environmental impacts, a hotel industry response evolved in step with international efforts towards sustainable development. In the mid-1980's a United Nations General Assembly's task force, the World Commission on Environment and Development, considered environmental concerns and proposed strategies to address them on a global scale. The researchers known as Bohdanowicz, Branko, and Martinac in 2005 described criticism concerning environmental impacts associated with the hotel industry's services and operations over the ensuing decades along with a flourish of environmental assessment and certification programs that have subsequently been developed or adopted within the industry. A number of studies have been undertaken to identify hurdles to adoption of sustainable initiatives in the hotel industry. An informational interview will be conducted from the General Manager of Hotel Industry. Therefore, all the issues related to the role of Human Resource Management in hotel industry will be discussed in detail.

Overview of the Hotel Industry

Despite a continued focus on sustainability within the hotel industry, low customer demand and stakeholder pressures have acted as disincentives to the proliferation of sustainable initiatives. A number of studies further suggest that within the tourism industry at large, the expectation that the public sector will take the lead on local environmental management is prevalent. An early assessment that the hospitality industry will no longer be able to ignore its environmental impact as it will have to respond to a number of pressures in part because the green tourist will demand green accommodations, which is not born out in practice. Considered from the hotel manager's perspective, studies suggest that customer satisfaction is of primary consideration and environmental concerns appear to have been prioritized accordingly (Wiese & Buckley, 1998, 49).

Additional studies undertaken in the United Kingdom suggest that the implementation of sustainable initiatives is simply not a tourism industry prerogative. As one study noted, anecdotal evidence would suggest that of more concern than cost savings to the hotelier is the impact of environmental initiatives on the perceived quality and service of the hotel. A survey of Swedish and Polish hotel managers' likewise notes a corresponding lack of attention to sustainability initiatives among hotel managers mainly due to lack of customer interest (Chung, 2000, 487).

Disincentives to implementing sustainable initiatives may also be perpetuated by influential stakeholder groups. It is considered from a strategic control perspective, a study of the hotel sector found that managers were not under pressure from any of the stakeholders to improve the hotel's environmental standing and consequently did not view environmental maintenance as a matter of particular concern. A Danish study of hotel managers likewise found that where individual businesses might be expected to adopt sustainability measures either on ethical grounds, or more likely out of self-interest such as anticipated costs savings or long-term enhancements of a company's image, efforts were undermined by pressures from investors interested in short-term gains alone. Such limitations in the private sector were touched on in interviews ...