Economic Determinism and Human Resource Management Practice in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Riley, Michael; Gore, Julie; Kelliher, Clare

doi:10.1177/146735840000200202

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This narrative exemplifies the economic determinism in the hospitality sector (Riley et al , 2000) and the perceived need to supplement commitment‐seeking practices by more efficiency‐driven regulation, measurement and monitoring of work practices. The latter was signified by the term “compliance” introduced in briefing documents to senior managers, coupled with talk of creating a “results‐driven culture” borne out of the “ethos of continuous improvement and dedication to understanding needs of our clients” (Briefing document for communicating HospCo Way to District and Unit Managers):Compliance is not optional.…”

Section: Company Background – Emergence Of New Corporate Themesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Tuning into tensions at times of change

D'Annunzio-Green

Francis

2005

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present case study evidence of how managers in a contract catering firm made sense of an organisational change initiative that encouraged them to become self‐sufficient and display “entrepreneurial” behaviours in an environment where they were also expected to “comply” with new operating procedures aimed at strengthening central control.Design/methodology/approachUses 25 in‐depth interviews with a cross‐section of line and HR managers over an 11‐month period to uncover practical experiences of change and their attempts to constructively manage the tensions between the opposing dualities that arise from it. The paper draws on empirical research from an in‐depth case study of a leading multinational corporation in the contract catering sector.Findingsthe findings expose the pressures that managers faced in the reconciliation of the contrasting need to develop as entrepreneurs alongside an organisational strategy driven by cost minimisation and control. It provides an empirical example of the duality that exists in organisations between the quantitative need for discipline in managerial procedures at the same time as the organisation has to pay attention to the qualitative need for investment in human resources.Originality/valueThis paper provides insights to a relatively under‐researched yet significant sector of the hospitality industry – contract catering. It provides a vivid empirical account of the tensions that managers face in times of change and a practical illustration of the creative ways that managers found to deal with the contradictions arising from the change initiative.

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Section: Company Background – Emergence Of New Corporate Themesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Tuning into tensions at times of change

D'Annunzio-Green

Francis

2005

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

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“…This narrative exemplifies the type of competitive pressures typical of the hospitality sector (Riley et al, 2000) and the perceived need to supplement commitment-seeking practices by more efficiency-driven regulation, measurement and monitoring of work practices. The latter was signified by the term "compliance" introduced in briefing HRM and the pursuit of a service culture documents to senior managers, coupled with talk of creating a "results-driven culture" borne out of the "ethos of continuous improvement and dedication to understanding needs of our clients" (Briefing document for communicating HospCo Way to District and Unit Managers):…”

Section: Hrm and The Pursuit Of A Service Culturementioning

confidence: 95%

HRM and the pursuit of a service culture

Francis

D'Annunzio-Green²

2005

Employee Relations

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Aims to draw attention to how managers actively re-construct inherent contradictions characterising the employment relationship that in the service sector, are rooted in drives for increased efficiency and customer-oriented behaviours. Design/methodology/approach -Presents a case study of the human resource implications of changes taking place within a contract catering firm seeking to attain "world class" service delivery. Findings -Finds that managers' accounts of "the reality" of change were constructed upon three overlapping and competing discourses -labelled "enagagement", "enterprise" and "compliance". Originality/value -Highlights the active role of discourse in the management of HRM and organisational change.

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“…As for the reasons explaining these results, scholars highlight the following:The predominance of SMEs (which lack the necessary means to implement good human resource strategies) in tourism and hospitality.Economic determinism (Riley et al , 2000) or the prevalence of the “hard version” in human resource practices, which entails a short‐term perspective on managerial decision‐making and strategy and ultimately the adoption of a low‐cost strategy (Guerrier and Lockwood, 1989; Hales and Tamangani, 1996). In fact, many authors have demonstrated in their studies that the salaries of the aforementioned “marginal workers” are lower (García‐Pozo et al , 2012; Thrane, 2007).…”

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does training influence organisational performance?

Úbeda‐García

Marco‐Lajara

Sabater‐Sempere

et al. 2013

European Journal of Training and Development

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PurposeThe aim of the paper is to identify which variables of training policy have a significant and positive impact on organisational performance.Design/methodology/approachA targeted literature review was conducted to identify and collate a comprehensive range of human resource management and training conceptualisations/investigations. This was the basis for the approach to contrast hypotheses. The paper used a sample of Spanish companies and the method of analysis was regression.FindingsThe results obtained in this paper do suggest that the training policy positively correlates with organisational performance, both using objective result measures (productivity and financial performance) and in the subjective measure of perceived financial performance and in intermediate result measures.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was confined to the analysis of a single Spanish region, and specifically referred to its hotel industry, which means that the results obtained must be situated within that specific context examined. To this must be added that the data were collected from a single source (CEOs) and, of course, it would have been more appropriate to use data from multiple sources.Originality/valueFrom an academic point‐of‐view, the research initiative presented here is placed within the new line of development for research into training and performance that tries to overcome the restrictions faced in other publications, trying to go one step further in the search for more specific connections between human resources and performance. From a practical viewpoint, this research work could help hotel entrepreneurs in two ways: first, by providing evidence that the resources allocated by hotel firms to the training of their staff have a positive impact on their profit levels; and second, by showing which variables should be considered to achieve this relationship.

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Economic Determinism and Human Resource Management Practice in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Cited by 12 publications

References 24 publications

Tuning into tensions at times of change

Tuning into tensions at times of change

HRM and the pursuit of a service culture

Does training influence organisational performance?

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