In the recent past, human resources development and management in Australia has experienced tremendous growth. Previously, this industry has been formal but of late industry regulators are moving towards deregulation of this sector by engaging a more professionally trained workforce, in effect casualizing and diversifying the hospitality industry (Patrickson & Hartmann 1998, p. 98).
Practitioner are more emphatic on creating a more flexible work plan, putting employees on performance based contracts, reliance on legal professionals and computerizing HR management. This has created a more diversified HR and hospitality industry in Australia. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the functional comparisons between Australia and India’s human resource management in the hospitality industry.
There is no shortage of available labor force for Australia’s hotel industry. In their report, Nankervis and Debrah explain that primary function of industry managers is to identify, train and equip hotels with reliable work force that meets industry demands (1993, p. 507). This is because Australia is a major tourist destination for elite tourists. In order to retain tourists, hotels must provide the best customer service.
HR managers in Australia have also had to develop a “more systematic employee management” by developing more flexible work policies that accommodate “casual and students labor force (Knox & Walsh 2006, p. 1). In the recruitment of employees, 32% of Australian hotels ensure that there are equal employment opportunities for both genders (Knox and Walsh 2).
To add to this, about 82% of all hotels in Australia posses’ mission statements that express their business philosophies and objectives (Knox & Walsh 2006, p. 3).
Australian hotel industry still has a very low appraisal rates with only about 59.5 % of Australian hotels conduct employees’ performance appraisals and 40.6% having a distinct careers plans for their employees (Knox & Walsh 2006, p. 4). This is not enough to motivate the Australian hotel workers.
By comparison, India’s hotel industry spends about 33% of its total earnings while Australia spends about 35% on labor cost (Buultjens & Cairncross 2009, p. 48; Hotel news resource 2010). The Indians industry has also sought to move to engage a “ more flexible job description so as to suit in the emerging and a more formalized training procedure for its hotel work force,” just like Australia (Chand 2009, para 1).
However, Australia hospitality industry has seen an increase in the number of part time employees over the years, rising to 54% of the overall work force (Nankervis 1995, para 12).
The Indian HR department solely decides the penalties imposed on errant employees; Australia is more consultative. This means that Indian is still lagging behind in training of quality hotel staff. The chart below shows the differences outweigh the similarities.
In conclusion, India is still lagging behind Australia in the general development of the hospitality industry as compared to Australia. There is a shortage of hotels training institutes in India whereas, Australia has moved from developing training institutions to providing quality training fro employees that its industry demands.
As a result of improved training HR, management practices have improved tremendously and therefore Hoteliers have achieved more desirable results. They also attract a labor force with the relevant job competencies.
However, they still need to improve on employee appraisal programs and develop career growth plans, if they are to retain such highly competent staff. Both countries are engaging policies for more flexible work-plans for their employees because of the overall industry fluctuations.
Reference List
Buultjens’ J., & Cairncross, G., 2009. The Australian Hospitality Industry Response to Formalized Enterprise And Individual; Bargaining Prior To The Ruud Government. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Web.
Chand, M., 2010. Human resource management practices in Indian hospitality enterprises: an empirical analysis. Web.
HOTEL NEWS RESOURCE., 2010. Deloitte Hospitality 2015: Seven Key Trends to Shape the Future Success. Web.
Knox, A., & Walsh, J. (2006). Organizational flexibility and HRM in the hotel industry: evidence from Australia. Web.
Nankervis A. (1993). Enhancing Productivity in the Australian Hotel Industry: The Role of Human Resource Management, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management. 1.117-39.
Nankervis, A. (1995). Human Resource Management in Hotels: A Comparative Study. Web.
Patrickson, M., & Hartmann, L., 2001. Human Resource Management in Australia Prospects for the Twenty-First Century. International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 22, No. 398.
Thadani, M., & Wij, I., 2010. India Hotel Industry Survey 2009-2010. The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India. Web.