Research Topics: International Hotel Industry

IMPACT OF KEY HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES ON MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN IDENTIFIED SEGMENTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL INDUSTRY

Introduction Human resources could be considered a division of the general science of management. Since the management of human resource or people must be integrated with the management of the hotel, because people comprise the hotel enterprise and the labor needed for it to function, human resource is therefore also a function and responsibility of the management. Human resource management has become one of the main assets in business era. The proper management of human resources is significant in determining the success of a certain organisation. Making awareness of management value and the ability to manage the human resources in an organisation-wide will have great impact on progress results. According to Lipiec (2001), human resource management is defined as the process of coordinating an organisation’s human resources, or employees, to meet organisational goals. Thus, determination and evaluation of recruits should be considered such as employee recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits, professional development, safety and health, forecasting, and labour relations. Actually, the formulated human resource management model should respond in maintaining a diverse workforce, dealing with major technological changes, keeping up with governmental regulations, handling corporate restructuring and downsizing, and formulating strategies essential to personnel management. In addition, good HRM model also considers training and motivations of recruits in order to have high and quality performance. The obvious, direct route to high performance would seem to be the discovery of those motivational wellsprings that drive human action. Motivation to action starts with awareness of the situation’s existence and an understanding of its structure. It moves on to interpret and analyse the situation’s implications for personally desired or undesired outcomes, then proceeds to determination of preference for a suitable behavioural  response and ends with assessment of what response to choose and the appropriate level of energy with which to apply that response (Beer et al., 1984, p. 1).             In international organizations and industries which have expanded over the years, the problem of a satisfactory organization arises. Authority, responsibility, labor, and functions within the organization would then need to be segregated or divided. This division of the organization is needed as this would help in making the industry run smoothly. Although this segregation can help the organization in many other ways aside from working efficiently, it also comes with it the problem of managing a compartmentalized and large organization (Handy, 1995). Because of these increasing problems, organizations and industries – like the hospitality industry – are faced with the problem and responsibility of developing the managerial skills of their people. A large number of people within the organization has to be equipped with the needed managerial skills given the fact that these organizations are very large ones and needs to be managed by each department or division.   Context In the above introduction, it was made clear that human resource is the function and responsibility of the management. Thus whatever that occurs in the human resources will likely have an impact on the management strategy of an organization, and could significantly affect the quality of service of the international hotel industry. Developing managerial skills in organizations is definitely a must for organizations. In the field of the hospitality industry, human resource management is vital. Hospitality services are other hospitality activities that take place within other parts of the economy. When we speak of hospitality services, these are mainly concerned with the provision of food, beverage and other services in areas such as hotels, in-flight catering, and meals in schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, care homes and prisons. The importance of being able to offer hotel customers a high quality experience was unquestionable (Fie, 2006). By definition, the hospitality industry epitomizes customer service. Anyone who has ever stayed or worked in a hotel knows that outstanding guest services are par for the course in running a successful property. When profits and occupancies are high, it is easily taken for granted. Along with quality, empowerment is on its way to redefining management in the 1990s. They are intimately related. The quality of service delivered by staff is linked to higher management training. The work force in most the hotel industry is young. Young management, by nature, are insecure, and insecure management abuse power. And therefore hotels have a tremendous emphasis on management training in interviewing, counseling, and building relationships with employees. Employees are encouraged to do what they think is right in order to take care of guests. There are restrictions, but employees given the right to make decisions that need to be made on the spot. Different economic, social, legal and political factors create particular cultures and diverse employment systems. Trade union membership is low but in some countries collective agreements have been extended to cover all workers. Knowledge boundaries need extending to convey a view of employment relations that is not western-centric and drawn from ‘Anglo’ countries (Lucas, 2003). Employment relations in the British hospitality workplaces are different on a national and private service sector comparison. Employment policies and practices continue to conform to the management-driven ‘unbridled individualism’ thesis, based on cost-control, but may also reflect a more affiliated and liberal managerial approach within a customer-service ethos. Employees are not necessarily alienated, and may trade off low pay for other compensations demonstrating ‘enfranchised realism’ (Lucas, 2003). The employment relationship is both transactional and relational, and may also reflect ‘resigned realism’ and exploitation. Hospitality employees are different, providing more compelling evidence that trade unions face an even more daunting task in attempting to recruit members and organize workplaces. We need to develop our understanding of why managers and employees do not share commonly held assumptions of ‘good’ employment relations. We also need to determine how far the employment relationship, rather than the personal values of employees, affects the state of the psychological contract (Lucas, 2003). Today, in contrast with many decades ago, there is little overt opposition in any large organization, private, nonprofit, or public, in industrialized or developing countries, to the general belief that management development is a vital necessity (Sims, 2002). There is little overt resistance, and there is often enthusiasm, among managers for participating in such programs. This is true, in part, because the nature of managerial behavior constantly changes as the result of new research findings and the development of an impressive array of management techniques and approaches by both the analytic and behavioral science schools. Most large organizations, as a result, are meeting their managerial needs by educating professional managers in special management development programs (Mailick & Stumpf, 1998). Quality service not only in hotels, but in other service industries as well, requires its human resource to possess key attributes. The most important of which is the acquisition of management and leadership qualities. Human resource personnel in the hospitality industry must know and practice the business functions of planning, directing, controlling, staffing, coordinating and evaluating hospitality operations. Leadership qualities include being able to develop vision that when implemented adds value to an operation. A leader whose vision has no strategic planning and action is like a manager who plans to fail because he failed to plan. Taking action within the parameters of operation demonstrates leadership potential. Other leadership skills/qualities include staying in a learning mode, promoting team concepts as human resource management develop people. Human resource must develop the greatest abilities: accountability, credibility, reliability, and responsibility (Brotherton, 2003). Quality is the hotel industry’s hedge against economic erosion. The economics are changing. The big annual increase in room rates is not possible in most places, and room rates are not able to keep pace with increased operating costs or rising labor costs. The only way to protect hotels’ bottom lines and maintain customer loyalty over the long haul is to keep on adding technology, improving skills, and motivating staff. The company’s goal and not only the employees personal goal is achieved if there is proper implementation of a human resource model. With regards to ever-changing environment forces, the company should be aware of these changes and formulate long term solutions about the problems (Williams, Lloyd C. 1995). The company should anticipate accurately the possibly effect of ever-changing environment forces in order to avoid downfall of business. Apparently, changes in government regulations may also affect HRM models such attributes of recruits. Executives worldwide are concerned with the effectiveness and value of the human resource function. Whether a company is streamlining HR processes, redefining the relationship between human resources and the line, or defining new competencies for HR professionals, one fact is perfectly clear. The role of the human resource function is dramatically changing (Schuler and Walker, 1990). Such changes are influenced by many critical issues affecting a firm. This stimulated the emergence of HR as a general management responsibility.   Conclusion In the face of globalization, the role of management in hospitality industries is therefore changing. Its focus has long been on “getting the right people into the right places at the right times” through recruitment, succession management, training, and other forms of development, of which this need is more pronounced in the hospitality industry. And as the “places” have changed from static boxes on an organizational chart to strategic and business goals, so the role has come to encompass the implementation of these new strategies and plans. There are a number of management development programs and many industries use a variety of these techniques and methods. The responsibility of the international hotel industry and the human resource department does not stop after the training of their people. There is also a need to do a good job of evaluating their management development initiatives. There is no reason to neglect this important activity, given the high cost of most management development programs and how easy it is to measure their effectiveness.     References Barrick, M.R., Ryan, A.M., & Schmitt, N. 2003. Personality and Work: Reconsidering the Role of Personality in Organizations. Jossey-Bass. Beer, M., Spector, B., Lawrence, P., Mills, D. and Walton, R. 1984. Managing Human Assets, Free Press, New York, NY.ER, Vol..26, p.6 Brotherton, B. 2003. The International Hospitality Industry. Butterworth Heinemann. Bruce, K. & Nyland, C. 2001. Scientific Management, Institutionalism, and Business Stabilization: 1903-1923. Journal of Economic Issues. Brush, R. 1997. Managing Quality Organizations in the US Hospitality Sector”, in Foley, M., Lennon, J., Maxwell, G. (Eds), Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management: Issues in Strategy and Culture, Cassell. Butkus, R.T. & Green, T.B. 1999. Motivation, Beliefs and Organizational Transformation. Quorum Books. Dotchin, J.A., Oakland, J.S. 1994. Total Quality Management in Services. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 11 No.3, pp.27-42. Fie, D.Y.G. 2006. Measuring Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction of the Hotels in Malaysia: Malaysian, Asian and non-Asian Hotel Guests. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Gee, C.Y. 1994. International Hotels: Development and Management. East Lansing: AHMA. Handy, C. 1995. Beyond Certainty – The Changing World of Organizations. Hutchinson. Hoque, K. 1999. New Approaches to HRM in the UK Hotel Industry. Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 9 No.2, pp.64-76. Juwaheer, T.D., & Ross, D.L. 2003. A Study of Hotel Guest Perceptions in Mauritius. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 15 No 2. Lipiec, Jacek. 2001. Human Resources Management Perspective at the Turn of the Century. Public Personnel Management, Vol. 30. Kamdampully, J. 1997. Quality Service in Tourism, in Foley, M., Lennon, J., Maxwell, G. (Eds), Tourism and Leisure Management: Issues in Strategy and Culture, Cassell. Mailick, S. & Stumpf, S.A. 1998. Learning Theory in the Practice of Management Development: Evolution and Applications. Quorum Books. Maxwell, G., Watson, S. & Quail, S. 2004. Quality Service in the International Hotel Sector. A Catalyst for Strategic Human Resource Development? Journal of European Industrial Training Vol 28 No 2. Mayo, C. 1997. The Hospitality Industry: Choices, Options, and Opportunities for the 21st Century. The Black Collegian. McCracken, M., Wallace, M. 2000. Towards a Redefinition of Strategic HRD”, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 24 No.8, pp.425-67. Rosenberg, D. 2000. A Manager’s Guide to Hiring the Best Person for Every Job. Wiley. Sims, R.R. 2002. Organizational Success Through Effective Human Resources Management. Quorum Books. Weinstein, J. 2003. Survival Strategies: HOTELS Research Examines Where the Industry id Cutting Costs and Focusing Marketing Efforts to Weather the “Perfect Storm.” Hotels. Wong, K.K.F. 2004. Industry-Specific and General Environmental Factors Impacting on Hotel Employment. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol 16, No 5.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

IMPACT OF KEY HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES ON MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN IDENTIFIED SEGMENTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL INDUSTRY

Introduction Human resources could be considered a division of the general science of management. Since the management of human res...

International HRM

International HRM: Expatriation of Employees Companies have already begun to rethink and reorganize their traditional international strategies due to the globalization of markets and the ever-growing competition in the international business arena (Holdrege and Mohr 2004). For multinational companies to be successful in the global market and remain their competitive edge against other companies, they must develop strategies that will transact business that will take advantage of global resources and markets (Briscoe and Schuler 2004). As managements begin to develop and implement global strategies, they also begin to concern themselves with issues regarding global human resources. Undeniably, HR (Human Resources) issues, according to Briscoe and Schuler (2004), are among the most critical issues for the success of multinational companies.             The function of international human resource management (HRM) can be viewed as the principal provider of the “soft” coordination instruments; as a result, its importance has increased tremendously (2001).  (1992) states that globalization along with relative alterations in strategies has changed the role and content of international HRM and has brought it closer to the strategic core of business. The four international HRM tasks are known to increase the coordination of globally dispersed activities in multinational companies as it underpins the development and functioning of an integrated network on strategic, organizational and individual levels: (1) international transfer of managers, (2) provision of management training, (3) use of international teams, and (4) design and implementation of performance evaluation and reward systems (Holdrege and Mohr 2004). It must be noted though that as there is increasing significance of international HRM in the field of international management, past researches has been limited in three ways: First, numerous existing studies have analyzed problems associated with the expatriation of employees (i.e. Tung 1987, Boyacigiller 1990, Bandai 1992, Haring 2001, Shay and Back 2004, Law et al. 2004) while other aspects on international HRM issues are less tackled frequently; Second, most researches have directed towards operative problems associated with the implementation of HR policies under different environmental situations while important strategic facets of international HRM have received only inadequate attention; Finally, existing studies are known to focus only in certain countries or regions like the Asia-Pacific (i.e. De Cirri and Dowling 1997, Bee et al. 2003, Rowley et al. 2004), Mexico (i.e. Paik and Teagarden, 1995 Gomez 2004) or Eastern Europe (i.e. Holdrege and Wedge 1998, Fey at al. 2000, Weinstein and Bolo 2002) rather than addressing rarely on wide issues faced by multinational companies. This paper will be addressing the issues on expatriation of employees. Liu (2005) states that there is a relationship between the number of overseas assignments and employees’ intentions to leave. This paper will evaluate and assess the relationship between expatriates’ assignment experiences and turnover intention. In addition, challenges of the cross-cultural management to organizations will be identified and evaluated as well. In relation to this, the cultural theory will be applied to practical situations in the international HRM. Theoretical perspectives in association to the challenges in expatriating . Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

International HRM

International HRM: Expatriation of Employees Companies have already begun to rethink and reorganize their traditional international strat...