Research: Theory in hospitality management
Paper (1982) by: Philip Nailon. Source: https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-4319(82)90002-0.
I have read the paper so you don't have to. The 5 biggest lessons that teach you about the essence of hospitality, tourism and leisure management.
Deeply embedded in the tradition of hospitality management is the concept of service. [Yet ...] Insufficient attention has been paid to: the meaning of service. [...] As a consequence, what has been described as 'service' is a watered-down and often inappropriate set of rituals which have infiltrated by default from grand hotel tradition. The consequence of this lack of redefinition is that staff, following inappropriate rules, may perform rituals for the customer which are either not wanted or their import not recognised. And similarly, staff may not recognise the signals made by customers of their particular needs.
The rituals of service sometimes seem an unthinking, mechanical and frozen art form which has lost contact with reality while being overtaken by technology. The traditional idea of service involving some form of personal attention, seems to have been substituted by things. The chocolate mint on the pillow may be an apology. Shower caps, bubble baths, mending kits and, of course, book matches in every ash tray are all manifestations of this attempt to create an impression of personal service.
Quality, or more usually service, is invariably linked with an adjective such as 'good', 'bad', 'fast', 'slow', and so on. Most managers talk about providing the 'highest standards' of service. But what does this mean? [...] Thus is can be seen that service [...] involves human contact which ranges from routine to personalised. [...] It follows that a form of equation is involved where reduction of human contact involves an alternative means of providing increased information in order to define the total service level.
Management scholars and researchers [have] failed to differentiate between manufacturing and service industries. It seems somewhat ironic that Lucias Boomer (1923), the greatest of all hoteliers, enthusiastically adapted Ford's techniques to the operation of the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Nevertheless, until recently there has been a resistance to wide-spread introduction of management techniques and practices originating in manufacturing industries.
Later, Miller and Rise (1967) [...] stated that 'There remains a tendency, among theorists and practitioners alike, to look upon the organization of production operations as central and typical, and to assume that the principles of delegation and control that have emerged consititute general laws of organization...
Finally, Sasser and his colleagues (1978) [...] concluded that: the tasks of managing service firms differ significantly enough from those of manufacturing firms to justify separate [or at least special] treatment, ... formal business training has too frequently focussed on management tools, techniques, and concepts that are more appropriate to manufacturing firms than to service firms.
Futile arguments are sometimes made as to whether hospitality management is an art or a science. Is an activity which requires experience, skills, judgement and insight to be successfully executed but is capable of being analysed scientifically. In the absence of any comprehensive theory, these will be exercised on a subjective basis; the result is a breed of managers who, for most part react to situations rather than identify and exploit opportunities.
Albert Elovice, a most profound and successful hotelier, once said:
'A hotelier is a person made up of the usual chemical compounds ordained by nature, but must have a personality and many virtues the average mortal does not possess.
The hotelier must have the diplomacy of a Kissinger, the social grace of the Queen Mother, the speed of a Concorde, the smile of a Greek God, the patience of a saint, the memory of an elephant, the thick skin of a rhinoceros, the strength of an Atlas, the staying-power of a mother-in-law, the fitness of a centre forward, the grooming of a duke, the voice of an Olivier, the eye for profit of a Vestey, and last but not least, the hotelier must have a love of humanity, for humans show their worst side when they are tired and hungry.
Being gracious to guests as well as to associates shows a mastery of the art of hospitality.'
