Perceptions of productivity among Swiss hotel managers: a few steps forward?

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore managers' perceptions of labour productivity within a sample of de luxe hotels located in Switzerland. Design/methodology/approach The exploratory, qualitative fieldwork outlines managers' perceptions of labour productivity. It describes the views of a sample of ten male, senior managers and human resources managers, of several 4‐ and 5‐star hotels. Findings The emerging findings highlight the fact that managers perceive productivity as a vague concept. Pessimistically, the harder managers try to understand it, the more nebulous such a notion appears to them. Research limitations/implications This is a small exploratory study of managers' perceptions of labour productivity based on interviews drawn from hotels near Geneva and Lausanne. Practical implications The fieldwork draws attention to this situation and suggests ways to make concepts of productivity more relevant to hospitality managers. Originality/value Essentially, the work examines the proposition that for hoteliers productivity enhancement in hospitality is, in practice, a vague concept. It is interesting that, apparently, the more effort individual units managers put into an understanding/perception of productivity management, the further the concept recedes. Arguably, Swiss hotel managers tend to confuse productivity with profitability: as such recognition of the management of people as a vital element in successful hotel management is low. What emerges from the interviews is that productivity seems to be essentially an attitude of mind, a question of perceptions, frames of reference, intangible properties: that the essence of productivity enhancement is how to do things better. Are productivity and profitability perhaps not so far apart, after all ?