Is the Pessimistic View of Nickson Justified - Essay Example

? Is the pessimistic view of Nickson justified? Is the pessimistic view of Nickson justified? Labour Turnover Nickson’s pessimistic view regarding the tourism and hospitality industries is justified. The prevailing trends that characterise the industries provide sufficient evidence that Nickson’ view of the industries is indeed factual. One of the primary factors that warrant this justification is a close examination of the industries’ labour turnover. According to Nickson (2013, p. 17) the tourism and hospitality industries are typified by extremely “high levels of labour turnover”. The root of this issue centres from, among others, widespread problems inherent in the recruitment of workers in the industries. Existing HRM gaps within the industry have caused a myriad of human resource problems that have ultimately resulted in negative outcomes in labour turnover. Widespread labour problems in the industries is hugely attributable to issues such as poor working and pay conditions, which have long been considered as reasonable, but are now emerging as poor and impractical. The industries typically serve customers who take time out for recreation, which is often spent in travel, lodging, cruises, and amusement parks. In order to serve their customers’ needs effectively, these industries need to maintain a high level of variety of employees, from maintenance staff to customer service representatives. In addition, both industries require massive numbers of employees (Nickson 2013, p. 81). However, the reality of the industries reveals that the industries’ labour relations are not up to standard. Compared to other industries, a dwindling number of employees in the tourism and hospitality industries express the desire to continue working for their present employers. The causes of extensive labour turnover in the industries range from insufficient employee supervision and employees having inadequate responsibilities to the repetitiveness of most jobs. This speaks to extensive inefficiencies in the industries’ HRM, which have not only resulted in poor employee engagement, but widespread gaps in labour-related issues within the two industries (Nickson 2013, p. 6). For instance, in an endeavour to streamline their processes, most tourism and hospitality businesses hire additional employees, including seasonal staff, to ensure that each employee concentrates extensively on a single, minute task and executes it within minimal mistakes. Although this HRM strategy may prove effective in enhancing diverse aspects of the services provided by the industries’ employees it also enhances employee disengagement in their work. Employees typically require the opportunity to start at the bottom and climb the corporate ladder while also gaining experience. Therefore, repetitiveness is a major demoraliser. A lot is required from businesses in the tourism and hospitality industries to retain their employees. However, their HRM strategies are inefficient, and this contributes significantly to the industries’ unique issue with turnover. However, to be fair, the high labour turnover is not necessarily indicative of a problem with organisational strategies if this is the typical system in which the business operates. Nonetheless, labour turnover becomes a major problem when HR managers are constantly obligated to, without prior notice, rehire and train new employees for positions that the business deemed would be held for the long-term (Nickson 2013, p. 67). This is the problem that typifies the vast majority of tourism and hospitality businesses. High labour turnover is particularly problematic in developed economies such as the UK where employees are able to acquire alternative employment when dissatisfied by the HR strategies of their present employers. Low pay The tourism and hospitality industries are some of the most successful and highly profitable industries in the economy. This would typically imply that the industries’ employees are highly paid in light of the high profit margins their employers enjoy. However, this is not the case; the reality is that the industries’ employees cite incredibly low pay, which is one of the most common reasons for changing employment (Nickson 2013, p. 18). In addition to low pay, an inadequate career structure, as well as inadequate benefits, is also a primary cause of changing employment. Nickson (2013, p. 66) poses that there is a naive view of employment benefits in the tourism and hospitality industries. The typical view is that the industries are good sectors to work in. The pessimistic view is thus justifiable since the culture of the industries is characterised by profit maximization at the expense of providing sufficient employee incentives, such as high pay and benefits. The issue of low pay in light of unsocial working hours is a major deterrent to employees’ capacities to attain high levels of cultural transformation necessary for effective task execution within the industries (Nickson 2013, p. 66). Compared to other industries, the tourism and hospitality industries’ remuneration strategies are rather inadequate. The function of the human resource (HR) department in any organization is to ensure that its workforce is adequately compensated for its input. Few other jobs entail as many long hours of cumbersome work as jobs in the hospitality and tourism industries; hence the failure of industries’ HRM strategies to adequately compensate employees speaks to a deeply rooted problem. Employee compensation ranks below growth capacities in terms of factors that influence employees’ job commitment. In addition to the chance to grow, employees seek to be compensated adequately for their work. Compensation packages offered to the industries’ employees responsible for the bulk of the industries’ tasks are not up to par. On the contrary, in most hospitality and tourism businesses, managerial staff receives the bulk of the funds set aside for remuneration (Nickson 2013, p. 115). At present, there is a major disparity between the tasks performed and the compensation received. There is also a massive gap between the compensation of high-ranking staff and low-ranking employees. For instance, an examination of the compensation packages of hotel managers and the compensation of waiters and customer service representatives is bound to discover massive gaps despite the fact that it is the low-ranking workers who perform the hardest jobs. In the UK, room attendants are lowest paid workers in the hospitality industry. Low-ranking workers are mostly overlooked in analyses of the industry, meaning that HR departments mostly disregard the needs of these workers. Since the primary source of HRM insight in tourism and hospitality businesses is mostly case studies, the industries are unable appreciate the desires of low-ranking workers. Consequently, the workers’ compensation demands mostly go unmet. In certain instances, the hospitality and tourism industries do not adhere to the legal limit for working hours and minimum pay as nonstandard hours and pay mostly characterise seasonal work. Ultimately, the hospitality and tourism industries will continue to lose qualified labour as people move to better-compensated industries with typically long hours (Nickson 2013, p. 189). Competition Businesses in the hospitality and tourism industries are rapidly increasing and progressing. Following the advent of globalization, these industries continue to enjoy a marked increase in both number and scope. Today, major businesses in these industries operate within the global business arena and are thus not confined by national boundaries. In essence, there are more and more multinational corporations operating within the tourism and hospitality industries. Since companies are now operating in the international market, even workers are sourced from all over the world. This means that competition within the workforce of most tourism and hospitality companies is quite intense (Nickson 2013, p. 193). In addition, since the world has become a global village, workers from different areas of the world are increasingly being employed in the local hospitality businesses. It is quite common to find a foreign Chinese, Nigerian or Brazilian working in a local establishment in London or Washington. Competition within the industries poses a significant problem for the affected organisations’ HR departments. With regard to competition, HRM considers an ideal situation as one that involves a tight fit between an organization and its workforce. This implies that HRM requires organisations, and their employees to have a perfect fit such that neither of these parties is adversely affected by competition, whether industrial competition or competition within the workforce (Nickson 2013, p. 193). Notably, keeping employees excited with their work calls for a desirable level of competition, but it also calls for HRM to maintain healthy competition within the workforce. Essentially, healthy competition provides a sense of urgency without necessarily being destructive. On the other hand, an industry also requires a healthy dose of competition to ensure overall organisational and industrial efficiency. However, the pessimistic view of the hospitality and tourism industries reveals that the reality contradicts the ideal as competition within the industries is at an unhealthy level. While a subtle sense of urgency within the workforce is essential to ensure healthy competition, the present situation in the industries is typified by workers with an increased sense of urgency to discover and exploit opportunities. Industry players such as hotels and resorts encourage their employees to be innovative, and to survey situations and win. These businesses, however, experience the nightmare of arousing unhealthy competition in their workforce. The cultural perspective suggests that people from different cultures view different aspects differently. Essentially, people from different cultures perceive healthy competition differently as different people explore different avenues of getting to the top of the corporate ladder (Nickson 2013, p. 194). Some people perceive competition as focusing on pulling others down in order to get to the top. On the other hand, certain people perceive competition as working with others cooperatively in order to attain optimal results while also learning from one another. Ultimately, workers who are edged out by unhealthy competition go in search of alternative employment in other companies, which appreciate their sense of urgency. Therefore, both employees and companies suffer; firstly, employees encounter unhealthy competition, which can be quite demoralising, and companies lose valuable employees to competitors willing to hire them. References Nickson, D 2013, Human resource management for the hospitality and tourism industry, 2nd edn, Routledge, London. Read More