Call / WhatsApp: UK: +44 7308 518706 | USA: +1 8126514131
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Assignment Studio

  • Services
    • Academic Writing Service
      • Assignment Help
      • Academic Assignment Help
      • Assignment Writers
      • Custom Writing Services
      • Online Assignment Help
      • Effective Note-taking – Assignment Help
      • Assignment Help Australia
      • Write My Assignment
      • Help on Assignments
      • Buy Assignment Online
      • Best Assignment Helper
      • Assignment Paper Help
      • College Assignment Help
      • Help with Assignments Online
      • Get Assignment Help
      • Homework Assignment Help
      • Thesis Writing Services
      • Online Assignment Writer
      • Collect material
    • Assignment By Cities
      • Perth Assignment Help
      • Brisbane Assignment Help
      • Adelaide Assignment Help
      • Gold Coast Assignment Help
      • Geelong Assignment Help
      • Newcastle Assignment Help
      • Sydney Assignment Help
      • Melbourne Assignment Help
      • Hobart Assignment Help
    • Assignments by Universities
      • Swinburne Assignment Help
      • Monash Assignment Help
      • Latrobe University Assignment Help
      • Monash Assignments
      • Coles Assignment Help
      • Melbourne University Assignment
      • CQU Assignment Help
      • NMIT Assignments
      • RMIT Assignments
    • Essays
      • Essay Writing Guide
        • How to Write an Essay
        • Creating an Essay Structure
        • Essay Marking Schemes
        • How To Write An Essay Plan
        • Interpreting Your Essay
        • Writing An Essay Title
        • Writing A Critical Evaluation
      • Essay Help
        • Argumentative Essay
        • Critical Essay
        • Essay Writing Help on Comparison Essay
        • College Essay
        • Deductive Essay
        • Essay Writer
        • Admission Essay
        • Online Essay Help
        • Do My Essay Online
        • Evaluative Essay
        • History Essay Help
        • Research Essay Help
        • Urgent Essay Help
        • Top Quality Essay
        • Top Essay Writing Companies
        • Cheap Essay Writing Help
        • Professional Essay Help
        • Cheap Essay Writer
        • Essay Writers Online
        • Need Help Writing Essay
        • Essay Homework Help
        • Write Essay Online
      • Types of Essay
        • Argumentative Essay
        • Admission Essay
        • College Essay
        • Comparison Essay
        • Definition Essay
        • Deductive Essay
        • Evaluative Essay
        • Narrative Essay
        • Personal Essay
      • Essay Writing Tips
        • College Essay Help
        • Essay Writing Help
      • Essay Help Cities
        • Assignment Writer Sydney
        • Assignment Writer Brisbane
        • Assignment Writer Melbourne
        • Assignment Writer Perth
        • Essay Writer Sydney
        • Essay Writer Melbourne
        • Essay Writer Perth
        • Essay Writer Australia
        • Essay Assignment Help
    • Other Services
      • Dissertation Writing Assignment Help
      • Cheap Assignment Help
      • Creating An Appendix
      • Assignment Help Tutors
      • Assignment Assistance Australia
      • Student Assignment Help
      • Last Minute Assignment Help
      • Urgent Assignment Help
      • Assignment Provider
      • Do My Assignment Help
      • Make My Assignment For Me
      • Solve My Assignment
      • Custom Assignment Writing
      • How to Write a Dissertation – Assignment Help
      • Quality Assignment Help
      • Write My Assignment For Me
      • Assignment Writing Tips
      • Buy Assignment
    • Article Writing Service
    • Assignment Help UK
    • Animation Assignment Help
    • Coursework Help
    • College Assignment Help
    • Leadership Assignment Help
    • Network Planning Assignment Help
    • Dissertation Proposal Writing Help
    • Report Writing Help
    • My Assignment Help
    • Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
    • Pecha Kucha Presentation Help
    • Pestel Analysis Assignment Help
    • University Assignment Help
    • Video Presentation Assignment Help
  • Homework Help
  • Subjects
    • Accounting
      • Auditing Assignment Help
      • Business Accounting Assignments
      • Management Accounting Assignment Help
      • Professional Accounting Assignment Help
    • Economics
      • Economics Globalization Assignments
      • Micro Economics Assignments
      • Macro Economics Assignments
      • Business Economics Assignments
      • Managerial Economics Assignments
    • Finance
      • Principle Of Finance Assignments
      • Financial Management Assignment Help
      • Financial Accounting Assignments
      • Introduction Corporate Finance Assignments
    • Business
      • Entrepreneurship Assignment Help
      • Leadership Assignment Help
      • Business Assignment Help
      • Project Management Assignment
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Business Management Assignment Help
      • Human Resource Assignment Help
      • Operation Management Assignment
      • Leadership Assignment
      • Change Management Assignment Help
    • Law
      • Contract Law
      • Constitutional Law
      • Corporate Law
      • Common Law
      • Criminal Law
      • Commercial Law
      • International Law
      • Property Law Assignment
      • Taxation Law Assignment
      • Tort Law Assignment
    • Engineering
      • Engineering Assignment Help UK
      • Civil Engineering
      • Computer Engineering
      • Mechanical Engineering
      • Software Engineering
      • Online Engineering Assignment Help
      • CDR Writing
      • CDR Assignment Help
    • Marketing Assignment Help
      • Marketing Assignment Help
      • Social Media Marketing Help
      • Digital Marketing Assignment
      • 4ps Of Marketing Assignment Help
      • Pestel Analysis Assignment
    • Assignment Help On Companies
      • woolworths Assignment Help
      • Costco Assignment Help
      • Coles Assignment Help
    • Popular Assignments
      • Pricing Strategy Assignment
      • Sales Promotion Assignment
      • Porters Five Forces assignment
      • Solve Accounting Assignment
      • Bitcoin Assignment Help
      • Lehman Brothers and Enron Scandal Auditing Assignment
      • IT Management Assignment Help
      • Healthcare Management Help
      • Decision Making Assignment
    • Project Management Assignment Help
    • Artificial Intelligence Assignment Help
  • Sample Assignments
  • Resources
    • Assignment details
    • Give us a Feedback
    • Make a Payment
    • Plagiarism Checker
    • Privacy policy
    • Refer a Friend
    • Submit Documents & Earn
    • Terms of service
    • Word Counter
  • Blogs
  • Get a Quote
SignupLogin
 May 24, 2025

Report on Staffing Needs of Special Interest Tourism

Report on Staffing Needs of Special Interest Tourism

Summary

The report examines the importance of certain HRM activities like recruitment & selection and training & development in the context of the ABC Travel & Tourism company (also ABC), which is a well-known market player in the tourism and hospitality industry in Europe. The company specializes in special interest tours, but has a more traditional approach to HRM that needs change and upgrade. Today’s HRM has evolved a lot from what it was in the early 20th century. The company under discussion needs to take note of that and reorganize its HRM practices with regard to special interest tourism in order to accommodate more softer approaches and thus drive better business growth. The report observes the existing recruitment and selection processes at ABC, along with its limitations, and offers possible solutions to the problems. The report also assesses the training and development practices at ABC and observes limitations to recommend alternatives. The second part of this report is a self-reflective log of the author in the capacity of an HR consultant.

 

Hire Professional Writers at Low Prices!
*
*
*
*

 

What is HRM?

As Alan Price rightly observes in his book Human Resource Management (2011), organizations are made up of people and therefore, HRM or human resource management is integral to almost all management activities within it. There are many studies and theories on HRM and it has its share of evolution too. However, in essence, HRM is the strategic and articulate practice of managing the most prized assets of an organization: its people, the workforce who contribute to the business goals, both as individuals and in teams (Vani, 2011). Therefore, broadly speaking, the role of HRM in an organization is to manage the people (Benschop, 2001). And people management is at the core of some of the HRM activities like recruitment, selection, redeployment of employees and training and development (Price, 2011). For every company in every industry, HRM is approached and adopted differently as suits the needs of that company. The focus of HRM, for the purposes of this report, will be on the ABC company, which belongs to the travel and tourism industry domain.

HRM in Travel & Tourism Industry

HRM was more of hard HRM or power dynamics based in the early twentieth century. In that, it fitted perfectly into Frederick Taylor’s observation that employees were just another element in the production process, same as raw materials and machinery (Taylor, 1947). The ‘human’ side to human resource management evolved much later as notions changed and companies began to realize the cognitive value in relationship based employee operations. This new perspective significantly emerged with the publication of New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (1989). HRM started to focus more on commitment, than on control, to be able to build highly skilled and loyal employees that drive more competitive advantage in an organization.

Some companies consider HRM as unique ‘best’ practices that aspire to recruit, develop, manage and reward employees in sustainable ways that foster high-performing work environments, while others just consider HRM as a remodeling of good people management practices (Bratton & Gold, 2012). The travel and tourism industry is one such industry that still has a lot of diversity in its adoption of HRM models/approaches. Baum (1995: 151) notes that in some geographical areas, this industry demonstrates a respectable, high-status and high-pay job environment, while at the same time there are places and sectors where tourism offers low-pay, high employee turnover and poor work environments. Therefore, it is often a challenge for companies and managers in the travel and tourism sector to keep employees motivated and committed to deliver high-quality services to its demanding customers. A lot of emphasis is now given to the Harvard model of HRM (which is the softer and developmental humanism based version of HRM) while recruiting, selecting and training the right candidates for the job.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism comprises 8.7% of jobs globally (WTTC, 2006). No wonder then that important HRM activities like recruitment, selection, training and development should be more growth-oriented and quality-focused. In other words, it should shift from ‘only outputs matter’ to ‘people matter’.

ABC Travel & Tourism: The Company

ABC Travel and Tourism company is a subsidiary of the Happy Holidays Travel Group, based in Europe. It currently operates in 9 countries worldwide and connects global and local travelers to exotic and adventurous destinations. Travels or customers of ABC can request for or choose, customize and book the best tour packages tailored to their individual tastes and preferences. Special interest tours are one of its most-loved product offerings.

ABC Travel & Tourism has over 300 local travel agents spread over 9 countries who assist travelers in personalizing their trips. Its customers can choose from an extensive range of domestic and international destinations.

Although it calls itself Europe’s most favorite tourism company, a recent employee survey revealed the company as ‘arrogant’ in its operations and HRM.

ABC Travel & Tourism: Recruitment & Selection

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) holds recruitment as the process of “having the right person, in the right place, at the right time. It is crucial to organizational performance”. The question is, who are the “right” people for ABC Travel & Tourism? Since this company has a lot of customized packages on offer, with a proven customer satisfaction in special interest tours like places of historical interests or adventure destinations, a lot of the company’s success rest on the front-line staff who interact with travelers and generate that ‘make or break’ customer buying decision. Therefore, while the physical product (tour package) is vital, for many travelers the quality of their experience depends largely on the interactions they have with the various front-line staff in this travel, tourism and hospitality industry (Nickson, 2012).

The general structure of resources in the tourism industry is:

  • front-line staff
  • team leaders
  • middle manager
  • senior management
  • CEO or Managing Director

Maximum care should be taken while choosing the front-line staff and team leads as they represent the company values and are responsible for enticing customers to special interest packages. Not only should they know the product well, they must have the soft skills like marketing and PR that drive profitability.

Presently, the company has the traditional recruitment and selection process — through job portals and company websites and candidates are selected mainly through recommendations from existing employees or anyone closely known to the company. However, with the demands of special interest tourism, the type of resources required by companies have also undergone a sea change. ABC travel and tourism is no different. What it needs is increased productivity and less employee turnover with the right personnel recruitment. However, achieving increased productivity in a service industry is not as easy as it is in many other industries, unless a company radically transforms its service nature (Boella & Goss-Turner, 2013). So, HRM activities mainly pertaining to recruitment, selection, training and development, need a complete makeover at ABC if it intends to substantially improve its quality of service.

Employees should be selected based on the right balance of technical and human skills. They should not only know the product well (here, special interest tour packages), they also need to be adept in exciting customers with relevant customizations.

The problem with the existing recruitment and selection methods at ABC are that recommendations do not allow for the managers to test the emotional ability of candidates for delivering successful traveler experiences. Employers in hospitality and tourism across the globe progressively want personnel with the ‘right’ attitude and appearance (Chan and Coleman, 2004; Nickson et al., 2005). The right attitude refers to social and interpersonal skills that primarily ensures employees are responsive, courteous, patient and empathizing with customers, or simply put, they should exhibit emotional labor (Nickson, 2012). Also, according to a CIPD report (2013), young employees prefer social media more as a platform of recruitment than conventional channels like corporate websites and online job portals. ABC must extend to systematic, organized, job-analysis based recruitment methods through more diverse platforms and make their recruitment and selection processes more youth-friendly.

The skills primarily needed in frontline staff and team leaders of special interest tourism are:

  • Marketing skills (to be able to sell ideas, products, services)
  • Operational skills (to be able to function within organizational goals and parameters)
  • Cognitive skills (to be able to provide solutions to problems)
  • Communication skills (to be able to convey vital information effectively to customers/clients)

 

Hire Expert Writers at Affordable Price

  • Get Guaranteed Quality Assignment Help
  • On-Time Delivery
  • Professional Academic Writer
  • Best Price Guarantee
WhatsApp Get Assignment Help

 

ABC Travel & Tourism: Training & Development

As per the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2001), young people, especially students, comprise a major portion of the tourism and hospitality industry’s workforce. This is also true for the ABC company, which must, therefore, brace up to build greater and more sustainable skills among its employees through appropriate training and development. A company like ABC Travel & Tourism, which exists in the service sector, must have highly skilled and motivated employees who can bring about operational effectiveness. Young people, who are mostly students need to undertake industry-specific trainings in order to develop themselves more and more. As global competition becomes stiff, the need for ongoing and individualistic training and development seems to be of paramount importance in organizations.

The staffing needs with regard to training in case of special interest tourism are slightly different as location-based knowledge is just not enough. It needs to be complemented with critical thinking, planning, problem solving, etc. Technical craft skills would mean in-depth awareness of the places of interest, adventure tours, etc. Apart from this, employees must be trained in impromptu improvisations while speaking with customers, effective communication and marketing skills.  

Presently, ABC functions in a way where much is left to the company regarding how much or how little training they would provide. However, this ‘arrogance’ or ‘ignorance’ does not signal a sustainable future and a productive workforce. The company must deploy an “individualistic” approach to reach the quality benchmark and competitive advantage (Legge, 2005).

The idea is to move from human ‘resources’ to human ‘capital’. Through training and development, the people should become the prized assets for the company — the essential capital to bank upon, not just ‘cogs in the wheel’. They must be motivated enough to expend emotional labor and ensure happy customers, by exploring their special interests and designing customized tour packages that are cut out just to meet travelers’ individual needs. Brindusoiua (2013) rightly points out that the interactions between the customers and tourism staff play a huge role in satisfying and exciting the former to make a purchase decision in taking tours. So, ABC’s young workforce responsible for special interest tour packages needs to be trained to ‘put customers first’ through professional programs and to develop the ‘right attitude’.

Self-Reflection as an HR Consultant

As an HR consultant in contemporary corporate environment, I feel that both HRM (human resource management) and HRD (human resource development) must function closely together for creating significant value in organizations, especially in the tourism and hospitality sector, which are service-oriented. Human beings need to be treated more as assets or capitals than as obvious routine elements in the delivery process. Companies need to be more ‘people centric’ than ‘product centric’. Through the research and study conducted during this report, it is understood that underscoring on the people factor in HRM can be fatal to organizational success. Therefore, the two most important HRM activities like recruitment & selection and training & development must be handled with care. And in that context, extra focus should be given on understanding the young psyche — what it prefers, how it works, what motivates them to be high-performing and what they expect from their employers. The young are crucial as they comprise a big percentage of today’s workforce, more so in the service industries.

I have also realized that the scientific management approach to HRM is gradually becoming passé, giving way to the Harvard model of developmental humanism or the Guest model,  both of which consider high employee commitment as a significant HR outcome, embedded in the organization’s goals of binding employees to its core values. Unless employees identify their individual values with that of the organization’s, they are not adequately excited to engage in strategic business interactions with potential customers and win them over.

Today, tourism is the world’s fastest growing industry sector, as well as one of the leading foreign currency earners (Boella & Goss-Turner, 2013). However, as I comprehend the situation, tourism faces the most critical challenges compared to other industries too. It has labor issues like high employee turnover rates, poor work standards, and institutionalized pilfering, etc. in many companies. To mitigate these challenges, the industry is gradually changing its overall HRM approach. Companies are adopting more humane HR strategies geared towards greater business benefits with stronger focus on ‘people’ initiatives.

No matter how big the company, organizational performance will deteriorate if low-skilled, ill-trained or inappropriate personnel produce and sell products and offer services. Therefore, HRM must recruit and select employees through organized methods: defining the job role, attracting applications through diverse channels, selecting candidates through face-to-face interviews and assessing their EQ (emotional quotient), and finally making an appointment. HRM must not stop only at this. It should extend to HRD and adopt extensive training and developmental programs that can enhance both hard and soft skills of the service personnel. It is only through cohesive functioning of the soft HRM practices that special interest tourism specialist organizations can derive maximum benefits.

References

  1. Baum, Tom (1995). Managing Human Resources in the European Hospitality and Tourism Industry – A Strategic Approach, Chapman and Hall.
  2. Benschop, Yvonne (2001). Pride, prejudice and performance: relations between HRM, diversity and performance, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12:7, DOI: 10.1080/09585190110068377 (Accessed: July 17, 2015)
  3. Boella, Michael J. & Goss-Turner, Steven (2013). Human Resource Management in the Hospitality Industry, Ninth edition, Routledge, ISBN: 978-0-203-09558-4
  4. Boxall, P. (1991), New Perspectives on Human Resource Management. John Storey (Ed). (1989) Routledge. London. Distributed by The Law Book Company Limited. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 29: 141–142. doi: 10.1177/103841119102900117
  5. Bratton, John & Gold, Jeff (2012). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, 5th edition, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN: 9781137000958
  6. Brindusoiua, Catalina (2013). Recruitment and Selection in Services Organizations in Romania, Elsevier Ltd, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 92 ( 2013 ) 112 – 116
  7. Chan, B. and Coleman, M. (2004) ‘Skills and competencies needed for the Hong Kong hotel industry: the perspective of the hotel human resources manager’, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism, 3(1), 3–18.
  8. CIPD Research Report (2013). Employers are from Mars, young people are from Venus, http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/employers-are-from-mars-young-people-are-from-venus-addressing-the-young-peoplejobs-mismatch_2013.pdf (Accessed: July 18, 2015)
  9. CIPD, Recruitment: An Overview (2015), http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/recruitment-overview.aspx (Accessed: July 19, 2015)
  10. International Labour Organization (2001) Human Resource Development, Employment and Globalization in the Hotel Catering and Tourism Sector, ILO.
  11. Legge, Karen (2005). Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities; Anniversary Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN-13: 978-1403936004
  12. Nickson, D., Warhurst, C. and Dutton, E. (2005) ‘The importance of attitude and appearance in the service encounter in retail and hospitality’, Managing Service Quality, 15(2), 195–208.
  13. Nickson, Dennis (2012). Human Resource Management for the hospitality and tourism industries 2nd edition, Routledge.
  14. Price, Alan (2011). Human Resource Management, 4th edition, Cengage Learning EMEA, ISBN: 1408032244, 9781408032244 (Accessed: July 16, 2015)
  15. Taylor, F. W. (1947). Scientific Management, Harper & Brothers: New York, pp. 45–46.
  16. Vani, G. (2011). Evolution of Human Resource Management, Review of Management, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Accessed: July 16, 2015)
  17. World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (2006). Travel and Tourism Climbing New Heights: The 2006 Travel and Tourism Economic Research, at http://www.wttc.org/2006TSA/pdf/Executive%20Summary%202006.pdf (Accessed: July 18, 2015)

 

Need Urgent Academic Assistance?

Price Starts from $10 Per Page

*
*
*
*

Get Instant Help through WhatsApp

Assignment Studio - Your Partner in Academic Success!

For Students in UK

WhatsApp

For Students in USA

WhatsApp

Popular Services

Assignment Help

Homework Help

Essay Help

Dissertation Help

Assignment Help UK

Thesis Help

Research Paper Help

Report Writing Help

CDR Writing

Popular Subjects

Law Assignment Help

Engineering Assignment Help

Marketing Assignment Help

Project Management Assignment Help

Accounting Assignment Help

Business Assignment Help

Economics Assignment Help

Artificial Intelligence Assignment Help

Assignment Help on Companies

Finance Assignment Help

Auditing Assignment Help

Leadership Assignment Help

Video Presentation Assignment Help

Nursing Assignment Help

Statistics Assignment Help

IT Assignment Help

Database Assignment Help

Programming Assignment Help

Social Media Assignment Help

Samples

Sample Assignment Solutions

Essay Writing Samples

Literature Review Samples

Case Study Samples

Marketing Report Samples

Worldwide Services

United Kingdom

United States

Australia

Canada

United Arab Emirates

Singapore

Resources

Word Counter

Submit Documents & Earn

Plagiarism Checker

Refer & Earn

Give us a Feedback

Order a New Assignment

Quick Links

Terms & Conditions

Refund Policy

Privacy Policy

Blog

Refer & Earn upto 4000$

Our Globally Trusted Assignment Help Service Delivers Tailored Solutions with Expert Guidance, Timely Delivery, and Unmatched Quality for Students in the UK, Australia, and USA!

Contact Details

UK Office

101, Gower Street,WC1E 6AA, London, United Kingdom

Mobile

+44 7308 518706

USA Office

Brooklyn 11216, New York, United States

Mobile

+1 8126514131

Australia Office

533 Little Collin Street, Melbourne, Australia

Assignment Studio © 2025 All rights reserved.

TOP
Order Notification

[variable_1] from [variable_2] has just ordered [variable_3] Assignment [amount] minutes ago.

Get 1-On-1 Customized Essay Assistance

Order Now and Get 40% Off

*
*
*
*

Get 1-On-1 Customized Research Proposal Assistance

Order Now and Get 40% Off

*
*
*

Get 1-On-1 Customized Dissertation Assistance

Order Now and Get 40% Off

*
*
*

Get 1-On-1 Customized Thesis Assistance

Order Now and Get 40% Off

*
*
*

Order Now

Order Now and Get 40% off on your Assignment 

*
*
*
*

Order Now and Get 25% off For September-October only

textbox6129
textarea1740
Select FileChangeRemove
fileupload7305

‹›×

    Get Assignment Help from Expert Writers

    From World's No.1 Assignment Help Company

    *
    *
    *
    *
    *
    *
    Hire Professional Writers at Low Prices!
    *
    *
    *
    *