Central University of Kashmir

Nowgam, Srinagar, J&K- 190015

www.cukashmir.ac.in

MTTM C-204
Human Resource Management in Tourism

Unit I

Course Objective: This course aims to develop the insight of the students regarding
the various Human Resource Practices & concepts in Organizations with special
reference to the Tourism Industry.

Unit- I
Human Resource Management: Concept, Definition, Objectives, Functions of HRM,
Historical Evolution of HRM , HRM VS PM, SHRM, Role & Importance of HRM in Tourism
industry, Challenges and opportunities. Need for HRM in Tourism Industry.

Course Title: Human Resource Management in Tourism

Course Code: MTTM C-204
Department: Tourism Studies
Year: 2016

Contributor’s Name: Mr. Faizan Ashraf Mir

Email: faizan.ashraf@cukashmir.ac.in
Contact: 9796768345
Designation: Assistant Professor
 Human Resource Management in Tourism
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR

Unit I

Reference:-

1.http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/hrm/human-resource-management-meaning-
objectives-scope-and-functions/35229/
2. Essentials of Human Resource Management & industrial Relations by P. Subha Rao.
3. Human Resource Management by K. Ashwathappa

Concept and Definition of Human Resource Management:-

Few Definitions explaining the concept of Human Resource:-

Michael J. Jucius has defined human resources as “a whole consisting of inter-related,

inter-dependent and interacting physiological, psychological, sociological and ethical
components”

Sumantra Ghosal considers human resources as human capital. He classifies human

capita into three categories-intellectual capitals, social capital and emotional capital.
Intellectual capital consists of specialized knowledge, tacit knowledge and skills,
cognitive complexity, and learning capacity.

According to Leon. C Megginson, Human Resource may be defined as a "the total

knowledge , skill , creative abilities, talents, aptitudes as well as values , attitudes,
approaches & beliefs of the individual involved in affairs of Organisation." -

According to P. Subha Rao , "Human Resource Management is managing employment,

development compensation and utilization of Human Resource."
Few Definitions explaining the concept of Human Resource
Management:-

According to Flippo “Personnel management, or say, human resource management is

the planning, organising, directing and controlling of the procurement development
compensation integration, 4intenance, and separation of human resources to the end
that individual, organisational and social objectives are accomplished”.

Michael J. Jucious defined Personnel Management as "the field of management which

has to do with the Planning, Organising, directing and controlling the functions of
procuring, developing, maintaining and utilizing a labour force such as:
(1) The objectives for the the organisation is established are attained economically
and effectively.
(2) The objectives of all levels of personnel are served to the highest possible degree.
(3) The objectives of the society are duly considered and served.

The National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) of India has defined human
resource/personnel management as “that part of management which is concerned with
people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise. Its aim is to bring
together and develop into an effective organisation of the men and women who make
up an enterprise and having regard for the well-being of the individuals and of working
groups, to enable them to make their best contribution to its success”

Summarizing the Definition of HRM and explaining the Concept:-

Human Resource is the most flexible resources available with the organisation and is
the most important factor for the success or failure of the organisation. Managing
Human Resource is a comprehensive and a continuous task which encompasses the
following genres:-

1. HRM is concerned with employees both as individual and as group in attaining goals
and also deals with the emotional, behavioural and social aspects of personnel.
 2. HRM is concerned with the development of Human Resources, i.e knowledge,
capability, skills. Potentialities etc.
3. It covers all levels and categories of employees from lower level to top level and from
skilled to unskilled.
4. It is common to all types of organisations.
5. It is a continuous and a never ending process.
6. It is a responsibility of line managers and a function of staff managers in an
organisation.
7. It is a central sub system and permeates to all functional management levels.

Objectives of Human Resource Management:-

• Maximum Individual Development: HRM aims at improving the individuals working in

the organisation to their full potential, by conducting performance and skill assessments
and finding out the loop holes in each individual and thereby conducting the training
programmes to fill in the loopholes. This is one of the vital objectives of Human
Resource Management, to bring about Development in Individuals which includes
improvement beyond the technical skills. HRM considers Human Resource as the most
vital asset of the Organisation, and working on their individual development in turn
leads to the development of Organisation as a whole.
• Desirable Working Relationship: - HRM helps in building cordial relations between the
workers and the managers. It helps in developing peer relationships, superior-
subordinate relationships, manager-manager relationships etc. HRM works on issues of
interpersonal relations, interpersonal communications and encourages to build a
congenial work atmosphere filled with peace and structured set-ups.
• Moulding Human Behaviour: - It helps in acclimatising the workers to a common work
environment and work Culture by moulding the behaviour of all individuals into a
common effective culture at workplace. Every Human Being is different from one
another, and each employee brings along with him a unique behaviour of his own. In
order for an organisation to be successful, the behaviour of all employees needs to be
channelized in a specific manner for the power of unity to work as its strength. This
channelizing of behaviour of all employees is also the objective of Human Resource
Management, which it does by conducting socializing, induction and orientation events.
• Right Type, Right Job, Right Time: Since recruitment and selection are the prime tasks of
HRM, where-in the purpose is to find out the best fit for the Job. It is the HR Department
which conducts the recruitment and selection process, and as we all know the purpose
always is to find the best among the applicants who fits the job on the basis of skills,
qualifications, ability, eligibility, behaviour, attitude, expectations etc.
• Training: All employees whether newly recruited or the ones already working in the
organisation for years require Training modules with different rationales. A fresher
mostly requires induction and Orientation Training programs where in the fresher is
appraised of the Organisation culture, set-up, structure, products etc. However existing
employees also require different kinds of training modules to update their skills and
knowledge to remain relevant in the Job .It is an important objective of HRM to train the
individuals to keep up with the changing scenario of technology and management.
• Effective Utilisation of HR : HRM helps in the optimum utilization of human resource by
allocating the most appropriate individual at the most fit Jobs. The demand and supply
of manpower is a very significant issue handled by the HR department where a record
of the inventory of manpower is maintained to know if there is any deficit or surplus in
manpower. The manpower inventory management helps in allocating the right number,
right kind of employee to the right section at the right time, thereby making effective
utilisation of HR.
• Performance Appraisal- Assessment of performance, measuring and then comparing
with the standards of performance and finally taking corrective measures is an
important objective of HRM. Its important for the organisation to know how effective
are the employees meeting their standard of performance, and if there is a need to take
any corrective measure to help improve the performance of any employees.
• Welfare & Service facilities : HRM also takes care of the welfare facilities like employee
insurance, child care facilities for working women, accidental covers, etc. These facilities
are also provided by the HR Department.
• Develop a sense of Commitment & Loyalty : HRM also works throughout the life span of
the organisation to develop a sense of belongingness and organisational citizenship
behaviour within the employees of the organisation and instils the idea of subordination
of individual goals to the Organisational goals.
• Help achieve high moral: HRM has the responsibility of maintaining high morale in the
working environment for effectively and efficiently achieving the Organisational
Objectives.
• Career Planning: Developing a career path and graph for each individual, and thereby
appraising each individual about their future career prospects.
• Grievance Management: To address to the conflict and grievance issues of the
employees and amicably provide viable solutions.

Functions of HRM

The functions of HRM can be broadly classified into two categories :

(A) Managerial Functions
(B) Operative Function

(A) Managerial Functions:-

(i) Planning: Planning refers to as a pre-determined course of action. Planning is

determination of personnel programmes and changes in advance that will contribute to
the organisational goals. In other words, it involves planning of Human resources,
requirements, recruitment, selection, training, etc. It also involves forecasting of
personnel needs, changing values, attitudes and behaviour of employees and their
impact on organisation.

(ii) Organising: - It is the means to the end. It is essential to carry out the determined
course of action. According to J.C Massie it is a "structure and a process by which
cooperative group of human beings allocates its tasks among its members, identifies
relationships and integrates its activities a towards common objectives.

(iii) Directing: - It refers to as the motivating, commanding, leading and activating

people. The willing and effective cooperation of employees for the attainment of
organisational goals is proper only through directing.
 (iv) Controlling: - The performance is to be verified in order to know that the
personnel functions are performed in conformity with the plans and directions.
Controlling involves checking, verifying and comparing of the actual plans, identification
of deviations, if any and correcting of identified deviations.
(B) Operative Functions:-
(i) Employment: It is concerned with securing and employing the people possessing
required kind and level of human resource necessary to achieve the organisational
goals. It includes functions like:
 Job Analysis
 Human Resource Planning
 Recruitment
 Selection
 Placement
 Induction & Orientation
(ii) Human Resource Development: It is the process of improving, moulding and
changing the skills, knowledge, creative ability, aptitude, attitude, values, commitment
etc based on present and future job requirements.
 Performance Appraisal
 Training
 Management Development
 Career Planning and Development
 Organizational Development
(iii) Compensation: It is the process of providing adequate, equitable and fair
remuneration to the employees. It includes:-
 Job Evaluation
 Wage & Salary Administration
 Incentives
 Bonus
 Fringe Benefits
 Social Security Measures
(iv) Human Relations
(v) Effectiveness of Human Resources Management
 Organizational Health
 HR Accounting, Audit & Research
Historical Evolution of HRM
• Human Resource Management is a relatively a new term - 1970.
• The term was coined in 4th Century BC- Arthashasthra by Kautaliya.
• 1800 BC also used the concept in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi.
• In India the term was first coined in 1920’s.
• Factories Act, 1881 & 1891,1911 were passed showing concern for worker's welfare
especially women % children in the first factory acys(Women & Children)
• 1890- Scientific Management concept gave a new direction and the concept of Human
Resource Management got more acceptances.
• First World War- 1914 led to Difficult Conditions which in turn led to Industrial
Relations and Trade Unionism.
• 1930’s- Hawthorne Studies provided another dimension to the Human Relations
Approach of Management.
• Royal Commission-1931 which led to the Appointment of Labour Welfare Officers,
reiterated the need for Human Resources Approach.
• Factories Act, 1948 made it Compulsory to appoint the Labour Welfare Officers.
• IIPM (K) & NILM (M) – were Personnel and Management Institutes were set up
following the Factories Act, 1948.
• Second World War-1939 , Awareness & Expectations
• 1960’s- Industrial Relations + Personal Administration became Personnel Management.
• Shift towards professionalism in Mgmt.
• 1970’s- A shift from Employee Welfare to Employee Efficiency.
• 1980’s- IIPM+ NILM= NILM (National Institute of Labour Management) came into
existence.
• 1985- Ministry of HRD,(HRM & HRD)
• 1987- Terms like Role Analysis, Performance Appraisal, Management By Objective
(MBO), Career Planning , Work life, Organisation Climate, etc were coined.
• 1990’s- Shift to human values & productivity.
• 1995- Cultural Diversity, Team work, Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization.
• 2000- Empowerment of Employees
• 2001- Smart sizing of Organizations.
• 2002- Positive attitude rather than skill & Knowledge
• 2003- From Intelligence Quotient to Emotional Quotient.
• 2006- HRM as core of strategic Management.
• 2007- HCM- Human Capital Management
• 2008- Retention Management
• Strategic HRM is the latest evolution in the field of Human Resource Management.

Human Resource Management VS Personnel Management:-

Human Resource Management Personnel Management

1. Broader Concept 1. Narrower Concept
2. Focuses on best utilization of HR.(Training
2. Good Employee-Employer Relationship
& Dev)
3. Pro-Active 3. Re-active
4. PM to HRM 4. Labour Welfare to PM
5. Modern 5. Traditional
6. Responsibility of Line & Staff Managers 6. Responsibility of Personnel Manager
7. Integral function of Management 7. Independent function
8. Strategic Concept 8. Routine Concept
9. Focuses on Acquisition, development, 9. Personal administration, welfare
motivation & maintenance. and labour relations.
10. Higher training & development. 10. Lesser training & development.
11. Effectiveness, culture, employee 11. Production & satisfied
participation, productivity. employees.
12. Decision Making according to 12. Decision Making by Top
employees, participation, & productivity. Mgmt/Rules & Regulations / More
administrative / Payroll, Laws, regulations,
Record keeping.
13. Nurturing 13. Monitoring.
14. Transformational Leadership 14. Transactional Leadership.
15. Direct Communication 15. Indirect Communication.
16. Facilitation. 16. Negotiation.
 17.Selection-Integral task 17. Selection-Separate task
18. Performance related Pay. 18. Job Evaluation.
19.Few Job categories 19. Many Job Categories.
20. Team Work 20. Division of Labour
21. People as assets 21. People as tools.
22.Decentralisation 22.Centralised
23. Bottom up 23. Top-down,
24.Organic 24. Mechanistic

Strategic Human Resource Management:-

• The word strategy is derived from the word " Strategos" which means to lead. Strategy
refers to as a set of plans, policies and programs which help an organisation to move
from the present state of affairs to the desired state.
• E.g:- Hero Honda Motors set a goal for themselves to increase the sales of motorcycles
by 2 lakh in the coming year. They adopted a dual strategy :
– Either Reducing Productions
– Improving Product design
– Increase fuel efficiency
• Strategy also refers to as a Pattern in a stream of decisions or actions taken by the top
level management in order to achieve the long term goal of the organisation.
Strategic Management:-
• The formulation & Implementation of plans for
• Carrying out the activities related to
• Vital, pervasive or continuing importance to Organisation refers to as Strategic
Management.
- Sharplin (1985)
Strategic Human Resource Management - Explanation:-
 Strategic Human Resource Management refers to as the alignment of Strategic
Management principles of long term importance with the Human Resource Practices.
SHRM is integrated vertically with Business Strategy and horizontally with one another.
SHRM is mainly concerned with thinking ahead and planning to meet the long term
needs of the employees and the organisation in terms of Human Resource. SHRM aims
to sharpen the Skilled, Committed & well motivated employees to achieve sustained
Competitive advantage. SHRM provides a sense of direction even in turbulent
environment to address to the needs of the business as well as the individual &
collective needs of its employees which are met by development & implementation of
coherent & practical HR practices. SHRM deals with developing strategic vision &
mission for the manpower requirements of the Organisation and setting the manpower
goals and objectives of the Organisation. SHRM is concerned more with creating,
implementing and executing a long term strategy for the manpower needs of the
Organisation. Implementation is followed with the evaluation and control of the
strategy and then taking corrective actions, if needed. SHRM helps in planning about the
long term recruitment, selection and training needs of the organisation and formulating
the career graphs and plans of the Organisation.

Strategic HRM issues:-

• Employment-
• Flat structures & Multiskills
• Long range HRP or Short Range HRP
• Skill based selection or Aptitude based
• Development
• In house training (On & Off the Job)
• External training
• Performance Appraisal
• Based on behaviour
• Based on results
• Performance based Pay
• Compensation
• Reliance high base salaries
• Infosys Low base salaries
• Fixed package or Flexible
• Long term incentives or Short term incentives
• Equal pay or Discriminated pay
• Industrial Relations
• Infosys prefers Individual negotiation
• L&T collective negotiation(Larson & Turbo)
• Employee participation
• Employee Ownership
• Employee Empowerment
• Work Systems
• Zee Telefilms prefers Job Enrichment
• Bharat Petroleum prefers simplified work
• Wipro prefers job analysis
• Satyam prefers team work
• Organisational Culture
• Multi culture or single culture
• Managing Diversity

Role & Importance of HRM in Tourism industry-

As we all know, tourism is a service based industry where in the product is intangible in
nature. So in order to compete and satisfy the end user, it is important to have a well
trained Human Resource which can deliver the product with utmost satisfaction. From
Hotel Industry to Travel Agencies, every subsidiary of the Tourism Industry is
dependent on Person to Person contact. It is because of this very attribute of
Heterogeneity and intangibility the role of Human Resource Management and its
importance increases manifold. From recruiting to selecting and then training the
Human Resource to make them efficient enough to interact with the Tourists and satisfy
their needs of Recreation, pleasure, pilgrim etc by providing high standard services
which are human contact based and have very less mechanistic substitutes.

Challenges of HRM in Tourism Industry

• Lack of competent professionals:- Tourism Industry by and large has been struggling
because of the lack of technical and professional employees. Tourism as a separate
subject of study has been established very recently, and such very few professionally
trained candidates are available in the Job market. This has led to the increase in the
employment of untrained workers working in the industry which has led to a decrease
in the service quality of the Industry.
• Lack of Education and training institutions:- Tourism Education and Training
Institutes throughout India are very numbered, and as such very few number of well
trained professionals in Hospitality, Travel, Adventure etc are been pumped out in the
Job market.
• Not been able to attract the talented lot to pursue it as a career:- Tourism in the
recent past was not considered an attractive industry and people preferred the Banking
and investment sector more in comparison. However after the saturation in these fields
and the Global increase in Tourism led to the shift of interests of people into Tourism
Industry. Even today, Tourism Industry does not remunerate the employees to the
extent they deserve, but it’s picking up well especially in the Hospitality sector.
• Generally low wages, skill shortages (e.g. chefs):- The Jobs requiring technical skills
are in good number available in the Industry but few takers because of low wages.
• Unsocial hours and shift patterns:- Tourism Industry is a round the clock, all season
activity in major parts of the world which makes the working hours in Tourism Industry
not the standard 9am to 5pm Jobs. The employees have to also face night shifts which
make the Job a little tedious and demanding in comparison to other sectors.
• Overrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in low-level operative
positions:- The women in the Tourism sector usually do not get a good representation
at the top level and are restricted to front desk and other operational Jobs making the
Industry a male dominated affair.

• Higher status and more skilled jobs filled by men:-

• Undeveloped equal opportunities policies in the sector:- Tourism Industry as of
now still lacks in having a proper administrative and policy framework in place. Career
planning is also absent in major subsidiaries of the Industry which often leads to
discriminating promotions and opportunities in the Industry.
• Poor or non-existent career structures and use of casualized seasonal
employment;
• Over reliance on informal recruitment methods:- The recruitment process in
Tourism Sector is not yet standardized and structured. Recruitment Policy is usually not
in place and informal ways of recruiting especially referrals are being followed, thereby
increasing the number of non-professional people in the Industry.
• Lack of evidence of good practice personnel/HRM practices;
• Little or no trade union presence;
• High levels of labour turnover;
• Difficulties in recruitment and retention of employees

Few more General Challenges in HRM are:-

• Responding to Globalisation.
• Managing Workforce Diversity
• Improving Quality & Productivity of HR.
• Improving Customer Service.
• Updating Skills with Changing Environment.
• Stimulating Innovation & Change
• Coping with Temporariness
• Working with Networked Organisations
• Balance Work-Life Conflict
• Creating a Positive Environment