Strategic Choice and Organisational Context in HRM in the UK Hotel Sector

Human resource management in the UK hotel industry is typically held to be informal, instrumental and associated with poor employment relations. Some studies, however, have identified incidences of more formal, high-commitment HRM indicating greater diversity in employment practices. Using original research undertaken in south-west England, this article examines this diversity and the influence of organisational context in the formation of HRM strategy. By identifying patterns of employee relations practice it is possible to examine the influence of market factors and establishment size and the extent to which there is scope for strategic choice in HRM. The research indicates that whilst larger hotels operating in stable product markets might be more likely to display formal or strategic approaches to employee relations compared to the industry as a whole, this sub-sector still appears significantly divided in the extent to which managers feel able, willing or compelled to invest in associated practices.     

New roles and training models for managers in the printing and communications industry in the Netherlands

The communications industry has been subject to radical changes in this decade. Managers working in this branch of industry need to adapt their management style to changing conditions. This study was carried out for the branch training and education institute in The Netherlands (STIVAKO) to provide directions for their future training and education supply. Using a variety of research instruments (literature research, interviews, survey and expert conference) a new flexible curriculum structure has been developed.     

Work Values Ethic, GNP Per Capita and Country of Birth Relationships

Workplaces around the world have experienced extraordinary changes to the composition of their workforces and the nature of work. Few studies have explored workers from multiple countries of birth, with multiple religious orientations, working together within a single country of residence. Building on and extending the Work Values Ethic (WVE) literature, we examine 1,382 responses from employees working in three manufacturing companies. Differences were found in the mean WVE scores of groups of respondents from 42 countries of birth. Their WVE scores were strongly associated with their birth countries’ per capita Gross National Product (GNP), and the means of these scores did not change with variations in the respondents’ length of residence in a different country. These results have implications for developing cross-cultural management practices and for improving relationships with employees, with opportunities for increased commitment and, potentially, productivity.     

Evaluating the financial performances of Korean luxury hotels using data envelopment analysis

In the wake of catastrophic natural disasters and rising threats of terrorism, the hotel industry has been hit hard by declining revenues and increasing competition. To avoid such a downward spiral, the hotel industry should find remedies to make its operations lean and robust. These remedies may include: niche marketing, reduced debt ratio, increased profit margin, and continuous improvement of hotel service quality. These remedies, however, would be of no avail, unless the hotel management finds a way to compare its financial strengths and weaknesses against its competitors. In an effort to help the hotel management enhance its financial efficiency and price leverage in the increasingly competitive hotel industry, this article aims to develop a meaningful set of financial benchmarks that will dictate best practices and shape up a successful hotel business model. Thus, we propose a data envelopment analysis (DEA) that is proven to be useful for measuring the financial efficiency of various profit or non-profit organizations. Using the examples of first-class, luxury hotels in Korea, this article illustrates the usefulness of DEA for the continuous improvement of hotel business practices.     

The role of education and training in enhancing labour productivity in Arab countries in Africa

Labour productivity in Arab countries is low by international standards and this problem occurs in Arab countries both inside and outside Africa. There are 10 Arab countries in Africa: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Comoros. Enhancing labour productivity is a major challenge for Arab countries. Improving labour productivity should increase competitiveness, economic growth, job availability and living standards. Key factors in low Arab labour productivity include weak education and training systems, a mismatch between training outputs and labour market demands, lack of technology and innovation and poor management of the workforce. This article seeks to put forward innovative education and training policies which can enhance labour productivity. It does so after examining Arab education and training systems and their links with industry. It is concluded that modern governance arrangements need to be applied in Arab universities. Universities need to be re‐envisioned so that curricula are market‐driven and bridge the gap between education supply and market demand. Entrepreneurial teaching and learning practices need to be emphasized and improved technical and vocational training should be a priority. The Arab countries also have to adopt responsive and practical strategies for research and development and link the research and development institutes to industry.     

产权、竞争、中国饭店业绩效及改进路径研究

本文分析表明我国饭店业是国有饭店主导的竞争性行业,国有饭店主导和竞争性行业的不相容性是造成我国饭店业整体绩效水平较差的根本原因。根据这一分析结论,本文提出我国饭店业最终目标是建立为非国有饭店主导的垄断竞争性行业,改进我国饭店业整体绩效的具体路径是积极推进国有饭店退出和实施饭店集团化经营。     

Questioning the impact of the ‘graduatization’ of the managerial labour force upon the management of human resources in the Scottish hotel industry

This paper outlines the findings of a questionnaire survey returned by 125 Scottish hotels from a sample of 500 small and middle‐sized enterprises. We asked questions on the level of impact that hospitality graduates have had upon human resource management practices within individual units. The research reports that, although the cumulative graduatization of the managerial workforce appears to be under way, the main route to a permanent management post still remains one of practical work experience, rather than the attainment of a hospitality‐related degree. Although manpower planning is widely used by line managers for managing the conditions of local/external labour markets and operatives’ jobs, there is less evidence of a systematic approach to the management of graduate careers/skills or of the management of internal job structures and labour market processes in order to improve the quality of customer service. Our work suggests a need for smaller hotels to strike a fresh balance between traditional operationally driven approaches to people management and strategic human resource management frameworks.     

Friendly flexible working practices within the internal marketing framework: a service perspective

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the existence of work flexibility and its relevance to internal marketing. Friendly forms of work flexibility are critical to an improved understanding of the role internal marketing should have to achieve better service quality performance. This exploratory study is based on a sample of 2997 private-sector organisations provided by the CRANET survey. The results show the divergence in industry business patterns in the use of friendly and unfriendly flexible work arrangements. Service companies tend to use friendly flexible working practices in larger proportions. The analysis reveals a small negative relationship between unfriendly practices and service quality. These findings may suggest that service organisations tend to create more supportive environments when offering flexible work arrangements that are friendlier for individual workers and their families.     

沈阳经济型酒店人力资源管理存在的问题与对策分析

当前,沈阳经济型酒店在人力资源管理中存在的问题,主要体现在员工素质普遍较低,服务质量普遍不高;工作强度大,薪酬待遇低,员工流失严重;人才培养及储备力度不够;缺乏现代酒店的人力资源管理制度;受传统观念影响,大众认可度低等方面。沈阳经济型酒店人力资源管理改进应从招聘高素质的员工;建立良好的薪酬福利制度;加强人才储备,完善职业发展规划及酒店职业经理人的培训机制;逐步与专业化、品牌化接轨;寻找适合的机会进行宣传,加强社会公众的认可度等方面入手,最大限度地发挥好人力资源管理的核心作用,从而促进酒店可持续发展。     

Hotel management contract: impact on performance in the Korean hotel sector

This study investigates the influence of hotel management contract on the performance of super-deluxe hotels in Korea and identifies how the 1996–1997 tourism recessions affected the relationship between management contract and the performance of the hotels. The Mann–Whitney U test, stepwise logistic regression, and multivariate analysis of variance statistical analyses indicate that management contract is positively related to the performance of the hotels, and the 1996–1997 tourism recessions caused the management contract–performance link to vary. From the industry application perspective, this study provides hotel owners with empirical information relating to: (1) a means to assess the performance of hotels under management contract and (2) a decision rule to apply an appropriately matched operating arrangement to an environmental state for maximum performance. The results obtained present an invaluable analysis tool for all owners involved in charting a hotel's future.     

Which companies should implement management innovation? A commentary essay

This commentary essay explores the joint effects of internal context and external search for knowledge on new management practices. Mol and Birkinshaw's (Mol, M.J., Birkinshaw, J., The sources of management: when firms introduce new management practices. Journal of Business Research; forthcoming.) research provides an interesting discussion regarding management innovation studies and will likely create promising future research opportunities.     

Pure diffusion? The great English hotel charges debate in The Times, 1853

This article explores the role of nineteenth century national newspapers and their readers in disseminating management innovations to the English hotel industry. In September 1853, many well-travelled, knowledgeable customers spontaneously wrote letters to The Times complaining about over-priced, uncomfortable English hotels compared to lower-priced, more comfortable European and North American hotels. The letters and editorials from The Times and other national newspapers campaigned for English hotels to adopt international hotel management innovations. The article suggests that this is an early example of pure diffusion in communicating innovations.     

饭店企业人力资源管理困境分析与对策

饭店业的竞争日趋激烈,人才素质以及人力资源管理水平成为决定饭店业发展成败的关键因素,然而很多饭店企业正面临:难以招聘到合适的员工;员工流动率偏高;培训匮乏等困境。企业可以通过切实建立"以人为本"的企业文化;重视员工职业生涯规划;改变用人观念;降低人力资本等措施摆脱困境。     

Internal and external drivers for quality certification in the service industry: Do they have different impacts on success?

This paper presents the results of a study of hotels that are certified for quality management to identify the reasons for seeking quality certification. The authors analyse whether internal or external drivers for seeking certification have different impacts on benefits and the use of quality tools in the hotel industry. The analysis groups hotels according to the importance of their internal reasons for certification, and uses cluster analysis to identify the significant differences between groups of hotels. The findings for the 32 hotels analysed show that hotels that pursued certification for internal reasons develop better quality tools and have increased levels of benefits.     

循环经济理念下的绿色经济型酒店营造措施

作为一个新兴行业,经济型酒店在循环经济的理念下走绿色可持续发展道路具有重要意义。在"创绿"的过程中,不仅要靠酒店完善自身的意识和管理,还要通过政府、行业及公众共同的努力,才能走出一条酒店自身和社会的可持续发展道路,才能保持自己良好的竞争力。     

Does quality management improve performance or vice versa? Evidence from the hotel industry

This paper has several aims: (a) to identify an empirical taxonomy of quality management (QM), (b) to assess whether more advanced QM hotels achieve better performance levels and (c) to analyse whether hotels with better performance levels have more advanced QM levels. This paper contributes to identify a taxonomy of QM in hotels showing the association between a particular level of QM and different performance dimensions. In addition, the paper sheds light on the possible selection effect in the hotel industry. The study finds that hotels with higher QM levels have better hotel guest satisfaction and employee satisfaction, efficiency and better business performance. It also shows that hotels with better performance levels develop QM to a greater extent. Accordingly, QM level is one factor among others that explain better performance levels in hotels. Also, good performance can facilitate the implementation of QM practices.     

Tourism: The Use of Production Management Techniques

Manufacturing industry has over many decades achieved enormous improvements in productivity and the quality of goods through applying a wide range of techniques. Many of these techniques can find appropraite uses in a service industry like tourism and bring about the same beneficial effects as in manufacturing. Theresultsofa questionnaire survey to establish whether a selection of these techniques are used by hotels, travel agents and tour operators are presented. The findings indicate that the techniques listed are not generally in use, apparently mainly because of lack of knowledge.     

The influence of human resource management in savings bank performance

The aim of this article was to analyse the value of human resources (HR) for competitive advantage and their influence on the firm's performance in the service industry. To achieve our goal, we have first proposed a resource-based framework to discuss the circumstances under which human resources can be a source of competitive advantage. Then, an empirical research was developed in the Spanish savings bank sector to analyse the relationship between HR management and the firm's performance. Our results, suggest that those savings banks which better combine their HR practices to create and to develop a strategic human capital pool have shown better levels of profitability and productivity.     

Selecting a marketing strategy for private hotels in Taiwan using the analytic hierarchy process

Grounded in the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm to competitive advantage, the current study attempts to identify specific resources and capabilities of small ventures by focusing on private hotels and by doing so develops an evaluation framework of marketing strategy in a service industry within its unique conditions. Given the complexity and difficulty of utilizing allocated specific and limited resources with a marketing strategy toward a competitive advantage for private hotels the purpose of the current study is to employ the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to select a competitive marketing strategy for private hotels. After reviewing theory and research on competitive advantage in general and in the service industry in particular, the resources and capabilities are identified as managerial capabilities, customer-linking capabilities, market innovation capabilities, human resource assets, and reputational assets. Finally, the findings indicate that the differentiation strategy is the best strategy for private hotels. The study emphasizes the importance of allocating specific and limited resources and capabilities to evaluate and select an appropriate marketing strategy so as to capture a sustainable competitive advantage.     

HRM in Thailand: a post-1997 update

This essay updates an earlier study of human resource management (HRM) practices in Thailand, focusing specifically on HRM in the post-1997 Asian financial crisis. HRM in Thailand has undergone gradual, but significant, change, with movement away from more traditional styles of HRM and management rooted in personalism and social relationships, toward more flexible employment systems in which employment opportunities are based on merit and performance rather than connections and personal characteristics. These changes are clearly more pronounced in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, particularly those based in Western countries.