Stephanie Jameson

Recruitment and training in small firms

The hospitality and tourism industries are two of the fastest growing and most dynamic sectors of the UK economy. Both industries are highly labour intensive and, because of this, the effective management of human resources is critical to their success. A defining characteristic of these industries is the high incidence of small firms. The issue of training in the small business sector in general has been neglected by academics and management specialists and this is also the case specifically in tourism and hospitality. This article goes some way to address this gap in knowledge and examines the recruitment and training practices of small tourism and hospitality firms. The issues examined include sources of recruitment, the extent to which small tourism and hospitality firms had training plans and training budgets, participation, and evaluation of training.

HRM in UK hotels: a focus on commitment

Explores human resource management (HRM) and the established relationships between HRM, the management of “commitment cultures”, the recruitment and selection procedures, and the training and development practices considered necessary to develop employee commitment. The literature suggests that organizations adopting an HRM approach desire employee commitment, have in place sophisticated, objective recruitment and selection methods in order to achieve this, and have structured training and development systems to encourage commitment to the organization. Shows, however, that while there is a clear desire for commitment, little evidence is found of contemporary recruitment and selection methods commensurate with this aim. In contrast, there is strong evidence of relatively sophisticated training and development systems congruent with an HRM approach. Concludes that currently there is little to suggest a shift towards HRM in UK hotels

Surprise and sense making: undergraduate placement experiences in SMEs

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore undergraduate placement experiences in tourism and hospitality SMEs, focusing on the notions of surprise and sense making. It aims to argue that surprises and sense making are important elements not only of the adjustment process when entering new work environments, but also of the learning experience that placements provide.Design/methodology/approach – In‐depth interviews were conducted with 20 students who had recently completed a 48 week placement.Findings – The paper finds that the surprises students encountered were not as dramatic as the literature on organisational entry suggests. This is partially explained by students already having gained substantial amounts of work experience prior to the placement. A number of SME‐characteristic employment experiences were confirmed while others were questioned.Research limitations/implications – Further detailed research is required that takes a more holistic account of the placement experience in order to understand mor...

“Graduateness” – who cares? Graduate identity in small hospitality firms

Discusses the second phase of a project on graduate employment in small hospitality firms. It explores the data from the first phase of the project using the concept of graduate identity. The views of both graduates and their managers are examined. The reflections on the data suggest that a complex relationship exists between graduates, their managers and graduate identity. Suggests that hospitality graduates in small firms fail to develop a sense of graduate identity and that their managers lack understanding on how the employment of graduates “makes some difference”. Nevertheless, it is affirmed that graduate identity offers a useful perspective for much‐needed further research on the transition of graduates into SME employment.

New graduate employment within SMEs: still in the dark?

Purpose – A report conducted for the Government in 2002 concluded that public policy, although rising to the challenges presented in stimulating a stronger relationship between supply and demand in the SME graduate labour market, was essentially “running blind”. SMEs were clearly playing an increasingly important role in the wider graduate labour market, yet the evidence base on patterns of recruitment, deployment and graduate contribution was weak and insubstantive. The purpose of this paper is to revisit this issue and critically review research undertaken since 2002.Design/methodology/approach – A decision was taken to critically review the research literature published in the UK on graduate employment in SMEs since 2002 as this was the year that the original report was presented to the Government. The methodological design draws out the main findings from the 2002 report and the associated research agenda. This is then used as a basis from which to evaluate recent research. The methodological design e...

Employing graduates in SMEs: towards a research agenda

In the context of a somewhat turbulent graduate labour market, attention is being focused on the employment of graduates in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper takes an initial “sounding” of our understanding about the transition of graduates into such organisations. While research data provides some insight into the barriers which work to discourage more SMEs from recruiting graduates, this understanding appears inadequate and insufficiently segmented to provide a detailed knowledge of the problems. A prevailing assumption is that graduates lack skills required by SME employers. Yet the limited research findings reveal ambiguity about the extent to which SMEs effectively deploy graduate labour. The article proposes an agenda that highlights the need for two types of research. First, a clearer picture of current trends in the SME graduate labour market. Second, a richer understanding of the real experience of graduates, and their managers, in relation to employment in an SME and the implications of such for both the supply and demand sides of the graduate labour market.

Internships in SMEs and Career Intentions.

The literature on internships (also placements) emphasises their importance in career development, even seeing them as a launch pad for graduate careers. Indeed, universities use internships to enable students to develop a range of skills and to help clarify and refine employment intentions and career goals. Traditionally, most internships have taken place in large organisations. More recently, however, policy‐makers have encouraged internships in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper reports the findings of a British study and contests the unproblematic treatment of the relationship between SME internship and career intentions in the context of tourism education. An explanatory model is developed to show how an interplay of factors come together to undermine the influence of largely positive SME internship experiences on SME employment intentions. The implications of this analysis for both policy‐makers and researchers are particularly important at a time of upheaval in the graduate labour market.

Focusing on Knowledge Exchange: The Role of Trust in Tourism Networks

It has long been recognised that an organisation’s ability to acquire and use external knowledge is related to its level of innovativeness. As others have shown, the acquisition of knowledge is often tied to networks of relationships, on different spatial scales, between those working in similar or quite different organisations. Not surprisingly, public policy-makers responsible for tourism development have invested resources in establishing and nurturing relationships between themselves and other actors and, in recognition of the importance of peer-to-peer learning, have facilitated networks between actors within particular destinations.