An evaluation of action research as a vehicle for individual and organisational development in the hotel industry

Action research is both a research technique and a vehicle for organisational and professional development. This paper reports upon three action research projects into cross-cultural communication, which were set up in comparable in 4/5 star city centre hotels. Qualitative data gathered from the action research meetings and from interviews with participants and their colleagues were used to evaluate the projects’ success in terms of process and outcomes. The data provided insights into the way cross-cultural communication operates between hotel managers, workers and guests. The action research process proved to be strongly motivating to participants and in some cases produced a learning attitude which persisted more than a year after the project had finished. Senior management understanding and support were found to be key prerequisites for the success of the action research process. From the point of view of organisational development it was important that participants had training roles within either their departments or organisation-wide, so that they could cascade their learning to others. However, organisational benefits were limited, largely due to the restricted view that senior managers took of the project.     

Disparate learning styles of hospitality students,professors and managers

The communication gap between managers and management scientists persists. It has been suggested that a major factor contributing to this gap is the marked difference in the learning styles exhibited by these two constituencies. Management educators and managers should be keenly concerned about deriving means to bridge this communication gap in order to enhance synergy among managers, management scientists, management educators and students of management. Scores were obtained for a sample of hospitality students, professors and managers on the Kolb Learning Style Inventory. Differences among the three groups are analysed. Applications to the hospitality management classroom and to industry management training programmes are suggested.     

Tourism,tourist learning and sustainability: an exploratory discussion of complexities,problems and opportunities

Learning is often a central element of tourism. Tourists can learn actively, i.e. with a specific purpose, as well as passively through the comparison of values, norms and customs. It has been argued that travel supports active learning that has positive outcomes for sustainability, for instance, in the context of conservation. Yet, the complexity of active and passive learning processes and their outcomes for environmental sustainability and sustainable lifestyles remain insufficiently understood. Against this background, the paper discusses selected learning outcomes for transportation (air travel), accommodation (hotels) and activities (theme park visits). Findings suggest that “desirable” learning (defined as pro-sustainable development learning) in tourism may be very limited, while in particular, passive learning processes which redefine social norms frequently have outcomes that are largely detrimental to sustainable lifestyles. They include forms of moral licensing, the diffusion of responsibilities as well as the attenuation of the negative consequences of travel. Given the economic, social and cultural importance of tourism vís-a-vís its global implications for environmental sustainability, learning outcomes in tourism deserve to be studied in greater detail, while strategies need to be devised to enhance sustainable learning effects.     

Learning Provision,the Labour Market and Skills Needs of the Tourism and Related Sectors in Wales

Abstract

This paper reports results of a project commissioned by the Tourism Training Forum for Wales to assess the labour market, learning provision and skills needs of the tourism and related sectors in Wales, in light of the establishment of People 1st, one of 22 employer-led Sector Skills Councils under the umbrella of the Sector Skills Development Agency, which represents a new approach to skills development in the United Kingdom. Standard industrial classification codes do not map well onto the sector footprint and are insufficiently fine grained which makes it impossible to construct a complete picture from official statistics. Employers report skills gaps amongst a range of staff and a lack of “soft” skills amongst job applicants. Learning provision across Wales was deemed to be sufficient, but it does not necessarily reflect the needs of industry. The paper concludes that despite a consensus on the need to upgrade skills, improve professionalism and to nurture a training culture, there is an absence of an integrated approach to delivering learning and training that is designed to ensure the quality standards which will ensure destination competitiveness.     

The learning style preferences of hospitality and tourism students: Observations from an international and cross-cultural study

This paper reports on a study of the learning style preferences of new entrants onto hospitality and tourism programmes in Australia and the United Kingdom. It suggests that a majority of students on these programmes in both countries have strong learning style preference that present some challenges to educators and the planning of learning experiences in higher education. Typically these students prefer learning styles that are concrete rather than abstract, and active rather than reflective. Furthermore, substantial minorities register low or very low preferences for learning in abstract and reflective styles. The initial learning style of new entrants on to taught programmes, therefore, present substantial teaching and learning barriers for educators who are attempting to develop reflective practitioners. Inappropriate teaching strategies can present some genuine learning difficulties for these students. In Australia, educators face added complexity because students from Confucian heritage backgrounds display learning style preferences at odds with their piers. They are more likely to respond positively to abstract and reflective approaches but negatively to active and concrete teaching strategies. The authors suggest one way of approaching the learning needs of these students is to use Kolb's experiential learning cycle as a way of encouraging the development of ‘balanced’ learning strategies that lead to reflective practice.     

The social dynamics of micro-firm learning in an evolving learning community

Micro-firms dominate the tourism sector internationally, yet there is a notable absence of studies specifically relating to their learning interactions with other tourism firms. Even when studied, a social learning lens is rarely applied in either micro-firm or tourism learning network research despite its relevance in this domain. In seeking to understand and map the social dynamics of micro-firm learning and participation in an independent learning network, the authors studied an evolving learning community (ELC) situated in Ireland's south west region over a four-year period. The findings demonstrate the complexity associated with creating and sustaining a social learning infrastructure in this context. An ELC model is proffered to provide insight into inter and intra social dynamics that influence learning development in the micro-firm setting. The proposed future research includes the study of additional ELCs, in Ireland and other countries, for the purposes of cross case/cross country comparison, and in pursuit of greater insight into the social dynamics of these communities.     

Knowledge transfer effects of clustering in dual configuration MNEs

‘Clustering’ is widely held to positively influence workgroup identity, which in turn, is widely held to positively affect knowledge sharing behaviours and outcomes for an organisation. This paper does not dispute these findings, indeed in many ways, it supports them but it also opens an anomaly, or contradiction to the mainstream perceptions in terms of the value that a strong cluster identity may produce for organisational knowledge sharing. Situated within a hospitality multinational hotel company, the research finds that where hotels are clustered, organisational identity becomes second to cluster identity. Cluster identity is therefore seen to drive an institutional deficiency whereby organisational knowledge in terms of innovative or value added knowledge is most unlikely to be shared with the organisation even where defined knowledge management strategies exist. Drawing data from 32 interviews with managers, this paper enriches understanding of organisational learning by introducing the role of ‘cluster identity’ in a dual configuration multinational hotel organisation.     

The perceived influence of travel experiences on learning generic skills

Empirical work exploring the role of travel in assisting the learning of skills is of interest to travellers, educators and employers. Pearce and Foster’s generic skills attributes list was used as a basis to investigate the amount and nature of perceived learning by North American University students. It was established through survey research and tested with ANOVA comparisons that travel experiences were perceived as assisting the learning of generic skills, especially amongst those who had travelled internationally four or more times. Key skills seen as influenced by travel included independence, being open-minded and feeling comfortable around all kinds of people. There was a moderate increase in communication skills. The findings showed close links with previous studies of youth budget travellers. Employers and educators can consider travel to be a learning opportunity affecting the acquisition of key business and generic skills.     

The Impact of Socialization on Youth Program Outcomes: A Social Development Model Perspective

This study employs a mixed-methods design and a social development model (SDM) to examine the role of socialization processes within an international immersion program for adolescents. Longitudinal data from 108 participant and 49 comparison group members are analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures. Qualitative data are also used to assess participants’ perceptions of these processes. The quantitative findings indicate that the SDM fits the data well and partially mediates the growth of observed recreation program outcomes. The qualitative findings offer additional insights into the role of within program socialization processes.     

An institutional assessment of three local government-level tourism destinations at different stages of the transformation process

Transformation theory attempts to understand the long-run process of structural shifts that occur in an industry and economy as a result of institutional change. While transformation theory is being advanced and tools have emerged to measure institutions, these innovations are yet to be applied to consider institutional change across the development spectrum. This is critical for developing institutional theory to underpin the tourism transformation process. Consequently, this paper aims to: 1) assess the institutions of the tourism industry in three regions at different stages of transformation, and 2) compare tourism to other industries within the regions. The results indicate that as the tourism industry matures it becomes smarter, more adaptable, and takes its own trajectory by departing from the institutional norms of non-tourism organizations in the region. The tourism management implications are that learning, research capabilities, adaptability and collaborative marketing plans should be fostered in the early stages of transformation.     

Social learning and sustainable tourism development; local quality conventions in tourism: a Greek case study

This paper presents the trajectory of an innovative organisational scheme, the Local Quality Convention (LQC), concerning sustainable tourism development in the Lake Plastiras area, a less favoured area in Central Greece. It outlines the development issues of the area, the main actors, their views and practices and describes the creation, progress and emerging problems of the LQC scheme. Research reveals contradicting approaches to sustainable tourism development which, in turn, influenced the LQC's evolution. The findings are critically discussed in the light of the Social Learning (SL) approach to social change and sustainable development. According to SL it is only through interactive (participative), concerted action that stakeholders are able to co-construct an issue and its solutions. Given the dominance of “conventional” tourism in Greece as well as the top-down formation and implementation of policies, the importance of the long term facilitation of local stakeholders to achieve sustainable tourism development is demonstrated, along with other related lessons for planners and managers.     

The determinants of hotels' marketing managers' green marketing behaviour

Little is known about the factors underlying the pro-environmental behaviour of marketing managers. This paper explores the determinants of green marketing practices in the Red Sea hotel sector in Egypt. The research model assesses green marketing practices against the personal and organisational values of the marketing managers, together with a range of organisational and demographic variables expected to influence hotels' environmental behaviour. From a valid sample of 89 marketing managers responsible for 194 hotels, it was found that organisational contextual variables, and in particular targeting Western tourists, being affiliated to an international hotel chain and the marketers' own demographics, including age, academic subject studied and gender, were the best predictors of more proactive green marketing. Personal environmental values did not explain the pro-environmental behaviour of marketers, and the organisational environmental values that had explained part of their ethical behaviour had resulted from voluntarism rather than utilitarian or conformance-based values. Government policies also appeared to be ineffective determinants. The implications for green marketing practices are also discussed.     

Review and Application of Knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing in Tourism

Knowledge and its management are generally recognised as a strategic asset that provides organisations with a competitive edge. Prior research demonstrates that knowledge sharing (KS) is crucial because it helps organisations promote best practice, facilitate knowledge creation and enhance effectiveness. Although there is a growing realisation that KS is critical to knowledge creation and organisational performance, this is still an emerging area of inquiry whose key variables, relationships and implications for tourism organisations are not yet clear. In this paper, key concepts of knowledge, organisational knowledge, knowledge management (KM) and KS are reviewed. This paper would be of interest to readers who would like to understand more about how KM and KS can be applied to tourism.     

Exploring the antecedents of intentions to leave the job: The case of luxury hotel staff

The aim of this study is to assess the antecedents of employee’ intentions to resign from their jobs in luxury hotels in India. Two aspects are considered in this context: firstly, the employees’ enthusiasm for the profession and organisation, the nature of the work and its impact on social and family life. Secondly, their level of satisfaction with the job in terms of organisational loyalty, relationship with supervisors, job security, earnings and additional benefits. A theoretical model (see Fig. 1) and seven hypotheses are tested to indicate whether the employees’ level of agreement with statements about the job and their level of satisfaction with the job will impact their intentions to quit. The study further examines if any current employees intend to leave their job. The term luxury hotel is used to represent 5 star and 4 star hotels of India.Findings from the analyses of 884 responses suggest that, when considering intentions to resign from the job, a negative relationship is found between professional and organisational enthusiasm and perceptions about the work being stimulating. No support was found for a positive relationship between the extent work impacted social and family life and the intention to quit. However, results supported the notion that the employee's organisational loyalty has a negative effect on his/her intention to resign from the job. Our findings contradict several other studies in that they suggest the employee's intention to resign from the job increases as job security and earnings improve. The study is distinctive as it explores intentions luxury hotel employees in India to leave their jobs; three is little evidence in the wider literature of similar attempts in the context of the Indian hotel industry. The outcomes have implications for both theory and practice as this is the first such major study in the context of the hotel industry in India where there is a population of over a billion people and an expanding hotel industry.     

Hotels in contexts of uncertainty: Measuring organisational resilience

The tourism industry faces multiple changes (economic crises, climate change, technology innovation…). Because of this vulnerability, as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study of hotel resilience is a key issue for the survival and competitiveness of organisations and destinations. Therefore, this paper proposes a holistic model to measure organisational resilience. To that end, it aims to analyse the determinants of organisational resilience, i.e. predictors of resilience (strategy and change), and to assess how they contribute to hotel resilience and performance. Firstly, the hotel context in the Canary Islands is examined to identify the level of impact, frequency and predictability of each type of change. Secondly, scales development and validation were conducted. Finally, the proposed model is validated. Findings confirm that the strategy and change dimensions have a considerable effect on hotel resilience, which positively influences hotel performance. Discussion provides hotel managers with guidelines to improve organisational resilience and performance.     

Organizational Learning and Hotel Performance: The Role of Capabilities’ Hierarchy

Building on the capabilities’ hierarchy concept, a model of the effect of organizational learning on hotel performance is proposed and tested in this study. Data was collected from 240 managers in the hotel industry of United Kingdom and Pakistan via survey. The results revealed strong direct inter-relation between different level of capabilities and an indirect relation between organizational learning and performance through these capabilities. This paper makes theoretical contributions to management as well as hospitality and tourism research by generating an integrative and unifying framework for an organizational learning performance relationship, clarifying capabilities inter-relationships and empirically revealing the exact way these capabilities enhance performance. Also, it has practical implications for hotel managers’ understanding on the development and use of capabilities as a hierarchy in enhancing their hotel performance.     

The blockchain technology and the scope of its application in hospitality operations

The recently emerged concept of the blockchain technology (BCT) can disrupt the traditional realm of tourism and hospitality operations. While some research has looked into the implications of BCT for tourism management and marketing, no studies have explicitly considered the scope of its application in the context of hospitality operations management. This is arguably a major omission as available evidence points at the foremost potential of BCT to affect the nature of hospitality business. This study partially plugs this knowledge gap and, by reviewing examples of existing applications of BCT in various economic sectors and across different consumption markets, evaluates its potential for future integration into hospitality operations management. The framework of prospective use of BCT in the hospitality industry alongside the related organisational, institutional and technological challenges that need to be overcome for its wider industrial adoption are outlined.     

The COVID-19 pandemic and organisational commitment of senior hotel managers

The COVID-19 pandemic will reduce the attractiveness of hospitality occupations. This particularly concerns senior management positions whose holders may substitute hospitality jobs with more secure and rewarding employment in other economic sectors. Organisational resilience of hospitality businesses, including their response to COVID-19, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices may, however, affect perceived job security of senior managers and, thus, influence their commitment to remain in their host organisations. This paper quantitatively tests the inter-linkages between the above variables on a sample of senior managers in hotels in Spain. It finds that the levels of organisational resilience and the extent of CSR practices reinforce perceived job security of managers which, in turn, determines their organisational commitment. Organisational response to COVID-19 affects perceived job security and enhances managers’ organisational commitment. To retain senior management teams in light of future disastrous events, hotels should, therefore, strengthen their organisational resilience and invest in CSR.     

The baby group: charting the typologies of a parental community of practice.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an initial exploration of the ‘baby group’. These informal associations of parents (typically mothers) and their children function as important sites of support and friendship. As peer-constituted and mediated ‘communities of practice’, ‘baby’ or ‘mother’s groups’ present as significant forums for negotiating prevailing knowledge-structures that circulate around parenting. In making a case for the baby-group as a social learning system and expression of a core discussion group, this paper will chart a typology of the baby group via an analysis of, firstly, the scholarly and grey-literature attached to baby groups and secondly, an initial incursion into focus group and interview-derived data collected during discussions with one such group located in south-east Queensland, Australia. These two sources provide the foundation from which this paper will offer initial insights into the role and purpose of the baby group, and from which an agenda for the further exploration of the baby group might commence.