Managing for Productivity in the Hospitality Industry © Robert Christie Mill This work is licensed under a Creative Commons-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Contents About the author ............................................................................................................1 Robert Christie Mill ..................................................................................................................1 Preface .............................................................................................................................2 Why should we be concerned about productivity and what can we do about it?............2 How do we hire productive employees? ...............................................................................3 How can workplaces and jobs be designed to maximize employee productivity? .........3 How can employees be motivated to be productive? ..........................................................4 Chapter 1 Defining productivity ...................................................................................7 1.1 The challenges of productivity ..........................................................................................7 Impact on the hospitality industry .................................................................................7 Life cycle of the hospitality industry ..............................................................................7 Nature of the industry .....................................................................................................8 Undervaluing of human resources ................................................................................9 1.2 Traditional definitions of productivity .............................................................................9 Inflation-proof measures ................................................................................................9 Contemporary trends ....................................................................................................10 1.3 A model for improving productivity ...............................................................................11 Output .............................................................................................................................11 Input ................................................................................................................................11 Process ............................................................................................................................12 Define output .................................................................................................................12 Describe the symptoms ................................................................................................12 Verify the symptoms .....................................................................................................12 Identify trends ................................................................................................................13 Identify critical areas .....................................................................................................13 Identify critical principles ..............................................................................................14 Make comparisons ........................................................................................................15 Suggest solutions ...........................................................................................................15 Test and compare ..........................................................................................................15 1.4 Summary ...........................................................................................................................16 1.5 Suggested readings ..........................................................................................................16 Chapter 2 Hiring productive people ...........................................................................17 2.1 The changing hospitality employee ...............................................................................17 2.2 Women...............................................................................................................................17 Barriers to promoting women .....................................................................................19 Policies to attract and keep women ............................................................................20 2.3 Hispanics ...........................................................................................................................21 Barriers to hiring Hispanics ..........................................................................................22 Policies to attract and keep Hispanics .........................................................................23 2.4 Older workers ...................................................................................................................23 Barriers to hiring the older worker ..............................................................................24 Policies to attract and keep older workers .................................................................25 2.5 The handicapped..............................................................................................................26 Barriers to hiring the handicapped .............................................................................27 Policies to attract and keep the handicapped ............................................................28 2.6 Part-time employees .......................................................................................................30 Barriers to hiring part-time employees .......................................................................30 Policies to attract and keep part-time employees .....................................................30 2.7 Summary ..........................................................................................................................31 2.8 Suggested readings ..........................................................................................................31 2.9 Locating the older workers in the US.............................................................................32 2.10 Locating the handicapped workers in the US .............................................................32 2.11 Appendix: understanding the employee of the future..............................................33 Debbie .............................................................................................................................33 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................34 Solidad .............................................................................................................................35 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................36 Al ......................................................................................................................................36 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................37 Charlotte .........................................................................................................................38 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................38 Art ....................................................................................................................................39 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................39 Frank ................................................................................................................................39 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................40 Nancy ...............................................................................................................................41 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................41 Maria ...............................................................................................................................42 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................43 Audrey .............................................................................................................................43 Supervisor's comments .................................................................................................43 Chapter 3 Improving productivity: designing the workplace..................................45 3.1 Objectives of facility planning .........................................................................................45 3.2 Planning the type of facility .............................................................................................46 Market analysis ..............................................................................................................46 Menu development .......................................................................................................46 Food preparation ...........................................................................................................47