Chapter 1 Human Resource Management And The Tourism And Hospitality Industry: An Introduction

Chapter 1 Human resource management and the tourism and hospitality industry: an introduction

Review and reflect question 1

If you are currently working in the tourism and hospitality industry whilst completing your studies list what you consider good and bad aspects of your job and reasons for this.

This question is likely to point to a number of issues which recur throughout the book. For example, students may point to the flexible nature of the job which allows for the combining of work and study. As suggested in Chapter 1 and further reiterated in Chapter 4 often there will be a co-incidence of needs between students desire for flexible working and the use of numerical flexibility strategies by tourism and hospitality organizations. Additionally, a number of the skills required for front line work as discussed in Chapters 3 and 5 are those skills which many students will have. Using these skills, such being as being responsive, cheerful and outgoing, can allow employees to interact with the customer in a positive, mutually fulfilling manner to produce high quality service encounters. For a number of students, working in tourism and hospitality also leads to the blurring of work and leisure and often they will socialize with their workmates and sometimes customers. These and other potentially positive aspects of the job may also be offset though by a number of less positive aspects. As organizations seek flexibility it may mean that students have to work unsocial hours or at weekends. They may find the constant use of emotional labour and being courteous and responsive to often rude customers mentally demanding and stressful (as discussed in Chapter 11), especially if the organization uses various monitoring mechanisms to assess their performance (Chapter 8). Relatedly they may also feel that the rewards and remuneration in return for their often well developed ‘soft’ skills is not commensurate with their efforts, something discussed at length in Chapter 9. In short, this question should allow for an appreciation of a number of the paradoxes that are discussed in Chapter 1 and then which recur throughout the book.

Review and reflect question 2

Which definition do you find most persuasive and why?

It is important to recognize the competing ways in which HRM can be classified and understood. In that sense we cannot privilege one definition over another and arguments can be made in support of one or more of the definitions. As suggested in the text, your view will clearly be influenced by whether you are a manager, employee, or academic. Even that though may be oversimplifying the issue. For example, a personnel/HRM manager who has undertaken a CIPD qualification may argue strongly for HRM as a set of professional practices. On the other hand a manager with more general management responsibilities may suggest that HRM should principally be seen in a market-driven manner. The same could be said for academics, some who are teaching on CIPD-accredited courses may subscribe to the view of HRM as professional practice, whilst more critical academics may see HRM as being inherently exploitative and manipulative. Review and reflect question 3 & HRM in practice 1.1

Reflecting on your answers from the first review and reflect question to what extent do the good and bad aspects you listed equate to hard or soft aspects of HRM?

What review and reflect question 1 and 2 allow is an appreciation of the multiple ways in which work and employment can be characterized and experienced. Review and reflect question 3 and HRM in practice 1.1 merely seek to further illustrate this point, drawing on the particular idea of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ HRM. Whilst organizations may talk of people as their greatest asset there are clearly circumstances when this may not necessarily be true. The airline industry is a particularly good example of this point, especially in the aftermath of 9/11 and the global downturn in air travel. Indeed, some theorists would argue that it would be more sensible to recognize that hard HRM is more likely to reflect organizational realities much better than soft HRM, leaving much less of a gap between rhetoric and reality. Organizations would therefore dispense with the language of soft HRM to a large extent. As Vaughan (1994: 29) has argued:

It would be sensible for HRM writers and practitioners to break with Romantic traditions … The assurances that HRM gives to employees must be changed at least. It is one thing to tell employees that they are doing a good job, or to offer them incentives to do better, or to keep them informed on management’s thinking, quite another to declare commitment and loyalty to them and give them the impression that they will be protected by their leaders. This is plainly ludicrous.

That said, this proposition could lead to some interesting mission and value statements, as discussed in Chapter 3. It is highly unlikely that we would ever see any organization proclaiming:

‘Our people are our greatest asset’*

*except when we there is a downturn in business and then they will be very much expendable in order that we remain efficient and competitive

Review and reflect question 4 and HRM in practice 1.2

Think of an organization that you are familiar with, for example where you are currently working or one where you have spent time on placement, to what extent do their HR practices evidence either a best fit or best practice approach? What would you characterize it as best fit or best practice?

Question 4 and HRM in practice 1.2 point to the manner again in which HRM strategy and practice can vary enormously. The question in particular allows students to think about how their own experiences can be located within broader theoretical debates about HRM. HRM in practice 1.2 also offer a template of what good practice looks like within the context of hospitality and tourism. In considering good practice students may also wish to consider companies which have been nominated for the Best Places to Work Award. Details of this scheme can be found at: http://www.caterersearch.com/onlineteam/bptw/index.html Amongst other things this site has a profile of companies who have entered this competition which can be found at http://www.caterersearch.com/onlineteam/bptw/employerspotlights.html This part of the site should not be read uncritically though as it should be borne in mind that the profiles are written by the companies themselves explaining why they feel they should be considered an employer of choice.

At the end of Chapter 1 it should be clear that there are no easy answers in attempting to understand HRM, both at the level of strategy and practice and that there is a need to accept the contested and potentially fluid, elusive and ambiguous nature of HRM.

Reference

Vaughan, E. ‘The trial between sense and sentiment: a reflection on the language of HRM’, Journal of General Management, 19, 3, 20-32.