In situations where a volatile product market meets an unstable labour market, as is often found in customer contact service operations such as the hospitality industry, there is a need for the constant manipulation of labour supply to match labour demand. Functional workforce flexibility, where...

Picks up a current theme of manpower planning which extends the interest of the subject into the understanding of labour market process through detailed tracing of the historical patterns of particular occupations. Argues the value of such tracing. Employs the technique of biographical age...

This research is to explore Norwegians’ image of US lodging facilities with a two‐stage perceptual survey of Norwegian residents. Focus group surveys are first conducted to determine the important attributes delineating Norwegians’ perceptions of US lodging facilities. Subsequently, a...

Increasingly, evidence suggests that the impact of HRM in organisations is greatest where it involves a set of coherent policies and practices. The implication of this is that, to be effective, individual HR initiatives need to be implemented as part of an integrated package of practices. This...

Purpose – The paper is a reflection on the changes that have taken place in the area of food and beverage and serves as a reminder that it is still one of the most complex activities within the area of hospitality. Design/methodology/approach – The paper highlights major changes, with...

The structure of decision making in hotels is examined. Using three levels of authority and 13 categories of decision a problem of consultation and communication is measured. The degree of structure in the problem is measured using information theory. In the light of the findings which show a...

The study reported here focuses on the world of professional conference managers and hotel managers and tests for a degree of consensus between them as to what attributes are salient to the selection of a hotel as a conference venue. Both a strong consensus and an operational rather than a...

Reports on a study testing five attitudes on a sample of hotel workers and a control group. As the literature of service work suggests, most hotel workers place great value on scope and autonomy in a job; it was expected they would show more positive attitudes to these attributes than the...

Hotels require flexibility in their labour supply to match fluctuations in consumer demand. In non‐union circumstances managers take a neo‐classical approach, applying numerical and financial flexibility. What happens when collective bargaining is involved? An analysis of collective...