Human Resources and Tourism

Skills, Culture and Industry

Darren Lee-Ross, Josephine Pryce

• Publisher: Channel View Publications
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781845412432
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

The tourism industry provides employment for literally millions of individuals. Despite global recessions, terrorist attacks and other catastrophes this is likely to remain unchanged in the long-term. Resilience of this nature helps tourism remain a major global employer in both developed and emerging economies. The important role played by tourism workers cannot be overstated; some argue that they actually define the product on offer. Accordingly, mediocre or poor performance gives rise to an unremarkable service experience or one to which customers would not return willingly. The inextricable link between the calibre and performance of staff and service delivery is a key issue for human resources management. This challenge is further complicated by a number of structural characteristics including: dominance of unaffiliated small to medium-sized organizations; high levels of labour turnover; and a heterogeneous workforce with individuals having a wide variety of cultural differences and employment aspirations. This book accounts for the above factors using an approach which is part prescriptive and part enquiry or research-oriented. In doing so, espoused 'HRM convention' may be understood against 'HRM in practice'. Additionally, by using this method we hope to instil a sense of enquiry in the reader. This is a necessary intellectual asset for the future and will also allow the individual to make a positive contribution in the workplace.

CHAPTER 1

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND THE TOURISM CONTEXT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After working through this chapter you should be able to:

1. Understand the difficulties involved in attempting to define the tourism industry.

2. Identify the differences between personnel management and human resource management.

3. Understand the nature of services.

4. Identify the main challenges involved in establishing a human resource management strategy.

INTRODUCTION

The tourism industry is often described as complex, involving many dissimilar but related organisations along a supply chain (for example, consider the differences between an online travel agency and a luxury hotel). However, for those operating in the same subsector, strategic competitive advantage is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve. This is despite firms subscribing to any number of available quality accreditations and certification schemes (for example, see ISO 9001, Michelin, EHQ, AA and RAC, RACQ, Green Globe, Tourism Accreditation Australia Ltd, Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council, UNWTO and so on). Seeking competitive advantage through accreditation may raise quality standards but also tends toward everyone offering a similar product, especially those participating in the same schemes. Points of differentiation or uniqueness become obscured, resulting in the delivery of a standardised service.

It has long been argued that people perform the most important role in tourism organisations. This is because, in an ever-frenetic marketplace, employees have the potential to provide a point of differentiation and thus competitive advantage within a sea of relative homogeneity (Kandampully, 2002). Indeed, the relationship between front-line tourism workers and overall customer perceptions of service quality cannot be overstated. Maxwell et al. (2004) consider employees as ‘service performers’ and comment:

[...] [staff] are central to service quality, so too is their management. (p. 162)

The implied link between effective staff management (or human resource management – HRM) and performance through service quality is acknowledged by a number of researchers. Notwithstanding the inherent challenges of establishing reliable metrics, many agree that a relationship exists between them. Gilbert and Guerrier (1997) consider this link to be positive along with Hoque (1999) and Mohinder (2004), who note that tourism firms using service quality-oriented HRM approaches tend to perform better than those that fail to make the association.

Garavan (1995) says much the same but emphasises the pursuit of service quality as a catalyst for engaging in HRM. Cheng and Brown (1998) consider the link between human resource management and organisational objectives to be a key enabler of effective recruitment, development, motivation and retention of staff in pursuit of competitive advantage. Chand and Katou’s (2007) study of Indian hotels confirms the global currency of HRM upon organisational performance. Specifically they consider human resource management systems important catalysts for:

• multiskilling and experience;
• harmonised terms and conditions of employment;
• formal manpower planning;
• career planning;
• flexible jobs;
• cross cultural job design; and
• formal induction and training systems.

Others sharing this view include Grönroos (1994), Pitt et al. (1995) and Nolan (2002). Earlier, Guest (1987) argued that quality of staff, quality of performance and public image of the firm are key determinants of an effective HRM strategy.

It would therefore seem reasonable to argue that HRM, service quality and competitive advantage are inextricably linked. We can therefore begin to appreciate the central role played by HRM in tourism organisations. The aim of this chapter is to introduce some notions of HRM and overview the nature of services. It also considers the difficulty of defining the tourism industry and comments on some of its uniquely challenging characteristics in an HRM context.

Critical note

The relationship between front-line workers and service quality cannot be overstated; HRM service quality and competitive advantage are inextricably linked.

HRM: TOWARDS A DEFINITION

Most international HR practitioners and associated professional bodies, such as the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel Development would no doubt agree with the assertion that organisational effectiveness is down to managing human resources. Indeed, there is a body of scientific evidence to support such a statement. However, what exactly is meant by the term human resource management (HRM)? More prescriptive ideas of HRM often use notions of ‘personnel management’ in order to make their point. Chronologically, the latter precedes the former and is often understood as ‘operational’ and exclusively managed and administrated by a separate personnel department. Human resources management is commonly understood to have a broader and more integrated organisational remit. Synergistically, Thachappilly (2009) considers personnel management to concern employment contracts, disciplinary issues and compensation. Human resources management views workers as high-value business resources and essential in gaining strategic competitive advantage. In short, the main differences between the two are summarised in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 A comparison of Personnel and HRM

Personnel	HRM
Administrative, traditional and routine tasks including dealing with employment law, payroll and other associated activities	Has a broad remit and considers workers as the primary resource contributing to organisational performance
Reactive in nature providing responses as demands and crises arise	Proactive in nature through continuous development strategies to manage and develop an organisation’s workforce
Independent function of an organization through personnel department	Integral part of overall company function involving all managers
Holds that employee satisfaction motivates workers to improve performance through compensation schemes, bonuses, rewards, and the simplification of work responsibilities	Holds that improved performance leads to employee satisfaction through work groups/teams, ‘challenge strategies’ and job creativity

However, are these differences ‘real’? Legge (1995) argues that differences only occur in the emphasis of particular aspects. She also asks whether HRM is a covert process of worker manipulation by management and notes rather cynically, after Fowler (1987), that: ‘HRM represents the discovery of personnel management by chief executives’ (p. 76). Whether one sympathises with Legge’s insightful commentary or not, there is no doubt that a universally appropriate definition of HRM is hard to come by. Wikipedia’s online definition of HRM is comprehensive:

[...] the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation’s most valued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. In simple sense, HRM means employing people, developing their resources, utilizing maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management. Accessed February 2009)

However, it is non-specific and merely serves to reinforce the idea (Torrington, 1989; Timo & Davidson, 2005) that HRM can mean whatever the firm wants it to mean depending on context and purpose. Indeed, this perspective is illustrated, albeit ‘tongue in cheek’, in Box 1.1.

BOX 1.1 A tongue-in-cheek lexicon for the HR novice

• Conventional Wisdom – The mother of all oxymorons, neither conventional nor wise.
• Downsizing – The same thing as layoffs. If the company does have a Mortal Assets Department, the net result of downsizing is ‘mortal remains’.
• RIFs – An acronym for ‘Resources Infrastructure Flattening’, it is really the same as ‘downsizing’.
• Layoffs – What we called downsizing when we all knew what we were talking about.
• Statistics – The most valued HR science, which allows the HR Manager to prove his or her point when no one else will accept it – even when couched in plain English. Related to the ‘fog index’, it has also been said of statistics that it is like the drunk and the lamppost: it gives support, but not much illumination.
• Validity – When more than 50% of those you are trying to persuade believe what you say, your point has validity. When more than 90% believe, you have what’s called a ‘miracle’. When others swipe your ideas, it is termed, ‘Secondhand Smoke’.
• Tests – What you use to test validity. If the test shows that your idea is not sound, change tests.
• Personality Test – A device used to ensure that the person you hire for your department will accept your ideas without validity or reality analysis. Usually given only to those who do not know the phrase ‘invasion of privacy’.
• Budgeting – A game of unknown origin, budgets are pleas for money conducted in the following fashion: the Personnel Department needs $12 million for staffing and training, $11.99 million of which will go to staff salaries. It asks for $12 million, knowing that the company will only give a 10% increase in budget. This game can last 15 or more years, and is usually considered to be ‘over’ when HR foolishly proposes ‘downsizing’.
• Training Department – The people with the whip and the chair.
• To Train – An intransitive verb meaning to educate intransigent people who disagree with or don’t understand your system. It is intransitive since training often has no direct object.
• Work – Looking busy, or the amount of energy expended in trying to look busy. It has been estimated that work takes place during four to six hours of every eight-hour day.
• Loyalty – The formula for determining the degree of loyalty is: F=(W+B/O)R} where F=Faithfulness, W= Wages, B=Benefits, O=Opportunity, and R=Reality.
• Discretion – Swearing loyalty to your supervisor. In the textile industry, the better part of velour.

Source: Ethan (1994)

McGunnigle and Jameson (2000) prefer to consider HRM as a ‘map’, ‘notion’ or ‘theory’. After reviewing the evidence, they conclude that there is much confusion and no comprehensively accepted definition. Additionally, HRM can be divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ models’. The former is where workers are viewed in a ‘rational’ economic manner as an integrative resource in which the business invests to produce economic return. The ‘soft’ approach is where employees are considered assets and the main source of achieving competitve advantage. Employee commitment strategies are pursued in the belief that workers will regulate themselves towards achieving the organisation’s goals. In reality, most firms operate between the two extremes. Consistent with Guest’s (1987) normative model of HRM, McGunnigle and Jameson (2000) favour a focus on employee commitment as the common denominator of HRM into which feed other key associated areas of:

• culture;
• recruitment and selection;
• training and development;
• reward systems; and
• employee empowerment. (p. 405)

Accordingly, it is arguably more effective to consider HRM as a philosophy rather than a set of hard and fast practices and procedures. Clearly, administration linked to the personnel function of HRM falls into the latter category. However, it is worth considering the theory behind HRM, which is founded on the notion that workers are thinking, feeling and emotional. In short, they cannot be treated like other resources. As such, HRM seeks to engage hol...

Table of contents

• Coverpage
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 The Nature of the Beast: Human Resources Management and the Tourism Context
• 2 Change, What Change? Human Resources Planning in a Contemporary Environment
• 3 Managing the Process
• 4 Performing or Ignoring: Management and Appraisal
• 5 Training and Development
• 6 Quality of Work Life
• 7 Industrial Relations and Legal Aspects
• 8 The Same Difference? Diversity Management
• 9 To Be or Not To Be? Human Resource Management and the Role of Ethics
• 10 The Future of Human Resources
• References
• Index