Current paper deals with the scope of human resource management in relation to the field of tourism and hospitality organisations performance on the global scale. The core stance that serves as a basis for current discussion course is the position developed and analysed by Nickson (2013). The author claims that the phenomenon of HRM is a challenging aspect and a serious problem in the contemporary area of tourism and hospitality organizations. The issue in question requires in-depth insight in the nature of human resource management phenomenon and constructive analysis of its practical implementation within the outlined sphere of business activity.
The phenomenon of human resource management is a topical notion in current course of time and one of the most challenging aspects of business performance. Armstrong (2006) defines it as a В“strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizationВ’s most valued assets В– the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.В” The basis for proper comprehension of the currently discussed concept is provided by diversity of theories, which originate from different disciplines and are successfully aligned and applied to the issue of concern. For instance, the organizational life cycle theory, role behaviour theory and resource dependency theory form the background of theoretical framework of HRM. Nonetheless, Nickson (2013) underlines that the notion of HRM still lacks distinct and unambiguous definition. He presents and discusses ten different notions considering the key aspects of the analysed phenomenon. The author concludes that the notion of HRM may be comprehended differently depending on a position and relation of a person to it in practice. It is relevant to present the following definition as the most appropriate one in the given context: В“A set of professional practices suggests that there are a range of personnel practices that can be integrated to ensure a professional approach to managing peopleВ” (Nickson, 2013). Hence, the borders and the focal aspects of the issue in question include strategic approach that predetermines and guides the course of management of company employees, which guarantees professionalism and employee-oriented corporate culture. The aforementioned vagueness of definition is one of the aspects which prove the challenging position of the HRM phenomenon within any scope of business. It is especially complicated in terms of tourism and hospitality organizations activity. Sufficient lack of distinctive requirements and demands to the performance of personnel combined with the specific nature of the work in the given industries should be comprehended as a basis for the following discussion. The reason is that such kind of industry provides unquestionable quantity of jobs all over the world, whereas the aspect of quality presents a problem of primary topicality and urgency (Urbano & Yordanova, 2007). Since В“people are the industryВ’s most important assetВ” (Nickson, 2013), the quality of corporate activity is directly connected with the levels of proficiency, efficiency and constructiveness of the employees.
The choice of such kind of human resources requires not only brilliant HR managers, but also correspondent working conditions and terms the company offers for its personnel. The latter factor is crucial as far as currently discussed sector is notorious for unsatisfactory level of job image to the applicants, which have significant knowledge in the field, excellent skills and flawless experience. Baum (1951) highlights such key drawbacks of the tourism and hospitality industry as В“poor conditions, low pay, high staff turnover, problems in recruiting skills in a number of key areas, a high level of labour drawn from socially disadvantaged groups, poor status and the virtual absence of professionalism.В” It is appropriate to discuss the aforementioned factors in details in order to present their impact on HRM practice within the given industry sector.
First, the poor conditions of the tourism and hospitality scope of business activity predetermine not only the level of job prestige the efficient applicant is searching for. Moreover, such factor often impacts the health conditions of the employees. Therefore it is considered to be one of the focal problematic issues in question. Second, low pay is also a negative and strongly influential point to be considered. It also impacts the prestige rate of the job and usually corresponds to low level of education and insufficient experience. Third, the problems which appear in terms of recruiting skills, as well as in the outcomes of ungrounded and unconstructive recruitment course constitute for a very notorious factor that decreases HRM efficiency. Such aspect does not depend on the corporate policy or financial system of the companies, but lies in the area of recruitment and managing proficiency rate. Actually, it may be regarded as a basic problem of the company in case the leading HR managers fail to recruit relevant and perspective employees.
Fourth, a high level of human resources quantities, which are recruited from socially disadvantaged groups, is also a drawback that occasionally occurs in practice of HRM. It is especially vividly prese