Personnel management in hotels — some empirical observations

Abstract

This article details the results of two, recently-conducted surveys into the performance of personnel management within hotels. One survey used a postal questionnaire distributed to a stratified sample of hotels throughout the U.K. The aim of this research was to examine how the role of the personnel function was viewed by managers in the industry as a whole. In the second survey structured interviews were conducted with those managers responsible for personnel activities, within all hotels of 50 bedrooms or more, in one city centre locality. The aim here was to examine, in some detail, how the managers attempted to discharge their responsibilities. By combining these two contrasting approaches a comprehensive view of the conduct of personnel management within hotels can be achieved. For although these surveys were conducted independently and differ in their aims, structure, size and scope they have generated very similar observations of personnel work in this particular context. Furthermore, these empirical findings are in marked contrast to the view of hotel personnel work constructed by a recent literature survey. Theory and practice appear discordant.