Learning About Managing the Business in the Hospitality Industry

• Published date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21171
• Author: David E. Gray,Dimitrios Buhalis,Andrew John Lockwood,Li Li
• Date: 01 December 2013

Learning About Managing the

Business in the Hospitality

Industry

Li Li, David E. Gray, Andrew John Lockwood,

Dimitrios Buhalis

This research examines the learning experiences of general managers (GMs)

in the hospitality industry, a sector much neglected in terms of research into

management learning and human resource development. Our research

focused on four large hospitality organizations (two hotels and two contract

catering companies) and adopted an approach that integrates multiple data

collection strategies in supporting our qualitative case studies. Data were

collected by using document analysis plus detailed, qualitative interviews

with 21 general managers, of whom 7 were subsequently observed at work

and observation notes generated. Data analysis revealed that the participants

learned to manage the business primarily through experience, a process

consisting of four key stages: Being Challenged, Information Searching,

Information Transformation, and Testing. Refl ective thinking plays a

central role in their learning, taking the form of “actions” involving

association, integration and validation, and of “products” involving content,

process and context refl ections. We argue that the way hospitality managers

learn, while sharing the learning approaches taken by other professionals,

differs in that these managers’ learning is more highly contextualized.

Key Words: experiential learning, management learning and development,

problem-solving, refl ection

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 24, no. 4, Winter 2013 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21171 525

The authors would like to thank the Institute of Hospitality, the United Kingdom, for their support in

establishing the access to the industry, and thank three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their

helpful suggestions and constructive comments on the earlier version of this article.

526 Li, Gray, Lockwood, Buhalis

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

Introduction

The development of managers is central to the development and success of a

business and critical to the profitability and productivity of an industry.

Indeed, it is reported that the defi ciency of management skills is a factor caus-

ing the U.K. hospitality industry to lag behind international competitors

(Learning & Skills Council, 2005). This skill defi ciency continues to affect the

performance of hospitality businesses (U.K. Commission for Employment &

Skills, 2012). Effective management development (MD) initiatives, however,

will enable businesses to improve their managers’ skills (Mabey & Ramirez,

2005). But if MD interventions are to be effective, they must comply with how

professionals learn (Cullen & Turnbull, 2005). However, the way that manag-

ers learn to manage their businesses is far from clear, especially within the

context of hospitality operations (Ladkin, 1999). In Lucas and Deery’s (2004)

review it is reported that there were only seven studies concerned with human

resource management (HRM) in a hospitality setting in the reviewed main-

stream HRM journals. They also point out that most of the research published

in the leading U.K.-based and U.S.-based hospitality journals has tested

generic human resource theories without producing new theories or useful

insights that are hospitality specifi c.

There are similar gaps in terms of human resource development (HRD)

in the hospitality industry. Studies concerned with examining the mechanisms

of MD are one of the dominant themes in the research fi eld of HRD (Watson,

2008). These studies focus on MD that is often formal and planned by HR

professionals. However, research shows that professionals learn through

actions, through experience and through refl ection in their daily professional

practices (Cornell & Eskin, 2003; Kolb, 1984; Revans, 1998; Schön, 1991;

Wilkie & Burns, 2003). Similarly, the way that managers in general learn is

often informal and highly experiential (Gold, Thorpe, & Mumford, 2010;

Marsick, 2003). However, it is not clear whether hospitality managers also

benefi t from the experiential learning approach. Neither is there evidence in

the literature suggesting that their learning process is different from other

professionals.

The hospitality industry has certain features that create a distinctive con-

text within which management learning occurs. The service-based industry,

including hotels, contract food service, restaurants, pubs, bars, and night-

clubs, is characterized by intangibility, inseparability, and perishability

(Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall, & Wanhill, 2008). These characteristics demand a

management approach that is responsive and stays close to the production

and delivery of both products and services (Bowen & Ford, 2004; Dann,

1991; B. Ritchie & Riley, 2004). As such, managers in the hospitality industry

face a more complex work environment than their colleagues in manufactur-

ing industries (Winata & Mia, 2005). The industry is dominated by medium

and small-sized businesses, particularly in Europe (Brotherton, 2004).

Learning About Managing the Business in the Hospitality Industry 527

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

However, as a result of industry consolidation brought about by globalization

and the power of branding, large organizations have emerged especially in the

sectors of hotels and contract food service. It is these large players that can

shape the industry.

A large hotel company can have over a thousand properties in many dif-

ferent countries. For example, the Hilton Hotels Corporation has a portfolio

of 3,900 hotels worldwide, within which there are 75 establishments in the

United Kingdom and Ireland (“About Hilton Worldwide,” 2012). Big players

in the contract food service sector include the Compass Group, operating in

approximately 50 countries (“About Us,” 2012), and Sodexo, operating over

34,000 sites globally, of which 2,300 are in the United Kingdom (“Group

Profi le,” 2012). The large organizations have geographically scattered business

units (BUs), which operate independently but under an organizational system

that allows for coherent policies and a common strategy (Dann, 1991; Peng &

Litteljohn, 1997). The operational and structural features of the industry add

uniqueness to the process of management that gives contextual meaning to

management learning and development (ML&D).

We argue that it is critical to understand the learning process of general

managers (GMs) of large hospitality organizations because they hold the key

executive position (Ladkin, 1999). Standing between the senior management

and the supervisory management, GMs are responsible for the operation and

management of business units. Hence, they are involved in the actual produc-

tion and delivery of hospitality products and services. At the same time, they

are connected to the senior management that directs the development of the

organization. The GMs have to carry out managerial functions in a way that is

responsive to the needs of hospitality operations at the business unit level, and

yet comply with corporate policies. Because of their critical role in maintain-

ing the smooth running of the business, it is important to understand how

they learn to manage and thus how their learning can be facilitated.

Working environments and pressures vary between the sectors of hotels

and contract food services. Hotels offer meals and drinks together with accom-

modations to customers in return for fi nancial exchange. Hence, one of a

hotel GM’s responsibilities is to ensure that the hotel guests are satisfi ed with

the products and services provided at the hotel, and to ensure that the service

meets the brand standard as set by the organization. This is very much a

business-to-consumer (B2C) operation. Being part of the non-commercial or

institutional segment of the food-service sector, contract catering providers

offer their services to market segments such as business and industry, health

care, education, the military, and transportation. The operations are largely

business-to-business (B2B) and are hidden from direct public scrutiny. Hence,

one of a contract catering GM’s work priorities is to deliver the service as

required by the client and to meet the brand guidelines given by headquarters.

A GM of a contract catering operation cares about how end customers per-

ceive their service (as a manager of a restaurant does), but is probably more