A Career in the Hospitality Industry: Influencing Factors

Proposal
Joseph Cesar & Annette Pierre

Title: A career in the hospitality industry: Influencing Factors.

The research question: What are the influencing factors and how they impact on career building within the hospitality industry? The focal point of the research will be concentrated on the influencing factors that attract people of different kinds and from various regions, nations, cultures and backgrounds into the hospitality industry. Among all thesefactors, there are those that benefits employment and employees as we as well as employer, while there are those that have negative impacts on stakeholders. In this research, the negative and positive impacts of these factors will be outlined and analysed. Career building is an essential part of the human being as an employee. It is also crucial for the employment to consider career building development and incentives so as to better strategically design excellent and sustainable corporate culture. It helps to better planned growth of an organization and ensure profitable bottom line.

Introduction

This research will help to identify various issues and problems that exist within the manpower of hospitality industry. Question such as; -How and to what extent does this industry provide jobs, wealth and opportunities in the world? -What is the capture rate of the world labor force that is attracted into this industry? -What impact (negative and positive) does this industry has on families, societies, cultures, regions, global economies, religions, and MNCs, and organizations?

The study will be broken down into three main parts; The first part is Careerthat will be discussed as a subject itself. Career building, career opportunities, career development and training, career scope and challenges, are some of the sub topics that will be outlined, analysed and discussed. Generally hospitality refers to jobs in the hospitality industry such as hotels, restaurants, catering, resorts and casinos as well as other hospitality that deal with tourists. Hospitality involves the relationship process between the hotel and a guest. It also involves the act of being hospitable suchas guests and reception and entertainment with friendliness, goodwill and liberality. Hospitality is also known as the act of munificently giving care and kindheartedness to whoever is in need. Hospitality is important to modern day business, and one of the following topics could make for a good tourism dissertation. (Ivory research 2009)

The second part is the Hospitality Industry that will be studied and analysed in detail. An overview of the industry will initiate this section. The different sectors within this industry will be outlined and discussed. These are; hospitals , airlines, restaurants and bars, hotels, guests houses,under suppliers;travel agents, tour operators, online agents, operators and marketers (emarketing and social media), tourism boards or authorities and governments. The scope of the

industry such as developed and developing countries, economies, employment capture rates, etc., will also be studied.

Benefits such as advantages, revenue and employment will be studied. The disadvantages and down turns will also be discussed and analysed. The trends involve in this industry is also crucial and important to look into as this indicates the present status of the industry development and evolution. The future of this industry will also be focused on because it will outline the trends of hospitality and the various innovations being created within.

Thirdly, the influencing factor which is the focal point of this study is discussed. As the main topic area of the research, extensive analyses and discussion will be qualitatively researched and analysed. Subtopics such as; lifestyle, traveling, beliefs, opportunities, remuneration and incentives, development, and education and skills qualifications, knowledge, culture, gender and trends, environment, economics(household, nations, regions, global, poverty alleviation, etc.), leadership, and policy are a few of the questions and researches to be studied.

Scope

The limitation of this study is that it will be conducted on a small sample. But the global statistical figures will be used to quantitatively analyze the capture rate or the absorption rate of employees within the hospitality industry. The results will either support the research question and/or contradict the hypothesis. The objective is to identify and try to answer with the most accurate answers possible. However, because it will be impossible to use a large relatively international sample, four key countries that will represent the four continents has been identify and chosen so as to reflect a global scanning. The four countries are; Seychelles representing

small island state countries; Kenya representing the African countries; China representing the Asian nations; France for the European countries; and the USA for the America.

Another limitation will be with conducting research in France as it uses a different language, and this can create frictions in the interpretation of data. But the disadvantage is limited because we also use French as second language.

Aims

The aim of this research is to identify, understand and explain all the influencing factors that drive people towards the hospitality industry and those that pull them away. Factors that retain workers in the in the industry will also be considered. A theoretical approach will complement the practical approach of the research. The benefits and downturns of those are also to be analysed.

Objectives

The research could be used to help students better understand why people join the industry and help mangers to recruit, select, induct, develop, train, motivate and retain workers within the hospitality sector. It will also help the potential candidates, and stakeholders in society to better appreciate this industry. Those that are already in the industry without really appreciating and/oridentifying key elements that could be used into their advantage, or those that are not taking full advantage of what the hospitality offers, can be encouraged or empowered into clearly identifying and justifying their appreciation for their trades.

Justification

Many researches on the related topic have been done by academies and professionals in the field. The hospitality is consistently growing fasterthan ever. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries are the focus area of development in this era. Promising result and success are on the range of rapid development. The Starwood and the Four Seasons have large projects of developing more than one hundred hotels in China only. Therefore demand for manpower in this sector is ever more increasing. By better understanding of the various influencing factors to attract labourinto the industry will help stakeholders to better plan strategically the hospitality manpower for the future.

Review of the literature

In the past, the influencing factors were not as dynamic and important as today. But within the globalization movements in perspective, today these are ever more crucial. Operators in the business are constantly designing new approaches for the HR functions so as to recruit and select the most suitable candidates into the industry. This is done not only through rewarding factors being offered, but through various psychological tests and self-assessment programs. The idea is to acquire the best potentials and retain them.

Methodology

Various academic articles, statistic, diagrams, journals, books and essays relating to the topic have been chosen so as to conduct a thorough review of the different supporting literature to the research question, but also to critically analyse them. Questionnaires will be designed for the

stakeholders of the hospitality industry. This will help add a quantitative report to the study. Charts and graphs will be used to interpret data collected.

Potential work schedule

The study will be divided into different progressive segments. Collections of various literature reviews have already been carried out and ongoing. Those reviews will be carefully read and analyse so as to separate them into their significance of importance and to relate them to the same parts of the study. Time management is crucial; therefore action plans will be schedule so as to maximise efficiently and effectiveness of using the resources available. A checklist of dos and donts for relating has also been conceptualised.

Resources Requirements

The Shannon College of Hotel Management library and information documentation centre will be the main area of research. On-line research and academic journals websites will be used. www.emeraldinsight.com insight and www.ebscohost.com as the two official college journals data banks will be accessed. This is amounted to zero cost. Relevant books and the International Hospitality journal catalogues from the library are also included in these research resources. Questionnaires will be designed and posted to key professionals and actors in the area of study; these will be posted at the new rate postage fees. Printing and photo copies will be another resources and normal college fees and/or national library fees are to be absorbed and implemented.

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